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NORAD, Bliss troops tracking Santa's progress

by Sgt. David E. Gillespie

FORT BLISS, Texas, (Army News Service, Dec. 14, 1998) -- During a Department of Defense news briefing at the Pentagon Dec. 3, Pentagon spokesman Kenneth H. Bacon announced that North American Aerospace Defense Command has released to the public, up-to-the-minute, detailed information about Santa Claus through its Web site at www.noradsanta.org.

"It's pretty slick," Bacon said about the Web site to reporters gathered for the briefing. "You might want to log onto it. It contains a lot of interesting information including Santa secrets. It answers the question, 'Is there a Santa?' It has a lot of nifty graphics. And all this is done free to the taxpayer and free to the government by organizations working with NORAD."

The Web site describes the process and technology NORAD uses to track the whereabouts of Santa, as well as determining the status of Santa's annual mission, Bacon said. "It's one of the things you can find out. I don't want to reveal a lot of the secrets that are on this Web site here, but you can get them on your own by logging onto the address I gave you (www.noradsanta.org)."

According to Bacon, NORAD has a good historical track record. "They have apparently been tracking Santa for 43 years, and they do have quite a lot of historical information. Some of it goes back several thousand years because they've done some research and incorporated it into their information base."

Information is constantly gathered and updated on the site, Bacon added. "So I recommend this to all of you who are interested in tracking Santa for the next couple of weeks. Of course, the information accumulates and builds to a real pitch of excitement by Christmas Day."

At Fort Bliss, Sgt. Kimberly M. Moran, an intelligence analyst for the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, said she gathers information from the NORAD site and other sources to keep her command informed.

Moran said she also has a vested interest in tracking Santa Claus because of the demands of her 7 year-old daughter, Marie.

"Our intelligence information gathered by NORAD indicates Santa and his elves are putting the finishing touches on this year's toy production," Moran said. "Satellite photos of Toyland indicate that Santa's sleigh is being readied for a Christmas Eve takeoff."

Moran said NORAD will provide updates, using satellite data and digitized imagery, as Santa begins his trip Dec. 24. "Based on our previous experiences, we in the intelligence community expect Santa to start his journey early on the morning of December 24th Eastern Standard Time."

According to NORAD, Santa tends not to file a flight plan with either Transport Canada or the Federal Aviation Authority. Therefore, NORAD is required to identify the 'unknown' Christmas objects on the radar screen. This usually means that two Canadian jets are deployed in the far North of Canada to verify that the objects are in fact Santa, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph. NORAD said the pilots are still surprised to this day to see a smiling, jolly little man in red waving to them from an open sleigh in the middle of a snowstorm.

NORAD also states on its Web site that the command might be able to detect Santa with its infrared satellites. "When he comes to North America, we can also see him on our radar screens. NORAD jets will give us visual confirmation. Last year, special digital cameras on board the Canadian jets relayed actual digitized images of Santa and his reindeer. We will try to do the same thing this year if the weather cooperates."

(Editor's note: Gillespie is with the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade Public Affairs Office at Fort Bliss, Texas.)