Forging an Arctic Alliance Canadian-U.S. JIATF-Arctic
In 1867, Secretary of State William Seward purchased Alaska securing America’s place with Russia, Norway, Denmark, and neighboring Canada as an Arctic nation.[1] Though criticized as “Seward’s Ice Box,” in short time, Alaska became a strategic asset, holding great natural resources and a vital defensive position on the North American continent. For over one hundred forty years, U.S. and Canadian national security interests in the Arctic have evolved into a more mature cooperative relationship through the Klondike gold rush, World War II, and The Cold War. Throughout each security challenge, the ice and extreme Arctic conditions always served as a natural defense denying direct maritime access to the continent’s northern approach.[2] In August 2007, this assumption was no longer valid when the Northwest Passage opened ice-free, validating various Arctic ice recession models.[3] The effects of climate change creating an Arctic maritime domain have significant new political, military, economic, environmental, and scientific ramifications that require a whole-ofgovernment response. Due to the unique nature of the Arctic region, shared interests, and historical bi-national defense relationship, the Arctic represents a theater for the next phase of greater Canadian and U.S. (CANUS) defense cooperation. A combined Joint Interagency Task Force Arctic (CJIATF-A) under alternating leadership, will best enable a COCOM to address the complexities of the changing Arctic region to promote responsible growth, regional stability, and continental security.
The Enduring Value of NORAD
Abstract : The armed forces of Canada and the United States are completing a historic commemoration. Just over 50 years ago, our two nations signed the Agreement for the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), which established a binational command to provide air defense against the Soviet bomber threat. For five decades now, we have ensured the aerospace sovereignty of North America. Since September 11, 2001, NORAD (now the North American Aerospace Defense Command) has refocused its mission to include defense against surprise and internal threats. With this new threat in mind, in May 2006, Canada and the United States added maritime warning as a NORAD mission. Recognizing the broader aspects of the 21st-century security environment, our two nations are now assessing opportunities for enhanced military cooperation among the commands charged with defending our home territory. Our leaders have repeatedly underscored the importance of international cooperation for homeland defense and security. In the spirit of a neighborhood watch, Canada and the United States have a great opportunity to create a set of new relationships that build on the strengths and benefit from the challenges of earlier times. By changing the lenses we have looked through for generations, we can develop processes and procedures to reduce the geographical, interdomain, interagency, and intermodal gaps that currently exist in our defenses.
History of Amateurism in Men's Intercollegiate Athletics: The Continuance of a 19th-Century Anachronism in America
Claiming that American intercollegiate athletics are amateur at the end of the 20th century is an anachronism, for colleges in the 19th century took on professional characteristics. The upper-class British concept of amateurism did not work effectively in a more egalitarian and achievement-oriented American society. Hypocrisy resulted when colleges claimed amateurism while accepting such professional practices as hiring professional coaches, allowing athletes to play summer baseball for money, and paying athletes through grants-in-aid. Attempts to preserve amateurism, such as the Graham Plan in the 1930s and the Sanity Code in the 1940s and 1950s, yielded to the professional spirit. Thus, while Americans had generally rejected the upper-class British social hierarchy that fostered amateurism, they retained the name amateur, continuing the hypocrisy that had begun in the previous century.