The Pentagon hopes to build on a good thing—the long-running bi-national North American Aerospace Defense Command—so has established the Bi-National Planning Group to determine whether it’s conceivable to create other such compacts with Canada. The goal: to reduce the red tape during responses to terrorist threats or natural disasters. Two Navy captains are leading the effort: US Navy Capt. Kendall L. Card and Canadian Forces Navy Capt. Richard J. Bergeron. So far the group has drafted several plans to address missions for joint and combined defense, as well as civil authority aid operations. Whether these plans, if approved, would lead to new organizations with full-time American and Canadian military staffs—as with the 50-year-old NORAD—is very much up in the air. “We can’t rush the process,” said Bergeron.
China thinks it will be able to invade Taiwan by 2027 and has developed a technology edge in many key areas—but it is artificial intelligence that may be the decisive factor should conflict erupt, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said.