Documents / Official release
This 1970 USAF Office of Information file from the 21st Air Division at Hancock Field, Syracuse, collects community relations correspondence. It includes Enrico Grimaldi's report of faint star-like objects seen over Commack, Long Island on November 21, 1970, and Major Francis C. Moriarty's reply. The reply notes that Project Blue Book ended December 17, 1969, so the Air Force would not investigate. The file also holds a draft article on NORAD and SAGE, survey requests, thank-you letters and press tour messages.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
General Williams, in terms of his division hat, tends to think of himself as "administrator, housekeeper, doctor, judge, and janitor." However, when a division unit goes into battle, it operates under its operational commander. Should there ever be an enemy air attack in the northeast, it would be the mission of the 21ST NORAD REGION, under General Williams, to provide the air defense for this area. He would have at his disposal air force units plus several army and navy commands. For example, ground-to-air Bomarc missiles protect Boston and New York. Though these army units are under the command of an Army commander in peace time, during an actual battle General Williams would command the forces from SAGE in Syracuse. The heart of the SAGE (semi-automatic ground environment) system is a computerized system into which are electronically tied all of the air defense units in the NORAD region. Compilation of data is fed into the computer from the multitude of radar squadrons, providing an air picture for the scopes at SAGE. According to Captin James Shirey, Intercept Director, "Because our radar squadrons are located on the borders of our NORAD region, we can see well beyond our geographic region. In fact, we can survey many, many thousands of square miles of sky. "Using the data presented on the scopes and in the computer, we can detect incoming targets, identify them, conduct intercepts, determine whether these are friendly or hostile, and take whatever tactical action is appropriate.
Not linked to a story yet.
Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 95 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.