State of the Union address

2003 State of the Union Address given by President George W. Bush

The State of the Union is an annual address presented by the President of the United States to the United States Congress. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the president to outline his legislative agenda (the office of the President does not have Constitutional power to enact legislation, only Congress can do this legally) and national priorities to Congress.

The State of the Union is typically given before a joint session of the United States Congress and is held in the House of Representatives chamber at the United States Capitol. The address is traditionally given in the month of January.

Sometimes, especially in recent years, newly inaugurated presidents have delivered speeches to joint sessions of Congress only weeks into their respective terms, but these are not officially considered State of the Union addresses. The address is most frequently used to outline the president's legislative proposals for the upcoming year.

Modeled after the monarch's Speech from the Throne during the State Opening of Parliament in the United Kingdom, such a report is required by the United States Constitution. The Constitution does not require that the report take the form of a speech, although virtually every president since Woodrow Wilson has made the State of the Union report in the form of a speech delivered personally before a joint session of Congress. By tradition, the President makes this report annually, even though the clause "from time to time" leaves the matter open to interpretation:

“ He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient. ”

— Article II, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution

Since the address is made in the Capitol and during a joint session of Congress, the President must first be invited by Congress to both enter the House of Representatives Chamber and then actually address the joint session. This invitation is customary in form as the speech is now a traditional part of the American political and national schedule.

History

George Washington gave the first State of the Union address on January 8, 1790 in New York City, then the provisional U.S. capital. In 1801, Thomas Jefferson discontinued the practice of delivering the address in person, regarding it as too monarchical (similar to the Speech from the Throne). Instead, the address was written and then sent to Congress to be read by a clerk until 1913 when Woodrow Wilson re-established the practice despite some initial controversy. However, there have been exceptions to this rule. Presidents during the latter half of the 20th century have sent written State of the Union addresses. The last President to do this was Jimmy Carter in 1981.

For many years, the speech was referred to as "the President's Annual Message to Congress". The actual term "State of the Union" first emerged in 1934 when Franklin D. Roosevelt used the phrase, becoming its generally accepted name since 1947.

The text of the first page of Ronald Reagan's first State of the
Union Address, given January 26, 1982.

Prior to 1934, the annual message was delivered at the end of the calendar year, in December. The ratification of the 20th Amendment on January 23, 1933 changed the opening of Congress from early March to early January, affecting the delivery of the annual message. Since 1934, the message or address has been delivered to Congress in January or February. Today, the speech is typically delivered on the last Wednesday in January, although there is no such provision written in law, and it varies from year to year. In 2008, the speech was given on the last Monday of January.

The Twentieth Amendment also established January 20 as the beginning of the presidential term. In years when a new president is inaugurated, the outgoing president may deliver a final State of the Union message, but none has done so since Jimmy Carter sent a written message in 1981. In 1953 and 1961, Congress received both a written State of the Union message from the outgoing president and a separate State of the Union speech by the incoming president. Since 1989, in recognition that the responsibility of reporting the State of the Union formally belongs to the president who held office during the past year, newly inaugurated Presidents have not officially called their first speech before Congress a "State of the Union" message.

Calvin Coolidge's 1923 speech was the first to be broadcast on radio. Harry S. Truman's 1947 address was the first to be broadcast on television. Lyndon B. Johnson's address in 1965 was the first delivered in the evening. Ronald Reagan was the only president to have postponed his State of the Union Address. On January 28, 1986, he planned to give his address, but after learning of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, he postponed it for a week and addressed the nation on the day's events. Not a single justice of the Supreme Court was in attendance for this postponed address,[why?] the first ever such absence. Bill Clinton's 1997 address was the first broadcast available live on the World Wide Web.

Delivery of the speech

Protocol of Entry into House Chamber

A formal invitation is made to the President for each State of the Union Address.

By approximately 8:30 p.m., the members of the House have gathered in their seats for the Joint Session.Then, the manager of the Majority cloakroom (officially styled the House Majority Floor Services Chief) announces the Vice President and members of the Senate, who enter and take the seats assigned for them. (Prior to 2007, the announcements preceding that for the President were instead given by the House Deputy Sergeant at Arms.)

The Speaker, and then the Vice President, specify the members of the House and Senate, respectively, who will escort the President into the House chamber. The House Majority Floor Services Chief announces, in order, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, the Chief Justice of the United States and the Associate Justices, and the Cabinet, each of whom enters and takes their seats when called.The justices take the seats nearest to the Speaker's rostrum and adjacent to the sections reserved for the Cabinet and the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Just after 9 p.m., as the President reaches the door to the chamber, the Majority Floor Services Chief and House Sergeant at Arms stand shoulder-to-shoulder just inside the doors, facing the Speaker and waiting for the President to be ready to enter the chamber.[9] When he is ready, the two officers jointly announce his presence, with the Floor Services Chief loudly stating the phrase: "Mister [or Madam] Speaker", to which the Sergeant at Arms rejoins: "The President of the United States." (The announcement of the President was solely the role of the House Sergeant at Arms until 2007, when cloakroom manager Barry K. Sullivan was accorded the honor of uttering the first part by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.)

As applause and cheering begins, the President slowly walks toward the Speaker's rostrum, followed by members of his Congressional escort committee. The President's approach is slowed by pausing to shake hands, hug, kiss, and autograph copies of his speech for Members of Congress. After he takes his place at the House Clerk's desk, he hands two manila envelopes previously placed on the desk and containing copies of his address to the Speaker and Vice President.

After continuing applause from the attendees has diminished, the Speaker introduces the President to the Representatives and Senators, stating: "Members of [the] Congress, I have the high privilege and [the] distinct honor of presenting to you the President of the United States." This leads to a further round of applause and, eventually, the beginning of the address by the President.

Designated survivor and other logistics

Customarily, one cabinet member (the designated survivor) does not attend, in order to provide continuity in the line of succession in the event that a catastrophe disables the President, the Vice President, and other succeeding officers gathered in the House chamber. Additionally, since the September 11 attacks in 2001, a few members of Congress have been asked to relocate to undisclosed locations for the duration of the speech. Though there is a rumor that many members of Congress are unable to be present in the chamber because while there are 435 members of the United States House of Representatives and 100 members of the United States Senate, the maximum capacity of the House chamber is about 448 seats, this is not the case. According to the Architect of the Capitol, for the State of the Union address, the normal seats are removed and replaced with much smaller seats in order to accommodate seating members of the House and Senate, the Cabinet, the Supreme Court, the Joint Chiefs, and other dignitaries.

President George W. Bush with Senate President (U.S. Vice President)

 Dick Cheney and House Speaker Nancy Pelos

Both the Speaker and the Vice President sit at the Speaker's desk, behind the President for the duration of the speech. If either is unavailable, the next highest-ranking member of the respective house substitutes. Once the chamber settles down from the President's arrival, the Speaker officially presents the President to the joint session of Congress. The President then delivers the speech from the podium at the front of the House Chamber.

President Bill Clinton with Senate President (U.S. Vice President) Al Gore and House
Speaker Newt Gingrich during the 1997 State of the Union address.

In the State of the Union the President traditionally outlines the administration's accomplishments over the previous year, as well as the agenda for the coming year, in upbeat and optimistic terms.Since the 1982 address, it has also become common for the President to honor special guests sitting in the gallery, such as everyday Americans or visiting heads of state.

State of the Union speeches usually last a little over an hour, partly because of the large amounts of applause that occur from the audience throughout. The applause is often political in tone, with many portions of the speech being applauded only by members of the President's own party. As non-political officeholders, members of the Supreme Court or the Joint Chiefs of Staff rarely applaud in order to retain the appearance of political impartiality. In recent years, the presiding officers of the House and the Senate, the Speaker and the Vice President, respectively, have departed from the neutrality expected of presiding officers of deliberative bodies, as they, too, stand and applaud in response to the remarks of the President with which they agree.

Opposition response

 Republican response to the State of the Union address and Democratic response to the State of the Union address

Since 1966, the speech has been followed on television by a response or rebuttal by a member of the political party opposing the President's party. The response is typically broadcast from a studio with no audience. In 1970, the Democratic Party put together a TV program with their speech to reply to President Nixon, as well as a televised response to Nixon's written speech in 1973. The same thing was done by Democrats for President Reagan's speeches in 1982 and 1985. In 1997, Oklahoma congressman J. C. Watts delivered the Republican response to that year's speech in front of high school students sponsored by the Close Up Foundation. In 2004, the Democrats also delivered their response in Spanish, delivered by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. After President George W. Bush's 2006 State of the Union address, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine delivered the Democratic Party's response in English while Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave a response in Spanish. Virginia Senator Jim Webb made the 2007 response and Rep. Xavier Becerra of California delivered the Spanish version. In 2008, Democrats tapped Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to give a response in English; Texas state Senator Leticia Van de Putte did the same in Spanish. In 2010, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell gave the Republican response, on the floor of the Virginia House of Delegates.

The opportunity to give the response speech has been compared by some commentators to winning "second prize in a beauty contest," a reference to the board game Monopoly.

Local versions

Certain states have a similar annual address given by the governor. For most of them, it is called the State of the State address. In Iowa, it is called the Condition of the State Address; in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, the speech is called the State of the Commonwealth address. The mayor of Washington, D.C. gives a State of the District address. American Samoa has a State of the Territory address given by the governor. Puerto Rico has a State Address given by the governor. Some cities or counties also have an annual address given by the mayor, county commissioner, or Board Chair, such as Sonoma County, California. Some university presidents give a State of the University address at the beginning of every academic term. Some cities also have a State of the City address, including Cincinnati, Ohio; Parma, Ohio; Seattle, Washington; Birmingham, Alabama; Boston, Massachusetts; Los Angeles, California; Buffalo, New York; Rochester, New York; San Antonio, Texas; McAllen, Texas; and San Diego, California. Private companies usually have a "State of the Corporation" or "State of the Company" address given by the respective CEO. The model has also been adopted by the European Union.

(source:wikipedia)

North American Aerospace Defense Command

North American Aerospace Defense Command
Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States
NORAD emblem
Type	Aerospace warning and aerospace control
Coordinates	38.744331°N 104.84668°W
Built	1961 (Directorate)
In use	1958 - present
Current owner	Canada / United States
Controlled by	Joint operations of Canadian Forces Air Command and United States Air Force and co-location with USNORTHCOM
Garrison	Headquarters:Peterson Air Force Base Directorate: Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Station (west of Colorado Springs, CO)
Commanders	Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr., USN
Events	May 2006 NORAD Agreement Renewal

North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD, pronounced /ˈnɒræd/ NORR-ad) is a joint organization of Canada and the United States that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the two countries. It was founded on May 12, 1958 (an effect of the Cold War) as a joint command between the governments of Canada and the United States, as the North American Air Defense Command. Its main technical facility has been the Cheyenne Mountain Directorate, formerly Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, of the Cheyenne Mtn. Air Force Station, Colorado; and for this reason NORAD is sometimes referred to as Cheyenne Mountain. Similar to the Cheyenne Mountain Directorate, but on a smaller scale, the Canada East and Canada West Sector Air Operations Control Centres were located in an underground complex 600 feet below the surface at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) North Bay in Ontario, Canada. On October 12, 2006, NORAD operations at CFB North Bay have officially moved above ground into the newly-constructed Sergeant David L. Pitcher Building, and the underground complex has been "mothballed" but can be returned to operation if it should be needed again.

NORAD's headquarters facilities in Colorado are administered by the U.S. Air Force under the command of the 721st Mission Support Group, part of the 21st Space Wing, headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base. NORAD's forces consist of the Alaskan NORAD Region/Eleventh Air Force, Canadian NORAD Region, and Continental NORAD Region.

History

Formation

NORAD Headquarters Building,

The growing perception of the threat of long-range Soviet strategic bombers armed with nuclear weapons brought the U.S. and Canada into closer cooperation for air defense. While attacks from the Pacific or Atlantic would have been detected by Airborne Early Warning aircraft, Navy ships, or offshore radar platforms, the Arctic was underprotected. In the early 1950s the U.S. and Canada agreed to construct a series of radar stations across North America to detect a Soviet attack over the Arctic. The first series of radars was the Pinetree Line, completed in 1954 and consisting of 33 stations across southern Canada. However, technical defects in the system led to more radar networks being built. In 1957, the McGill Fence was completed; it consisted of Doppler radar for the detection of low-flying craft. This system was roughly 300 miles (480 km) north of the Pinetree Line along the 55th parallel north. The third joint system was the Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line), also completed in 1957. This was a network of 58 stations along the 69th parallel north. The systems gave around three hours' warning of a bomber attack before they could reach any major population center.

The command and control of the massive system then became a significant challenge. Discussions and studies of joint systems had been ongoing since the early 1950s and culminated on August 1, 1957, with the announcement by the U.S. and Canada to establish an integrated command, the North American Air Defense Command. On September 12, operations commenced in Colorado. A formal NORAD agreement between the two governments was signed on May 12, 1958.

On June 16, 1961, the official groundbreaking ceremony was held at the construction site of the NORAD Combat Operations Center (COC). Gen. Laurence S. Kuter, NORAD Commander, and Lt. Gen. Robert Merrill Lee, ADC Commander, simultaneously set off symbolic dynamite charges.

Cold War and false alarms

NORAD blast doors, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado,

By the early 1960s, about 250,000 personnel were involved in the operation of NORAD. The emergence of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) threat in the early 1960s was something of a blow. In response, a space surveillance and missile warning system was constructed to provide worldwide space detection, tracking and identification. The extension of NORAD's mission into space led to a name change, the North American Aerospace Defense Command in March 1981.

From 1963, the size of the U.S. Air Force was reduced, and obsolete sections of the radar system were shut down. However, there was increased effort to protect against an ICBM attack; two underground operations centers were set up, the main one inside Cheyenne Mountain and an alternate at North Bay, Ontario. By the early 1970s, the acceptance of mutual assured destruction doctrine led to a cut in the air defense budget and the repositioning of NORAD's mission to ensuring the integrity of airspace during peacetime. There followed significant reductions in the air defense system until the 1980s, when, following the 1979 Joint US-Canada Air Defense Study (JUSCADS) the need for the modernization of air defenses was accepted—the DEW Line was to be replaced with an improved Arctic radar line called the North Warning System (NWS); there was to be the deployment of Over-the-Horizon Backscatter (OTH-B) radar; the assignment of more advanced fighters to NORAD, and the greater use of Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft from Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma or Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. These recommendations were accepted by the governments in 1985. The United States Space Command was formed in September 1985 as an adjunct but not a component of NORAD.

Even though all equipment in Cheyenne Mountain was put through a rigorous inspection, on at least three occasions, failure in its systems could have potentially caused nuclear war. On November 9, 1979, a technician in NORAD loaded a test tape but failed to switch the system status to "test", causing a stream of constant false warnings to spread to two "continuity of government" bunkers as well as command posts worldwide. On June 3, 1980, and again on June 6, 1980, a computer communications device failure caused warning messages to sporadically flash in U.S. Air Force command posts around the world that a nuclear attack was taking place. During these incidents, Pacific Air Forces properly had their planes (loaded with nuclear bombs) in the air; Strategic Air Command did not and took criticism because they did not follow procedure, even though the SAC command knew these were almost certainly false alarms (as did PACAF). Both command posts had recently begun receiving and processing direct reports from the various radar, satellite, and other missile attack detection systems, and those direct reports simply didn't match anything about the erroneous data received from NORAD.

Post-Cold War

An F-22 Raptor escorting Tu-95 Bear,.

At the end of the Cold War NORAD reassessed its mission. To avoid cutbacks, from 1989 NORAD operations expanded to cover counter-drug operations, especially the tracking of small aircraft entering and operating within America and Canada (although commercial flights were not perceived to be threats). But the DEW line sites were still replaced, in a scaled-back fashion by the North Warning System radars between 1986 and 1995. The Cheyenne Mountain site was also upgraded. However, none of the proposed OTH-B radars are currently in operation.

Post-September 11, 2001 attacks

Command center of NORAD,

After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the NORAD mission evolved to include monitoring of all aircraft flying in the interior of the United States. NORAD oversees Operation Noble Eagle using fighter aircraft Combat Air Patrols (CAP) under command of First Air Force and Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) E-3 Sentry aircraft under command of the 552nd Air Control Wing. At U.S. request, NATO deployed five of its NATO AWACS aircraft to the U.S. to help NORAD in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

On July 28, 2006, military officials announced that NORAD's day-to-day operations would be consolidated, for purposes of efficiency, in an ordinary building at Peterson Air Force Base in nearby Colorado Springs. The mountain will be kept only as a backup in "warm standby," though fully operational and staffed with support personnel should the need arise. NORAD officials stated that the same surveillance work can be continued without the security the facility provides. They emphasized that they are no longer concerned about a halt to their operations from an intercontinental nuclear attack.

NORAD commander Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr. said in 2010 that NORAD did not send interceptors to intercept every flight of Russian bombers near U.S. airspace because NORAD did not wish to feed Russia's propaganda about their illusion of power.

Commanders and deputy commanders

The Commander of NORAD is always an United States Defense Department Officer confirmed by the US Senate and from 2002 has simultaneously headed USNORTHCOM, while the Deputy Commander is always Canadian. During the course of NORAD's history there have been four different U.S. combatant commands associated with NORAD:

Name of Command	Abbreviation	Emblem	Association started	Association ended	Type of combatant command	Notes
Continental Air Defense Command	CONAD		September 15, 1957	June 30, 1975	joint command 1954-1958 unified command 1958-1975	created on September 1, 1954; functions assumed by Aerospace Defense Command
Aerospace Defense Command	ADCOM		July 1, 1975	December 19, 1986	specified command	functions assumed by United States Space Command
United States Space Command	USSPACECOM		September 23, 1985	October 1, 2002	unified command	merged with United States Strategic Command
United States Northern Command	USNORTHCOM		October 1, 2002	continuing	unified command

Commanders

The NORAD commander is an American four-star General, or equivalent. Since 2004 commanders have included Admirals.

NORAD Commanders

Number	Name	Photo	Start of term	End of term	Notable positions held before or after
1	General Earle E. Partridge, USAF		1957	1959
2	General Laurence S. Kuter, USAF		1959	1962
3	General John K. Gerhart, USAF		1962
4	General Dean C. Strother, USAF		1965	1966	U.S. Military Representative, NATO Military Committee, 1962–1965
5	General Raymond J. Reeves, USAF		1966	1969
6	General Seth J. McKee, USAF		1969	1973
7	General Lucius D. Clay, Jr., USAF		1973	1975
8	General Daniel James, Jr., USAF		1975	1977
9	General James E. Hill, USAF		1977	1979
10	General James V. Hartinger, USAF		1980	1984
11	General Robert T. Herres, USAF		1984	1987	1st Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1987–1990)
12	General John L. Piotrowski, USAF		1987	1990	22nd Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force (1985–1987)
13	General Donald J. Kutyna, USAF		1990	1992	Member of the Rogers Commission (1986–1988)
14	General Charles A. "Chuck" Horner, USAF		June, 1992	September, 1994	Commander, 9th Air Force, and Commander, U.S. Central Command Air Forces (1987–1992), he led U.S. and allied air operations for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
15	General Joseph W. Ashy, USAF		September, 1994	August, 1996
16	General Howell M. Estes III, USAF		August, 1996	August 14, 1998
17	General Richard B. Myers, USAF		August 14, 1998	February 22, 2000	5th Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (2000–2001) 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (2001–2005)
18	General Ralph E. "Ed" Eberhart, USAF		February 22, 2000	November 5, 2004	27th Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force (1997–1999)
19	Admiral Timothy J. Keating, USN		November 5, 2004	March 23, 2007	Director of the Joint Staff (2003–2004) Commander, U.S. Pacific Command (2007–2009)
20	General Victor E. Renuart Jr., USAF		March 23, 2007	May 19, 2010	Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (2006–2007)
21	Admiral James A. Winnefeld, Jr., USN		May 19, 2010	Incumbent	Director for Strategic Plans and Policy, The Joint Staff which he concurrently served as the Senior Member, U.S. Delegation to the U.N. Military Staff Committee (2008–2010)

Deputy commanders

In recent years deputy commanders have always been Canadian air force three-star generals. Prior to the 1968 unification of the Canadian Forces, the deputy commanders were RCAF Air Marshals.

NORAD Deputy Commanders

Number	Name	Photo	Start of term	End of term	Notable positions held before or after
1	Air Marshal Roy Slemon, CB,CBE, CD, RCAF		September 1957	August 1964	Chief of the Air Staff (1953–1957)
2	Air Marshal Clarence Rupert Dunlap, CBE, CD, RCAF		August 1964	August 1967	Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations) at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (1958-1962), Chief of the Air Staff (1962–1964)
3	Air Marshal William R. MacBrien OBE, CD, RCAF		August 1967	January 1969
4	Lieutenant-General Frederick Ralph Sharp CMM, DFC, CD		January 1969	September 1969	Chief of the Defence Staff (1969–1972)
5	Lieutenant-General Edwin Reyno,CF		September 1969	August 1972	Chief of Personnel of the Canadian Forces (1966-1969)
6	Lieutenant-General Reginald J. Lane, DSO, DFC and Bar, CD,LoM (USA)		September 1972	October 1974	Deputy Commander of Mobile Command (1969-1972)
7	Lieutenant-General Richard C . Stovel, AFC, CD, LoM (USA)		October 1974	September 1976
8	Lieutenant-General David R. Adamson		September 1976	August 1978
9	Lieutenant-General Kenneth E. Lewis		1978	1980
10	Unknown		June 1980	May 1983
11	Lieutenant-General Donald C. MacKenzie, CF		May 1983	August 1986
12	Unknown		August 1986	August 1989
13	Lieutenant-General Robert W. Morton, CMM, CD, BSc (RMC)		August 1989	August 1992
14	Lieutenant-General Brian L. Smith		August 1992	August 1994
15	Lieutenant-General J. D. O'Blenis,CF		August 1994	August 1995
16	Lieutenant-General L. W. F. Cuppens, CF		August 1995	April 1998
17	Lieutenant-General G C Macdonald, CF		April 1998	August 2001
18	Lieutenant-General Ken R. Pennie,CF		August 8, 2001	July 14, 2003
19	Lieutenant-General Rick Findley CF		July 14, 2003	August 2, 2007	Chief of Staff for Personnel, Training, and Reserves; Chief of Staff for Operations at 1 Canadian Air Division; Director of Combat Operations at NORAD
20	Lieutenant-General Charlie Bouchard CF		August 2, 2007	July 10, 2009	Deputy Commander for Continental NORAD Region
21	Lieutenant-General Marcel Duval CF		July 10, 2009	present	Canadian Contingent Commander Middle East; Commander of 1 Wing

Notable popular culture

NORAD comes to the public's attention during December and on Christmas Eve, when its NORAD Tracks Santa service follows Santa Claus on his journey around the world. This tradition started in 1955 when a local Sears store in Colorado misprinted the telephone number and children thought they were calling Santa, but actually were calling Air Defense Command (NORAD's predecessor) instead.

Cheyenne Mountain was the central setting of the 1983 motion picture WarGames, starring Matthew Broderick as a teenager who hacked NORAD's main computer and almost started a global thermonuclear war.

Cheyenne Mountain is also the main earth setting of the Stargate universe, serving as the Command Center for all Stargate Operations in the Milky Way Galaxy.

(source:wikpedia)