NORAD's sleigh surveillance: How Santa got tangled in military tech

Let’s throw it back to a Christmas Eve sometime in the early 2000s — my three sisters and I are barreling through the house, my mother toting a camcorder behind us, as my dad announces from the next room that they finally got a lock on Santa’s position. NORAD was on the chase.

What was NORAD, my seven-year-old self didn’t care. All I knew was that Santa Claus was flying somewhere over Turkey, and the animation of a sleigh carried by flying reindeer would spur an hour’s worth of logistical questions from my sisters and me that our parents would have to answer in a slew of careful explanations. So, for at least that hour of Christmas Eve pastime, we would fight for a good viewing spot around my dad’s old Lenovo work laptop and watch in awe as a defense branch of the US government put on a show for children around the world.

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Now, years later, I can’t help but giggle at that sentence. When you think of holiday cheer and the magic of Santa Claus, you wouldn’t generally expect the North American Aerospace Defense Command to play such a famous part in it. But year after year since 1955, NORAD brings the magic of Santa’s gift-giving commute to millions of kids around the world.

So, what happened in 1955 that started this merry tradition? It was a combination of a child’s curious mistake, a colonel willing to entertain it, and Christmas spirit fueling all the right ideas.

Here’s the true story of how the North American Aerospace Defense Command gained the beloved responsibility of tracking Saint Nicholas every Christmas Eve. Plus, check out how to track Santa yourself here.

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NORAD Tracks Santa

The official Santa tracking app, provided by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

Santa? Is that you?

The best case scenario for a wrong number call

NORAD / Pocket-lint

Let’s turn the page back to a cold winter night in 1955. Airforce Colonel Harry Shoup was on duty with his team, and while everyone else sat in front of a huge switchboard connecting calls, Col. Shoup sat beside a very important military hotline. This particular phone couldn’t be connected from the switchboard — the only way to access it (and its VIP attendant) was if you had the exact digits. Keep this in mind.

Cut the scene to Colorado Springs. A department store had printed a jolly catalog with several numbers on it as part of a clever campaign that encouraged people to call and have a conversation with Santa Claus himself before Christmas arrived.

A particularly excited child did just that, dialing up the number printed on the catalog. But there was only one problem — the department store had misprinted. Instead of reaching Saint Nick up in the North Pole, the unsuspecting kid was instantly connected to a shocked Col. Shoup’s special red phone.

To say that the Colonel was baffled was an understatement. The bright red phone, reserved for vital phone calls as you can most likely infer from its symbolic color and exclusive access, had a child’s voice coming through the other side. How on earth had anyone, especially a child in Colorado, gotten this direct number?

The first thing that the child asked, though, was, “Where is Santa?”

After some reported annoyance and disbelief, the Colonel’s quick-thinking most definitely came into play after he heard some sniffles, because he said that Santa was surely up in the North Pole checking his list once more and making sure that he was prepared for his gift-giving extravaganza on Christmas Eve. The child asked if NORAD would be tracking the magic legend as he flew around, and Col. Shoup reassured them with, “Of course we will.”

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The typo was soon discovered after several more incoming calls with the same question, and the Colonel even assigned a duty officer to take them as the days went on. From there, a tradition was born — one that NORAD, after its official formation in 1958, would continue to this day.

Over time, the tradition didn’t just pick up traction — it also picked up thousands of volunteers, as well as corporate and government contributions. Each year, the NORAD Tracks Santa Web Site sees millions of visitors from over 200 different countries, and volunteers answer more than 130,000 calls from around the world — all because of a sweet mistake and an officer’s willingness to play into the magic.

What is NORAD?

Tracking Santa isn’t its only mission

NORAD

The North American Aerospace Defense Command is a joint organization between the US and Canada that monitors the skies and space over the continent. It’s charged with detecting, tracking, and validating any threats to security and safety, including but not limited to aircraft, missiles, and even spacecraft. In short, it’s charged with the safeguard of the sovereign airspaces of the United States and Canada.

The organization was created after WWII and as a result of the onset of the Cold War, as US government and military officials grew concerned about long-range Soviet bombers. Over time, the program evolved more and more, gaining various names and eventually extended a hand to the US’s northern neighbor, Canada.

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In 1958, the top defense officials in both the US and Canada worked out the fine print and gave the stamp of approval for the official formation of NORAD, or the North American Air Defense Command, which would later become the North American Aerospace Defense Command. The NORAD agreement would lead to an even stronger connection between the US and Canada and their aerospace-defense relationship for decades to come.

You can read the full history of NORAD and its formation here.