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Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Gail Braymen |
| Inside the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command command center at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., NORAD Air Director Bill Glover, left, and NORAD fighter duty officer Air Force Lt. Col. Jim Robinson, center, monitor missile, space and air events in the NORAD area of responsibility. NORAD has about 25 fighter duty officers, who rotate six-and-a-half-hour shifts in the command center. |
'FIDOs' vital to NORAD mission
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. — On any given day, there is one single person at the headquarters of North American Aerospace Defense Command who probably knows more about what's happening in the command at that moment than anyone else, anywhere.
That person is the fighter duty officer.
Affectionately known as the "FIDO," the fighter duty officer has a work station prominently located in the center of the NORAD and U.S. Northern Command command center. Stretching out in front of the FIDO, from far left to far right, is a row of computer screens where the FIDO uses five different systems to monitor every missile, space and air event in NORAD's area of responsibility.
"We want to make sure that our leadership has the most up-to-date information to help them make appropriate decisions when necessary," said Air Force Maj. Jess Baker, one of NORAD's fighter duty officers. "All these different systems, while it may seem like a lot, it really helps us provide the complete picture."
In addition to monitoring NORAD's air and radar assets, FIDOs also track weather patterns and stay in close communication with NORAD's Air Warning Center and Air Battle Management Officer at the Cheyenne Mountain Directorate, about 15 miles away from the command center at Peterson Air Force Base.
The purpose of concentrating so much information into one person is to give the NORAD commander and J3, or operations, director one-stop access to information about events as they're happening.
"The FIDO is important," Baker said, "because he is the one go-to guy in this building right now that either the NORAD J3 or NORAD commander can come to and get a real-time synopsis of what is happening in the NORAD mission right now, anything from the air picture to radar statuses across North America."
NORAD has about 25 FIDOs, including American and Canadian military members and civilians, who rotate six-and-a-half-hour shifts in the command center.
NORAD is the bi-national Canadian and American command that is responsible for the air defense of North America and maritime warning. The command has three subordinate regional headquarters: the Alaskan NORAD Region at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; the Canadian NORAD Region at Winnepeg, Manitoba; and the Continental NORAD Region at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.