Glen VanHerck

Glen D. VanHerck is a retired U.S. Air Force General who was commissioned in 1987 as a graduate of the University of Missouri via the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps and developed into a command pilot with over 4,000 flying hours. From August 2020 to February 2024 he commanded North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), based in Colorado Springs. He gained public attention in the UAP context during the shootdown events of February 2023, when, as sitting NORAD commander, he did not rule out an extraterrestrial origin for the three unidentified objects over Alaska, the Yukon and Lake Huron.

• Commissioned as an officer in 1987 via Air Force ROTC, graduate of the University of Missouri
• Command pilot with over 4,000 flying hours
• Commander of NORAD and USNORTHCOM from August 2020 to February 2024
• Responsible for aerospace warning and control in defence of North America and for homeland defence
• Previously Director of the Joint Staff from 2019 to 2020
• February 2023: shootdown of a Chinese surveillance balloon on 4 February, followed by three unidentified objects intercepted over Alaska, the Yukon and Lake Huron between 10 and 12 February
• Remarkable statement that an extraterrestrial origin of the three objects had "not been ruled out"; the objects were never publicly identified or recovered

For the UAP timeline, VanHerck is the rare figure of a sitting four-star general who, in a public press conference, does not rule out an extraterrestrial possibility. His appearance led to significant changes in NORAD's monitoring and response protocols for slow-moving and small aerial objects and shows how the 2023 balloon incident permanently altered the sensor calibration of homeland defence.