["I'm the] proud dad of two great young men. The oldest son had three combat tours, also served as a contractor in Iraq assisting the Army. The other son is in his third year of medical school. He also is a great, save-the-world young guy, and he will go out and make a contribution as a physician here in the future. We are really proud of both of them. Very different paths, very different political views on the part of both of them. We sometimes try to figure out where the gene pool came from that created them. But both are very focused on service, service to the country, service to the world. From a military family, that is a pretty neat thing to see."
Air Force General Victor E. Renuart Jr. is the proud father of two great sons. One has been in combat and the other in the Peace Corps.
Nation faces numerous threats, general says
By DANE SCHILLER Copyright 2008
Houston Chronicle
Dec. 6, 2008, 10:31PM
Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., who joined the military in 1972, says today's enemies don't follow the rules and operate in the shadows.
Air Force Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr. — commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, more commonly known as NORAD — was in Houston last week to speak at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. He spent a few minutes talking with Houston Chronicle reporter Dane Schiller about the threat facing the nation and other matters. Here is a portion of their conversation.
Q: For the average person, when they hear NORAD, they think back to the Cold War days when the Soviets had bombers and submarines with nuclear missiles. The common perception is that this no longer is the imminent threat. How have things changed?
A: We have changed the mission over time fairly substantially. After 9/11, you have to pay attention inside our country as much as we do outside our country. We saw the use of a civilian aircraft by terrorist groups become a weapon of mass destruction.
Q: If someone were to ask you, 'What does our enemy look like now?' what would you tell them?
A: The threats we now see are varied. We have to be cognizant that a nation-state may challenge us, a Russia or China or some other large competitor.
But I think more in the near term, we have a threat that is very agile, that operates in shadows and doesn't follow the rules: They are terrorist organizations; they are rogue nations who choose to buck the rest of the world community. So we have to open our horizons a bit as we look at where threats may reside — they may reside in cyber, they may reside in the maritime shipping industry, that sort of thing.
Q: When you talk about cyber, are you talking about a threat to knock out our Internet, knock out our ATMs?
A: Certainly. We have seen (that) in the country of Estonia, where Russian hackers literally brought the country to a standstill. Banking, yes, ATMs, certainly the transportation system, the power-generation system, all of that was affected by that attack in Estonia. We have to be aware that the same thing could happen. We also have hackers every day that are trying to get into our information systems in the Department of Defense.
Q: Shifting to other matters, you have two sons. One has been in combat and the other in the Peace Corps. That is quite a difference. What do you make of that?
A: Proud dad of two great young men. The oldest son had three combat tours, also served as a contractor in Iraq assisting the Army.
Q: And your other son?
A: The other son is in his third year of medical school. He also is a great, save-the-world young guy, and he will go out and make a contribution as a physician here in the future. We are really proud of both of them.
Very different paths, very different political views on the part of both of them. We sometimes try to figure out where the gene pool came from that created them. But both are very focused on service, service to the country, service to the world. From a military family, that is a pretty neat thing to see.
Q: A civilian would see you (in uniform) and say, 'My gosh, how many medals and ribbons do you have?' How many do you have?
A: I have 28, I think.
Q: Which one are you most proud of?
A: I think the air medals for my combat time. I was a commander of an A-10 squadron during the first Gulf War. The opportunity for a fighter pilot to lead a squadron in combat is something you always aspire to.
Q: You joined the military in 1972. How long do you think you will stay?
A: I was commissioned in 1972. My current job will continue through March 2010, and I serve at the pleasure of the secretary and the president, so we will see where that goes.
dane.schiller@chron.com
