Mission Accomplished

Gen. Victor "Gene" Renuart, head of U.S. Northern Command and NORAD, weighs in on today's main event with a statement issued through his press office:

Today marks an historic event, and we view the inauguration of our new commander-in-chief with hope and purpose. Our mission continues … Our task clear …Our leadership resolute. The people in our commands commemorate this historic transition with renewed focus on the families we protect, on the communities we protect and on the Nations we protect. We are the defenders of our democracy and of the Democracy of all in this Hemisphere … as Canadians and Americans today, we are proud of the efforts of our two militaries and proud of what we do each day. We are looking forward, anticipating our Nations' needs and ready to respond at a moment's notice. We are honored to participate as just one of myriad local, state and federal agencies working hard to make today's events safe and secure.

NORTHCOM is the lead Defense Department element tasked to support civilian agencies in the event of an attack on the homeland.

His expression of "hope" with today's changing of the guard is uniquely informed. Renuart operated in the highest precincts of the Bush administration's national security team before taking his current job -- he was senior military assistant to then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.