General Glen D. VanHerck

Early Career and Rise Through the Air Force

General Glen D. VanHerck was born in Murray, Kentucky, and raised in Bismarck, Missouri. He was commissioned as an Air Force officer in 1987 through the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at the University of Missouri. VanHerck built a diverse career spanning tactical aviation, strategic operations, and joint military command. He logged extensive flight hours as a combat and instructor pilot in the F-15C Eagle, F-35A Lightning II, B-2A Spirit, and B-1B Lancer—giving him firsthand operational experience across fighter and bomber communities. He served as a Weapons School instructor in the F-15C and B-2A, roles that positioned him within the Air Force's most elite training cadre.

VanHerck commanded at escalating levels throughout his Air Force career, including the 325th Weapons Squadron, the 71st Operations Group, the 7th Bomb Wing, and the 509th Bomb Wing (B-2 Spirit Stealth Bombers). As a major general, he commanded the U.S. Air Force Warfare Center. His staff assignments included critical strategic positions: B-2 Program Element Monitor at Headquarters Air Combat Command, Director of Operations at Air Force Global Strike Command, Director of Plans and Integration at U.S. Strategic Command, Vice Director of Strategy, Plans and Policy at the Joint Staff, and Vice Director of the Joint Staff. He served as Director of the Joint Staff from 2019 to 2020—one of the most powerful positions in the Pentagon's military structure.

NORAD/USNORTHCOM Command and Strategic Responsibility

VanHerck was appointed Commander of North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) in 2020, a position he held until his retirement in 2024. As NORAD commander, VanHerck held direct responsibility for aerospace defense of the entire North American continent, giving him real-time oversight of airspace activity and authority over all air intercept operations. This role placed him at the front line of U.S. responses to any unexplained aerial phenomena over U.S., Canadian, and Mexican airspace.

February 2023 UAP Statements and Non-Ruling-Out of Extraterrestrial Origins

VanHerck gained significant prominence in UFO/UAP discourse in February 2023 when the U.S. military shot down a series of unidentified objects over North American airspace. In the aftermath, military and government officials faced intense media scrutiny about the origins and nature of the objects. When reporters directly asked VanHerck whether he could rule out extraterrestrial origins, he gave a notably cautious response: "I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven't ruled out anything." This statement stood out because it represented one of the highest-ranking U.S. military officials declining to dismiss an extraterrestrial explanation.

Earlier, in July 2022, VanHerck had stated that NORAD had not encountered any UAP that they could identify as definitively extraterrestrial, saying: "We haven't seen that." However, his language shifted during the 2023 incidents—moving from claiming an absence of evidence to actively declining to rule out possibilities. VanHerck also emphasized the unfamiliarity of the objects themselves, stating: "We're calling them objects, not balloons, for a reason," and noting that military analysts were unable to determine the means of propulsion, suspension, or the geographic origin of the detected objects. This public admission of uncertainty from the commander responsible for North American airspace carried substantial weight in UAP circles.