NORAD's crazy Santa cause

An inside look at the single largest public outreach program for the Department of Defense — and the Pentagon's most elaborate propaganda operation.

It all started long ago with a typo in a Sears department store ad: “Hey, Kiddies!" Santa Claus exclaimed. "Call me direct and be sure and dial the correct number.”

But the number printed in the newspaper in December 1955 had a digit wrong — and was instead the direct line into the secret military nerve center in Colorado Springs, Colo., where the Pentagon was on the lookout to prevent nuclear war. The Air Force officer and World War II fighter pilot who took the first call that day for Father Christmas thought it was a crank — and Col. Harry Shoup sternly said so.

“The Department finds Mr. Kris Kringle d/b/a Santa Claus fit, as well as, jolly willing, and uniquely able to engage in the interstate air transportation for which he has requested a certificate," the order says.
On Christmas Eve 1955, Col. Harry Shoup began receiving calls from kids asking to speak with Santa Claus. Shoup worked at the operations department for the air defense center, now known as NORAD, so the call must have come as a bit of a surprise.

Instead of telling the kids they dialed the wrong number, Shoup said he wasn’t Santa Claus but he could track him on radar.

All night, Shoup and his team fielded calls, giving kids details about Santa’s location as he and his reindeer flew through the sky to deliver gifts to children.

A tradition was born and NORAD has opened its phone lines for its annual Santa Tracker ever since.

Last year, hundreds of volunteers, including many NORAD employees and first lady Michelle Obama, fielded 135,000 calls from 234 countries. That’s 40 calls per volunteer per hour.

“Our constellation of defense satellites uses infrared tracking to keep pinpoint accuracy on the heat signature from Rudolph’s nose,” NORAD says in its promotional materials. “Ground based radar tracking sites relay global positioning updates to our elite fighter pilots, who often escort Santa’s sleigh through rough weather.”