Brigadier General Christopher J. Ireland, United States Air Force
Deputy Commander, Canadian NORAD Region
Deputy Combined/Joint Force Air Component Commander 1 Canadian Air Division

Brigadier General Christopher J. Ireland is the Deputy Commander, Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Region, and Deputy Combined/Joint Force Air Component Commander for 1 Canadian Air Division, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is the principal adviser to the Canadian Commander and assumes command of NORAD forces assigned to CANR in the commander's absence. General Ireland is responsible for ensuring that the region's battle staff, air operations center, flying units, radar sensors, intelligence and command-and-control assets provide airspace warning and control and space and maritime warning. He is the senior U.S. Air Force officer in Canada and is responsible for mission effectiveness and administration of U.S. Air Force units assigned to Canada.

General Ireland graduated from Virginia Tech earning his commission through the ROTC program. Over the course of his career, he participated in multiple combat and contingency operations in Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Kosovo and Colombia, including three command tours in combat. Additionally he fulfilled a staff assignment with the International Security Assistance Force (NATO) in Kabul, Afghanistan.

As a staff officer, Brig. Gen. Ireland served with The Joint Staff’s Pakistan-Afghanistan Coordination Cell, and prior to assuming his current position, served at U.S. Special Operations Command as the Commanding General’s Special Assistant/Director of the Commander’s Action Group, and subsequently as the Strategy, Plans and Policy Deputy Director.