From the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the personnel of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) scrutinise the skies for such aerial threats as missile attacks and hijacked planes.
But for the next 24 hours, Norad will not just be monitoring all aircraft, missiles and spacecraft with its network of satellites, ground and airborne radar and fighter jets.
The US and Canadian military will also track the global flight path of a distinctive rotund red-clad individual on a sleigh and his team of reindeer, for the entertainment of children around the world.
Deploying the latest social media tools to chart the progress of an ancient traveller, Norad’s Christmas Eve Santa Tracker is expected to hit another record this year, bolstered by an unusual dose of controversy about the “militarisation” of the season.
Last year, the operation attracted some 22 million website visits, 1.2 million Facebook followers, 950,000 smartphone application downloads and 129,0000 Twitter followers as well as 114,000 old-fashioned telephone calls.
Michelle Obama is among the 1,200 volunteers expected to help handle enquiries this Christmas Eve, fielding calls forwarded to the first family’s holiday retreat in Hawaii, as she has since 2010. More than a fifth of the enquiries come from Britain.
Unsurprisingly, the most popular question are variants of “where is Santa and when is he arriving at my house?” But volunteers also handle inquiries ranging from his age and elf workforce to whether he leaves presents for dogs or delivers to heaven. And from some older children, there are inevitable doubts about whether Santa does exist.
Major Jamie Humphreys is among those who will be dealing with the incoming barrage. “Nearly all the kids want to know when he’s going to be delivering their presents,” he said. “We tell them that we can’t give a firm time, but they do have to be asleep. When we say that, we can often hear the parents on the line adding ‘yes’ or ‘did you hear that?’ in a relieved tone.”
“For those who ask his age, we tell them that Norad intelligence indicates that Santa is at least 16 centuries old. And if they are sounding sceptical, I tell them to believe in their dreams.”
Nothing can prepare the Santa tracking team for some questions, however – like the boy who called the hotline last year, 10 days after the Sandy Hook school massacre.
“I’m from Newtown, Connecticut, where the shooting was,” he said. “Is it possible that Santa can bring extra presents so I can deliver them to the families that lost kids?”
Sara Berghoff, the volunteer who took the call, was briefly taken off guard, not least as she was just 13. “If I can get ahold of him, I’ll try to get the message to him,” she said, answering on her feet.
The programme began by accident when Colorado children flooded the hotline of Norad’s predecessor with calls after a local newspaper mistakenly printed its number in a Christmas advertisement in 1955.
It is of course intended as feel-good festive fun, not to mention some good public relations for the US and Canadian militaries in what has become the defence department’s biggest public outreach operation.
But an unexpected tinge of controversy was thrown into the mix this year when the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood criticised an animated video on the Norad Santa website.
The clip, which showed two unarmed Canadian F-18 fighter jets briefly escorting Santa’s sleigh, injected “militarism” into a beloved tradition, the children’s advocacy group complained.
It was a criticism that rather bemused those at Norad, not least as this indeed a joint US-Canadian military operation that oversees patrols of the skies. And Norad has long shown its fighter jets in its tracking imagery.
As to Santa’s route, there is of course no advance flight path, but he usually sweeps down from the North Pole, heading across the world from east to west, before looping into the Pacific to Hawaii and a traditional final stop in Alaska en route back to his Arctic home
英国《每日电讯报》报道，北美防空联合司令部(NORAD)再次启动了一年一度的圣诞老人追踪计划。其位于落基山脚下的总部将不仅通过其精密的雷达监视系统检测飞入美国领空的飞机和导弹，还将与加拿大的军方一道追踪一个独特的飞行体在圣诞前夕的行踪：圣诞老人和他的驯鹿队。
NORAD专门为这项行动设立了“圣诞老人追踪网站”，去年该网站点击率达到2200万，在脸谱网吸引了约120万追随者，主题智能手机软件下载量达到95五次，推特网粉丝数增加了约129万。此外还有11.4万人打进了热线电话。
从美国东部时间12月24日凌晨2点开始到25日凌晨5点，约有1200志愿者将帮助接听孩子们打来的热线电话。美国第一夫人米歇尔·奥巴马也是志愿者之一，届时电话将被转接到第一家庭在夏威夷的度假地，她将与其他志愿者一道回答孩子们的提问。
每年，志愿者们都会接到五花八门的问题，最热门的问题当属“圣诞老人飞到哪里了？他什么时候到我家”，除此之外还有打听圣诞老人的年纪以及他是否会给宠物送礼物，是否会将礼物送到天堂等等，当然年纪大一点儿的孩子还会问圣诞老人是不是真的存在。
“NORAD官方提供的答案是，圣诞老人的年纪大概有16个世纪那么长。对于那些明显有点怀疑的人，我会劝告他们相信梦的力量。”志愿者之一杰米·汉弗莱斯说道。
这项行动可以追溯到1955年，当时一家报纸刊登了圣诞节广告，声称只要拨入热线就能够联系上圣诞老人。然而这个热线号码却被印错了一个字母，阴差阳错的印成了NORAD的官方热线。在圣诞那天，数以万计的孩子打入了这个电话，NORAD的工作人员也将错就错的扮演起了圣诞老人的代理人，这个传统一直延续至今。
虽然有人质疑美军借此宣传其军事力量，将军事主义的思想灌输给孩子，但是NORAD的圣诞老人追踪计划仍然广受欢迎。当然，圣诞老人并没有一个确切的飞行路线，但是他通常情况下会从北极出发，然后由东向西飞越地球，在夏威夷稍作停留之后飞向阿拉斯加，最后回到自己位于北极的家。
