The watchman: as commander of Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, Duane Deal guards the skies

This paper provides a brief profile of Duane Deal, a brigadier general in the US Air Force and commander of the famous Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center. Deal leads North America's first line of defense against threats that range from long-range missiles and hijacked airliners to rogue asteroids and falling space debris. An aerospace engineer by training and an avid pilot, he's taken part in more than a dozen investigations of rocket and aviation accidents, including the inquiry into the Columbia space shuttle disaster.