COLORADO SPRINGS - Gen. Victor E. Renuart Jr., the former senior military assistant to the secretary of defense, took over as head of NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command here Friday.

In a change-of-command ceremony attended by Defense Secretary Robert Gates at Peterson Air Force Base, Renuart took command from Adm. Timothy Keating, who had presided over NORAD and the Northern Command during the turbulent aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Katrina was Northern Command's biggest real-world test after its creation in the aftermath of 9/11 to provide Defense Department support for law enforcement and emergency responders.

Keating pledged faster, better-coordinated disaster response from Northern Command after reorganizing its procedures in the wake of Katrina.

Keating also initiated plans to move NORAD out of its historic operations center, dug into Cheyenne Mountain in 1966.

NORAD, the joint U.S.-Canadian command that monitored the Cold War skies for air and space attacks, is moving above ground to new facilities at Peterson Air Force Base.

Renuart is a fighter pilot who served as a squadron commander during the first Gulf War in 1991, and was an architect of the 2003 U.S. invasion plan in Iraq.

Keating will move to Honolulu to take over as head of the U.S. Pacific Command.