I think Norad has been up and running at least few weeks this year. They had games and interactive stuff up about Santa for kids to explore.
I dont think they normally do the military thing big time – there have been complaints to them this year about military jets accompanying Santa on an animation. I suspect it was just a bit thoughtless to do that, rather than a policy. I think its really great they provide the santa tracking and games service for children.
Its worth reading about the history of the site as its a very nice and sweet story. They have been replying to children since 1955 and its run by service members familys etc who volunteer their time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NORAD_Tracks_Santa
http://www.noradsanta.org/
(Norad HQ section gives the history of the site, the rest is fun stuff and tracking for the kids.)