If and when NC3 systems fail under stress, leaders must be able to communicate. Today’s NC3 systems rely on both legacy and modern technologies that are increasingly vulnerable to rapidly emerging, disruptive capabilities.
In October 2019, as part of the Institute for Security and Technology’s efforts to identify the impact of emerging technologies on nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) and global stability, we hosted a series of cross-sector discussions in the Bay Area.
“Last Chance: Communicating at the Nuclear Brink,” a two-day gathering at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), was hosted by IST, the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security, and made possible by generous support from the MacArthur Foundation.
These discussions identified the critical necessity for a secure, global, crisis communications ability. The workshop resulted in CATALINK, an additive solution to the likely communication breakdowns that will characterize crises in the digital age.
In partnership with Nautilus, IST released a series of reports based on discussions at the workshop. In addition, IST released The Fourth Leg, a podcast focused on one of the most complex systems in the world today—nuclear command and control—and its increasingly complicated future. Hosted by Institute for Security and Technology’s Philip Reiner, we go straight to the experts across multiple sectors to discuss the modernization of nuclear command and control systems.
