Archive

command

The United States’ Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) Operations

IST's Brandon Cortino and Catherine Murphy co-authored a primer that serves to create a stronger understanding of the systems comprising the U.S. NC3 network, summarize modernization plans, and explore the challenges that emerge in an increasingly uncertain threat environment.

command, communications, control, Department of Defense, deterrence, EDTs, modernization, NC3, nuclear, stability

May 7, 2026

Forecasting the AI and Nuclear Landscape

This report, the product of a partnership between IST and Metaculus, aims to assess the risks of escalation between the U.S. and China, including by the integration of AI into NC3.

AI, China, command, communications, control, Innovation and Catastrophic Risk, nuclear

September 21, 2022

NC3 Systems and Strategic Stability: A Global Overview

In a conventional conflict between the United States and China or Russia, each belligerent might attack the other's command, control, communication, and intelligence (C3I) capabilities to gain a war-fighting advantage. However, because a number of...

cold war, command, communication, control, emerging technologies, NC3, NPT, nuclear, PALS, permissive action link, stability, strategic

May 6, 2019

NC3 in a Multipolar Nuclear World: Big Structures and Large Processes

In this essay, Paul Bracken analyzes the big structures and large processes of nuclear multipolarity. A framework for analyzing this global system is developed, one made up of national command and control plus the "system dynamics" of their interlinked behavior. The paper underscores how advanced technologies — cyberwar, drones, and anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) — affects NC3.

anti-satellite, cold war, command, communication, control, cyberwar, drones, Europe, missile defense, NATO, NC3, Non-Proliferation, nuclear, stability, strategic, Strategy, weapon

May 14, 2019

U.S. Nuclear Command and Control for the 21st Century

Dr. John Harvey calls for fixing the legacy NC2 system, including the so-called “thin line” architecture, to address Cold War-era nuclear scenarios which have not yet gone away, developing an NC2 concept and associated architecture to address “modern” nuclear conflict, and generating a plan to field it over the next 10-15 years.

21st century, alert posture, cold war, command, communication, conflict, control, deterrence, NC2, NC3, nuclear, resilience, stability, strategic, Strategy, sustainment

May 23, 2019

France: Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications

Benoît Pelopidas outlines what is known about French NC3, reviewing the primacy of presidential nuclear authority, the nuclear chain of command, civilian control over the arsenal, tension between legitimacy and robustness of the chain of command, the role of military authority in the launch order, inadequate code transfer, and accidents and close calls. He concludes: “Beyond the problems of arbitrariness, mismanagement, incidents and accidents outlined above, there are key components of the French nuclear command and control system about which we either do not know much or have partial and conflicting accounts.”

command, communication, control, France, key, local control, NATO, nuclear, SSL, stability

June 13, 2019

Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications: U.S. Country Profile

In "Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications: U.S. Country Profile," Jeffrey Larsen argues that, for the last 75 years, the deterrence forces of the United States have relied on the credible threat of nuclear weapons use to prevent adversarial attacks.

authority, C2, command, communication, control, deterrence, NC3, nuclear, policy, president, stability, strategic, Strategy, United States, US, World War II

August 22, 2019