Defense Cubed

Ten years ago Harold Brown, then Secretary of Defense, estimated that the Soviet nuclear arsenal could destroy 95 per cent of our ICBMs, and the situation has worsened since then. These developments have made our strategic planners quite nervous. Current plans call for meeting this threat with mobile ICBMs, new submarine-launched missiles, and the B-2 stealth bomber. All this is expected to cost some $300 billion over the next ten years. And yet it is mostly money down the drain, unless we find a way to protect the Achilles’ heel of the American nuclear deterrent—the command, control, and communication network for our nuclear forces.

This network, known as “C-cubed,” is the nerve center of the U.S. strategic force. If the United States is attacked by missiles, the C-cubed network provides the President with crucial information: Where is the attack coming from? Headed toward which targets? Accidental launch or massive attack? All the information flows up to the President through the C-cubed network. After he decides on a response, the orders flow down the chain of command through the network again, to the commanders in the field.

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James J. Frelk

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Department of Defense

Ten years ago Harold Brown, then Secretary of Defense, estimated that the Soviet nuclear arsenal could destroy 95 per cent of our ICBMs, and the situation has worsened since then. These developments have made our strategic planners quite nervous. Current plans call for meeting this threat with mobile ICBMs, new submarine-launched missiles, and the B-2 stealth bomber. All this is expected to cost some $300 billion over the next ten years. And yet it is mostly money down the drain, unless we find a way to protect the Achilles’ heel of the American nuclear deterrent—the command, control, and communication network for our nuclear forces.

This network, known as “C-cubed,” is the nerve center of the U.S. strategic force. If the United States is attacked by missiles, the C-cubed network provides the President with crucial information: Where is the attack coming from? Headed toward which targets? Accidental launch or massive attack? All the information flows up to the President through the C-cubed network. After he decides on a response, the orders flow down the chain of command through the network again, to the commanders in the field.