US nukes and floppy disks — a symbol so richly revealing that it defies description

© 2019 Peter Free

 

19 October 2019

 

 

Pretend that you are CEO of a nuke-armed organization

 

It could kill much of humanity, if mistakes were made.

 

 

Would you have been satisfied with the following decades-long state of affairs?

 

From C4ISRNet:

 

 

In 2014, “60 Minutes” made famous the 8-inch floppy disks used by one antiquated Air Force computer system that, in a crisis, could receive an order from the president to launch nuclear missiles from silos across the United States.

 

At long last, that system, the Strategic Automated Command and Control System or SACCS, has dumped the floppy disk, moving to a “highly-secure solid state digital storage solution” this past June . . . .

 

It’s not easy maintaining an IT system that dates from the same era as disco.

 

It’s work so specialized that the Air Force hired civilians to fix SACCS components rather than teaching the trade to airmen . . . .

 

Instead, airmen are responsible for diagnosing problems with the system, testing components and then handing off faulty ones to civilian maintainers for repairs.

 

© 2019 Valerie Insinna, The US nuclear forces’ Dr. Strangelove-era messaging system finally got rid of its floppy disks, c4isrnet.com (17 October 2019)

 

 

As someone peripherally familiar with how slowly (and often incompetently) the American military does anything having to do with computer systems — I doubt that the transition from digital to floppy is anywhere close to complete. Or properly tested.

 

 

In other words

 

The US nuke system probably still runs on technology so old that the military itself cannot maintain or fix it.

 

It has to farm the task out to civilians. Thereby attenuating both chain of command and intelligence security in the process.

 

Presumably, when The War starts, we will call these civilians in to help us keep things running. While (perhaps) we simultaneously try to figure out how to fix an archaic system that has deteriorated into an electronic corruption that is making a mess of our supposedly coordinated nuclear response.

 

 

If you were to list this CEO accomplishment . . .

 

. . .of presumably clear thinking and perennially appropriate preparation — on your resume, no one in their right mind would hire you to run anything more advanced than a shelter for intoxicated cats.

 

 

The moral? — The phrase — "unintelligently complacent and strategically misdirected" — frequently comes to mind . . .

 

. . . when evaluating highest ranking American military leadership in action.

 

Nukes and floppy disks. A symbol so richly revealing that it defies appropriate description.

 

And think of all the billions and billions of dollars these same folks (and their "system") get to allocate to other, less important and often equally messed up, projects.

 

It's a good thing that we love Absurdity.