Synthesis Review: NC3 Systems and Strategic Stability: A Global Overview

This essay is the Synthesis Report of a workshop of fifty NC3 experts held at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University on January 22 to 23, 2019. Nine states have nuclear weapons and fourteen states have nuclear command, control, and communications (NC3) systems. How multiple nuclear-armed states interact in nuclear-prone conflicts is poorly understood. National NC3 capabilities are technically dissimilar and operate in different governance and cultural systems. Of note, there are no common standards of NC3 performance. Additionally, the impact of NC3 systems on the risk of nuclear war in regional flashpoints is a new factor in the decisions of the global nuclear weapons states. How NC3 operates in this new complexity, including how new technologies such as social media, quantum computing, cyberwarfare, autonomous vehicles, and artificial intelligence affect legacy NC3 systems and organizations, are urgent questions for researchers and practitioners alike. The Synthesis Report also suggests possible NC3 communication, cooperation, and collaboration measures between NC3 operators and practitioners, and the involvement of nuclear weapons, nuclear umbrella, and non-nuclear weapons states as a way to reduce the risk of nuclear war. It will be followed by the publication of 29 NC3 specialist papers