Defense Primer: Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications (NC3) (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised Oct. 3, 2024 |
| Report Number |
IF11697 |
| Report Type |
In Focus |
| Authors |
John R. Hoehn |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
The Department of Defense (DOD) is replacing many
elements of the U.S. nuclear command, control, and
communications (NC3) architecture as part of the United
States’ ongoing efforts to recapitalize its nuclear forces.
This architecture—composed of what some estimate as 204
individual ground, space, and airborne systems spread
across a number of military services, combatant commands,
and DOD components—supports the President’s exercise of
nuclear employment authority. (CRS In Focus IF10521,
Defense Primer: Command and Control of Nuclear
Forces.)
U.S. NC3 systems must operate at all times, including
during and after an attack on the United States, to sense and
assess the operational environment; facilitate planning and
decisionmaker conferencing; and transmit orders from the
President to U.S. nuclear forces: aircraft in the air, ballistic
submarines (SSBNs) underwater, and intercontinental
ballistic missiles (ICBMs) deployed in silos across the
Midwest. (CRS In Focus IF10519, Defense Primer:
Strategic Nuclear Forces, and CRS In Focus IF12735, U.S.
Extended Deterrence and Regional Nuclear Capabilities.)
The 2010, 2018, and 2022 Nuclear Posture Reviews
(NPRs)—periodic congressionally mandated executive
branch assessments of U.S. nuclear weapons policy—
highlighted the importance of modernizing NC3. According
to April 2024 congressional testimony of then-Principal
Assistant Deputy Secretary of Defense for Space Policy
Vipin Narang, the Biden Administration requested $11.4
billion for NC3 architecture modernization in FY2025. The
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated in 2023 that
DOD efforts to sustain and modernize NC3 would cost
$117 billion from 2023 through 2032. Through defense
authorization and appropriation legislation and hearings,
Congress has provided funding for and oversight of NC3
architecture sustainment and modernization.
