Summary: Management and development problems with the Survivable Communications Integration system--an automated communications network designed to transmit missile attack warnings to the nation's leaders by both phone lines and satellite--have contributed to a 65-percent increase in program costs and a three-year delay in completion. Because the prime contractor was unable to deliver a system that could process sensor data fast enough to meet specifications, the Air Force allowed the contractor to replace the computer platform, for the second time at government expense, with a faster, more powerful model. The Air Force has also reduced the number of communications media to be used from five to three, thus reducing the system's survivability--a key factor for its justification. According to the Air Force, commercial high-speed phone lines would probably be the first communications medium to go down during a nuclear attack. If a nuclear strike should occur before the military's satellite system became operational, attack warnings could be sent by only one satellite system.
