It is 2028, and the United States Space Force’s early warning radar modernization is complete. Technical Sergeant Jack Nichols works at Buckley Space Force Base operating systems that detect and assess ballistic missile threats against the United States and Canada. Since arriving at the Colorado base, Nichols has experienced his share of false alarms.
However, these are no ordinary false alarms; the system Nichols watches provides early warning that the United States is under ballistic missile attack. While these existential alerts would distress most, he maintains an “old school” validation protocol: He evaluates the warning against his sensor’s input settingsThe post Prove It Before You Use It: Nuclear Retaliation Under Uncertainty appeared first on War on the Rocks.