National Military Command Center

Coordinates: 38°52′16″N 77°03′20″W / 38.87111°N 77.05556°W / 38.87111; -77.05556
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The NMCC in 1976.

The National Military Command Center (NMCC)

Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) to missile launch control centers, nuclear submarines, recon aircraft, and battlefield commanders".[1]

Mission

Donald H. Rumsfeld
walk from the Pentagon's National Military Command Center where they received operational briefings on March 23, 2003.

The NMCC has three main missions, all serving the

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in his role as the principal military advisor to both the Secretary of Defense and the President (also known as the National Command Authority
).

When directed by the NCA, the NMCC is responsible for generating

Emergency Action Messages (EAMs) to missile launch control centers, nuclear submarines, recon aircraft, and battlefield commanders worldwide. It maintains the American end of the famous U.S.–Russia hotline
(the so-called "red telephone").

Organization

The NMCC is operated by five teams on a rotating

watch system. Each team typically has 17–20 personnel on duty performing a wide variety of functions including communications. Teams are led by a deputy director for operations (DDO) and an assistant deputy director for operations (ADDO), and are divided into five duty officer positions:[6] The DDO is typically a brigadier general or rear admiral (lower half), and the ADDO is typically a colonel or Navy captain. In the event that the president convenes a conference with advisors to discuss options for launching a nuclear strike, the DDO would be a key participant in the meeting.[7]

  • Leadership (one DDO and one assistant deputy director for operations (ADDO))
  • Current Operations Section (two senior operations officers (SOO) and one current operations officer (COO))
  • Emergency Action Element (three senior emergency actions officers, EAO, EA NCO)
  • Surveillance (one Officer)
  • Supporting Sections (approximately 8–10 individuals)

The more than 300 people in the NMCC have responsibilities that are operational in nature. The NMCC is not funded through the

Joint Staff, but by the Department of the Air Force; whereas DoD Executive Agent provides logistical, budgetary, facility and systems support to the NMCC.[8]

The Joint Staff

manages the operations of the information system facilities and maintains operational control of the Crisis Management Automated Data Processing System for the National Military Command Center.

List of deputy directors

Branch Portrait Name Serving since Ref

U.S. Army
Mark J. Hovatter
Mark J. Hovatter
Brigadier General
Mark J. Hovatter
(Team Four)
July 2022 [9]

U.S. Marine Corps
Kevin G. Collins Brigadier General
Kevin G. Collins
(Team Three)
May 2023 [10]

U.S. Navy
Rear Admiral (lower half)
Frank A. Rhodes IV
(Team Two)
7 February 2024 [11]

U.S. Air Force
Jason E. Bailey
Jason E. Bailey
Brigadier General
Jason E. Bailey
(Team Five)
April 2023 [12]

U.S. Space Force
Jacob Middleton Jr.
Jacob Middleton Jr.
Brigadier General
Jacob Middleton Jr.
(Team One)
July 2023 [13]

Description

The NMCC includes several war rooms, uses more than 300 operational personnel, and houses the United States side of the 1963

]

History

CONUS air defense was based on warning data compiled by local Aircraft Warning Corps information centers for processing GOC observations and radar tracks to coordinate ground-controlled interception (cf. Battle of Los Angeles). As requested by Gen. Spaatz, a fall 1947[verification needed] AAF "war room" was established in the Pentagon ("operational early in 1948").[14]: 117  Strategic Air Command began using the telephonic Army Command and Administrative Net (ACAN) in 1946 until switching to the 1949 USAF AIRCOMNET "command teletype network" (the independent Strategic Operational Control System (SOCS) with telephones and teletype was "fully installed by 1 May 1950".)[14]
: 77 

1950 Air Force Command Post

The Air Force Command Post (AFCP) was "hastily set up" on June 25, 1950, to replace the 1948 war room when the

Moved to a "more permanent" Pentagon facility in early 1951, the 2nd AFCP location had "a communications center [and] war room, which prepared status displays" (an "Emergency

Ent AFB, Colorado, would be assessed, and suspicion or confirmation of attack would be relayed to the AFCP and SAC headquarters. The "Pentagon would pass the warning to the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the JCS"; and the SOCS allowed "relay [of] their orders to the combat forces".[14]
: 119 

1953 JCS Pentagon annex

At the Pentagon, an annex was established c. 1952–53 by the

Pershing Heights, Tokyo.[14]: 55  ADC built a new Ent AFB blockhouse in 1954 and "in August 1955 OSD approved the 'automatic' activation of the [Raven Rock] AJCC on the declaration of air defense warning or notice of surprise attack.[16]

1956 Raven Rock annex
In July 1956 in the Pennsylvania bunker, a joint "War Room Annex was established" and was operated by the Air Force.[16] In 1955 the National Security Council designated the AFCP as the "national air defense warning center",[17] and Raven Rock's scope "was broadened in April 1957 [for] activation prior to emergency if JCS thought it necessary."[16]

In 1957

Offutt AFB nuclear bunkers[19]: 218  (cf. 1958 Bare Mountain bunker.) On 20 October 1960, the JCS "instructed the Joint Staff to establish a Joint Alternate Command Element (JACE)" for rotating[specify] battle staffs to the AJCC for temporary duty.[16]

1960 Joint War Room

The Joint War Room (JWR) consoles became operational in November 1960 and on December 21,

NCS).[23]—the Final Report of the National Command and Control Task Force (Partridge Report) was completed on 14 November 1961.[24] After developmental cost overruns, "OSD in mid-1961 changed both the SAGE and SAC 465L programs to pre-battle systems [and instead] approved a Post-Attack Command Control System (PACCS) for SAC and a Backup Interceptor Control (BUIC) system for ADC and NORAD".[16] The Raven Rock JACE "was activated on 11 July 1961 under USAF Brig. Gen. Willard W. Smith [with the 5] staffs permanently stationed in Washington and an administrative section at Ft. Ritchie" (rotations began in October 1961),[16] and development of the USAF's "separate, austere Post-Attack Command and Control System (PACCS)" began in July 1961.[25]
: 306 

1961 NCC Task Force

"The National Command and Control Task Force, headed by General Partridge, submitted its findings on 14 November 1961" (Partridge Report), which recommended "the Joint War Room become the National Military Command Center (NMCC)"—it was "to become the nerve center of a

NEACP aircraft on 24-hour ground alert, 2 NECPA ships, "and interconnecting communications".[16]

1962 NMCC

The NMCC was begun in early 1962

MACV headquarters in Saigon" during the Vietnam War.[29]

1972 upgrade

The WWMCCS "ADP upgrade program" included 1972 computer installations (e.g., 2

Satellite Early Warning System (SEWS) and directly from the PAVE PAWS sensor systems".[30]

In popular culture

  • The 1964 films Dr. Strangelove and Fail Safe both depict the Pentagon war room.
  • In The Sum of All Fears (2002), Jack Ryan (played by Ben Affleck) goes to the NMCC and convinces the DDO to get him on the US-Russian hotline, trying to stop an all-out nuclear confrontation between the two nuclear powers.
  • The 2007 Transformers film has a scene set in an imaginative representation of the National Military Command Center.
  • The Call of Duty: Black Ops zombies map "Five" begins in the war room of the Pentagon, appearing almost identical to the real-life counterpart.

See also

External image
image icon floor plans & photos

References

  1. ^ a b "title tbd". GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
  2. ^ "DoD Executive Agent". Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2015-02-11.
  3. ^ "'The Pentagon Goes to War': National Military Command Center".
  4. ^ "Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst".
  5. ^ "National Military Command Center Documents- NSA/CSS". Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2010-05-15.
  6. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-02-24. Retrieved 2013-06-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ Merrill, Dave; Syeed, Nafeesa; Harris, Brittany (September 7, 2016). "To Launch a Nuclear Strike, President Trump Would Take These Steps". Bloomberg. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  8. ^ "Executive Agent". Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
  9. ^ "Brigadier General Mark J. Hovatter - General Officer Management Office".
  10. ^ https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2023/september/marine-corps-general-officers-and-senior-enlisted-leaders
  11. ^ https://www.mynavyhr.navy.mil/Portals/55/Career/Detailing/Flag/March%202024%20Roster%20Public.pdf?ver=_RcWhZB_Ln3fuLVZ5g4hjQ%3d%3d
  12. ^ "Jason E. Bailey".
  13. ^ "JACOB "dB" MIDDLETON".
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h Wainstein, L. (June 1975). The Evolution of U.S. Strategic Command and Control and Warning: Part One (1945-1953) (Report). Vol. Study S-467. Institute for Defense Analyses. pp. 1–138.
  15. ^ . Retrieved 2011-09-26.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Sturm, Thomas A. (August 1966) [declassified "6/05/05"]. The Air Force and The Worldwide Military Command and Control System: 1961–1965 (PDF) (Report). Retrieved 2014-05-15. By 1959, the services as well as JCS regarded Raven Rock as their primary emergency deployment center. For the Air Force, it served as Headquarters USAF Advanced, capable of receiving the Chief of Staff and key officers. … on 1 October 1962…the underground facility…formerly designated the Alternate Joint Communications Center (AJCC), was renamed the Altername National Military Command Center (ANMCC). The term AJCC remained in use but now applied only to the Army-managed communications complex at the ANMCC site.8 (quotation from p. 18)
  17. ^ Sturm, Thomas A. (August 1966). The Air Force and the Worldwide Military Command and Control System, 1961–1965 (Report). Historical Division Liaison Office, US Air Force. pp. 70–71. (cited by Wainstein p. 119 footnote 14)
  18. Richards-Gebaur AFB
    . This feature permitted the ALCOP to continue operations of the network and carry on with the alert procedures should NORAD become a war casualty."
  19. ^ a b Moriarty, J. K. (June 1975). The Evolution of U.S. Strategic Command and Control and Warning: Part Two (1954-1960) (Report). Vol. Study S-467. Institute for Defense Analyses. pp. 139–266.
  20. ^ Sturm, Thomas A. (Summer 1969). Emergence of the Air Force Command and Control System. Aerospace Commentary (Report). Vol. 1. p. 42. (cited by Wainstein p. 119)
  21. ^ Irvin, William D (November 1961). "Defense Communications Agency, A Progress Report". Signal: 8. (Cited by Chapter 2)
  22. ^ Chapter 2: Defense Communications Agency and System (Report). Figure 11.
  23. ^ a b Chapter 2: Defense Communications Agency and System p. 19[full citation needed]
  24. . Retrieved 2015-02-11.
  25. ^ a b c d Ponturo, J. (June 1975). The Evolution of U.S. Strategic Command and Control and Warning: Part Three (1961-1967) (Report). Vol. Study S-467. Institute for Defense Analyses. pp. 267–370. In February [1962], the Secretary of Defense approved a National Military Command System (NMCS) composed of four major elements: the National Military Command Center (NMCC), an evolution of the JCS Joint War Room; the Alternate National Military Command Center (ANMCC), a redesignation of the JCS installation at the AJCC; and two mobile alternates, the NECPA and the NEACP.18 The following October he issued a DoD directive on the Worldwide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS) that outlined the NMCS in detail, to include the NMCC, ANMCC, NECPA, NEACP, and such other alternates as might be established, together with their interconnecting communications; and defined their relationship to the command and control "subsystems" of the service headquarters, the CINCs, and other DoD agencies.19 … The fixed underground ANMCC would be phased out as superfluous, whichever version [50-man or 300-man DUCC] was chosen, and the other NMCS facilities would be cut back to some degree according to one or the other.
  26. . Retrieved 2015-02-11.
  27. ^ Wainstein, L.-Project Leader (June 1975). The Evolution of U.S. Strategic Command and Control and Warning, 1945-1972: Executive Summary (Report). Vol. Study S-467. Institute for Defense Analyses. pp. xi–xxviii.
  28. . Retrieved 2015-02-11.
  29. . Retrieved 2015-02-11.
  30. ^
    PARCS
    ) as well as SEWS and PAVE PAWS data by way of NORAD. In 1977, HQ USAF approved the acquisition of UNIVAC 1100/42s to replace the original UNIVAC 1106s at the four CCPDS sites as a means of satisfying the increased processing requirements generated by additional and improved warning systems. (pdf p. 64)

External links

38°52′16″N 77°03′20″W / 38.87111°N 77.05556°W / 38.87111; -77.05556