The Defense Department’s system for sending emergency messages to nuclear forces is made up of aging technology that runs on a 1970s-era computer system and uses 8-inch floppy disks.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) made the finding in a broad report highlighting the billions of dollars the government spends every year to maintain largely outdated information technology.
“Replacement parts for the system are difficult to find because they are now obsolete,” the report concluded.
The Defense Department’s Strategic Automated Command and Control System was one of the most egregious examples highlighted in the GAO report. In a footnote, GAO had to define “floppy disk,” noting that modern flash drives hold the equivalent storage of 3.2 million floppy disks.
Read more:
http://thehill.com/policy/technology/281191-us-nuclear-emergency-messaging-system-still-uses-floppy-disks
