The Defense Department still uses 8-inch floppy disks and computers from the 1970s to coordinate nuclear forces, according to a report last year from the Government Accountability Office. Many of the Pentagon’s communications systems are so vulnerable to sabotage that the Army and Navy regularly practice fighting without them. Satellites can be shot down by missiles or have their sensors dazzled by lasers. Their ground links can be jammed or hacked.
Dale Hayden, a senior researcher at the Air Force’s Air University, told an audience of aerospace experts earlier this month that proliferation of antisatellite technology has put America’s communications networks at risk. “In a conflict, it will be impossible to defend all of the space assets in totality,” he said. “Losses must be expected.”
It has never been easier for America’s adversaries—principally Russia and China, but also independent nonstate actors—to degrade the U.S. military’s ability to fight and communicate. Senior military officials have expressed grave doubts about the security of the Pentagon’s information systems and America’s ability to protect the wider commercial virtual infrastructure.