A new center created to help break down stovepipes across the Pentagon is getting closer to being up and running.
On April 3, U.S. Strategic Command officials formally declared initial operational capability of the Nuclear Command, Control and Communications Enterprise Center, which oversees the Defense Department's nuclear command, control and communications systems.
The NEC acts as the heart of the Nuclear Command, Control and Communications entity, whose main goal is to focus on restructuring situation monitoring, decision-making, force direction, force management and planning for NC3.
Declaring IOC is a significant milestone to USSTRATCOM’s commitment to deliver assured, resilient and reliable NC3 capabilities throughout the 21st century, said Elizabeth Durham-Ruiz, director of the new center.
To arrive at this point, USSTRATCOM first had to execute the NC3 Governance Improvement Implementation Plan as directed by the defense secretary. That framework required USSTRATCOM to create the foundation for the NEC, set program roles and provide direction to partner agencies.
“We want to bring a whole-of-government approach to NC3 as we focus on operations, requirements, systems engineering and integration, and analytics for the entire enterprise,” Durham-Ruiz said.