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A screengrab from a US Department of
Defense video shows a nuclear missile silo for a Minuteman intercontinental
ballistic missile, ICBM, preparing for a test launch. US DOD VIDEO
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According to a watch dog report
released Wednesday, America’s nuclear force still uses floppy disks designed in
the 1970s to coordinate some of its functions.
The report by the Government
Accountability Office points out a number of worrying outdated “legacy systems”
still in use across the US government that desperately need of upgrade.
A Pentagon command and control system
that “coordinated the operational functions of the United States’ nuclear
forces, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear bombers, and
tanker support aircrafts,” runs on an IBM Series/1 computer, a type of computer
debuted in 1976, and uses 8-inch floppy disks.
The military did not make an immediate
respond for request for a comment but according to the GAO report, the Pentagon
is planning on fully replacing the system by the end of 2020.
GAO also added that the federal
government is spending a lot more on “operations and maintenance” of its
computer system rather than on its “development, modernization and enhancement.”
The report also found that the
Department of the Treasury uses “assembly language code,” which was initially
designed in the 1950s.
The Office of Management and Budget
has started an initiative to replace the legacy system, “but until this policy
is finalized and fully executed, the government runs the risk of maintaining
systems that have outlived their effectiveness,” the reporter states.
Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer
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