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TheNational Military Command Center (NMCC)[1] is aPentagon command and communications center for theNational Command Authority (i.e., thePresident of the United States and theUnited States Secretary of Defense). Maintained by theDepartment of the Air Force as the "DoD Executive Agent" for NMCC logistical, budgetary, facility, and systems support,[2] the NMCC operators are in theJoint Staff'sJ-3 (Operations) Directorate.[citation needed] "The NMCC is responsible for generatingEmergency Action Messages (EAMs) tomissile launch control centers,nuclear submarines,recon aircraft, and battlefield commanders".[1]
The NMCC has three main missions, all serving theChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in his role as the principal military advisor to both theSecretary of Defense and thePresident (also known as theNational Command Authority).
When directed by the NCA, the NMCC is responsible for generatingEmergency Action Messages (EAMs) to missile launch control centers, nuclear submarines, recon aircraft, and battlefield commanders worldwide. It maintains the American end of the famousU.S.–Russia hotline (the so-called "red telephone").
The NMCC is operated by five teams on a rotatingwatch 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 fiveduty officer positions:[6] The DDO is typically abrigadier general orrear admiral (lower half), and the ADDO is typically acolonel orNavy 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]
The more than 300 people in the NMCC have responsibilities that are operational in nature. The NMCC is not funded through theJoint Staff, but by theDepartment of the Air Force; whereas DoD Executive Agent provides logistical, budgetary, facility and systems support to the NMCC.[8]
The Joint StaffJ-3Command Systems Operations Division 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.
| Branch | Portrait | Name | Serving since | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 U.S. Army |  | Brigadier General Adam Ake (Team Four) | June 2024 | [9] |
 U.S. Marine Corps |  | Brigadier General Walker M. Field (Team Three) | ~June 2024 | [10] |
 U.S. Navy |  | Rear Admiral (lower half) William R. Reed (Team Two) | 3 March 2025 | [11] |
 U.S. Air Force |  | Brigadier General Matthew E. Jones (Team Five) | June 2024 | [12] |
 U.S. Space Force |  | Brigadier General Robert W. Davis (Team One) | July 2025 | [13] |
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The NMCC includes several war rooms, uses more than 300 operational personnel, and houses the United States side of the 1963Moscow–Washington hotline which links the Pentagon and the Kremlin. Data into the NMCC includes the warning "on the size, origin, and targeting of an attack" (e.g., from theNORAD/NORTHCOM Command Center). The NMCC'sCrisis Management Automated Data Processing Systems are under the control of theJ-3 Command Systems Operations Division.[citation needed]
World War II Pentagon construction allowed a centralmilitary installation for theNavy andWar Departments to communicate withtheater commands, andCONUS air defense was based on warning data compiled by localAircraft Warning Corps information centers for processingGOC observations and radar tracks to coordinateground-controlled interception (cf.Battle of Los Angeles). As requested byGen. 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 telephonicArmy Command and Administrative Net (ACAN) in 1946 until switching to the 1949 USAFAIRCOMNET "command teletype network" (the independentStrategic Operational Control System (SOCS) with telephones and teletype was "fully installed by 1 May 1950".)[14]: 77
The Air Force Command Post (AFCP) was "hastily set up" on June 25, 1950, to replace the 1948 war room when theKorean War began.[14]: 117 On the Pentagon's floor, the AFCP served "as a reception point for radio messages between [General]Vandenberg and hisFEAF commanders duringAir Staff after-duty hours."[15] After a direct telephone line was installed in mid-July 1950 betweenCONAC headquarters and the26th Air Division HQ[where?] ("the beginning of the Air Force air raid warning system"); in August "PresidentTruman had adirect telephone line installed between theAir Force Pentagon post and theWhite House."[15]
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 "EmergencyAir Staff Actions Office [was] incorporated into the command post early in 1952").[14]: 117 Alternate AFCP sites in 1951 were atLangley AFB (primary) andMaxwell AFB (secondary).[14]: 119 Radar tracks from the 1952Permanent System radar stations relayed to theAir Defense Command command center atEnt 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
At the Pentagon, an annex was establishedc. 1952–53 by theJoint Chiefs of Staff was "operated by the Air Force as an adjunct to the AFCP"[14]: 119 and received reports fromJoint Coordination Centers inBuckinghamshire, England, andPershing 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]
In 1957NORAD collocated command center operations in the 1954 ADC blockhouse (later into the 1963Chidlaw Building and in 1966,Cheyenne Mountain Complex). On July 1, 1958, the AFCP was connected to NORAD'sAlert Network Number 1, as 1 of 29 transmit/receive stations[18] (a differing "worldwide telephone system" was complete "from national authorities to unified commanders" by December 1958.)[16] Starting in August 1959 "with USAF assistance [the] JCS set up its own Joint War Room (JWR)" at the Pentagon.[16] In September 1960 at theOffutt AFB nuclear bunkers the "installation of a SAC display warning system" included 3 consoles in theOffutt 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]
TheJoint War Room (JWR) consoles became operational in November 1960 and on December 21,[16] the AFCP reverted to a USAF mission when its "joint and national responsibilities" ended.[20] The September 1960Winter Study Group and the October 1960WSEG Report 50 recommended "interlocking the various fixed command posts" into a "coupled command system" with mobile centers and a "bomb alarm system".[19]: 232 The subsequentNational Defense Communications Control Center (NDCCC) opened[where?] on March 6, 1961[21] as part of theNational Communications System (NCS) framework "encompassing all federal assets"[22] including approximately "79 major relay stations scattered around the globe" (cf. the NORADCMC's 427MNCS).[23]—theFinal 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 boththe 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, austerePost-Attack Command and Control System (PACCS)" began in July 1961.[25]: 306
"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 aNational Military Command System" with underground and mobile alternate command centers.[16]: 15 An 8 March 1962 JCCDG plan for a 220,000 sq ft (20,000 m2) addition to the JWR was too expensive, and the group postponed NMCC planning until WWMCCS planning was completed (a concept was complete in late March.)[16]: 15 On 2 June 1962 Secretary McNamara issued a memorandum directing that theNMCS be put into operation,[26] and a committee under the director of the Office of Emergency Planning recommended on 11 June 1962 that the NMCS include civilian executive departments for emergencies.[16]: 16 The JCS approved the NMCS plan on 19 June, and the Joint Command Control Requirements Group formed in June 1962 revised the plan which SECDEF approved in early July.[16] September refinements in the plan were approved by SECDEF on 17 October in DOD Directive S-5100.30, which conceived the WWMMCCS with five types of C2 systems with the NMCS to serve the president/SECDEF/JCS as the primary type of system and containing the NMCC, the ANMCC, 3NEACP aircraft on 24-hour ground alert, 2NECPA ships, "and interconnecting communications".[16]
The NMCC was begun in early 1962[27] (opened early October)[28] when the JCS area with the Joint War Room was expanded from ~7,000 sq ft (650 m2) to ~21,000 sq ft (2,000 m2) by 1965[25]: 315 (the Pentagon's "Navy Flag Plot" coordinated theCuban Missile Crisis blockade.)[25]: 312 The NMCC was initially considered an "interim" location until theDeep Underground Command Center (DUCC) could be completed below the Pentagon (never built). In December 1963 "SAC accepted the first 465L elements and began to send a limited flow of [data] traffic through them."[16] The NMCC had "direct communications withMACV headquarters in Saigon" during theVietnam War.[29]
The WWMCCS "ADP upgrade program" included 1972 computer installations (e.g., 2COC "Data Net 355 computers")[23] andc. mid-1972, additional NMCC expansion enlarged it to ~30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2) and included theJoint Operational Reporting (JOPREP) system.[25]: 317 In 1977, the NMCC was 1 of 6 initial sites of theWWMCCS Intercomputer Network (WIN) developed from a 1971–77 experimental program with testing and use by the JCS.[30] TheCommand Center Processing and Display System (CCPDS) replaced NMCC UNIVAC 1106 computersc. 1977 with "dedicatedUNIVAC 1100/42 computers" for console and large screen displays.[30] By 1981 as part of theWWMCCS Information System (WIS), the NMCC received data "directly from theSatellite Early Warning System (SEWS) and directly from thePAVE PAWS sensor systems".[30]
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By 1959, the services as well as JCS regarded Raven Rock as their primary emergency deployment center. For the Air Force, it served asHeadquarters 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)
In February [1962], the Secretary of Defense approved aNational 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 theWorldwide 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.
Worldwide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS), is the nucleus of a dynamic and evolvingWWMCCS Information System which serves theNational Command Authorities and key military commanders across a broad spectrum of planning and operational activities from day-to-day and crisis operations to conventional and nuclear war. The use of this information system, involving 83 Honeywell 6000-series CPUs at 26 sites. … Command Center Processing and Display System (CCPDS) This system consists of dedicatedUNIVAC 1100/42 computers, software, display control elements, consoles and associated system support hardware at NORAD, SAC, the National Military Command Center (NMCC), and the Alternate National Military Command Center (ANMCC). Currently, data is received at each of the four CCPDS sites directly from the Satellite Early Warning System (SEWS) and directly from the PAVE PAWS sensor systems. The NMCC, ANMCC, and SAC also receive data indirectly from theBallistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS),Sea-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) Detection and Warning System,COBRA DANE, and the Perimeter Acquisition Radar Attack Characterization System (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)
38°52′16″N77°03′20″W / 38.87111°N 77.05556°W /38.87111; -77.05556