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One of the most fundamental and dramatic changes since World War II in the conduct of strategic war has been the intense compression of time. Whereas in World War II it took the United States several years to train, transport, and launch major forces against an enemy, the present engagement time for a massive nuclear exchange of intercontinental missiles between the United States and the U.S.S.R. is fifteen minutes. Approximately half of that time would elapse before detection and communication reaches the national command center (the President), leaving seven or eight minutes for national decision and reaction. This highly centralized decision and reaction process has been among the major changes since World War II in our conduct of strategic warfare. It is based on the gathering together of information, on a real‐time basis, into a national command center where it can be evaluated and used by strategic decisionmakers.