ABSTRACT
Crisis management, including nuclear crisis management, is both a competitive and cooperative endeavor between military adversaries. The first requirement of successful crisis management is communications transparency. Transparency includes clear signaling and undistorted communications. Infowar can destroy or disrupt communication channels necessary for successful crisis management. Information warfare during a crisis will almost certainly increase the time pressure under which political leaders operate. Policymakers searching for escapes from crisis denouements need flexible options and creative problem-solving. The dominant scenario of a general nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union preoccupied Cold War policy makers and, under that assumption, concerns about escalation control and war termination were swamped by apocalyptic visions of the end of days. US plans for Prompt Global Strike systems including missiles or future space planes were first approved during the George W. Bush administration and carried forward under the Barack Obama administration.
