The World Wide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS) is constituted of four general types of elements: sensors, command posts, computers, and communications networks. Whereas previous books dealt mainly with the first two types, this book is concerned far more strongly with the second two. The same conditions that cleared the way for the establishment of WWMCCS and that permitted its subsequent growth simultaneously guaranteed that it would not be able to function effectively. We might conclude that WWMCCS was born to fail. This work documents how this interplay of organization, technology, and ideology shaped the development of WWMCCS during the cold war's three final tense decades. David E. Pearson, an Army veteran, graduated magna cum laude from the University of Mass. at Amherst, received his PhD from Yale, and was a Fellow in International Security Studies at Ohio State University. (Originally published by Air University Press)