NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/RUSSIA/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Even as the Trump administration looks for further nuclear arms reductions with Russia and full denuclearization with North Korea, the Pentagon is making crucial changes in nuclear weapons employment and options after Defense Secretary James Mattis and Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently called for classified changes. A classified report on overhauling nuclear communications for President Donald Trump will be delivered to Mattis on Friday [7-20-18], according to Gen. John Hyten, head of the US Strategic Command. Hyten took the rare step of offering some specific new details of top Pentagon leaders’ views on nuclear weapons. The report will detail a new method ordered by Mattis on how the Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications System (NC3), which allows a US president and top military commanders to communicate with military forces in a nuclear event, will work in the future. The NC3 provides communication with bomber aircraft, intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines, satellites, ground stations and command posts. The key change will be that Hyten will now be the sole senior officer responsible for NC3 operations and systems.”
–Barbara Starr, “Mattis and Dunford call for classified nuclear changes,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, July 20, 2018 7:36 am