Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2014 20:17:24 -0400
From: mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us>
To: WSFA Official List <wsfa-forum at yahoogroups.com>,
 WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>,
 bsfsgeneral <bsfsgeneral at bsfs.org>
Subject: [WSFA] 60 Minutes shocked to find 8-inch floppies drive nuclear deterrent
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Excerpt:
In a report that aired on April 27, CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Leslie
Stahl expressed surprise that part of the computer system responsible for
controlling the launch of the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic
missiles relied on data loaded from 8-inch floppy disks. Most of the young
officers stationed at the launch control center had never seen a floppy
disk before they became "missileers."

An Air Force officer showed Stahl one of the disks, marked \342\200\234Top Secret,\342\200\235
which is used with the computer that handles what was once called the
Strategic Air Command Digital Network (SACDIN), a communication system
that delivers launch commands to US missile forces. Beyond the floppies, a
majority of the systems in the Wyoming US Air Force launch control center
(LCC) Stahl visited dated back to the 1960s and 1970s, offering the Air
Force\342\200\231s missile forces an added level of cyber security, ICBM forces
commander Major General Jack Weinstein told 60 Minutes.

\342\200\234A few years ago we did a complete analysis of our entire network,\342\200\235
Weinstein said. \342\200\234Cyber engineers found out that the system is extremely
safe and extremely secure in the way it's developed.\342\200\235
--- end excerpt ---

<http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/04/60-minutes-shocked-to-find-8-inch-floppies-drive-nuclear-deterrent/>

mark