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by sbierwagen 1656 days ago
Another more recent novel about nuclear war is "The 2020 Commission Report on the North Korean Nuclear Attacks Against the U.S.". It describes the Trump administration handling a North Korean crisis poorly, as you'd expect.

One thing I found interesting: the book states that much of DPRK C3 is done over encrypted channels that use civilian cell phone network towers, because they can't afford to maintain a completely separate military communications network like many other nuclear states.

During the crisis, South Korea fires a missile at the Kim family home when Kim Jong Un was known to be observing a missile test elsewhere. But this results in rumors that Kim Jong Un had been killed, resulting in a spike in civilian cell phone traffic and a collapse in service. With communications down, missiles striking official residences, and a South Korea/US wargame happening next door, Kim concludes that a decapitation attack is in progress and goes nuclear.

Fun fact: for several decades the US has had a telephone priority system for government officials. If the book is at all correct, if would be in the US's interests for the DPRK to implement one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Emergency_Telecommu...