Joint War Room The National Military Command Center ( NMCC ) is a Pentagon command and communications center for the National Command Authority ( i . e . , the President of the United States and the United States Secretary of Defense ) . Maintained by the United States Air Force as the " DoD Executive Agent " for NMCC logistical , budgetary , facility and systems support ; the NMCC operators are in the Joint Staff ' s J - 3 ( Operations ) Directorate . " The NMCC is responsible for generating Emergency Action Messages ( EAMs ) to launch control center s , nuclear submarine s , recon aircraft and battlefield commanders " . Description . The NMCC includes several war rooms , uses more than 300 operational personnel , and has the U . S . end of the 1963 Moscow – Washington hotline . Data into the NMCC includes warning " on the size , origin , and targeting of an attack " ( e . g . , from the NORAD / NORTHCOM Command Center ) . The NMCC ' s Crisis Management Automated Data Processing Systems are under control of the J - 3 Command Systems Operations Division . History . World War II Pentagon construction allowed a central military installation for the Navy and War Departments to communicate with theater commands , and CONUS air defense was based on warning data compiled by local Aircraft Warning Corps information centers for processing GOC observations and radar tracks to coordinate ground - controlled interception ( cf . Battle of Los Angeles ) . As requested by Gen . Spaatz , a fall 1947 AAF " war room " was establishment in the Pentagon ( " operational early in 1948 " ) . Strategic Air Command began using the telephonic Army Command and Administrative Net ( ACAN ) in 1946 until switching to the 1949 USAF AIRCOMNET " command teletype network " ( the independent Strategic Operational Control System ( SOCS ) with telephones and teletype was " fully installed by 1 May 1950 " . ) 1950 Air Force Command Post . The Air Force Command Post ( AFCP ) was " hastily set up " on June 25 , 1950 , to replace the 1948 war room when the Korean War began . On the Pentagon ' s floor , the AFCP served " as a reception point for radio messages between [ General ] Vandenberg and his FEAF commanders during Air Staff after - duty hours . " After a direct telephone line was installed in mid - July 1950 between CONAC headquarters and the 26th Air Division HQ ( " the beginning of the Air Force air raid warning system " ) ; in August " President Truman had a direct telephone line installed between the Air Force Pentagon post and the White House . " Moved to a " more permanent " Pentagon facility in early 1951 , the 2nd AFCP location had " a communications center [ and ] war room , which prepared status displays " ( an " Emergency Air Staff Actions Office [ was ] incorporated into the command post early in 1952 " ) . Alternate AFCP sites in 1951 were at Langley AFB ( primary ) and Maxwell AFB ( secondary ) . Radar tracks from the 1952 Permanent System radar stations relayed to the Air Defense Command command center at Ent AFB , Colorado , would be assessed ; and suspicion or confirmation of attack would be relayed to the AFCP and SAC headquarters . The " Pentagon would pass the warning to the President , the Secretary of Defense , and the JCS " ; and the SOCS allowed " relay [ of ] their orders to the combat forces " . 1953 JCS annex . An annex established by the Joint Chiefs of Staff was " operated by the Air Force as an adjunct to the AFCP " and received reports from Joint Coordination Centers in Buckinghamshire , England , and Pershing Heights , Tokyo . After ADC built a new Ent AFB blockhouse in 1954 , the 1957 NORAD collocated operations in the Ent command center ( later into the 1963 Chidlaw Building and in 1966 , Cheyenne Mountain ) . In 1955 the National Security Council designated the AFCP as the " national air defense warning center " , and planning for the end of the decade was for expanded SAC command and control . The GOR for the Strategic Automated Command and Control System ( SACCS , Electronic Systems Division 465L System ) was published on February 11 , 1958 ; SAC ' s QOR for the National Survivable Communications System ( NSCS ) was issued September 13 , 1958 ; and in September 1960 the " installation of a SAC display warning system " included 3 consoles in SAC ' s underground center at Offutt AFB ( cf . 1958 Bare Mountain bunker . ) The AFCP was connected to the Alert Network Number 1 on July 1 , 1958 , as 1 of 29 transmit / receive stations . 1960 Joint War Room . The Joint War Room ( JWR ) activated in 1960 had been started in August 1959 during the SAGE deployment ( in December 1960 , the AFCP reverted to a USAF mission when its " joint and national responsibilities " ended . ) The September 1960 Winter Study Group and the October 1960 WSEG Report 50 recommended " interlocking the various fixed command posts " into a " coupled command system " with mobile centers and a " bomb alarm system " . The subsequent National Defense Communications Control Center ( NDCCC ) opened on March 6 , 1961 as part of the National Communications System ( NCS ) framework " encompassing all federal assets " including approximately " 79 major relay stations scattered around the globe " ( cf . the NORAD CMC ' s 427M NCS ) . ( the " Final Report of the National Command and Control Task Force " ( Partridge Report ) " was completed on 14 November 1961 . ) Development of the USAF ' s " separate , austere Post - Attack Command and Control System ( PACCS ) " began in July 1961 and in 1962 , " the SACCS was expanded to become " the Worldwide Military Command and Control System ( WWMCCS ) . 1962 NMCC . The NMCC was begun in early 1962 ( opened early October ) when the JCS area with the Joint War Room was expanded from ~ to ~ by 1965 ( the Pentagon ' s " Navy Flag Plot " coordinated the Cuban Missile Crisis blockade . ) The NMCC was initially considered an " interim " location until the Deep Underground Command Center ( DUCC ) could be completed below the Pentagon ( never built ) . The NMCC had " direct communications with MACV headquarters in Saigon " during the Vietnam War . 1972 upgrade . The WWMCCS " ADP upgrade program " included 1972 computer installations ( e . g . , 2 COC " Data Net 355 computers " ) and additional NMCC expansion enlarged it to ~ and included the Joint Operational Reporting ( JOPREP ) system . In 1977 , the NMCC was 1 of 6 initial sites of the WWMCCS Intercomputer Network ( WIN ) developed from a 1971 - 7 experimental program with testing and use by the JCS . The Command Center Processing and Display System ( CCPDS ) replaced NMCC UNIVAC 1106 computers with " dedicated UNIVAC 1100 / 42 computers " for console and large screen displays . By 1981 as part of the WWMCCS Information System ( WIS ) , the NMCC received data " directly from the Satellite Early Warning System ( SEWS ) and directly from the PAVE PAWS sensor systems " . The NMCC at ( tbd side of the Pentagon ) coordinated responses to the 2001 September 11 attacks ( AA Flt 77 struck the west side ) and other events . By 2008 , the NMCC had the NMCC Alert Center for intelligence fusion in the National Operations and Intelligence Watch Officer Network .