Worldwide Military Command and Control System The Worldwide Military Command and Control System ( or WWMCCS ) was a military command and control system implemented for the command and control of the United States military . It was created in the days following the Cuban Missile Crisis . WWMCCS ( pronounced " wimex " ) was a system of systems that encompassed the elements of warning , communications , data collection and processing , executive decision making tools and supporting facilities . It was decommissioned in 1996 and replaced by the Global Command and Control System . Background . The worldwide deployment of U . S . forces required extensive long - range communications systems that can maintain contact with all of those forces at all times . To enable national command authorities to exercise effective command and control of their widely dispersed forces , a communications system was established to enable those authorities to disseminate their decisions to all subordinate units , under any conditions , within minutes . Such a command and control system , WWMCCS , was created by Department of Defense Directive S - 5100 . 30 , titled " Concept of Operations of the Worldwide Military Command and Control System , " which set the overall policies for the integration of the various command and control elements that were rapidly coming into being in the early 1960s . As initially established , WWMCCS was an arrangement of personnel , equipment ( including Automated Data Processing equipment and hardware ) , communications , facilities , and procedures employed in planning , directing , coordinating , and controlling the operational activities of U . S . military forces . This system was intended to provide the President and the Secretary of Defense a means to receive warning and intelligence information , assign military missions , provide direction to the unified and specified commands , and support the Joint Chiefs of Staff in carrying out their responsibilities . The directive establishing the system stressed five essential system characteristics : survivability , flexibility , compatibility , standardization , and economy . Problems . Despite the original intent , WWMCCS never realized the full potential that had been envisioned for the system . The services ' approach to WWMCCS depended upon the availability of both technology and funding to meet individual requirements , so no truly integrated system emerged . Indeed , during the 1960s , WWMCCS consisted of a loosely knit federation of nearly 160 different computer systems , using 30 different general purpose software systems at 81 locations . One study claimed that WWMCCS was " more a federation of self - contained subsystems than an integrated set of capabilities . " The problems created by these diverse subsystems were apparently responsible for several well - publicized failures of command and control during the latter part of the 1960s . During hostilities between Israel and Egypt in June 1967 , the USS Liberty , a naval reconnaissance ship , was ordered by the JCS to move further away from the coastlines of the belligerents . Five high - priority messages to that effect were sent to the Liberty , but none arrived for more than 13 hours . By that time the ship had become the victim of an attack by Israeli aircraft and patrol boats that killed 34 Americans . A congressional committee investigating this incident concluded , " The circumstances surrounding the misrouting , loss and delays of those messages constitute one of the most incredible failures of communications in the history of the Department of Defense . " Furthermore , the demands for communications security ( COMSEC ) frustrated upgrades and remote site computer and wiring installation . TEMPEST requirements of the Cold War day required both defense from wire tapping and electomagnetic signal intercept , special wire and cabinet shielding , physical security , double locks , and special access passes and passwords . ( See movie " Mission Impossible , ( IMDb Mission Impossible ) computer room scene for a glimpse . ) Growth & Development . The result of these various failures was a growth in the centralized management of WWMCCS , occurring at about the same time that changing technology brought in computers and electronic displays . For example , 27 command centers were equipped with standard Honeywell 6000 computers and common programs so there could be a rapid exchange of information among the command centers . An Assistant Secretary of Defense for Telecommunications was established , and a 1971 DOD directive gave that person the primary staff responsibility for all WWMCCS - related systems . That directive also designated the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as the official responsible for the operation of WWMCCS . The Worldwide Military Command and Control System ( WWMCCS ) Intercomputer Network ( WIN ) was a centrally managed information processing and exchange network consisting of large - scale computer systems at geographically separate locations , interconnected by a dedicated wide - band , packet - switched communications subsystem . The architecture of the WIN consists of WWMCCS - standard AN / FYQ - 65 ( V ) host computers and their WIN - dedicated Honeywell 6661 Datanets and Datanet 8 ' s connected through Bolt Beranek and Newman , Inc . ( BBN ) C / 30 and C / 30E packet switching computers called Packet Switching Nodes ( PSNs ) and wideband , encrypted , dedicated , data communications circuits . Modernization . By the early 1980s , it was time to modernize this system . The replacement , proposed by the Deputy Secretary of Defense , was an evolutionary upgrade program known as the WWMCCS Information System [ WIS ] , which provided a range of capabilities appropriate for the diverse needs of the WWMCCS sites . During Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm , WWMCCS performed flawlessly 24 hours a day , seven days a week ; providing critical data to combat commanders worldwide in deploying , relocating and sustaining allied forces . However , WWMCCS was dependent on a proprietary mainframe environment . Information cannot be easily entered or accessed by users , and the software cannot be quickly modified to accommodate changing mission requirements . Operational flexibility and adaptability are limited , since most of the information and software are stored on the mainframe . The system architecture is unresponsive , inflexible , and expensive to maintain . This new WWMCCS Information System configuration continued to be refined until 1992 when the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command , Control , Communications , and Intelligence terminated this latest attempt to modernize the WWMCCS ADP equipment . The continuing need to meet established requirements which couldn ' t be fulfilled , coupled with a growing dissatisfaction among users with the existing WWMCCS system , drove the conceptualizing of a new system , called GCCS . On August 30 , 1996 , Lieutenant General Albert J . Edmonds , Director , Defense Information Systems Agency , officially deactivated the Worldwide Military Command and Control System ( WWMCCS ) Intercomputer Network ( WIN ) . Concurrently , the Joint Staff declared the Global Command and Control System ( GCCS ) as the joint command and control system of record . Computer Hardware . Honeywell 6000 Series . The Air Force Systems Command ’ s Electronic Systems Division awarded a fixed - price , fixed - quantity contract to Honeywell Information Systems , Inc . for 46 million dollars on 15 October 1971 . The contract included 35 Honeywell 6000 series systems , some having multiple processors . System models from the H - 6060 through the H - 6080 were acquired . They ran a specially secured variant of Honeywell ’ s General Comprehensive Operating Supervisor ( GCOS ) , and for years the vendor maintained and enhanced both the commercial GCOS and the " WWMCCS " GCOS in parallel . Digital transmissions were secured ( aka ' scrambled ' ) using Secure Telephone Unit ( STU ) or Secure Telephone Element modems . Network . Prototype WWMCCS Network . The Joint Chiefs of Staff issued JCS Memorandum 593 - 71 , " Research , Development , Test , and Evaluation Program in Support of the Worldwide Military Command and Control Standard System . " in September 1971 . The joint chief memorandum proposed what they called a Prototype WWMCCS Intercomputer Network ( PWIN ) pronounced as pee - win . The PWIN was created to test the operational benefits of networking WWMCCS . If the prototype proved successful , it would provide a baseline for an operational network . PWIN included three sites at the Pentagon , Reston , Virginia and Norfolk , Virginia . The sites included Honeywell H6000 computers , Datanet 355 front end processors and local computer terminals for system users . Connections were provided for remote terminals using microwave , cable , satellite , or landline connections . Honeywell H716 computers , used as an interface message processors ( IMP ) provided packet switching to network the PWIN sites together . The TELNET protocol was made available to the WWMCCS community for the first time to access remote sites . The PWIN network was based on experience gained from ARPANET . The first comprehensive test plan for PWIN was approved on 29 October 1973 . On 4 September 1974 , the Joint Chiefs recommended that the prototype network be expanded from three sites to six . The recommendation was approved on 4 December 1974 . The new sites included the Alternate National Military Command Center ; the Military Airlift Command at Scott AFB ; and the US Readiness Command headquarters at MacDill AFB . Testing was conducted in 1976 , called Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 . Experiment 1 , held in September took a crisis scenario borrowed from a previous exercise . Experiment 1 provided a controlled environment to test PWIN . Experiment 2 was held in October , during an exercise called Elegant Eagle 76 ' . Experiment two was less controlled , so as to provide information about PWIN being able to handle user demands during a crisis . The results of the experiments were mixed . Another test called Prime Target 77 was conducted during the spring of 1977 . It added two new sites and had even more problems than Experiment 1 and Experiment 2 . Ultimately , operational requirements trumped the problems and development of an operational network was recommended during 1977 . The Joint Chiefs of Staff approved PWIN ’ s operational requirements on 18 July 1977 . PWIN expanded to include a number of other WWMCCS sites and become an operational WWMCCS Intercomputer Network ( WIN ) .