11230333003303 and corrective THE WHITE HOUSE v WAsmue't-cm July 7 1sso ms 52mm or 1 False Alerts 0 WEN on false alerts with his comment is in capy of your July 12 memorandum to the President The President has affirmed his decision for ato hold the lead on any future investigetions cti Attachment - II ug flunk - nsmuorou a zone HEMORAKPUM Fox The Peaslnusr 4- SUBJECT Palse Alerts U I sent you memoranda on June 7 and-13 discossing vari f1Ise missiie warning dis lays which resulted ave con- 'ose II this memoramdum summarizes our present ungerst anding or the cause enumerates-the corrective actions underway and assesses the public and congressional reac- tionsThe Cnuse NORAD at tributes the source of the spurious data to the inter- mittent failure of a 46 micro- electronic integrated circuit often reterred to' 3s a Chi in a data communications interface device -at the Combat Operations_ Center in Colorado Alth6ugh NORAD has been unoh1 - sus ected uitejn fnii again under Ie URAD evaluation has Ieen confirmed by an 1nacp'endent_ wash force of highly competent and respected computer experts enlisted from the pravate sector U - 5 Corrective Actions- I I This particular electronic fault will he corrected'by replacing the suspect I integnated circuit however to prevent a 'mihar future hardwa failure from cansin' such In undetected error we also are proceeding to improve the capabilities oF the dntA communications NORAD willyhenevcr warn ng message whether valid or not is in sent so as to speexd confidence checking -j improVe the throughOIt its computer and data communic cations system- - Z - - make continuous and comprehensive records of stem performance to he used In improve its trouble booting capabilitya na - anniyze it computers and comm ndcatiohs etui meet and fix I I I Sec 09 a 5% 7 I 1 'i'sulfzoeo' Unfil these-corrective actions are 29 Qgte prihhrily on thc - 3 cemp1ete1y bypassing the equip the recent ineadents The Joint'Chiefs qr Staff J 5 Ahave- this temporary mode at Operations cagxze to rated b U100 3 31 1 1933 - 3 4 5 em 5 5 I meme I Congfessibhal Reaction U 1 The Chairmen pf the Armed Seruiees and Apprupriatig both Houses of qugress were notified of the false lerts less akin 2 hourS'after they occurred Congressiqnal intereSt has remaihed ever since We h vv hrfefed the nouse Armed servicea C mmittee - _and several_$enators individually and we continue to tekpond to -- many Ietters on the subject from members of see have been mp 5 60mmi11egs of 9 ef ng Age 1 ess Reae ion U 09 Panach has roilnwed that thick I out1ined to run In merpne 13 memorandnm on false missiTe al-rts Mest of the eewsraper which appeare immediately after a Ju e 18 press briefing by my Assistant Secretary for Commun3catinns Command Intelligence Gerry ninneen 'correct1y eerietied 3he point in has unwever television hetwork In1 nw-up storiee pefrrp June 24-26 yave attempted In sensatinnjlize cloud f 6915 or tn 11n hem In unrelated mattersh We_continue to - inqunrnes ed requesfs Fer interviews on the eh1J 11 heve to C nfl uc tn emphasize thn1 there is no 9ce' tat any irretrievahle actions be tn en hneed on nepufer Infurmnziun dn-Lhe Precuuriu acquires in anygway 13 97 th h t ute The Future '1 In sum ary we are dfli agi Eoire tiveTaQtions for the spccific-cause of thug p w false alerts 5u psuye u addressed the specific cause 0 the'Novcmber causes not different however and you in-my June 3 I bq1i vc we must he prepared oinhl another unrclatqd'maIfunctinn-mny someday generatc another faise appropriate elittrObit iQpQOch tq tn'minimize the proha ility of such'a Calse we ns cpntihuq to pIacc our confidence in t e human el ment'of'ournmiskilg attack warning This document is from the holdings of The National Security Archive Suite 701 Gelman Library The George Washington University 2130 H Street NW Washington D C 20037 Phone 202 994-7000 Fax 202 994-7005 nsarchiv@gwu edu