THE nuclear-armed state needs to constitute and put in place a robust and credible nuclear command and control structure to efficiently employ and manage its nuclear weapons. This ensures that the nuclear weapons are available to deploy at the time of need and to prevent the inadvertent, unauthorized and accidental use of nuclear weapons. Pakistan has established a unified command and control known as ‘National Command Authority’ (NCA) chaired by the Prime Minister of the country to manage its nuclear forces. It is a civilian-led central command-and-control system for managing nuclear infrastructure and strategic assets.This institutional, mature and centralized nuclear command architecture has evolved systematically since 1999. The NCA received statutory authorization by the Parliament (Majili-e-Shoora) of Pakistan and the President of Pakistan’s assent on March 9, 2010. The National Command Authority Act, 2010 states:

“Whereas, it is necessary and expedient to establish an Authority for complete command and control over research, development, production and use of nuclear and space technologies and other related applications in various fields and to provide for the safety and security of all personnel, facilities, information, installations or organizations and other activities therewith or ancillary thereto.” The NCA Act created a three-tiered institutional structure over the country’s nuclear weapons. The Employment Control........

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