Improvements in military technology have created new potential threats to nuclear forces and their command, control, communications and intelligence (C3I) systems.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish a nuclear weapon from a conventional one. The risk of misidentifying either—especially prior to its launch—is an underappreciated and growing danger. At a time of geopolitical uncertainty, this confusion could spark a nuclear war.

The future risks of inadvertent escalation due to entangled conventional and nuclear systems will depend on broader geopolitical developments, advances in non-nuclear weapons, changes in states’ military doctrines, and whether states can implement risk mitigation measures.

New evidence from the Yom Kippur War shows how growing entanglement between nuclear and non-nuclear weapons could lead to dangerous escalation spirals to nuclear war.

The increasingly blurred line between nuclear and conventional weapons heightens the danger of nuclear war.

It is not a good idea to mix nuclear and non-nuclear weapon systems. What are the risks, and why are countries still doing it?

Nuclear command, control, communication, and intelligence (C3I) systems are becoming increasingly vulnerable to nonnuclear attack, presenting significant escalation and entanglement challenges.

With the threat of nuclear war growing, China, Russia, and the United States should not wait until political relations improve before making efforts to manage new technologies.

Nonnuclear weapons are increasingly able to threaten dual-use command, control, communication, and intelligence assets that are spaced based or distant from probable theaters of conflict.

The risk of an inadvertent nuclear war is rising because of the entanglement of non-nuclear weapons with nuclear weapons and their command-and-control capabilities.