Safeguarding the national security: Can the military and other Government functions be confident that the newly fragmented telecommunications system will respond to crises?

Ten years ago, before the American Telephone & Telegraph Co. installed a new long-distance system, it asked the U.S. Department of Defense what route it should take. Defense officials looked over their highly classified “laydown” maps, showing the expected targets of a Soviet nuclear strike, and told AT&T which route was most survivable - that is, which was farthest from targets. The company then used that path, folding any extra cost into its rate base.