Quite a story, and well written! The possibility of false readings is real, and time to decide is short. It felt like the fate of the world was hanging by a thread, and sometimes it was, as you crisply conveyed.

My memories go back to the Cuban missile crisis, and for a few years I worked on a part of Polaris missile test and readiness documentation and a few years on Star Wars research and related documentation.

The arms race, particularly with Star Wars, meant a technology race, which meant rushing things into production. And we all know now in the computer and internet world how things can go wrong from rushing.

Imagine the US or USSR making WW3 decisions using software still in beta or initial release. Not a comforting thought, is it? Too late for bug fixes.

On the bright side, while the threat is still there, it feels much lower than it used to be. (Of course, now we have the climate crisis.)