During a surprise drill of a nuclear attack, many United States Air Force Strategic Missile Wing controllers prove unwilling to two-man rule#Nuclear weapons to launch a missile strike. Such refusals convince John McKittrick and other systems engineers at North American Aerospace Defense Command that missile launch control centers must be automated, without human intervention. Control is given to a NORAD supercomputer, WOPR (War Operation Plan Response), programmed to continuously run war simulations and learn over time.