The Fourth Leg

Communication Over Escalation

In this episode, Philip Reiner and Peter Hayes are joined by nuclear weapons and conflict resolution expert, Steven E. Miller, to discuss the historical significance and evolution of nuclear communications. Hotlines have increased and improved over time, reaching well beyond the White House’s red telephone link to Moscow. Miller brings us through the history of hotlines and the role they play in conflict, de-escalation, alliances, and nuclear strategy today. Their criticality is clear  — the most heavily armed nuclear rivals should be able to directly communicate in all circumstances. Tune in to find out why our CATALINK design – a radically simple and secure nuclear crisis communications hotline – is necessary for averting future war.

Formally Verified

This episode of The Fourth Leg features Adam Wick, one of the world’s leading experts on secure operating systems design and implementation. Wick discusses how formal methods, a precise mathematical description of a system’s function, is a crucial component to the design and implementation of CATALINK [https://securityandtechnology.org/catalink/] — a radically simple and secure nuclear crisis communications hotline. We take a deep dive into the substance of how formal proofs not only minimize language misunderstandings in a system as complex as NC3, they provide a rigorous executable specification on how a system such as CATALINK is supposed to run.

Security Through Simplicity

Eric Grosse joins Philip Reiner and Peter Hayes to detail the trade-offs of prioritizing security, reliability, and efficiency in the CATALINK system. This includes a primer on how a sender and receiver will exchange cryptographic keys to ensure they are communicating securely. The episode also discusses the reasoning for Grosse's proposed technical baseline solutions. Music by Punch Deck

The Mathematics of Trust and Betrayal

In this episode of The Fourth Leg, host Philip Reiner sits down with experienced cryptographer and owner and founder of Anagram Laboratories, Dr. Tom Berson. Dr. Berson discusses how lessons from the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) competition can aid the development of international standards and potentially serve as an example for collaborative, transparent efforts for the creation of the CATALINK system. Music by Punch Deck

Assume Vulnerability

This week’s episode of The Fourth Leg, "Assume Vulnerability", features the High Priest of Coreboot, Ron Minnich. We dive deep into the substance of his paper, “Hardware that is Less Untrusted: Open Source Down to the Silicon” and discuss software, firmware, and hardware vulnerabilities and the value of open source code. Music by Punch Deck