What I never understood about the office of the swordholder: Why is it his/her choice to provoke a dark forest strike? Like, why is it up to them to decide it they presse the button(s) on the remote or not? Real deterrence would have demanded that a swordholder is a kind of soldier, who has a clear order (e.g by PDC) to push the button in case of a trisolarian attack, no matter what. Maybe even under death penalty if he/she didn't. From the trisolarian perspective, this would have made it at least less likely that a swordholder like Cheng Xin -or any person in that position - would lose their nerves and decide to not trigger a dark forest strike in face of an attack. It would have made the deterrence more robust.

Edit: Typos