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[LordBaal]

He took the nuclear briefcase with him??

You gotta admit, that would be like the raddest office supplies stealing ever. Literally in a figurative way since it has the potential or ramp up the rads everywhere..

[martinuzz]

Yes. The transfer team was prepared for that though. They already had a new football ready and waiting for Biden. Probably using completely new tech for the old one is compromised.

[Kagus]

He took the football home with him after leaving the White House. Isn't that enough for a High Treason charge followed by death by firing squad?

Wait what? Ahahahahaha... Holy fuck, that's ridiculous, I gotta read about this

[martinuzz]

Hmm this is an article from before the transfer of power, but I could swear there were various articles on him taking it home when he left the White House for the last time.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9139949/Donald-Trump-nuclear-football-Military-aide-carries-emergency-satchel.html

[MetalSlimeHunt]

They prepared separate footballs because Trump refused to meet with Biden to hand it over, but technically it couldn't leave Trump's presence until he was no longer President. No crime there. It also wouldn't be treason unless he tried to hand it over to a declared enemy of the United States.

Also, the football is a prop. It doesn't really matter, the military are the ones with the true authority to launch.

[martinuzz]

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/joe-biden-inauguration-dummy-pass-what-happened-to-the-nuclear-football/news-story/5655799e3ac65316911500c83e0784b1?nk=7a1e27e35d8e4cb7745f087b638d46ca-1612127820


So yeah, he took it home only to send it back a few hours later when his presidency ended.

[sluissa]

There are multiple nuclear footballs in use normally anyway. Backups and one for the Vice President as well.

It does get overblown in movies, but it's not 100% a prop. It's mostly just paper, (describing different attack options and secure shelter locations) but apparently there is some sort of secure communications device that lets the president consult with the joint chiefs as well. But it's true that the order has to go through the military and it's not just a "device to launch the nukes in a suitcase" except as far as you could say any secure phone line accessible to the president is.

[martinuzz]

The military controls the nukes, but the president has the codes needed for launch. They need each other.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

It's a polite fiction. The US fast response nukes are constantly ready to launch on two minute's notice. The US sub nukes are out of contact with the mainland for extended periods of time, by design. These are the center of the nuclear arsenal, and neither of them are going to place a call to the White House if they detect a nuclear strike incoming. At most they might seek approval from the Pentagon, if it wasn't an immediate launch scenario.

But if the time came, they'd just do it, and they'd probably disregard the President if they called and were told no. Nixon ordered nuclear strikes on North Korea while drunk and the JCS just ignored them. The card to activate the football had twenty zeros in a row as the code for decades, so that any military aide of the President could order the strike through it.

The public perception of the US nuclear program is just as bullshit as Israel's claim to nuclear opacity - it's for PR purposes. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if the US had a deadhand system, though the subs are effectively that by nature.

[martinuzz]

That's a defense only scenario though.  If the US were in some grimdark future planning on initiating first strike, that would still need a combination of military for the nukes + president for the codes, right?

[TamerVirus]

[Starver]

A reminder to the rest of the world: The UK may launch an immediate nuclear attack if a particular radio soap about farming and agriculture fails to be broadcast[1].





[1] Well, not actually The Archers. Apparently more like The Today Programme, but it's as good a threat as any when it involves both the Grundys and Lynda Snell's annual pantomime...

[MetalSlimeHunt]

That's a defense only scenario though.  If the US were in some grimdark future planning on initiating first strike, that would still need a combination of military for the nukes + president for the codes, right?

I don't see why they would. If the JCS collectively want a nuke to drop, it'll probably happen. If one of the Joint Chiefs went insane and tried to end the world, that'd probably fail. This is a lot more about military authority than anything else - it also means that if the President ordered a strike even while not drunk and crazy like Nixon, they'd just be ignored.

[Starver]

Sorry to drop more British culture on here, but at some point shortly I 'probably certainly would' want to post this clip (padded with several other '80s-vintage topical jokes that might be appreciated).

[LordBaal]

How different would be our history if a drunken nuclear strike hits North Korea back then....