United States: The so-called “nuclear football,” as the attaché case carried by the US president is jokingly referred as, might be the catalyst for doomsday.
The sole indication of the importance of the rather awkwardly crammed black bag is that it is always held by a uniformed military assistant.
However, inside are top-secret codes and plans that allow a president to approve nuclear strikes anywhere in the world and choose from a sort of menu of targets.
The president has a private Situation Room in the White House where he may issue orders for war and interact with military commanders.
However, when President Joe Biden, for instance, travelled to Puerto Rico, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland over a few days in November, he did so with his “football,” as he does everywhere.
When he suggests using nuclear weapons against Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Biden’s opinion, is threatening “Armageddon” for the entire globe.
If it did, the Beast limousine could be used to launch the US retaliation perhaps Air Force One, also a covert bunker.
Or really anyplace the president or the “football” were present.
Biscuits
Since one of the “footballs,” formally known as the Presidential Emergency Satchel, was pictured being carried behind John F. Kennedy in 1963 at his beachside family home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, the public has caught glimpses of it. During his 1988 summit with Mikhail Gorbachev, another joined Ronald Reagan right into Red Square.
The second crucial component in starting a nuclear war is more covert and has a misleadingly innocent nickname: the “biscuit.”
The “biscuit” stores the Gold Codes, which are used by the president to identify himself and issue orders, while the “football” houses the menu of war plans.
One of them is intended to be carried by the president at all times and is about the size of a credit card.
Despite being ultra-secure and covert, both things have had their fair share of mishaps.
While Reagan’s “biscuit” was accidentally abandoned along with his clothing when he was stripped for surgery after being shot in Washington, D.C., in 1981, Bill Clinton was alleged to have misplaced his.
On January 6, 2021, a crowd of Donald Trump’s fans stormed the Capitol, forcing Vice President Mike Pence to flee to safety with a military aide clutching the backup “football,” which always follows the president’s successor.
The President decides
Legally speaking, the chain of command could not be any shorter.
The Congressional Research Service declares that “the US president has sole authority to authorise the use of US nuclear weapons.”
The president can and probably would debate possibilities with the senior brass, but he does have to identify himself (using the “biscuit” codes).
However, the congressional report states that even if presidents “seek guidance” from military officials, “those advisors are then expected to transmit and implement the orders allowing nuclear use.”
The command would be passed down the ranks to the soldiers operating the switches in the planes, submarines, and silos.
General Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said that only the “chain of communication” exists within the “chain of command” in a memo to Congress in 2021.
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Not until…
Anything the president commands must still pass through multiple groups of people before becoming a reality because there is no huge red button that he can press.
According to John Hyten, then-commander of the US Strategic Command (STRATCOM), in 2017, “We think a lot about these things,” and US military personnel are required to defy unlawful instructions.
“Guess what will happen if it’s against the law? “Mr. President, that’s illegal,” I will say. Imagine what he’s going to do next. What would be legal, he will ask. And that’s how it works: we’ll develop solutions with a variety of capacities to react to any given event. It’s not really that difficult.”
In a more dire circumstance, the cabinet may conceivably step in and use the 25th amendment to deprive the president of his authority.
Despite several allegations to the contrary, high-level negotiations on the matter allegedly took place during the disorganised Trump presidency.
A much less serious change in the chain of command for preplanned medical treatments is more likely.
As a result, November 19, 2021, went down in history: Joe Biden got a colonoscopy under anaesthesia, and Kamala Harris, his vice president, became the first woman to lead the US as commander in chief for 85 minutes.
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