Hmm nuclear football is something interesting. Something the President won’t leave lying around and something that he won’t leave his side.
And the dude that carry this suitcase follows him around, in Air Force 1, in his holiday home or in Whitehouse.
Right now the president-elect is in Blair House getting ready for the inauguration.
It’s astonishing to see the energy of all the people on the National Mall who are going to share in the public rituals of the transfer of power today.
But some time in the next hour, Barack Obama will have a private ritual that symbolizes that change of power.
He will have his national security briefing, as he has throughout the transition.
But at the end of that briefing, the military aide that carries the briefcase with the nuclear “football” — the codes for launching any kind of a nuclear strike — will instruct the president-elect on how to do that.
That will happen before he goes to the church service at 8:25am this morning.
He won’t get the actual card to launch the strikes until after he is sworn in.
But this morning, in that final presidential briefing in the next hour or so, he will receive those codes.
The true transfer of power has begun.
[from ABCNews]
And here are some funny facts on the nuclear “football” from Wiki..
* It has been stated in an AP article that the nickname “football” was derived from an attack plan codenamed “Drop-Kick.”
* On occasion the President has left his aide carrying the football behind. This happened to Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush and, most recently, Bill Clinton on April 24, 1999. In none of these cases was the integrity of the football breached.
* Jimmy Carter once left nuclear launch codes in his suit when it was sent in for dry cleaning.
* The football was separated from Ronald Reagan immediately after an assassination attempt.
Change.
2 Comments
it’s too big and nothing look like a football to me. i don’t think anyone can use it, of course it has a password.
dropping by. come visit me at CekikDarah.com
[Reply]
Does it starts with 1 2 3?
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