Pentagon review: What happens if nuclear football is lost?
ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer
July 20, 2021
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FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, second from left, works beside Vice President Mike Pence during the certification of Electoral College ballots in the presidential election, in the House chamber at the Capitol in Washington. Shortly afterward, the Capitol was stormed by rioters determined to disrupt the certification.J. Scott Applewhite/AP
WASHINGTON (AP) The Pentagon is taking a rare look at whether it is prepared to deal with the theft or compromise of the portable communications system nicknamed the “nuclear football,” which enables the president or a stand-in to order a nuclear attack.
A U.S. military aide carries the “President’s emergency satchel,” also know as “the football,” with the nuclear launch codes, walks towards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, July 13, 2021, to join President . more > By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times - Tuesday, July 20, 2021
The Pentagon’s chief watchdog has launched a major review of security procedures involving the so-called “nuclear football,” the briefcase that contains launch codes for starting a nuclear war.
In a letter to federal officials made public Tuesday, the Defense Department inspector general said the probe will examine what protocols are in place in the event the nuclear football formally known as the “presidential emergency satchel” is misplaced or falls into the wrong hands.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon’s watchdog said on Tuesday it would evaluate the safety protocols surrounding the president’s “nuclear football” - containing codes needed for a strike - after one such briefcase nearly came within range of rioters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6.
FILE PHOTO: A military aide carries the so-called nuclear football as he walks to board the Marine One helicopter with U.S. President Donald Trump for travel to Florida from the White House in Washington, U.S. May 8, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
In a brief notice, the Inspector General’s office said it would evaluate the extent to which Pentagon officials could detect and respond if the Presidential Emergency Satchel were “lost, stolen or compromised.”
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