{{lead too short|date=May 2014}}

The '''nuclear football''' (also known as the '''atomic football''', the '''president's emergency satchel''', the '''button''', the '''black box''', or just the '''football''') is a [[briefcase]], the contents of which are to be used by the [[President of the United States]] to authorize a [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear attack]] while away from fixed [[command center]]s, such as the [[White House Situation Room]]. It functions as a mobile hub in the strategic defense system of the United States.

== Contents ==

According to a ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]'' article, the president is always accompanied by a military aide carrying a "football" with launch codes for nuclear weapons.<ref>Eggen, Dan. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/21/AR2008122100869.html "Cheney, Biden Spar In TV Appearances"]. ''[[The Washington Post]]'', December 22, 2008. Accessed 16 December 2009.</ref> The football is a metallic [[Zero Halliburton]] briefcase<ref>[http://www.baggageforless.com/zero_haliburton_Salt_Lake_Article.asp "Security: Sleek, sexy and oh, so safe / Utah company's attaché case is a Hollywood staple."] Glen Warchol, ''[[The Salt Lake Tribune]]''.</ref>{{dead link|date=January 2014}} carried in a black leather "jacket". The package weighs around 45 [[Pound (mass)|pounds]] (20 [[kilograms]]).<ref name="usatoday">[[Associated Press]]. [http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-05-05-nuclear-football_x.htm "Military aides still carry the president's nuclear 'football'"]. ''[[USA Today]]'', May 5, 2005. Accessed 16 December 2009.</ref> A small antenna protrudes from the bag near the handle.<ref name="usatoday" />

In his book ''Breaking Cover,'' Bill Gulley, the former director of the [[White House Military Office]], wrote:<ref name="usatoday" />

{{quote|There are four things in the Football. The Black Book containing the retaliatory options, a book listing classified site locations, a manila folder with eight or ten pages stapled together giving a description of procedures for the [[Emergency Alert System]], and a three-by-five inch card with authentication codes. The Black Book was about 9 by 12 inches and had 75 loose-leaf pages printed in black and red. The book with classified site locations was about the same size as the Black Book, and was black. It contained information on sites around the country where the president could be taken in an emergency.}}

== Operation ==

If the president (who is [[Commander-in-chief#United States|commander-in-chief]]) decided to order the use of nucler weapons, he or she would be taken aside by the "carrier" and the briefcase opened. A command signal, or "watch" alert, would then be issued to the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]]. The president would then review the attack options with the aide and decide on a plan, which could range from a single [[cruise missile]] to multiple [[intercontinental ballistic missile|ICBM]] launches. These are preset war plans developed under OPLAN 8010 (formerly the [[Single Integrated Operational Plan]]). Then, using whatever communications technology the satchel contains, the aide would presumably{{Citation needed|date=July 2012}} make contact with the [[National Military Command Center]] or, in a retaliatory strike situation, multiple airborne command posts (who likely fly [[Boeing E-4|Boeing E-4B]]) and/or nuclear armed submarines.

Before the order can be processed by the military, the president must be positively identified using a special code issued on a plastic card, nicknamed the "[[Gold Codes|biscuit]]".<ref name=icnnd>[http://icnnd.org/Documents/Jason_Fritz_Hacking_NC2.pdf Hacking Nuclear Command and Control], pg. 10.</ref> The United States has a [[two-man rule]] in place, and while only the president can order the release of nuclear weapons, the order must be confirmed by the [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] (there is a [[United States presidential line of succession|hierarchy of succession]] in the event that the president is killed in an attack).<ref name=icnnd/> Once all the codes have been verified, the military would issue attack orders to the proper units. These orders are given and then re-verified for authenticity.

The football is carried by one of the rotating presidential military aides, whose work schedule is described by a top-secret rota (one from each of the five [[United States Armed Forces|service branches]]). The aide is occasionally physically attached to the briefcase via a security cable around the wrist. This person is a [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned officer]] in the [[United States Armed Forces|U.S. military]], pay-grade [[U.S. military pay grades#Commissioned officers pay grades|O-4]] or above, who has undergone the nation's most rigorous [[background check]] ([[Yankee White]]).<ref name=gs>[http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/nuclear-football.htm The Football]—GlobalSecurity.org article</ref> These armed officers are required to keep the football readily accessible to the president at all times. Consequently, an aide, football in hand, is always either standing or walking near the president or riding in [[Air Force One]], [[Marine One]], or the [[United States President's limousine|presidential motorcade]] with the president.

== History ==

The football dates back to [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], but its current usage came about in the aftermath of the [[Cuba]]n [[Cuban Missile Crisis|missile crisis]], when [[John F. Kennedy]] was concerned that a Soviet commander in Cuba might launch missiles without authorization from Moscow.<ref name=gs/>

An [[Associated Press]] article stated that the nickname "football" was derived from an attack plan codenamed "Dropkick".<ref name=usatoday/> The nickname has led to some confusion as to the nature—and even the shape—of the device, as the jacket appears large enough to contain an actual football. In the [[graphic novel]] series ''[[Watchmen]]'', Richard Nixon, fictionally depicted as still being president in 1985, was depicted with a literal "nuclear football"—a metal device shaped like a football—handcuffed to his wrist in an emergency. While it is never explicitly stated what the object is, it is implied that the device either contains the same materials as the real-life nuclear football or is an electronic activation source for the nuclear option.

During their presidencies, both [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[Ronald Reagan]] preferred to keep the launch codes in their jacket pockets.<ref>Reagan, Ronald. ''An American Life.'' Pg. 257.</ref> Future Congressman [[John Kline (politician)|John Kline]] served as a colonel in the [[United States Marine Corps]] and carried the football for Presidents Carter and Reagan.

The football was separated from Ronald Reagan immediately after the 1981 [[Reagan assassination attempt|assassination attempt]] against him.<ref name="BBC Article">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/328442.stm "Clinton drops nuclear football"]. [[BBC News]], April 26, 1999. Accessed 16 December 2009.</ref> Reagan, like his predecessor Carter, preferred to carry the card in his pocket. He was separated from it when his clothing was cut off by the emergency room trauma team. It was later discovered unsecured lying in one of his shoes on the emergency room floor. This led to an urban legend that Reagan carried the code in his sock. Reagan was separated from the rest of the football as well because the officer who carried it was left behind as the motorcade sped away with the wounded president. On occasion the president has left his aide carrying the football behind. This happened to Nixon in 1973; after Nixon presented Soviet Leader [[Leonid Brezhnev]] with a [[Lincoln Continental]] at Camp David, Brezhnev unexpectedly drove with Nixon off the retreat onto a highway while leaving Nixon's Secret Service personnel behind, separating Nixon from the football (and his security detail) for nearly 30 minutes.<ref>The Soviet Image. ''Inside the Tass Archives.'' Pg. 188.</ref> Presidents [[Gerald Ford]], [[Jimmy Carter]], [[George H. W. Bush]],<ref name="Pullella">Pullella, Philip. [http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20040604-0731-pope-bush-football.html "Bush's nuclear 'football' in Vatican hallowed halls"]. [[Reuters]] via [[The San Diego Union-Tribune]], June 4, 2004. Accessed 18 August 2010.</ref> and, most recently, [[Bill Clinton]]<ref name="BBC Article"/> have also been separated from the football. In none of these cases was the integrity of the football breached.

== See also ==

* [[Cheget]], the Russian counterpart

* [[Permissive Action Link]]

* [[Nuclear briefcase]]

== Notes ==

{{Reflist|2}}

== Further reading ==

* Ford, Daniel F. (1985). ''The Button: The Pentagon's Strategic Command and Control System''. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-50068-6. {{OCLC|11533371}}.

* Gulley, Bill, and Mary Ellen Reese. (1980). ''Breaking Cover''. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-24548-1. {{OCLC|6304331}}.

==External links==

* [http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/systems/nuclear-football.htm The Football]—GlobalSecurity.org article including images of [[Smithsonian Institution]] retired "football"

* [http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=73657 ''The Nuclear Football''], a [[History (U.S. TV channel)|History Channel]] Special

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuclear Football}}

[[Category:Executive Office of the President of the United States]]

[[Category:Military communications]]

[[Category:United States nuclear command and control]]