America’s Nuclear Weapon Chain of Command, with Eric Schlosser

Who launches a nuclear weapon if the president has been killed? How far down does the chain of command go? Investigative journalist Eric Schlosser recounts the chilling history of American…

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25 Responses to America’s Nuclear Weapon Chain of Command, with Eric Schlosser

  1. kaiwen he says:

    If the congress has authority to declare war why not just send the codes to
    congress

  2. Jeffery Liggett says:

    When I said nuke the Chinese, I meant put the takeout in the microwave!

  3. Abdullah Afridi says:

    Wouldn’t it be easier to appoint two people instead of one and develop a
    system through which the weapons cannot be fired without the authority of
    both of them. This would effectively prevent the “crazy general scenario”
    from occurring.

  4. 50ftFrankenstein says:

    I still find it hard to believe that cooler heads prevailed and nuclear war
    was averted. I guess humanity isn’t as mindless or cruel as it seems
    sometimes.

  5. MrSlade369 says:

    I was offended until he said the president could also be a woman at the
    end. How about we wait until old thunder thighs Clinton gets into office
    before we PC up the president?

  6. Xano Trevisan Kothe says:

    How about AI? I would analyse the global scenario and would decide if
    should kill us or not… Terminator X

  7. Nathan Nguyen says:

    So is this the fast food nation guy?
    

  8. vdubs4life1964 says:

    How do WE retaliate?? WE?????! , I dont know where this WE crap is coming
    from if the president (lord/master) is the only one who can make the
    decision…
    Anyway, how would retaliation make the world better? Two wrongs dont make a
    right!!

  9. Sidney Shaw says:

    I hope these weapons are obsolete, and we’ve learned to aim for the
    offending leadership, rather than the innocent.

  10. truedeadandlife says:

    We don’t, USE nuclear weapons (against each other).

  11. tummy lice says:

    CBS 60 minutes, I think, did a pretty good story about this. 

  12. Sandi Hadžić says:

    Why not give that power to congress. It’s really not necessary to retaliate
    immediately to nuclear threat or attack. Congress would need at least a
    year to decide so there would be inherent cool off period. But to carry
    risk like that then Iran really needs nuclear weapons so they can
    retaliate.

  13. abhijeet .. says:

    what if the president sleepwalks and launches nukes in sleep?

  14. 45von says:

    The idea that we could/should ‘trust’ our upper levels of government has
    dissolved to some degree, in watching that group dealing with criminal use
    of torture.

  15. j says:

    You give the US military credit for professionalism and discipline for not
    randomly detonating a nuclear weapon for the fun of it?

    I might aswell give you credit for your professionalism and discipline in
    consistently breathing every day.

    BIG THINK BIG THOUGHTS YO

  16. Josefsson9013 says:

    This is what happens when American’s have nukes

    “September 18, 1980 – At about 6:30 p.m., an airman conducting maintenance
    on a USAF Titan-II missile at Little Rock Air Force Base’s Launch Complex
    374-7 in Southside (Van Buren County), just north of Damascus, Arkansas,
    dropped a socket from a socket wrench, which fell about 80 feet (24 m)
    before hitting and piercing the skin on the rocket’s first-stage fuel tank,
    causing it to leak. The area was evacuated. At about 3:00 a.m., on
    September 19, 1980, the hypergolic fuel exploded. The W53 warhead landed
    about 100 feet (30 m) from the launch complex’s entry gate; its safety
    features operated correctly and prevented any loss of radioactive material.
    An Air Force airman was killed and the launch complex was destroyed.”

  17. Joe Kerr says:

    You can say the same for any country not just USA.

  18. TheSquidPro says:

    Has this man ever heard of deterrence?

  19. ChipArgyle says:

    Why would you have to give military officers “great credit” for having
    never launched nuclear weapons? They haven’t had any reason to use such
    weapons since WWII ended. Such weaponry is an absolute last resort to stop
    unchecked destruction and attempts at domination.

  20. Kilgore Trout says:

    “I give the military great credit for never having used nuclear weapons
    without authorization.” WOW, you must really have very low expectations of
    the military.

  21. Gray Stoke says:

    I don’t understand this dude’s statement of “junior officer”. There are
    literally 1,000+ generals and admirals in the military stationed worldwide
    with 20+ years of experience individually; none of them are junior. When
    you say “junior officers” it is actually referring to officers O1(2LT/ENS)
    through O4(MAJ/LCDR).

    When it comes to responsibility, there are thousands of “kids” (but they
    are also adults) in the military with just a high school degree performing
    actions and executing responsibilities that directly impact national
    security and foreign relations everyday. A significant portion of the
    civilian population will never experience equivalent grave responsibility
    in their lifetimes. Most service members honorably perform their duties but
    there are some bad eggs once in a while.

    What is actually more amazing is that there has been no successful coup
    d’état from the military against the elected Federal civilian government.
    Not bad for a military superpower. The Roman Emperor got deposed by his
    Praetorian Guard. The Soviet Union and China keep their military in-check
    with political commissars. 

  22. hahahashish says:

    Give the launch codes to Consuela the cleaning lady…

  23. OmniphonProductions says:

    The error he makes is in envisioning a line of delegation that goes DOWN
    the chain of command. From the White House to the Pentagon and/or the
    military, there are enough generals, admirals, and commandants that…well,
    if it ever makes it down to junior officers, then it’s probably too late
    for a nuclear strike to matter. Moreover, the thing that would keep some
    rogue general from using nukes independently is the fact that our own
    detection systems would enable the president (or some OTHER general) to
    identify and disarm said nukes. Moreover, the greatest deterrent to misuse
    of military nukes is the knowledge that such a launch would virtually
    assure counter-attack(s) that would result in our own annihilation.

  24. RedInferno112 says:

    US, India, Russia, China will probably never start a nuclear attack. Their
    rulers are just about sane enough. Pakistan, Iran, North Korea and so on
    are dangerous though, too affected by religion/totalitarianism, if they
    actually get the resources to start a nuclear war we should be scared.

  25. WILL BIRD says:

    So does this mean because your younger you are more likely to be crazy and
    kill people compared to older people. Furthermore we trust young doctors
    who just graduated with people’s lives does this mean they will kill
    people? To do these types of jobs you have to have a certain type of
    mentality and that people who appoint you that responsibility are also well
    trained people with experience and they know what they are doing.

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