US Lost The Codes For Nuclear Launch For Months
from the actually,-that-kind-of-makes-me-feel-safer dept
Not quite sure what to make of this one, but apparently, the special codes that the president needs to kick off a nuclear strike were lost for a few months during the Clinton administration. Now, you may ask (I know I did!) why they didn't just get new codes, and apparently the answer is that the aide who was in charge of hanging onto the codes didn't admit he had lost them for a few months. Apparently, someone's supposed to check the codes every month, and when they went to check the codes, the aide in question claimed that the President had them, but "was in an important meeting." The next month, same story. It was only a few months later, when the codes were set to be changed anyway, that the aide admitted to having "misplaced" the codes.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: government, nuclear codes
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Crap
One Quatloo for whomever comes up with the deafault code!
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Re: Crap
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Re: Re: Crap
http://www.damninteresting.com/ive-got-the-same-combination-on-my-luggage
(For the record, it was 00000000)
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Re: Re: Re: Crap
That way, any time they needed the dang code, all they had to do was pop in a VCR or DVD copy of the 80's movie WARGAMES and fast fwd to that part.
Stupid aide probably turned the code back into a local Blockbuster video store, thinking it was a rental and didn't want to be stuck paying the late fees.
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Grass
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Huh
For those who don't know, the biscuit is a special card that has codes that let the nuclear silo commanders know that its the president really talking.
The Gizmodo article didn't mention anything about an aide.
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meh
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Maybe....
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Just wait?
You're talking about nuclear (or later, nucular) launch codes. Why wouldn't the response be, "OK, I'll wait here until he's available." There's something more important that official needed to do?
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Re: Just wait?
Only on the day we start launching nuclear weapons. Until then we are too busy blowing up the desert with non-nuclear weapons.
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Re: Re: Just wait?
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/sarcasm
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Firefox extension to sniff out open connections and get passwords, the objective is not to hack anyone but to make websites start using encryption because it is to darn easy to sniff anybody these days.
http://hackaday.com/2010/10/25/firesheep-promoting-privacy-in-a-scary-way/
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I am just glad....
"Moles in the yard? terrorists! What was the code again? 1....2....3.....4....5....? no thats my luggage! Gosh darmnit!"
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I say this is just a hoax
And don't tell me that there isn't such inspection taking places on every instance the "football" changes hand. Check-in/check-out procedures are in place even in all kinds of non-secure places, to think such procedure isn't routine with one of the most important item in the world is just moronic.
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Re: I say this is just a hoax
That said, why the verification check was just a once a month thing is crazy. Either you wait till the Prez is available, or you come back the next friggin day every day until they are produced.
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Re: I say this is just a hoax
The card that this story is referring to contains a bunch of different sets of numbers. The President picks one of those sets when he first gets the card, it is programmed into the control systems, then he must repeat that same set to actually launch the nukes. That card is supposed to be on him at all times, and he is the only one that is supposed to know which set of numbers he picked.
At least, that's what Tom Clancy novels have in them - but he's usually right about how this stuff works.
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Re: Re: I say this is just a hoax
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Re: Re: Re: I say this is just a hoax
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Well who cares the government lost jobs, the economy, respect, leadership position and a lot of other things, they probably don't even have the nukes so the codes were useless anyway.
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I used to be in the Army...
One thing's for sure, if this person who allegedly lost the codes has any sort of security clearance anymore, we're all doomed.
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Less here than the "nuclear" conjures up.
It's the sort of thing put out to distract from current problems or to herald an upcoming significant event to those in the know. We will have to wait and see which it is, or whether just random noise.
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The elephant in the room
At least that's what you guys keep telling other countries...
Isn't it time to just get rid of those silly things anyway? Come ooooonnnn.
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Re: The elephant in the room
You would think so. Instead, we're designing and building new ones. Becuse the old ones might not work anymore, to which any normal individual would respond: GREAT!
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sbhall52@gmail.com
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Re: sbhall52@gmail.com
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Gotta be a pretty good pick up line, "Hey baby, wanna touch the codes that could end the world?"
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