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From: Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Pearls Before Swine: Uncle Is Not Good With Money
Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2025 14:37:50 -0800
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On 1/12/2025 12:10 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
> Bobbie Sellers  <blissInSanFrancisco@mouse-potato.com> wrote:
>> On 1/12/25 09:04, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>>> Dimensional Traveler  <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
>>>> On 1/12/2025 8:53 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm fairly sure the US President is one door and one military officer
>>>>> away from access to the codes that launch the missiles, however.
>>>>
>>>> Codes that authorize launches once the military requests it.
>>>
>>> Assuming the president remembers where he left the biscuit.  There have
>>> been a couple cases where it disappeared for a week or two until turning
>>> up in the laundry.
>>
>> 	"Biscuit"??? We used to refer to it as the "Football". Further
>> minaturization or ?.
> 
> The biscuit is the laminated card that contains the gold codes and it is
> carried around by the president at all times.  The codes are changed on a
> regular basis but back in the Nixon era it wasn't as often as it is today.
> It's the size of a business card and fits in the wallet.
> 
> The football is the briefcase with the present war plans and the codes for
> those plans.  The football is carried around by a military officer who
> follows the president around.
> 
> Should the president decide to drop the bomb, he needs both the current
> gold code from the biscuit AND the code for the specific war plan he wants
> to implement.  I think the way it's supposed to work is that he calls the
> national military command center with the gold code, gets back a countersign,
> then gives the code for the plan.
> 
> There are some plans and some codes that are specific ringers so that if the
> information is compromised that a bad guy won't know which codes are valid.
> 
> The key to this system is that the president can only implement specific
> plans which have been made up by the generals.  He can't wake up in the
> middle of the night with an upset stomach from bad burritos and decide to
> nuke Mexico.  Well, he can decide that, but he won't be able to implement it
> so easily.
> 
> I have no idea what system the Russians have in place.  For all I know,
> Putin could call up some secret number and order Mexico City to be bombed.
> --scott
> 
That sounds too complicated for Trump to remember so we may be safe.  :P

-- 
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky 
dirty old man.