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US Presidential Nuclear Codes 'Lost For Months'
Martin Hellman writes "Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Hugh Shelton, has dropped a nuclear bombshell, metaphorically speaking. Shelton's recently released memoir Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior, asserts that an aide to President Clinton lost a card containing key phrases needed for ordering a nuclear strike, and that the codes were missing for months. This confirms a similar allegation, made in 2004 by Lt. Col. Robert Patterson, a military aide who frequently carried the 'nuclear football' during the Clinton presidency. Unfortunately, human error within the nuclear weapons complex is a frequent and dangerous occurrence."
Turn the decision making over to a computer. I'm sure it can't find the launch codes.
biscuit
Nullius in verba
Quick - any way we can "export" this "technology" to the rest of the world?
-- Barbie
Nice! It doesn't really matter if nukes work or not anyway; they are not intended to actually be used, and this just helps them stay that way.
"They were immediately replaced."
Seriously, who is going to launch a nuclear weapon anyway? It's like committing suicide.
We are all better off losing them and to keep pretending you are going to use them if necessary.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
That's the sort of thing that'd be changed daily as a matter of course, and there must be other authentication factors besides just codes.
Not much to worry about here.
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
We are all as worms. With really big guns.
Emotions! In your brain!
Who cares if Clinton or Putin didn't have access to the codes? At least half the planet would survive.
I went to battle M.C. Escher, but drew a blank.
Would Clinton really nuke anybody anyway? He didn't retaliate after the WTC, the US Embassy, or USS Cole attacks.
Are these the cards you keep in your wallet, picking one of the sequences (which one not being indicated on the card) to confirm your identity in case you're called upon to satisfy the two-man rule for authorizing a nuclear strike?
First, someone would be guessing randomly as to which sequence to use.
Second, someone would have to convince the guy at the other end of the phone--or in person--he was the right person. In DC, that can be tricky, because everyone knows everyone.
Third, You'd need a SECOND person to help.
Fourth, when it goes missing, surely you could call NORAD and say "Yo, I'm missing my card."
Oh, I skimmed the article. The problem isn't that they were missing, it's that President Clinton's aides were afraid to say they'd lost them. They should have been fired or arrested, putting their pride ahead of a fairly important--though hopefully unneeded--element of national security like that.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
TFA heavily implies that the aid knew the codes were lost but covered up the mistake until the mandatory code change rather than cop to it and get the codes replaced. It seems to me this would be a court-martial offense at the very least.
That the people checking on such an important document did not communicate with each other or follow up with the President is also appalling.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
If you lose your library card, that's human error.
If you lose a nuclear strike card, we need a new term.
Not really an issue, they were probably the default codes anyway; i mean, why not, that's what they used at the minuteman silos anyway.
If you saw the film The Fog of War, you may remember Robert McNamara admittion that when he attempted to force the military to implement a secure command and control system, they set the code to 0000 0000 and left it that way, against orders from the Commander in Chief. The code was an open secret within all the 'Top Brass' allowing anyone with the appropriate rank to fire at will.
By comparison, would have felt safer believing that no one had the ability to arm and fire nukes for a period of time than believing that any one of the top bullet-heads were able. I have little faith that military minds accept the notion that nuclear warfare should be considered utterly off-limits.
To me, the nuclear ATM card sitting at the bottom of Clinton's sock drawer is little more than a humorous historical anecdote, if it's true at all.
Our government better fix this and fix it quick. As a U.S. citizen I demand our elective officials overblow this issue into some kind of national security problem and require anyone flying, driving, walking, bicycling, chartering a bus or taking a taxi while entering, leaving or just site seeing our country to be detained, strip searched, beaten (especially if you one of those pesky journalist) and have your personally belongings seized.
And due to the fact that this lost nuclear activation card can be scanned and uploaded to nefarious websites, we need to completely shut down the internet, restrict television and radio to RIAA and MPAA approved content and revoke all library cards immediately.
The government needs to be reminded that us citizens are in control, dammit.
The real Sig captains the Northwestern. This one captains
The codes were found by some idiot wannabe cowboy in Texas? Wait, the supreme court did exactly that in 2001, and we still survived.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I always thought it was foolish for the US to counterstrike, and extinct the human race.
Obviously it was meant as a deterrent, but the wiser course if Russia attacked would be to say, "Oh damn," and do nothing. The eastern half of the world would fall to Communism, but Homo sapiens would still be alive. And no government lasts forever. Even if it took 500 years eventually the communist empire would bankrupt itself, collapse (as happened with Rome), and a new civilization would arise to fill the gap.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
You need to be at defcon 1 before you can launch
The whole idea of having a "football" accompanying a person who can order a Nuclear strike anywhere is just stupid to say the least. When it comes to a weapon that can destroy whole cities without any regard for innocent lives that will be lost, there should be a well planned out and thorough discussion among other Government officials, majority of which should not be military men. In some rare cases, where they think that immediate nuclear strike was the only way to go, it is pretty much a given that the person with the most power will be emotionally distressed and his decisions would not consider anything beyond his mere order.
Obviously Clinton had decided he would never push the button and didn't much care about the button's whereabouts. If Russia had decided to launch 500 nuclear warheads at the U.S., there wouldn't have been much point in pushing the button anyway, other than, perhaps, for some sort of twisted revenge. Nuclear weapons are the kind of weapon that gives Iran's Ahmadinejad an Islamic hard-on...just thinking about nuking Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and...perhaps New York and Los Angeles...and...even better...thinking about the massive amount of fear that the the intended victims will experience in the time leading up to the actual nuking. Fear...it's all about fear. Clinton was not someone who wanted anyone to be afraid anywhere...more of an anti-fear President.
I know this!!!
Those are just part of the authentication process to initiate something like a launch. Still, it looks bad on those who lost them.
You can't just call someone up read them the codes and then they all launch.
Also, you don't actually need them to launch. If you think about it, it makes sense. Otherwise you could conventionally kill the president, then we wouldn't be able to retaliate.
There are many checks an balances, and it is a well trained and tested process with no single point of failure.
The worst part is that FE Warren sucks.
Just mixed up with all the phone numbers on cocktail napkins and bar coasters.
Have gnu, will travel.
I did not sleep with that woman holding the launch codes.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. -- Isaac Asimov
If North Korea and Iran were to use any WMDs they would have used chemical weapons which they both had for decades. Hell, for eight years, Iran didn't use chemical weapons against Saddam even in retaliation. Maybe if you stop watching Fox News, you'd notice the leaders portrayed as demonic figures bent on bringing hell on earth are actually very pragmatic people and that's exactly why they manage to stay in power.
If it were more recent they probably would have been backed up on wikileaks.
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
she was helping him look for the launch codes
Shamelessly stolen from Fark
The fact of the matter is, Iran, when they get nukes, will not use them unless they are attacked, and even then that's an iffy proposition. Both (or more) of the countries involved know what will happen when the nuclear genie is used. And it ain't pretty.
I think you're right about Iran. The nuke program is more about prestige and internal politics than about an actual desire to use 'em. But we're certainly well into the realm of speculation about matters of human motivation and judgement, and pretty far afield from facts.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Bill: Here sweetie, take my number, feel free to call me for anything. ...
Monica: Sure, Bill. But isn't this piece of paper important? It looks like there are some passwords on here and launch instructions...
Bill: Don't worry, baby. Say, come over here and I'll show you a launch.
Monica:
obviously it's not a good thing the codes and it's a bit freaky codes were lost... but why now? the story is very old... and how come this book is coming out around time of elections, depicting a democrat in a bad light?
Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that
This kind of failure errs on the side of non-destruction. It's better than a system that requires the periodic entry of codes to keep a system from being armed ain't it?
or else.
Yours In Crime,
( Former ) President-VICE Richard B. Cheney.
And people laugh at obama for wanting to get rid of nuclear weapons.
Play Command HQ online
How is this a problem?? We couldn't nuke the planet for a few months? That's a fucking selling point folks.
The Konami code Easter Egg would have worked if needed.
FTFS:This confirms a similar allegation, made in 2004 by Lt. Col. Robert Patterson, a military aide who frequently carried the 'nuclear football' during the Clinton presidency.
I demand a video review. They refs should have called a fumble.
Set your phasers on "funky"!
They were in Monica Lewinsky's purse the whole time!
If they have to change the key phrases I suggest "antiquing". Now that Rahm Emanuel is gone its probably safe to use "ass".
Did he leave it at Gourmet Haus Staudt?
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
You're exactly correct. In the years leading up to World War I, the German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm II was an aggressive, militaristic, expansionist state seeking to make a mark in global affairs, their "place in the sun", as the Kaiser put it. England and France put aside their ancient enmity to face this new threat as allies, with France particularly thirsting for revenge after their humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
[ Bismarck had orchestrated the war in order to unify the various German kingdoms into an empire under Wilhelm I, King of Prussia. After a bloody, destructive invasion of France, Wilhelm was crowned Kaiser in the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, a humiliation the French never forgot. That led to them imposing harsh reparations on Germany under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles after the German defeat in WW I, which ultimately ruined the Germany economy and fueled the ultranationalist movement in Germany, culminating in Hitler's rise to power. The seeds of World War II were sown in the War of 1870.]/digression.
People forget that the general public in Britain, France, and Germany were clamoring for war, and at the outbreak of hostilities, when Germany mobilized after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, cheering crowds filled the streets of London in celebration, prompting Foreign Secretary Edward Grey's prophetic statement: "The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime."
As German forces streamed westward, it began to dawn on the Kaiser what he had unleashed, and he ordered his General Staff to immediately recall them, only to be told that it was far too late, and that Germany would be at a severe military disadvantage if they were to turn aside. The wheels were already in motion and England and France were eager for war; they would not accept any negotiations at such a late stage. Thus Wilhelm could only watch helplessly as the genie he released from the bottle swept across Europe and irrevocably shaped the history of the 20th Century.
...isn't this the same time frame as the Monica Lewinsky thing. I mean I too would loose nuke codes if I had a cigar and Monica at my desk.
They were behind the couch the whole time?
It used to be a place of reason. Now it's a den of excuse making.
You see, Bill wrote some girl's number on the back - and had it tucked away from Hillary.
That was the 90's - you know, before he could just add her to his Mobile.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
He just kept it where he kept his cigars...
In any case, this glosses over the issue that nuclear arsenal was build by the lowest bidder and has not been practically tested in a generation. The computer models should be accurate. testing at the component and subsystem should lead to high level or reliability, but who really knows? How much incentive is there in a free market system to achieve high quality when you know the product is never really going to be used?
The nuclear arsenal is a shadow game, with secrecy and bluffs going a long way to prevent wide spread destruction. And when are we going to use them? People from Saudi Arabia planned the attack on 9/11. but Riyadh stands there radiation free? Is it when the terrorists invade England, when the armada crosses the Pacific, or when they are attacking New York or California, or not until they make it to Iowa. It is a threat, and as such it requires only a facade capable of fooling out friends.
This is total BS, but it is convenient it appears just before the mid-term elections (the mention of Carter is a dead give-away here). I have much too much respect for the people in the DNA to give this any credence. It may be something was lost, but I don't think for one instant that this jeopardized our nuclear deterrence in the slightest.
I don't know where to start, except to say that the story as written implies a security system for the frakking nuclear force that wouldn't pass an elementary security review. Tokens may always be lost or compromised, and must be replaceable at will. Presidents go jogging, swimming, fishing, etc., meet foreign leaders (and even take them to places like Camp David); it must be assumed that the "biscuit" could be compromised at any time and thus must be replaceable at any time. Further, if the President is in the White House, on Air Force One, at Camp David, etc., there is an infrastructure around him that includes plenty of people that could vouch for him. If SAC commanders have an ability to launch if communications with the National Command Authority is lost (and they do), then I don't believe for an instant that the President in the White House situation room couldn't give any necessary orders. Further, it is not reasonable to expect that even the most conscientious leader will always have the biscuit on him. (In the bath ? While scuba diving ? Horse back riding ? Or, clearing brush at some Texas ranch ?) Again, I do not believe that our deterrence will fail because no one figured that the President might be a few miles from his coat when the crisis came.
So, I call BS on this. It just doesn't pass the smell test.
Don't bet on that.
Not quite. The Kargil War was fought between May and July 1999, after both nations had conducted nuclear tests and declared themselves nuclear armed.
Similarly, the Yom Kippur War in 1973 was an attack on Israel by Syria and Egypt at a time that both nations knew Israel was nuclear armed, and the Falkland Island War was fought against a nuclear armed UK.
What these all have in common is that they are limited wars. Kargil was small (~50,000 soldiers engaged combined) and fought over limited terrain. The Yom Kippur War huge, but the objectives of the attackers was limited, they were seeking to recover some (in the case of Egypt) or all (in the case of Syria) of their national soil lost in a war only 6 years before. The Falkland War was a colossal blunder mostly by one man (Admiral Jorge Anaya), rather than a well planned operation, but one indicates that the UKs nuclear forces were entirely discounted.
Nuclear weapons make the world safe for limited war, but that is enormously preferable to the unlimited kind.
Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
I had my copy. All they had to do was ask.
Its supposed to be a shocking tragic situation with a dire ending as a warning to the audiences of the day but I thought the ending was a happy one.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Monica was just helping to look for them
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Consider combining this Slashdot story with the next one about Bible.com. The obvious conclusion is that the lost launch codes are hidden in the Bible. I KNEW it! Clinton is off the hook.
Sorry, but gray text on gray background is making my eyes bleed.
The lost code book means nothing. Hell, you can command the launch from pay phone in a whore house. The procedure is totally controlled using sealed authenticators and messages in special formats.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,101361-3,00.html
I had the combo to the outer SAS safe.
In GOD we trust, all others we monitor.
It's happened before. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_football
Carter left it in his suit and had it sent for Dry-cleaning. Clinton was at a public event and when he left, the colonel who was carrying the football was left behind at the field.
Wouldn't you think that there would be a procedure in place for deprecating and replacing the codes with new ones in case the they get lost or Glen Beck steals them?
Support SETI@home
So what's the statute of limitations for treason anyway? Funny none of this came out at the time. A real news media would have at least brought this up. Oh, but I forgot, our first black President is a Democrat. And if it had happened around the time of the impeachment trial, just think what a nice article that would have made. Just think what kind of leverage this information would have given the Chinese if it had happened at the time of the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade or to a nuclear armed Muslim power like Pakistan at the time of the bombing of the aspirin factory in Sudan or the mini-war against Saddam, which, including the no-fly zone bombings, never ended for Clinton's whole term. Of course a slick cool guy like Willie could never be held responsible for something like this. What if he told his aide to lose the codes on purpose because he didn't believe in using nuclear weapons - on orders from Hillary, no doubt? But even if he knew nothing about it, he's still responsible. Oh, but that's an obsolete concept, I'm sorry! "I was only acting on orders" has been replaced by "the buck never got here."
Not to worry.
Nah, just outsource it.
Call Center: Hi, my name is Gupta...er...Steve, who am I speaking to?
Customer: General Mayhem at NORAD.
Call Center: Very good, General. We appreciate your call, your business is very important to us. How may I assist you today?
Customer: We'd like a nuclear strike on North Korea.
Call Center: Very good, you want a nuclear strike on North Korea. I can authorize that in just a few minutes. While we are waiting, can I take a minute to tell you about some of our other warfare options you may not know about?
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
...to say that he will fine everyone 10 $ if they don't carry nuclear launch codes in their pocket.
Que the famous Dr. Strangelove movie with this scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWP_rEWG2xk
Slashdot: stuff for news, nerds that matter, matter for news, stuff that nerd
...because in Soviet Russia, nuclear codes lose YOU!
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
You mean this torpedo incident? You may like to check the Chinese and Russian versions of the analysis. The version you seem to consider correct is about as watertight as Cheonan during her final minutes.
OMG. I always knew the clinton administration was like a circus full of clowns. or perhaps they were keystone cops. who knows?
Understanding is much like a 3-edged-sword. in this: there are always 2 sides and the truth.
that they are not able to handle such a situation by changing and regenerating the codes (e.g. a certain number of persons could have a distributed key to decrypt the codes only if more than 3 of them agree). I also would have hoped that the codes them are only decrypted when used on the appropriate terminal, and that this encryption can be changed. Trusting that the card is save against theft, loosing it, or damage is not very wise.
I'm fully aware of the alternate explanations. Sadly, all that I've read have far, far, far more holes than the official explanation. Furthermore, the damage inflicted is typical of a modern torpedo design.
You need to keep in mind, some have even suggested it ran aground; which is even more absurd given the depths at which it sank.
Bluntly, until there is credible evidence to discount the official story, which is at least comparable in strength and credibility, there isn't anything else to consider. That's not to say the official story is the only possible explanation...its just the most likely based on readily available, credible information.
True. However also remember there are subjects with strong interest on the upkeep of the tension in the region. Also remember previous incidents with official explanations, from the Tonkin Gulf to the battleship Maine.
Who are the Puppeteers?
President Clinton lost his nuclear codes.
President Bush lost his nuclear warheads.