Female US Army officer brings Joe Biden’s ‘nuclear football’ to Downing Street – the 40lb titanium case that would allow US president to launch atomic attack
It is kept in close proximity to the US president at all times – and a visit to Downing Street today was no exception.
A female US military aide was spotted carrying Joe Biden‘s ‘nuclear football’ out of No10 after his short meeting with Rishi Sunak this morning.
The contents of the 40lb titanium case allows the president to authorise use of the country’s nuclear arsenal, and can only be opened by the leader.
It has been carried by every president since Dwight D Eisenhower in the 1950s.
Today’s carrier was a US Army major, one of five military aides to the president – one from each branch of the armed forces: army, navy, air forces, marines and coast guard.
The contents of the 40lb titanium case allows the president to authorise use of the country’s nuclear arsenal, and can only be opened by the leader.
A female US military aide was spotted carrying Joe Biden’s ‘nuclear football’ out of No10 after his short meeting with Rishi Sunak this morning.
Since either the president or vice president would likely have 15 minutes or less to respond militarily to an impending attack before the United States could be wiped out by nuclear-tipped missiles, the military aides who carry the satchels are supposed to be in close proximity to the two leaders at all times.
Secured with a cipher lock, it contains a variety of secure phone capabilities and written options for launching nuclear strikes that the president may authorise.
The president authenticates his identity with codes found on a small plastic card he carries with him. In case the president is incapacitated or has died, an identical nuclear football is assigned to the vice president.
In the event of a devastating threatened attack on the US, the president – or vice president as his backup – would confirm his identity to the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon over a secure phone by reading codes from the Sealed Authenticator System card – also known as the ‘biscuit’ – that he is supposed to carry with him at all times.
Military leaders and White House national security advisors would then brief the president or vice president on the nature of the threat and the options for retaliating. If either man wanted to consult the written options, he could do so.
He then would choose a retaliatory option and his command would be read back to him. Once he confirms, the command center would use the military’s launch authorization codes to release nuclear missiles.
