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[eyebiter]

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[mirth]

Genius, absolute genius.  :o

[Staggerwing]

I think 'Duplicitous' would be a better term. To me it looks like certain elements in the Military hierarchy wanted to insure that they could keep control of the nation's nukes in case they wanted to take matters into their own hands. Makes you wonder if those individuals knew what was going to happen in Dallas...

[mirth]

I think 'Duplicitous' would be a better term. To me it looks like certain elements in the Military hierarchy wanted to insure that they could keep control of the nation's nukes in case they wanted to take matters into their own hands. Makes you wonder if those individuals knew what was going to happen in Dallas...

Knowing a little bit about how SAC was run back then, it wouldn't surprise me.

[LongBlade]

From the article:

But nuclear experts claim the military was worried about the possibility of command centers or communication lines being destroyed in real nuclear war, stopping soldiers getting the codes or authorization to launch missiles when they were actually needed.

So they simply left the security code for the weapons as eight zeros, getting around the security safeguards.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2515598/Launch-code-US-nuclear-weapons-easy-00000000.html#ixzz2mEuTdPKd
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^ This strikes me as the most plausible explanation. Certainly disabling the "safeguards" leaves things ripe for abuse, but when you consider who chaotic a battlefield is, then multiply that by nukes flying around and I could see how streamlining communication would be deemed a priority. How easy is it for a general to open an envelop, look at it, and tell everyone around him the code is all zeroes? All it takes is a few privates to manage to crawl up to a launch site and gasp out the code in their last breaths. It's about as easy as it could be if the SHTF.

Unsecure? Heck yeah. But if comms are down, that'll work pretty well.

[Staggerwing]

Don't forget that the code system was forced upon the military chain of command by a president resented for being democratic and catholic. the faction in question may have thought as little of the actual reason for having the code system as they did the practicality of its operation under times of stress. Having direct control of the nuke force is a tremendously powerful thing that they probably didn't want to relinquish to the civilian side. As Mirth mentioned, SAC was almost a cult unto itself back then.