The Nuclear Football and Command Authority

The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 placed nuclear weapons under civilian control, and over the following decades presidents established that only the President may authorize their use. In the early 1960s the Kennedy administration created the President's Emergency Satchel, nicknamed the football, a leather-covered briefcase carried by a rotating military aide who stays near the President at all times. It contains communications equipment and a book of preplanned strike options, and the President separately carries a card, called the biscuit, with codes used to authenticate an order.

If the President decides to use nuclear weapons, he would consult advisers if time allows, contact the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon, and authenticate his identity using the codes, after which the order would be transmitted to launch crews. No other official's approval is legally required, though crews follow procedures requiring two people to act together, and military officers are obligated to refuse orders they believe are clearly illegal. Duplicate footballs accompany the Vice President, and the system is designed to work within minutes in case of a surprise attack.

Concern about sole presidential authority has recurred. In 1974, during Watergate, the Secretary of Defense reportedly told military officers to check with him before carrying out any unusual order, and in November 2017 the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held its first hearing on nuclear launch authority in more than four decades. Bills have been introduced to bar a first use of nuclear weapons without a declaration of war by Congress, but none has passed. Supporters of the current system say speed and credibility are essential to deterrence, while critics say no single person should be able to order a nuclear strike.