Another little issue that was not known for a “while:”
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/10/why-clintons-losing-the-nuclear-biscuit-was-really-really-bad/65009/
Former President Clinton’s office declined to comment today on reports that he managed to lose the personal identification code needed to confirm nuclear launches and never told anyone about it...
A former military officer with knowledge of NCA procedures helps fill in some of the details.
Let’s say that the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) detects an inbound air warning; the NMCC immediately calls the Sit Room or the military aide, which plugs in the President, who then provides an alpha-numeric code to verify his identity. Once verified, the President can (to invoke ICBM language) execute or terminate sorties. The military aide—known as the Milaide—goes everywhere with the President. Even when the President travels in a hotel elevator, the Milaide (and the president’s doctor) accompany him. (Yes, every POTUS elevator trip is monitored.)
So what happens if the President doesn’t have his identifier?
The commander in chief of NORAD resorts to the next person the NCA list, the Vice President....
Fill in the the blanks here_____
“Former President Clinton ... managed to lose the personal identification code needed to confirm nuclear launches.”
Hey, if Bill had the code in his pants pocket, and then forgot where he left his pants, what’s the big deal? Can’t we just “move on”?