Good discussion about the “Nuclear Football” from Readers Digest:
https://www.rd.com/article/nuclear-football/
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Thank you for the RD article. The photo there is the one I picture when I think of the case - hard-sided leather with a solid handle and somewhat large, possibly chained to the agent’s wrist. Technology may have allowed the football to be carried about without all the manuals and physical protection now. If they do away with those materials though, they’d need to make sure they have guaranteed electronic communications. We wouldn’t want a situation where the SS has to say “Sorry Boss. We don’t have to carry those heavy manuals now but I can’t get an internet connection to get the instructions to intercept that incoming missile.”
RE: The “Football”
Not to worry about the communications or manual backups, they have “Redundancies” built into the system.
By the way, the guy that carries it around is one of 5 Military Aides assigned to the President (Not Secret Service).