[MineralMan]

"Are you sure of that."

Yup. Unless there is no President, authorization must come from the President to launch a nuclear attack. There may be contingency plans out there in the event that the President and all successors are dead, but that's an unlikely scenario.

Absent the orders of the President, there will be no nuclear attack by the USA.

[eastforker]

So, you say the President is the absolute authority if he is alive?

[eastforker]

Any documentation that you can link?

[Darlin']

According to Tom Clancy* in Executive Orders, the president is supposed to carry on his person at all times an orange, plastic card similar in appearance to a credit card. The president selects a number group from several options contained on the card, that set of numbers is then verified and reverified by the two generals present at the selection and that gives him the ability to release nuclear weapons if necessary. The "football" is actually a locked briefcase with a set of attack plans.

*Since Clancy's research is known to be so thorough it spooks the spooks, I tend to believe this is a fairly accurate description. Moreover, it is similiar to an account in Dereliction of Duty: The Eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised America, by retired Lieutenant Colonel Robert "Buzz" Patterson