Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

President Bill Clinton Lost Nuclear Codes While in Office, New Book Claims
ABC News ^

Posted on 10/20/2010 4:41:36 PM PDT by Sub-Driver

President Bill Clinton Lost Nuclear Codes While in Office, New Book Claims Former Chairman of Joint Chiefs Says Nuclear 'Biscuit' Went Missing for Months

When you're President of the United States, you can lose a vote, you can lose popular support, and you can lose a round of golf. But you're never, ever supposed to lose the biscuit.

That's what they call the card the president is meant to keep close at hand, bearing the codes that he has to have in order to launch a nuclear attack. And for several months during the Clinton administration, a former top military officer says they lost the biscuit.

Gen. Hugh Shelton, who served under Clinton as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tells the story in his just-published memoir, "Without Hesitation: The Odyssey of an American Warrior."

"At one point during the Clinton administration," Shelton writes, "the codes were actually missing for months. [...] That's a big deal -- a gargantuan deal."

Shelton claims the story has never been released before, but Ret. Air Force Lt. Col Robert Patterson told a very similar account in his own book, published seven years ago.

Patterson was one of the men who carried the football, and he says it was literally the morning after the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke that he made a routine request of the president to present the card so that he could swap it out for an updated version.

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-34 last
To: Past Your Eyes

To channel “Flounder” :”Oh boy, is this thread gonna be great!”


21 posted on 10/20/2010 5:08:42 PM PDT by Carl LaFong (Experts say experts should be ignored.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Thunder90

You think that’s bad.... Obama doesn’t even have the football with him most of the time. Biden is the guy with them.

You are joking right?


22 posted on 10/20/2010 5:19:27 PM PDT by GQuagmire (Hey now!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Thunder90

You think that’s bad.... Obama doesn’t even have the football with him most of the time. Biden is the guy with them.

You are joking right?


23 posted on 10/20/2010 5:19:37 PM PDT by GQuagmire (Hey now!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver

I bet he never misplaced his little black book of phone numbers.


24 posted on 10/20/2010 5:26:01 PM PDT by Dewey Revoltnow (Worst. Community. Agitator. Ever!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver

I recall reading this accusation back in 2000 in the book “Dereliction of Duty”.

http://www.amazon.com/Dereliction-Duty-Eyewitness-Compromised-Americas/dp/0895260603/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1287620363&sr=8-2


25 posted on 10/20/2010 5:31:04 PM PDT by El Sordo (The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver

“In his pants?”

Well, he was out of them a great deal and they could get lost.


26 posted on 10/20/2010 5:38:59 PM PDT by momtothree
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver
Well he may have lost the biscuit.....but he Knew where the Muffin Tops were at all times!
27 posted on 10/20/2010 5:39:55 PM PDT by jakerobins
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver

Liberals are so irresponsible and clueless.


28 posted on 10/20/2010 5:40:48 PM PDT by ncpatriot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver
Has anyone checked the Clinton library... or eBay?
29 posted on 10/20/2010 6:19:08 PM PDT by Carl Vehse
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: earlJam
Yeah. Something sounds fishy. (no, I am not suggesting that Monica hid them in her panties)

You owe me a new monitor for the one I giggled Pepsi all over!
30 posted on 10/20/2010 6:23:57 PM PDT by Sweet_Sunflower29
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Red_Devil 232

This isn’t a White House staffer or some DC “insider.” It’s the man who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Are you saying you know more about the codes and their management than he does ?


31 posted on 10/20/2010 6:40:54 PM PDT by EDINVA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver

Monica used it as a bookmark in her copy of “Leaves of Grass.”


32 posted on 10/20/2010 6:56:23 PM PDT by Rocky (REPEAL IT!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EDINVA
Gee I don't know! I do know that as a Marine in Vietnam I coded every one of the F4-J Phantoms in my squadron every night! These codes were for the scrambling of radio communications between aircraft. Every aircraft in theater was coded each and every day with a different code for that specific day. Marine, Navy, Air force and I assume CIA and ground observers were all coded with the exact same code each and every day.

The code book was kept in a safe and we had to have two Marines present to set the device that we used to punch the code into each aircraft.

I don't know why a device that could send off a bunch of nuclear war heads would be treated differently.

33 posted on 10/20/2010 7:32:16 PM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: Sub-Driver

It’s not like he would have ever used them, even if he had them.


34 posted on 10/20/2010 9:20:36 PM PDT by smokingfrog (Because you don't live near a bakery doesn't mean you have to go without cheesecake.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-34 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson