Still shouldn't have permitted their removal for nothing more than a flimsy "assurance."
Should have retained possession, and then looked for scientists and technicians capable of "re-activating" the weapons.
At least the fissile materials could have been harvested and re-used!
Regards,
The launch codes wouldnt have been needed for disassembly at all. These systems varied by country and weapon, but IIRC a lot of them were just an authorization code given to the officers in charge of the weapon system, to be checked against locally held information to verify authenticity. At the fire control station the officers would then have used a local security means, some sort of physical key or key code held locally, to unlock a physical lock on either the weapon proper or the warhead.
The US subsequently created a centrally run system, but I dont know if they have implemented this across all weapons.