Free Republic

<p>The process the president has to go through to launch the US's nuclear weapons isn't as simple as pressing a button, but the key component of that process — the codes needed to authorize the launch — are never far from the president.</p>

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. Gen. Hugh Shelton, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the last few years of Clinton's term, writes about the episode in his new autobiography. Shelton is especially sensitive to the proper authentication procedures, having served as deputy commander of the National Military Command Center (NMCC), through which all nuclear launch progression action chains are processed. The National Command Authority (NCA), as the process and the person of the...

The codes used by the president to launch a nuclear strike were mislaid for months during the Clinton administration, the former highest-ranking US officer has said. [...] Gen Shelton said the incident had taken place "around the year 2000". Under the procedures, an official was sent every month to check the codes, and that they were replaced every four months with new codes. According to Gen Shelton's book, Without Hesitation, an official had gone to check one month and been told by the aide that the codes were on the president's person but that he was in an important meeting...

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