How safe is US ‘nuclear football’? Pentagon to find out
- Pentagon reviews if it is prepared to deal with the theft or compromise of ‘nuclear football’
- Portable communications system enables US president to order a nuclear attack
The Pentagon’s watchdog said on Tuesday it would evaluate the safety protocols surrounding the president’s “nuclear football” – containing codes needed for a strike – after one such briefcase nearly came within range of rioters storming the Capitol on January 6.
In a brief notice, the Inspector General’s office said it would evaluate the extent to which Pentagon officials could detect and respond if the Presidential Emergency Satchel were “lost, stolen or compromised”.
“We may revise the objective as the evaluation proceeds,” it said.
One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said concerns surrounding the January 6 siege helped trigger the evaluation. On that date, Vice-President Mike Pence was at the US Capitol, accompanied by a military aide carrying a backup nuclear football when the building was stormed by supporters of then-President Donald Trump.
The satchel holds the codes the president would use to authenticate an order to launch nuclear missiles should he or she not be at the White House.