In this part two of our conversation about America’s nuclear defense with Professor Alex Wellerstein, we discuss what the nuclear football is, who carries it, and what it does. In addition, we delve into commencing a nuclear strike, comparative policies, and legislative attempts to officially add people to the decision making process.

Sources:

• U.S. Department of Defense article by C. Todd Lopez ‘4 Things to Know About the U.S. Nuclear Deterrence Strategy’
• Nuke Map by Alex Wellerstein
• Reason article by Sam Rutzick ‘COVID-19 Demonstrates the Need to Change Nuclear Weapon Launch Authority’
• Restricted Data The Nuclear Secrecy Blog article by Alex Wellerstein ‘The President and the  Bomb’
• Union of Concerned Scientists issue brief ‘Authority.pdf">Whose Finger is on the Button’
• Wikipedia article ‘Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki’
• Wikipedia article ‘Nuclear Weapon’
• Wikipedia article ‘Strategic Air Command’
• Wikipedia article ‘Surrender of Japan’