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Have you ever wondered why the president of the United States is followed wherever he goes by a man carrying a black, bulging briefcase? Well, the individual shadowing the commander in chief is a military aide, and he's clutching what's known as the nuclear football. This bag is officially known as the presidential emergency satchel, and it's only ever to be opened in the event of a nuclear strike on the United States. But what's the story behind this ominous piece of luggage, and how do we know what's inside of it?
Click through the following gallery and read about the strange case called the nuclear football.
During the late 1950s, President Dwight D. Eisenhower expressed concerns about the United States' vulnerability to a surprise nuclear attack.
Soon afterward, whenever he traveled, the president was accompanied by a military aide carrying a satchel of documents that would help the commander in chief communicate with the Pentagon or other military headquarters in the event of such an occurrence. This briefcase eventually became known as the presidential emergency satchel.
It was during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 that the satchel was nicknamed the nuclear football.
Robert McNamara, who served as US secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968, is often credited with coming up with the nickname. Apparently, the label was derived from an early nuclear-war plan that had been code-named "Operation Dropkick." A dropkick is a play that's rarely used in American football.
As the Cuban missile crisis unfolded, President John F. Kennedy emphasized the need for a far more robust method of contacting US armed forces at anytime, day or night.
After the Soviet Union removed its nuclear missiles from Cuba, a declassified memo qualified the president's remarks. In it, he asked: "What would I say to the Joint War Room to launch an immediate nuclear strike?" Another question put forward was: "How would the person who received my instructions verify them?" Since Kennedy, every US president has traveled with the nuclear football.
It was later in the 1960s, during Lyndon B. Johnson's tenure as president, that the press first became aware of the nuclear football. White House aide Jack Valenti confirmed as much when he was quoted as saying, "The 'black bag' or 'football,' as we call it, goes wherever the President travels."
Thereafter, photographs of the president of the United States of America en route anywhere outside the White House invariably include images of the nuclear football being carried behind the commander in chief by a military aide, and never more than an arm's length away. But what does the football contain?
Items located inside the president's emergency satchel confirm his identity and connect him, as commander in chief, to the National Military Command Center, a nuclear bunker located beneath the Pentagon.
Also included is the Black Book. This set of cryptic documents provides the commander in chief with nuclear launch options should policy dictate the president needs to act.
These options include which targets to strike, which delivery systems to use, and the timing of action.
Keeping the Black Book company is a manila folder with eight or 10 pages stapled together giving a description of procedures for the Emergency Alert System.
The nuclear football also contains a card with nuclear launch authentication codes. This is sometimes referred to as the "biscuit."
The football itself has been described both as a metal Zero Halliburton briefcase and as a leather briefcase weighing about 45 lbs (20 kg). The latter is the type more commonly photographed.
The presidential emergency satchel has also been seen with a small antenna protruding from the bag, suggesting that it also contains communications equipment of some kind.
The football is with the president at all times, at home and abroad. Here, President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan are seen in 1987—the military aide at right-center is carrying the all-important satchel.
In 1988, when Reagan went for a walkabout in Moscow with Mikhail Gorbachev, a military aide shadowed the pair in Red Square, the nuclear football attached to his wrist by a leather strap.
Here, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush wave from the steps of Air Force One while observed by the president's military aide, who is holding the football.
President Donald Trump was photographed leaving the CIA headquarters at Langley in 2017. Among the officials behind him was the ever-present military aide clutching the nuclear football.
President Joe Biden takes the salute as he's about to board Marine One, the military aide carrying the nuclear football clearly visible in the background.
An identical nuclear football resides inside the STRATCOM nuclear bunker, locked in a safe beneath Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. It contains exactly the same documentation.
US vice presidents have their own nuclear football, issued in case the president is incapacitated.
During the January 6 insurrection, the mob that stormed the White House came within feet of then Vice President Mike Pence. He escaped harm, and with him was an air force officer carrying the football. The codes in the vice president's football are not activated unless the president is dead or incapacitated. But the implications of the satchel falling into the hands of the rioters still sends shivers down the spines of those who were there.
In the chaos that followed the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981, the presidential emergency satchel was temporarily mislaid. The football and its contents ended up in the custody of the FBI.
In 2017, during Donald Trump's visit to Beijing when he was due to meet his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, Chinese and US officials scuffled over the nuclear football after the US military aide carrying the black leather satchel was initially barred from entering the Great Hall of the People.
In presidential transitions, the president-elect does not receive the actual nuclear code card until after the nuclear briefing. This only happens when he meets with the outgoing president at the White House just before the actual inauguration ceremony.
One football is kept with the outgoing commander in chief and remains active until 11:59:59 am on inauguration day. After that point, the now-former president is denied access to the football, its codes are automatically deactivated, and the aide carrying the football returns to Washington.
The incoming president receives one of the spare footballs at the pre-inauguration nuclear briefing, as well as a "biscuit" with codes that become active at 12:00:00 pm.
And incidentally, the military officers tasked with carrying the nuclear football undergo the nation's most rigorous security background check before they are let anywhere near the presidential emergency satchel.
Meanwhile, the threat of a future nuclear strike remains very real. Vladimir Putin insists he is "not bluffing" about the possibility of using weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine. North Korea has test launched more than 100 missiles since January 2022. The nuclear football shows no sign of being kicked into touch anytime soon.
Sources: (Time Magazine) (Britannica) (National Security Archive) (Associated Press) (The Guardian)
See also: Where would the US president go in the event of a nuclear war?
What is the US president's nuclear football?
Unlocking the mystery of the presidential emergency satchel
LIFESTYLE Politics
Have you ever wondered why the president of the United States is followed wherever he goes by a man carrying a black, bulging briefcase? Well, the individual shadowing the commander in chief is a military aide, and he's clutching what's known as the nuclear football. This bag is officially known as the presidential emergency satchel, and it's only ever to be opened in the event of a nuclear strike on the United States. But what's the story behind this ominous piece of luggage, and how do we know what's inside of it?
Click through the following gallery and read about the strange case called the nuclear football.