Trump has left the White House, but he still has the nuclear football
President Donald Trump departed the White House Wednesday morning and was on his way to Florida. The outgoing president will not attend Joe Biden's inauguration.
The twice-impeached president still has control of the nuclear football and sole nuclear strike authority until noon.
Experts say that the current situation is the product of an outdated and dangerous system that desperately needs to be changed.
President Donald Trump has departed the White House once and for all, but he still has control of the nuclear football and the ability to wage nuclear war until noon on Wednesday. Experts say this is the product of a dangerous and outdated system.
Trump boarded Marine One on the South Lawn Wednesday morning for a flight to Joint Base Andrews, where he delivered a farewell address before boarding Air Force One with his family to fly to Florida. He will not attend Joe Biden's presidential inauguration.
As he leaves Washington, DC, a military aide carrying a briefcase known as the "nuclear football" is accompanying the outgoing president, who still has the sole authority to order a nuclear strike.
The nuclear football, officially known as the "president's emergency satchel," is a heavy 45-pound briefcase that contains communication tools, codes, and options for nuclear war. Used together with a card known as the "biscuit" that contains authentication codes, the president can contact the National Military Command Center, identify himself to the armed forces, and select a strike option.
As long as the strike option selected is legal, there are almost no checks on the president's ability to use nuclear weapons.
When a new president is sworn in, the nuclear command and control authority is transferred to the new commander in chief, who receives a "biscuit" in advance that will activate at noon. The nuclear football is then discreetly handed off from one military aide to another to begin following the new president.
But Trump flew off to Florida with the nuclear football, so things will be a little different this time around.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-leaves-white-house-but-still-has-nuclear-football-2021-1