Poem

Prez wants the codes,
because he can.
"Are you certain?"
"Yes I am."
Out comes gun – BANG!
— — —
"My job is done"
says the code case man.

Inspired by the current state of world politics and things like www.miniaturestory.org.

In the United States the president has the codes on his person, but the system for sending orders to launch nukes and such is contained in a briefcase called the Nuclear football.

Consistent with the comicbook-like quality of the current office, the President seems to actually hold the power to launch a nuclear attack singlehandedly. The system requires the Secretary of Defense to validate that the order is actually from the President, but he has no legal say in the decision itself.

This puts him, and the chain of command down to who ever presses the actual button, in a position to ask themselves if it is right or sane to escalate a nuclear conflict, or worse yet, start one.

The point of nukes is to act as a deterrent, actually using them would be pure insanity. It would be desirable, to say the least, to have this understanding somehow built into the system.