With the looming threats of climate change, the coronavirus, fruitless decades-long wars, widespread political instability, errant asteroids, and the myriad other perils that threaten our earthly existence, it can be easy to forget the doomsday devices we unfortunately invented in the last century. In fact, in January 2021, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the doomsday clock that it maintains as a warning to how close we are to “nuclear midnight” to just 100 seconds away to apocalypse by way of bombs we never should have invented in the first place. The Bulletin states that “if humanity is to avoid an existential catastrophe — one that would dwarf anything it has seen yet — national leaders must do a far better job of countering disinformation, heeding science, and cooperating to diminish global risks.” In other words, we’re all doomed.

Ever since 1962, the President of the United States of America has done his job to ensure that we don’t all die in awful mushroom clouds of radioactive fire, while simultaneously preserving the possibility of such a terrible fate. According to Smithsonian Magazine, that’s when the executive branch started using the notorious “nuclear football,” a black briefcase carried near the president’s person at all times, just in case he needs to launch a nuclear attack. Let’s take a look into how the president’s nuclear football really works and see how well it protects us from mutual destruction.

The president could launch a nuclear missile within minutes

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Epic presidential nuclear football fumbles

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