# Nuclear missle codes were set to super-secure "00000000" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 3, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403 "2013-12-03T20:53:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403/21 "2013-12-05T15:13:04Z")
But how do we know that they didn’t scribble it down on a PostIt note and stuck it on the panel? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403/22 "2013-12-05T15:54:10Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > But how do we know that they didn’t scribble it down on a PostIt note and stuck it on the panel? [Actually](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2515598/Launch-code-US-nuclear-weapons-easy-00000000.html), they had it on a checklist, it was part of their jobs to ensure that… > [@](#): > > ‘Our launch checklist in fact instructed us, the firing crew, to double-check the locking panel in our underground launch bunker to ensure that no digits other than zero had been inadvertently dialed into the panel,’ Dr Blair wrote. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403/23 "2013-12-05T16:17:18Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > So _you’re one of those_ with the mythical suitcase nuke! [You mean a Snuke?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snuke) ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403/24 "2013-12-06T03:43:28Z")
Bah, what amateurish bosh! To think of how that compares to how a [proper, European power protects it’s special weapons!](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7097101.stm) “It would be invidious to suggest… that Senior Service officers may, in difficult circumstances, [act in defiance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permissive_Action_Link#Usage_by_other_states) of their clear orders!” ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403/25 "2013-12-06T06:02:56Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Bah, what amateurish bosh! To think of how that compares to how a [proper, European power protects it’s special weapons!](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7097101.stm) Great. So not only can I steal a bicycle with a Bic pen, I can also arm a nuclear bomb. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403/26 "2013-12-06T10:26:39Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Simmer down people. The article got it wrong. It’s not a string of zeros but a combination of zeros and the letter “O”. Please feel secure. Ooooo ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403/27 "2013-12-06T14:10:57Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > [Actually](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2515598/Launch-code-US-nuclear-weapons-easy-00000000.html), they had it on a checklist, it was part of their jobs to ensure that… > > > [@](#): > > > > ‘Our launch checklist in fact instructed us, the firing crew, to double-check the locking panel in our underground launch bunker to ensure that no digits other than zero had been inadvertently dialed into the panel,’ Dr Blair wrote. “0 shall be the numbers thou shalt input, and the numbers of the input shall be 0. 1s shalt thou not input, nor either input thou 2s…” ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403/28 "2013-12-06T14:20:52Z")
Catch-21 was a spoof on the military world, right, and not a flat-out documentary? I mean, this could literally be lifted right out of the pages of that book. It’s as silly as Major Major only seeing you when he’s not in his office and unable to see you, or the general who won the parades by having his soldiers not move their arms when they marched. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403/29 "2013-12-06T15:18:50Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > “0 shall be the numbers thou shalt input, and the numbers of the input shall be 0. 1s shalt thou not input, nor either input thou 2s…” and 3s are right out - ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403/30 "2013-12-06T16:23:01Z")
I was a little surprised to see this hit the news again. I remember places reporting on this years ago, but not as widely covered. It must have been rediscovered by a more mainstream source and gotten more attention this time. ---
**Author:** ![deltasigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@deltasigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deltasigma)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403/31 "2013-12-06T18:21:25Z")
This isn’t from years ago but [last month](http://www.businessinsider.com/blast-door-left-open-during-nuclear-nap-2013-10): > [@](#): > > Nuclear launch officers in charge of safeguarding and launching nuclear missiles in the event of a global emergency [not only took naps on duty](https://twitter.com/AP/status/392734860936511488) but also left the blast doors open during those naps, reports The Associated Press. > > “The only way that you can have a crew member be in ‘rest status’ is if that blast door is shut and there is no possibility of anyone accessing the launch control center,” Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, the commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, [told the AP.](http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_289563/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=HcfKSgo2) He is responsible for the entire force of 450 Minuteman 3 missiles, plus the Air Force’s nuclear-capable bombers. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403/32 "2013-12-06T22:40:38Z")
And yet we are constantly reassured that the people handling these things know what they’re doing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nuclear-missle-codes-were-set-to-super-secure-00000000/675403.md?page=1)