The Unspoken Question--- A Short Fictional Story

[junglejim]

----[ Post wihdrawn by the OP.]----

Thank-you all for your kindness over the year(s).

May you stay Safe and Healthy in these uncertain times.

All the Best.

[Pterodactylus]

Well done, feels almost too real and quite scary Jim.

And to be honest also in real life I will be quite happy when Trump (which I consider an unpredictable labile fool) left the White House and thankful nothing really bad happened (beside damaging the US democracy badly) while he was in charge.

[An old bloke]

Why do I suspect that it isn't that simple? Why do I suspect there is a multitude of safeguards to prevent a POTUS -- any POTUS -- or the officer carrying the 'football' for that matter, from going rogue or have a psychotic episode and 'pushing the button'? Why do I suspect there are responsible people between the 'football' and its 'button' and a launch sequence?

[pajaro]

I used to pull alerts at a Titan II missile site in Arizona. There are a lot of safeguards on ICBMs and nobody gets to do anything alone. The launch officers are armed, everybody transporting these things is armed, fighters fly above when they are moved, etc. There are norms for everything and unusual actions would make higher authorities suspicious.