Briefcase of Armageddon: The Exact Sequence of Actions Behind a Hypothetical US Nuclear Attack 

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I enjoy a practical joke as much as anybody, but the guy carrying the Nuclear Football is PRETTY MUCH the LAST person I'd play a practical joke upon.

"Rare, Medium, or Well Done" -- Graves humor at its best.

"You can't fight in here. This is the War Room."

The photograph was of Leonid Brezhnev, not Boris Yeltsin.

That bonus fact reminds me of Ned Stark's word to Bran: "The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words. And if you cannot bear to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die."

I’m still surprised the world didn’t end during the Cold War. I’m always reminded how awful the nuclear security was. And how easy it would’ve been for someone to have a tantrum and start nuclear Armageddon.

The president lost his biscuits... More than once. Why is it so funny to me.

"My god that's terrible. It could distort the President's judgement. He might never push the button." YEAH!!!! THAT'S THE IDEA!!!!!!

As a kid I thought this stuff was awesome. As an adult it scares the absolute shit out of me.

Russia: you will start the war! US: no! You will start the war! Meanwhile Norwegian scientists... Hey have you seen my rocke...🤯

False: the worlds most dangerous piece of luggage is hitmans tactical boomerang briefcase.

Ol' JFK, always making too much sense in the words he spoke an/or wrote.

Scary to think how close the world came to nuclear Armageddon just because of a missed memo in the 90s.

If anyone wonders why Syria (not a nuclear power) is on the list of targets, consider the Russian naval facility in Tartus. The proposal of Roger Fisher is actually quite brilliant, and the Pentagon's response to it all too telling.

You should do a video on The Dead Hand... Russia's doomsday machine.

President Boris Yeltsin looked more like President Leonid Brezhnev to me.

Well, this was horrifying

Space Force is the greatest name for a military branch ever, it's like the name of an 80's Saturday morning cartoon show

Please choose your level of overwhelming destruction. Option 1) Level a mountain Option 2) Radiate a nation Option 3) I hate everything

"Lost his biscuit" sounds like some kind of euphemism.

He might never push the button..... GOOD!

"You would need to first kill a man, to launch a nuclear strike..." *SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE HUMANITARIAN! BLEH!!!*

Meanwhile, Simon is always accompanied by a case containing video cameras so that recordings can be made anywhere in the event of an emergency, contains the emergency video content posting codes, and the capability of transmitting to RU-vid. There is also a list of emergency brick wall backdrop locations, and a large bottle of whiskey for “Business Blaze” 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃

"He might never press the button" - YEAH, THAT'S THE POINT. Thanks for covering this! Even as an American, I've never really understood the RL details around the "nuclear football."

At 45lbs theres definately something more than some books, a manila folder and a 3x5 note card in a bag.

The random curl remains. And I cant stop staring at it. Simon........ Please.

Giving one man that power may actually be the safest option. One man will feel a tremendous responsibility; a group much less so.

Very simple process. What could possibly go wrong?

"He might never push the button." -it is true, the Pentagon is full of geniuses.

They missed a great oportunity to call the Football Carrier "Running back"

That Bonus Fact was awesome. I'm so glad you included it, thank you for that tidbit of knowledge.

"Biden lost his biscuit" is a line I'd rather not have to repeat.

Fun fact! One of the key command nodes for distributing a launch order is the STRATCOM Command Center (formerly SAC - pronounced "sack" for the North England linguistically impaired) buried under the front lawn of the old SAC Headquarters building, at Offutt Air Force Base, just south of Omaha, Nebraska. A bit further to the south of the base is a very large cattle carcass rendering plant, so, when the wind is just right, which is a lot of the time, that bunker with its nuclear button frequently has the aroma of death swirling about it. . .

Trust me, Simon, you have no idea how insane the "hypotheticals" are. While in the military, I had a 0 to 6 second life-expectancy, in case of full-on war. Kind of a pointless existence, if you think about it.

3rd largest military? Sure, by numbers. You really should have said "Worlds most powerful military".

It's actually reassuring that *all* these safeguards are in place considering, you know, I'd rather not have a Dr. Strangelove on our hands.

Never pushing the bloody button is the whole point…right!

The fact is that it can take less than 15 minutes for a missile to move from one side of Earth to the other. Additionally, even if a lauch is seen immediately, it can take minutes to make it up the chain of command to the leader who needs to make the decision. After that, it can take a few minutes for the order to be sent and authenticated. In the case of a retaliatory strike, it also takes a couple minutes for missile operators to finish launch procedures. In the time between launch and counter launch, hesitation can completely remove the option to retaliate. I don't know if nuclear strike is justifiable in the modern world regardless of who shoots first. But if you want the option, unilateral authority is the only option.

The Norwegian missile incident had no logical basis. If you were going to rely on an EMP to give you a strategic advantage, you certainly wouldn't place all at stake on ONE missile functioning properly. You'd certainly fire several.

I imagine there's not much info on it, but I would love to know the protocols for the lesser nuclear powers (Britain, India, etc.)

You and your team are smashing out some content lately. I've barely got time to scratch my nuts leather-lone watch all of these! Keep it up love your work Some content on Shady business practises would be cool. Plenty of stories there :P

Came here having forgotten that not every video is a Blaze! "Am I right Peter?!"

Ahh you got to love a good ol apocalypse vid

Losing a biscuit is child's play. To date something like 32 "broken arrows have occurred." A Broken Arrow is defined as an unexpected event involving nuclear weapons that result in the accidental launching, firing, detonating, theft, or loss of the weapon. And of those 32 events, 6 nuclear bombs have been lost AND NEVER FOUND. If I remember right 2 of them are lost in the swamps of North Carolina.

Love the video. Have to admit the beard has become luxurious. Keep up the great work

That Pentagon Official talking about the scenario of nuclear war sounded like a Kid talking about the family trip to Disneyland: "Oh Mom, we might never get there if we don't book this early bird offer, pleeeeeease??"

Cheers! The “Early war plan“ explains the line in Wargames… “This is Dropkick with a red, dash alpha message in two parts…Break-break.”

Rare, medium, or well done. Best. Quote. Ever. I choose option 3. No need for half assery. When you do something, you do it "well" or not at all.

The strike options sounds like browsing a restaurant menu.

It seems to be truly absurd that military personnel are to disobey an unlawful order EXCEPT if that order is in the form of a nuclear strike…

I don’t know if this amazes me or terrifies me.

So according to the military, acceptable qualities of leadership include never questioning your orders as well as being willfully ignorant of why the system is the way it is. While I understand the practical benefits, it is at best morally dubious that the bulk of our military hierarchy is built around tricking the members of the military and most of our "training" is focused on finding people who are easy to trick.

Warren L Gulley, not William... he was my grandfather and it was awesome to see him referenced in your video... He was not just the Director of Military Office at the white house, also a retired Marine Corp. Command Sargeant Major. He was an amazing guy.

There are 4th and 5th footballs. The 4th is in the Cheyenne Complex. The 5th is in an undisclosed and very heavily armed place.

A really excellent episode, I truly enjoyed it. A lot of background info I did not yet know. Please keep em coming, on all your channels!

"Peace time targets" I've gotta wonder exactly what would happen if 2000 nukes were simultaneously fired at the middle of the ocean. I can't imagine it would be good.

Thanks for the tutorial

What happens if the people who know the key safe combinations are incapacitated

This whole video is the exact reason for a thorough and regular psychiatric evaluation of officials that have this kind of power at their disposal. And the answer: "Person Woman Man Camera TV" should ring some alarm bells...

I was within touching distance of the "football" a few times on AF 1. Just the thoughts of it creeped me out.

Good stuff! Very interesting!

We really only seem to have the option of living as long as the children running the world decide. One person could have a hissy fit and we'd all be fucked.

That was great, fascinating stuff. Thank you.

The Space Force is real?

Very interesting. Thank you!

"America is launching nukes, sir, shall we launch our own??" "Da, that's what Cheget's" "I am glad the world is ending today, sir"

"was separated from his biscuit" omg this had me laughing for, well, too long.

'By Dawn's Early Light' is a good movie on this process and its potential outcomes.

Well, at least Harold Hering ended up in a job where he was guaranteed to turn a key during his work.

your beard needs grooming and has a very distracting cowlick. LUL. otherwise, good content.

and this pops up in my feed today..how apt.

Is it true it only takes 3 out of 5 silos in a grouping to turn the key for all 5 to launch?

fave channel. thank you. 🙌

You showed a picture of Brezhnev when talking about Yeltsin and and an event that occurred over a decade after the death of Brezhnev. Must try harder.

Great video!👍🏼 This is always interesting to me.

Simon, get your beard in order!

Many thanks for the upload :) Jake.

Hum the president has to memorize their code. God Damn this isn't good.

By what mechanism are all the various recognition and authorization codes updated? Seems like a subject for a follow-up.

Holy Shit... Are you telling me Camella Harris has a football? Oh, the world is screwed!

The Roger Fish quote is brilliant. It reminds me of the saying, 'A Single Death Is a Tragedy; A Million Deaths Is a Statistic'.

US President (to enemy ): "How do you like your country...Rare.....Medium.....or Well Done?"

In addition to the lack of check on the president's mental health/capabilities, another thing to keep in mind is that despite movie and video game depictions nuclear missiles don't have any 'cancel' function one can use mid-flight and especially not during the short re-entry before striking their target. Once they are clear of the launch site they are committed. The 'Doomsday Clock' while meant to be symbolic is actually quite close to how few minutes it would take to initiate Armageddon.

So in other words by the time the missiles are launched we'd already be dead.

That discharge was 100% called for. I’m pretty sure he didn’t just ask a question and immediately get discharged, there’s obviously more to the story. It’s not an officer’s job to question orders in a time of extreme crisis where his insubordination could doom millions. There’s a time and place for it, but not then.

I really do not understand why we must have the background music. Is there any reason?

Great video

I think you could do with some beard blaze oil, it's gone a bit wild 😂

'Jimmy Carter lost his biscuit when his suit was sent off for dry-cleaning'. Can you imagine the sheer chaos in the White House when this happened? It's horrifying and hilarious at the same time! 🤣

Gotta say I hate that 'Bonus Fact' for failing to actually go over WHY this is a bad thing. The whole idea is that you need to be able to do this quickly should the unthinkable happen, however if that suggestion is implicmented you would have to deal with the time to hack him open, the person's survival instinct kicking in making it neccesary to bodily hold him down and lengthening the time taken, fumble around inside the person's chest cavity for an unknown amount of time and more. In this time, any launched missiles have likely hit their targets. Yes, this idea has the potential to limit or eliminate a 'mutual annihilation' scenario, but at the expense of making a one sided strike MORE likely because there's less of a chance of repercussions. For those who don't know (or would simply enjoy a refresher), War generally occurs not because of insane psychopathic dictators but because what might be gained from the conflict is greater than what might lost. As a historical example, there have likely been a great many wars both big and small fought because of a lack of food. Before recent industrial advances, you could easy see a lean season that results in a food shortage in one country. Even if other countries don't have much food to spare, the first country might still go to war simply because even if they lose, they still end up with less mouths to feed and might gain something from the war such as resources or land. The idea may horrific today, but there is something to be said practicality, a concept known as 'cold calculus' I do believe. Thus there is the Total War doctrine, which originated during the civil war with Sherman. Sherman believed in 'hard war, easy peace' and did not hold back like the more 'chivalrous' wars of europe that were more about earning some glory on the battlefield. Though he didn't deliberately inflict as much damage as possible or target civilians directly (I think), he didn't shy away from collateral damage in the belief that if war was horrific there would be more pressure to sue for peace. In this regard, the South actually suffered for Lincoln's assassination, not just in the resentment it stirred but from the fact that Lincoln himself favors an 'easy peace' that wouldn't see heavy burdens placed on the south. This doctrine also directly influences the idea of 'Mutually Assured Destruction' - after all, I think we can all agree no one in their right mind would actually start a nuclear war, since no matter who they are they would lose just about everything.

Could you do a Megaproject on MAD, mutually assured destruction? The nuclear policy for the cold war.

Ok, so with Iran, North Korea and Syria, that many targets may well actually reach a level of overkill that is insane, given the size of the countries in question. Also some real concerns of warhead fratricide have to be taken into consideration.

Give me your facts factboi

Man, your background music's annoying.

Coast guard is department of transportation. Damned puddle pirates. Lol

Thank God it's in the hands of someone experiencing dementia

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="967">16:07</a> - Simon mentions Boris Yeltsin, but isn't that a picture of Brezhnev?

“Forcing the president to memorize which ones are relevant” that’s it we are all screwed guys

There are more devastating weapons out there, but they won't make a specific area uninhabitable for thousands of years.