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TB Libs freaking out about a photo of the man who holds the
Posted on: February 13, 2017 at 16:40:01 CT
Spanky KU
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nuclear football....The Pentagon is not
http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-nuclear-football-1487013348-htmlstory.html
A photo of a smiling uniformed Army officer identified as the aide carrying nuclear launch information for the president went viral Monday as social media users wondered whether it was prudent for him to be identified, but military officials said he did nothing illegal nor against protocol.
U.S. military officials said it’s not illegal for the officer to take the photo, nor against protocol, though they acknowledged it is strange.
"There is an understanding that we, as military officials and those who serve our elected officials, typically seek to maintain a low profile,” said a senior U.S. defense official, who wasn’t authorized to speak on the matter. “It's never about us. It's about the mission and the people we serve."
The photo of the aide doesn’t pose any immediate security risk, but it’s illustrative of another problem, said Stephen Schwartz, a nuclear weapons policy expert and the coauthor of “Atomic Audit,” which assesses the costs of the U.S. nuclear weapons program.
“The idea that a rich guy could walk up to one of them and snap a photo with them to brag to his friends strikes me as flat-out wrong," he said.
The White House has not addressed the photograph.
A military aide constantly shadows the commander in chief, carrying the briefcase commonly referred to as the “nuclear football.” The case does not actually contain nuclear codes, rather nuclear attack options on foreign targets and other information critical in an emergency.
The briefcase can be traced at least to the Kennedy administration, when the threat of nuclear war hit its peak during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
Because the case must be near the president at all times, several aides from all military branches are authorized to carry it. They are photographed nearly every day trailing the president, perhaps most famously in Red Square in Moscow in May 1988 alongside President Reagan in a momentous visit to the Soviet Union.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-nuclear-football-1487013348-htmlstory.html
A photo of a smiling uniformed Army officer identified as the aide carrying nuclear launch information for the president went viral Monday as social media users wondered whether it was prudent for him to be identified, but military officials said he did nothing illegal nor against protocol.
U.S. military officials said it’s not illegal for the officer to take the photo, nor against protocol, though they acknowledged it is strange.
"There is an understanding that we, as military officials and those who serve our elected officials, typically seek to maintain a low profile,” said a senior U.S. defense official, who wasn’t authorized to speak on the matter. “It's never about us. It's about the mission and the people we serve."
The photo of the aide doesn’t pose any immediate security risk, but it’s illustrative of another problem, said Stephen Schwartz, a nuclear weapons policy expert and the coauthor of “Atomic Audit,” which assesses the costs of the U.S. nuclear weapons program.
“The idea that a rich guy could walk up to one of them and snap a photo with them to brag to his friends strikes me as flat-out wrong," he said.
The White House has not addressed the photograph.
A military aide constantly shadows the commander in chief, carrying the briefcase commonly referred to as the “nuclear football.” The case does not actually contain nuclear codes, rather nuclear attack options on foreign targets and other information critical in an emergency.
The briefcase can be traced at least to the Kennedy administration, when the threat of nuclear war hit its peak during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
Because the case must be near the president at all times, several aides from all military branches are authorized to carry it. They are photographed nearly every day trailing the president, perhaps most famously in Red Square in Moscow in May 1988 alongside President Reagan in a momentous visit to the Soviet Union.
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TB Libs freaking out about a photo of the man who holds the - Spanky KU - 2/13 16:40:01