Topic Explorer

The Topic Explorer uses the same search and topic filters for all of the different resources on this site. It is meant to allow easy cross-examination of different issues.

Topics

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Primers

Nuclear launch process: The nuclear launch process of the United States is a topic of high interest and importance but is also subject to considerable misunderstanding.

Documents

Date ▼	Title	File
1961-07-16	Atomic Stockpiles Memorandum	PDF

Bibliographies

Wellerstein, Alex. "No one can stop President Trump from using nuclear weapons. That's by design." Washington Post, December 1, 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/12/01/no-one-can-stop-president-trump-from-using-nuclear-weapons-thats-by-design/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.05b5b6a7fe06.

Wellerstein, Alex. "The President and the Bomb." The Nuclear Secrecy Blog. November 18th, 2016. http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2016/11/18/the-president-and-the-bomb/.

Schlosser, Eric. Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety. New York: The Penguin Press, 2013.

McDuffee, Allen. "Jimmy Carter once sent launch codes to the cleaner, and other scary tales of the ‘nuclear football.’" Timeline. November 21, 2017. https://timeline.com/jimmy-carter-once-sent-launch-codes-to-the-cleaner-and-other-scary-tales-of-the-nuclear-football-add77568346e.

Lewis, Jeffrey. "Our Nuclear Procedures Are Crazier Than Trump." Foreign Policy. August 5, 2016. https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/05/our-nuclear-procedures-are-crazier-than-trump/.

Johnson, Tim. "Trump’s finger soon will hover over the nuclear button. Will he be ready?" McClatchy DC. November 25, 2016. https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article117054908.html.

Hosenball, Mark and Phil Stewart. "Pentagon to lease privately owned Trump Tower apartment for nuclear 'football': letter." Reuters. May 5, 2017. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-pentagon-trumptower/pentagon-to-lease-privately-owned-trump-tower-apartment-for-nuclear-football-letter-idUSKBN1812B5.

Hoffman, David E. "The Russian Nuclear Button: New questions about the Soviet legacy of three briefcases." Foreign Policy. May 27, 2010. https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/05/27/the-russian-nuclear-button-2/.

Gulley, Bill. Breaking Cover. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1980.

Graff, Garrett M. "The Madman and the Bomb." Politico. August 11, 2017. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/11/donald-trump-nuclear-weapons-richard-nixon-215478.

Ford, Daniel F. The Button: The Pentagon’s Strategic Command and Control System. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985.

Ellsberg, Daniel. The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. New York: Bloomsbury, 2017.

Burr, William. Presidential Control of Nuclear Weapons: The "Football." Briefing Book #632. Washington, D.C.: National Security Archive, 2018. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2018-07-09/presidential-control-nuclear-weapons-football.

Burns, Robert and Richard Lardner. " Retired US general says nuclear launch order can be refused." AP News. November 14, 2017. https://www.apnews.com/14eb66de62fc49b181680ccbd7394646.

Blair, Bruce G. "Strengthening Checks on Presidential Nuclear Launch Authority." Arms Control Today 48, no. 1 (Jan/Feb 2018). https://www.armscontrol.org/sites/default/files/files/ACT/ACT_JanFeb18_Blair_Prepublication.pdf.