Nuclear football
From Wiki 24
The nuclear football is the black leather briefcase that is always near the President of the United States. It is believed to contain the daily nuclear launch codes and playbook of Gold Codes that map out the options to launch a variety of nuclear attacks. The football also holds a secure SATCOM radio so that the President can contact the National Command Authority or NORAD. A military officer (called the "Yankee White") who carries the football undergoes the nation's most rigorous security background check. The National Security Agency updates the Gold Codes daily.
The football came about in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy was concerned that some Soviet commander in Cuba might launch their missiles without authorization from Moscow. After the crisis, Kennedy ordered a review of the U.S. Nuclear Command and Control system.
[edit] Before Day 4
The nuclear football was outfitted with various forms of security to keep it from being improperly used. In addition to having a global positioning system transmitter embedded in the case to keep track of its location, the case itself is password protected. The code for the Nuclear football during Day 4 11:00pm-12:00am was *76114. The code used in the football during Day 4 was written by Department of Defense programmer Fred Laughton.
[edit] Day 4
In Day 4, Air Force One was shot down with an air-to-air missle fired from a stolen stealth F1/17A fighter jet, piloted by Mitch Anderson, which inflicted enough damage to leave a trail of debris, including the nuclear football. CTU sent a helicopter with Jack in it to recover the device. A couple camping, Jason and Kelly Girard, were awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of the explosion and came across the device in the debris of the crash. Finding the presidential seal on a part of the plane, the couple called the police and were put on with Jack.
Jason noticed headlights approaching, terrorists tracking the football. Jack instructed Jason to destroy the tracker and head to a power station and hide. Once the hostiles arrived at the building, Jack told Jason to separate the two parts of the football. Jason was captured first with the booklet and shot twice by the terrorists to try and discover the other part. Kelly gave the other part over when she saw her husband in the pain. Habib Marwan escaped, but air support disabled the Jeep driven by Steve Simmons, who had the football. Jack investigated only to find that the "Red Section", containing warhead location and activation codes, had been taken in Marwan's vehicle.
Fred Laughton, a DOD programmer who wrote some of the code for the football, was sent in to the location and reconstructed the stolen materials for Jack, who reported the news to CTU Los Angeles.
