Posted: Thu May 27, 2004 4:34 pm
"That's the stupidest combination I ever heard in my life! That's the kind of thing an idiot would have on his luggage!"
-Dark Helmet
-Dark Helmet
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/05/27/007.html
Blair was a Minuteman nuclear missile launch officer in the 1970s, and regularly ran through simulations in which he and his colleagues launched up to 50 missiles at the Soviet Union.
To launch a Minuteman in those days, one had to "unlock" the missile by dialing in a code -- the equivalent of a safety catch on a handgun. However, Blair reports, the U.S. Strategic Air Command was worried that a bunch of sissy safety features might slow things down. It ordered all locks set to 00000000 -- and in launch checklists, reminded all launch officers like Blair to keep the codes there. "So the 'secret unlock code' during the height of the nuclear crises of the Cold War," Blair says, "remained constant at 00000000."