this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2025
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For Years, the Password to the U.S. Nuclear Button Was Embarrassingly Simple. It’s Surprising No One Cracked It (www.xatakaon.com)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

TLDR: Kennedy insisted on a pass code in 1962. Strategic Air Command prioritized expediency over security and set the "default" password to "00000000" as described in the nuclear launch manual. This code was (probably) not changed until someone made the information public in 1977 and a more secure procedure was implemented.