You always hear about the ‘nuclear football.’ Here’s the behind-the-scenes story

By DEL QUENTIN WILBER
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The “nuclear football” is a bulky briefcase that contains atomic war plans and enables the president to transmit nuclear orders to the Pentagon. The Associated Press interviewed  William Burr, a senior analyst at the nonprofit National Security Archive at George Washington University, about a report he published Tuesday detailing his research into the presidential pigskin. Among the tidbits Burr has unearthed: The football once contained post-war presidential decrees that the U.S. government came to believe were likely illegal and unnecessary (there would be nobody left alive to implement them).