Footballs, Biscuits, and America’s Nuclear Monarchy

Inauguration Day means it’s almost time for the nuclear football to shift from one president to another. But how does that work, exactly? And in a country built on a system of checks and balances, why does the President of the United States have complete and total control over the U.S. nuclear arsenal? How did the system get set up this way, what are the actual mechanics involved in a nuclear launch, and is it about time for America to rethink its system? Host Geoff Wilson sits down with Stephen Schwartz, nonresident Senior Fellow at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and author of Atomic Audit, to get some answers.