Everyone is baffled by nuclear launch code America used during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Cold War
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Everyone has been left baffled after learning the nuclear launch code America used during the Cuban Missile Crisis and part of the Cold War. From 1962 to 1977, the passcode intended to keep any trigger-happy members of the Air Force from launching a nuclear strike was perhaps too easy to guess: 00000000.
![[The telltale technical manual also included a grainy image of the 'launch enable panel' (left) in which USAF personnel were instructed to input the eight-digit code. 'It shows eight 'code insert thumbwheel switches,' all set to zeros,' Dr Blair noted (at right, the corrected later panel)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/10/22/93012225-14178895-The_telltale_technical_manual_also_included_a_grainy_image_of_th-a-7_1733868237279.jpg)
While officials long denied their pervasive use of this highly insecure and distressingly simple passcode — including a report to Congress — an unclassified manual for the nuclear-equipped Minuteman has confirmed the claim. The manual, unearthed by Princeton scholar and former Minuteman launch officer Dr Bruce Blair, helped end over a decade of debate between veteran missile launch officers and the Air Force itself across the 21st Century.
![[While JFK had entrusted his more level-headed Defense Secretary to set up the protective PALs over these missiles, LeMay's generals 'almost immediately' had the PAL codes reset to 00000000. Above, a USAF archival image of an officer using the nuclear 'launch enable panel']](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/11/02/93012221-14178895-While_JFK_had_entrusted_his_more_level_headed_Defense_Secretary_-a-9_1733883012069.jpg)
'As the manual says, 'under normal conditions CODE INSERT thumbnail switches will be set at 00000000,'' Dr Blair wrote for Princeton's Science & Global Security site. '[And] as I and thousands of other older launch crew members can attest,' he added, 'they remained at 00000000 during the (abnormal) firing process as well.'.
![[To this day, many online are still baffled by the revelation, calling the 'absurd oversight' a 'fun fact that will keep you up at night' (above)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/10/22/93016207-14178895-To_this_day_many_online_are_still_baffled_by_the_revelation_call-a-6_1733868237277.jpg)
To this day, many online are still perplexed by the revelation, calling the 'absurd oversight' a 'fun fact that will keep you up at night.'. 'It is amazing how stupid and lax the controls on nuclear weapons were,' one user commented on the historic episode.
![['This absurd oversight highlights the tension between security and readiness, even with the most destructive technology on earth,' one person opined on social media (above)]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/10/22/93016205-14178895-_This_absurd_oversight_highlights_the_tension_between_security_a-a-9_1733868237315.jpg)
