Why Don't We Take Nuclear Weapons Seriously?

"Fisher, who was a pilot during the Second World War, makes what he describes as a "quite simple" suggestion to reduce the chances of launching a nuclear attack: "Put that needed code number in a little capsule and then implant that capsule right next to the heart of a volunteer." Like the rotation of military personnel who today trade off carrying the "nuclear football"-the briefcase that contains the nuclear launch codes-the person with the implanted capsule would be near the President constantly."

"The volunteer would carry with him a big, heavy butcher knife," Fisher writes. "If ever the President wanted to fire nuclear weapons, the only way he could do so would be for him first, with his own hands, to kill one human being. The President says, 'George, I'm sorry, but tens of millions must die.'" That there would be blood on the White House carpet is essential. "He has to look at someone and realize what death is-what an innocent death is.""

During the Cold War the possibility of nuclear war represented the most consequential risk. A proposed protocol places the necessary launch code in a capsule implanted next to a volunteer's heart so the code carrier would be constantly near the President. The volunteer would carry a heavy butcher knife, and the President would have to kill that person personally before launching nuclear weapons. The act of killing is meant to force the leader to confront the human reality of death and innocent victims. The protocol was not implemented and contrasts with mechanized nuclear command procedures.

Read at The New Yorker