For nearly 20 years, the secret code to authorize launching U.S. nuclear missiles, and starting World War III, was terrifyingly simple and even noted down on a checklist. The Permissive Action Link (PAL) is a security device for nuclear weapons that it is supposed to prevent unauthorized arming or detonation of the nuclear weapon. JFK signed the National Security Action Memorandum 160 in 1962 that required all nuclear missiles to be fitted with a PAL system. But nuclear experts claim the military was worried about the possibility of command centers or communication lines being destroyed in real nuclear war, stopping soldiers getting the codes or authorization to launch missiles when they were actually needed. So they simply left the security code for the weapons as eight zeros, getting around the security safeguards. Dr. Bruce G. Blair, worked as a Minuteman launch officer between 1970 and 1974. He has written several articles about nuclear command and control systems. In a paper called Keeping Presidents in the Nuclear Dark, he wrote that Strategic Air Command 'remained far less concerned about unauthorized launches than about the potential of these safeguards to interfere with the implementation of wartime launch orders.' Incredibly, he also writes that the vital combination for America's nuclear deterrent was even helpfully noted down for the officers. 'Our launch checklist in fact instructed us, the firing crew, to double-check the locking panel in our underground launch bunker to ensure that no digits other than zero had been inadvertently dialed into the panel,' Dr Blair wrote. According to Today I Found Out, Blair wrote an article in 1977 entitled The Terrorist Threat to World Nuclear Programs. This claimed that it would take just four people working together to launch nuclear missiles from the silos he had worked in. That very same year all the PAL systems were activated, and the nuclear codes were changed. Hopefully to something more complicated than 00000000. |
綜合外國媒體12月1日報(bào)道,核導(dǎo)彈發(fā)射密碼一向是美國的最高機(jī)密,然而在過去近20年的時(shí)間里,該密碼竟然只是極其簡單、極易被破解的“00000000”。 1962年,美國時(shí)任總統(tǒng)約翰·菲茲杰拉德·肯尼迪簽署法令,要求所有核導(dǎo)彈配備“準(zhǔn)予行動(dòng)”(Permissive Action Link)裝置。這是一套需取得授權(quán)才可發(fā)射核導(dǎo)彈的安全系統(tǒng),確保在發(fā)射官輸入正確密碼后,才會(huì)發(fā)射核導(dǎo)彈。 根據(jù)核專家的說法,美國軍方擔(dān)心核戰(zhàn)爭爆發(fā)時(shí),指揮中心和通訊線路可能被毀壞,導(dǎo)致士兵在真正需要發(fā)射導(dǎo)彈時(shí)卻無法取得核密碼,由此他們決定把核密碼設(shè)為最簡單的“00000000”。 布魯斯·布萊爾曾在1970年至1974年間擔(dān)任“民兵”核導(dǎo)彈發(fā)射官,他在一篇文章中寫道:“相較于未經(jīng)授權(quán)發(fā)射核導(dǎo)彈,(美國)戰(zhàn)略空軍司令部更擔(dān)心密碼太復(fù)雜而無法實(shí)時(shí)響應(yīng)導(dǎo)彈發(fā)射命令。” 更加令人難以置信的是,布萊爾透露,發(fā)射清單上甚至間接說明了至關(guān)重要的核密碼只能是由數(shù)字零組成?!鞍l(fā)射清單上清楚寫明,發(fā)射官應(yīng)當(dāng)仔細(xì)檢查位于地下發(fā)射艙里的鎖定操作面板,以確保不會(huì)有人不小心地輸入除了零以外的其他數(shù)字。實(shí)際上,這是在告訴我們,密碼里只能有數(shù)字零?!?/p> 此外,布萊爾還表示,在他擔(dān)任核導(dǎo)彈發(fā)射官時(shí),發(fā)射核導(dǎo)彈只需要4個(gè)人協(xié)力合作。而1977年所有核導(dǎo)彈配備的“準(zhǔn)予行動(dòng)”裝置均被激活后,自1962年被啟用至此時(shí)的“8個(gè)0”核密碼終于更改。 相關(guān)閱讀 (譯者 肉肉融 編輯 王輝) |