Eric Schlosser for The New Yorker:

Half a century after Kubrick’s mad general, Jack D. Ripper, launched a nuclear strike on the Soviets to defend the purity of “our precious bodily fluids” from Communist subversion, we now know that American officers did indeed have the ability to start a Third World War on their own. And despite the introduction of rigorous safeguards in the years since then, the risk of an accidental or unauthorized nuclear detonation hasn’t been completely eliminated.

Chilling. If you think Dr. Strangelove is a farce just read Schlosser’s piece. Here’s another bit:

Although the Air Force now denies this claim, according to more than one source I contacted, the code necessary to launch a missile was set to be the same at every Minuteman site: 00000000.

Oh and just wait until the part on who’s in charge of the US’s nuclear arsenal today.

(h/t Eli Valley.)