Pressing the Button: JFK and the PALs

Summary

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Atomic Hobo: Pressing the Button – JFK and the PALs

Podcast: Atomic Hobo – Nuclear War Podcast
Host: Julie McDowall
Date: May 27, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Julie McDowall dives into the state of U.S. nuclear command and control during John F. Kennedy’s presidency, focusing specifically on the origins and impact of Permissive Action Links (PALs)—the locking mechanisms intended to prevent unauthorized nuclear launches. The episode explores the historical context of nuclear authority, how military-civilian tensions played out over control of the “button,” and the sometimes alarming gap between official procedure and reality.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The President’s “Sole Authority” and the Myth of Control

• Theme Introduction (02:00):
  Julie introduces the notion of U.S. presidents holding “sole authority” to launch nuclear weapons, referencing historian Alex Wellenstein.

  • Quote: “The only protection against some mad President pressing the button right now is not to elect said mad president.” ([02:20])

• The episode challenges the “nuclear football” myth—the idea that only the President can order a nuclear strike—by revealing how delegation of launch authority actually worked.

• Until the Nixon era, very few worried about a rogue President, but in reality, the military had been granted broad pre-delegated authority under Eisenhower.

2. Eisenhower’s Pre-Delegation and Kennedy's Dilemma

• JFK’s Inheritance (03:08):

  • On taking office, JFK discovers via advisor McGeorge Bundy that Eisenhower delegated nuclear launch authority to multiple commanders, who could further delegate down the chain.
  • Quote: “Logic dictated that these commanders could then delegate that same power to their juniors... And just where the hell does it end?” ([03:22])

• Daniel Ellsberg, in The Doomsday Machine, describes Bundy’s shock at learning of this system:

  • Quote: “Ellsberg remembers Bundy taking furious notes and exclaiming under his breath as the nuclear revelations spilled out.” ([04:31])

• The “Dr. Strangelove scenario”—subordinates could initiate nuclear war without the President if communication was lost.

3. Kennedy’s Response: No Reversal, But Seeking Controls

• Kennedy’s Calculated Inaction ([06:18]):

  • Kennedy leaves Eisenhower's rules in place, despite risks.
  • Quote: “[Ellsberg] was told this is not the time for Lieutenant Kennedy to reverse the decision of the great general.” ([06:24])
  • Ellsberg speculates political weakness after the Bay of Pigs and the Vienna summit influenced JFK’s reluctance to challenge the military.

• Instead, Kennedy looks for preventive measures to limit unauthorized action.

4. The Arrival of PALs (Permissive Action Links)

• Introduction and Motivation ([07:20]):

  • In June 1962, Kennedy orders all U.S. nukes in Europe fitted with PALs—security locks requiring secret codes to arm nuclear weapons.
  • Quote: “Think of it as a PIN number for destruction.” ([09:48])

• Four aims of PALs:

  1. Block “actions by an individual psychotic.”
  2. Ensure U.S. control over nukes in foreign soil.
  3. Guard against unauthorized use by Americans or NATO allies.
  4. Prevent use if weapons are seized by a foreign power (vaguely, Soviets/Warsaw Pact feared).

• The balance: If codes are too widely known, security fails; if too few know, nukes could be useless in war chaos.

5. Military Pushback and Technological Arms Race

• Resistance from the Ranks ([12:39]):

  • Military resents civilian meddling and fear malfunction rendering weapons useless.
  • Quote: “They resented the plan... Bloody civilians poking their noses in.” ([12:44])

• Robert McNamara, JFK’s Defense Secretary, strongly supports PALs as reasserting civilian control.

• By September 1962, all 7,000 U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe fitted with PALs—a project worth $245 million in today’s money.

• Technical progression: codes increased from 4, to 6, to 8, to 12 digits; later PALs responded to varied commands, allowing selective arming, matching shifts from “massive retaliation” to “flexible response.”

6. The Shocking Loophole: The 00000000 Code

• Bruce Blair’s Revelation ([15:20]):

  • Cold War launch officer Bruce Blair reveals (in 2004) that Strategic Air Command, annoyed by PALs, set nearly all PAL codes to eight zeroes (“00000000”) so weapons could always be launched easily.
  • Quote: “The Air Force...deliberately set the secret code number on every single one to 00000000. This obviously meant that every pal… was useless.” ([17:30])

• McNamara’s reaction:

  • Quote: “I am shocked, absolutely shocked and outraged. Who the hell authorised that?” ([18:11])

• Air Force denial is parsed as technical rather than substantive—“never used” as opposed to “never set.”

• Blair reports codes weren't changed to proper random sequences until 1977.

• The incident underscores a fundamental issue: ignoring civilian orders and safety for operational convenience, fostering a potentially dangerous culture of rule-bending.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Nuclear Authority Myths:
  “The intimidating nuclear football as a hoax... the presence of that sinister black satchel... is there to tell the world. Watch out. See the mighty President. Behold his power: he alone can command thermonuclear destruction.”
  (Julie McDowall, quoting Daniel Ellsberg, [05:35])

• PALs in Plain English:
  “It’s a lock which requires a code. And only when the correct code is used can the weapon arm itself. Think of it as a PIN number for destruction.”
  (Julie McDowall, [09:48])

• On Military Resistance:
  “They resented the plan to put locks on their bombs. Bloody civilians poking their noses in.”
  (Julie McDowall, [12:44])

• On Culture and Danger:
  “So much for military men being upstanding and tough and respecting order. The use of the eight zeros tells all your staff that, hey, you can bend the rules here.”
  (Julie McDowall, [20:10])

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Timestamps for Crucial Segments

• 02:00 – Introduction to Presidential nuclear launch authority
• 03:08–05:50 – JFK learns of Eisenhower’s pre-delegation and the real risk of “Dr. Strangelove” scenarios
• 06:18–07:10 – Why Kennedy keeps Eisenhower’s policy despite the dangers
• 07:20–10:25 – Introduction and implementation of PALs; what they are and why they mattered
• 12:39–13:55 – Military resentment at civilian-imposed controls
• 15:20–20:10 – Bruce Blair’s exposé: The 00000000 PAL code, McNamara’s response, and cultural implications

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Final Thoughts

Julie closes the episode reflecting on the uneasy and sometimes subversive relationship between military and civilian control over the nuclear arsenal, pointing out the perennial dangers when essential safeguards are undercut by institutional pride or convenience.

• “It reminds us that a PAL deserves to be treated with respect.” ([21:00])

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For More Context

• JFK’s National Security Action Memorandum No. 160 can be found on the JFK Library website.
• Daniel Ellsberg’s “The Doomsday Machine” and Bruce Blair’s “Keeping Presidents in the Nuclear Dark” provide source material for the episode’s revelations.

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Listeners interested in bonus content or in supporting the show are invited to check out the Atomic Hobo Patreon page.

Transcript

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Welcome to Atomic Hobo. To get ad free listening plus bonus episodes, visit patreon.com Atomichobo. We continue our series on the American presidents and how they've handled the awesome responsibility that they have that each one has presidential sole authority to launch the nukes. One man has that decision. One man says yes or no. And as the historian Alex Wellenstein has noted, the only protection against some mad President pressing the button right now is not to elect said mad president. But the rule is if you don't want someone unstable in charge of the nukes, don't put someone unstable in charge of the nukes. There's your get out clause. Don't say we're not good to you. Now. People didn't really start worrying about the idea of a madman in the White House until the Nixon era. And as we know, as we've discussed in previous episodes, he did play up to the madman Persona. But we'll come to that later. Today we're looking at JFK's presidency running from January 61 to November 63. When JFK entered the White House, one of the first things on his desk was a paper from McGeorge Bundy, his special assistant for national security today what we would call the national security adviser. His paper alerted the new president to the news, formerly secret of course, that Eisenhower had delegated authority to launch nuclear weapons to several commanders. And as we discussed in the last episode, logic dictated that these commanders could then delegate that same power to down to their juniors. And they could then delegate it down and down and down and down. And just where the hell does it end? In the book the Domesday Machine, Daniel Ellsberg writes that he met Bundy just after JFK entered office and he spilled the beans to him, telling him about Eisenhower's delegation of authority and that there were no kind of locks on these nuclear weapons. So in theory, yes, a general could go rogue out there with no physical constraint upon him. It's the Dr. Strangelove scenario. Ellsberg remembers Bundy taking furious notes and exclaiming under his breath as the nuclear revelations spilled out. And there was, quote, surprise and shock at the pre delegation news. Bundy took all this to the new President in the form of his January 1961 paper which said, referring to the whole issue of pre delegation, that it had created a situation in which a subordinate commander faced with a substantial Russian military action could start the thermonuclear holocaust on his own initiative if he could not reach you. So a review of the situation was needed. Had control of the nukes gone too far from the President's control, far from the rock solid Truman notion of presidential sole authority. This is again why Ellsberg in the same book refers to the intimidating nuclear football as a hoax. As a piece of the presence of that sinister black satchel. And the very grim faced officer who follows the President everywhere with it is there to tell the world. Watch out. See the mighty President Behold his power, he alone can command thermonuclear destruction.

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Rawr.

[Atomic Hobo Host]

But Ellsberg reminds us that's just not true. At least not in this era where Eisenhower's pre delegation was in force. There were guys all over the joint and had been pre authorised to launch the nukes. It wasn't just the President. So what did the new President Kennedy do about this? Did he revoke pre delegation? Did he take back control?

[Rosie Perez]

No.

[Atomic Hobo Host]

He let Eisenhower's rules stand. Ellsberg writes that he was appalled when he learned this and when he questioned it was told this is not the time for Lieutenant Kennedy to reverse the decision of the great general. And Ellsberg writes that perhaps Kennedy decided to give in on this potential fight with the military because his reputation had taken a beating in his first few months as president due to the Bay of Pigs invasion and then his infamous summit with Khrushchev in Vienna. Ellsberg thinks then it was purely a political decision that Kennedy may have been thinking I can't go out there and overturn the decision of the mighty General. Not where I've been so weakened. And so pre delegation with all its risks as we discussed in the last episode, remained in place under Kennedy. But JFK did instigate other changes. Knowing that pre delegation meant that several people, who knows how many, had authority to launch nuclear weapons, he took measures to stop any trigger happy generals or their various juniors from doing anything hasty. And this is where pals come into the story. In the second year of his presidency in June 1962, JFK issued National Security Action Memorandum number 160. The document said that all American nuclear weapons based in Europe for NATO must be fitted with pals, which stands for Permissive Action links. In other words, locks. Lots of documentation about this is available on the JFK library website. And it makes clear that these locks from now on I'll just call them pals would solve four problems. One, they would safeguard nukes against quote, actions by an individual psychotic. Two, they would meet the legal and political requirements of the US being nicely and fully in control of the nukes that they send to foreign soil. Three, they would allow America to maintain control of their nukes against any unauthorized use by either an American or a NATO commander. And four, assuring that weapons could not be used if forcibly seized by an organized group of individuals or by a foreign power. Now this latter point was kept deliberately vague, but my reading tells me they were particularly worried as always about West Germany if the Soviets did roll the tanks across the border and manage to seize American NATO nukes. The presence of pals would at least mean they couldn't use them. We would not see Paris, London, Leicester destroyed by American bombs. So these little pals sound great. Slap one on a nuke and it keeps out the baddies and the commies and the so called individual psychotics, I.e. any general Jack D. Ripper figures who might have been out there. At the time of Kennedy's memoir, America had 7,000 individual nuclear weapons in Europe, all of them cold and lonely and waiting for pals. So what exactly were pals? Permissive action links. We are not going deep into the technological detail because it isn't needed here. And I, who cannot even drive a car or wire a plug, I'm not the person to convey it to you. But in brief, it's a lock which requires a code. And only when the correct code is used can the weapon arm itself. Think of it as a PIN number for destruction. And it's a PIN number, of course, which must be kept secret and which you certainly cannot scribble on the back of your hand so that you don't forget it. The secrecy of that code number was paramount. If everyone on the base knows it, then it's useless and you've just opened up pre delegation to a whole other bunch of people. But if its secrecy is so tightly controlled that only a minuscule number of people know it and they are all killed or otherwise cut off in the chaos of war, then you've just rendered all your nuclear weaponry useless. So there has to be a very fine balance when it comes to the secrecy of of this PIN number. The device itself also needs to be technologically advanced. In one of the earliest versions developed by the Sandia Laboratory, an engineer was able to listen to all the cogs and wheels whirring and clicking inside the pal. And like a safe breaker was able to deduce the code from those sounds. So it needs to be very, very secret, but not too secret. And the device has to be so secure that no one can get past it. But it has to let some people pass, of course, otherwise the thing is useless.

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now. Of course, the military moaned about this. Just as they moaned and complained about Truman taking the nukes away, here they were with more complaints. They resented the plan to put locks on their bombs, bloody civilians poking their noses in. Again, they resented the implication. As with Truman, they were not to be trusted with the bomb. They resented the implied loss of independence. And they feared that these new devices might malfunction, rendering the weapons ineffective in an attack. But tough luck, it was happening. The pals were coming. The famous Robert McNamara, Kennedy's defence secretary, welcomed the idea of pals, seeing it as a way to take the nukes back under civilian control. As we've seen in our series so far, Truman took the nukes under civilian control, much to the military's annoyance. Then, under Eisenhower, this was allowed to be dissolved. But now, through the pals, here was a way to exert civilian control again. The custody battle goes on. So By September of 1962, all the US nukes in Europe, all 7,000 of them, had been given a PAL, an operation which in today's money cost $245 million. So nuclear weapons, at least the American ones in Europe now had a nice lock on them, and they cannot be armed without someone tapping in the secret code. Nice work. Makes sense. And these pals would develop as time went on. The initial pals only needed a four digit code, but they grew in complexity to needing six, then eight, then 12 digits. And the later pals were also able to handle more commands than simply arm the bomb. It's all kicking off. The later ones could interpret and respond to different commands, such as enable the bomb and authorise launch. The President or whoever knew the secret code could also use it to only enable some nuclear weapons. For example, he could issue codes that would arm all the nukes in West Germany. Previously, it had been an all or nothing all nukes or no nukes. But as the tech developed, the President or his commanders could choose their weapons and. And this fitted in nicely with the change in U.S. doctrine from Eisenhower's massive retaliation to the more restrained, flexible response. So what's not to like? A lock which requires a long code. Yep. By the 70s, the nukes needed an eight digit code for their pals to unlock. And without that eight digit code they were useless. Yes, we can all sleep well in our beds because of, to take the 70s as an example, a nice long eight digit code. Now, why am I suddenly talking about the 70s? The JFK era ended obviously in 1963, but we're going to jump forward in time to 2004 to hear a story about this apparently big safe eight digit code. The nuclear weapons expert Bruce Blair worked as a launch officer on the Minutemen in the 70s and he realised something down there in the silo which troubled him greatly. But he didn't raise it publicly until the Cold War was safely over in 2004, by which point he had long left the military and become a nuclear weapons expert and academic. He wrote an article called Keeping Presidents in the Nuclear Dark and this article made a terrifying allegation. He said that the Air Force, resenting the civilian demand that they put locks on their weapons, but realising that they were obliged to comply, accepted the locks. Accepted them happily. Yes, yes, come in. There's the minuteman over in the corner, nice and white and shiny. Can I get you a cup of tea whilst you work? Attach the little pal. Thank you very much. Yes, they accepted the pals in the Air Force, but resenting them, they deliberately set the secret code number on every single one to 00000000. This obviously meant that every pal under Strategic Ear Command were useless because as Bruce Blair said, it was common knowledge that the code was, yep, just a bunch of zeros. For his 2004 article, Blair spoke to Robert McNamara, Kennedy's defence secretary, who of course introduced the PALS programme, and he told him about the eight zeros. McNamara was horrified. He said, I am shocked, absolutely shocked and outraged. Who the hell authorised that? And Bruce Blair said ominously that the existence of these eight zeros will prove the ignorance of Presidents and their Defence Secretaries about nuclear reality. He goes on to say that the eight Zeros showed that Strategic Air Command's main concern was getting these missiles in the air, rather than pedestrian boring things like safety and procedure. He left the air Force in 1974 and once he was safely out of the silo, he wrote to the top brass with his concerns and he says the codes were eventually changed to proper random sequences in 1977. Of course, when this was made public, especially after the story was picked up and amplified by the mighty Foreign Policy magazine, there was uproar and it made news across the world. And so the Air Force were summoned to explain themselves in front of the Committee on Armed Services. Did you set all the launch codes to eight zeros? No, was the reply. They denied it, but listen to the wording of their denial. It is, you might argue, a little bit tricksy. They said a code consisting of eight zeros has never been used to enable a Minuteman icbm. But hang on. Foreign Policy Magazine said that that statement doesn't actually refute Bruce Blair's claim because he never said that the eight zeros had been used to enable a nuke. He merely said that's what the codes had all been set to. So the furore eventually died away. But if Bruce Blair was correct, then we must again thank our lucky stars that one of those things, or all of those things, were never launched in the Cold War. And if they did set all the codes to eight zeros, not only is that horribly disrespectful, suggesting that we in SAC know better than you, Lawton, Washington, you democratically elected representatives of the people, not only is it disrespectful, but it's obviously dangerous because it skirts all the safety measures the Pals were set up to enforce. You might also argue it allows a cavalier culture of skiving to develop. So much for military men being upstanding and tough and respecting order. The use of the eight zeros tells all your staff that, hey, you can bend the rules here. How's this for a laugh? The President has given this order, but cheeky scamps that we are, we're going to just ignore it. Commander in Chief. Yeah, whatever. At the risk of sounding matronly, I say tut, tut, what kind of example does that set to the young ones? So that was our look at JFK and the Pals, and it shows again, the worrying tension and the weird possessiveness between the military and the civilian side when it comes to ownership of America's nuclear weapons. And it reminds us that a PAL deserves to be treated with respect. Thank you for listening. I'm sorry there's been a bit of a gap in the podcast schedule. Any patrons who might be Interested, please check patreon.com Atomichobo where I've put a lengthy update, but hopefully everything's okay now and we can get back to normal. But as always, thank you for your patience and thank you for sticking with me. And please let me thank my three newest patrons, Horse Girl Energy, Kevin Wilson and Daisy. You all get access now to your own personal podcast feed which delivers you every episode plus the bonus episodes ad free. And if you want to join us Again, we'[e-mail] atomiclobo thank you for listening.

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