Trump to get the nuclear football this morning

Little is known about the briefing, which traditionally takes place early on Inauguration Day and is conducted by the Strategic Command, the Omaha-based joint military command responsible for the strategic nuclear arsenal, and the White House Military Office. None of the parties involved will discuss its particulars or its timing.

But some details are known, as detailed in William Arkin’s 1999 book “American Coup.” The “football” — an oddly shaped 45-pound briefcase — is at the center of the President’s command and control of the arsenal, in nuclear submarines patrolling the Arctic; in missile silos on the Great Plains and in bombers on runways and aloft in the skies.

The military aide carrying the “football” remains physically close to the president, ready to carry out a well-rehearsed choreography of command and control. Inside are what Arkin, now a senior investigator with NBC News, called the “modern accoutrements” of communication…

The purpose of the nuclear briefing just prior to inauguration, said Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Project at the Federation of American Scientists, is primarily to tell the incoming president: “This is your role.”