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Feb 18Liked by David T. Pyne

Great interview. Can you explain how the decapitation strike on DC works? Your explanation is the if the President and VP are in DC, that both their nuclear footballs and the backup would be destroyed. I assume the President and the VP have their football always in their vicinity. Where is the third one? If all three are destroyed, would the surviving successor have any means by which to launch a retaliatory strike?

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Feb 20·edited Feb 20

The "footballs" aren't Faraday shielded?

280 mile altitude, eh? Have you a convenient reference for magnitude of EMP effects wrt yield and altitude? I thought I had seen allegations nuclear warheads could be optimized for EMP effects. But yes, orbital nuclear explosions have antisatellite effects. See Starfish Prime.

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