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Even if they didn't mean that, drunk or not, the US president has the sole authority, both legal and practical, to launch a nuclear strike.

Respectfully, you might want to read something more current on the subject. The excellent book Command and Control [1] is a good place to start.

The "protections" you appear to be alluding to presumably mean the "NCA"'s role in this. That's a term that has no official meaning since 2002 (and before that the president also had the sole authority to order nuclear strikes).

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_and_Control_(book)




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