Seeking the “Automatic Trigger:” Whitehouse Press Secretary Scott McClellan explained to reporters Monday that the President wants a “robust discussion” with Congress on whether the nation should have “some sort of automatic trigger” that would put the military immediately in charge after a “catastrophic-type event” and obviate the need for a “request from the governor.”
The Air Force awarded a $13.08 billion contract to the Sierra Nevada Corporation on April 26 for its Survivable Airborne Operations Center aircraft, the successor to the service’s E-4B “Doomsday” plane. Like the E-4B, officially called the National Airborne Operations Center, the SAOC will be meant to withstand a nuclear attack and keep…