re: "I am perplexed why this kind of information is not classified."
I speculate that it is mis-information: half-truths.
What is described is an incredibly involved maze launch procedures and potential elaborate security violations leading to launch. It looks like a big maze of "attack here!" signs. So, if you are assigned to work in one of those bunkers, but deep down you are actually kind of unhinged... the design encourages you to show your hand early by aiming for a false vulnerability, with lots of ways to catch you waiting in the background.
I would bet that there are trivial bypasses to all of the security, but that the nature (even existence) of those bypasses are a secret some guys are going to take to their graves. That is, I would bet the most trusted "missileers" could single-handedly launch one of those puppies by first disabling or agreeing with the other guy in the room then opening up an access panel and, more or less, crossing two wires. It would be less safe to build it any other way than "launch at will, though you might have to kill another guy first although he stands a 50/50 chance of killing you first". Why make a more complicated game of it than that? The only things to really guard against are take-overs of a silo (capturers should have no clue what wires to cross) and not-yet-fully-trusted missileers. Meanwhile, the failure modes of control and command have to fail gracefully and, in this case, that means putting the bombs fully under the control of a few trusted guys who are relied upon to exercise good judgment.
I'd bet those things could be launched in less than a minute, more or less by flipping a disguised switch. After all, that's what the Soviets did:
I speculate that it is mis-information: half-truths.
What is described is an incredibly involved maze launch procedures and potential elaborate security violations leading to launch. It looks like a big maze of "attack here!" signs. So, if you are assigned to work in one of those bunkers, but deep down you are actually kind of unhinged... the design encourages you to show your hand early by aiming for a false vulnerability, with lots of ways to catch you waiting in the background.
I would bet that there are trivial bypasses to all of the security, but that the nature (even existence) of those bypasses are a secret some guys are going to take to their graves. That is, I would bet the most trusted "missileers" could single-handedly launch one of those puppies by first disabling or agreeing with the other guy in the room then opening up an access panel and, more or less, crossing two wires. It would be less safe to build it any other way than "launch at will, though you might have to kill another guy first although he stands a 50/50 chance of killing you first". Why make a more complicated game of it than that? The only things to really guard against are take-overs of a silo (capturers should have no clue what wires to cross) and not-yet-fully-trusted missileers. Meanwhile, the failure modes of control and command have to fail gracefully and, in this case, that means putting the bombs fully under the control of a few trusted guys who are relied upon to exercise good judgment.
I'd bet those things could be launched in less than a minute, more or less by flipping a disguised switch. After all, that's what the Soviets did:
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/17-10/mf_dea...