Major Harold L. Hering was an officer in the United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

, who was discharged for questioning the process for launching nuclear missiles.

Hering served in Vietnam

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

 in the Air Rescue Service

Air Rescue Service

The Air Rescue Service is a disestablished organization in the United States Air Force. Previously a subcommand of the Military Air Transport Service , a USAF major command , ARS was redesignated as the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service on 1 Jan 1966 when MATS was redesignated as the Military...

. 21 years into his Air Force career, while serving as a Minuteman

LGM-30 Minuteman

The LGM-30 Minuteman is a U.S. nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile . As of 2010, the version LGM-30G Minuteman-III is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States...

 missile crewman and expecting a promotion to lieutenant colonel, he posed the following question during training at Vandenberg Air Force Base

Vandenberg Air Force Base

Vandenberg Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base, located approximately northwest of Lompoc, California. It is under the jurisdiction of the 30th Space Wing, Air Force Space Command ....

 in late 1973:
The Single Integrated Operational Plan

Single Integrated Operational Plan

The Single Integrated Operational Plan was the United States' general plan for nuclear war from 1961 to 2003. The SIOP gave the President of the United States a range of targeting options, and described launch procedures and target sets against which nuclear weapons would be launched...

 specifies that, when the National Command Authority

National Command Authority

National Command Authority is a term used by the Department of Defense of the United States of America to refer to the ultimate lawful source of military orders. The NCA comprises the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense jointly, or their duly deputized successors, i.e...

 issues an order to use nuclear weapons, the order will filter down the chain of command. The two-man rule

Two-man rule

The two-man rule is a control mechanism designed to achieve a high level of security for especially critical material or operations. Under this rule all access and actions requires the presence of two authorized people at all times.-Nuclear weapons:...

 requires that at each stage, two operators independently verify and agree that the order is valid. In the case of the Minuteman missile, this is done by comparing the authorization code in the launch order against the code in the Sealed Authenticator, a special sealed envelope which holds the code; if both operators agree that the code matches, the launch must be executed. According to journalist Ron Rosenbaum

Ron Rosenbaum

-Life and career:Rosenbaum was born into a Jewish family in New York City, New York and grew up in Bay Shore, New York. He graduated from Yale University in 1968 and won a Carnegie Fellowship to attend Yale's graduate program in English Literature, though he dropped out after taking one course...

, Hering's question exposed a flaw in the very foundation of this doctrine:
Rosenbaum says that the answer is no: to this day, the nuclear fail-safe protocols are entirely concerned with the president's identity, not his sanity

Sanity

Sanity refers to the soundness, rationality and healthiness of the human mind, as opposed to insanity. A person is sane if they are rational...

.

Hering was pulled from training and, unable to receive a satisfactory reply, requested reassignment to different duties. Instead, the Air Force issued an administrative discharge

Military discharge

A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve.-United States:Discharge or separation should not be confused with retirement; career U.S...

 for "failure to demonstrate acceptable qualities of leadership". Hering appealed the discharge, and at the Air Force Board of Inquiry, the Air Force stated that knowing whether or not a launch order is lawful is beyond the executing officer's need to know

Need to know

The term "need to know", when used by government and other organizations , describes the restriction of data which is considered very sensitive...

. Hering replied:
Nonetheless, the Board of Inquiry ruled that Hering be discharged from the Air Force.