INAUGURATION 2009: Pass the ‘ball’

A military officer carrying the most explosive information in the world will accompany President Bush to the Capitol on Tuesday. Then he or she will accompany President Obama back to the White House.

As simply as that, the “nuclear football” will pass into the new president’s care —- a peaceful transfer of extraordinary power that has become routine in this country.

The leather-bound attache case contains launch authentication codes; a secure phone that gives the president access to the 1,300 strategic nuclear weapons always on alert; and a listing attack of options, from one shot to Armageddon.

The football, formally known as the President’s Emergency Satchel, is called the football because one early nuclear launch plan was code-named “dropkick.”