During Wednesday night’s third and final Presidential debate, democratic nominee Hillary Clinton let out a secret piece of information on live television with tens of millions watching worldwide. While trying to claim her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, would be unfit to be Commander-in-Chief, Hillary Clinton divulged the precise nuclear response time, a piece of information only known by a handful of very top officials within the United States government.
While the piece of information has been speculated on for years, formerly being estimated at eight minutes this is the first time a high-level former official has publicly stated it.
“But here’s the deal,” Clinton told moderator Chris Wallace. “The bottom line on nuclear weapons is that when the president gives the order, it must be followed. There’s about four minutes between the order being given and the people responsible for launching nuclear weapons to do so.”
According to Pentagon sources, the information that Clinton broadcasted is Top Secret intelligence governed under the U.S. Special Access Program (SAP). The details of the nuclear response time is reportedly only known by “need to know” (NTK) officials.
NTK Officials consist of the following:
- President
- Vice President
- Secretary of State
- Secretary of Defense
- Secretary of Homeland Security
- Attorney General
- Director of National Intelligence
- CIA Director
- Deputy Secretary of State
- Deputy Secretary of Defense
- Special personnel designated solely by the President in writing
Hillary Clinton’s team also tweeted the information during the debate:
They then took it a step further by using the top secret information in a jab against Donald Trump:
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