8. PALs were introduced to let a
control officer go to sleep. With no PALs, both had to stay awake to satisfy
the "two-man rule," which is the law for control of nuclear weapons. Two
crewmen staying awake meant higher crew rotation, more trained personnel
and greater cost. This suggests that in an alert, sleeping in the silo
would be out, so the enabling codes would probably be sent immediately,
and the PALs would be unlocked even before the arrival of a nuclear "release."
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