The military is "not especially thrilled" Hillary Clinton talked about nuclear weapon launch times during the presidential debate Wednesday night – information that is considered "extremely classified," CNN's Barbara Starr reported Thursday.
"There's about four minutes between the order being given, and the people responsible for launching nuclear weapons to do so," Clinton said during the debate.
"And that's why 10 people who have had that awesome responsibility have come out and, in an unprecedented way, said they would not trust Donald Trump with the nuclear codes or to have his finger on the nuclear button."
Starr said many officials were not happy with the comment.
“A military spokesman told us that they do not discuss operational timelines for launching nuclear weapons,” Starr reported. "This is some of the most classified information . . ."
According to CNN, a Clinton campaign aide said the information did not come from a classified briefing, pointing to multiple instances when similar information has been disclosed in public or through open source material.
But even if the information is publicly available, those with clearances cannot reveal anything they learn in a classified setting, CNN reported.
“But here is the bottom line: The U.S. military does not discuss the precise specifics of the time frames of launching nuclear weapons that, by all accounts, is extremely classified," Starr said in an interview on "CNN Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin.
"And if you know information to be classified, and you're a government official, even if it's in the open source, even if it's on the internet, you are not supposed to disclose it."
"The bottom line is the U.S. military [is] not especially thrilled to be discussing in precise detail what it takes to launch nuclear weapons," Starr said.
"With 70 million people watching," Baldwin added, referring to the debate television audience.
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