Probably because nobody actually knows what the codes are. This makes it literally impossible for it to slip out "accidentally" since nobody knows it to let it slip. When they need the codes they can retrieve them but how and where is probably not something they share with the public.

What I do know is they need authorization directly from the president to do so.

Seriously, Nukes can sit in burning jet fuel and not go off. I won't claim to fully understand the science behind it but I do know that a nuclear reaction is not an inherantly stable or easy thing to produce. You may be thinking "well duh its not stable its a bomb!" but you have to understand that a nuke starts a chain reaction and unless the reaction is stable it doesn't do much. It takes deliberate action and calibration by all of the components to achieve criticality and start the chain reaction.

Anyways, this was a major screwup and someone should answer for it, but thats only because we should take this stuff so seriously. I personally am not bothered in the slightest by this and if anything think its a good thing that should keep the men and women who do this job alert and on task. 

Here these are the idiots who have worried me...

Triva from the Wikipedia page on "Nuclear Football":

• During their presidencies, Jimmy Carter always carried the launch codes in his jacket, while Ronald Reagan preferred to keep the launch codes in his wallet.

• Jimmy Carter once left nuclear launch codes in his suit when it was sent in for dry cleaning.^[1]

• It has been suggested that the nickname Football was derived from an attack plan codenamed "Drop-Kick."^[2]

• Several presidents have had politically embarrassing episodes where the Football was left behind at an unsecure location. This happened to Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush [2] and, most recently, Bill Clinton on April 24, 1999^[3]. In none of these cases was the integrity of the football breached.

• The Football was separated from Ronald Reagan immediately after an assassination attempt.

 PS - Just for the record, when they say "left behind" they mean a guy was holding it and was left behind.  The point is that the president's secret service is also securing the football as well as the president so they should be together always.

Damn...... we all know that plane was heading right for Japan..... No we didn´t wan´t to bomb Hiroshima again.... Gates had some people bribed to take out Sony and Nintendo.....codename: Red Mushroom of Death

What worries me is how a "mistake" could have happened... to nuclear bombs. Not one, but six.
How to get it to go off is entirely another issue, no?

If they could make a mistake and "deliver" the bombs. The mistake to "accidentally" set them off probably aren't as far fetched.

Oh Lordie....WHAT!!!! I never knew that I was just moving on with the day. WOW now that is weird and scary....O_O

Sigh lucky the plane didn't crash :s.
(Otherwise Bush would say "It are the russians" ).

What is this "Nuclear bomb" you keep talking about. I only know about "nukular" weaponry, thank you dubya.

Next up: Political grandstanding that will blitz the media for a few days before some celebrity gets into a car crash or some such "important" thing and everybody forgets about it. The politicians get attention and basically free campaign advertising and nothing major gets done.

Now, besides the fact they took off without knowing they had nukes nothing scary here. the nukes would not have detonated, even if the plan crashed into the ground and exploded, the worst that could happen if explosive detonating trigger went off causing a leakage of radioactive material. what do i base this on, well the large number of times over the years we have had to ditch nukes, or crashed into a mountain with them, some of these were even in early pre-armed stages as cold-war weapons were often carried. and until 1992, there was always a b-52, normally a few of them loaded down with nukes flying around waiting for the order to go.

so if a nuke was going to be detonate a nuke by accident it would have happened long ago.

LOL.