“the TTB is not a historical episode that we can examine in all its complexity and, as far as I know, nothing like it has ever happened.”
More accurately: Nothing like it has ever bin known to the public.
Also in the case of missing nuclear warheads, it is already by law legal to use deadly force to retrieve them. These rules are off cause only known to officials with a certain security clearance, which is why, once a presidential candidate becomes a president, he stops to talk about this as an issue. The rules have been implemented on occasion (The nuclear storage facilities are not as secure, as one might think). And missions in this particular category are of cause not on any books. They are by nature classified and often involve a certain level of embarrassment. Two factors that make them better suited for high level power play than public scrutiny.
