you would think so wouldnt you :P but the Professor made the statement quite confidently and its already been picked up by tons of other (more authentic) Huffington post, yahoo news and business insider just to name a few. So no. It was the perfect bluff. =P

Edit: @Racer-X

"According to Blair, the White House ordered the codes be installed in 1962 despite objections from the U.S. Strategic Air Command, which worried the extra layer of security would delay launching missiles in the event of an emergency. Nonetheless, officials followed orders and began phasing in the locks, all the while setting the "secret unlock code" to eight zeroes."

"So while rogue officers or Soviet spies could have gained access to a missile by dialing "00000000" -- which certainly may have led to disastrous consequences on its own -- actually targeting a region and then launching a nuclear weapon would have required significantly more work"

"In any case, writes Blair in his original column, the locks were activated in 1977 and have likely since graduated to a far more complex -- and far more confidential -- unlocking system. "

Source - Blair :P