A B-2 Spirit strategic bomber. Image: DoD
Uncertainty reigns in the USA as to whether President Trump could be stopped if he were to give the order to use nuclear bombs on his own authority and to the detriment of the USA
We had also reported that there was concern in Congress, including among Republican members, about whether, with President Donald Trump unpredictable and prone to impulsive exuberance, there was a risk of nuclear war if he came to a dr. Strangelove was. Many in the U.S. don’t trust him either. At the moment, there is concern that Trump may attack North Korea without congressional legitimacy (Donald Trump: The Man at the Nuclear Printer).
In a hearing in the Senate last week, deputies said that ultimately the president had sole authority, and that there were no reasonable checks and balances "checks and balances". That is why there are already some legislative proposals to limit the authority of the president as the supreme warlord. Those invited to the hearing, on the other hand, attempted to appease. There were many precautionary measures, and the president was surrounded by security advisers, the defense minister and commanders.
However, they could not completely eliminate all doubts, so that ex-general Robert Kehler, former commander of the Strategic Command, admitted that only the president could ie the order, but that the military did not blindly follow orders, illegal orders were not carried out. But it was a "Interesting question".
Obviously, this didn’t really calm things down, which also showed the state of affairs in the U.S. under Donald Trump. The Stratcom commander in charge of nuclear weapons, Air Force General John Hyten, felt compelled to follow up on Saturday and declare that he would resist Donald Trump if he were to make a "illegal" should order the use of nuclear weapons. Hyten said at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada, that he believed some people were made to think the militars were stupid: "We are not stupid people. We think about these things a lot. When you have this responsibility, how can you not think about it??"
According to him, the procedure is that he advises the president, who then tells him what should happen. According to Hyte, this is all going to be done in a collegial manner, which some will doubt whether Trump will always be so willing to be led:
And if it’s illegal, guess what’s going to happen? I’m going to say, ‘Mr. President, that’s illegal.’ And guess what he’s going to do? He’s going to say, ‘What would be legal??’ And we’ll come up with options, of a mix of capabilities to respond to whatever the situation is, and that’s the way it works. It’s not that complicated.
John Hyten
It is routine practice to run through scenarios of how to respond to an illegal order. If you carry out an illegal order, you will be imprisoned for the rest of your life. Whether you believe the story is a matter of opinion. At least as long as the president remains in power, little can happen to the commander. In the event of war, no one could be interested in falling into the arms of the president and the armed forces either.
Prasident can directly order deployment via War Room
Moreover, the question remains what is illegal. This is exactly what the hearing was about, where among deputies the opinion prevailed that it is just legal that the president has the final decision-making power. If the commander not only contradicted him, but did not carry out the order, then he had to reckon with gross problems.
Bruce Blair, co-founder of the anti-nuclear weapons group Global Zero and an ex-officer responsible for launching nuclear weapons, on the other hand, suggested that Kehler preferred not to mention an important point at all. In the event of an incident, the president could simply bypass him and not have to call in his advice. The president could enter the order to use nuclear weapons directly into the "War Room" directing where the nuclear weapons were then launched.
During the hearing, Brian McKeon, a Pentagon adviser in the Obama administration, had already stated that if a commander refused to carry out the order, the president would order the secretary of defense to make the recalcitrant commander comply. If the commander continued to refuse, he said, there would be a new defense minister or a new commander.