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Does the POTUS have unilateral authority to order a nuclear launch?
Yes.
Does anyone have the authority to stop him?
No.
A resource thread
1/x
Yes.
Does anyone have the authority to stop him?
No.
A resource thread
1/x
Listen as @BillClinton, @SecDef19, @TomCollina, @RepTedLieu, @brhodes, @wellerstein, and the late Bruce Blair of @globalzero discuss the facts around Presidential nuclear authority and what alternatives we have to this dangerous policy:
2/x https://atthebrink.org/podcast/the-biscuit-and-the-football-sole-presidential-authority-and-nuclear-first-use/
2/x https://atthebrink.org/podcast/the-biscuit-and-the-football-sole-presidential-authority-and-nuclear-first-use/
Could a military officer refuse a nuclear launch order? @Radiolab explores this critical question in a special episode:
3/x https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/nukes
3/x https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/nukes
Could the Secretary of Defense halt a Presidential nuclear launch order?
@SecDef19 says no:
4/x http://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/opinion/nuclear-weapons-trump.amp.html?espv=1
@SecDef19 says no:
4/x http://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/opinion/nuclear-weapons-trump.amp.html?espv=1
Is there anything we can do to prevent the POTUS from ordering a nuclear launch?
Not unless we pass legislation to change the policy.
@SecDef19 and @TomCollina wrote a whole book on the problem:
5/x https://www.amazon.com/Button-Nuclear-Presidential-Power-Truman/dp/1948836998
Not unless we pass legislation to change the policy.
@SecDef19 and @TomCollina wrote a whole book on the problem:
5/x https://www.amazon.com/Button-Nuclear-Presidential-Power-Truman/dp/1948836998
How would a Presidential nuclear order go down?
@derekjGZ breaks it down step by step:
6/x https://twitter.com/derekjGZ/status/1347583047189860352?s=20
@derekjGZ breaks it down step by step:
6/x https://twitter.com/derekjGZ/status/1347583047189860352?s=20
Need official government proof that the POTUS has unilateral authority to launch nuclear weapons and no one can stop him?
Here you go, from December 2020:
7/x
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10521/7
Here you go, from December 2020:
7/x
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10521/7
Have more questions on Presidential nuclear authority works?
Check out this @redditIAmA that @SecDef19 and @TomCollina did on the subject in 2020:
8/x https://reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/j6u3et/i_am_former_secretary_of_defense_william_perry/
Check out this @redditIAmA that @SecDef19 and @TomCollina did on the subject in 2020:
8/x https://reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/j6u3et/i_am_former_secretary_of_defense_william_perry/
Are their legal fixes to the problem of Presidential sole nuclear authority?
@ajmount and @pranayrvaddi put together some actionable options for legislators:
9/x https://www.lawfareblog.com/better-informing-presidents-decision-nuclear-use
@ajmount and @pranayrvaddi put together some actionable options for legislators:
9/x https://www.lawfareblog.com/better-informing-presidents-decision-nuclear-use
What is the history behind Presidential sole nuclear authority?
Historian @wellerstein lays it out for you:
10/x http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2016/11/18/the-president-and-the-bomb/
Historian @wellerstein lays it out for you:
10/x http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2016/11/18/the-president-and-the-bomb/
Could the military refuse an illegal POTUS nuclear order?
Under certain circumstances, yes; but what constitutes as "illegal" is much more limited that you might imagine:
11/x http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2017/04/10/president-bomb-iii/
Under certain circumstances, yes; but what constitutes as "illegal" is much more limited that you might imagine:
11/x http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2017/04/10/president-bomb-iii/
Nuclear experts @ErnestMoniz and Sam Nunn present a legal analysis of the authorities, limits, and process of Presidential nuclear authority:
12/x
https://www.nti.org/newsroom/news/nti-releases-new-legal-analysis-president-and-nuclear-weapons-authorities-limits-and-process/
12/x
https://www.nti.org/newsroom/news/nti-releases-new-legal-analysis-president-and-nuclear-weapons-authorities-limits-and-process/
National security reporter @ZachFB who was traveling with Mattis during Trump "Fire and Fury" comments wrote about Mattis reaction: https://www.newsweek.com/2018/02/23/mattis-prevent-war-north-korea-disarm-kim-jong-un-805155.html?amp=1&__twitter_impression=true
