One person with direct knowledge of nuclear operations said Pelosi is sending the wrong message by raising the issue in public. The laws of armed conflict, the law of war, play a big role in this - ethical proportionality and all that.” We have legal advisers in the room on both sides - on the military side and on the civilian side. That is a Hollywood thing,” added a senior military official who was not authorized to speak publicly. 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. “And if it’s illegal, guess what’s going to happen? I’m going to say, ‘Mr. 2 military officer, told an audience at a military forum in 2017 that leaders would not obey an illegal order and can advise the president before launching. Instead, the order is meant to be conveyed as quickly as possible so military officers can execute a decision that only the president can make.īut it is also not as easy as it sounds for a president to just launch a strike out of the blue. The process to launch a nuclear strike does not proceed through the typical military decision-making chain of command that requires input and approval from many officials.

Some have also warned of Trump’s politicization of the military and expressed concerns ahead of the November election that the commander in chief could use the military, either domestically or internationally, in an improper manner with the goal of influencing the election or staying in power. Numerous Democratic lawmakers have pushed for legislation that would limit the president’s authority to launch a nuclear strike - including by requiring additional officials to sign off on a launch and making the “no first use of nuclear weapons” an official U.S. “He answered her questions regarding the process of nuclear command authority.”

Dave Butler, said Pelosi initiated the call with the chairman. “The situation of this unhinged President could not be more dangerous, and we must do everything that we can to protect the American people from his unbalanced assault on our country and our democracy,” she added.

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