- A group of former nuclear launch officers are concerned over whether President Donald Trump should be allowed to control the use of nuclear weapons
- The 17 officers said in a letter to Congress Trump is a ‘clear and present danger’
- They wrote the letter after Trump tweeted that his nuclear button was ‘much bigger & more powerful’ than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s button
- They said the tweet increased the likelihood of starting conflict with North Korea
- In the letter, the former officers expressed their concern over whether Trump should be the only person to decide when nuclear weapons should be used
- The job of a nuclear launch officer is to fire missiles if the president orders it
A group of former nuclear launch officers have called President Donald Trump a ‘danger to the country and the world’ after his recent tweet to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declaring that his nuclear button is ‘much bigger & more powerful’.
Members of Global Zero, an international nuclear disarmament advocacy group, sent a letter to Congress on Thursday asking it to step in and regulate Trump’s power to use nuclear weapons.
The concerned officers questioned the president’s ‘temperament, judgement and indifference to expert advice’ declaring that he ‘poses a clear and present danger to the country and the world’.
‘Every American president has absolute authority to order the first use of nuclear weapons,’ the letter read. ‘No one – not the secretary of defense, not the attorney general, not Congress – can veto that order. There are no reliable safeguards in place to contain this power.’
A group of former nuclear launch officers called President Donald Trump a ‘clear and present danger to the county and the world’ following his nuclear button tweet to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un
Earlier this month, Trump told Kim Jong Un that his nuclear button was ‘much bigger & more powerful’ this his
The Twitter post came after Kim Jong Un said that his nuclear button remains on his desk at all time
The officers, who first ‘sounded their alarm’ about Trump in a letter sent to Congress shortly after his presidential win in 2016, said they felt an urgency to send another because Trump’s Twitter post to Kim Jon Un was ‘dangerous and risks catastrophic miscalculation’.
Earlier this month, Trump fired off a tweet about his ‘powerful’ nuclear button after Kim Jong Un made a comment that his button is always on his desk.
‘Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button,’ the president said in the January 2 tweet. ‘But it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!’
The letter said Trump’s threats of ‘fire and fury’ and to destroy Kim Jong Un’s dictatorship ‘undercut diplomatic efforts and increase the likelihood of stumbling into conflict’.
The former officers said Trump’s (left) tweet to Kim Jong Un (right) was ‘dangerous and risks catastrophic miscalculation’
They asked for some of the proposals submitted to Congress to be considered saying that they would regulate when and how Trump could ‘order the first use of nuclear weapons’.
‘Whether it’s assigning the defense secretary and attorney general a role in certifying a launch order, requiring a Congressional Declaration of War before the first use of nuclear weapons, or ending the policy of nuclear first use entirely, any of these common-sense measures would reduce the risk we now face,’ the group said.
They added: ‘We and our nation cannot abide being hostages to the mood swings of a petulant and foolish commander-in-chief. No individual, especially Donald Trump, should hold the absolute power to destroy nations.’
The letter was signed by 17 former nuclear launch officers whose jobs were to fire missiles if the president ordered to do so.