Preventing Donald Trump From Launching Nuclear Weapons Difficult, Experts Say

Regardless of the fact that there are certain rules and protocols to prevent a President from launching an illegal nuclear strike; a nuclear expert and a military officer believes that it will be difficult to stop U.S. President Donald Trump from carrying out such an attack.

According to a report by the Washington Free Beacon, Senator Chris Murphy, in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting on Tuesday said, "We are concerned that the president of the United States is so unstable, is so volatile, has a decision-making process that is so quixotic, that he might order a nuclear weapons strike that is wildly out of step with U.S. national security interests."

He then added, "So let's just recognize the exceptional nature of this moment and the discussion that we're having today."

Research scholar at Princeton University on Science and Global Security and former nuclear missile launch officer, Bruce Blair, on Sunday said, "If President Trump were to decide that it's time to put Kim Jong Un in his place once and for all, he would choose a plan that already exists. And it would be almost impossible in my view to override a decision to implement that option," USA Today reported.

In the same report, Blair said, "no one ever thought that a commander of Strategic Command would ever be thinking of defying a president. The whole system was set up to be extremely streamlined. When I was a nuclear launch officer I practiced fighting nuclear wars probably 100 times in a simulator and exercises in the field scores of times, and the launch order always came directly from the Pentagon."

This statement sounds a bit surprising when seen in context of the statement made by U.S. Nuclear Commander, Air Force General John E. Hyten to the Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday.

According to a Canadian Press report, Hyten said that he would refuse to execute an order for nuclear attack from Trump if he deemed that order to be "illegal" in nature.

"I provide advice to the president, he’ll tell me what to do, and if it’s illegal, guess what is going to happen?" said Hyten. He then continued, "I’m going to say, 'Mr. President, that's illegal.'"

He then said that the President would ask him for a "legal" method and then he and the President will work around another approach.

Blair has said the president, especially Trump, has too much power over U.S. nuclear weapons. In a Washington Post article published on Aug. 18, Blair stated that the first-strike policy of the U.S. when it comes to North Korea can violate international humanitarian laws.

In the same article he denounced Trump for issuing open threats and also expressed fear over the fact that the President can order a preventive nuclear strike against any country by only saying a word in the Pentagon war room. He also said that under the current scheme of things, the president can consult all or none of the officials and no one can legally counter his order.

In line with the same argument, senior policy advisor in the Pentagon during the Obama administration, Brian McKeon said in a report by the Associated Press that in the case of the situation where a commander refuses to comply with the President’s order of launching a nuclear strike, the President will tell the Defense Secretary to order the commander to execute the order.

He then continued saying, "and then, if the commander still resisted, you either get a new secretary of defense or a new commander."

In a Fox News interview in 2008, the Vice President of the U.S. Dick Cheney said, a president "could launch a kind of devastating attack the world’s never seen. He doesn't have to check with anybody. He doesn't have to call the Congress. He doesn't have to check with courts. He has that authority because of the nature of the world we live in."