Former Nuclear Launch Officers Sign Letter stating Trump Shouldn't have Access to the Button

Of course if Trump were elected POTUS, he would have access to the launch of nuclear weapons. (Aren't there armed officers at the sites to make certain the President's orders are carried out?) Since Trump wasn't sure about the components of the nuclear triad, he would likely have a multiple choice option on the red smart phone: "Listen carefully as our menu choices have changed. Press one for nuclear silos; two for submarines; three for bombers, four for Twitter."

WaPo: Ten Former Nuclear Launch Officers Sign Letter: Trump Shouldn't Have his Finger on the Button

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/10-former-nuclear-launch-officers-sign-letter-trump-should-not-have-his-finger-on-the-button/2016/10/13/eef68fde-2468-4305-84d4-86033df53b3f_story.html

I think you should ignore that letter. How many former launch officers are there? I'd bet thousands. How many support either candidate? Who knows.

How many times have you ever seen something like this? I'm not ignoring it,

So, if the President wakes up in a foul mood, can he/she just launch a first strike for no particular reason. As a matter of fact, since we have spent gazillions of dollars so that we don't have to launch a first strike (i.e., two parts of the triad can be destroyed and the 3rd will still destroy the enemy), would a President be able to order a 1st strike.

I think the greater risk with a mercurial President is causing unnecessary escalation through inconsistent responses and statements.

tjohn said:

So, if the President wakes up in a foul mood, can he/she just launch a first strike for no particular reason.

Think not? From a launch officer:

Under the Constitution, no one could veto a bad call by a President Trump. The 90 launch officers who are always on duty in the Great Plains, along with their counterparts in submarines patrolling the oceans, would have no choice but to execute the most morally reprehensible order ever issued in the history of warfare.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/12/opinion/trump-and-the-nuclear-keys.html

well, they always have a choice. That was the excuse used by nazi generals for following Hitler's orders to kill Jews, Poles, and Russians by the millions.

FilmCarp said:

well, they always have a choice. That was the excuse used by nazi generals for following Hitler's orders to kill Jews, Poles, and Russians by the millions.

Not really.

They've been psychologically selected to implement a legal order from the president. A president who has been selected by the American people and in that selection is given the nuclear strike power.

They're in a bunker not having access to outlets debating the wisdom of some current crisis leading to a possible nuke strike. There is no radio telling them nukes are coming our way or the president has gone psycho. The only information they get is a strike activation order from the president. They are not told why the president called it.

That's because "debating clubs" are not allowed in the nuclear triad strike decision matrix. If you allow a nuclear strikes to be debated then you have effectively destroyed strategic and protective mission of the nuclear triad.

I know that's the way it's designed. I'm not sure it still works that way. I've read a few reports that those silos are in bad shape.