GOV/MIL Gov/Mil/Pol - Trump’s nuclear authority divides senators alarmed by his ‘volatile’ behavior

Housecarl

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/powe...1a994a-c95b-11e7-8321-481fd63f174d_story.html

PowerPost

Trump’s nuclear authority divides senators alarmed by his ‘volatile’ behavior

By Karoun Demirjian November 14 at 4:06 PM

Senators trying to prevent President Trump from launching an unprovoked nuclear attack were stymied Tuesday, after a panel of experts warned them against rewriting laws to restrain a commander in chief many worry is impulsive and unpredictable enough to start a devastating international crisis.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who has said Trump’s threats to global rivals could put the country “on the path to World War III,” began Tuesday’s session warning of the inherent danger in a system where the president has “sole authority” to give launch orders there are “no way to revoke.” By the time Corker emerged from the hearing — the first to address the president’s nuclear authority in over four decades — he was at a loss for what to do next.

“I do not see a legislative solution today,” Corker told reporters. “That doesn’t mean, over the course of the next several months, one might not develop, but I don’t see it today.”

Trump’s shifting posture on how to address nuclear threats has made lawmakers in both parties uneasy, particularly as the crisis over North Korea’s ambitions escalates. Republicans and Democrats criticized Trump this summer for promising to use “fire and fury” against the regime in Pyongyang if it made any more nuclear threats against the United States; more recently, they have questioned him for taking to Twitter to call the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “short and fat.”

“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 strike that is wildly out of step with U.S. interests,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), one of several senators exploring how to prevent the president from launching a first nuclear strike without the permission of Congress.

Former administration officials warned Tuesday changing the law to prevent the current administration from doing something rash could dramatically backfire.

“If we were to change the decision-making process because of a distrust of this president, that would be an unfortunate decision for the next president,” said Brian McKeon, who served as acting undersecretary for policy at the Defense Department during the Obama administration.

“It has implications for the deterrent, it has implications for the extended deterrent, . . . it has implications for our own military men and women,” said retired Gen. C. Robert Kehler, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command from 2011 to 2013.

[Trump’s loose talk on nuclear weapons suddenly becomes very real]

The experts attempted to reassure senators there are processes in place to ensure many seasoned military and legal experts review nuclear orders before they are acted upon. Kehler, who led the agency responsible for nuclear launches, insisted on several occasions the military could refuse to act on any nuclear launch order it determined to be illegal — and there is time to push back against a president in any situation, apart from responding to an imminent attack.

That explanation did not satisfy committee Democrats, who insisted Trump’s behavior, and what they identify as his habit of nominating and hiring administration officials who defer to his worldview, means any internal resistance “does not offer real resistance if the president absolutely insists upon his way,” Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) said.

“It should be the congressional prerogative to declare nuclear war,” added Markey, who has written a bill to ban the president from being able to launch a first nuclear strike against North Korea without the authorization of Congress.

Only three other Democrats have co-sponsored it.

Nuclear launch authority is not the only area of the president’s powers over which Congress has sought more influence since Trump took office. In recent months, lawmakers have insisted the president seek Congress’s approval before revoking any sanctions against Russia, and momentum is building for a new authorization for use of military force (AUMF) to address the military’s current and future operations against the Islamic State and other extremist groups.

Corker told reporters Tuesday his committee will also soon address the president’s authority to terminate agreements with other countries — a subject with particular relevance for the future of the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump has decried as “an embarrassment,” refusing to certify last month that Tehran was in compliance with its terms. Corker has since been working with Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) to write Iran-related legislation that could pass with bipartisan support.

With no clear legislative path forward to assert congressional control over the president’s nuclear impulses, senators are splitting along party lines about how to deal with their concerns.

With no clear legislative path forward to assert congressional control over the president’s nuclear impulses, senators are splitting along party lines about how to deal with their concerns.

“There are legitimate disputes when it comes to the power of the president and the power of Congress,” Sen. James E. Risch (R-Idaho) said. He warned “every single word that’s uttered in this hearing is going to be analyzed in Pyongyang,” and might lead the North Korea government to question the U.S.’s resolve to deter the regime’s nuclear aggression.

Democrats argued Trump is already confusing North Korea about the United States’ intentions through his tweets.

“Doesn’t it also suggest it’s important for the commander in chief to also be cautious in how he talks about this issue so there is not a miscalculation on the part of our aggressors who would do us harm about what the real intent here is?” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) asked the expert panel.

“I would be very concerned about a miscalculation based on continuing use of his Twitter account,” McKeon answered.

Read more at PowerPost

57 Comments
 
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JF&P

Deceased
I trust TRUMP and the "Button" under his administration....those who are complaining are just more never trumpers.

Besides....lets pass a law on TB2K to never EVER post crap from the WaPo!!!!!
 

Hfcomms

EN66iq
That explanation did not satisfy committee Democrats, who insisted Trump’s behavior, and what they identify as his habit of nominating and hiring administration officials who defer to his worldview, means any internal resistance “does not offer real resistance if the president absolutely insists upon his way,” Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) said.

What a bunch of bilge!! You mean Obama didn't have the habit of nominating and hiring officials that deferred to his world view? Really? These people are becoming more and more pathetic and irrelevant.
 

brokenwings

Veteran Member
I worry about THEIR behavior and what THEY do!! I trust Trump as I would trust a father!! He is the best President we have had in years!
 

Shacknasty Shagrat

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Sen. John McCain called for the United States to commit a pre emptive act of war against Russia!! And he is Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
He, and the Uniparty are the Madmen.
SS
 

Chance

Veteran Member
These Senators are only concerned about their cush jobs for the next 3 years (or 7 years) - they want the status quo to continue with North Korea and the Middle East.

Their cush life on the hill - their pedophilia, corruption, bribery, money laundering, sexual harassment - doing nothing for Americans but collecting a big pay check - would be in jeopardy if President Trump actually DID something. Then they'd have to actually do something.

Their whining is only for themselves.
 

Seeker

3 Bombs for Hawkins
What "volatile behavior"? Inspiring respect among the leaders of China, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines? Not to mention numerous Arab nations - without bowing to any or one.
 

Flippper

Time Traveler
What "volatile behavior"? Inspiring respect among the leaders of China, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines? Not to mention numerous Arab nations - without bowing to any or one.

To them that's volatile, so long as it besmirches Trump's good name as that is the game here.

Trump’s nuclear authority divides senators alarmed by his ‘volatile’ behavior
It has nothing to do with why they are alarmed, they are trying to plant seeds of insanity in Trump in the minds of the populace so apparently they are still gunning for the 25th Amendment action. They are sooooo close to their globalist de-sovereigning of the planet they will do and try anything to prevent anyone from stopping it. And I do mean anything. They all need erased.
 

cooter

cantankerous old coot
there are times when the liberals and the rinos open thier mouths and remove all doubt,

of what a bunch of feckless, bloativated, arrogant sobs that sit in congress and the senate, all these people are soooo disconnected from reality, that they and hillery still cant figure out why trump won,

trump has a far better grasp on the levity of opening canned sunshine, than any of the politicians that are whining about that issue right now, and like someone else said about mcpain, the idiot wanted to do what:rolleyes:and yet the idiots holler about trump

the DC swamp, I swear really does need a plutonium/tritium enema in the megaton range with the level of BS coming out of them, :rolleyes::gaah:
 

medic38572

TB Fanatic
I trust TRUMP and the "Button" under his administration....those who are complaining are just more never trumpers.

Besides....lets pass a law on TB2K to never EVER post crap from the WaPo!!!!!

I thought anything from wapo huffpo cnn cbs nbc and all those were considered fake news sites?
 

Sacajawea

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I'm not comfortable with nuclear decisions being decided by "committee". AT ALL. How many years did Congress not even pass a budget?

Until Congress gets their collective shit together and figures out a way to do things that benefit their employers - US - they can stick their "concerns" and "agendas" where the sun doesn't shine.
 
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