In the event of an illegal order from President Trump to execute a nuclear strike, the order will not be carried out, and other options will be sought. This is the what Gen. John Hyten, commander of US Strategic Command had to say.
The top military officer was speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada, when he said that there were very clear rules with regard to carrying out an order that would be illegal, and that it applied to everything from handguns to nuclear weapons.
“I provide advice to the President. He’ll tell me what to do, and if it’s illegal, guess what’s going to happen? I’m gonna say, ‘Mr. President, that’s illegal.’ 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. It’s not that complicated.”
The U.S. Strategic Command oversees all of America’s nuclear weapons and missile defense, but the president still retains the the authority to launch nuclear weapons. However, that authority can only be executed when the orders are deemed legal, and the the response appropriate to the threat.
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