Nuclear missiles

Re “Ending the threat of nuclear war requires U.S. leadership” (Other Views, Jan. 22): I was glad to read Steve Baggarly’s op-ed on the day the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons went into effect for the 52 state parties that have ratified it. COVID-19 and national unrest have overshadowed the significance of the TPNW, yet the threat posed by these weapons is existential, endangering all life on the planet.

Until the U.S. is ready to ratify the treaty, two modest — but critical — steps need to be taken.

The first is to adopt a no-first-strike policy.

The second is to remove the president’s sole authority to order the launch of nuclear missiles. Because speed is of the essence in responding to a purported threat of attack on our country, the president is granted the power to act alone.

The safeguards I had imagined — the president’s consultation with top military, political and legal advisors — may or may not happen because of lack of time.

The documented cases of close calls, where human or mechanical error has led to false reports of an imminent attack, should give us pause. If military intelligence disputed the president’s decision, the commander-in-chief would still be free to do as he or she wills. The world would be safer with guarantees passed by Congress that the president could never act alone and that the U.S. could never strike first in a nuclear launch.

Julia Dorsey Loomis, Portsmouth