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Senators warned on aim to zap launch-order law
Expert: Action to stop Trump would hurt next president
WASHINGTON — Senators trying to prevent President Donald 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 who 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, 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 North Korea 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 decisionmaking 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.
Former administration officials warned Tuesday that changing the law 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. Robert Kehler, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command from 2011 to 2013.
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 that 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,” said Sen. Edward Markey , D-Mass.
“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.
In recent months, lawmakers have insisted the president seek Congress’ approval before revoking any sanctions against Russia. Momentum is also building for a new authorization for use of military force to address the military’s current and future operations against the Islamic State and other extremist groups.