Is Now The Time To Get Rid Of The U.S. President’s Nuclear ‘Football’

A White House military aide and member of the US Navy carries a briefcase known as the "football," containing emergency nuclear weapon codes (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB)

Thomas Keaney/Thomas E. Ricks, Foreign Policy: It Is High Time to Do Away With the President’s Nuclear ‘Football’

The recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on nuclear weapons introduced some unsettling possibilities.

The recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting on the authority to employ nuclear weapons brought some clarity concerning the

authority and limits of employing nuclear weapons while introducing some unsettling possibilities. The occasion prompting the hearing was anything but a routine one. President Trump’s unpredictability, his frequent trading of threats to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile testing programs, and possible U.S. nuclear use in those circumstances has called into question the adequacy of checks on the procedures that had been in place since the 1950s.

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WNU Editor: I do not know what is a better alternative to the nuclear football. And I certainly do not want the Generals to decide on a nuclear response if the President and the Line of Succession are alive. My advice is to best keep it as is .... until a better idea comes around.

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