With an irrational Trump in office, the nuclear power of US president must be tamed

Will Saetren warns that the US president has virtually no restraints on his ability to launch nuclear strikes and, given Trump’s reputation for impulsiveness, Congress should act to impose new limits

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Will Saetren

Published: 9:15am, 26 Nov 2017Updated: 6:56pm, 26 Nov 2017

Most people are blissfully unaware that the American president is bestowed with the power to hold the entire world hostage. Illustration: Craig Stephens

Few people realise that Donald Trump, as the American president, has total control over the US nuclear arsenal. Every last one of America’s nuclear weapons is at the US president’s disposal 24/7 and can be launched at any time, for any reason. It’s one of the few processes in the American political system where there are no checks and balances. That is not just an American problem, it’s a global problem.

The United States possesses thousands of nuclear weapons, more than enough to end human civilisation as we know it. Even a limited nuclear conflict, in which only a handful of nuclear weapons are used, would cause a phenomenon called “nuclear winter”, igniting a global famine that could kill billions.

Yet most people are blissfully unaware that the American president is bestowed with the power to hold the entire world hostage. According to a recent NPR/Ipsos poll, only 24 per cent of Americans realise that the commander-in-chief has the full authority to order a nuclear attack, without approval from a third party, such as the often-referred-to “adults in the room”, namely Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster or Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Even American politicians have shockingly little insight into the immense destructive power vested in the American president. The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee recently held a hearing on the president’s nuclear launch authority, which received extensive coverage in the American press.

There’s a good reason for that. It was the first Congressional hearing on this topic in more than four decades.

Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee listens to testimony during a committee hearing on November 14 in Washington on the authority to order the use of nuclear weapons. Corker has feuded with President Donald Trump over the past several weeks, comparing his administration to “day care” and saying that Trump’s actions threaten “World War III”. Photo: AFP