[D66] The Finger on the Nuclear Button

[A.O.]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/05/opinion/the-finger-on-the-nuclear-button.html

The Finger on the Nuclear Button

     By The Editorial Board, www.nytimes.com
     View Original
     February 6th, 2017

Scientists who study the risk of nuclear war recently moved the hands of 
the symbolic Doomsday Clock to 2½ minutes before midnight — meaning they 
believe that the world is closer to nuclear catastrophe than it has been 
since 1953 after the United States and Soviet Union tested hydrogen 
bombs. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, which created the clock in 
1947, says that President Trump is the main reason for this worrisome 
development.

Mr. Trump came to office with little knowledge of the vast nuclear 
arsenal and the missiles, bombers and submarines it contains. He has 
spoken, alarmingly, about deploying this weaponry against terrorists and 
about expanding America’s nuclear capabilities. He has said he values 
unpredictability, meaning presumably that he wants to keep other nations 
on edge about whether he will use nuclear weapons.

“Let it be an arms race,” he told a television interviewer in December. 
During a debate three months earlier he contradicted himself, saying 
that “I would certainly not do first strike,” then adding, “I can’t take 
anything off the table.” What’s worrisome about all this is that it is 
the opposite of what Republican and Democratic presidents have long 
sought, which is to ensure that these weapons are not used precipitously 
if at all.

It is the fear of such precipitous action that has led Senator Edward 
Markey of Massachusetts and Representative Ted Lieu of California, both 
Democrats, to propose legislation to prohibit any president from 
launching a first-strike nuclear weapon without a declaration of war 
from Congress.

The bill would not undercut Mr. Trump’s ability to respond on his own 
authority to a nuclear attack, an authority all presidents have had and 
should have. It has support from leading arms control advocates, 
including former Defense Secretary William Perry. And while it won’t go 
anywhere in this Republican-led Congress, it sends a clear message to 
Mr. Trump that he should not be the first since World War II to use 
nuclear weapons. Mr. Trump could more usefully deploy his energies 
engaging with Russia to further reduce both countries’ nuclear arsenals, 
maintaining the Iran nuclear deal and finding new ways to curb North 
Korea’s nuclear program.

A Pentagon advisory board recently proposed that the United States 
consider building more lower-yield nuclear weapons to provide an option 
for “limited use” in a regional conflict. The only legitimate role for 
nuclear weapons is deterrence. The absurd notion of a “limited” nuclear 
war, which could make it easier for a president to use lower-yield 
weapons, needs to be rejected. The country has enough advanced 
conventional weapons to defend against most threats.

Mr. Trump commands about 4,000 weapons that he alone is empowered to 
launch. Any decision responding to an attack would have to be made 
quickly. That kind of life-or-death choice would test any leader, even 
those well-schooled in arcane nuclear doctrine, the intricacies of power 
politics and the importance of not letting tensions get to the point 
where a nuclear exchange becomes likely. But none of Mr. Trump’s closest 
advisers are known to be nuclear experts, the president has yet to put 
together a nuclear strategy and, as the Bulletin’s Science and Security 
Board warned last month, Mr. Trump “has shown a troubling propensity to 
discount or outright reject expert advice.”

With Mr. Trump, sound decision-making may be an even greater challenge, 
given his disruptive, impulsive style. There is also the fact that he 
has assumed office at a particularly unstable time, with the Middle East 
in turmoil and Russia and China acting more aggressively. This is a time 
for restraint and careful deliberation, and for leaders who clearly 
understand that nuclear weapons are too dangerous to be brandished as a 
cudgel.

© 2017 The New York Times Company.