More than 30 Democrats serving in the United States have written President Joe Biden asking him to consider expanding the number of people involved in the decision to launch a nuclear strike, the New York Post reported Thursday.
“As president, two of your most critical and solemn duties are the security of the country and the safeguarding of its nuclear arsenal,” the letter reads, noting the president’s sole authority to order the use of nuclear weapons assures keeping them under civilian control.”
The request was not because of concerns over Mr. Biden’s health, advanced age, or because some commentators have expressed doubts about his mental fitness. Instead, the letter said, the issue was being raised at this time because “Past presidents have threatened to attack other countries with nuclear weapons” – which a footnote explains is a reference to tweets posted by former President Donald J. Trump directed at North Korean President Kim Jong Un – and because they have “exhibited behavior that caused other officials to express concern about the president’s judgment.”
The latter point, another footnote indicates, is a reference to an attempt by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to inject herself into the string of command over U.S. nuclear weapons after the November election by reaching out to the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Several legal scholars have suggested that by doing so, Mrs. Pelosi vastly exceeded her authority under the U.S. Constitution and could, under different circumstances, have found herself under investigation for doing so.
The Democrats writing to Mr. Biden proposed a variety of alternatives to the current procedures should Mr. Biden agree to surrender the authority currently vested solely in the president to order the use of nuclear weapons. These include:
- Requiring additional officials in the line of presidential succession, starting with the vice president and the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives – neither of whom can be removed by the president if they disagree – to concur with a launch order, and utilizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s tracking of those officials to ensure prompt communication.
- Requiring certifications from the secretary of defense that the launch order is valid and from the attorney general that it is legal. Concurrence from the chair of the Joint Chiefs of staff and/or the secretary of state could also be required.
- Requiring a congressional declaration of war and specific authorization from Congress before any nuclear first strike can be conducted.
- Creating a permanent active council of congressional leaders that would regularly participate in deliberations with the executive branch on vital national security issues and mandate some portion of the council be consulted before the first use of nuclear weapons.
“We respectfully request that you. As president, review ways in which you can end the sole authority you have to launch a nuclear attack and to install additional checks and balances into the system,” the letter concludes.
Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee slammed the effort, the Post reported. GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wy., Committee Ranking Member Mike Rogers, R-Ala., and Subcommittee Ranking Member Mike Turner, R-Ohio, released a statement calling the idea “dangerous.”
“The President of the United States must have the exclusive ability to command and control our nuclear deterrent. Democrats’ dangerous efforts suggesting a restructuring of our nuclear command and control process will undermine American security, as well as the security of our allies,” the three said.
“These proposals, if enacted, would leave Americans vulnerable, destabilize the nuclear balance, and shake our allies’ confidence in the nuclear umbrella. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping would cheer if the United States adopted such a unilateral restriction,” Cheney, Rodgers, and Turner continued.
The suggestions offered by Panetta and Lieu in their letter would, if adopted, be the most far-reaching effort to reduce the president’s constitutional authority as commander-in-chief of any effort since the War Powers Act was adopted in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
The White House has not yet commented on the letter but that does not mean the proposal is by any means dead. In fact, say some Republicans, it sounds just like the kind of thing a President Joe Biden would love to take up, regardless of the way conceptually it could make the United States more vulnerable to an attack rather than make the world safer.
Peter Roff is a former U.S. News & World Report contributing editor now affiliated with several Washington, D.C. public policy organizations. He appears regularly as a commentator on the One America News network. Reach him by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @PeterRoff.
Peter Roff
Peter Roff is affiliated with several Washington, D.C. public policy organizations and is a former U.S. News and World Report contributing editor who appears regularly as a commentator on the One America News network. He can be reached by email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @PeterRoff.
You can’t say donkeys aren’t clever. Place a dementia patient in the presidency so congress can nueter him.
Well, you know, as well as THEY know, that he was NEVER “elected” president anyway, so WHAT does it actually or really MATTER….?????
Then we end up with something worse
Can you not answer your question, “what does it actually or really matter”? Regardless of how he became POTUS, he is and does possess EO procedures and in his (Biden’s) worsening health problems, physical and mental,presents an ever increasing danger to national and international security(ies).
We don’t need a president in office who has dementia it’s not good then you’re siding with China as well your brain is like an egg it’s not working at all but honestly Mr Biden. If you want to be call our president you will need to end the war in Afghanistan and let all our United States Troops come come to there wife’s there children even the ones they adopted while out on deployment. Coz there orphan and they need loving parents to care for then but by my understanding you won’t end the endless war but any do what God would do bring our Troops home God Bless America I stand for our flag and I kneel for our cross2/27/21
We don’t need a vice president that turned dangerous prisoners loose either.
AMEN TO THAT IT’S ALL PART OF THERE TO GET HIM OUT AND HARRIS BECOMES PRESIDENT ….GOD HELP US
He’s headed for the 25th amendment
He should be heading for PRISON, along with the rest of THEM…..!!!!!
Pelosi,Schumer, waters,sanders,obama,clinton,abrem and cammel .
WITH PELOSI LEADING SHE’S ONE SICK AND DEMENTED BITC_ OOPS
Nanzi is sharpening her claws as we speak!
They can say it isn’t due to his mental health decline, but the truth is that is the MAIN reason for their demands.
Democrats blowing smoke up We the People’s arses is all it is.
So now that Joey has achieved his Dream the Donkey People are figuring out what they really have known all along, keep feeding him ridiculous instructions and deny him when necessary, strip him of his “Fake Power” which his handlers never wanted him to have in the first place, and replace him when it’s pretty much demanded by everyone so the Donkey People can have the Blame shifted to the Republicans!
They have “written” him…??? He doesn’t KNOW/UNDERSTAND of WHAT he is signing, doesn’t KNOW where he is or why he is there, AND they think he’ll UNDERSTAND what they wrote to him about the NUKE Codes/button…..???? REALLY…???? I am sure that he DOESN’T even know/understand that he is UN-elected “president” of the USA…..!!!!!!!
I’m in favor of keeping the three branches of Goverment seperate and distinct . We do not need to expand the authority of the Congress, nor do we need to diminish the power of the Executive Branch.
This just sounds like something engineered by Pelosi who believes she is more powerful than the President of the United States of America. She isn’t. End of discussion.
I am not a Biden fan but this is a Irresponsible idea
Look at what Biden has done already, rule by Executive orders . (AKA- Dictator) Biden is a lose cannon .
Maybe a descendant of Roosevelt will start calling Biden “Uncle Joe”.
These people don’t have brains OR testicles. Nuclear weapons today are artifacts of the infamous “Cold War”, and they have no place in our arsenal against foreign aggression. It’s obvious why this topic arises in such a manner, because the government knows they’ll have to offer (Or orchestrate…) a profoundly compelling reason for the world being destroyed on their watch. Of course, the few remaining republicans in congress will be identified as proponents of nuclear exchanges, while liberals claim they were bypassed and helpless to prevent such a conflict. Long before this baloney appeared, there were rumblings about culling huge segments of the world’s inhabitants in order to effect “Sustainability”. As coldly misanthropic as this agenda sounds, it has already been put in practice, though that element of history is carefully hidden from our knowledge. Humans playing God, and deciding who lives or dies based on their criteria should be the ones who are vaporized.
David tell that to North Korea
By the time these clowns agree to deploy nuclear weapons the war will be over. Our nukes would have been destroyed in their silos. How stupid are the people who are ruining our country? We the People will take back our country. Nuff’said.
Hey crazy Nancy, why don’t you vote to impeach senile President sleepy Joe Bide?
I know, then the Puppeteer empty suit Obama would lose his control of Puppet dementia Joe’s signature!
He doesn’t have to notify Congress. He has to notify Xi, his overlord.
Who will be surprised when Pelosi imposes the 25th Amendment on Biden? We should place bets on how many months pass before it happens. Unfortunately we cant award the winner, not with heels up Kamala being sworn in. The only light shining at the end of the tunnel is 4 years away.
Their next move is to make it where any deployment of the military will be by congress and not the commander in chief.
It won’t MATTER before they can get their BS together for a counter strike Washington will be a glow in the dark crater. They will all be dead. (Hopefully) and the rest of us who are left will have to deal with the fall out (Literally) I assume they have a command that can launch a counter strike. But I doubt it. I’m waiting for the implosion any day now so China can come to our aid and take over for Commie sleepy Joe Panty Sniffer.
The real reason that they re pushing this ownership of the “nuclear weapons football to launch nuclear wepapons is this item!!CHEATER Joe Biden today is “in charge of the nuclear codes to launch nuclear weapons with his mind gone comletely to dementia and old age senility”!!!!!!! That should “scare the HELL out of every man, woman and child in America, shouldn’t it”??? They also can use this scandal to get rid of CHEATERN Joe Biden for VP Harris very soon too!!! Food for thought for the American people and the American new media!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For over a year, my two political blogs hace been pointing out this act about CHEATER Joe Biden!! He is now today “in charge of the nuclear codes to launchour nuclear weapons with his having lost his mind completely to dementia and old age senility”!! That should sacre the HELL out of every man. woman and child in America today!! Also, they can use this scandal to dump CHEATER Joe Biden for VP Harris!!! Nobody in the news media had the guts to question this before and after the 2020 election until now!!!!
Really U guys are that scared?? U put him there, suffer
Ha! And they screamed their asses off for four years about President Trump having the codes!
The problem will be fixed for the DemocRATS when Dementia Joe has the Missiles re targeted to target CONSERVATIVE and Pro Trump Cities and States instead of China and Russia!
The charade is over just declare him mentally incompetent and then we can see how the democrats will really govern us into socialism.
This was something they wanted to do because they hated Trump…. What it really does is give the enemy the information that the finger is on the way to the button….
Biden lacks the mental acuity to know if/when to do nuke…. he should not be president. The true president should not be forced to ask the kids if he can do what must be done.
The US is in deep trouble with Biden as President when the democrats are worried he will launch a nuclear attack. Nancy better 25th him quick before he does more stupid things that could devastate the US.
How can congress have a say so? Pelosi already pulls his strings. biden doesn’t think for himself. He is sick. He suffers from dementia. We know how he got the WH, but we don’t know why. He is dumber than a door nail.
Pretty funny , this was not in question all of the time that Trump was president . Now that the democrats are in charge it is a big problem for their man to have his finger on the button
Do they think he’ll hit the nuke button instead of the afternoon nap button?
https://bit.ly/31m3sf7