A group of House Democrats is calling on President Joe Biden to give up the president’s sole authority over launching nuclear weapons. “Vesting one person with this authority entails real risks,” reads the letter from Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif. “Past presidents have threatened to attack other countries with nuclear weapons or exhibited behavior that caused other officials to express concern about the president’s judgment.” The letter was first reported on by Politico, which put it behind a firewall, but Fox News reported that Panetta said in a Monday tweet that he is “calling on” Biden “to install checks [and] balances in our nuclear command-and-control structure.”
The letter continues: “While any president would presumably consult with advisors before ordering a nuclear attack, there is no requirement to do so. The military is obligated to carry out the order if they assess it is legal under the laws of war. Under the current posture of U.S. nuclear forces, that attack would happen in minutes.” Democrats offered some alternatives to sole nuclear authority, such as requiring the vice president and House speaker to agree with a launch order from the president before it is executed, according to Politico.
Not mentioned is that this proposal is a clear violation of the Constitution, which makes the president the sole commander in chief. Not only is the vice president not part of the chain of command but insinuating the Speaker of the House into the command-and-control system would clearly violate the Constitutional separation of powers.
