I’ve got big news.
Tomorrow, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a public hearing on the President’s limitless authority to use nuclear weapons. It’s the first time the Senate has examined the nuclear launch process in more than 40 years, and shows just how deeply we’ve impacted the national debate.
As public concerns take on the weight of an official Senate inquiry, we have an opportunity to jumpstart a real process that reins in the president’s powers, reforms the U.S. nuclear system, and lowers the likelihood of nuclear war. The tide is turning in our favor — but we need your help.
Tomorrow’s hearing will be a big wake-up call for many U.S. Senators. They’re about to be confronted with a terrifying truth: There are no legal, political or operational restraints on Donald Trump’s power to launch a nuclear attack. Nothing to prevent him from unleashing hell on earth based on misinformation or poor judgment — or in a fit of pique. No need even for him to explain or provide rationale.
Like presidents before him, all Trump has to do is open the nuclear briefcase and pick up the phone. After giving the launch command, the system will pause just long enough to confirm his identity. That’s the only check in the process and it takes seconds to clear. From there, the order speeds unquestioned down the chain of command. In as little as 5 minutes, nuclear missiles will fire from their underground silos and submarines, hurtling across the planet at roughly 22 times the speed of sound. There is no way to call them back. They will reach their target cities in 30 minutes or less.
During the height of the 2016 election, we put the spotlight on the unjust, undemocratic authority that every American president has to launch nuclear weapons. Our work to expose this autocratic doomsday machine cracked open a sustained national conversation — and thrust this long-ignored issue into the top-tier concerns of the American public.
This issue cuts across partisan divides. Scores of political leaders and experts — and a vast majority of Americans — question whether the president can be trusted with civilization-ending weaponry.
Months of work to bring to light the inherent dangers of a nuclear system geared for first-strike and rapid-launch — with absolute power vested in the president — has led to this moment. This could be the beginning of the end of the nuclear status quo.
With conviction and resolve,
Derek Johnson
Executive Director, Global Zero
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