America's nuclear arsenal: http://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-weapons/us-nuclear-arsenal [This is shocking to look at and yet at the same time its something the world should see....especially North Korea. No one has the authority to stop the President if he decides to use them] -------------------------------------------------------------- "libido sciendi"..... the passion to know.
What is shocking is your source, an extreme radical leftist organization that use to get its marching orders from the Kremlin during the Vietnam War and today is funded by George Soros. When an organization makes it on "Discover the Networks" you know Joseph Stalin would approve. UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS (UCS) 2 Brattle Square Cambridge, MA 02138-3780 Phone 617) 547-5552 / (800) 666-8276 Email :member@ucsusa.org URL :http://www.ucsusa.org/ Has consistently denounced American military campaigns Opposes U.S. development of missile defense system http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/printgroupProfile.asp?grpid=6631
Plus ignoring the fact that you don't even have to be a "scientist" of any kind whatsoever in order to be a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
As Commander in Chief, the president enjoys complete control over the US nuclear arsenal. No one in Congress, the judicial branch, or even the US military can legally prevent their use once the president’s order is given. That's complete bull-****. For one thing, any military member may refuse to obey an order which is unlawful. While the exact procedures for ordering the use of nuclear weapons is classified, there are sufficient checks to ensure nuclear weapons are properly employed.
At the end of the day a nuclear arsenal is designed to be a deterrent primarily. It sends the message 'if you threaten us, we'll defend our borders and people'. I personally think having a nuclear program is important for defence, even though if there was a launch and other countries launched its 'game over'. There is stringent launch procedures for nuclear weapons, after all there needs to be as they are extremely powerful and damaging - a little misfire isn't a building destroyed but whole cities and counties.
The Secretary of Defense has the other half of the codes, he can refuse to launch. Congress can also immediately stop any order to launch. Protocol dictates that the president will inform key people in the administration and congress before any order is given and even if he and the SOD didn't and decided to launch they would still have to send the order through the JCOS which would then presumably inform congress. I am sure that all of Congress is on speed dial, its not hard to alert them of an intent to launch.
Since the advent of atomic weapons, the number of deaths from wars as a percentage has continued to drop. There have been no world wars and no wars between any major powers.
Yes the chain of command without cause using some weapons can be considered a war crime and a violation of the various conventions and treaties we signed, the military can refuse a launch order using their discretion and would need to account for things later. However any missile attack that could be nuclear or is by detonation on our soil nuclear they would unlikely not follow an order to use suitable amounts of nuclear force on an enemy, based on the threat demonstrated.
The UCSUSA is a whacky leftist tree hugging organization, mostly liberal snowflakes A better source is the anti-war lefty Federation of American Scientist. (FAS) -> https://fas.org/ A very credible source that actually deals with facts.
LOL no they can't. People are picket so that that the launch orders are given. In the case of ICBM solos there are 4 crews who turn keys to launch
Yea, maybe if the county is the size of New York County, San Francisco County, or Arlington County. The era of large multi-megaton nuclear warheads ended decades ago. Since the late 1970s, both the US and USSR moved away from the old 20+ megaton warheads, and instead moved towards much smaller ones in the 400kt range. The last of the "large bombs" the US has is the 1.2mt B83. But in the 1990s those were all put into the "enduring stockpile", where they sit in infinite storage. The blast of such a bomb (400kt) in the Financial District of SF would largely level everything north of Daly City, but would barely touch Oakland, on the other side of the bay. A far cry from the 20mt beasts of the 1970's, which would have largely leveled everything from Richmond to San Mateo. Feel free to consult Nukemap if you think I am inaccurate. https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/ And feel free to play with the yield. Yes, a 20mt bomb would level a huge chunk of LA County. A 400kt one? It would barely do much damage once you leave the downtown area. UCLA and the Coliseum would be the southern edge of the high damage area. Windows will break in Inglewood and Lynwood, but the rest of LA would see little to no damage. Not even beautiful downtown Burbank. One of the biggest thing that fearmongers use is ignorance as to what nukes are, and how they work. I am not trying to downplay what they can do, but they are not miracle weapons that destroy everything in 100 miles and turn cities into glass. Now want to see something that I find frightening? 40+, this is what would have finished me. https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/...451357&hob_psi=5&hob_ft=27809&psi=20,5,1&zm=9 Now the "pin" is actually about 1.5 miles East of where it really would have been, right over the Van Nuys Airport. Moving the impact that far West, would have placed my home and school inside of the fireball. And our only defense was LA-96, a Nike Zeus missile site (located near where the "Woodley Park Archery Range" pin is now). With 6 400kt nuclear missiles intended to shoot down any incoming threats.
