For 80 years, the president of the United States has remained the sole authority who can order the use of American nuclear weapons. If the commander in chief wishes to launch a sudden, unprovoked strike, or escalate a conventional conflict, or retaliate against a single nuclear aggression with all-out nuclear war, the choice is his and his alone. The order cannot be countermanded by anyone in the government or the military. His power is so absolute that nuclear arms for decades have been referred to in the defense community as “the president’s weapon.”
Nearly every president has had moments of personal instability and perhaps impaired judgment, however brief. Dwight Eisenhower was hospitalized for a heart attack, which triggered a national debate over his fitness for office and reelection. John F. Kennedy was secretly taking powerful drugs for Addison’s disease, whose symptoms can include extreme fatigue and erratic moods. Ronald Reagan and Joe Biden, in their later years, wrestled with the debilitations of advanced age. And at this very moment, a small plastic card of top-secret codes—the president’s personal key to America’s nuclear arsenal—is resting in one of President Donald Trump’s pockets as he fixates on shows of dominance, fumes about enemies (real and perceived), and allows misinformation to sway his decision making—all while regional wars simmer around the world.
For nearly 30 years after the Cold War, fears of nuclear war seemed to recede. Then relations with Russia froze over and Trump entered politics. Voters handed him the nuclear codes—not once, but twice—even though he has spoken about unleashing “fire and fury” against another nuclear power, and reportedly called for a nearly tenfold increase in the American arsenal after previously asking an adviser why the United States had nuclear weapons if it couldn’t use them. The Russians have repeatedly made noise about going nuclear in their war against Ukraine, on the border of four NATO allies. India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers, renewed violent skirmishes over Kashmir in May. North Korea plans to improve and expand its nuclear forces, which would threaten U.S. cities and further agitate South Korea, where some leaders are debating whether to develop the bomb for themselves. And in June, Israel and the United States launched attacks against Iran after Israel announced its determination to end—once and for all—Iran’s nascent nuclear threat to its existence.
If any of these conflicts erupts, the nuclear option rests on command and control, which hinges on the authority—and humanity—of the president. This has been the system since the end of World War II. Does it still make sense today?