Hey Marco Rubio and Glenn Greenwald, This Is the Real Problem With Milley, Trump, & Nuclear Weapons

[kpete]

by David Corn September 18, 2021


A huge mushroom cloud rises above Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands following an atomic test blast conducted by the US military in 1946. AP

Some of us have worried about Donald Trump and nuclear weapons for years—long before this week’s dustup over the revelation in a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa that Joint Chiefs Chairman Mark Milley, believing Trump had become unhinged after the January 6 riot, took secret action to limit his ability to launch a nuclear strike. I’ve written repeatedly about the frightening prospect of having an erratic, psychologically damaged person, often driven by revenge, possessing the power to destroy the world on his own say-so. In August 2017, I asked in a headline, “Can Anyone Stop Trump From Launching Nuclear Weapons?” The answer: not without a full-scale military mutiny. Milley’s move—he told senior military officials in the Pentagon war room not to accept launch orders from Trump unless he was involved—was no mutiny. It did, though, violate the rules; he is not within the chain of command when it comes to pushing the nuclear button. If Trump—or any other president—decides it’s Armageddon time, that’s it. No questions asked. Ka-boom. Big time. Human civilization could be over. This is the true outrage, not Milley’s defiance of S.O.P.

So technically and legally he exceeded his authority. But what would you have him do? Stand by and watch a madman blow up the world?

The command and control system we have puts him in an impossible position: Follow the rules and see the world destroyed or break the rules and violate his oath of office. It’s the insane procedures we have that are to blame, not Milley. We have to change them.

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Rubio and Greenwald are right that Milley crossed a line and engaged in a power grab. This does lead to an obvious argument: If the US military undermines civilian control regarding this matter, it could do so in many other ways. You know, the slippery slope. Yet there are no other matters quite like the decision to engage in nuclear warfare. It’s a slope all its own. A far greater threat to the nation than a military commander (in the final days of a presidency led by a deranged fellow) implementing against-the-rules safeguards to prevent nuclear war is the ongoing threat of a system in which one man, no matter his state of mind, can annihilate the planet. There is a 25th Amendment procedure to remove an unwell and potentially dangerous president, but it is a cumbersome process that probably could not be invoked quickly during a crisis. That leaves us with what we now can call Milley’s Choice. Until we address the profound underlying problem, the nation—and the entire world—will be at greater risk.


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