8 ms·

Technically, the US President holds the power to end life on Earth should he so desire. To the best of my knowledge, there is no safeguard in place that could p

by Bakary 9y ago

Technically, the US President holds the power to end life on Earth should he so desire. To the best of my knowledge, there is no safeguard in place that could prevent such a course of action if it were attempted. Even Comcast's power seems rather pitiful in comparison.

komali2 9y ago
True, something absolutely needs to be done about that. The only failsafe is a US soldier illegally disobeying orders. Actually, most soldiers that have a key would need to disobey orders, because it wouldn't take too many nukes to end life as we prefer it on earth.
- mattferderer 9y ago
  Hopefully the soldier is like Stanislav Petrov. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov
  - ben_jones 9y ago
    The world should have a national holiday in his honor. Possibly more deserved then any other human in history.
    - techdragon 9y ago
      I'm going to start celebrating these now. Holidays in honour of the two Russian officers who refused to start WW3
    - schoen 9y ago
      A few people have observed it informally: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=stanislav+petrov+day https://duckduckgo.com/?q=stanislav+petrov+day
  - Bakary 9y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov Don't forget about this lad!
nothrabannosir 9y ago
He would have to avoid triggering the 25th: Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President. I.e. he must convince the Vice President et al. that ending all human life on Earth is a good idea.
- seiferteric 9y ago
  There would be no time. He literally has a phone on the desk that he can launch all the nukes in a few minutes notice, and NOBODY can stop him without illegally refusing to follow orders (hope to god they would obviously) but assuming everything works as designed the world would end.
  - briandear 9y ago
    Not exactly true. There is a two man rule to launch. On paper the president has the power, but there are extensive safeguards in place.
    - willstrafach 9y ago
      They are not allowed to override POTUS.
      - komali2 9y ago
        Correction: Overriding POTUS is illegal and has consequences that do not include the planet being nuked. They absolutely have the real authority (ability) to refuse the order, and then the real authority to prevent the nuke from being launched (by eating their key, shooting anybody else that comes into the room, shooting the key/console, etc).
TylerH 9y ago
Military personnel are obligated by US and international law to not comply with such an order. Generals have also gone on record when asked about the potential for such crazy orders, and said they would not follow such a command (like nuking Mecca, etc.)
AndrewKemendo 9y ago
To the best of my knowledge, there is no safeguard in place that could prevent such a course of action if it were attempted I can tell you for certain that there are dozens of safeguards. That scenario not only isn't possible, it's not plausible. Yes the President has the "codes" but those codes don't launch the missiles [1]. The scenario described is one in which there are literally nuclear warheads on a ballistic trajectory headed to the US with a verified source of origin. I think the trope stays around because people, despite what they say publicly, like the idea of an emperor style president with supreme power. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2016-nuclear-weapon-launch/ https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2016-nuclear-wea...
- alexilliamson 9y ago
  I think the article you mention supports the opposing from the one you are defending: that article seems to be saying the ultimately the President can decide to ignore everyone else's judgement and launch anyway. Care to elaborate on the dozens of safeguards? Anything that could actually stop the Donald if he decided he'd had enough? A recent radiolab episode (http://www.radiolab.org/story/nukes/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/nukes/) made a pretty convincing argument that any US president could on a whim destroy the world. It goes into the whole history of why that power was given to a civilian, and not the military.
- avar 9y ago
  Radiolab did an episode recently[1] which disagrees with that Bloomberg article. They interview ex-Secretary of Defense William Perry asking him what controls there are, if any, on a crazy president just willy-nilly deciding to nuke something. He says there's absolutely none, even if the president is in a room full of people who vehemently disagree with him he alone makes the call to launch. 1. http://www.radiolab.org/story/nukes/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/nukes/
  - mr_spothawk 9y ago
    the Gov has a vested interest in other Govs believing that the president's button can do a thing. i'm not sure who to trust... but I did learn the word "Verisimilitude" the other day.

by Bakary 9y ago

komali2 9y ago

True, something absolutely needs to be done about that. The only failsafe is a US soldier illegally disobeying orders. Actually, most soldiers that have a key would need to disobey orders, because it wouldn't take too many nukes to end life as we prefer it on earth.

mattferderer 9y ago
Hopefully the soldier is like Stanislav Petrov. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov
- ben_jones 9y ago
  The world should have a national holiday in his honor. Possibly more deserved then any other human in history.
  - techdragon 9y ago
    I'm going to start celebrating these now. Holidays in honour of the two Russian officers who refused to start WW3
  - schoen 9y ago
    A few people have observed it informally: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=stanislav+petrov+day https://duckduckgo.com/?q=stanislav+petrov+day
- Bakary 9y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasili_Arkhipov Don't forget about this lad!

nothrabannosir 9y ago

He would have to avoid triggering the 25th: Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President. I.e. he must convince the Vice President et al. that ending all human life on Earth is a good idea.

seiferteric 9y ago
There would be no time. He literally has a phone on the desk that he can launch all the nukes in a few minutes notice, and NOBODY can stop him without illegally refusing to follow orders (hope to god they would obviously) but assuming everything works as designed the world would end.
- briandear 9y ago
  Not exactly true. There is a two man rule to launch. On paper the president has the power, but there are extensive safeguards in place.
  - willstrafach 9y ago
    They are not allowed to override POTUS.
    - komali2 9y ago
      Correction: Overriding POTUS is illegal and has consequences that do not include the planet being nuked. They absolutely have the real authority (ability) to refuse the order, and then the real authority to prevent the nuke from being launched (by eating their key, shooting anybody else that comes into the room, shooting the key/console, etc).

TylerH 9y ago

Military personnel are obligated by US and international law to not comply with such an order. Generals have also gone on record when asked about the potential for such crazy orders, and said they would not follow such a command (like nuking Mecca, etc.)

AndrewKemendo 9y ago

To the best of my knowledge, there is no safeguard in place that could prevent such a course of action if it were attempted I can tell you for certain that there are dozens of safeguards. That scenario not only isn't possible, it's not plausible. Yes the President has the "codes" but those codes don't launch the missiles [1]. The scenario described is one in which there are literally nuclear warheads on a ballistic trajectory headed to the US with a verified source of origin. I think the trope stays around because people, despite what they say publicly, like the idea of an emperor style president with supreme power. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2016-nuclear-weapon-launch/ https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/graphics/2016-nuclear-wea...

alexilliamson 9y ago
I think the article you mention supports the opposing from the one you are defending: that article seems to be saying the ultimately the President can decide to ignore everyone else's judgement and launch anyway. Care to elaborate on the dozens of safeguards? Anything that could actually stop the Donald if he decided he'd had enough? A recent radiolab episode (http://www.radiolab.org/story/nukes/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/nukes/) made a pretty convincing argument that any US president could on a whim destroy the world. It goes into the whole history of why that power was given to a civilian, and not the military.
avar 9y ago
Radiolab did an episode recently[1] which disagrees with that Bloomberg article. They interview ex-Secretary of Defense William Perry asking him what controls there are, if any, on a crazy president just willy-nilly deciding to nuke something. He says there's absolutely none, even if the president is in a room full of people who vehemently disagree with him he alone makes the call to launch. 1. http://www.radiolab.org/story/nukes/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/nukes/
- mr_spothawk 9y ago
  the Gov has a vested interest in other Govs believing that the president's button can do a thing. i'm not sure who to trust... but I did learn the word "Verisimilitude" the other day.