When the U.S. president travels, his escort carries a mysterious black briefcase for him to authorize a nuclear attack by U.S. forces in case of emergency. But 31 Democratic federal lawmakers have publicly called on incumbent President Biden to relinquish his exclusive authority to launch nuclear weapons and have proposed changes in the command and control of U.S. nuclear forces.
Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-California, said in a joint letter that concentrating nuclear power in one person poses real risks, according to Forsyth News. He noted that past presidents have used nuclear weapons as a threat to attack other countries, causing officials to worry about the president’s judgment.
The open letter also proposes that more officials, including the vice president and the speaker of the House of Representatives, need to agree to a nuclear weapon before it can be launched.
The “presidential emergency briefcase,” nicknamed “Nuclear Football,” contains four items for the president, including a black book listing military options in the event of an attack on the United States, a card about 161 square centimeter card with an authorization code for the president to identify himself, a list of bunkers where the president could hide, and a guide to the emergency broadcast system.
The power of the U.S. president to dictate nuclear weapons dates back to the end of World War II. After the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan sparked fears of nuclear weapons, then-President Harry Truman decided that the military should not be given the power to order the use of nuclear weapons and that the president alone should have that power.
When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un declared in his New Year’s speech in 2018 that “the nuclear button is on my desk,” President Trump immediately tweeted back, “My button is bigger and more powerful, and my button works!”
However, according to Peter Feaver, a professor of public policy and political science at Duke University, pointed out in a congressional hearing in 2017 that the U.S. president does not press a button to shoot a nuclear bomb, but can only authorize the military to launch a missile in accordance with procedures, “the entire system is not controlled by a button, the president will not accidentally press the button on the table to shoot a missile, things It’s not what many people think it is”.
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