Step 1: Keep Trump Away From The Nuclear Red Button; Step 2:

[Oscar]

Step 1: Keep Trump Away From The Nuclear Red Button; Step 2: Eliminate The Button

[ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jessica-s ... 79240.html ]

November 4, 2016 Jessica Sleight  Research and Policy Associate, Global Zero Action

Donald Trump’s comments about nuclear weapons create unease in the majority of Americans [ https://today.yougov.com/news/2016/08/1 ... r-weapons/ ]. He suggested Japan and South Korea should develop nuclear weapons, disregarding decades of bipartisan work to stop nuclear proliferation. He questioned why we make nukes if we can’t use them. He refused to rule out a nuclear weapon strike against Europe.

But perhaps even more frightening than Trump’s rhetoric is that our nuclear system is designed to give a President Trump launch authority over thousands of nuclear weapons. As Hillary Clinton explained in the last debate [ https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... 4d1c4bf77f ], “when the president gives the order [to launch nuclear weapons], it must be followed. There is about four minutes between the order being given and the people responsible for launching nuclear weapons to do so.” Four minutes is an absurdly short amount of time for one person to jumpstart the end of human civilization. Once those weapons are fired, they cannot be recalled.

If there’s a silver lining to Trump’s candidacy, is that he’s drawn unprecedented public attention to how easy it is for the president to launch nuclear weapons. As we head to the polls next week, voters should keep that top of mind. We must keep the quick-tempered, easily baited, and ill-informed bully that is Donald Trump away from the nuclear red button. That is our first and most urgent hurdle.

Our second (and long-haul) hurdle: eliminate the button itself. The risk of nuclear weapon use is higher today than it was during the Cold War, according to former Secretary of Defense William Perry [ http://rbth.com/international/2016/07/1 ... war_610547 ]. The ease with which a president can press the proverbial red button and unleash nuclear devastation is unnecessary and undemocratic. No individual should ever have that power. We need our next president to take steps to drastically reduce the risk of nuclear use and eliminate the red button altogether.

MORE:

[ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jessica-s ... 79240.html ]