Over 30 House Dems Ask Biden to Give Up Sole Control of Nuclear Authority
What happens when a Republican is a president, Democrats?
Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), the son of former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) asked President Joe Biden to share the nuclear codes with those in the presidential order because a single person “should have the ability to start a nuclear war.”
No one person should have the ability to start a nuclear war. We led a letter with @RepJimmyPanetta to @POTUS urging him to modify the decision-making process the U.S. uses in its command and control of nuclear forces. Our letter #ICYMI: pic.twitter.com/acxfu77U85
— Rep. Ted Lieu (@RepTedLieu) February 24, 2021
“However, vesting one person with this authority entails real risks,” wrote Panetta and Lieu. “Past presidents have threatened to attack other countries with nuclear weapons or exhibited behavior that caused other officials to express concern about the president’s judgment.”
Panetta and Lieu noted the last sentence with three instances:
- A tweet from President Donald Trump
- President Richard Nixon’s Secretary of Defense telling military commanders if the president ordered a nuclear launch
- Pelosi asking the Joint Chiefs of Staff about Trump’s nuclear authority during the Capitol Hill riot
They want Biden to give Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, both Democrats, the nuclear codes.
The congressmen have three other proposals:
- The secretary of defense must provide certifications “that the launch is valid and from the attorney general that it is legal.” This could also include agreements “from the chair of the Joint Chiefs of staff and/or the secretary of state.”
- Congress must declare war “and specific authorization from Congress before” anyone conducts a nuclear strike.
- Have “a permanent active council of congressional leaders” to take part in national security talks with the executive branch.” Officials must alert some of those leaders before a nuclear strike.
Let’s look at logistics:
- 30 minutes from land in Russia to U.S. mainland
- Submarine strike takes 10-15 minutes
- 30 Minutes from land in North Korea to U.S. mainland
Do we have time to sit and negotiate? It’s like they think we have the only nuclear bombs or that only America would launch the bombs.
Anyway.
Others might reasonably think that the Democrats have doubts about Biden’s mental health. Some might think this is proof they want Harris in charge.
How about Pelosi? This is the second time in a month she’s tried to get the codes.
Lieu mentioned the first time Pelosi tried to weasel the codes to her hands.
2nd time in a little over a month that Nancy Pelosi has tried to get control of the nuclear codes.
Gen Milley confirmed she called about President Trump’s powers as commander in chief, specifically regarding the process of nuclear command authority.https://t.co/t3OcD9Ffy7
— Truth (@1foreverseeking) February 24, 2021
Pelosi really wants that power. She berated Trump for wanting the military around during the BLM riots. But yet…
Acting DHS Deputy Secretary: Nancy Pelosi Wanted ‘Crew-Manned Machine Guns in Washington – That Was Rejected’https://t.co/KmTM6qDZI5
— Truth (@1foreverseeking) February 24, 2021
Holy hell!
December 3, 2020
Congress had a Congressional Research white paper drawn up discussing the Command and Control of nuclear forces.https://t.co/c0vEWYjDrk pic.twitter.com/IpuHcS2iht
— Truth (@1foreverseeking) February 24, 2021
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said it is unconstitutional. The president is commander-in-chief:
MIKE LEE: “Look, there is one argument or another with regard to whether or to what extent we ought to be involved in foreign conflicts at any moment. One could have one opinion or another about at what point it is appropriate for Congress to declare war rather than have the president order discreet strikes. The fact is the president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
This is why we subject presidents to a very rigorous review process. That is they have to win elections. Once they’ve won an election you really do have to pick that horse and then ride it. You’ve gotta let the president be the commander-in-chief…
This seems really weird to me that they’d take that away – and by the way, who are they going to give that power to? They’re gonna give that to a committee? In addition to being wildly unconstitutional, this would be a horrible policy. Remember what happened when you put a committee in charge of protecting the Capitol? That didn’t end so well either.”
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Another act of treason for their Communnist China paymasters.
Is everyone getting this? Does everyone understand what is happening?
Biden will soon be out, the ‘Ho will be in – until pelosi scandals her out and she becomes president. All this before December 2021.
Agreed that Biden’s days are numbered. Both these ladies have ambitions for his seat. Not sure which will get there – it’s a true cat (actually, dog) fight.
Hunter better make sure daddy pardons him soon and uncle James. Otherwise Hunter and James will will be left to face the music. That also goes for Brennan, Comey, Clapper etc. They all want pardons – yesterday. Biden might make the pardons part of his exit package. “I’ll go quietly if you commit too pardon my son within a month of my departure.”
Of course the pardons will be justified under the pretext of “Unity.” Poor Hunter was victimized, they’ll say, by the Trump crowd. He deserves a pardon. They might throw in a pardon of 1 or 2 republicans to make it seem bi-partisan (it’s not). In DC it’s all about appearances and winning the propaganda war.
Agree with it or no congress trying to assert power over the executive is not treason.
If Biden gets booted out, the Ho will appoint a new VP like Ford did with Rockefeller. Crazy Nancy won’t be any closer to the WH.
Because everyone knows the best way to keep your passcodes secure is to share them with everybody. That’s why my email and banking passwords are painted on the side of my car. What the hell is wrong with Pelosi?
Sounds like she wants the authority to launch nukes. One can only speculate who she wants to launch them at.
She doesn’t want to launch them. She wants to tell Xi how to launch them.
Honestly it’s actually a good move.
It should be obvious to everybody paying the slightest bit of attention that Biden is a dementia-addled idiot who is incapable of making any actual decisions.
And that is precisely what might actually lead to nuclear war.
Mutually Assured Destruction ONLY WORKS if everybody is ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN that any attempt to use nukes would result in their total destruction.
Having a dementia addled moron in charge of our nuclear response invites tyrants to consider that maybe they can get away with it. Russia or China or any country with nukes look at Biden and think that they might be able to get away with a first strike without a response being authorized.
There can be NO UNCERTAINTY for MAD to work.
If he is incapable, remove him with the 25th Amendment.
Frankenstein’s org chart is no way to run a war.
You said it right!
Your point is well-taken, and I fully agree with your basic position; however, I’m pretty sure the so-called football’s execution “passcode” doesn’t operate this way.
rhvette: Because everyone knows the best way to keep your passcodes secure is to share them with everybody.
That’s not what is being proposed.
Where did you park your car?
Article II, SECTION 2. Clause 1. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Office, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
No mention of Vice-President or Speaker of the House
The Article and Section shown might not preclude a delegable, inferior authority, such as the creation of such a governmental committee for whose operational authority the congressional writers and their supporters evidently argue.
If so, this line of thinking arguably derives from Congress’ long-practiced abuse of its sole authority to author and pass bills in the making of statutory detail (where the devil dances) and implementation via promulgation of rule by delegating such sole authority to the unelected, entrenched, and unaccountable (in some quarters, the deep state) bureaucracy of the federal executive agencies.
The president is the Commander-in-Chief and this declaration appears in Article II, just as Congress makes the laws, as declared in Article I. So what? I believe these Members of Congress are suggesting in their present orgy of marginalizing or even dismissing all things constitutional.
If such Members — to wit especially, the House’s Speaker herself — can stretch and distort the express intent of the Founders, why, then, can’t the president, the constitution’s very language notwithstanding? this perverse posture runs.
I believe this is the writers’ and supporters’ theoretical (neo-Marxist) and practical basis to advance their currently outstanding, crazy idea.
Is my point wrong, illogical, or otherwise implausible?
Neo: No mention of Vice-President or Speaker of the House
However, funding for the military comes from Congress, and Congress can insist on an off-switch on any nuclear weapons they fund.
Unchecked power is dangerous and anathema to republican principles.
“That is why they have to win elections”
Not any more.
yeah… they made it perfectly clear that there will never be another honest election in the US, at least where anything important is being voted on.
all we have left is the cartridge box: the first three boxes have either failed.or been corrupted.
Nancy wants to drop a tactical nuke on Mar-a-Lago. (only half joking)
Pelosi wants to share them with Rep. Swalwell. Why not? He’s on the intel committee. What could go wrong?
Wow! Talk about “not my president” who do the democrats think is their president now?
My pool pick of July 1,2021 is coming quickly that Sundowner will be swept aside.
Maybe at least President in name only.
SUBJ: TRANSCRIPT – TRAINING FOR NUCLEAR RELEASE PROCEEDURES – WHITE HOUSE
LTC RIPPER: Mr. President, do you understand these procedures?
BIDEN: uhm, OK, I… I… where did I? I was… yeah, I think it was… No, no… I’m sure… No, no, not… C’mon man! The thing! The thing!
HARRIS: LTC Ripper, why don’t you just give me those launch codes.
LTC RIPPER: Mam, I can only do that if the president is incapacitated.
HARRIS: Oh, C’mon. Look at him!
BIDEN: What’s… uh, what’s this… is it raining? I think it’s raining. I don’t…
LTC RIPPER: Mam, I just can’t hand them over to you. There’s a constitutional process.
PELOSI: Oh, Hell! I don’t blame you for not wanting to give the launch codes to her. Give them to me!
LTC RIPPER: Mam? I just can’t do that either.
PELOSI: I’m first in line for succession.
LTC RIPPER: No mam, your second in line. We have the president, then the vice president, then you.
PELOSI: Good grief, look at the man! Can you honestly not say I’m not first in line.
LTC RIPPER: Sir, could you please inform your vice president and the speaker of the house that you are president and they do not have authority to possess the nuclear launch codes.
BIDEN: Dang… It was, I know it was over here. Not sure now, maybe… Ooh! That’s… that’s bright. What was I… what was I, um.
HARRIS: LTC, give me those launch codes right damn now!
PELOSI: You give those launch codes to her and I’ll beat you to a pulp! You give them to me! Understand, sonny!
LTC RIPPER: (On cell phone) National Command Center, this is LTC Ripper at the White House. I need SECDEF. We have a situation here.
PELOSI: Gimmie that phone!
HARRIS: Oh no you don’t!
Sounds of wrestling
END OF TRANSCRIPT
POTUS:
attempted usurpation of executive office powers to both parts of congress. speaker and vp represent both entities.
“No one person should have the ability to start a nuclear war.”
But having that person essentially usurp the function of 535 legislators by writing tons of EOs that ought to be representatively-approved laws… that’s perfectly fine.
Suppose (theoretically) the GOP gains control of the House in 2022 (thanks to voting fraud they won’t, but let’s pretend for a moment). Does this mean the Republican speaker gets access to the codes? With a COMMUNIST as CinC?
Due to Biden’s current mental health, I strongly suspect they already have the passcodes. This maneuver is just to cover their ass.
I offer a reminder that Representative Eric Swalwell [D-of course] has suggested using the nation’s nuclear deterrent against Americans who do not allow their firearms to be confiscated. TWANLOC.
Subotai Bahadur
For 75 years, this hasn’t been a problem. Now it is a problem. What has changed? Are these people so compromised by our adversaries that they are willing to give them assurance that we’d never push the button?
You nailed it.
p1cunnin: For 75 years, this hasn’t been a problem.
Unchecked power is always dangerous.
That is why the 25th Amendment. THAT is the check on the President’s power.
Antifundamentalist: THAT is the check on the President’s power.
The president’s power is immediate, and the 25th Amendment could only be used after a president took precipitous action.
Mary Chastain: They want Biden to give Vice President Kamala Harris and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, both Democrats, the nuclear codes.
The proposed legislation restricts the power of the president to use nuclear weapons in a first strike absent a Congressional declaration of war. Nor is this new legislation: it was previously introduced in 2017.
There is also a recommendation that the president implement additional safeguards to include other officers of the United States in the decision-making process to provide a check against unrestricted use of nuclear weapons. This does not give the power to others to launch nuclear weapons.
https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/01/19/2021/senator-markey-and-rep-lieu-announce-reintroduction-of-bill-to-limit-us-presidents-ability-to-start-a-nuclear-war
“Nor is this new legislation: it was previously introduced in 2017”. Key point… if there were no concerns for Biden but only for Trump, then the legislation would have been shelved. Handcuffing the Democrat President by Democrats is very significant. There is a chain of command about launch codes already.. in depth. It worked well even … gasp… with Reagan!
alaskabob: Key point… if there were no concerns for Biden but only for Trump, then the legislation would have been shelved.
The concern is unchecked power in a single person. The bill was also introduced in September 2016, and would apply to all future presidents. As it is, the president can launch a nuclear attack without provocation.
Who were the original bill’s sponsors? Again….through the entire nuclear age this has never been a problem, particularly during very tense times. Why now? Since we are “at peace” with China and Russia has no desire to war? Everything in context.
Biden signed an EO to prohibit fed officials from using Chinese or Wuhan to describe flu since Chinese Americans are increasingly attacked. Well yes…. by Blacks in urban areas…not “whites” and as a bonus shields the CCP. Context.
I appreciate checks and balances.. which are far and few these days… and safeguards are needed… but this bill is giving cover to Biden’s severe mental issues. The election was the biggest total scam ever and now the Dems are trying to seal the leaks before something really bad happens… like Syria on steroids where Comma-La wasn’t in the loop.
alaskabob: Who were the original bill’s sponsors?
Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D- CA33).
alaskabob: I appreciate checks and balances.. which are far and few these days… and safeguards are needed… but this bill is giving cover to Biden’s severe mental issues.
The bill was originally proposed in 2016, a point you ignored. It has also been a subject of some discussion since the inception of the nuclear age. Unchecked power is dangerous, and unchecked power to start a nuclear war is anathema to republican principles.
Actually the letter should be addressed to Dr. Jill. She’s the one who wears the pants in the family ever since Joe’s mind went downhill. She probably keeps the codes in her purse. Joe doesn’t even know where he’s going until she puts her arm behind his back to guide him and nudge him along. And Secret Service? He has no need of that since she guards him like a hawk.
The ‘What’ to this argument is understandably stupid, but let’s look at the ‘Why’ for a moment.
There are three nuclear release possibilities in the near-term: North Korea, Iran, and China.
-North Korea is least probable. If they attempt to launch an attack on South Korea with their disaster of an army and questionable missiles, it’s going to be a giant CF. Far better to peacefully starve their peasants and rake in foreign aid.
-Iran has made no secret about their plans on what to do when they get their first nuclear bomb. Israel has made no real secret about what will happen if they do.
-China: Here’s the real hot spot. If China attempts to invade Taiwan, there’s a fair chance they’ll use their nukes as blackmail to keep the US out of the attack, or possibly actually *use* a few of them to keep the Navy back.
If Biden waffles on any of these, that actually *increases* the chance that China will attack. Spreading out the nuke codes so it takes multiple branches of government in order to launch a counter-attack is a giant waffle, and the Dems are clueless about how dangerous that can be. The solution is fairly simple: An attack on one of our allies is to be treated as an attack on us.
So, who is it that Pelosi wants to nuke?
I think she nuked Joe Biden’s state of the union speech. It was an act of mercy really. Joe’s not ready and Kamella hasn’t been sworn in yet.
Would it be Hillary. or the other way around? I bet that Hillary is grinding her teeth away at the prospect of Kamala or Pelosi getting to be president.
I think that Hillary being forced to sit on the sidelines and watch other women gain the power that she wanted is poetic justice. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.
https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/1325118585434468353
Did this happen to anyone else? As I read Senator Mike Lee’s statement I could feel my brain cells dying in agony. The GOP really does deserve the label of “the Stupid Party”.
I have said it before, but it is worth repeating: the Franz von Papen Republicans like Lee really don’t have a clue how totalitarian dictatorships work. Of course Pelosi and the Congressional Communists will fight the Biden* administration for control of the military! Direct no-holds-barred accountable-to-no-one control of the military is how you keep power when the economy inevitably falls apart and the racist proles get uppity with their unreasonable demands (like wanting enough food to eat, the bigots!). Did Lee snooze through the classroom lectures that covered what happened in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union?
I generally agree with and admire your perspective, RL.
I’ve copied Sen Lee’s above-quoted comment for your particular objection, if you don’t mind the supplemental and exact work. Where is he so expressly off the historical grid? as you claim. His focus is substantially processive.
“Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said it is unconstitutional. The president is commander-in-chief:
“MIKE LEE: ‘Look, there is one argument or another with regard to whether or to what extent we ought to be involved in foreign conflicts at any moment. One could have one opinion or another about at what point it is appropriate for Congress to declare war rather than have the president order discreet [sic] strikes. The fact is the president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
‘This is why we subject presidents to a very rigorous review process. That is they have to win elections. Once they’ve won an election you really do have to pick that horse and then ride it. You’ve gotta let the president be the commander-in-chief…
‘This seems really weird to me that they’d take that away – and by the way, who are they going to give that power to? They’re gonna give that to a committee? In addition to being wildly unconstitutional, this would be a horrible policy. Remember what happened when you put a committee in charge of protecting the Capitol? That didn’t end so well either.’”
Still, Luth — and, your recovery status notwithstanding, if you’ll indulge me a moment, I’m fond of Martin Luther’s famous, here roughly recalled (and I think relevant) quip, remarking passionately once to his Rome-forbidden, runaway ex-nun and wife Katie at the kitchen table: Cutting a twig deserves the soft and quiet use of a fruit knife, he discerns, but an old and tall oak needs the severe and ruthless, loud work and chop of an axe! the first Protestant clergyman said — I get and like your point, as usual, and have a fair amount of angst myself about the von Papen propriety/phenomenon/delusion analogy, in relation to the Nazi (SS) thieves and murderers who, among other infamous, ruthless, and criminally violent acts, committed during the Night of the Long Knives, politically abandoned and forced out this relatively fair-minded Old Prussian statesman and Vice-Chancellor of the still-civilized Weimar Republic, compared to the soon-to-be coup-leading, Third-Reich installing Nazis.
The real and ultimate question is, I guess, are we really ready to throw out the baby with the bath water? Is Sen Lee’s point, then, merely akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the now-struck and steadily sinking Titanic?
Hence, is this really and actually Crunch Time? are we past our last Weimar moment? and so, was the January 6th “insurrection” our Reichstag fire?
GatorGuy: Remember what happened when you put a committee in charge of protecting the Capitol?
Said Hitler.
Said every opponent of representative government ever.
the clock is ticking for nancy–she’s 80?–she’s got to hurry if she wants to be “crowned” president–slojo and the ‘ho are not really significant obstacles to her lust for power but she can’t stop the clock
Corrupt elections have consequences
Figures it’s Leon’s kid. Gotta carry that water after all. I like Joe China and the Codes scaring the heck out of friend and foe alike. They all better be on their best behavior all the time and even then the bribes they paid to Hunter may not be enough………
Meh. With Biden in office the code is probably “password”.
So at least it’s safe from Podesta.
The idea that POTUS, on his own, could launch a nuclear strike is false. At best POTUS can order a strike with the orders being transmitted by military commanders. The same military commanders will be aware of any active threat and would be dubious of a launch order absent any known threat.
IMHO this idea is being vetted now because the Establishment wants to tie the hands of President Trump after he is elected in 2024.
ay the name: Ashli Babbitt!
Sounds (cynically) right.
Bucky Barkingham: The same military commanders will be aware of any active threat and would be dubious of a launch order absent any known threat.
That’s right, but it could require someone breaking the law and refusing to carry out their orders. The new bill would require legal authority, so those in the line of command would have legal recourse.
What a vote of confidence for Dementia Joe. (sarc)
For the congressional authors and supporters of the Feb 22 letter to the president, this is how a nuclear attack on the United States — in progress — and our necessary retaliation ONCE WAR HAS BEEN BEGUN BY OUR ATTACKING ENEMY is reimagined — delusionally, unworkably, and, in effect, suicidally.
It’s well past time to take note that allowing: the murder of millions of human beings in the womb; the chronic and abusive use of pychoactive drugs; and the promotion and practice of a slave trade and pedophilia — all and more, too numerous to mention, has a serious effect on its practitioners’ global cognition and function. The writers belong no where near the levers of such destructive, defensive power.
This is what a politically abusive and socially criminal path, undertaken by the above toward a psychopathy by committee, looks like.
Our Founders were more sober and sane than the present authors’ thinking and action have us all realize about themselves than to propose and ratify such a political structure as to lead effectively to the MAD-deleting defense policy these individual idiots wants to communize as a useless committee of craven and asinine, appeasing know-betters.
The Constitution stands. No such unlawful military command-and-control committee will be permitted to operate in our government, or what remains of it. Article I remains unimpeached, unaltered and in place.
Writers, you bought him, Biden, so you own him. Sen Lee is perfectly correct. So, live with it, don’t die and kill the rest of us because you cheated your way into this mess. Grow a pair, and up to it.
Lead, if you can; govern, if you’re capable. Act responsibly to earn your already inflated, excessively compensatory paychecks.
We are The People, your political lord, and we have spoken.
“No one person should have the ability to start a nuclear war.”
What?
We’re safer if more than one person can start a nuclear war?
What if someone other than the president has the codes and wants to take over? Couldn’t they use their control over the codes as a threat to seize power? (Threatening also to use the codes if any attempt to alter them or cut his ability to communicate is detected.)
I see that this is not the case. But still, the government has a propensity to intentionally create slippery slopes so that it can slide on them later. I see this as an opening to eventually transfer launch authority to others in the name of “enhanced redundancy” and “increased security.”
There are reasons why launch authority is invested in a single person, largely because that individual is solely responsible for making the decision to launch no matter how he or she is advised. If you don’t trust that person with said authority, don’t vote for him or her.
DaveGinOly: We’re safer if more than one person can start a nuclear war?
People are safer if it takes more than one person to start a nuclear war.
DaveGinOly: What if someone other than the president has the codes and wants to take over?
That’s not what is being proposed.