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1 1 (September 30, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govegrn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Updated September 30,2021 Defense Primer: Command and Control of Nuclear Forces The U.S. President has sole authority to authorize the useof U.S. nuclear weapons. This authority is inherentin his cons titutionalrole as Commander in Chief. The President can seek counsel fromhis military advisors; those advisors are then required to transmit and implement the orders authorizing nuclear use. But, as General John Hyten, then the Commander of U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), noted, his job is to give advice, while the authority to order a launch lies with the President. General Milley, the current Commander of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), made a similar point in a memo he provided to Congress in September 2021. He noted thathe is a part ofthe chain of communication, in his role as the President's primary military advisor, buthe is not in the chain of command for authorizing a nuclear launch. He also noted that, if the President ordered a launch, the CJCS would participate in a decisionconference to authenticate the presidential orders and to ensure that the President was fully informed about the implications ofthe launch. The President, however, does not need the concurrence of either his military advisors or the U.S. Congress to order the launch of nuclear weapons. In addition, neither the military nor Congress can overrule these orders. As former STRATCOM Commander General Robert Kehler has noted, members of the military are boundby the Uniform Code of Military Justice to follow orders provided they are legaland have come from competent authority. But questions about the legality of the order-whether it is consistentwith the requirements, underthelaws of armed conflict (LOAC), for necessity, proportionality, and distinction-are more likely to lead to consultations and changes in the President's order thanto a refusalby the military to execute the order. The N uear Cormmand and Control Systerm (N CCS) According to DOD's Nuclear Matters Handbook, the elements of the nuclear command and control s ystem (NCCS) supportthe President through his military commanders, in exercising presidential authority over U.S. nuclearweapons operations. The systemrelies on a collection of activities, processes, and procedures performed by appropriate military commanders and support personnel that, through the chain of command, allow for senior-level decisions onnuclear weapons employment. Specifically, the NCCS provides the President with the means to authorize the use of nuclear weapons in a crisis and to prevent unauthorized or accidentaluse. The NCCS collects information on threats to the United States, communicates that information to the President advises the President on response options, communicates the President's chosenresponse to the forces in the field, and controls the targeting and application of those forces. Radars, satellites, andprocessing systems provide unambiguous, reliable, accurate, timely, surviv able, and enduring warning about attacks on the United States, its allies, and its forces overseas. If this systemidentifies an attackor an anomalous event, the President would participatein an emergency communications conference with the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other military advisors. They would offer the President details and an as sessment of the possible incoming attack, while the STRATCOM commander would explain the President's options for aretaliatory attack. The President would then evaluate andrespond tothis information anddecide whether to authorize the use ofU.S. nuclear weapons. He would communicate his choices andprovide this authorization through a communications deviceknown as the nuclear football-a suitcase carried by a military aid who is always near the President. The s uitcase is equipped with communication tools and a book with prepared war plans for certain targets. The President could choose from these prepared plans or, time permitting, ask STRATCOM to prepare an alternative. If the President did choose to respondwith a nuclear attack, he would identify hims elf to military officials at the Pentagon with codes unique to him. These codes are recorded on an ID card, known as the biscuit, that the President carries at all times. He would then transmit the launch order to the Pentagon and STRATCOM. The Secretary of Defense would possibly contribute to the process by confirming that the order came from the President, but this role could also be filled by an officer in the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon. STRATCOM would implement the order by preparing to launch the weapons needed for the selected option. According to Bruce Blair, an expert on U.S. command and control, once the order is transmitted to the war room, they would execute it in a minute or so. If an immediate response was selected, the (land-based) Minuteman missiles will fire in two minutes. The submarines will fire in 15 minutes. Blair also noted that there is no way to reverse the order. Options for Nudear Use As GeneralMichaelHayden, theformerdirectorofthe CIA noted, the systemis designed for speed and decisiveness. It's not designedto debate the decision. Long-range missiles attacking the United States fromRus s ian territory could reach U.S. territory in around 30minutes ; sea-based systems deployed closerto U.S. shores might arrive in half that time. If the United States wanted to retaliate before U.S. weapons, or, more importantly, the U.S. command and control system, were degraded by an attack, thenthe entire

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