Vice President of the Joint Chiefs John E. Hyten of Staff. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — The top officer at US Strategic Command says an order from President Donald Trump or any of his successors to launch nuclear weapons can be refused if that order is determined to be illegal.
Air Force Gen. John Hyten, commander of Strategic Command, told a panel at the Halifax International Security Forum on Saturday that he and Trump have had conversations about such a scenario and that he would tell Trump he couldn’t carry out an illegal strike.
In the event that Trump decided to launch a nuclear attack, Hyten would provide him with strike options that are legal. The command would control nuclear forces in a war.
The comments come as the threat of nuclear attack from North Korea remains a serious concern and Trump’s critics question his temperament.
People watch a television at a railway station in Seoul showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un delivering a statement in Pyongyang, September 22, 2017. (AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-Je)
Trump has urged to adopt a united front against the threat posed by isolated North Korea, which has sparked global alarm with its nuclear and missile tests in recent months.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
Last week he warned world leaders gathered in the Vietnamese resort city of Danang that the Asia-Pacific region “must not be held hostage to a dictator’s twisted fantasies.”
Accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence, Donald Trump, left, leaves the Capitol after he attended a House Republican Conference meeting November 16, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP)
Pyongyang issued a retort branding Trump’s Asia tour a “warmonger’s visit for confrontation to rid the DPRK of its self-defensive nuclear deterrence,” in the first comments on the trip by a North Korean official.
It said Trump’s warnings “can never frighten us or put a stop to our advance,” according to the foreign ministry spokesman.
Advertisement
Tensions over the North’s weapons program have surged in recent months, as Pyongyang carried out a sixth nuclear test — by far its largest to date — and test-fired dozens of missiles, some capable of reaching the US mainland.
Times of Israel staff have contributed to this report.
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this,please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
