Is It Too Easy To Launch Nukes?

Should a President of the United States be able to launch a nuclear weapon instantly without any sign off from anyone else? David Sirota, from TYT Politics, breaks it down. Let us know if you think President's need more oversight before launching nukes.

Learn more about Garret Graff here

"In the waning days of Richard Nixon’s administration, when he had sunken into depression and heavy drinking, his secretary of defense told Pentagon officials to check with him before executing any nuclear launch order from the distraught president.

Four decades later, the story suggesting a check on nuclear strikes may seem like comfort for those worried that President Trump may impulsively decide to back up an angry tweet with an atomic warhead. However, in a new podcast, the author of a new book on the nuclear launch system tells International Business Times that there is nothing preventing Trump from suddenly initiating an attack for any reason and that the current missile system was deliberately designed to begin launching a nuclear weapon instantly after a president issues an order.

“The goal of the entire system is that from the moment a president gives the launch order, four minutes later the first U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles leave their silos,” Garrett Graff, author of “Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself -- While the Rest of Us Die,” told IBT. “This Nixon story stands out because it is the only time in the history of the United States and nuclear weapons where a president has had any limitation to their nuclear launch authority.”

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