End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity” ~llaw
Jan 17, 2025
LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS TODAY with THE RISKS & CONSEQUENCES OF TOMORROW
Once again, the “Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists” gets the major article relative to the issues of Donald J. Trump and “All Things Nuclear” with his nerve=wracking ascension to the presidency of the United States of America. The article was listed in 3 of the nuclear categories in my TODAY’s NUCLEAR WORLD’s NEWS, posted below, and rightly so for good reason.
The concerns about Trump’s mental stability and his previous braggadocio attitude toward being a “1st Strike” nuclear war advocate in his former presidency set off many alarms in many places around the globe, including here at home. The alarms are far greater today, and will be even further greater come Monday, January 20th.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Lisbeth Gronlund has put together 3 of the 5 memo options in this editorial which is written as a ‘package of memos’ to the new incoming president. There is a link to all 5 at the beginning of the article. What this message to Trump tells us — and hopefully him — is how concerned and disturbed many of us are about the very idea of nuclear war. The hope is that Trump will react to the recommendations in the memo package in good faith rather than become defensive and childishly angry for the unwanted but necessary advice, which comes from the very publication that Albert Einstein and others — including several in the Manhattan Project team that created the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, to end World War II.
May Trump humble himself and accept this memo package of hope in good faith. ~llaw (Note: I am releasing today’s “LLAW’s All Things Nuclear” post #855 a couple of hours earlier than usual today, hoping that it finds a few additional readers.)
Memo to Trump: Modify the US policy of sole authority to launch nuclear weapons
By Lisbeth Gronlund | January 17, 2025
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Editor’s note: This is part of a package of memos to the president. To download a free PDF of this memo, click here.
Mr. President, as you know, as president, you must approve any use of nuclear weapons—whether first or in retaliation. This would be a momentous decision for any one person to make. While any use would be devastating, the future of the world would hang in the balance because it might lead to an all-out nuclear war, immediately killing hundreds of millions of people, many of these Americans. Many more deaths—in the United States and globally—would occur within a year from a lack of medical services for the injured and radioactive fallout. The Earth’s temperature would change and severely lower agricultural production, resulting in widespread starvation. Such a war would leave the United States and other countries barely functional, with destroyed infrastructures and defunct societies.
The United States should adopt a better approach that avoids placing this responsibility on one person, take advantage of the wisdom and perspective of other officials, and reduce the risk of nuclear war. The global community would welcome a US policy that does not rely on just one person to decide to use nuclear weapons.
Ordering the Pentagon to adopt a modified policy that incorporates the input of a few other officials would bolster your international credibility as a real leader who made tough decisions to reduce the risk of nuclear war. Moreover, once the new Trump policy is in place, it would be difficult for future presidents to return to the old, more dangerous approach. You would be remembered for significantly reducing the risk of inadvertent nuclear use, and you would set a new standard for all future administrations.
Background
If the Pentagon detected an incoming Russian nuclear attack aimed at US missile silos, it would consider launching these missiles before Russian missiles could destroy them. And it would need your approval to do so. Because the Russian missiles would land quickly following their detection, you would have about 10 minutes for the Pentagon to brief you and lay out a small number of launch plans for your decision and approval. You could also decide to not launch any missiles. Any modified policy to involve other people in the decision-making process would need to function under such severe time constraints.
If instead the first use of nuclear weapons was proposed, there would be much more time to consider various nuclear options as well as conventional ones. Any options laid out by the Pentagon would have been pre-determined to respect the laws of war. Pentagon lawyers would examine any options you might propose, to determine whether they would be legal; if they are not, the military is obligated to not carry out your order.
To ensure presidential continuity if you—and others in the line of succession—were to die or become incapacitated, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) continuously tracks the location of all the officials in the line of succession and maintains the ability to communicate with them securely in real-time. Vice President JD Vance will have his own nuclear football and a code that the Pentagon would only activate should he become the president.
The Pentagon could use the FEMA tracking system to communicate quickly and simultaneously with you and a small number of other people, allowing them to also take part in the Pentagon briefing following warning of an incoming attack on the missile silos.
Options
— Option 1: This option could be used for either a first or retaliatory strike. Any nuclear attack plan would require a presidential order and agreement by the next two people in the presidential chain of succession. Under normal circumstances, these would be the vice president and Speaker of the House. You alone would have the authority to order a specific attack, but either of the other two could veto your order. If for some reason the other people could not be reached, the procedure could default to the current one.
— Option 2: This is a modification of option 1. Any two people could be tracked by FEMA and required to agree to a presidential order for a nuclear attack. Options include the Secretary of State, who would know how other countries would likely react politically, and the Defense Secretary, who would have information about how the attacked country as well as other countries would likely respond militarily. These two people are in the presidential chain of succession, but not near the top.
Video: How many people were killed by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
— Option 3: This option would apply only to the first use of nuclear weapons but could be augmented with either of the options outlined above for a retaliatory strike. Because such an attack would be the beginning of a war and only Congress can declare war, congressional approval would be required for any first use of nuclear weapons. Approval would require majority support by both the House and Senate.
Recommendation
You should immediately adopt Option 1. I also recommend discussing Option 3 with your advisers and members of Congress to determine, among other things, the precise steps required and the length of time such approval would likely take.
While both Options 1 and 2 would require the approval of two other people for any use of nuclear weapons, the people next in the presidential chain of succession have greater political legitimacy to take part in such decision because they are designated by law to become commander-in-chief and assume the authority to order a nuclear attack if the officials above them were no longer in power.
Option 1 would also provide democratic input. The top three officials in the line of succession (the third person is the president pro tem of the Senate) are elected and two of them are members of Congress. Unless several top officials died or were incapacitated, under Option 1 at least one congressional leader would need to agree with an order to use nuclear weapons. While this falls short of Option 3’s requirement for congressional approval of the first use of nuclear weapons, it would provide some congressional input.
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(Please note that the Sunday and Saturday NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS are also added below by category, following Monday’s news posts in order to maintain continuity of nuclear news as well as for research for the overall information provided in “LLAW;s All Things Nuclear”.)
There are 7 categories, with the latest addition, (#7) being a Friday weekly roundup of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) global nuclear news stories. Also included is a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives. The feature categories provide articles and information about ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links with headlines concerning the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:
- All Things Nuclear
- Nuclear Power
- Nuclear Power Emergencies
- Nuclear War Threats
- Nuclear War
- Yellowstone Caldera (Note: There are three Yellowstone Caldera bonus stories available in today’s Post.)
- IAEA Weekly News (Friday’s only)
Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.
A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.
TODAY’s NUCLEAR WORLD’s NEWS, Friday, (01/17/2025)
All Things Nuclear
NEWS
Can nuclear energy expansion be a climate game changer? – DW
DW
Nuclear power is expected to hit record levels in 2025. Calling it “clean energy,” advocates are pushing for the power source to play a greater …
Memo to Trump: Modify the US policy of sole authority to launch nuclear weapons
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Mr. President, you should end the policy of placing the responsibility to launch nuclear weapons on one person—you and future presidents.
Nuclear Reactor Test Requirements Put DRACO Launch Plans On Hold – Aviation Week
Aviation Week
DARPA and NASA’s nuclear thermal propulsion project will miss its scheduled 2027 testing time frame, as its development has proven trickier than …
Nuclear Power
NEWS
NYS looks again at nuclear power production – YouTube
YouTube
New York state last fall issued a Blueprint for Consideration of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technologies to harness the still emerging ideas.
Nuclear Will Break Records In 2025, But Major Challenges Remain In US And Europe, Says IEA
NucNet
Most projects are in China, which is set to be world leader for installed reactor capacity by 2030.
IEA predicts record nuclear growth but calls for de-risking sector – Power Engineering
Power Engineering
While momentum is gathering in the nuclear energy sector, there are critical challenges to be overcome if this clean energy source is to reach its …
Nuclear Power Emergencies
NEWS
Lighting strike forces emergency shutdown at Armenia’s nuclear plant – MSN
MSN
A lightning strike shut down the Metsamor nuclear power plant, Armenia’s only nuclear power plant, located about 16 miles from Yerevan.
Since the 12.3 emergency martial law, unprecedented chaos has continued. Amid the …
mk.co.kr
And the North Korean regime wants to get the U.S. to acknowledge that it is a nuclear power. Pete Hegseth, nominee for U.S. Secretary of Defense. [ …
Signing of the Settlement Agreement between Westinghouse, Korea Electric Power … – Energy.gov
Energy.gov
U.S. and Republic of Korea cooperation on civil nuclear energy can offer a highly competitive alternative on the global marketplace while upholding …
Nuclear War Threats
NEWS
Priorities for the Next President: Managing the Nuclear Competition with Russia
Penn Global – University of Pennsylvania
… risks of nuclear war. During his first term, President Donald Trump … threats from a nuclear-armed satellite system. Yet, these weapons …
Memo to Trump: Address the new threat of drone-vulnerable nuclear reactors
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Our government, however, continues to discount the dangers such overflights pose. As for the threats facing the most frightening of civilian targets— …
Putin expressed fear over nuclear arms in Ukraine — Joe Biden
The New Voice of Ukraine
Biden details talks with Putin on nuclear weapons, NATO, and Moscow’s threats during the war on Ukraine
Nuclear War
NEWS
Memo to Trump: Modify the US policy of sole authority to launch nuclear weapons
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Mr. President, you should end the policy of placing the responsibility to launch nuclear weapons on one person—you and future presidents.
Priorities for the Next President: Managing the Nuclear Competition with Russia
Penn Global – University of Pennsylvania
Addressing Emerging Nuclear Challenges. The Trump administration takes office in a security environment that presents the United States with growing …
Memo to Trump: Develop specific AI guidelines for nuclear command and control
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The US should incorporate specific governance for AI in nuclear systems to enhance nuclear safety and security.
Yellowstone Caldera
NEWS
New study reveals insights into Yellowstone Volcanic System’s Hidden Magma Reservoirs
USGS.gov
USGS and its partners maintain networks of instrumentation to monitor activity at Yellowstone as part of the National Volcano Early Warning System.
Where the Yellowstone Volcano Will Erupt Next | Teton Gravity Research
Teton Gravity Research
Yellowstone National Park is home to one of the world’s most famous and closely monitored volcanic systems: The Yellowstone Caldera. This supervolcano …
Lightning, solar storms can map magma, show future YNP eruptions – Buckrail
Buckrail
YVO writes that the Yellowstone caldera is one of the largest volcanic systems in the world, with the last eruption in the region — a lava flow — over …
IAEA Weekly News
17 January 2025
Read the top news and updates published on IAEA.org this week.
17 January 2025
Update 270 – IAEA Director General Statement on Situation in Ukraine
Ukraine’s Rivne nuclear power plant had to temporarily reduce its power output Wednesday, amid heightened military activity near all of Ukraine’s nuclear power plant sites in recent days, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said today. Read more →
16 January 2025
Despite Climate Extremes, Bangladesh Improves Harvests to Feed a Growing Population
With the goal of adapting food production to climate change, the IAEA has been collaborating with Bangladesh to develop high quality, high yield crop varieties resistant to extreme conditions. Read more →
15 January 2025
The IAEA’s Atoms4NetZero Initiative Helps Countries to Leverage the Power of Nuclear for Net Zero
The IAEA’s Atoms4NetZero initiative helps countries to make science-based decisions about the full potential of nuclear energy in order to prepare for the transition towards net zero greenhouse gas emissions. Read more →
14 January 2025
Revealing Malta’s Cultural Heritage
The IAEA is supporting experts from Heritage Malta in the use of x-ray technology to understand and preserve valuable ancient artefacts without damaging them. Read more →
13 January 2025
Warner Bros. Discovery Launches In Partnership With IAEA: ‘Good To Know’, First Nuclear Science Films On Discovery Channel
‘Good To Know’, a new educational videos series explaining how nuclear science can help solve global issues, is being launched today on Discovery Channel, as part of a new partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The films will air in over 30 countries, reaching 44 million households across the entire Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Read more →