MILITARY/NATIONAL SECURITY/NUCLEAR/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The top U.S. nuclear commander said on Saturday [11-19-17] that he would resist President Donald Trump if he ordered an ‘illegal’ launch of nuclear weapons.
Air Force General John Hyten, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM), told an audience at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada that he had given a lot of thought to what he would say if he received such an order…
Hyten, who is responsible for overseeing the U.S. nuclear arsenal, explained the process that would follow such a command.
As head of STRATCOM ‘I provide advice to the president, he will tell me what to do,’ he said in his remarks, retransmitted in a video posted on the forum’s Facebook page…
Hyten said running through scenarios of how to react in the event of an illegal order was standard practice, and added: ‘If you execute an unlawful order, you will go to jail. You could go to jail for the rest of your life.’
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Hyten’s remarks.”
-Reuters Staff, “U.S. nuclear general says would resist ‘illegal’ Trump strike order,” Reuters, Nov. 18, 2017 11:20am