This is a 2 part question. First, from what I understand, the president has a briefcase with the nuclear launch codes. If the president went nutty one day, could he just pick up the phone to NORAD, read off the codes and launch all our missiles?
Second, from what I remember from government class years ago, the president can send the military into action for a short period of time before getting approval from congress.(War Powers Act?) If the War on Terror is to continue for years to come as we are being told, won’t he have to go before congress at some point or is it a part of the constitution thats just ignored nowadays?
I’m not sure, but it takes more than one person to launch a nuke. Unless of course there is that computer failure and the fail safe machine doesn’t work right and the bombers end up dropping their payload on Moscow and then we do the same to New York to even things out. Also don’t forget the situation if there is a crazed general who likes Sterling Hayden running around complaining about “Purity of Essence”.
Please go see Great Debates for innumerable discussions on the scope of presidential power.
I don’t know that this is true anymore. We no longer fly bombers 24x7 on fail-safe routes (I think President Clinton stopped this). Also, it used to be that submarines were actually sent orders to NOT attack on a regular basis. In the absence of orders they would launch their nukes (the theory being that the United States got fried whiel they were underwater and no one is left to tell them to attack). However, some of our nuclear protocols were revised several years ago so I don’t know if that is the case. I think that permission to launch sub based missiles now has to come from the government…a sub commander can’t launch without codes transmitted to them (i.e. appropriate launch codes don’t entirely reside on the sub).
As to declaring war I think in general this is something Congress does not want to do as it puts too much control in the hands of the President. As long as war is not declared the President must consult with Congress on some timetable and it isn’t ignored (although I think some in Congress feel that President Bush has been negligent in his updates to Congress). Congress can continue this state of affairs indefinitely.
The President can also get around the declaring war bit. The Korean War was actually a ‘Police Action’ by President Truman. The war was prosecuted on behalf of the United Nations with the US as the UN’s primary enforcer (for lack of a better word). Needless to say this sort of thing pisses Congress off and this sort of power struggle between the Executive and Legislative branches has been going on practically since day 1.
[sub]TRIVIA: The Korean ‘War’ is technically not over. Fighting stopped in an armistice which continues to this day.[/sub]
The “football” as it is called, never travels far from the President. And no, the President cannot “just” launch a strike by him/herself. There is an established set of procedures which must be followed by several people in the chain of command in order to launch nuclear arms.
The President is Commander in Chief of all US military forces, as defined under the US Constitution. The President can order US military forces into military conflict at any time, without any need to obtain advice or consent from Congress. However, under the War Powers Act specifically, the President must obtain consent from Congress beyond a specified number of days of the conflict to continue, and periodically thereafter. If the war on terrorism is to continue past these deadlines, the President is required to periodically notify his intentions to Congress as required by the WPA.
If you take the time to read the current terrorism legislation, the President has done this, and continues to do this. See http://thomas.loc.gov/home/terrorleg.htm
The issue of declaring war is another point in deed. Only Congress can declare war under the Constitution. The war on terrorism is not a declared war, and intentionally so. Among one of the reason is found in the fine print of your insurance policies.
Many (most?) insurance policies don’t have to pay in the event of a declared war. Had Congress actually declared war in this war on terrorism, it is highly possible that the insurance carriers for the airlines, the WTC and all other areas of September 11 might very refuse to pay. Can you imagine the enormous economic and political fallout from such a decision?
But as you said the President is commander of all U.S forces and can send them into combat at any time. What makes launching nukes different from launching a B-52 strike? If the president decided,in his position as commander to use nuclear weapons instead of conventional bombing, is there any additional procedures to go thru? Who does he call with the launch codes? I know he cant physically push a button from the whitehouse, but if he ordered it, would it be followed the same as if he ordered a conventional airstrike?