Date
November 18, 2017
Document
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- Link to external site (halifaxtheforum.org)
Description
This transcript of a public forum discussion includes notable remarks from General John E. Hyten, Commander of US Strategic Command (STRATCOM), on whether he would refuse a nuclear launch order. The document contains many phonetic errors due to transcription.
The relevant sections (with transcription errors corrected) are:
Mr. Steve Clemons: The other day I watched your predecessor Robert Kehler speak in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about this incredible responsibility that you now have in that conversation with the President before nuclear things. And he said, you know, that — he implied that he could push back. Have you thought about that conversation you might have with the President in this sort of scenario?
General John E. Hyten: I have and we talk about it. I think some people think we’re stupid. We’re not stupid people. We think about these things a lot. When you have this responsibility how do you not think about it? And so – but what people forget is this is a military mission and a military function. And since the day I joined the service, 36 years ago, every year I get trained in a law of armed conflict. And the law of armed conflict has certain principles and necessities, distinction, proportionality, unnecessary suffering. All those things are defined. And we get, you know, for 20 years it was the William Calley My Lai thing that we were trained on because if you execute an unlawful order you will go to jail. You could go to jail for the rest of your life. It applies to nuclear weapons. It applies to small arms. It applies to small unit tactic. It applies to everything and we apply it as we go through it. It’s not that difficult. And the way the process works — if you want to get the details later, I’ll go into the details later. The way the process works is this simple: I provide advice to the President. He’ll tell me what to do and if it’s illegal, guess what’s going to happen?
Mr. Steve Clemons: You say no.
General John E. Hyten: I’m going to say, Mr. President, it’s illegal. And guess what he’s going to do? He’s going to say what would be legal? And we’ll come up with options of a mix of capabilities to respond to whatever the situation is. And that’s the way it works. It’s not that complicated.
Commentary
Citation
Transcript of the 2017 Halifax International Security Forum, Session Plenary 2 (18 November 2017).
Provenance
Courtesy of the Halifax International Security Forum.
Topics
Document entry started by Alex Wellerstein on August 1, 2018. Entry last updated by Mikael Kelly on October 15, 2018.
There are several observations that can be made here.
First, and perhaps most obviously, while General Hyten is attempting to resolve questions and doubts about how the military would react to an unlawful order from the president, his response still reflects the same ambiguities and uncertainties present in General Kehler’s testimony.
Second, Hyten’s comment that “we talk about it… We think about these things a lot” still leaves a lot unanswered. How often have STRATCOM leaders discussed this scenario, in what context, and how formally? Despite Hyten’s assurance that STRATCOM is thinking through and discussing a wide variety of scenarios, Kehler’s testimony before the Sentate Foreign Relations Committee seems to imply that many key questions are unresolved.
Third, it is notable that Hyten expresses such clear irritation that people are wondering whether the current system would work as intended and states that people must believe the military is “stupid.” This is a surprisingly defensive reaction to a rather straightforward question about an almost totally opaque system.