Source: REUTERS
Two Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday presented a bicameral bill that would require US President Donald Trump to require a congressional declaration of war before ordering a nuclear "first strike," a pre-emptive offensive without having been attacked before, EFE reported.
The text of Senator Edward Markey and Congressman Ted Lieu stipulates that the president needs a declaration of war from Congress to launch such an attack, which allows for the law and military policy of the country.
"President Trump has suggested he would consider launching nuclear attacks against terrorists. Unfortunately, by maintaining the option of using nuclear weapons first (before an attack) in a conflict, US policy gives it that power, "Markey, of Massachusetts, said in a statement.
The two lawmakers have long opposed US policy on the nuclear "first strike," which former Democratic President Barack Obama weighed, but never did.
Markey and Lieu already filed the bill in September, worried about Trump's statements on nuclear policy in the campaign, but now they see the issue as more urgent given the New York magnate is already in the White House.
"It is a frightening reality that the United States now has a commander-in-chief who has shown ignorance about the nuclear triad (division of a country's atomic arsenal into three components), which has expressed its desire to be 'unpredictable' with nuclear weapons and Who, as president-elect, made affirmations on Twitter about a radical change in nuclear policy, "Lieu of California said in the joint statement.
In a campaign debate in September, Trump was asked if he would launch a "nuclear first strike" and said he would not rule it out.
"Neither President Trump nor any other president should be able to use nuclear weapons unless it is in response to a nuclear attack," said Markey.
On December 22, President-elect alarmed the country and the world by saying in a Twitter message that the United States must "strengthen and expand" its nuclear capability.
"The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until the world is right about nuclear weapons," Trump said, without further explanation.
Earlier in the campaign, he had suggested that countries like Japan and South Korea should be able to develop their own nuclear weapons to defend themselves.