NPR

Shaken By Trump, Senators Ask: What Stops Him From Launching Nukes?

For the first time in decades, Congress re-examines a president's unilateral authority to launch a nuclear attack — but the Pentagon says no changes are needed.
The ballistic missile submarine USS Rhode Island returns to port after a patrol. The president of the United States has the unilateral authority to order it to launch its nuclear weapons.

Critics in the Senate have posed a high-stakes question: Can anything keep President Trump from launching a nuclear attack on his own?

"We are concerned that the president of the United States is so unstable, is so volatile, has a decision-making process that is so quixotic that he might order a nuclear weapons strike that is wildly out of step

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