U.S. nuclear general says would resist 'illegal' Trump strike order

[GURPS]

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.

“I think some people think we’re stupid,” Hyten said in response to a question about such a scenario. “We’re not stupid people. We think about these things a lot. When you have this responsibility, how do you not think about it?”

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.



U.S. nuclear general says would resist 'illegal' Trump strike order



how would an ORDER From the Civilian AUTHORITY aka the President be illegal

:shrug:

 

[Grumpy]

Nothing to see here...Hyten - “If you execute an unlawful order, you will go to jail. You could go to jail for the rest of your life.” He simply stated that if the order was unlawful, he wouldn't do it. Lt. Calley back in the Vietnam era learned that the hard way, if its an unlawful order from a superior, you don't do it.

 

[Rommey]

That article is setting up a straw man argument insinuating that ANY order from Trump to use nuclear weapons would be in itself, illegal.

 

[3CATSAILOR]

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.

“I think some people think we’re stupid,” Hyten said in response to a question about such a scenario. “We’re not stupid people. We think about these things a lot. When you have this responsibility, how do you not think about it?”

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.



U.S. nuclear general says would resist 'illegal' Trump strike order



how would an ORDER From the Civilian AUTHORITY aka the President be illegal

:shrug:

Like it or not, the President is the Commander In Chief of the military. I wonder if Hyten would disobey the order of Obama or Clinton when they were in office? Probably not is my guess. Therefore, purely political views could put our Country at a grave risk.

 

[GURPS]

Like it or not, the President is the Commander In Chief of the military.

appointed to his position by Obama, apparently still has his JOB.

I'd a fired him the next morning ...

 

[Yooper]

This would have been a more interesting story (and a more responsible one) had Reuters gone into the parameters of legal/illegal orders. As written, Rommey is spot-on correct: it's lousy reporting designed for the single purpose of casting Trump in a bad light. So much for the Reuters standards of trust.... :sigh:

Anyway, Hyten has been in the news again as his nomination to be Joint Staff Vice Chief came relatively close to being derailed due to a #MeToo allegation.

Fortunately, numerous investigators/investigations found the accusations by a female Army colonel were unfounded.

I had been following this story for quite some time and fishy doesn't begin to describe the accusations. And today we got more details:

Exclusive: Hyten Accuser Has History Of Unsubstantiated Allegations

The Air Force investigation found no merit to the dozens of unsubstantiated claims made by Col. Kathryn Spletstoser against Gen. John Hyten.

thefederalist.com

It appears the accuser has done this numerous times throughout her career. As such, my sense is that the accuser reached her current rank by threatening accusations all along the way and "leadership" passed the problem on to other commands (with the accuser knowing full well that it was easier for the commands she worked in to do so).

Written by the wonderful Mollie Hemingway, the post is well worth the click-over and the 5-10 minutes reading time.

Glad Hyten was cleared; saddened for the negative effects this will have (to some degree) for other women in the military.

--- End of line (MCP)