WHAT’S AN ILLEGAL ORDER? The nation’s top U.S. nuclear commander weighed in this weekend on what would happen if President Trump were to order an “illegal” nuclear attack on another country. Speaking on a panel over the weekend at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Air Force Gen. John Hyten said he would push back if the order was not in compliance with the law of armed conflict. “If you execute an unlawful order, you will go to jail. You could go to jail for the rest of your life,” he said.
“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?” Hyten said, when asked about last week’s congressional testimony by a former U.S. nuclear commander that military officers have a responsibility not to carry out an illegal order from their civilian superiors. “The way the process works is it’s simple,” Hyten explained. “I provide advice to the president, he will tell me what to do, and if it’s illegal, guess what’s going to happen? I’m going to say, ‘Mr. President, that’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.”
