National Command Authority

National Command Authority (NCA) is a term used by the Department of Defense of the United States of America to refer to the ultimate source of lawful military orders.

The NCA comprises the president of the United States (as commander-in-chief) and the secretary of defense jointly, or their duly deputized successors, i.e. the vice president and the deputy secretary of defense.

The term also refers to communications with the commanding officers of the Unified Combatant Commands to put U.S. forces into action.

Authorization of a nuclear or strategic attack

Only the president can direct the use of nuclear weapons by U.S. armed forces, through plans like OPLAN 8010-12. The president has unilateral authority as commander-in-chief to order that nuclear weapons be used for any reason at any time.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

See also

Notes and references
  1. Blair, Bruce (June 11, 2016). "What Exactly Would It Mean to Have Trump's Finger on the Nuclear Button?". Politico Magazine. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  2. Broad, William J.; Sanger, David E. (August 4, 2016). "Debate Over Trump's Fitness Raises Issue of Checks on Nuclear Power". The New York Times. p. A1. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  3. Burns, Robert (2017-11-13). "Could anyone stop Trump from launching nukes? The answer: No". Associated Press. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  4. Stanton, Zack (2017-11-14). "Don't Count on the Cabinet to Stop a Trump-Ordered Nuclear Strike". Politico Magazine. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  5. William Perry [@SecDef19] (6 September 2018). "This is the correct answer" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. William Perry [@SecDef19] (5 September 2018). "Correct" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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