Alex WellersteinVerified account

That sounds specific enough to be real, and aligns with my understanding of how this might actually work. I have a FOIA out (good luck...).

I remain skeptical. It would be more persuasive if the story came from the author or a recipient of the order, rather than someone shown it.

I'm always skeptical. But it's the first "solid" thing I've seen on this, beyond rumors. I'm still pursuing it...

If it is true, it implies that there are probably other people who saw said order, or that — potentially — one could get paper evidence.

This needs to be verified beyond Jeffrey Smith's undocumented recollection, but I know smthg of him and he strikes me as a reliable source.

I agree. We need a new sustained, serious historical/policy study of Presidential nuclear use capability. And this needs to be part of it.

We need a symposium with all the relevant scholars, and recent former SecDefs. We need to all be working from the same set of facts.

Agree 100%. Need to know what we really know, where areas of legitimate uncertainty are, etc.

Not clear to me why RN would call an Army JAG lawyer to the Oval Office to show him a document. Does WH visitor list show him?

He isn't saying Nixon showed it to him, I don't think — he's saying his boss (Dept. UnderSec of Army for International Affairs) did.

Then it's written very poorly. The last "he" refers to RN. I also wonder what IA would have to do with such a memo. IA has no link to CoC.

That's one of many reasons I find it dubious. A shows B an order from C to D.

Seems like an awfully weird thing to fabricate whole cloth though.

Age and memory do funny things to people.

Robert F Ellsworth was AD, died 2011. Without diary or papers no way to prove author's claim. Security violation to show JAG the order. 1/2

The story say Deputy Under Secretary of the Army for International Affairs.

Also, it should be noted that 1) it is not clear this was legal, 2) whether this was "responsible" is sort of in eye of beholder, and,

Thanks, Alex. I saw and tweeted about that last week (incl. to @armscontrolwonk) but didn't get much of a response:https://twitter.com/AtomicAnalyst/status/919071384789241856 …