Article snippet: 1,393 nuclear warheads deployed on ICBMs, submarines and heavy bombers. The US also has non-deployed and inactive warheads that, when added to the deployed warheads, raises to 4,571 the total number of warheads in the U.S. nuclear arsenal (according to latest figures from the end of 2015.) In November, General John Hyten, the current STRATCOM commander, told a security forum in Canada that under the Law of Armed Conflict, which applies to all military personnel, he could refuse an order to launch missiles if he determined it to be an "illegal" order. "The way the process works is this simple: I provide advice to the President. He’ll tell me what to do and if it’s illegal, guess what’s going to happen?," said Hyten. " I’m going to say, Mr. President, it’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." Presidents are briefed on the launch procedures before they are inaugurated. In President Trump's case, a U.S. official said it occurred "very late in the transition." Amazingly, even with all the security fail-safes, it is apparently possible for the "biscuit" to be misplaced. That's according to General Hugh Shelton, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who wrote in his 2010 autobiography "Without Hesitation; The Odyssey of an American Warrior," that the card had been misplaced for mont... Link to the full article to read more