Federal agencies this month will hold a roundtable on how to respond a nuclear attack as part of a regular series on public health, raising eyebrows as President Trump needles North Korea over his “bigger and more powerful” nuclear-launch button.
The session is scheduled for Jan. 16 in Atlanta and will feature experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and Georgia’s health department.
“While a nuclear detonation is unlikely, it would have devastating results and there would be limited time to take critical protection steps,” the CDC’s announcement says. “Despite the fear surrounding such an event, planning and preparation can lessen deaths and illness.”
For instance, the agency said, it is important to shelter in place for at least 24 hours after a detonation to reduce exposure to radiation.
The session, one of the CDC’s “Public Health Grand Rounds,” will discuss the role of federal, state and local officials and discuss how preparations for a nuclear attack “are similar and different” from efforts to respond to other emergencies.
CDC spokesman Bertram Kelly said the Grand Rounds series is part of the CDC’s “routine work, similar to work it does to prepare for other possible health emergencies with the goal of ensuring the public health community is prepared for all types of health threats.”
The agency has been planning the nuclear-response edition since April, he added.
Still, the event coincides with increasingly bellicose rhetoric between Mr. Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un over the repressive Asian regime’s nuclear ambitions and rocket tests.
“North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the ’Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times,’” Mr. Trump tweeted Tuesday. “Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”
Democrats and other critics chastised Mr. Trump, calling his tweet risky.
“These childish attacks raise the risk of stumbling into an avoidable war,” Sen. Tim Kaine, Virginia Democrat, said on Twitter. “The President needs to cut it out and get serious about keeping America safe.”
The 2016 Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, frequently questioned whether Mr. Trump was too thin-skinned to serve as commander in chief, quipping, “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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