Ministry ol Delence

Main Building

. . Whitehall
London SW1A2HB
Of Defence United Kingdom

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Commander th Fors 
em" 13 February 2020

Dear Commander 

Thank you Ior your most recent letter, dated 9 January 2020, regarding comments made by Rear
Admiral John Gower (th) in relation to the legal standing at a submarine commander given the
order to lire a Trident missile.

Rear Admiral Gower, since he has retired from the Royal Navy, is not a Government spokesperson
and is entitled to express his own views as he wishes, whether they are in agreement or not with
the Government's position.

In our previous correspondence we have outlined the Government's position on various aspects
relating to the legality ol the nuclear deterrent and the use at our nuclear weapons should we ever
be required to do so. This position has not changed. While we do not intend to repeat all of that
previous detail here, we will summarise again the key points.

We hope never to employ nuclear weapons but to deliver a deterrent etlect under all
circumstances. We would only consider using our nuclear weapons in the most extreme
circumstances ol sell-defence, including the delence ol our NATO allies.

The Government is clear that the use ol nuclear weapons - like all weapons - would be subject to
the requirements of international law. The 1996 International Court ol Justice Advisory Opinion
could not reach a delinitive conclusion on the legality or illegality ol the use ol nuclear weapons by
a state in an extreme circumstance ol sell-delence, in which its very survival would be at stake. It
concluded that legality could only be determined in light of the specilic circumstances applying
when such use is being contemplated and the application ol the general rules at law, particularly
those regulating the use ol Ioroe and the conduct at hostilities. Should the circumstances arise in
which use ol nuclear weapons needs to be considered, legal aspects would be a contributing lactor
in the decision-making process.

In our last letter to you, dated 7 November 2018, we suggested that, while we appreciate that you
hold strong views on this matter, further correspondence would serve no purposeful outcome as
we had already written to you on several occasions. There is no further inlormation to add on this
topic beyond what has already been communicated to you. Therefore, no tunher purpose will be
sewed by continuing the correspondence.

Yours sincerely,

Delence Nuclear Organisation Secretariat