A Trump-era national security adviser suggested the US deploy all of its ballistic missile submarines to see if Putin is 'really bluffing or not'

A retired US Lieutenant General suggested on Monday that the US should have the entire fleet of missile submarines activated to see if Russian President Vladimir Putin is involved in the invasion of Ukraine.

We have between five and six ballistic missile submarines, the boomers at sea at any one time, according to the host of the Fox News show Jesse Watters Primetime.

We can crew them and put them out there if we flushed the whole fleet. The general said that they were not going to back off from a nuclear concern.

Let's see if he's really bluffing or not.

—Acyn (@Acyn) March 8, 2022

According to the US Navy, the US currently operates 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, each of which can carry 20 long-range missiles.

The Chief of Staff for the National Security Council, who served as national security adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, said that Putin's generals would likely be a little bit concerned.

You have to be creative and put Putin on his back foot to do this.

Watters had earlier asked if he thought it was a good idea to distract the Russians.

Watters wondered if we should send naval assets into the Black Sea. Just say, "Hey, you know, we're protecting Turkey, our NATO ally." What if, you know, we scrambled a few jets in the Baltics or something to make the Russians think twice?"

Watters ideas were not directly responded to by Kellogg, but he did offer his suggestion on submarines as an alternative solution.

The former national security adviser's comments on Putin seem to differ from what the general said.

While speaking on the Lawrence Jones Cross Country show about the Russian leader's potential use of heavy bombardment and cluster bombs on Ukraine, Kellogg said that Putin does not bluff.

Putin does not bluff. He is going to go into Ukraine when he says he is coming. Back then, we should have been building up weapons. We did not. He said that part of the reason was because they believed it would be escalatory. We are too late.

Insider requested comment from Kellogg, but they did not reply immediately.

On February 27, Putin put Russia's nuclear deterrence forces on high alert. He blamed sanctions from the West for the invasion of Ukraine.