Nuclear terrorism
Terrorist Nuclear Weapon Construction: How Difficult?
Could a terrorist actually make and detonate a nuclear bomb? Convincing the public and policy makers of the true danger of nuclear terrorism demands an answer, but only a terrorist nuclear catastrophe could provide proof that no critic could assail.
Unfortunately, as government studies have repeatedly concluded, the answer is yes; even without direct help from a state with nuclear weapons, a capable and well-organized terrorist group with access to enough weapons-usable nuclear material might well be able to make at least a crude nuclear bomb. At the same time the danger should not be exaggerated: an attack by nonstate terrorists using an actual nuclear explosive - self-made or stolen - would clearly be among the most difficult types of attack to carry out.
To read the full article from The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, click on: http://ann.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/607/1/133
Could a terrorist actually make and detonate a nuclear bomb? Convincing the public and policy makers of the true danger of nuclear terrorism demands an answer, but only a terrorist nuclear catastrophe could provide proof that no critic could assail.
Unfortunately, as government studies have repeatedly concluded, the answer is yes; even without direct help from a state with nuclear weapons, a capable and well-organized terrorist group with access to enough weapons-usable nuclear material might well be able to make at least a crude nuclear bomb. At the same time the danger should not be exaggerated: an attack by nonstate terrorists using an actual nuclear explosive - self-made or stolen - would clearly be among the most difficult types of attack to carry out.
To read the full article from The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, click on: http://ann.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/607/1/133
posted by Pax Christi @ Tuesday, October 03, 2006
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