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The global threat of nuclear terrorism

Congress must get serious about the threat of nuclear terrorism

The Hill, By Sarah Williams and Alexandra Toma – 01/18/11 “………..The fight to prevent nuclear terrorism will be lost without a serious commitment to the goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear material around the globe. Currently, more than 30 countries possess significant amounts of material that could be used to make a nuclear weapon, and much of it is stored in less-than-secure facilities.

Enough material exists to create tens of thousands of new nuclear weapons, and the only way to ensure terrorist groups do not obtain even an ounce of it is to reduce the number of places nuclear material is stored and secure those facilities that remain. ………

The greatest – but most easily preventable – threat to America today is terrorists with nukes. Our intelligence agencies consistently report that al Qaeda seeks nuclear materials or bombs, and that they see it as their religious duty to use weapons of mass destruction against Americans. The fight to secure vulnerable nuclear material is being waged quietly and deliberately, but we know it is being won. On December 31, 2010, the NNSA announced that 111 pounds of bomb-making highly enriched uranium (HEU) had been removed from three sites in Ukraine, bringing that country closer to fulfilling its commitment to remove all its HEU before 2012. In the last 18 months, six countries have given up all their nuclear material and a total of 120 bombs’ worth of material was secured. Removal plans are underway or planned in several other countries, as leaders strive to meet their national commitments before the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit. If Congress does not fully fund programs to stop nuclear proliferation at the NNSA and the Department of Defense, efforts to secure nuclear material and support U.S. national defense will be hindered.

Congress must get serious about the threat of nuclear terrorism – The Hill’s Congress Blog

January 20, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety, USA