Nuclear terrorism the continuing danger

Preventing nuclear terrorism, Daily Times, Rizwan Asghar February 25, 2014 Unlike the Cold War period, when both the US and the Soviet Union knew that a nuclear attack from either side would be met with a massive retaliatory strike, conventional deterrence does not work against the terrorist groups

On October 11, 2001, exactly a month after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre, President George W Bush was informed by his CIA director, George Tenet, about the presence of al Qaeda-linked terrorists in New York City with a 10-kiloton nuclear bomb. Overwhelmed by paralysing fear that terrorists could have smuggled another nuclear weapon into Washington DC as well, President Bush ordered Vice President Dick Cheney, along with several hundred federal employees from almost a dozen government agencies, to leave for some undisclosed location outside the capital where they could ensure the continuity of government in case of a nuclear explosion in Washington DC. Although, after subsequent investigations, the CIA’s report turned out to be false, this incident showed that even a false alarm signalling a nuclear attack could lead to a much higher probability of disaster. A nuclear attack in downtown Washington DC has the potential to kill hundreds of thousands of people immediately and wipe the White House, the State Department and many other buildings off the face of the earth, making the 9/11 attacks a ‘historical footnote’.

It is evident that the spectre of a terrorist-controlled nuclear weapon is a real threat and is global in scope. Given the potentially disastrous consequences, even a small possibility of terrorists obtaining and detonating a nuclear device justifies urgent action. The most urgent security threat to the world today is the possibility of the stealing of weapons or fissile materials by terrorists. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, hundreds of confirmed cases of successful theft of nuclear materials were reported in Russia. In 1997, General Alexander Lebed, assistant for national security affairs to Boris Yeltsin, revealed that 84 out of 132 special KGB ‘suitcase nuclear weapons’ were unaccounted for in Russia. There are also widespread apprehensions expressed by the international community that militants could steal Pakistan’s nuclear weapons or fissile material. Unfortunately, some incidents of jihadi penetration of Pakistan’s armed forces have further fuelled this perception………

Unlike the Cold War period, when both the US and the Soviet Union knew that a nuclear attack from either side would be met with a massive retaliatory strike, conventional deterrence does not work against the terrorist groups…….

Though some modest gains have been made, the NWS have failed to take practical steps collectively to fulfil their obligations under the NPT. Such attitude results in undermining the legitimacy of the NPT/IAEA framework, and is detrimental to the cause of containing nuclear materials. As a significant step towards securing existing stockpiles of nuclear materials, the international community should implement the 2005 amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM), as well as the International Convention of the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism. The enforcement of these two conventions would help establish common standards for domestic nuclear security and enhance international cooperation in the realm of preventing nuclear terrorism………http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/opinion/25-Feb-2014/preventing-nuclear-terrorism

February 25, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized

No comments yet.

nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope