Nuclear Counterterrorism
The responsibility for investigating and countering terror threats against U.S. targets has long rested with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The unique nature of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, however, have necessitated contingency planning that transcend any one agency's jurisdiction, should terrorists ever attempt to employ such weapons against the United States.
The Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST), part of the Department of Energy, was formed in 1975 in anticipation of just such a threat. Their responsibilities are threefold; first, to investigate possible cases of threatened nuclear terrorism. Second, if the threat proves credible, to locate the nuclear device. Third, to disarm or contain the device and its nuclear material. At all levels, NEST works with appropriate local, state and federal agencies, including the FBI, CIA, and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), as circumstances dictate.
In the early years of NEST's existence, the possibility of nuclear terror was seen as remote. Terrorist organizations are by nature isolated and are little trusted, even by their sponsors. The production of even rudimentary atomic weapons is complex enough to be beyond their abilities, and it was felt they had little access to experts or the material needed to build and atom bomb. Fissile material in particular, such as plutonium and enriched uranium, require a massive industrial base to produce and have long been carefully controlled by the national powers that have access to them.
All this changed in the early 1990s with the breakup of the Soviet Union and the destabilization of many of the former Soviet republics. The fear has arisen that cash-strapped republics may illicitly sell nuclear weapons or material to terror organizations, or else that unemployed nuclear technicians and scientists may be lured to work for terrorists or rogue states.
So far, NEST has mobilized less than a hundred times in response to threats of nuclear terror. All such threats have turned out to be hoaxes. When NEST mobilizes, its scientists fan out across a city (it is usually assumed that terrorists would attack urban areas, in order to maximize casualties) employing inconspicuous detection gear in an attempt to find a nuclear device prior to detonation. The search, though intense, is usually done in as low-key a manner as possible in order to avoid a panic. The notion of evacuating a major city was long ago ruled out as impossibly impractical and far too time-consuming. Instead, spy planes circle overhead, searching for clues as dozens or hundreds of two-person teams spread out and try to narrow the search with portable detection equipment. Contrary to popular belief, most nuclear devices do not emit large amounts of gamma radiation, so the NEST searchers must come within a few feet of a bomb to find it. NEST has practiced its detection procedures in numerous training exercises, and has thus far always managed to located simulated nuclear weapons, although it can take up to several days to do so.
In addition to the threat of atomic detonation, NEST and FEMA recognize the danger of a terrorist attack utilizing a radiological dispersion device; that is, a weapon designed to disperse radioactive fallout over a wide area. Such a device would be much easier for a terrorist organization to produce, as it requires little more than a quantity of conventional explosive and some type of radioactive material; many of which are easily found at universities and hospitals. Another source of weapons material might actually come from U.S. stockpiles. Although nuclear material in the United States are among the most carefully guarded in the world, the U.S. military admits that at least a dozen nuclear weapons were lost and never found throughout the Cold War years. Although most of these are likely to be irretrievable and inoperable, such as the one that lies thousands of feet deep off New Jersey's Atlantic coast, the possibility remains that at the very least a radiological dispersion device could be fashioned should one of these lost weapons ever be located. The rest of the world's nuclear powers, including Russia, China, France, and the United Kingdom, have never admitted to losing a nuclear weapon, although U.S. experts say it is almost inevitable that such incidents have occurred.
At present it seems that the United States' best protection against nuclear terrorism is preparation. While NEST and FEMA train and plan for nuclear emergencies, the CIA and FBI monitor foreign and domestic threats, and move to counter the credible ones before they get off the ground. The State Department has had great success in identifying and isolating rogue states that traffic in nuclear material. The United States has even been known to pay the salaries of former Soviet scientists to ensure that they do not seek employment elsewhere.
This is the complete article, containing 782 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
