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New Report Calls Nuclear Terrorism Risk Unacceptably High

Submitted by national on Friday, 21 November 20088 Comments

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A new report says the world still faces a serious risk that terrorists could obtain a nuclear bomb and urges President-elect Barack Obama to make reducing that risk a top priority of U.S. security policy and diplomacy. VOA correspondent Meredith Buel has details from Washington.

The new report, called “Securing the Bomb 2008,” says major progress has been made to reduce the danger of nuclear terrorism.

The report warns, however, there are still major gaps in these efforts and says the risk of terrorists acquiring a nuclear weapon remains unacceptably high.

The author of the report, Harvard professor Matthew Bunn, says the potential for a disastrous attack is very real.

“That would incinerate the heart of a major city,” he said. “It could turn the center of Washington, D.C. or the center of Manhattan into a smoking, radioactive ruin that would be unusable for decades to come. That would have profound and catastrophic affects on our society, really reverberating around the world.”

The study is the seventh annual report from Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and was commissioned by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonproliferation group based in Washington, D.C.

The report details a series of events around the world in recent years it says highlights the risk of poor security at nuclear installations.

These include an armed break-in at a South African site with hundreds of kilograms of highly enriched uranium, the arrest of a Russian colonel for soliciting bribes to overlook violations of nuclear security rules and the increasing terrorist threats amid the ongoing strife in Pakistan.

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8 Comments »

  • valer said:

    A muslim told me that our tolerance is our weakness. He also said that britons deserve to be defeated by muslims as they killed innocent people durring British Empire expansion.
    He said that the world has to go to an end, and on and on. I told him that people are afraid of muslims and he laught. I told him that I am afraid of islamic threat to kill everybody is not muslim and he laugh again.

    - 21 November 2008 at 2:44 pm
  • Gary said:

    This has gone 2 far. Why has this situation gotten this far? Sounds 2 me like its going 2 be a matter of time now -very soon- but against whom? Will this be the new attack that is claiming “to far by outdo 9/11.” they have already tested one underground couple weekends ago that registered a 5.something on the Richter scale. Shouldn’t this be a warning 2 the world before it is 2 late and innocent people are killed? I personally have a very, very BAD VIBE and feel something VERY BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN AND VERY SOON. SOMETHING NEEDS TO BE DONE NOW TO STOP WHATEVER AND/OR WHOMEVER IT IS

    - 21 November 2008 at 3:25 pm
  • Rob Pfriender said:

    This report is nothing new. I have been calling attention to this, the most serious of problems facing our country for many years…without any of our elected officials and heads of DHS, US Customs, DOD, etc. taking any credible interest or action to remedy it.

    Not even the easy things are considered like placing new signs that indicate the location of one of thousands of the existing (although now unstocked) fallout shelters, offering civil defense (”Duck & Cover”) instructions to students again…or the more ambitious such as inspecting every container coming into our ports, screening all air cargo on commercial flights (now 100% uninspected), securing the borders, etc.

    Unfortunately it is now very late in this game and I expect a WMD attack sooner or later, likely sooner under the circumstances of no-leadership we now face. It will almost certainly be a nuclear device (a true fission bomb, not just a dirty bomb) followed by a large chemical &/or biological attack. With healthcare facilities already destroyed and panic rampant our enemies will use this to their best advantage to destroy America and will very likely succeed. It can be stopped but we need an immediate, serious program, something again unlikely to be implemented by the new incoming administration.

    See these articles:
    “No Place to Run”
    http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=35948

    “The day a nuke hit our port” http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=35206

    “Why port security is life and death for U.S.”
    http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=35072

    “When the nuke comes to port”
    http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=34991

    “America’s need for civil defense”
    http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=36884

    “Doomsday for Islam?”
    http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=35443

    - 22 November 2008 at 10:46 am
  • GLRP007 said:

    I agree with Rob Pfriender, it is time to take steps immediately to terminate further attacks against the free world. We (our Country) has the “Big Stick” and we should use it before we get hit again!
    I said before, it’s time to make the “Tribal Areas” “Ruble Areas” and get this job done and done NOW once and for all!

    - 23 November 2008 at 9:24 am
  • New report: nuclear terrorism risk in U.S. is “unacceptably high” « Culper Ring 355 said:

    [...] New report: nuclear terrorism risk in U.S. is “unacceptably high” A new report issued by Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs entitled, “Securing the Bomb 2008” asserts that while there has been progress,  the potential for terrorists to acquire a nuclear bomb is still “unacceptably high.” View full story here. [...]

    - 24 November 2008 at 2:57 pm
  • Festus said:

    Hey Rob!

    Great post… I like the idea of the offshore inspection facilities. Good idea. Maybe that’s the hangup - nobody in office thought of it… Whatever happened to govt that does what the voters tell them to do??

    - 25 November 2008 at 9:22 am
  • Rob Pfriender said:

    The problem we have with elected officials is that the public chooses a candidate on the basis of being popular, not qualified as a manager with skills. They blindly beleive every ridiculous promise made and have no clue as to the real dangers and many problems that need to be focused on.

    This election they elected an popularized and cafefully crafted “idol” with no record of commedable accomplishment, no real plan to succeed and many very questionable associations. Perhaps as the available evidence suggests he is not even a legal US citizen. All of those who supported him will likely someday soon realize that the promised “Change” was not what they expected or really wanted. When one or several of our cities are again in flames “Change” will be the last thing on their minds.

    Unfortunately, the difficult lessons of 9-11 have not been learned, the national pain has been forgotten and the path for America’s many enemies is still wide open for our country’s complete destruction.

    We don’t need officials that do as the public tells them to, we need serious, well-skilled, intelligent and motivated managers that know exactly what really needs to be accomplished and completes the task despite the changes in political winds.

    - 27 November 2008 at 1:52 pm
  • John Klaus said:

    Terrorists (regardless origin) and pirates feed on fear. To teach a bully a lesson one must be twice as bully…Not looking for a fight, but if you are looking for one, this is what I have for you. Simple.

    - 28 November 2008 at 7:30 pm

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