Nuclear Terror Would Strain Bomb Sleuths
June 14, 2009 by national
Filed under Homeland Security News
If the unthinkable happened, would we be left on the day after, as radioactive dust settled, with the unknowable?
If a terrorist nuclear bomb destroyed the heart of a great city, how would we know who did it, with what? Mideast fanatics with a device improvised from stolen uranium? A weapon smuggled in by a rogue regime? A hijacked U.S. bomb?
Where do you strike back? How do you head off another attack?
President Barack Obama calls nuclear terrorism “the most immediate and extreme threat to global security.” It’s an unthinkable that’s being thought about daily in classified corners of world capitals.
But knowledgeable scientists and the investigators behind a new U.S. government report say the American nuclear establishment needs more specialists and more background data on possible bomb sources to do the detective job that awaits on that day after.
“I don’t believe the intelligence community is ready for the challenge,” said Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, who worked for years as a U.S. intelligence leader on weapons of mass destruction.
Bomb Squad Investigates Suspicious Suitcases
May 7, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
The Holiday Inn in Port St. Lucie was evacuated Thursday night as the St. Lucie bomb squad investigated suspicious suitcases a guest had brought there.
While information was sketchy, officials said the guest, possibly in his 50s, checked into the hotel at the northeast corner of U.S. 1 and Jennings Road about 5 p.m. A few minutes later, the guest called 911 to say he had respiratory problems, possibly radiation poisoning.
The guest was taken to St. Lucie Medical Center in Port St. Lucie to be checked out.
An initial sweep of the guest’s black, briefcase-type bag indicated there could be something there, although officials said a second sweep cleared both the bag and the man of any radiation. Because of the conflicting information, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office bomb squad was called into check out the bag.
The bomb squad’s robotic device was seen carrying something from the hotel. Shortly after 9 p.m., officials said the bomb squad was going back in for a second bag.
At 10 p.m., the bomb squad blew up one of the bags; officials did not say what they were going to do with the second bag. Officials later said one of the bags contained a cell phone charger and papers.
A Hazmat team from St. Lucie County Fire Division was brought in to clean up the room after th
