10nfl1-Nukes-Cover
TONS OF KNOWLEDGE ON HOW TO CREATE NUKES EXISTS- COMBINED
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| TONS OF KNOWLEDGE ON HOW TO CREATE NUKES EXISTS- COMBINED WITH TONS OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL, THERE IS A LARGE LIKELIHOOD OF A NUCLEAR ATTACK. Graham Allison 2000 (Director at Belfar Center for Science and International Affairs, Prof of Government and Chair of the Dubai Initiative at Harvard's JFK School of Government, " Russia''s "Loose Nukes" The continuing threat to American security Harvard Magazine, September- October 2000, Vol. 103, No. 1. pg 34-35 Add to this picture 5,000 tactical nuclear weapons many lacking any locking device to prevent their unauthorized use and some stored at bases where a colonel with the cooperation of two lieutenants could "privatize" a dozen warheads and transfer them to world markets to convert into cash. Remember that an additional 12,000 nuclear weapons exist in various storage facilities across Russia, many in buildings with no protection other than guards whose salaries are frequently delayed for months. Beyond assembled weapons, there are approximately 70,000 nuclear weapons-equivalents in stockpiles of highly enriched uranium and plutonium. A softball- sized chunk of this fissile material would provide Iran or a bin Laden terrorist group with the critical ingredient from which a crude nuclear device could be assembled. There are also biological weapons, chemical weapons, and thousands of ICBMs and a deep pool of know-how for producing missiles and other weapons. In sum the overriding reason Russia''s nuclear arsenal should matter most to American security appears vividly as one considers the danger of "loose nukes" Terrorists or rogue states could surreptitiously deliver one or a half-dozen nuclear weapons to attack American troops abroad or cities at home. One backpack-sized nuclear weapon in that van parked outside the Oklahoma City Federal Office Building would have caused not just the building but the city itself to disappear. One such nuclear device in the van that was used by terrorists to attack the World Trade Center would have caused Lower Manhattan to disappear. Russia could become a convenience store for weapons unless the United States takes vigorous steps to help consolidate and secure these vulnerable nuclear stockpiles. Here as elsewhere in a nonproliferation strategy, the surest defense is to stop proliferation at the source. As the most open society in the world, this country will remain the most vulnerable to attacks, especially by weapons delivered surreptitiously in the cargo holds of ships, in trucks and rail cars, even in express packages. In the real world of the next quarter-century, dreams of an invulnerable America are fantasy whether Ronald Reagan''s vision of a Star Wars shield that would "render nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete" or UN resolutions to "eliminate all nuclear weapons from earth" Anyone who doubts that terrorists could smuggle a nuclear warhead into New York City should note that they could always wrap it in a bale of marijuana. In 1991, then Senator Nunn and Senator Richard Lugar initiated a modest, bipartisan, $400-million-a-year program of investment in securing Russian nuclear weapons and materials. Together with a 10NFL1-Nuclear Weapons Page 86 of 199 www.victorybriefs.com contract for purchase of weapons-usable, highly enriched uranium extracted from dismantled Russian warheads, these "cooperative threat reduction" programs have helped motivate Russian measures in what is so far a promising effort. Download 1.23 Mb. Share with your friends:
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