Abstract
These statements on nuclear terrorism by our national leaders, academics and the press are part of our everyday life since 9/11. They give momentum to policy decisions, such as the Iraq war of 2003.
Could 3 or 4 people smuggle into New York City the parts necessary to build a nuclear weapon?
Of course, it could be done.
[J. Robert Oppenheimer, 1946 Senate Hearing]
We judge that there is a high probability that al Qaeda will attempt an attack using a CBRN weapon (chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear) within the next two years. There is little doubt that al Qaeda intends to and can detonate a weapon of mass destruction on US soil.
[John Negroponte, US Ambassador to UN, 2003].
No threat poses as grave a danger … as the potential use of nuclear weapons or materials by irresponsible states or terrorists.
[US National Security Strategy, 2015]
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsBibliography
Allison, G. (2004). Nuclear terrorism: The ultimate preventable catastrophe. NY: Henry Holt.
APS/AAAS Nuclear Forensics Group. (2008). Nuclear forensics. Washington, DC: American Physical Society.
Bunn, M. (2006, September). A mathematical model of the risk of nuclear terrorism. American Academy of Political and Social Science, 103–120.
Davis, J. (2014). Post detonation nuclear forensics. In P. Corden, D. Hafemeister, & P. Zimmerman (Eds.), AIP Conference Proceedings on Nuclear Weapons Issues in the 21st Century (Vol. 1596, pp. 206–209).
Ferguson, C., & Potter, W. (2004). The four faces of nuclear terrorism. Monterey, CA: Monterey Institute for Strategic Studies.
Gubrud, M. (2014). Stopping killer robots. Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 70(1), 32–42.
Institute of Medicine. (2014). Nationwide response issues after an improvised nuclear device attack: medical and public health considerations for neighboring jurisdictions. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Katz, J. (2006). Detection of neutron sources in cargo containers. Science Global Security, 14, 145–149.
Katz, J., Blanpied, G., & Borozdin, K. (2007). X-radiography of cargo containers. Science Global Security, 15, 49–56.
Kelly, H., & Levi, M. (2002). Dirty bombs: Response to a threat, senate foreign relations committee (6 March 2002) and Scientific American (www.fas.org/ssp/docs/021000-sciam.pdf)
Kramer, D. (2014). Are the makings of a dirty bomb in your neighborhood? Physics Today, August 22–23, 2014.
Levi, M. (2007). On nuclear terrorism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University.
Lin, P., & Abney, K. (2011). Robot ethics: The ethical and social implications of robots. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
National Research Council. (2002). Making the nation safer. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Schlosser, E. (2015, 9 March). Break-in at Y-12, New Yorker, 46–69.
Sherman, J. (2005). The drone wars. Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 61(5), 28–37.
Singer, P. (2009). Wired for war: The robotics revolution and conflict in the 21st century. NY: Penguin.
Weiss, L. (2015, March). On fear and nuclear terrorism. Bulletin Atomic Scientists, 71(2), 75–87.
West, G. (2015, May). The sky’s the limit—If the FAA will get out of the way. Foreign Affairs, 94(3), 90–97.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hafemeister, D. (2016). Nuclear Terrorism. In: Nuclear Proliferation and Terrorism in the Post-9/11 World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25367-1_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25367-1_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-25365-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-25367-1
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)