{ "id": "RL32595", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "number": "RL32595", "active": false, "source": "Federation of American Scientists, EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "Federation of American Scientists", "sourceLink": "https://sgp.fas.org/crs/", "id": "RL32595_FAS", "date": "2006-02-10", "retrieved": "2016-10-20T23:30:06", "title": "Nuclear Terrorism: A Brief Review of Threats and Responses", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20060210_RL32595_627703ea262520029fd0e454398ef780b1bff958.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20060210_RL32595_627703ea262520029fd0e454398ef780b1bff958.html" } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 306410, "date": "2005-02-10", "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:53:27.827029", "title": "Nuclear Terrorism: A Brief Review of Threats and Responses", "summary": "It would be difficult for terrorists to mount a nuclear attack on a U.S. city, but such an attack is\nplausible and would have catastrophic consequences, in one scenario killing over a half-million\npeople and causing damage of over $1 trillion.\n Terrorists or rogue states might acquire a nuclear weapon in several ways. The nations of\ngreatest concern as potential sources of weapons or fissile materials are widely thought to be Russia\nand Pakistan. Russia has many tactical nuclear weapons, which tend to be lower in yield but more\ndispersed and apparently less secure than strategic weapons. It also has much highly enriched\nuranium (HEU) and weapons-grade plutonium, some said to have inadequate security. Many experts\nbelieve that technically sophisticated terrorists could, without state support, fabricate a nuclear bomb\nfrom HEU; opinion is divided on whether terrorists could make a bomb using plutonium. The fear\nregarding Pakistan is that some members of the armed forces might covertly give a weapon to\nterrorists or that, if President Musharraf were overthrown, an Islamic fundamentalist government or\na state of chaos in Pakistan might enable terrorists to obtain a weapon. Terrorists might also obtain\nHEU from the more than 130 research reactors worldwide that use HEU as fuel.\n If terrorists acquired a nuclear weapon, they could try many means to bring it into the United\nStates. This nation has thousands of miles of land and sea borders, as well as several hundred ports\nof entry. Terrorists might smuggle a weapon across lightly-guarded stretches of borders, ship it in\nusing a cargo container, place it in a crude oil tanker, or bring it in using a truck, a boat, or a small\nairplane.\n The architecture of the U.S. response is termed \"layered defense.\" The goal is to try to block\nterrorists at various stages in their attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon and smuggle it into the United\nStates. The underlying concept is that the probability of success is higher if many layers are used\nrather than just one or two. Layers include threat reduction programs in the former Soviet Union,\nefforts to secure HEU worldwide, control of former Soviet and other borders, the Container Security\nInitiative and Proliferation Security Initiative, and U.S. border security. Several approaches underlie\nmultiple layers, such as technology, intelligence, and forensics. \n Many policy options have been proposed to deal with nuclear terrorism, such as developing\n new\ndetection technologies, strengthening U.S. intelligence capability, and improving planning to respond\nto an attack. Congress funds programs to counter nuclear terrorism and holds hearings and\nless-formal briefings on the topic. Several bills have been introduced in the 109th Congress related\nto nuclear terrorism.\n This report is intended for background, not for tracking current developments. It will be\nupdated occasionally. It does not cover radiological terrorism; see CRS Report RS21766 ,\n Radiological Dispersal Devices: Select Issues in Consequence Management, and CRS Report RS21528 , Terrorist 'Dirty Bombs': A Brief Primer.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL32595", "sha1": "0d84edfb5d7742393198c6c914f295cac69be6d7", "filename": "files/20050210_RL32595_0d84edfb5d7742393198c6c914f295cac69be6d7.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL32595", "sha1": "2dbe9435108927180c2c35ce18df29cec759c7c3", "filename": "files/20050210_RL32595_2dbe9435108927180c2c35ce18df29cec759c7c3.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs5827/", "id": "RL32595 2004-09-22", "date": "2004-09-22", "retrieved": "2005-06-11T05:05:21", "title": "Nuclear Terrorism: A Brief Review of Threats and Responses", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20040922_RL32595_357583c058f6b9293166cc7f593c0168f9a76043.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20040922_RL32595_357583c058f6b9293166cc7f593c0168f9a76043.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Defense policy", "name": "Defense policy" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Terrorism - Prevention - U.S.", "name": "Terrorism - Prevention - U.S." }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Nuclear terrorism", "name": "Nuclear terrorism" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "International affairs", "name": "International affairs" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Criminal justice", "name": "Criminal justice" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Foreign Affairs", "Intelligence and National Security", "National Defense" ] }