No protection against nuclear terrorism

As Dr. Graham Allison, former U.S. Assistant Defence Secretary and now Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard, points out in his seminal study "Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe" : "The nuclear weapon that terrorists would use in the first attack on the United States is far more likely to arrive in a cargo container than on the tip of a missile. In March 2001, six months before 9/11, national intelligence officer Robert Walpole testified to a Senate subcommiittee: 'No missile delivery means are less costly, easier to acquire and more reliable and accurate. ... The weapon could have arrived in any of the ways items of similar size and weight reach American cities every day. A football-size lump of HEU [highly-enriched uranium] enclosed in a lead camera bag and packed inside a suitcase would be indistinguishable from any metal object of the same size. Every day, 30,000 trucks, 6,500 rail cars, and 140 ships deliver more than 50,000 cargo containers with more than 500,000 items from around the globe. Any one of these containers could hold something far more deadly. ... A nuclear bomb smuggled into the country inside a ship or a truck and detonated by surprise would leave no return address. In the aftermath of a nuclear attack, America's leaders could find themselves with no idea of where it came from, or how and against whom to respond'.

The so-called missile defence will be completely useless to detect and counter such a nuclear device delivered by a container ship, ready to explode on docking.

The only way to prevent such a catastrophe would be to monitor all cargo ships at their port of origin and intercept them on high seas. Patrol boats and frigates fitted with radioactive sensors (HEU gives off radioactive signatures at close quarter even inside a container) can do a better job by sending search parties to board suspect vessels. Also all shipments entering the United States need to be scanned for radiation. For this, radiation portal detectors must be installed in all ports. As Dr. Allison points out: "Since these portal detectors offer a no intrusive way to scan trucks, rail cars, and cargo containers for radioactive materials, the United States should be hurrying to install them at every major point of entry. ... For perspective, it is useful to note that the layer of defence on which the nation is currently spending more money than on all the others is missile defence, where the latest budget request has topped $10 billion. Against the threat of nuclear terrorism, this initiative is virtually irrelevant. ... This allocation of funds suggests that the Bush administration and Congress do not fully grasp the nature of nuclear terror threat."

Despite repeated warnings before 9/11 by the CIA that Al Qaeda might hijack planes to attack targets inside the US, both Clinton and Bush administrations neglected the airport security and thousands of New Yorkers paid with their lives. Now the Bush administration is neglecting the port security and millions of New Yorkers may pay with their lives.

The Bush administration prides itself on its willingness to "pull the trigger" on threats to America, but as Mr. Allison writes, this is of little avail if "the shooter does not know where to aim." America's formidable military might did not protect it from 9/11, and its formidable nuclear arsenal might not protect it from any nuclear 9/11.