Tiny Nukes Pose Big Threat

Could Terrorists Have Cold War Era Portable Nuclear Weapons?

October 9, 2001
By Peter Barnes

W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 9 — As the US ramps up its intelligence efforts as part of the war on terrorism, many security analysts worry that terrorists might have tiny nuclear weapons with enough explosive power to devastate a city.

Since the September 11 attacks, US officials have been warning that chief terrorism suspect Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda network would likely try again to target the United States and its facilities abroad.

"You can speak about a 100 percent chance," one US intelligence official told the Reuters news service Friday. "The probability is high that there will be more terrorist attacks, regardless of any retaliatory action on the part of the United States."

Among the scenarios experts worry about: a nuclear attack staged not with missiles launched from foreign nations, but with nuclear weapons contained in suitcase-sized containers.


Cold War Era Munitions

Created by both the United States and the Soviets during the Cold War, such suitcase nukes have enough explosive power to destroy the area around the White House in Washington or the New York Stock Exchange in lower Manhattan, spreading radioactive fallout over miles.

The US Defense Department made its own version of the suitcase nukes — called atomic demolition munitions, or atomic land mines — between the 1960s and the 1980s, when it phased the weapons out because of arms control agreements. One version, known as the Special Atomic Demolition Munition, actually came housed in a suitcase and weighed less than 163 pounds.

The Soviet Union also made the suitcase nuclear devices, which were to be used by Soviet special forces in sabotage and demolition missions. They reportedly did not come equipped with standard safety systems to prevent unauthorized demolition.


Terrorists Attempt to Buy Nukes

In 1997, a Soviet general declared that dozens of them were missing. He later recanted his statement, but intelligence analysts worry that Soviet nukes may end up in the hands of terrorists like Bin Laden.

In recent days, commentators have talked about suitcase nukes hypothetically, but associates of Bin Laden reportedly tried to acquire nuclear material in the 1990s, and analysts say small nuclear devices are a real terrorist threat.

"Osama Bin Laden has been in contact with various sources, including Russian Mafia groups, in an attempt to obtain radiological materials, perhaps tactical nuclear weapons," said former FBI investigator Oliver Revell.


Devastating Potential

If such a device were detonated in a US city, the impact could be devastating, said Robert Sherman of the Federation of American Scientists.

"If it's detonated on the surface, which it presumably would be, we're looking at severe destruction of a couple of blocks, with radioactive fallout that could be a significant problem for a fairly significant distance downwind," Sherman said.

"It doesn't necessarily have to be in … a suitcase or a backpack, and it is very unlikely to be that way," he said. "Much more likely is a bomb that's in a car, or a truck, or in the hold of a ship, or in the cargo section of an airplane."

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