DIRTY BOMBS
AP Photo
December 1, 2008
"When will Osama test Obama?"
Op-Ed, Chicago Tribune
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School
In the final weeks of the presidential campaign, vice presidential candidate Joe Biden predicted "an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of [Barack Obama]." Belfer Center Director Graham Allison argues that history is on Biden's side. "In the first year of each of the last two presidents' terms," Allison says, "Osama bin Laden has claimed the mantle of 'tester in chief'" Allison suggests three steps President-elect Obama should take to meet this threat.
November 17, 2008
"Global Nuclear Terrorism Risk Still High, Despite Progress; New Administration Must Take Immediate Steps to Reduce Dangers"
Press Release
By Sasha Talcott, Director of Communications and Outreach and Cathy Gwin
The world still faces a "very real" risk that terrorists could get a nuclear bomb, and the Obama Administration must make reducing that risk a top priority of U.S. security policy and diplomacy, according to Securing the Bomb 2008, a report released today.
Petr Pavelicek/IAEA
July 17, 2008
"The Security of Medical and Industrial Radioactive Sources"
Conference Paper
By Tom Bielefeld, Research Fellow, Project on Managing the Atom and Helmut W. Fischer
Recent foiled and successful terrorist plots in Europe and the US (including two cases in the UK and Germany which included plans to design radiological dispersal devices in 2004 and 2005), clearly demonstrate that domestic or locally acting terrorist cells have become an important part of the terrorist threat picture. The uncovered “dirty bomb” – plots involved radioactive material of type or quantity that would not have caused much damage. Still, these observations underscore the necessity to revisit the issue of radioactive sources security in countries which may become the target of a radiological attack. This includes in particular countries in Europe, many of which in the past relied on sophisticated — but safety centred — regulations and functioning oversight institutions.
Summer 2008
"How American Treaty Behavior Threatens National Security"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 1, volume 33
In recent years, American treaty behavior has produced growing concern among both allies and less friendly nations. On such fundamental issues as nuclear proliferation, terrorism, human rights, civil liberties, environmental disasters, and commerce, the United States has generated confusion and anger abroad. Such a climate is not conducive to needed cooperation in the conduct of foreign and security policy. Among U.S. actions that have caused concern are the failure to ratify several treaties; the attachment of reservations, understandings, and declarations before ratification; the failure to support a treaty regime once ratified; and treaty withdrawal. The structural and historical reasons for American treaty behavior are deeply rooted in the United States' system of government and do not merely reflect superpower arrogance.
May 29, 2008
Your Government Failed You: Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters
Book
By Richard Clarke, Faculty Affiliate, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
It's not just Bush and Cheney that are to blame. The system is broken. That's the message in this provocative sequel to Against All Enemies. When Richard Clarke apologized for 9-11, he never thought that there would be so many more government failures in so short a time, but climate change, Katrina, the struggle with al Qaeda, the insecurity in cyberspace, and the failure of homeland security all bespeak a larger problem, a systemic failure. Clarke documents the failures and suggests solutions for making government work better in its most important job, protecting us.
AP Photo
April 15, 2008
Actions Now for the Day After: Findings of the Preventive Defense Day After Project
Testimony
By Dr. Ashton B. Carter, Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project (on leave), Harvard & Stanford Universities
PDP Co-Director Ashton B. Carter testifies before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
NESCA
April 2, 2008
"The Risk Of Nuclear Terrorism — And Next Steps To Reduce The Danger"
Testimony
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom; Co-Principal Investigator, Energy Research, Development, Demonstration, and Deployment (ERD3) Policy Project
Dr. Bunn’s testimony to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the United States Senate urges a global campaign to ensure that every nuclear weapon and every cache of potential nuclear bomb material worldwide is secured against the kinds of threats terrorists and criminals have demonstrated they can pose. Bunn highlights the good and bad news about the risk of nuclear terrorism, and assesses the probability of a nuclear terrorist attack. Bunn then proposes several steps to reduce the risk of a nuclear terrorist attack
November 15, 2007
"Statement on U.S. Capabilities in Nuclear Forensics and Attribution in the Aftermath of a Nuclear or Radiological Attack"
Testimony
By Debra K. Decker, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom
"Even if the U.S. had a foolproof attribution capability, the capability would prove of limited value unless it was decisively framed within a larger policy context. Gaps do exist on the hard science side and many of them have been enumerated by others, however, the policy gap is also large and must be filled."
October 2007
Reducing Nuclear Threats and Preventing Nuclear Terrorism
Report
By Dr. Ashton B. Carter, Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project (on leave), Harvard & Stanford Universities, Dr. William J. Perry, Former Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project, Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government; Faculty Chair, Dubai Initiative, Harvard Kennedy School, Joseph Cirincione, Thomas E. Donilon, Robert Einhorn, Michele A. Flournoy, Former Research Fellow, International Security Program, 1989-1993, Leon Fuerth, Amb. Robert Gallucci, Ernest Moniz, George Perkovich and Amb. Wendy R. Sherman
This National Security Advisory Group report provides a new comprehensive strategy for reducing nuclear threats and preventing nuclear terrorism.
Autumn 2007
The Day After: Action Following a Nuclear Blast in a U.S. City
Journal Article, Washington Quarterly, issue 4, volume 30
By Dr. Ashton B. Carter, Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project (on leave), Harvard & Stanford Universities, Dr. William J. Perry, Former Co-Director, Preventive Defense Project and Dr. Michael M. May
Failure to develop a comprehensive contingency plan, such as the one proposed here, and inform the American public, where appropriate, about its particulars will only serve to amplify the devastating impact of any nuclear attack on a U.S. city
