A nuclear device assembled by terrorists is likely to have a "relatively low yield," much smaller than the 10-kiloton weapon dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War II, according to the chief nuclear scientist with the U.S. Homeland Security Department. Nevertheless, even a small nuclear explosion would probably be viewed as a "success" by any nonstate actor.
A U.S. Senate panel has called for ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in the current version of the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee said yesterday.
A National Academy of Sciences panel has recommended that Congress withhold production and deployment funding for a Defense Department program to modify Trident missiles to carry conventional warheads.
The U.S. has conducted the first test detonation of a massive bomb designed to crack hardened bunkers, like suspected military facilities in Iran and North Korea.
The United States has made little progress in developing a conventional "prompt global strike" capability, leaving the military few options short of a nuclear attack in certain scenarios, according to the head of U.S. Strategic Command.
While Iran and North Korea remain of the highest concern, the U.S. intelligence community is monitoring a number of additional states for signs of nuclear weapons programs, according to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte.
Iran could produce a nuclear bomb within as little as a year, and its nuclear ambitions are likely to prompt a number of nearby nations to pursue weapons programs of their own, according to James Woolsey, former director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Adequate planning for the aftermath of an act of nuclear terrorism could save hundreds of thousands of lives, but nearly five years after the attacks of Sept. 11 those contingency plans still do not exist, according to a report released last week by the Physicians for Social Responsibility.
The interagency network responsible for defending the United States against nuclear terrorism is compiling a global database of nuclear "fingerprints" in an effort to trace fissile material to a source in the event of a nuclear attack.