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DEL.ICIO.USA guide to the prevention of nuclear terrorism
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This afternoon, the Nuclear Threat Initiative published a thick to-do list for the Barack Obama administration — a guide, if you will, to avoiding the holocaust of nuclear terrorism.
NTI is the group co-chaired by CNN founder Ted Turner and former Georgia senator Sam Nunn, who is now an informal advisor to the Obama transition team. Which means Nunn’s priorities could reflect those of the new president. Or vice versa.
You can click here to read an 18-page executive summary of “Securing the Bomb 2008.” Or read the entire report on the NTI web site. But don’t read either in bed. You’ll never sleep again.
Mundane things first: The report notes the failure of the Bush administration to assign a specific individual in the White House to address nuclear terrorism.
“The president who takes office in January 2009 should appoint a senior White House official who has the president’s ear — probably a deputy national security advisor, though the title would depend on the person and the structure of the [National Security Council],” the report recommends.
That person would not be Nunn, we’re assured.
Now for the stuff of night sweats. These are just a few excerpts:
— [The next president] “should intensify programs to work with countries around the world to build strong security cultures, putting an end to staff propping open security doors for convenience or guards patrolling with no ammunition in their guns.” Who knew that nuclear sites and shopping malls used the same security service?
— “The best chances to stop [a nuclear terrorist plot against the U.S.] lie not in exotic new detection technologies but in a broad counter-terrorist effort, ranging from intelligence and other operations to target high-capability terrorist groups to addressing the anti-American hatred that makes recruiting and fund-raising easier, and makes it more difficult for other governments to cooperate with the United States.
“In particular, the United States should work with governments and non-government institutions in the Islamic world to build a consensus that slaughter on a nuclear scale is profoundly wrong under Islamic laws and traditions (and those of other faiths)….”
— “The United States should also put in place the best practicable means for identifying the source of any nuclear attack — including not just nuclear forensics but also traditional intelligence and law enforcement means — and announce that the United States will treat any terrorist nuclear attack using material consciously provided by a state as an attack by that state, and will respond accordingly…..Policymakers should understand, however, that nuclear material has no DNA that can provide an absolute match.”
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Comments
By MrLiberty
November 18, 2008 4:11 PM | Link to this
The best thing the US could do to prevent a future terrorist attack of a nuclear or any nature would be to stop p** everyone in the world off.
In addition to the 170+ bases around the world, we have troops stationed there, use terrorist techniques and voter manipulation techniques to influence elections, start coups, and otherwise impact the day to day lives and liberty of billions of innocent people.
We talk of sovereignty and then ignore our own words.
People all around the world hate us for very good reasons. Those who would denounce my comments as untrue are just uneducated about what their government does in their name. Those who would condemn my criticism as un-american or unwarranted are as guilty as our leaders in bringing wrath upon our shores.
We invite trouble by being unable to uphold the values we wish others to embrace. We disgrace our founders and all who have worked and died for our freedoms with the behavior we allow our elected officials to engage in.
We will get utopia by becoming non-interventionist? Likely not, but we can be sure that our antagonism will get us far more animosity than our friendship and trade.
By Reagan
November 18, 2008 5:06 PM | Link to this
MrLiberty is a lib baby living in dreamland.
By ram
December 20, 2008 2:05 PM | Link to this
hh