dirty bomb

A series of Nuclear Security Summits since President Barack Obama took office in 2009 have raised global awareness and tightened security of the world’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium and plutonium. The need for securing stockpiles was highlighted in February after Belgian authorities reported finding a 10-hour surveillance tape during raids linked to the Paris terrorist attacks. The tape showed the home of an official with the Belgian Nuclear Research Center. “Since the end of the Cold War, a variety of terrorist groups have tried to obtain weapons of mass destruction, and the threat has increased in recent years,” explains Richard Weitz, senior fellow and director of the Hudson Institute Center for Political-Military Relations. “The main impediment to nuclear terrorism is not organizing an attack, designing a weapon or recruiting volunteers willing to suffer martyrdom—it is obtaining the nuclear or radiological material needed to make an explosive device.” Russia did not attend the final summit that concluded April 1, and no more summits are planned. Without high profile leadership, Weitz cautions, progress on nuclear security may stall.

Nuclear weapons and dirty bombs are frequently mentioned in the same breath. However, they are two distinct technologies.