Nuclear Terrorism as Theater

The article below consists of a Q/A session with an Terrorism expert from the Rand Corporation. In case you don't know, Rand does an excellent job of tracking and cataloging threats, terror organizations, and outcomes worldwide.

Expert says nuclear terrorism is not a major threat (10/20/08) -- www.GovernmentExecutive.com

A couple of key points to take away from this article.

"We talk about the next catastrophic attack not as a matter of "if" but "when," implying that it's unavoidable"

"Instead of spreading fear, our leaders should speak to the American traditions of courage, self-reliance, and resiliency. Heaven forbid that an act of nuclear terrorism ever actually occurs, but if it does, we'll get through it."

Read the article, draw your own conclusions. Many folks don't necessarily agree, but remember this: One goal of terrorism is to create fear and insecurity. Even the *thought* of a terrorist organization with a nuke achieves this goal.