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Radiological Weapons: U.S. Uncertain of “Dirty Bomb” Threat In response to reports that bin Laden may be trying to build a “dirty bomb” (see GSN, Dec. 4), U.S. officials yesterday said they had no specific knowledge of Osama bin Laden’s capabilities. “I do not know of certain knowledge precisely what kinds of capabilities [bin Laden] may have actually developed and weaponized and have available to him,” U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said during a press briefing yesterday (U.S. State Department transcript, Dec. 4). Rumsfeld said it is well known that terrorist groups, such as al-Qaeda, have tried to obtain weapons of mass destruction, and that several states known to support terrorism are developing weapons of mass destruction. “The relationship between those countries and the terrorist networks, including al-Qaeda, is close and intimate,” Rumsfeld said during an interview with CBS anchor Dan Rather. “So it ought not to be a surprise for anyone to realize that terrorists who are willing to kill thousands of Americans are perfectly willing to seek out, acquire and try to use weapons of mass destruction” (U.S. Defense Department transcript, Dec. 4). U.S. Cities’ Response In the wake of the recently issued terrorist threat warning (see GSN, Dec. 4) and of reports that bin Laden is working on radiological weapon, several U.S. mayors yesterday said they were working to prepare their cities for a potential attack. In Denver, hospitals have set up backup phone systems, additional decontamination units and set aside extra beds for “catastrophic use,” said Denver Mayor Wellington Webb. Los Angeles authorities have increased security in the city’s transportation infrastructure and at the water supply, Los Angles Mayor James Hahn said. “No one could have predicted the two aircraft flying into the World Trade Center. I mean, we prepare for the worst,” said Webb. “But at the same time, we want to be prepared, but we cannot live our lives in terms of thinking that there’s a bomb behind every tree, and just live in a mushroom” (CNN, Dec. 4). Following in Other Terrorists’ Footsteps Al-Qaeda is not the only terrorist group to try to obtain materials for a nuclear or radiological weapon. The Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, responsible for a deadly sarin attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995, also has tried to obtain nuclear and radioactive materials, the Christian Science Monitor reported. During the 1990s, the cult purchased land in Australia with which it hoped to mine uranium for enrichment, according to the Monitor. Aum also sought recruits from Russian nuclear design plants and student physicists from Moscow State University. In 1993, members of the cult tried to set up a meeting with Russia’s then-Energy Minister Viktor Mikhailov for the stated purpose of buying a nuclear warhead, the Monitor reported. The request for the meeting was denied (Peter Grier, Christian Science Monitor, Dec. 5). How Bad Would It Be? The effects of a “dirty bomb” would not come close to equaling the destruction caused by a nuclear bomb, according to experts. “The nuclear device is a weapon of mass destruction,” said Los Alamos National Laboratory former Director Siegfried Hecker. “Dirty bombs are weapons of mass disruption, in terms of frightening people, the cleanup and the potential economic consequences.” The damage caused by a dirty bomb may be relatively light, experts said. The contamination caused by the detonation of a bomb would likely spread across “only a small area of a few city blocks,” according to the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War argued that a bomb using plutonium would likely have no immediate health effects, and while it could increase rates of cancer, the effects “would probably not be dramatic.” The immediate reaction the use of a dirty bomb would cause would be to create the same level of fear as biological or chemical weapons attack, according to the Washington Post. In that situation, a dirty bomb “would have an instant terrorist effect,” Hecker said (Guy Gugliotta, Washington Post, Dec. 5).
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