Quote Originally Posted by Ron Bennett
Building a nuke is very hard - consider all the trouble various countries, such as Pakistan, have had building nukes that even work...

Thus in large part, the answer is they, as in "terrorists", likely don't have any.

The U.S. is actively pursuing mini-nukes ... that technology will likely be used against us eventually - to date, the lack of materials and difficult of construction have been barriars - mini-nukes making bridging that gap much easier ... the mere technology to build a working nuke with less fissionable material alone greatly lowers the bar; research into using less commonly used, but more widely available, fissionable materials, such as Neptunium and Americium.

Not all hope is lost - not sure how much effort is going into it, but technologies DO exist to detect various types of nuclear activity (not all of it can be contained; even ordinary, well shielded nuclear reacters have some nuclear emissions) from relatively far distances - even part way around the world!

If such detection methods can be developed/utilized in time, it's likely many potential nuclear attacks can be averted ... thing is though, the U.S. govt has a long record of spending little money/effort on prevention ...

Until something bad happens, it's likely the U.S. govt won't do much - hope I'm wrong, but after seeing what's happened since 911, it's not looking promising - many of the terror laws/resources are being used for various non-terrorist related things, such as raiding medical cannabis clubs, etc.

Ron
Howdy Ron,you make some good points with both of your replies in this thread,I'd rather use prevention,than pre-emptive strikes,I hope that no nukes will ever have to be used against any country-ever again..if possible..settin off a nuke,is like opening the gates of Hell..but I'll be danged,if I'm gonna give up my freedom and submit to nuclear black-mail..just so that we don't use nukes for our self-defense and in defense of the Free World. There comes a time,when ya have to fight for your freedom and life,this is one of those times..sadly,many more folks may have to die..before the nay-sayers against the war on terror,finally understand the enemy that we all face.

I don't like the misuse of homeland security,to shut down medical cannabis clubs,and I don't like some of the other things Bush is doing..but at least,he's got the spine and the guts,to stand up against the terrorists..and that's what we need for now..the path of Kerry and France,is the path of surrender,appeasement and defeat,not just for us..but the Free World,as well.

Have a good one !