Radiological Dispersal Device Primer: From a Terrorist's Perspective - Dirty Bomb, Nuclear Radioactive Material Sources and Security, Biological and Psychological Impact, Target Selection

This excellent report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. Radiological weapons are a growing threat within the United States. Radiological Dispersal Devices (RDDs), or more commonly referred to as "dirty bombs", offer terrorists a potential means to inflict major damage to the American economy and psyche. A RDD is defined as a weapon designed to disperse radioactive material over an area using either conventional explosives or more covert dispersion methods such as air currents. A RDD is considered by many experts to be a weapon of choice in that it offers the potential for 9/11-type returns for the relatively low-tech knowledge required to construct and deploy the weapon.

U.S. local, state and federal governments appear to agree based on efforts to fund and deploy radiation detection equipment, develop/implement consequence management plans and conduct large scale RDD exercises - all in 2007. Congressional oversight is also higher. Multiple Government Accountability Office reports pertaining to the RDD threat were published in 2007. While an abundance of public information covering RDDs is helpful to educate the public, this information is also available to a terrorist intent on attacking the U.S. homeland.

The United States just witnessed the sixth anniversary since the al Qaeda terrorist network executed its 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Its objective was to inflict great American loss of life and economic destruction. The objective was achieved -2,981 lives lost, $27.2 billion in direct costs, and over $500 billion in indirect costs.3 The key question is whether al Qaeda (or any other terrorist network) is planning additional attacks on U.S. soil and if so, what will be its method and where will it attack?

Introduction * Understanding the Basics * Radiation 101 * Radioactive Material Sources * Security * Radiation Effects * Historical Example * Biological Impact * Psychological Impact * Economic Impact * Homeland Security * U.S. Terrorism Prevention Strategy * U.S. Preparedness / Interagency Response * New York City: Leading the Way * Vulnerabilities * Attack Planning * Step 1: Radiation Source Selection * Step 2: Target Selection * Step 3: Selecting the Method of Attack * Recommendations * Conclusion * Bibliography