"There was Congressional testimony several years back that Russia designed these nuclear suitcases for use by GRU sleeper agents in foreign countries. The suitcases were taken out and buried in certain locations by a select group of agents and then directions on retreiving them could be sent to the sleeper agents if the need arose."
Such tall tales make for great Hollywood stories, but there is no magic to wish away the half-life of a decaying radioactive isotope. Your atomic trigger isotope decays in less than 90 days. Your tritium booster isotope is pretty much useless after about 8 years, and your electronics are getting fried by being near radioactive fissionable materials (as does the convention explosives involved). Rust and tiny micro-vibrations are also deal-killers for getting a BOOM.
See Post #95. Lets cut out some urban legends...
See Post #95. Lets cut out some urban legends... And lots of solid information, such as Are Suitcase Bombs Possible? and Fission Weapon Designs serve well to debunk reams of feel-good whistlling-past-the-graveyard happytalk.
All is not well, and recognition of this reality is not restricted to "chicken little"/"the sky is falling!" types.
You seem deeply vested in the idea that it is impossible for crude nuclear weapons to be constructed and sucessfully deployed.
I don't know why. I do find it disconcerting, however, and I hope that people don't accept your say-so as gospel. There is plenty of solid information available that puts the lie to the "don't worry, be happy" comfortspeak.
For those who still persist in the belief that it's only the uninformed and ignorant who would even consider the possiblity of nuclear-armed terrorists, I leave you with this excerpt from Christopher Hitchens' too-quickly forgotten article, "The night of the weak knees":
The night of the weak knees
Christopher Hitchens
Wednesday December 5, 2001
The Guardian
Four weekends ago, I really did receive two Friday-night telephone calls from well-positioned Washingtonians. "Leave now," they told me. "There's a tactical nuke on the loose, and it's headed for DC." One of these callers was in a position to know, and the other was in a position where he was actually paid to know. Calls were being placed to an immediate circle of friends to which, in theory, I was flattered to belong. Those who were calling were also leaving - while not informing the rest of the citizens. Why, then, did I resolve to stay? It wasn't just British pluck, strong as that naturally is. I thought, first, that it was unlikely that al-Qaida, if it had the bomb, would have conducted a petty dress rehearsal with United Airlines. I thought, second, that the detonation of a "use it or lose it" freelance nuke could not be predicted for any given weekend. And I thought, third, that I would feel a colossal cretin if I fled and then came slithering back on Monday morning (especially if the nuclear holocaust was timed for Monday's rush hour after all). In the end, I did take the family on a pre-arranged trip to Gettysburg, leaving late and returning early. Officially, nobody now remembers this night of the weak knees. It rated a brief and embarrassed mention in Hugh Sidey's Time column, and that was it. But I shall not forget how some of those in supposed authority decided that the end had come, and made it a point to keep it to themselves and their immediate friends, perhaps to stop the crowding of the roads. That's how it will be on the day of Armageddon, and that's why the citizen should always plan to outlive the state, rather than the other way round.