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From what I gathered on another thread suitcase nukes have to be used within about a six month time period after completion due to the breakdown of their hardware from radiation. Therefore if there are suitcase nukes in the US they would have to be used within about a six month time period unless there was a secret nuke lab somewhere in country where the terrorists could service the weapons which is highly unlikely. So if the terrorists have the weapons at all they would have to use them within a six month time span upon their completion or the more likely scenario IMO is the weapons would have to be currently kept in a sympathetic country's stockpile(Iran, Pakistan, etc.) where they could be continuously serviced until the time that the terrorists would need them.

Also consider the only countries able to produce such tiny warheads are the US, Russia, and probably China and the last miniature warheads known to have been produced were probably done so in late 80s or early 90s by the former Soviet Union. So IF some suitcase nuclear warheads were sold in say 1992 by some rogue scientist in some former Soviet satellite state they would have had to be maintained and serviced a few times per year since even going as far as replacing the nuclear material(which could have been obtained only from a nation-state). Which means the nukes would have to have been immediately(within a few months after being sold) given to scientists with enough knowhow and expertise and equipment to service the weapons and keep them operational. IMO at that time there would have been only two possible countries with enough expertise and equipment to carry out the needed maintenance, China and maybe Pakistan. Of course today there may be a handful more Iran, North Korea, and maybe one or two others. So IMO due to the advanced nature of the weapons there would have to be a nation-state involved with the terrorists in pulling off a nuke attack which means if it were to happen(which I think is unlikely..at least a suitcase bomb) then we would definitely be retaliating in kind to probably more than one nation. Again this is just speculation and I am not an expert.

Again this is just speculation and I am not an expert.

Then you might consider writing a book on the subject

After googling past Paul Willians: the songwriter, musiciam, rock journalist, (probably not the same people), actor, architect(2-US & UK), boxer, Professors of Indain Philosophy, Atmospheric Physics, Computer Science, and the New Age moonbat poet, I eventually found:
Paul Williams, Ph.D. (Clarks Green, PA), is a journalist and author of The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, and the Mafia among other books. Formerly, he served as a consultant for the FBI, editor and publisher of the Metro, and an adjunct professor of Humanities at the University of Scranton.

And I recall seeing that briefcase nuke design in detail in a tinfoil hat magazine. Straight out of Popular Atomics circa 1953.

Backpack nukes? You're both right; the carriers would be Post Toasties long before arrival on target. These clowns are low tech. Consider Sept. 11, 2001 again. 19 commuter air tickets and some box cutters. Consider also their agents, determined, but not too bright. My worries go to our infrastructure, our plants and refineries, our travel and shipping assets. I've read Paul Williams book ,Al Qaeda, and the terrorists stated targets are travel and tourism, shipping and commerce and infrastructure. I don't have a clue as to where he's coming from with this last (for lack of a better word) stuff about tac nukes. It must be book sales ( a journalistic Cassandra ). I do have concerns that the next generation of terrorists may eschew martyrdom for remote (i.e. cell phone)detonations of more difficult to detect munitions. In such a case, our best defense may be telephone pollsters, telemarketers, and the DNC fund raisers.