Posted on 01/08/2006 9:16:44 AM PST by DJ Taylor
Americans concerned about a possible terrorist attack using nuclear weapons can take solace in this fact: The U.S. is much better prepared to prevent such an attack than many believe.
That's the finding of an intensive probe by best-selling author Kenneth R. Timmerman that appears in the December issue of NewsMax Magazine "Avoiding Nuclear D-Day." [For more info our FREE offer - Go Here Now.]
Here are just a few of the revelations contained in Timmerman's exclusive report:
Exactly one month after 9/11, CIA Director George Tenet told the White House that terrorists had reportedly smuggled a 10-kiloton nuclear warhead into the Port of New York, hidden inside a cargo container. The alarm set off a flurry of activity by Customs officials. They first used a radiation detection device, then a truck-mounted Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System, which uses gamma rays to produce a density map of the cargo packed inside containers.
The result: Officials were able to determine that there was nothing in the container other than what was supposed to be there.
The Automated Commercial System (ACS), a computer tracking system first set up in the 1980s and upgraded regularly since then, allows Customs officials to locate a suspect shipping container at a port within minutes. The officials can see who shipped the container, what it is supposed to contain and, most importantly, where it is at any given moment.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection have installed 600 Radiation Portal Monitors at major U.S. entry points. Now 90 percent of tractor-trailers coming in from Canada pass through these highly sensitive detectors, as do 80 percent of passenger vehicles. The devices - which can "see" through 16 inches of solid steel - reveal the presence of radiological material used to construct a dirty bomb or a nuclear device itself.
The so-called "nuclear suitcase weapon" is a myth. A former Soviet general declared in 1997 that the U.S.S.R. had produced more than 100 suitcase-size nuclear bombs but could account for only 48 of them.
But a new book discloses that while the Soviets did produce nuclear mines, they were much larger and could not be transported by one person.
Thanks to the Container Security Initiative, announced in January 2002, Customs and Border Protection now has agreements with 38 of the world's largest ports to inspect cargo overseas, with the help of local Customs officials, before it ever leaves port.
In late 2001, U.S. intelligence picked up information that terrorists carrying heavy duffel bags had taken over a cargo vessel headed for New York and could be carrying a nuclear weapon. The U.S. Coast Guard quickly organized a midnight boarding party, sending out about two dozen armed men on a 40-foot patrol boat.
The suspect vessel was intercepted 25 miles out at sea, and a search of the ship turned up nothing suspicious. It was one more successful test of the professionalism of America's homefront defenders.
Why do we keep doing this? Now terrorists know that they must shield their nuclear devices with at least 17 inches of steel.
They still have the border of Mexico.
or about 2" of a lead box.
**Why do we keep doing this? Now terrorists know that they must shield their nuclear devices with at least 17 inches of steel.**
Nice of the press to let them know that. Also, I am wondering if we heard about the duffle bag nuke play by Bush spying on "American citizens." If the press can stop the information gained by spying and let the "insurgents" know they need 17 inches of steel to smuggle nukes successfully, the liberal press has done their job for the day. Everybody's got a job to do...
BS
We had nuclear rounds for the 155mm cannon as early as the 70s. One man could carry the projectile and load it into the gun.
Does anyone really think the Soviets were 30 years behind us in this?
Nothing to see here folks, situation normal, just move along.
So9
Actually, yes, I do think they were. They might have made bombs with bigger yields, but they were terrible at miniaturization.
It was no secret that U.S. Army Special Forces Special Atomic Demolitions (SADM) teams were armed with man portable nuclear devices during the Cold War, and it scared the crap out of the Soviets. These SADM devices were one of the first nuclear weapons that the Soviets wanted to discuss during their SALT talks with President Reagan.
Because a few in the media really want something bad to happen on Bush's watch to prove that all of his efforts were worthless.
MSM Vermin.
Plenty of disinformation, salted with fallacies. Why have there been so many leaks of state secrets lately, every one designed to shock and set political currents in motion?
I think the point is that anything that shows up with the density of 16" of steel is suspect in the first place - and would be inspected.
There are very few things that are 16" thick of solid steel - a Caterpillar D-8 maybe, but they aren't shipped in containers. A container that was made of 17" solid steel would probably be too heavy to load with normal container handling equipment.
Uranium and plutonium are extremely dense....chunks of this stuff in a container would show up as the densest.
I'd be more worried about the 10% that isn't tested than the possibility of a 17" steel container.
L
And Al Qanada, which seems to have no qualms about smuggling jihadists into the US.
"They still have the border of Mexico."
Not to mention thousands of miles of east/west coast shoreline and the thousands of miles of Canadian-US border.
This device need not necessarily sail into a large port. If the mooselims had one, they would stop at nothing to smuggle it in anywhere they could.
--I'd sure want that guy on my side---
The M-60 Tank led with 11 inches of steel.
16 inches: just about enough if I go into battle.
Nobody sneaks across the Mexican border. Ever.
We had backpack nukes and wargamed them when I was active.
It doesn't have to come in in a cargo container either.
Sailboats in the 35-foot & above class routinely cross both the Atlantic and Pacific. There are a lot more of these than most people think.
I can think of numerous ways for a boat of this class to smuggle 1000-2000 pounds in the US.
Well OK. But technical difficulties fitting the engine into available space make it necessary for you to pedal the thing with your feet, ala Fred Flintstone.
Correct
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