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STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE R. JAMES WOOLSEY, DIRECTOR OF CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE in the House of Representatives - Monday, June 27, 1994
"There are, however, numerous cases in which low-enriched uranium, medical and other radioactive isotopes, and scam materials, notably 'red mercury' and osmium, have been offered for sale on the black market. Press reports routinely assert that Russian organized crime groups are intimately involved in some of these activities."

One senior official said in 1996 that in the last 10 years, Iraq had received over 200 offers of everything from red mercury to fissile material to complete nuclear weapons. He insisted that Iraq had turned down every offer.

THE SEARCH FOR RED MERCURY

Archive

Cohen, Sam. "The Coming Neutron Bomb Threat." Wall Street Journal, 15 May 1996, A14. Possible use of nuclear fusion byproduct by terrorists.

Edwards, Rob. "Cherry Red and Very Dangerous." New Scientist, 29 April 1995, 4-5. Discusses the dangers of "red mercury," a powerful chemical explosive.

Seifritz, W. "Spekulationen um Rotes Quecksilber RM 20/20." [Speculations about Red Mercury RM 20/20] ATW, Atomwirtschaft, Atomtechnik (August-September 1994), 585- 88.

"Black Holes of Red Mercury." Moscow News, 13 August 1993, 11.

Badolato, Edward V. and Dale Andrade. "Red Mercury: Hoax or the Ultimate Terrorist Weapon?" Counterterrorism and Security (Spring 1996), 18-20.

"Red Mercury: Is There a Pure-fusion Bomb for Sale?" International Defense Review (June 1994), 79-81.

NETHERLANDS: REAL "RED MERCURY" ON THE MARKET & NO BUYERS
On 7 September in the Dutch daily "NRC Handelsblad", a page-long article, described how a Rotterdam company (the name of which was not mentioned for security reasons) has 100 to 200 kilos of so-called "red mercury" (HG2SB2O7, mercury-antimony- oxide) for sale, probably the largest quantity available in the world. The article discusses the controversy over the material, with positions and sources, and describes the market and the "strange" company, a subsidiary of the former Soviet state-controlled export company Molibden based in Moscow. Last year, after the Dutch company advertised the product in "Metal Bulletin," a Channel Four Dutch film crew tried in vain to get access to it. It has apparently still not been sold. The company's director has shown the shipment to reporter Karel Knip and claimed to have received it from Russia in 1992. He even gave a sample to the journalist, who had it examined. The Reactor Institute of Delft University believes that it is indeed "the real stuff."

according to the Energy Department's own figures, the country's nuclear facilities have lost track of more than 5,000 pounds—two and a half tons—of plutonium. At Rocky Flats alone, officials acknowledge, some 2,400 pounds of plutonium is unaccounted for, though the plant's overall security rating today is "satisfactory."

You provide a litany of links about "red mercury." But nowhere do you or any of your links explain how this substance does what it's alleged to do (set off a thermonuclear reaction using only chemical energy).

OK, that's pretty wierd that Woolsey should mention "red mercury." in testimony if it is a fraud. Still, he makes mantion of it in connection with radiological "junk," not fissile material or anything that would enhance a nuclear bomb. I suspect "red mercury" is radwaste Russian scam artists are trying to sell as if it were really valuable.