The Deterrence of Nuclear Terrorism through an Attribution Capability
Abstract
The state of the world is such that the pace of nuclear weapons proliferation appears to be increasing. The growing number of nuclear states and amount of nuclear material available poses a great challenge to those who would attempt to keep nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists and other nonstate actors. This study examines how the development of a nuclear attribution capability using the tools and methods of nuclear forensics can address that challenge. The prevention of nuclear terrorism is a multi-front battle. One of these fronts is preventing state sponsorship of nuclear terrorism. This can best be accomplished through deterrence policies that threaten severe and credible military action against would-be nuclear sponsors. However, such threats only have meaning if the sponsors are convinced that their participation could be detected. Therefore, there is a need for a credible means to determine the source of nuclear materials from the debris of a nuclear explosion. At present a national nuclear forensics capability is lacking. There is a need for a more robust database of known nuclear materials, as well as for organizational restructuring and equipment development.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA483633
Entities
People
- Larry J. Arbuckle
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School