Will Terrorists Go Nuclear?

According to a British intelligence report leaked to the press in 2007, al Qaeda operatives are planning a large-scale attack "on par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki." How likely is it that terrorists will develop the capability of such an attack? No one understands the nature of the threat posed by nuclear terrorism better than Brian Michael Jenkins—one of the world's most renowned experts on terrorism. For more than thirty years, he has been advising the military, government, and prestigious think tanks on the dangers of escalating terrorism. Jenkins goes beyond what the experts know about terrorists' efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, nuclear black markets, "suitcase bombs," and mysterious substances like red mercury to examine how terrorists themselves think about such weapons. He offers many insights into such vital questions as: • Do terrorists see nuclear weapons as instruments of coercion or of pure destruction? • Are those we label religious fanatics constrained by political and strategic calculations? • If a nuclear attack took place on American soil, what life-and-death decisions would the president be forced to make? He puts the reader in the position of the president to convey the immediacy of making decisions—and the perilous repercussions of each critical decision. Jenkins notes that terrorists have become increasingly adept at creating an atmosphere of nuclear terror. In fact, al Qaeda may have succeeded in becoming the world's first terrorist nuclear power without possessing a single nuclear weapon. The psychological effects of nuclear terror are fueled by American culture, which churns out novels and movies in which every conceivable horror scenario is played out. Political factions on both the right and the left also view nuclear terrorism as fodder to support their own arguments. In such an atmosphere, it is difficult for the average citizen to separate real from imagined dangers. Jenkins's informed and seasoned analysis will give all Americans a levelheaded understanding of the real situation and teach us how not to yield to nuclear terror.

About the Author :
Brian Michael Jenkins (Los Angeles, CA), one of the world's leading authorities on terrorism, is a senior advisor to the president of the RAND Corporation, director of the National Transportation Security Center of the Mineta Transportation Institute, and a member of the board of Commercial Crime Services of the International Chamber of Commerce. He is frequently quoted in the media, including Time, Newsweek, US News & World Report, the New York Times, Washington Post, and other publications.

Review :
"Virtually every chapter in the book has something of value, usually an argument structured to diminish some part of the case for, or assumption to, the nuclear terrorist threat." --National Interest, December 1, 2008 "Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? (Prometheus, 2008) should be read at the Department of Homeland Security. Author Brian Jenkins contends that we don't need to be consumed by fear of nuke-wielding terrorists. He sensibly notes that if al Qaeda leaders or their ilk had a big bomb they would already have used it, and if they were to buy an old one on the black market, it probably would not work. All that is missing from this comprehensive account is a final chapter entitled, "Trust in God." -- World Magazine, February 28, 2009 "There has never been a greater need for perspective, objectivity, and a coolly rational approach toward the dangers that confront us. Fortunately, Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? Provides that badly needed perspective at a dangerous time." -- Homeland Security Today, February 9, 2009 "Will Terrorists Go Nuclear should be required reading for those interested in understanding this threat and placing it in perspective. The book is a tonic for the scare tactics that often characterize the discussion of the realities and myths of contemporary terrorism." -- Security Management, January 2009 "From political to psychological impact, this offers a reasoned analysis based on known facts and will prove key to any military library." -- California Bookwatch, The Midwest Book Review, January 2009 "Every once in a while, someone comes along in the public arena with the inside knowledge, the relevant experience and a healthy dose of skepticism to put things in perspective. That's what I think Brian Michael Jenkins did in a new book, Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? In the book Jenkins examines the nuclear/terrorist connection from nearly every imaginable angle and with long history to back him up and a skeptic's eye. But what's perhaps most important about this book is that Jenkins takes on the entire culture of fear that into which we've spiraled ourselves. Not only does Jenkins dissect the operations, motives and history of terrorists and nuclear terror, he also examines how we've whipped ourselves into this culture through alarmist news coverage, sensational fiction, and simple paranoid imaginings; not only in our homes and on movie screens but at the highest levels of decision-making... There has never been a greater need for perspective, objectivity and a coolly rational approach toward the dangers that confront us. Fortunately, Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? provides that badly needed perspective at a dangerous time." -- Homeland Security Today, February 9, 2009