Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe

by Graham T. Allison

Book Overview

"Allison's comprehensive but accessible treatment of this vital subject is a major contribution to public understanding." -The New York Times Book Review Americans in the twenty-first century are... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805076514
• ISBN13: 9780805076516
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Times Books
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Informative, interesting and hair-raising...

There are very few books I have read which have actually changed the way I live my life. This book is one of them. With solid facts, talented writing and attention to a singe topic, Graham Allison paints a vision of a possible future in which nuclear terrorism will become a part of American history. Beginning with a chilling look at the effects of a 10 kiloton nuclear weapon being detonated in several American cities, Mr. Allison aims have the reader actually wrap his head around the idea of how life in our country would be radically altered if Al Qaeda or other terrorists are able to carry out their sworn vow to kill 4 million Americans. However, things don't have to be as bad as they could be. Mr. Allison establishes a very coherent plan that would help minimize the risk of letting terrorists get their hands on one of these weapons. As one who works in Washington and dabbles in homeland security, I have personally vowed to spread the word of warning to the establishment based on this wake up call. I have also made it a priority to maintain adequate food storage and water supplies at my home outside of Washington - just in case. Whether you are new to this subject or an old national security pro, "Nuclear Terrorism : The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe" is a compelling read that will set off alarm bells among its readers, and will hopefully lead us to be more vigilant in seeing that our government does everything it can to prevent this kind of attack. Compared with similar books, such as Paul Williams' "Osama's Revenge," Graham Allison's work is simply a better read. The writing is more intelligent, and the book actually presents a solution rather than just paraphrasing the works of others. I would highly recommend this book.

Could It Happen?

Nearly everyone has heard of rumors of nuclear weapons missing from the arsenal of the former Soviet Union, and perhaps in the hands of terrorists, or soon to be. This book covers this and many other aspects of nuclear terrorism. In addition, author Graham Allison, a former assistant secretary of defense for policy and plans, promotes in this book a comprehensive program to stop nuclear proliferation, seemingly well thought out. The war on terror and the dangers of nuclear terrorism is given much attention in this book. Secretary of defense Rumsfeld is quoted as worried that we may be producing more terrorists than we are eliminating, in the war in Iraq. Allison, claiming our arrogant foreign policy is causing great harm in our international standing, has a right to be concerned. Record numbers of people in other countries distrust the United States, due largely to our mostly unilateral war in Iraq, and they wonder what we may attack next. Allison calls for the United States to develop and execute a 'humble foreign policy' and says the current Bush administration is doing quite the opposite. After reading this book, and other items, I am convinced we have literally made billions of people across the globe distrustful of the United States, and this does impact the war on terrorism. If we are not careful we will be the new 'evil empire' in the eyes of the world, if not already there. According to Allison, not only was the war in Iraq a waste, no WMDs were found, but it detracts from the war on terrorism, namely nuclear terrorism. Graham Allison goes into all of this in minute detail. In the last parts of the book Allison explains a proposed international program to reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism, interesting reading.

Absolutely essential reading...

Graham Allison is one of America's leading experts on nuclear weapons and national security. He has served in the Department of Defense as assistant secretary of defense for policy and plans, is the director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and a professor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In other words, when this man speaks and writes on an issue where he has the expertise, it is prudent, very prudent, to pay attention to what he has to say. And he has a lot to say in his new book entitled "Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe." I am a great fan of suspense thrillers and novels about spies, espionage, and international crises and disasters. How I wish that Allison's book was just another of my exciting leisure-time fictional entertainments! But, unfortunately, this book is nonfiction: a serious, indeed extremely serious, and sober, discussion of the threat we face called "nuclear terrorism." For example, one "dirty bomb," which simply consists of conventional explosives dispersing radioactive materials, exploded in downtown Manhattan, would make the island uninhabitable for years and result in many thousands of deaths from the immediate blast, from radiation poisoning over time, and from the immediate panic it would cause at the outset. And note: these radioactive materials are readily available in many medical and industrial facilities and, of course, explosives are so easy to obtain that they often fall into the hands of knowledgeable teenagers. Scary? Of course. But that's not the worst possibility that Allison discusses in his book. Just suppose the bomb is a ten-kiloton nuclear weapon and it is smuggled into New York City, not all that difficult to do since not every package container or usable vehicle can be searched or inspected. On the other hand, maybe it's already there, smuggled in long before this, just waiting to be activated. What would happen if it was detonated? Well, according to Allison, if the bomb were set off in Times Square, up to a million people would probably die instantly. Thousands upon thousands more would be killed by collapsing buildings, fires, and the effects of radiation. Life and living, as New Yorkers have known it, would be changed forever in a matter of milliseconds. If you think it would be too difficult for a terrorist group to build a nuclear weapon, think again. According to Allison, the only real difficulty to creating a nuclear weapon is getting one's hands on the fissionable material necessary to produce the nuclear explosion. This material is highly enriched uranium (HEU) or plutonium. Think that it's almost impossible for a would-be terrorist to obtain such material? Consider these facts the author has uncovered: In 1993, a Russian Navy captain entered a shipyard through an unguarded gate, broke into a building used to store nuclear submarine fuel, and stole three pieces of reactor core containing about ten pounds o

Call to Action

September 11 provided us with the most visible evidence to date that there are those who wish to annihilate the United States. For those knowledgeable to this issue, this event was merely the public's first awakening to this issue. Why? Because of the catastrophic nature of the incident. The same building (World Trade Center) was victimized just a few years prior in what amounted to be "unsuccessful" and forgotten soon thereafter. If we carry this line of thinking forward, Al Queda will look to other sensational events to awaken us to their Jihad. There is no bigger mechanism available than the use of nuclear terrorism. Why this has not yet caught the attention of our governmental leaders and that of every other country is unimaginable. Graham Allison's book goes a long way in educating us on the importance of this issue. After reading this book you will feel a responsibility to thrust this issue on the national stage and to make sure ever person understands the salient points made in this book. Unless we act now the verdict is clear: it is not if it will happen, it is when. Read this book and make sure others do the same.

nuclear terrorism--a medical viewpoint

I am an emergency room RN and saw one of my patients reading this book so intently we could hardly get him to put it down for an x-ray. I was intrigued by what he told me, so I bought a copy the next day. It is an amazing story and one that all Americans should be aware of. Most remarkable, however, is the description of how an attack can be prevented/stopped. Not with some pie-in-the-sky solution but rather with very specific actions the government could take. Again, I urge all Americans to read this book and then write to their congressmen about it. As an ER nurse with twenty five years experience, I can tell you that should a nuclear attack of any magnitude occur there will not be much we can do for you. Now is the time to stop that possibility and Dr.Allison's book gives us guidelines to do so.