Nuclear security

Just the threat of a dirty bomb

Following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks by al-Qaeda, Western security officials were seriously concerned by the possibility of terrorists acquiring radioactive material for use in making a radiological, or "dirty" bomb. That security concern was driven by two worrying factors - the potential ease of building such a mass-casualty weapon and the availability of radioactive material throughout much of the former Soviet Union.

In the South Caucasus and Central Asia, for example, there was a fairly extensive legacy of Soviet-era military laboratories and nuclear research facilities. In many cases, these Soviet military facilities had ample supplies of cesium, strontium and other related radiological materials. And more troubling, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of these facilities have been only minimally protected, with meagre security precautions or safeguards.