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Prometheus Books
September 2008
On Sale: September 23, 2008
457 pages
ISBN: 1591026563
EAN: 9781591026563
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Foreword by Sen. Gary Hart, Co-Chair, Commission on
National Security
Preface by Thomas C. Schelling, Nobel Laureate
Introduction by Gov. James Gilmore, Chair, Advisory Panel
on Weapons of Mass Destruction 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.
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