Will Terrorists Go Nuclear?

by Brian Michael Jenkins, Sen. Gary Hart (Foreword), Gov. James Gilmore (Introduction)

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 • 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.

464 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2008

Reviews

[Sophie Rice · Rating 2 out of 5]

I get that this book was written in 2008 so it makes sense so it wouldn't have the most cutting edge takes on international affairs and counterterrorism though but still, I expect a bit better. I mean even the title of the book "Will Terrorists Go Nuclear?" is such a non-descript, boring, and recycled fear-mongering question. I could have answered this in about two seconds because the answer is nobody knows and we will only know after it happens. There was some interesting discussion about potential terrorist negotiation positions and about the problem it posses to prove that these groups have nuclear capabilities.

Maybe the bigger overarching issue is that all international affairs books are so intellectually bankrupt they can't look beyond mid-range theories and the need to cater to a large public audience. There are some good historic examples that are interesting but the overall trajectory of this book is so dull that I'm not convinced there was a need to write 300+ pages on this. Sorry Jenkins but given you spent five years in analysis I expect a bit better, even from a book from 2008.