Nuclear Defence

[All Seeing Eye]

I'm sick of hearing about Llamas.

 

[Silvercrest]

Burros, I tell you! We need to launch burros instead!

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Burros may indeed work better. In addition to being easier to locat in the vicinity of the Grand Canyon Llama...errr.. Burrotron, the Burros have the advantage of being stubborn. This could make them resistant to countermeasures on the incoming nukes.

 

[chardman]

the Washington, D.C.–based intelligence-firm, Center For Defense Information (CDI), states that the US government produced a class of nuclear devices in the late 1970s which were small enough to fit into an actual suitcase or briefcase. Likewise, CDI claims that a detailed training replica—with dummy explosives and no fissionable material—was routinely concealed inside a briefcase and hand-carried on domestic airline flights in the early 1980s.

Also

In 1997, former Russian National Security Advisor Alexander Lebed made public claims about lost "suitcase nukes" following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Sure sounds to me like there's ample and reputable evidence that suitcase nukes do exist.

Moreover, it's clear that it's not a new technology at all, and I'm sure that this technology has been refined and further miniaturized in the 25 years or so since the above weapons were introduced.

Moreover, we're talking about devices that were original built in the late 70s and/or early 80s, utilizing the technology of that era. Meaning that they could today be made even by nations that lag behind us technologically by as much as 25 to 30 years.

Suitcase-sized or not, there are nuclear devices that are plenty small enough to smuggle into the country, in any number of ways, and they don't really need to be all that small.

For instance, we haven't had much luck preventing smugglers from bringing massive bales of marijuana into the country on a daily basis, so why think we'd have any better luck stopping someone from smuggling a bale-sized sized nuke into the country, and then hand-delivering it to virtually any address in the nation?

Likewise, a bomb so big that it completely filled a standard shipping container, could be placed on a cargo ship, and shipped to any major port city. It could be detonated while in the harbor, while it was still out of range of radiation detectors and customs inspectors. Port cities tend to be densely populated. Our largest cities tend to be port cities. The death toll from a single "Container Bomb" could easily be in the millions. Can you imagine a coordinated attack with near simultaneous detonation in several major port cities? Including, say, Los Angeles, and NYC? The death toll would probably be in the tens of millions. It would make 9/11 seem like a freakin' picnic, and the perps wouldn't even have to set foot on US soil to do it.

Simply put: Missile defense is of questionable value, because missiles will most likely not be the nuclear delivery system of choice among our most likely adversaries, most of whom are somewhat strapped for cash, and simply can't afford ICBMs in the first place. They can, however afford to lease and ship a cargo containers, and/or secure the services of a skilled smuggler.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

If smuggling suitcase or briefcase sized nukes into the US was so easy it would not surprise me if their are already nukes smuggled into the country and placed in strategic locations by the Russians.

What would stop Russia from smuggling them in?
What would stop the US from smuggling them into Russia?

There could be nukes already hidden in Moscow. There could be nukes already hidden in every US major city or perhaps in the locations of major US bases that could go off at the flick of a switch.

 

[paudemge]

If smuggling suitcase or briefcase sized nukes into the US was so easy it would not surprise me if their are already nukes smuggled into the country and placed in strategic locations by the Russians.

What would stop Russia from smuggling them in?
What would stop the US from smuggling them into Russia?

There could be nukes already hidden in Moscow. There could be nukes already hidden in every US major city or perhaps in the locations of major US bases that could go off at the flick of a switch.

I've read stories that there may be Russian suitcase nukes here already, but I don't remember if it was a reliable story.

The reason you wouldn't bring them in would be because if they where detected and traced back to the country of origin it would probably be considered an act of war.

 

[Alpha_Geek]

A burro could carry 2 of these so-called suitcase nukes like saddlebags!

An anti-nuclear nuclear burro launched by the maglev grand canyon burrotron!

Victory is ours!

 

[Talosian]

The problem with missile defense is that it reduces a major disincentive for waging wars of aggression. To the extent that the U.S. can defend itself and it's allies from potential missile threats from Iran and North Korea, it's that much more likely we would consider bombing or invading those countries. Which is far more likely than the reverse happening.

Frankly, I think the historical record speaks for itself. Nuclear weapons have contributed to world peace over the last sixty five years. There are worse things that could happen than Iran getting the bomb. One of those things is the U.S. developing a comprehensive missile defense system.