Things that make you go "Hmmm"

[vaskidmark]

http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2010/12/crash-program.html

Less than two weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration took the unusual step of labeling CBLB502 as an "orphan drug," reserved for medications used to treat rare diseases and conditions. The orphan drug designation came only four months after the FDA granted "fast track" status for CBLB502, accelerating its development and potential introduction.

The rush to get the drug on the market raises a rather obvious question. The threat of a nuclear or radiological attack by terrorists has existed for more than a decade. If their capabilities in those areas have remained rather crude, why expedite production and introduction of CBLB502? Why not spend the money on more pressing homeland security needs?


The answer can probably be told by intelligence dispatches that haven't been featured in WikiLeaks. Based on the recent spate of CBRN exercises (and the accelerated introduction of CBLB502), it appears the feds are more concerned than ever about the possibility of a terrorist attack, using a nuclear bomb or a radiological device. And, since the drug is used for treatment after radiation exposure, the government isn't taking any chances. Doses of CBLB502 will be administered to military personnel responding to a nuclear or radiological attack, allowing them to do their job in the days following the catastrophe.

So, just how serious a threat is a dirty bomb or nuke?  And will it come from Al Queda or the Norks?

With ground-level detonations of a dirty bomb having more of a limited territory-denying capability than mass area devestation, and real nukes being somewhat less effective at ground level than if air-bursted, there are a lot of questions with darned few answers.  About the only thing that makes sense was the comment about TSA groping grannies instead of some serious border sealing (which is nigh onto unpossible anyhoo).

stay safe.

[AJ Dual]

If they get their hands on Cobalt 60 or certain Cesium isotopes from a radiation therapy/cancer machine, or a food irriadiation/medical sterilization plant, and get good dispersal, it'll be nasty.

IIRC, there was a story about when the Taliban finally had full control of Kabul, and was starting to work with AlQueida/OBL, they had officials go through the hospital looking for any useful labs or assets for bio-terror etc. The hospital being impoverished as you might expect didn't have much they could use.

However, there were several Soviet radio-therapy machines, each with a big can of C60 pellets in it. The doctors just lied and said they were old x-ray machines that had broken down and they had no parts to fix them. Fortunately, most of the Taliban officials were pretty ignorant people, having not done much but get buggered by their elders as boys, and study the Koran and other fundamentalist writings as their "education".

A few years back in Brazil, people just being poor, uneducated, and foolish nearly had the same impact as a dirty bomb.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident

Closer to home: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,955289,00.html

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

And will it come from Al Queda or the Norks?


why limit the options?

[vaskidmark]

And will it come from Al Queda or the Norks?


why limit the options?

So give with your alternative options/picks.

Do you have odds for each of your choices?

stay safe.

[AJ Dual]

And will it come from Al Queda or the Norks?


why limit the options?

Pfft. Tea Party/Christians/White Males/Veterans/Gun Owners.

DUH.  

[Waitone]

If they get their hands on Cobalt 60 or certain Cesium isotopes from a radiation therapy/cancer machine, or a food irriadiation/medical sterilization plant, and get good dispersal, it'll be nasty.

Transporting that crap around is complicated and just chocked full of uncertainty the least of which is extensive radiation monitoring in likely targets. 

The easiest way to conduct a radiological hit on the US is to not use nasty radioisotopes but rather use the media.  You don't need cobalt 60 to cause chaos.  You can accomplish the same objective by using a relatively harmless alpha emitter, a sensitive Geiger counter with an audio output, a wannabee consultant seeking publicity, and a technically ignorant media operating in a pack mode.  All these items are readily available.  Cobalt 60 is hard to come by, hard to transport, and hard to disperse.  Once dispersed you still need the same components as previously mentioned to create the chaos.

I saw the report a few days ago and my conclusion is the same.  A technically ignorant media operating on a 24 news hour cycle desperately trying to scoop the competition will do far more damage to our society than some complicated plot to unleash a serious radioisotope.

[RoadKingLarry]

And will it come from Al Queda or the Norks?


why limit the options?

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

[AJ Dual]

Transporting that crap around is complicated and just chocked full of uncertainty the least of which is extensive radiation monitoring in likely targets. 

Well, discounting the logistical impossibility of say... a lead box, I do agree that the detectors are the biggest issue for the enemy. They are a force multiplier for us. Since they don't need to be manned, and can just passively wait and detect any neutrons at the proper MeV, and actually even have a good idea of what nasty it was that passed by it.

However, unless it's an actual physical barrier like a toll booth, or border crossing, I'm not sure if just driving a van into the target region hell-bent-for leather wouldn't suffice.

Also, there's the whole psy-ops factor of striking a target that's in "Podunk, Nowhereville", like we've discussed wondering about Mumbai-style attacks. That makes security and detectors non-existent.

One of them figures out to skip NYC and D.C. and various federal parks and monuments, and just strike a big mall or stadium or school in the Midwest etc. the media and FUD-factor would be sky-high.