PowerPointPresentation-PhysicsofTerrorismand.ppt

The Physics of Terrorism, Counter-terrorism, and the Iraq confrontation LBL Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics November 15, 2002 Some of my experience on US security: September 112001 What explosives did they use? How did they smuggle them on board? My only complicated chart for the evening U.S. use of fuel-air weapon in Afghanistan Blu-82 Daisy-cutter 15,000 lb gasoline = 7.5 tons originally developed to create helicopter landing area in Viet Nam jungle equivalent to 112 tons of TNT = 1% of Hiroshima bomb understanding the terrorist mind bin Laden’s scenario (2001) It’s tough to be a terrorist… What could terrorists still do? Onion: Passenger ban Why not just install explosive detectors at every airport? limitations of explosive detection interior detection currently based on high nitrogen in most explosives high false alarm rate (one in twenty) from leather search luggage, or destroy it? not usable now. In future: electric quadrupole resonance high resolution x-ray look for wiring pattern check computers carefully currently in use on selected flights sniffers detects trace material on the outside of the luggage or on person Explosives sniffers: ion mobility spectrometers Useful measures Now: Iraq al Qaedasimultaneously easy prediction: Saddam will NOT allow inspections. Full-scale replica of Nagasaki bomb Calutrons at Tarmiya former Iraqi Calutron (UN photo) CalutronsIAEA Hans Blix report on Iraq inspections Diamonds and U-235 Is U-235 available? What could Saddam do with one bomb? put in shipping container and send to US drive it in truck to Washington DC explode it announce that he was responsible threaten to attack another US city unless we withdraw from Mid-East US invasion of Iraq (50%)of Baghdad (25%) Key technologiesof the coming war Pioneer unmanned air vehicle (UAV) Predator Terrorist killed in Yemen Washington Nov 4, 3:07 PM (AP): US forces killed a top associate of Osama bin Laden in Yemen in a missile strike … a U.S. official said