Is nuclear terrorism a real threat?

Nuclear terrorism, by definition it means the use of a nuclear device by a terrorist organization to cause massive devastation or the use of fissionable radioactive materials. In this day and age this growing fear is becoming more and more a possibility. A fear that devastating nuclear weapons will be used by a terrorist organization to further they’re cause. The opportunity is there, the materials are available for the construction of such weapons, its matter of whether or not this powerful use of weaponry would be used by these groups in order to carry out an attack. It only takes around 18 pounds of plutonium or 55 pounds of enriched uranium to have the main ingredients for the construction of a weapon powerful enough to cause the devastation we can only watch in feature films. The availability of such resources as plutonium and uranium are not as hard to get as you may have thought either. I had always believed that unstable materials such as those nuclear resources would be locked away with much more the lock and key. For now such resources are not protected by military personal rather it is trucked around by the ton by commercial companies. This would leave an easier opening for terrorist groups to get their hands on such materials rather than going up against military personnel. If these material were obtained then there would be only to possibilities for what the terrorist would use such a powerful weapon. They could possibly use it and cause mass destruction or just having it they could just have it and add the dimension of fear that they could use it at anytime in order to get what they want. On one hand if a terrorist gets their hands on to the nuclear resources needed to construct a weapon then it could be a major problem for us. Islamist terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaida are looking to spread and create a Muslim state and or a Muslim world. With the power of a nuclear weapon between their legs they will ride that thing to gain as much power as possible. Like many countries the United States does not negotiate with terrorist and this is where the problem lies. If we or any other power does not meet the demands of the extremist then I believe that the weapon would be used in order to get their message across, and depending on how much material they would be able to get their hands on would determine how many weapons they could create making the possible messages delivered devastating. In the case of whether nuclear terrorism is a real threat the answer is yes, as long we leave nuclear resources in the hands of commercial business then it is very possible that the weapons created from said resources would use in a threatening way. The way in which we need to stop an extremist organization from getting their hands on nuclear materials are to protect them with military personnel and take the rights to care them away from the commercial business that carry them. The first things done should be to keep the material needed out of the hands of the groups that want it and the way to do that is make it so that the government controls the materials. President George Bush Senior and now President Barrack Obama have issued that the U.S. will dispose of 1/3 of our nation’s nuclear weaponry. In that sense we have no plan on building more nuclear weapons, so taking control and disposing of the other materials around the world should be the next step. Finally with the looming chance that Al Qaida or any other terrorist organization gets their hands on nuclear materials I can only think that the weapon would be used as a threat and no more. Although extreme in their ways, suicide bombings, hijacking, and firefights, these groups are not stupid. They know that if they get their hands on nuclear materials then they have power, but if they use those materials to create a weapon and use it then they are just asking for their demise. Countries such as The United States and Russia are the two most nuclear powerful countries in the world, and they are also targets for the recent Islamist extremist. If a Terrorist Organization uses nuclear force on either of those countries or their allies you can be sure that retaliation would be swift and destructive. Both countries would retaliate with any and all military resources to eliminate the culprits. Although rugged and extreme religious terrorist that kill themselves in order to get their message across, the leaders of these organizations are not stupid. If they become nuclear powerful then they can use that as leverage, but when they use that power to take the lives of millions of civilians then they must know retaliation is iminate. They would have to know that with such destruction on their shoulders would bring about almost certain elimination. Knowing this the leaders would not allow this to happen and therefore not use an actual nuclear weapon, for their lives also hang in the balance. Although they are religious terrorist, the leaders are just that, leaders. They aren’t the ones strapping bombs onto their chests and killing people, they are the people behind those people safely hiding and planning those attacks. For these reason I don’t believe that there is a real threat of nuclear terrorism because if there was then the attackers would most surely be eliminated, and that not part of their plan.