CNN examines threat of 'Nuclear Terror'
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"CNN Presents: Nuclear Terror" airs on CNN International this Saturday-Monday, September 18-20, by region (all times GMT):
• Asia and South Asia: 1200 Sat; 0400/1100 Sun
• North America: 1200/1900 Sat; 0400/1100/1700 Sun; 0200 Mon
• Latin America: 1900 Sat; 1100/1700 Sun; 0200 Mon
• Europe, Middle East and Africa: 1900 Sat; 1100/1700 Sun
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(CNN) -- Nuclear terrorism is the ultimate nightmare. As the world marks the third anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the prospect of terrorist organizations acquiring nuclear material has become an increasingly serious source of anxiety for governments and intelligence agencies around the world.
It's also the topic of "CNN Presents: Nuclear Terror," which examines how terrorists might get nuclear weapons -- and what would happen if they used them.
The physical, psychological, political and economic damage from any kind of nuclear attack by terrorists -- whether a "dirty bomb," in which nuclear material is mixed with explosives, or a more sophisticated nuclear device -- would be devastating.
"If terrorists succeeded in putting together a crude nuclear bomb and they put it in Grand Central Station in New York, and set it off on a typical work afternoon, within days half a million people would be dead. You would have to evacuate all of Manhattan," says Matthew Bunn of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has spoken openly of his desire to acquire nuclear know-how. Intelligence sources, government officials and scholars point to three countries they fear could be the source of nuclear material for terrorists:
When the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia inherited a huge stockpile of nuclear weapons -- much of which is poorly guarded and easily vulnerable to theft.Pakistan is believed to have at least 50 nuclear weapons, and it's known that at least two Pakistani nuclear scientists met with bin Laden in August 2001.North Korea has for years sold ballistic missiles to almost any country that asked, including Iran, Iraq, Libya and Yemen. Experts believe North Korea now has at least a half dozen nuclear bombs. In addition, law enforcement and diplomatic sources say, North Korea has long been heavily involved in a host of other illicit activities, including drug trafficking, counterfeiting and money-laundering. These have given the North Koreans close connections with a wide assortment of criminal networks across Asia, providing the Pyongyang regime with a ready-made infrastructure for any potential deal to sell nuclear material to terrorists."CNN Presents: Nuclear Terror" brings together a team of CNN correspondents, including U.S. National Security Correspondent David Ensor, Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty and Senior Asia Correspondent Mike Chinoy, to investigate whether the threat of nuclear terrorism has grown worse.
