Apathy a "central threat" to nuclear security, says expert

reassessment, as long as the material exists, to ensure we are meeting the threat. After all, we have to get security right every day, but terrorists only have to exploit a vulnerability once.

HSNW: Aside from nuclear power plants and weapons storage sites, low-security facilities like industrial plants and hospitals stockpile low-grade nuclear fuel that can be used to build a dirty bomb. What steps has the government taken to secure these areas and what are some of the vulnerabilities that still remain?

What steps have the federal government and hospitals taken to secure these facilities?

CH: Thankfully, government efforts have been extensive. Since 2004, GTRI has secured more than 960 radiological sites around the world containing enough material for thousands of dirty bombs.

Despite this progress, the greatest challenge for the medical, industrial, and agricultural communities is the need to build and sustain a security culture. This begins with each person involved understanding the potential hazard that the unauthorized access or use of the material could pose and further understanding the role that each person plays in protecting the material.

It is essential to appreciate why the security measures are in place and need to be followed, even when it may seem like a nuisance on a daily basis. Security culture needs to be built and maintained in every area using radiological materials, from protecting a radioactive source at a local hospital to guarding bomb-usable material at a nuclear research reactor facility or protecting nuclear tipped missiles at an Air Force Base.

HSNW: Given the U.S. military’s long campaign against al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, do they still possess the operational capacity to obtain nuclear weapons or materials and execute an attack? In other words, is this still a high-priority threat that could likely occur?

CH: A terrorist acquiring a nuclear weapon or using stolen nuclear material to make a weapon is a real threat. It is not easy, but it is not out of the reach of a well-organized terrorist group, especially one like al Qaeda that has successfully recruited members with highly specialized knowledge and education – doctors, engineers, etc. The chances are not high that a terrorist will use a nuclear weapon, but the consequences are so profound that we are obligated to take all necessary steps to prevent it from ever happening.

HSNW: Looking ahead, what do you foresee as the main challenges for nuclear security over the next decade?

CH: There are several challenges to nuclear security over the next decade. One of the central threats to greater progress is apathy. The longer we go without an attack, the harder it is to maintain vigilance. And since such vigilance requires resources, the current budget climate will prove challenging as government programs compete for scarce resources.

In the wake of the Japanese tragedy at Fukushima, we should absolutely commit to the highest standards of nuclear safety. However, we should be careful not to confuse nuclear safety and nuclear security. They are separate issues that both deserve high-level attention. It would be a mistake to focus on one over the other.

Another challenge will be to sustain international political attention to nuclear security, emphasizing the cooperation and innovation needed to tackle these challenges. The international community must engage in an honest conversation about the potential sources of nuclear material smuggling and the possible targets of nuclear terrorism. Any one of the thirty-seven countries with nuclear material could be the source of an attack, but any country in the world could be the target. A nuclear or radiological terrorism event anywhere would profoundly affect every country.

The expansion of nuclear power will also be a challenge to progress on nuclear security. As more countries develop nuclear power programs, nuclear materials will be more often in transit and more widely distributed across the globe. The spread of nuclear power will require strong nuclear security practices and enhanced transnational cooperation to keep materials out of the hands of terrorists.

Finally, the international community must understand where we stand on nuclear security now in order to determine where we can and should go. This fall, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) will release a nuclear materials security index as a baseline to highlight areas where countries can improve their nuclear security practices and applaud countries that have taken necessary steps to secure their stocks of nuclear materials.