can the terrorist actually bomb the us with nuclear bombs?

Question

they dont care about there lives so y wouldnt they?? we could all die..........if they were to bomb us would we retaliate with another nuclear bomb? surely if that happend then we would all die right???? im scared of that..........i dont want to die because of terrorist i didnt do anything...

Answer 1

It would be far easier for them to use what is known as a "dirty" bomb.
That is; a radioactive substance dispersed by a conventional explosive. Such a device would be easily planted in a van or truck and moved to where ever they like.
Plus the lead shielding that would prevent it's discovery, becomes hot splashing shrapnel when the bomb goes off.
That's what you need to worry about, not an actual nuclear bomb.

Answer 2

Not likely in the near future. Atomic weapons are difficult to produce and remain the domain of government arsenals. The fear that a nation would sell or give one its warheads to terrorist is overstated. Most terrorist organizations have no national alliances and there is gaurante that a device given to terrorist would not in turned be used on the nation from which it was provided. Additionally there are test that can be preformed to identify where an atomic weapon was made, even after detonation. Any nation selling a weapon to a terrorist risks the retalliation from any nation attacked with such a device.

As a previous answer stated, the more likely threat comes from dirty bombs which are much easier to manufacture and employ.

Answer 3

They COULD. But I wouldn't loose any sleep thinking about how a terrorist may kill you. The terrorist threat, while real, is blown out of proportion (which is what terrorists count on). You have a WAY better chance of getting hit by a car and killed on your way to work tomorrow then you have of a terrorist killing you.

Anyway, if you want a nuclear threat to give you a good scare, you need look no further then all those Russian ICBMs pointed right at you this very moment.

ANOTHER far more pressing threat then terrorism is the fact that China is regularly hacking DOD and various other govt computers, gathering all the info they can, then leaving behind trojans so they can come back later.

***I see someone gave me a thumbs down. I suppose i'll change my answer to please that person. Here's my new answer, "YES THEY'RE GONNA GET US!! LET'S ALL RUN AROUND HYSTERICAL, SCARED THAT A TERRORIST MAY *gasp* KILL SOME OF US!!! WE SHOULD ALL JUST BURY OUR HEADS IN THE SAND AND LEAVE EVERYTHING TO BIG BROTHER BUSH!!"

There thumbs down person, I gave you the spineless answer you wanted..***

Answer 4

Not likely in the near future. Nuclear war has always been a possibility since 1947 but not so far anyway.......
it's less likely to be a terrorist group than a rogue state that threatens it first, which is why the UN AEA needs to insist on regular inspections and free access.

Answer 5

It's possible, but not that easy to do. For starters, you need to obtain a nuclear bomb. Building one is quite expensive. Walking up to a nuclear facility and asking for one is dangerous, given the hail of bullets coming from those guarding same.

The next part is even harder - getting it to a place it could do severe damage. It's become difficult to travel with shampoo, so I can't imagine trying to get a nuclear bomb through security.

Answer 6

Hell yeah, get the nuke from Iran or from Pakistan(if a radical, Islamic revolution overthrows the current government which is very likely), go to Mexico, learn the culture, speak the language and sneak through the atrocious, chaotic border and there you have it, a "Islamic bomb"(that's what the Islamic Fascist call their nukes) and set it up in the U.S and that's the beginning of the apocalypse.

update: If the U.S. finds out that Iran or Pakistan was responsible then, yeah, we will use 1000s of our bombs.

Answer 7

It could happen. There are enough warheads available on the black market, most from the former Soviet Union, that getting a hold of one is not that difficult. Nor is making one from scratch.

As for retaliation, if San Diego or Chicago or Houston suddenly erupted in a ball of nuclear fire, who would we strike back against? And what are the odds that whoever we chose was actually responsible.

Answer 8

I think it is impossible.

It's very difficult to bring the bomb to the USA. Either by ships or plane. and the terrorist do not have nuclear capable missiles to reach USA.

Answer 9

Na... Not really a chance at all.

it is not easy to make a nuclear weapon. There are only a number of countries has such weapons. No country will give away their nukes because they know CIA will find out who gives away the nuke. And we will come after that country, BIG TIME. You can pretty much call that country extincted.

Also, so far, nuclear weapons are used for pyschological war fair . It is much more effective to bluff than to use it. There are so much consequences to deal with after using such weapon.

Answer 10

They'd have to find one...and there ARE a lot of loose nukes out there, so getting the bomb would be more-or-less easy.
Then, they'd have to strip it down to the bare essentials and stuff it in, say, a suitcase. Harder, but doable.
Then, they'd have to get it past security---so unless they can shrink the bomb and stick it on a flea, it's impossible, given how tight airport security is as of very recently.