ABSTRACT
Despite some terrorist groups having expressed interest in nuclear and radiological terrorism, terrorists have yet to detonate a nuclear weapon or disperse radiation using a radiological weapon. What, if anything, is stopping terrorists from carrying out such attacks? Are they self-deterred? Are they repulsed by the idea of these types of terrorism? For certain political–religious and apocalyptic terrorists, the answer is definitely no. For example, Usama bin Laden has clearly stated that it is al-Qaeda’s duty to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Also, when Shoko Asahara was in charge of the apocalyptic group Aum Shinrikyo, he expressed strong interest in obtaining nuclear weapons, and Aum demonstrated its ability to make chemical weapons. But other terrorist groups with strong ties to constituencies or national territories could be self-deterred from nuclear or radiological terrorism. For instance, national-separatists would tend to avoid contaminating their homeland with radioactivity or run the risk of massive retaliation against their supporters in that territory. Chechen rebels, a national-separatist group trying to free Chechnya from Russia, however, have at least demonstrated the capability of launching a radiological attack. For example, in 1995 Chechen rebels placed radioactive cesium in Ismailovsky Park in Moscow and called a television crew to the scene. They did not, however, disperse the radioactive material.
