ABSTRACT
The bulk of traditional research focuses primarily on specific terrorist organizations, their motivation to pursue nuclear terrorism, and/or particular nuclear security vulnerabilities. This chapter aims to go beyond this narrow theoretical approach by redirecting the focus toward the subtle challenges in organizing a nuclear terrorist project. The intent of terrorist organizations to go nuclear is often a topic of discussion. There may be better conventional alternatives than nuclear terrorism. Similarly, there are diverging opinions on the ease with which terrorist organization could design and construct a crude nuclear device. The situation has improved considerably look at the impact of the Nuclear Security Summitry and is envisaged to positively develop even more. Constructing and detonating an Improvised Nuclear Device (IND) requires a large scale of operations and corresponding coordination needs: an adequate quantity of fissile material must be found and acquired. The crude nuclear device must be smuggled to the target, and, finally, it must be detonated by a suicide team.
