ABSTRACT
Radiological and nuclear terrorism poses a real threat to global security. Coupled with this overall picture of RN materials out of regulatory control worldwide, repeated expert assessments have concluded that a sophisticated terrorist group could build a crude nuclear device given enough weapons-usable material. Furthermore, it would pose no challenge to any terrorist organization possessing radioactive materials to construct a radiological dispersal device (RDD) or an exposure device. Radiological and nuclear terrorism, therefore, poses a real threat to global security. Cooperation among terrorist organizations and criminal individuals or TCOs has been documented numerous times. Al Qaeda and Hezbollah are the two most prominent terrorist organizations that guarantee the safe passage of South American-produced cocaine transiting from South America, through Africa, into Europe. Although there is sufficient evidence of cooperation among terrorist organizations and TCOs, there is some debate as to whether this cooperative arrangement would be fleeting arrangements of convenience and need, or long-lasting alliances.
