The cost of living: the economics of preventing nuclear terrorism.
The National Interest › Nbr. 2004, June 2004
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Outmaneuvering Terror
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The cost of living: the economics of preventing nuclear terrorism.
NUCLEAR terrorism presents an unparalleled threat to the United States. The economic impact alone of a nuclear terrorist attack would undoubtedly be staggering. Estimates of the direct economic cost of one potential scenario--a crude nuclear device detonated in lower Manhattan--range well over $1 trillion. Even this estimate cannot capture the full tragedy of such a scenario, which could include half a million deaths, a zone of total destruction one mile wide, and radiation extending for miles around the blast's center. For the protectors of America's national interest, no single issue is more urgent and frightening.
Such a scenario is a real possibility. As Graham Allison and Andrei Kokoshin wrote in these pages, "we must first be prepared to imagine the unimaginable--there is a substantial probability that within the next decade, an act of nuclea...See the full content of this document
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