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           262———Nuclear Terrorism


           that it was part of Rahman’s conspiracy to undermine  destruction on a vast scale. The detonation of even a
           the U.S. government. In this second trial, Nosair was  small nuclear weapon in a densely populated area
           convicted of Kahane’s murder. Nosair’s cousin,     would probably kill tens of thousands of people and
           Ibrahim el-Gabrowny, was also convicted of taking  seriously wound even more.  The radiation released
           part in the conspiracy.                            immediately in a nuclear explosion and the radioac-
             The issue of double jeopardy was not pertinent   tive fallout of ash and debris that would probably
           to Nosair’s second trial because he was charged with  follow would also cause serious damage to exposed
           the new crime of federal racketeering—prosecutors  individuals. What is the likelihood that terrorists could
           proved that he took part in a broader conspiracy   obtain and use nuclear weapons? What are some of
           against the United States.                         the ways that terrorists might choose to attack nuclear
                                                              targets in a highly developed country that made exten-
           See also MEIR KAHANE; OMAR ABDEL RAHMAN; WORLD
             TRADE CENTER BOMBING (1993)                      sive use of nuclear power plants? These are some of
                                                              the more important questions that any analysis of ter-
           Further Reading                                    rorism needs to address.
           Cohen, Patricia. “Nosair Loses Suit  Against Postal Cop
             Who Shot Him.” Newsday, September 2, 1993.       NUCLEAR WEAPONS
           Grunwald, Michael, and T. R. Reid. “U.S. Tries to Link N.Y.,
             Africa Bombs; Prosecutors Say bin Laden Aide Got Guns  Nuclear weapons are devices that release energy stored
             for  Trade Center Plotter.” Washington Post, September  in the atomic nucleus, the central, positively charged
             24, 1998, A29.                                   core of all atoms. The first nuclear weapons used ura-
           Hurtado, Patricia. “Terror Sheik Gone for Life/Rahman,  nium, a dense metal mined from the earth in many
             9 Others Get Stiff Sentences in NYC Bomb Plot.”  parts of the world, and plutonium, a human-made
             Newsday, January 18, 1996, A5.                   metal produced by irradiating uranium in nuclear reac-
           Kocieniewski, David. “Witness Recalls Kahane Slaying.”  tors. The nuclei of these atoms can be made to fission,
             Newsday, February 9, 1995, A7.                   or divide, liberating vast quantities of energy in the
           Tyre, Peg, and Nadia Abou el-Magd. “Agent Ties Nosair to  process. Each fission also releases a few neutrons. If
             Death Plot.” Newsday, March 9, 1995, A19.        there is a sufficiently large mass of uranium or pluto-
           Usborne, David. “New York’s Terrorist Sheikh Jailed for  nium present, called a “critical mass,” those extra neu-
             Life.” The Independent (London), January 18, 1996, 11.
                                                              trons stimulate more nuclei to fission in an explosive
                                                              chain reaction in which energy released by from vast
                                                              numbers of fissioning nuclei is transformed into heat,
           NOVEMBER 17. See REVOLUTIONARY                     radiation, and shock waves.  We observe this vast
           ORGANIZATION 17 NOVEMBER.                          release of energy as a nuclear explosion.
                                                                Fortunately, it is not easy to make a nuclear
                                                              weapon despite the fact that numerous books, articles,
           NPA. See NEW PEOPLE’S ARMY.                        and Web sites purport to give information about how
                                                              it can be done. The most difficult part of making a
                                                              nuclear weapon involves obtaining the necessary fis-
                                                              sionable material, an isotope (or variety) of uranium
           NSA. See NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY.
                                                              known as U-235 because the total number of protons
                                                              and neutrons in its nucleus is 235. It is very difficult
                                                              to separate the lighter variety, U-235 needed to make
           NSC. See NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL.                bombs, from the heavier variety, U-238. Bomb
                                                              builders who have obtained U-235 then can make a
                                                              bomb from it directly or can use it to build a nuclear
           NUCLEAR TERRORISM                                  reactor that uses neutrons to irradiate U-238 and make
                                                              plutonium-239 (Pu-239), another bomb material that
                                                              fissions readily. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima in
             Employed by terrorists, a nuclear explosion and its  August 1945 used U-235, and the one employed at
           incendiary and blast effects would cause physical  Nagasaki several days later used Pu-239.
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