At 08:13 PM 1/8/01 -0800, you wrote:
>All true, all true--but irrelevant; point is it can happen. Two further
>points: nukes can be tracked, perhaps even by satellite, by rad emissions,
>making use difficult. Not so nannite packages. Also, any party employing a
>backpack nuke must fear massive retaliation from the target nation. With
>the proper nanoweapon, however, the target nation can be obliterated,
>making retaliation improbable and use more likely.
>
>john marlow
How does one track the radiation from a nuclear device in transit via a
satellite? Seems like just a few inches of lead would be sufficient to mask
any emissions even for a sensitive radiation detector a few feet away. You
can't have a scanner at every point of entry; else we would have no
smuggled drugs, etc. now.
Suicide bombers with backpack nukes probably will be sitting next to their
bombs when they detonate them. I doubt that someone who would consider
using such a device as a terror weapon would worry much about retaliation.
Chuck Kuecker
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