Required Readings  

• John Mueller, Atomic Obsession: Nuclear Alarmism from Hiroshima to Al Qaeda (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 181-198. Password Protected PDF

• Peter D. Zimmerman and Jeffrey G. Lewis, The Bomb in the Backyard, Foreign Policy, October 10, 2006.

Recommended Readings

Nuclear Weapons Worries

• Graham Allison, Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe (New York:  Owl Books, 2004), 1-15.

• David Bartoshuk, John Diamond, and Peter Huessy, “Nuclear Terrorism: Local Effects, Global Consequences,” (white paper, Saga Foundation, July 2008).

• Thomas B. Cochran and Matthew G. McKinzie, “Detecting Nuclear Smuggling,” Scientific American 298, no. 4 (April 2008): 98-104. Password Protected  PDF

• E. U. Condon, “The New Technique of Private War,” in One World or None, ed. Dexter Masters and Katherine Way (Washington, DC: Federation of American Scientists, 2007), 107-115.

• CSIS Task Force on Global Organized Crime,Wild Atom: Nuclear Terrorism (Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies, 1998).

• James D. Fearon, “Catastrophic Terrorism and Civil Liberties in the Short and Long Run” (draft paper, Department of Political Science, Stanford University, October 9, 2003).

• Charles D. Ferguson, “Assessing the Vulnerability of the Indian Civilian Nuclear Program,” in Gauging U.S.-Indian Strategic Cooperation, ed. Henry Sokolski (Carlisle, PA: Strategic Studies Institute, 2007), 131-185.

• Charles D. Ferguson and William C. Potter, “Improvised Nuclear Devices and Nuclear Terrorism” (Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission paper no. 2, 2004).

• Charles D. Ferguson and William C. Potter with Amy Sands, Leonard S. Spector, and Fred L. Wehling, The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism (Monterey, CA: Monterey Institute for International Studies, 2005).

• Russell Hardin, “Civil Liberties in the Era of Mass Terror,” Journal of Ethics 8 (July 2004): 77-95.

• Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware, “The Challenges of Effective Counterterrorism Intelligence in the 2020s,” Lawfare, June 21, 2020.

• Brian Jenkins, “Nuclear Terrorism vs. Nuclear Terror,” Daily Motion video, 4:10, from a presentation to The Commonwealth Club of California, San Francisco, September 29, 2008, posted by “FORA TV,” February 1, 2012,

• Brian M. Jenkins, “The Potential for Nuclear Terrorism” (RAND Paper Series P5876, text of a speech given at Arms Control Association Conference on Nuclear Arms Proliferation and Nuclear Terrorism, Washington, DC May 8, 1977).

• Brian M. Jenkins, When Armies Divide: The Security of Nuclear Arsenals During Revolts, Coups, and Civil Wars (printed by author, 2013).

• Brian M. Jenkins, Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2008), 369-378. 

• John Lauder, “Nuclear Terrorism: The Sum of All Fears,” in The Nuclear Terrorism Threat: How Real Is It? Henry D. Sokolski ed. (Working Paper 1602, Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, September 2016): 8-13.

• Rolf Mowatt-Larssen and William Tobey, “The Armageddon Test: To Prevent Nuclear Terrorism, Follow the Uranium” (op-ed, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University July 26, 2010).

• Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, The Armageddon Test (Belfer Center Discussion Paper #2009-09, The Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School,  August 2009).

• Gabriele Rennie, “Tracing the Steps in Nuclear Material Trafficking,” Science and Technology Review, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, (March 2005): 14-21.

• Stober, Dan. “No Experience Necessary.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. March/April 2003.

• Leonard Weiss, “On Fear and Nuclear Terrorism” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 71, No. 2 (March 2015): 75-87.

• Mason Willrich and Theodore B. Taylor, Nuclear Theft: Risks and Safeguards (Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing, 1974).

Nuclear Power Plant Vulnerabilities

• Matthew Bunn and Scott Sagan, “A Worst Practices Guide to Insider Threats: Lessons from Past Mistakes,” American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2014.

• Declan Butler, “Reactors, residents and risk,” Nature, April 21, 2011.

• Geert De Clercq, “France’s nuclear spent-fuel pools major security risk: Greenpeace,” Reuters, October 10, 2017.

• Committee on the Safety and Security of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage, Safety and Security of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage: Public Report (National Academies Press, 2006).

• Joan Diamond, Peter Hayes, and David Von Hippel, “Japan Scenarios: Vulnerability to Terrorism of Nuclear Spent Fuel Management,” Nautilus Institute, August 11, 2017.

• Hambling, David. “Dozens More Mystery Drone Incursions Over U.S. Nuclear Power Plants Revealed.” Forbes. September 7, 2020.

• Shane Harris, “Military-Style’ Raid on California Power Station Spooks U.S.,” Foreign Policy, December 27, 2013.

• “Jet Threat: Nuclear Power Plants are More Vulnerable to 9/11 Style Attacks than Officials Think,” The Sun, January 18, 2018.

• David Makovsky, “The Silent Strike,” The New Yorker, September 17, 2012.

• National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, “Nuclear Facility Attack Database.”

• Michael Perry, “Sydney nuclear reactor terror plot target-police,” The Washington Post, November 14, 2005.

• Allisa J. Rubin and Milan Schreuer, “Belgium Fears Nuclear Plants Are Vulnerable,” The New York Times, March 25, 2016.

• Henry Sokolski, “Dr. Strangelove’s New Passion: Precision-Guided Mayhem,” recorded lecture at the University of Utah, March 25, 2021.

• Henry Sokolski, “Nuclear plants a big security risk,” Taipei Times, May 10, 2021.

• U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “Backgrounder on Force-on-Force Security Inspections,” July 12, 2016.

• Wikipedia, “Vulnerability of nuclear plants to attack,” last updated January 29, 2018.

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