- The inventor of the neutron bomb, and
the so-called mini-neutron bomb believes the United States is in eminent
danger of a terrorist nuclear attack. When I first interviewed him on my
national radio talk show last April he was given little attention by the
press. Now that top Russian military are confirming Sam Cohen's claims,
maybe now people will listen to what he has to say.
-
- After a 40-year career in nuclear weapons
development, Sam Cohen is now retired. During World War II he was assigned
to the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos. After the war Cohen went to work
for the Rand Corporation as a nuclear weapons analyst. In 1958 he developed
the technical and military concept of the neutron bomb. He has continued
to serve as a consultant to the Los Alamos and Livermore, the U.S. Air
Force, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
-
- Cohen had long been an advocate of discriminate
use of mini-nuke battlefield weapons. He proposed their use time and time
again, but politicians refused to back his suggestions.
-
- Cohen to this day makes a strong argument
for rapid victory in Korea and Vietnam through the use of grapefruit sized
neutron bombs. "If we had a sizable stockpile of discriminate mini-nukes,
it the war would have ended very quickly in our favor," Cohen says
of the controversial military conflicts. His proposal to the Johnson administration
was turned down very firmly.
-
- When the U.S. began preparations for
the Persian Gulf War, Cohen presented his proposal again. This time it
was the Bush administration that turned a deaf ear. Cohen even published
an article about his proposal for use of mini-nukes in the Los Angeles
Times. "It was clear to me that we should stop the massive buildup
of conventional weapons and instead use mini-nukes," explained Cohen.
-
- He claims his article won the support
of a handful of congressmen who spoke in support of his proposal. However,
the Bush administration strengthened itís determination to accomplish
the task with conventional weapons alone.
-
- "Nuclear weapons, no matter how
low-yield and discriminate they may be, have been politically ruled out
for use on the battlefield. Better that we might suffer hundreds of thousands
of casualties in a conventional war, and maybe even fail in our objectives,
than to use mini-nukes to win in short order. This may be politically correct,
but morally something seems to be sadly lacking," Cohen concluded.
-
- He pointed out that Congress passed legislation
during the Bush administration, with continued endorsement by the Clinton
administration, that forbids the testing, development, or stockpiling of
mini-nukes. He also insists that Congress and the President are well aware
that other countries as well as anti-American terrorists have an ample
supply.
-
- Cohen says he has numerous contacts in
the intelligence community who are as concerned as he is. He claims they
have confirmed to him that the spread of nuclear capabilities in potential
enemy areas of the world is growing rapidly. His greatest concern is a
new class of very small, very cheap, extremely effective warheads, based
solely on nuclear fusion (thereby circumventing the monitoring terms of
the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty). These weapons are in effect mini-neutron
bombs whose use would render our high-tech conventional forces useless.
-
- "These warheads were developed during
the Soviet era but work has continued under the Russian regime. There is
an abundance of evidence that the underlying technology and ingredients
for these devices have been smuggled out of Russia and sold to a number
of nations, including terrorist ones," claims Cohen, who is upset
that the U.S. is ignoring this intelligence data. Over 100 missing mini-nukes
were recently reported on 60-minutes, and Cohen claims this has happened
with the complicity of the Russian government, including Boris Yeltsin,
and the assistance of the Russian mafia.
-
- A terrorist could easily hand carry one
of these mini-nukes in a suit case or even a paper bag. According to Cohen,
it could be placed in the park across the street from the White House,
or other strategic target, and detonated by timer or remote control. This
type of neutron bomb would destroy every living thing for a radius of 500
yards, yet physical objects and buildings would be undisturbed. Nuclear
radiation would also be quickly rendered harmless.
-
- Because there is no mushroom cloud, or
even an explosion, Cohen claims testing of such weapons cannot be detected
in other countries. "So in effect we have legally denied ourselves
the ability to develop and stockpile these weapons while giving an open
hunting license to the rest of the world to acquire them if they so wish,
with little if any fear that they will be discovered, even for countries
that are party to the non-proliferation and test ban tactics," said
an obviously worried Cohen.
-
- Have we then deliberately given our enemies
and potential enemies the capability to defeat our conventional ground
forces? Have we enabled terrorists and anti-American radicals the ideal
weapon to bring us to our knees? Cohen says very emphatically, "yes!"
-
- Cohen warns that the age of nuclear weapons
has not come to an end. Despite our arms control efforts, he believes mini-nuke
battlefield weapons already exist and will continue to proliferate around
the world. Cohen is warning that unless the U.S. takes immediate action,
the next major conflict will be decided by the army that is first to use
a mini-nuke on the battlefield. He also warns that evidence is very strong
that such weapons are already in the hands of terrorists who are plotting
an attack in a major U.S. city or cities.
- Response From Kevin Nelson
10-30-97
-
- Please note:
-
- A terrorist could easily hand carry one
of these mini-nukes in a suit case or even a paper bag. According to Cohen,
it could be placed in the park across the street from the White House,
or other strategic target, and detonated by timer or remote control. This
type of neutron bomb would destroy every living thing for a radius of 500
yards, yet physical objects and buildings would be undisturbed. Nuclear
radiation would also be quickly rendered harmless."
-
- Such bombs would not be fusion devices,
unless they made use of cold-fusion techniques.
-
- Fision bombs could be easily made, if
you had bomb-grade plutonium or uranium. All you need is just a tad less
than is required for critical mass to occur. However, these would not be
"clean". Any unfissioned material may end up vaporized.
-
- There would be an explosion. But nothing
like that expected for a supra-critical mass device. Neutrons would be
the primary type of energy release. But the heat generated from the initialization
of the nuclear event would create a thermal explosion that would demolish
at least a car. Such an explosion would be detectable from space. But
since it would be of such short duration and over such a small area, it
would be difficult to distinguish it from non-nuclear events.
-
- The vaporized plutonium or uranium would
continue to inflict casualties as long as it is airborn or capable of ingestion.
Most of it would be scattered broadly enough that few lives would be endangered
a few days later. The airborn pariticles would quickly come back to earth
because of their relative weight. The dispersed fission material would
continue to emit radiation for a few hundred years, but over such an area,
aside from ground zero, that the radiation would not be much above normal
background radiation.
-
- As for the radiation itself, it would
be rendered harmless in nanoseconds. (After knocking everything with complex
molecules bonkers... like us.)
-
- Since this would require at least a kilo
of either plutonium or uranium, it could hardly fit inside a paper bag
without something making that bag a bit stronger... A cardboard box would
be more likely, like an apple box. (Just don't eat THAT apple...)
-
- Because there is no mushroom cloud, or
even an explosion, Cohen claims testing of such weapons cannot be detected
in other countries. "So in effect we have legally denied ourselves
the ability to develop and stockpile these weapons while giving an open
hunting license to the rest of the world to acquire them if they so wish,
with little if any fear that they will be discovered, even for countries
that are party to the non-proliferation and test ban tactics," said
an obviously worried Cohen.
-
- Gee. Do you mean we are actually living
in a law-abiding country? Cohen's assertion seems very much in contrast
with what we have seen at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave...
-
- I think we have more to worry about from
supra-critical nuclear devices, since they are easier to make and less
costly to test. (More confidence they will work as intended without needing
to rely upon much more complicated mathematical models.)
-
- But then again, hantavirus would make
a cheaper weapon with more fear potential. And isn't terrorism about creating
fear?
-
- Kevin Nelson
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