Fact Sheet: Bipartisan Concern about the Threat Posed by Nuclear Terrorism
Military Leaders
Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: “Every senior leader, when you’re asked what keeps you awake at night, it’s the thought of a terrorist ending up with a weapon of mass destruction, especially nuclear.”
June 10, 2008
Intelligence Officials
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper: “Some terror groups remain interested in acquiring CBRN materials and threaten to use them. Poorly secured stocks of CBRN provide potential source material for terror attacks.”
March 11, 2011
Department of Energy Officials
NNSA Administrator Tom D’Agostino: “Preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and keeping dangerous materials out of the hands of terrorists is a vital national security priority.”
May 4, 2011
Current President, Former Presidents and Government Officials
President Barack Obama: “So, finally, we must ensure that terrorists never acquire a nuclear weapon. This is the most immediate and extreme threat to global security. One terrorist with one nuclear weapon could unleash massive destruction. Al Qaeda has said it seeks a bomb and that it would have no problem with using it. And we know that there is unsecured nuclear material across the globe. To protect our people, we must act with a sense of purpose without delay.”
April 5, 2009
Former President George W. Bush: “First of all, I agree with my opponent that the biggest threat facing this country is weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a terrorist network.”
September 30, 2004
Former Vice President Dick Cheney: “The “most dangerous threat” we face is nuclear materials falling into the hands of terrorists.”
September 9, 2011
Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, Former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger and Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA): “Most alarmingly, the likelihood that non-state terrorists will get their hands on nuclear weaponry is increasing. In today's war waged on world order by terrorists, nuclear weapons are the ultimate means of mass devastation. And non-state terrorist groups with nuclear weapons are conceptually outside the bounds of a deterrent strategy and present difficult new security challenges.”
January 4, 2007
Republican Members of Congress
Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ):“I agree with President Obama when he recently wrote in the Nuclear Posture Review, ‘today’s most immediate and extreme danger is nuclear terrorism…today’s other pressing threat is nuclear proliferation.’”
April 13, 2010
Senator Rob Portman (R-OH): “And although we had a great success by recently eliminating the most wanted terrorist in the world, there are lots of violent groups now without a home who are dedicated not to a government or to a place but to an ideology of extremism. And so that proliferation, as the chair has said, would be top on our priority list today to talk about that….We do spend billions of dollars a year in securing the world's most dangerous materials and keeping them out of the hands of those who would wish to do us harm. And, as we said, that's extremely important. This has been a bipartisan effort over time, and we're all committed to countering these threats.”
May 10, 2011
Rep. Jeff Foretnberry (R-NE): “Mr. Chairman, nuclear terrorism is a threat so serious in its consequences that we often shrink from even contemplating it. But ignoring the problem is not an option. There are some relatively straightforward steps that we can take to reduce our vulnerabilities, and one of these is to strengthen the Global Threat Reduction Initiative.”
July 13, 2011
Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX): “There’s nothing more important for our national security than keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists, especially, or others that should not have them.”
September 10, 2011
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL): “But the nuclear menace we face is broader than simply that of traditional nuclear weapons. The crisis in Japan is a dramatic demonstration of the real-world threat resulting from nuclear material over which we have lost control.”
March 17, 2011
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ): “But any facility of that nature has fissile materials -- which, even the smallest amount would be -- you know, in the wrong hands would be extremely worrisome.”
March 10, 2010
Bipartisan Reports and Commissions
Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9/11 Commission): “The greatest danger of another catastrophic attack in the United States will materialize if the world’s most dangerous terrorists acquire the world’s most dangerous weapons….Our report shows that al Qaeda has tried to acquire or make weapons of mass destruction for at least ten years. There is no doubt the United States would be a prime target. Preventing the proliferation of these weapons warrants a maximum effort—by strengthening counter proliferation efforts, expanding the Proliferation Security Initiative, and supporting the Cooperative Threat Reduction program.”
July 22, 2004
Final Report of the bipartisan Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States: “The surest way to prevent nuclear terrorism is to deny terrorist acquisitions of nuclear weapons or fissile materials….An accelerated campaign to close or secure the world’s most vulnerable nuclear sites as quickly as possible should be a top national priority.”
May 2009
U.S. National Security Strategy Documents
National Security Strategy: “There is no greater threat to the American people than weapons of mass destruction, particularly the danger posed by the pursuit of nuclear weapons by violent extremists.”
May 2010
National Strategy for Counterterrorism:“The danger of nuclear terrorism is the greatest threat to global security. Terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda, have engaged in efforts to develop and acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMD)—and if successful, they are likely to use them.”
June 2011