2,000
scientists and bomb experts are now participating in a far-flung effort to stop nuclear terrorism in the United States. Incredibly, not one of them is named Jack Bauer, the *L.A. Times *reports.
"After everything else fails, we come in," said Deborah A. Wilber, the scientist who directs the Office of Emergency Response at the Energy
Department's National Nuclear Security Administration...* *Since the attacks of 2001, the office has created 26 rapid-response units around the nation.
If a device were located, two other specialized teams would rush to the scene, one from a base in Albuquerque, where a fueled jetliner is on
24-hour alert. Another FBI team would depart from rural Virginia.The teams would first attempt to disable a bomb's electrical firing system and then quickly transfer the weapon to the Nevada desert.
There, the bomb would be lowered into the G Tunnel, a 5,000-foot-deep shaft, where a crew of scientists and FBI agents would attempt to disassemble the device behind steel blast doors, logging any evidence.*About 1,000 nuclear weapons scientists and 500 to 1,000 more FBI
professionals participate in the nation's emergency response effort, though not full time. Increased investment in the project reflects an acknowledgment that the nation remains vulnerable to nuclear terrorism.
*
It all sounds white-knuckle. And it would be , if the real thing ever goes down. For now, though...
Counter-terrorism efforts are becoming routine. Scientists in specially equipped helicopters and airplanes use radiation detectors to scan cities for signs of weapons. They blend into crowds at major sporting events, wearing backpacks containing instruments that can identify plutonium or highly enriched uranium.
So far, they have not encountered a terrorist. Near the Las Vegas Strip, they investigated a homeless person who somehow had picked up a piece of radioactive material. On the streets of Manhattan, a hot-dog vendor fresh from a medical test triggered a policeman's radioactivity sensor.
(High five: GSN)
