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How Prepared is the U.S. for a Dirty Bomb Attack?

Aired June 11, 2002 - 14:15   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now word of the alleged dirty bomb plot begs the question: How prepared are we for this kind of attack?

Our next guest says, not very prepared at all, at least in the case of Washington, D.C. Phil Anderson is with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He recently conducted a drill simulating a dirty bomb explosion in Washington.

Hello Phil.

PHIL ANDERSON, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Hi Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, tell us about this drill.

ANDERSON: Well, we did quite a bit of research on dirty bombs, and we produced a scenario, a D.C.-based scenario as a contribution to the greater Washington crisis-planning effort and put on a workshop in mid-March -- I think it was the 21st of March -- where we presented this scenario, and engaged in a full-day discussion with the working group members associated with that crisis planning effort.

The scenario itself involved 4,000 pounds of TNT laced with 1,043 curries of cesium-137. We chose cesium because it's readily available, wide use in the medical industry, in medical labs for cancer treatment, cancer research, also in wide use in industry. Lots of it missing from the former Soviet Union. But we do believe that, you know, would-be terrorists could procure the necessary amount of cesium-137 inside the United States.

We put that into a 66-passenger school bus and then detonated that in front of the Air and Space Museum on the 23rd of May. A beautiful late spring day when school buses number into the hundreds around Washington, D.C. And then we developed models to determine, you know, the extent of the contamination. And to a certain extent how much damage was done by the blast.

We discussed this at length and presented it in three segments to the greater Washington crisis planning working groups. And I was taken aback in segment two, where we introduced radiation and they didn't seem to be too comfortable with their ability to respond to that type of a situation. I think in the months since then, it's been almost three months, and the numerous conversations that I've had with those folks and e-mail exchanges, that considerable progress has been made. So the silver lining is that through things like this, through our work, we were able to create situational awareness that potentially didn't exist there before.

PHILLIPS: So Philip, you had your wish list, if you could get any resources that you needed -- money, equipment, people, et cetera -- what would you address right now? What are your biggest fears? What worries you the most?

ANDERSON: Well if we're -- when we're talking about dirty bombs, I mean, or any likely scenario the space in which terrorists are going to operate, I think it includes a greater psychological impact than it does a real impact, a real impact in terms of loss of life, and injury and damage and destruction. It's that psychological impact that's going to affect the nation, you know, in a terrible way.

I think September 11 proved that. It was terrible -- you know the terrible loss of life there was -- I don't want to discount, you know, how significant that was, but in terms of impact on the nation and the -- and the future survival of the nation, it was the psychological impact of that that had the greatest -- the greatest impact, the greatest effect. We're still responding to 9/11.

We're -- the president has proposed to reorganize the government, which we've spent a considerable amount -- a greater amount of money in -- for fiscal year '03 than we have in the past on Homeland Security. And there's ongoing debate on Capitol Hill, you know, potentially trying to affix blame, responsibility for, you know, for 9/11. So the terrorists are still realizing benefits from that. The dirty bomb fits clearly into that -- into that box, into that space because...

PHILLIPS: So Phil, when looking at a dirty bomb, how easy is it to bring into the United States? How is it detected? How big is it? What does it look like?

ANDERSON: Well I don't think -- I don't think you necessarily bring it into the United States. I think you procure what you need to build it right here in the United States. Again, cesium-137, we've selected that because it's readily available. You steal that or you buy that, you know, from somebody that potentially stole it or has access to it. And then you build a, you know, a fairly large explosive device akin to what Timothy McVeigh employed in Oklahoma City. Not that hard to do.

You need a vehicle, you know, to transport a large amount of explosive material, but you know it's not that hard to do. You can put it in a truck. You know we selected a school bus simply because it's an inconspicuous vehicle late in May in Washington -- downtown Washington, D.C. Not hard to do. One person -- you know I believe that one person acting alone who's done his homework and you know, and has spent a little bit of time in the country could pull this thing off.

PHILLIPS: Phil Anderson, CSIS, thank you so much.

ANDERSON: My pleasure. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com