Reports are emerging that the Coast Guard is investigating a potential 'dirty bomb' (radiological device) threat in a shipping container at the Wando Terminal in South Carolina.
A dirty bomb placed in a large U.S. shipping port is one of the two main focuses in homeland security (along with threats against commercial airlines). Both typically require the assistance of insiders (people within either the port terminal or with access to an airport's aircraft operations area, or AOA) to succeed, given the manner and means that we know non-state terror actors want to employ against those two transport modes, and TSA is on record as saying that the 'insider threat' constitutes the greatest danger to commercial air travel and to port terminals.
Though it's more difficult than most realize to utilize a radiological device, it isn't impossible and it's much easier to deploy than an actual nuclear weapon. So it may not be a matter of 'if' but of 'when' in terms of such a device's deployment against either a port terminal or a large urban area.
Currently, New York remains at the top of the threat list when it comes to U.S. urban areas and terror attacks, including dirty bombs, with Washington, D.C. second and then a host of other cities. The Port of Los Angeles is considered to be very high up on the list in regards to that terror threats against that shipping mode.
Coast Guard: Reported 'dirty bomb' threat at Wando terminal orig - Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
A dirty bomb placed in a large U.S. shipping port is one of the two main focuses in homeland security (along with threats against commercial airlines). Both typically require the assistance of insiders (people within either the port terminal or with access to an airport's aircraft operations area, or AOA) to succeed, given the manner and means that we know non-state terror actors want to employ against those two transport modes, and TSA is on record as saying that the 'insider threat' constitutes the greatest danger to commercial air travel and to port terminals.
Though it's more difficult than most realize to utilize a radiological device, it isn't impossible and it's much easier to deploy than an actual nuclear weapon. So it may not be a matter of 'if' but of 'when' in terms of such a device's deployment against either a port terminal or a large urban area.
Currently, New York remains at the top of the threat list when it comes to U.S. urban areas and terror attacks, including dirty bombs, with Washington, D.C. second and then a host of other cities. The Port of Los Angeles is considered to be very high up on the list in regards to that terror threats against that shipping mode.
Coast Guard: Reported 'dirty bomb' threat at Wando terminal orig - Live5News.com | Charleston, SC | News, Weather, Sports
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
