A while back, a reader asked me whether or not “suitcase nukes” actually existed. I expressed my skepticism, but deferred to a more knowledgeble colleague.
Now, AP’s Katherine Shrader has a very nice, readable deconstruction of the rise and fall of the suitcase-nukes-scare:
“The suitcase nuke is an exciting topic that really lends itself to movies,” said Vahid Majidi, the assistant director of the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate. “No one has been able to truly identify the existence of these devices.”
I also recommend Carey Sublette’s excellent essay, Alexander Lebed and Suitcase Nukes.