The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

plausibility in the interests of obscurity. This was done to salve my
conscience, not in any reasonable expectation that it matters a damn.
The Manhattan Project of World War II still represents the most remarkable
congregation of scientific talent in human history, never equalled, and perhaps
never to be exceeded. The vastly expensive project broke new scientific ground
and produced many additional discoveries. Modern computer theory, for example,
largely grew from bomb-related research, and the first huge main-frame computers
were mainly used for bomb-design.
I was first bemused, then stunned, as my research revealed just how easy such a
project might be today. It is generally known that nuclear secrets are not as
secure as we would like – in fact the situation is worse than even well-informed
people appreciate. What required billions of dollars in the 1940s is much less
expensive today. A modern personal computer has far more power and reliability
than the first Eniac, and the 'hydrocodes' which enable a computer to test and
validate a weapon's design are easily duplicated. The exquisite machine tools
used to fabricate parts can be had for the asking. When I asked explicitly for
specifications for the very machines used at Oak Ridge and elsewhere, they
arrived Federal Express the next day. Some highly-specialized items designed
specifically for bomb manufacture may now be found in stereo speakers. The fact
of the matter is that a sufficiently wealthy individual could, over a period of
from five to ten years, produce a multi-stage thermonuclear device. Science is
all in the public domain, and allows few secrets.
Delivery of such a device is child's play. I could base that statement on
'extensive conversations' with various police and security agencies, but it
doesn't take long for a person to say, 'Are you kidding?' I heard that phrase
more than once. Probably no country – certainly no liberal democracy – can
secure its borders against such a threat.
So, that's the problem. What might be the solution? For starters, international
controls over the traffic in nuclear materials and technology ought to be made
something more than the joke they currently are. Nuclear weapons cannot be
un-invented, and I personally think that nuclear power is a safe and
environmentally benign alternative to the use of fossil fuels, but any tool must
be used with care, and this tool admits of abuses too fearful for us to ignore.
PEREGRINE CLIFF, February 1991