Col. Stanislav Lunev
Monday, June 10, 2002

Last week, President Bush announced his intention to create a Department of Homeland Security, but that's what the present Department of Defense should be. The announcement came at a time when more and more U.S. politicians are recognizing the threat of a possible nuclear terrorist attack against America.

As NewsMax.com reported on Sept. 24, the possibility that terrorists had a chance to obtain nuclear devices and could use them against America is real and increases with each passing day. U.S. intelligence has found no evidence to confirm this possibility, but unfortunately, it has disclosed new evidence confirming terrorists' intentions to obtain weapons of mass destruction and use them against America.

We know that in the former Soviet Union, stockpiles of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons remain dangerously unsecured. Currently, thousands of nuclear warheads are stored in rundown depots devoid of electric power because the Russian security services do not have enough money to pay the bills.

As the Washington Times revealed on June 1, the Soviet Union might be history, but its nuclear missiles are still around – without their well-trained Soviet security forces to keep an eye on them. The front gates of some of these nuclear storage facilities are secured by flimsy bicycle locks and are patrolled by guards more interested in vodka than in vigilance, and who are so poorly paid they would sell anything on site to the highest bidder.

If that's what is going on with the stockpiles of strategic nuclear weapons, it would be practically impossible to speak about the security of small-size tactical nukes, which have never been covered in the arms control treaties. Until now, U.S. intelligence can only guess at the number of tactical nuclear weapons in the Russian arsenal, including tactical air-bombs, mines, artillery shells, warheads for tactical missiles and torpedoes, etc.

Unfortunately, Russian officials also do not have an exact count of their tactical nuclear weapons. During the days of the USSR, these weapons were deployed in the former Soviet military districts, whose territories since 1991 now belong to the so-called newly independent states.

During and after the collapse of the USSR, Russia transported these weapons back into its own territory, but documentation on previous nuclear arms locations and numbers disappeared.

Nobody knows the exact number of these weapons left in former Soviet republics, nor does anybody know the number of these weapons finding their way to rogue states and to international terrorist organizations. According to Western intelligence estimates, since the end of the Cold War at least 164 highly transportable former Soviet nuclear warheads have gone south.

Intelligence experts also stated that nearly two years ago, the bin Laden organization had already allegedly purchased a number of nuclear bombs from Russian organized crime syndicates via unidentified former Soviet republics. In addition, there have been numerous arrests of smugglers moving nuke devices or weapons-grade material into Europe, non-Russian former Soviet Union republics and Southwest Asia.

As the Moscow press reported, Russian science, a world leader during the Soviet era, could soon become virtually extinct due to a lack of funds and a post-Communist "brain drain." More than 200,000 scientists have left Russia in recent years, and most of the equipment in the country's laboratories has not been replaced since 1991, according to official figures.

The majority of these scientists relocated to the West, but a sufficient number left Russia for Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya and other state sponsors of international terrorism. During a decade of the "brain drain" process, these scientists brought their knowledge and expertise to the rogue nations and are actively involved in creation and production of weapons of mass destruction.

The next attack on America may be more severe and dangerous. There is no doubt that the president's reorganization plan will work only if Congress gets real, but bureaucratic changes cannot protect Americans from new terrorist attacks. That can be prevented only by improvements in U.S. national security and its institutions, which are authorized by law to fight against the most dangerous evil of our times.

Col. Stanislav Lunev is the highest-ranking Soviet military intelligence officer ever to defect from Russia. Read his gripping story, Through the Eyes of the Enemy.

See Col. Lunev's earlier article on this subject: Bush Must Warn Rogue States of Nuclear Retaliation

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Russia
War on Terrorism

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