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Guest Calls for Action to Mitigate Risks for Dirty Bombs
Washington, D.C. – Today, Vice Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security Michael Guest (R-MS) joined a bipartisan group of leaders from the House Committee on Homeland Security (CHS) and House Committee on Energy & Commerce (E&C) in a letter to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) concerning security gaps in the purchase of radiological materials that could increase the risk of the construction of a dirty bomb in the United States. The letter urges the NRC to address these gaps in order to reduce the risk of a terrorist attack with the use of a dirty bomb.
The letter was penned following a covert investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that revealed vulnerabilities in its oversight of purchases of radiological materials.
“The possibility of nefarious actors being able to buy such dangerous quantities of radiological material should be a call to immediate action,” the Members write. “The threat is real – a recent publication by the Terrorgram Collective, a Racially and Ethnically Motivated Extremist group, claimed that dirty bombs are the ‘holy grail of terrorism’ and provided rough instructions on manufacturing a device using uranium ore. As law enforcement has recently been under threats of violence, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security have observed calls for using dirty bombs against law enforcement, including suggesting the placement of one in front of FBI Headquarters. Moreover, officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration have assessed that bad actors are showing an increasing interest in making dirty bombs.”
The original press release from CHS can be found here.
The full letter can be found here.
Background
A dirty bomb is a weapon that combines radioactive material with explosive components. The explosion causes damage and disperses the radioactive material across an area. A dirty bomb is not a nuclear weapon, but it can still cause significant damage while exposing large populations to radioactive material.
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