NCJ Number
90259
Editor(s)
Y Alexander,
C K Ebinger
Date Published
1982
Length
263 pages
Annotation
Energy and defense specialists assess the vulnerability of U.S. and worldwide energy industry (nuclear power plants, electrical utilities, liquid energy supplies, oil pipelines) to terrorists, profile terrorist groups most likely to engage in nuclear terrorism, and discusses possible countermeasures and policy initiatives.
Abstract
One article examines the types of threats most industrial societies can be expected to encounter and suggests that counterterrorist strategies will be effective only to the degree that they are appropriate to each individual terrorist threat. Another argues that vulnerability to biological and chemical warfare poses immense challenges to democratic institutions. An energy consultant examines the degree of threat to gas and oil logistics systems and lists attacks that have already occurred against such operations around the globe. She argues that top priority should be given to placing anti-aircraft weapons in or around such facilities as the oil loading terminals in the Middle East, especially Kuwait. The destruction of oil-pumping stations in Saudi Arabia or of gas-oil separators could have greater impact than closing the Straits of Hormuz. The pipleline system is the most vulnerable energy target in the United States, although attacks have been launched against corporate offices of oil companies, on oil refineries or depots, and against the coal and nuclear industries. Other articles chronicle the impact of nuclear terrorism on civil liberties, assess the vulnerability of the nuclear industry to theft of fissionable materials, examine corporate vulnerability to terrorism, and examine current U.S. policy on terrorism. The United States should address civil liberties versus national security questions, enhance international agreements, improve security measures, and develop coordinated crisis management policies. Chapter notes, tables, maps, and graphs are supplied. For individual articles, see NCJ 90260-66.