Risk Assessment

Running head : RISK ASSESSMENT

Identifying Mitigation Measures

Capability , Motive , Opportunity , Targeting

Author

Date (Capability Assessment

The answer lies in understanding capability dimensions that would be involved in the likelihood of terrorist attacks with unconventional weapons . Different types of unconventional weapons need differing skills to build and use : A radiological dispersal device is radioactive material packed around a conventional explosive . There are thousands of different radioactive sources that could potentially be used making this the most likely form of attack . Fortunately many radioactive sources do not present great risks

if used in an RDD (and would be less dangerous than the explosion itself , and highly radioactive sources that would be dangerous in an RDD are much more difficult for terrorists to get and to handle safely . A chemical attack at its simplest could be the release of toxic gas caused by attacking an industrial facility , or releasing a chemical that has been stolen from its legitimate users . The anthrax used in the attacks in the US in the autumn of 2001 appears to have come from the US government bio-weapons research programme itself . This shows the ever present possibility of weapons being diverted by an `insider but Al Qaeda 's attempts at using biological weapons have been less successful . Getting highly enriched uranium , HEU is very difficult . A number of state programmes have either failed or made very slow process in enriching uranium , and the amount of infrastructure , time and resources necessary puts it out of the reach of any non-state...