Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Here’s an article that covers so many bases I dont know where to start. Essentially, it downplays the ’suitcase nuke’ scenario. In fact, it sort of gives the impression that such a small sized weapon is highly impractical and unlikely to be an issue. Of course, if you keep reading, you see that the US had something similar..a ‘backpack nuke’. My favorite part though is about Stanislav Lunev and his assertions that there were caches of Soviet gear and weapons in the US for a fifth column-type scenario of invasion. Interestingly, one of those caches was claimed to be here in Montana. More reasons to go geocaching.

Don’t think this sort of thing is limited to the Soviets though. Every time they put in a new tunnel on the Berlin subway they uncover a bunker full of Mausers and stick grenades. Theres always a bunker or cave somewhere with the leftovers from a major conflict. Theres stories of Japanese gold caches, Nazi ‘Werwolf’ operation caches, etc, etc. still out there waiting to be uncovered. On the more mundane side, theres no shortage of semi-modern missing nukes out there to be discovered and rehabbed into service by a dedicated and determined organization.

Anyway, while the prospect of a citybusting device that can fit in a suitcase may be unrealistic (or, at least, they tell us its unrealistic) theres no shortage of larger size devices that while not exactly ‘man-portable’ would probably fit quite nicely in the average cargo container. Keep in mind the US produced small nukes that fit on the end of what was basically a recoilless rifle. Not citybusters but a genuine nuclear bomb nonetheless. And the bombs that nuked the Japs were pretty small, all things considered, and made with technology that nowadys pretty much anyone could acquire. I could be wrong, but my personal belief is that the era of ICBM nuclear strikes is, for now, behind us.

The more likely, in my opinion, nuclear scenario is the ‘dirty bomb’ scenario (which is getting some flak over its actual effectiveness) or the stolen warhead scenario (much like what you see in ‘True Lies’). I suppose that in the strictest sense, ’suitcase nukes’ do not exist, however I all but guarantee that nuclear devices only slightly do exist. Who currently has them, of course, is the itneresting part.