Panic attack: public still in the dark when it comes to dirty bomb threat.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Chem-Bio Defense - Radiological dispersal device

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

When convicted terrorist Jose Padilla showed up at the Chicago airport in May 2002 allegedly with plans to carry out a dirty bomb attack, few people had ever heard of such a weapon.

The federal government since then has taken steps to prevent the use of a radiological dispersal device, or RDD--the technical term of a dirty bomb--but there are still widespread misunderstandings of what these weapons do.

The goal of the device is to create fear--and as long as this lack of knowledge persists--it will remain an effective weapon of "terror," experts have said.

As soon as media hear that there has been a dirty bomb attack, the public "will probably just jump in their cars and try to get out of there. That's probably the worst thing they can do," Detlof yon Winterfeldt, director of the Center of Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE), told National Defense.

A dirty bomb is a conventional explosive that is packed with radioactive materials commonly found in medical and mining equipment and food irradiators. The explosion would disperse the toxic isotopes in a smoke plume and contaminate the immediate vicinity. Experts agree that the deaths caused by such an attack would be minimal.

Padilla's alleged dirty bomb plot never arose in his terrorism trial last summer, and none have ever been detonated so far. But as a weapon designed to induce both fear--as well as economic damage caused by contamination--the threat is real, experts have maintained.

Six years after Padilla arrived, the United States faces vulnerabilities when it comes to dirty bombs. Radiation detectors at ports are not fully functional. Materials used to build the bombs aren't secure. And there are no plans in place to mitigate the hysteria they would induce.

Hearing the word "radiation" will send the public into a panic, said Vayl Oxford, director of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office. He acknowledged that the federal government has come up short in public information campaigns to educate the public on what to do in the event of such an attack.

"We agree that in many cases this is more of a panic weapon than anything else," Oxford said at the Gov Sec conference.

CREATE has done two studies looking at dirty bomb scenarios at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Such an attack, if carried out correctly and the weather conditions are unfavorable, may send a plume of contaminated smoke over populated areas.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

While the...