What are the possible scenarios if a tactical nuke was detonated & no one claimed responsibility

First off, I'm new on ATS, so sorry if this has already been posted or debated to death. If so, please could a moderator help to delete this.

Anyway, this question actually came from a dream, oddly enough. The question being:

What if a tactical nuke was detonated on US soil & no one claimed responsibility. What do you think would be the possible scenarios or actions the US would take, in today's political climate? Feel free to substitute other countries as well. Discuss.





[edit on 17-5-2008 by postmeme]

Theres always a paper trail or in this day and age an email trail.IP addresses can be recorded and monitored.Same goes for websites and anything else on the net.Cellphones and other communication equipment can also be tracked.Intel agencies should know BEFORE it happens just like 9/11.Even if no one claims responsibility(if you remember no one claimed responsibility for 9/11 either),we will find out.

Based on the isotopes used and/or yeild in the case of a stolen device I also beleive that they could at least identify where the fissile material came from. After that they can start investigating. Once the FBI gets on your tail its pretty hard to shake them. Also lets say the material came from Russia, they would bend over backwards in helping track down those responsable.

Wow i need to go back to bed.Ha im seeing things now.

[edit on 22-5-2008 by alienstar]

I would tend to agree that yeild and method of delivery would be key elements used to hypothesize a potential source.

Also, critical to determine the responsible party would be just how clean the detonation was, which would give some indication as to the relative sophistication of the device. An efficient device utilizes more of its fissile material to create a bigger explosion, hence less fissile maerial remains as fallout; but an efficient bomb is usually a very sophisticated bomb, beyond the likely abilities of "Cave-dwelling terrorists"

To deliver a weapon by air (by plane, missle, or even balloon) would require a relatively small, lightweight, and therefore, sophisticated design. For the most part, only nation-states would have access to this type of weapon, and the ability to maintain it in a ready state.


To evade radiation sensors and customs inspectors, a land based detonation would most likely be the result of a bomb built "in-situ"; requiring a minimum amount of transport of anything other than mostly innocuous components to the construction/detonation site. Land-basing would allow for a fairly large device, even one of reliably simple yet inefficient design, since radiation sheilding would be easier to accomplish within the confines of a building.

However, this strategy would generally require considerable manpower, and thus, as noted in a prior post, communications becomes a "weak-link" in the security chain: co-ordinating the commings and goings of the fabrication and assembly teams allows multiple opportunities for breaching operational security.

Best bet would be to build the device offshore and smuggle it in aboard, or beneath! an ocean-going ship. You could utilize a simple, relaible weapon design (a "gun-type" device, for example) of sufficient yield to devastate your target (coincidentally, Ports make Excellent targets!), while assured of the fact that the vast bulk of your delivery system (the ship itself) is shielding your weapon from prying radiation sensors.

Although in development, I doubt that the technology and/or the supportive database to identify isotope source by "signature" exists yet.


To answer your original question: "What would the US do After a nuke blast on its soil?"

The most likely answer would be: Nothing.

Unless it could absolutely identify the responsible party(ies), to the World's satisfaction, it would be left to mourn its dead, succor its injured, and withdraw into itself.

The rest of the world, recognizing the scale of retaliation such an attack would demand of the US, would never allow such retaliation on any but the PROVEN guilty party.


To do less would be to risk further retaliation resulting in all out world war.