NYT/AP: Nuclear Materials 'Dangerously Vulnerable'

[DeepModem Mom]

Nuclear Materials 'Dangerously Vulnerable'
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 13, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Despite progress on security, tons of nuclear material are ''dangerously vulnerable'' to theft by terrorists across the globe, a private group contends.

World leaders have failed to provide money promised for or to pay strict attention to securing materials that could be used for a nuclear device or ''dirty'' bomb, the Nuclear Threat Initiative said Thursday.

As leaders of the Group of Eight industrial powers, including President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin, meet this weekend, NIT reports note that only a fraction of the $20 billion those leaders pledged four years ago to secure nuclear materials has been spent.

''This threat is not being treated as an urgent, front-burner security threat by the United States, by Russia or by the world,'' said former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., co-chairman of the group that focuses on nuclear nonproliferation.

The organization commissioned the two reports to assess the G-8's response to safeguarding nuclear materials. One was by the Managing the Atom Project at Harvard University; the other came from researchers at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies....

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Nuclear-Threats.html?_r=1&oref=slogin