The threat of nuclear terrorism became a global concern from "summary" of The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
The idea that terrorists might acquire nuclear weapons was not new. Since the early days of the Manhattan Project, security experts had worried about the possibility of nuclear theft or sabotage. But after the end of the Cold War, these concerns took on a new urgency. Suddenly, there were more nuclear weapons in more places than ever before, and many of these weapons were poorly guarded. The collapse of the Soviet Union had left a dangerous legacy: thousands of nuclear warheads, scattered across a vast and unstable territory. The threat of nuclear terrorism became a global concern. Governments around the world scrambled to improve security at nuclear facilities and tighten controls on nuclear materials. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) took on a new role as the watchdog of the nuclear black market, tracking down illicit trafficking in weapons-grade uranium and plutonium. But despite these efforts, the danger remained real. The specter of a nuclear 9/11 haunted the imaginations of policymakers and the public alike. What if a terrorist group managed to steal a bomb from a poorly guarded stockpile? What if they built their own bomb us...
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