Medusa's Child

MEMO

TO: The President FROM: National Security Advisor SUBJ: Urgent Recommendation to establish an emergency program to develop the ability to detect smuggled Weapons-Grade Nuclear Materials at U.S. airports.

Mr. President:

You asked that I review both the Portland, Oregon, FBI seizure of 265 grams of highly-enriched Plutonium 239 last month and the 1994 German seizures of similar materials alleged to have come from Russia.

First, the Germans seriously overstated the threat when they alleged that Russia had lost control of a huge stockpile of weapons-grade material. What was found in Tengen and Munich were a long way from weapons-ready. If this was all we had to contend with, there would be little threat.

What was found by accident in Portland, however, is an entirely different matter. Not only was this highly-enriched weapons-grade material, it was also freshly processed-not recycled from some scrapped or stolen warhead. There was no characteristic "fingerprint" in the mix of the materials with the plutonium that could lead us to the source, or even a suspected country. Therefore, we must consider the very real possibility that someone off our shores has gathered the equipment and the ability to process such bomb-making isotopes by themselves without detection, and sell or distribute it to the highest bidder. The threat, in other words, is suddenly very real and immediate, and we stand exposed, with virtually no direct means of detecting such isotopes directly. Obviously, when the possibility of a nuclear detonation inside our borders is considered, hoping for an intelligence leak or a lucky break is not enough.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Issue a Presidential Finding that the need for direct detection of so-called fissile materials passing into the United States is a prime intelligence priority, and order the immediate development of such a program to cover all major U.S. ports-of-entry using existing technology (neutron "sniffers").

a) Munich, August 10, 1994 350 grams of Plutonium seized.

b) Tengen, May 10, 1994 5.6 grams Plutonium seized.