Author Description

Terrorism: Commentary on Security Documents is a hardbound series that provides primary-source documents on the worldwide counter-terrorism effort. Among the documents collected are transcripts of Congressional testimony, reports by such federal government bodies as the Congressional Research Service and the Government Accountability Office, and case law covering issues related to terrorism. Most volumes carry a single theme, and inside each volume the documents appear within topic-based categories. The series also includes a subject index and other indices that guide the user through this complex area of the law.Volume 102, Weapons of Mass Destruction, examines nuclear terrorism, which is the form of terrorism that poses the greatest risk to the United States and the rest of the world. Taken together, the documents presented in this volume communicate the unsettling message that the threat of nuclear proliferation is very serious and that the United States has not yet taken the adequate preventitive, defensive, and mitigation measures. Volume 102 further addresses consequence management, which is the method for managing and mitigating the consequences of a weapons of mass destruction attack. Doug Lovelace's commentary underscores the areas of dispute in connection with the United States' consequence management efforts and clarifies the arguments on both sides of the debate. Finally, this volume deals with the often overlooked subject of attack insurance. The report relating to this topic illustrates the insufficiency of the coverage that is currently available and proposes methods for improving the attack insurance industry. Reseachers will find in Volume 102 an illuminative glimpse into subjects related to weapons of mass destruction terrorism. The value of this volume lies both in the breadth of topics covered and in the clarification to be found in Lovelace's commentary.