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Nuclear Terrorism Sinks Savannah — and U.S. Civil Society

By on 1.6.12 @ 6:06AM

Former Defense Secretary William Cohen’s nightmare thriller understates what would actually transpire.

Blink of an Eye
by William S. Cohen
(Tom Doherty Associates Book, 368 pages, $24.99)

Former Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen has published this, his second novel, and struck terrifying gold. Blink of an Eye compellingly presents a nightmare nuclear scenario that has kept national security professionals and senior political leadership awake nights since September 11, 2001: a nuclear bomb detonates, destroys an American city, and the government is having trouble figuring out who did it. Cohen brings to his novel the intimate knowledge of a longtime Washington insider and veteran of countless high-level meetings, negotiations, and political crises.

His tale wends its way through several surprise turns, as befits a novel. It also stretches the circumstances under which a detonation can occur, but not so far as to take for granted the reader’s suspension of disbelief. The plot weaves in militant Muslims, right-wing domestic extremists, Israel’s fabled Mossad intelligence service, a presidential election, and a widespread panic that follows the havoc caused by the bomb.

If anything, the novel understates the potential horrors after a nuclear event.  Panic surely would be worldwide and extreme. A 21st century nuclear attack would take place in a global media environment vastly different from that of 1945. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were newspaper headlines, and aired on radio broadcasts and movie theater newsreels. Today’s media are vastly more diverse and pervasive: global satellite television coverage, billions with access to the Internet, cell phones, computers, and more esoteric social media like Twitter and Facebook.

Now imagine that, unlike in Cohen’s book, authorities are unable to determine who set off the bomb. Nuclear forensics is an inexact discipline. We rely on data collected from atmospheric tests to tell us whether a bomb is of U.S., Russian, British, French or Chinese origin. None of these states is likely to intentionally sell or give the bomb to terrorist groups. The risks of confrontation with the U.S. are too great for Russia and China to contemplate, and Britain and France are our allies. Israel is not known to have tested a bomb, but its security is such that it is perhaps the least likely source of a stolen bomb. India could only be a source if a bomb is stolen, as it has not helped others proliferate and avoids trafficking with terrorists.

Which leaves “the usual suspect”: rogue states — such as Pakistan and North Korea — plus Iran, if it joins the nuclear club. North Korea is a rogue proliferator, whose leadership is capable of virtually anything. Pakistan is a militantly Islamic society with intense hostility directed at the U.S. by many leaders and much of the populace. Iran is a revolutionary state whose Islamist leadership ardently desires to destroy both the Great (America) and Little (Israel) Satans, and is seized of millenarian religious belief in Armageddon.

The author sums up why deterrence of Iran cannot be counted upon by reference to the Cold War confrontation between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union:

There’s no such thing as rationalizing with the irrational…. The reason the cold war stayed cold was the existence of mutual fear. When two countries share the same nightmare, war is unlikely. But when one country’s nightmare is the other country’s dream, well.… It’s clear, once they get nuclear weapons they’ll blackmail us into submission or actually use them. You can’t threaten them because they are eager to die. Somebody has to stop them.

Pakistani and North Korean nuclear tests have all been conducted underground, as likely an Iranian bomb would be tested. This makes obtaining a nuclear forensic signature of a bomb’s characteristics hard, if not impossible to obtain. Should we be unable to verify the source, our options are stark. Asking obviously gets one nowhere. We could warn each suspect state that if it does not comply by giving us full access to determine the signature of its nuclear weapons, we would treat it as guilty. But there is no international legal precedent supporting a state’s legal right to tell several states that they are guilty until proven innocent, and then if unable to identify the aggressor attack all for want of cooperation.

If enough Americans are dead the law might not matter. But our civilizational values would. Are we really able to carry out a threat to incinerate multiple countries to be sure we get the guilty party? In doing so we would be massacring millions living in one or more countries whose governments did nothing. It is hard to see any President summoning the will to do so, as it goes directly against our core societal DNA.

Cohen’s book is solid, suspenseful, entertaining and informative. But in choosing a scenario well short of the nightmare world that could easily follow a nuclear event, he offers us just a tantalizing glimpse of the potential mega-catastrophes that could befall us.

About the Author


Letter to the Editor View all comments (54) |

Ken (Old Texican)| 1.6.12 @ 7:58AM

Reality intersects fiction. Check this out over at the American Thinker.
http://www.americanthinker.com.....zuela.html

Also, you might want to buy my book either at amazon.com kindle or at
www.americaalonesaidno.com PDF

Alan Brooks| 1.7.12 @ 5:35AM

You all demonise Islam in a manner similar to how many are demonising Israel.

Alan Brooks| 1.7.12 @ 5:39AM

...Please, use your scare tactics on your goddamn kids.

carnot| 1.7.12 @ 12:37PM

if you scare easily...go someplace else. no one really cares about your value structure in the first place....speaking in an off-handed way of the threat from within.

carnot| 1.7.12 @ 12:40PM

the distinction...hard for someone like yourself so given to equivocating...is that there are demonstrable differences in risk between trusting Israel and trusting many Arab/Islamic states.

Alan Brooks| 1.7.12 @ 10:32PM

You take the 'Other' blaming too far.
What sold on 9/12/2001 wont sell today.

Paul Kotik| 1.7.12 @ 8:11PM

Well, sure. Islam is demonic, and Israel is not. Those who demonize Israel are wrong. Those who demonize Islam are guilty only of understatement.

What's the problem?

Alan Brooks| 1.7.12 @ 10:38PM

Only if we'd been more successful in Iraq and Ashcanistan during the last 10 yrs and 4 months (and counting) would your above comment be more than jauntiness.
Now Perry wants to send our boys back into Iraq for a do-over??

You had your chance and you blew it.

Alan Brooks| 1.8.12 @ 2:17PM

Again,
scare tactics fiction and nonfiction wont sell anymore.

You're not conservatives, you are Chicken Littles who want to frighten others: "De Boogeyman's gonna get ya"

Paul Kotik| 1.8.12 @ 4:04PM

You're right. We blew it.

But we'll have to go back, whether we like it or not. It will be vastly more expensive in blood and treasure, too.

There's simply no way around the strategic significance of Mesopotamia to the East-West interface. The 3 sources of existential threat to the West (Russia, China, and the Islamic axis centered in Iran and Pakistan) can find in Mesopotamia either a wall or a superhighway to the heart of the West. We'll make it a wall, alright, but it will be awful.

NJ Mike| 1.6.12 @ 8:06AM

Well , in that scenario IMO the only option is....

Bye bye, Nork, Paki, Yemen, Somalia, Saudi Arabia.....we'll turn you into a disney just as soon as the radiation drops......

Mike D.| 1.6.12 @ 10:10AM

Its probably a matter of time, not if! Won't be an implosion device, too complex for terrorists unless given one by a more sophisticated power. A gun type device is a lot easier to build though bigger, even a partial detonation due to crude construction would likely yield several kt's, more than enough to do the job. Its the visual effect more so than some pretty sizable local damage that would lead to mass panic and a rapid migration out of cities. All they terrorists would have to do would be to announce that another would be detonated in several hours in an unnamed city after the first one whether they had one or not. I suspect it will come over the SW border either intact or a piece at a time.
Highly unlikely that its a matter of if.

Alan Brooks| 1.7.12 @ 5:36AM

Mike D., Nuclear Physicist

carnot| 1.7.12 @ 12:41PM

Alan Brooks...intelligence expert.

Mike D.| 1.7.12 @ 7:44PM

Nice comment Asshole, shows your ignorance of the subject. If you too freaking stupid and don't know what your reading don't comment. Do your own research and tell me where I'm wrong or STFU

Alan Brooks| 1.8.12 @ 2:20PM

Where did you get your doctorate in physics? a Cracker Jack box?

Alan Brooks| 1.8.12 @ 2:22PM

... or perhaps you sucked your professors' you-know-what's?

Mike D.| 1.8.12 @ 3:52PM

Where did you get your doctorate in physics? a Cracker Jack box?
... or perhaps you sucked your professors' you-know-what's?

Heavy stuff Asshole. Refute anything in what I stated. Still waiting!

Alan Brooks| 1.8.12 @ 10:54PM

You are attempting to scare the susceptible, Mike, not inform anyone. At best it entertainment similar to the 'Left Behind' series; for Chicken Littles who enjoy the thrill of quaking in their boots.

Mike D.| 1.9.12 @ 7:44AM

Does the left behind series scare ya? It must! what I said apparently does and you just equivocated it. Now refute my first statement! Still waiting.

BackToBasics| 1.8.12 @ 1:44PM

At the rate in which we are disamring, we may not be able to. It was almost with glee that the MSM reported about 6 to 8 weeks ago that we dismantled our biggest nuclear bomb as if it was a proud symbol of our self-sacrifice.

Whitey O'Carr| 1.6.12 @ 9:23AM

I'm not buying anything from this guy! He's the one that served as the Toady for Klinton back in the 90's to make him look good when Klinton was caught with the intern! Cohen is a fink back when he was the first "republican" to call for President Nixon to resign during the Watergate scandal.

Anthony| 1.6.12 @ 2:07PM

Yeah really, so why did this moderate tweeb save his best thinking for after he left Washington?
He was a Washington insider for decades yet said nothing when he had the power.

Bob Grant| 1.6.12 @ 6:01PM

"Yeah really, so why did this moderate tweeb save his best thinking for after he left Washington?"....

.... that will be reveled in his new autobiography to be released in June, $29.99, Doubleday.

carnot| 1.7.12 @ 12:42PM

gee...I wonder why. you can't be serious...can you?

carnot| 1.7.12 @ 12:49PM

and...you're wrong about not saying ANYTHING. Who the H do you think sits behind the national military strategy, defense planning guidance, POM prioritizing, etc., etc.?

9thID| 1.6.12 @ 10:24AM

Sounds like a spinoff of "The Sum Of All Fears". I would be more worried about multiple dirty bombs being set off simultaneously, or a single EMP weapon...

Mike D.| 1.6.12 @ 10:36AM

It wouldn't end like the sum of all fears. Nobody would be sitting around on the whitehouse lawn listening to speechs at the end thats for sure. This country would be in effect finished at least economically and would be a total police state under Marshall law.

Alan Brooks| 1.8.12 @ 2:29PM

"This country would be in effect finished at least economically and would be a total police state under Marshall law."

You're a real positive thinker, Mikey boy.

Mike D.| 1.8.12 @ 4:02PM

Scared? Go hide under the bed, put on your rosy colored glasses, shit your pants and think positive and see what that does for you when this situation presents itself. Don't like to face possibilities? Don't think the terrorists would not have used a nuclear device if that had one in 9-11? Go discuss something warm and fuzzy.

Mike D.| 1.8.12 @ 4:09PM

If you think thinking positive is somehow going to prevent this kind of event. WTF do you think radiation detectors are being installed all over seaports, harbors, border entrances for? To keep your @ss from being vaporized while you think positive.

Alan Brooks| 1.8.12 @ 11:00PM

So? hide in your bunker stocked up with vittles and a copy of The Turner Diaries.
iodine
water purification tablets
dental floss
toothpaste
guns
ammo
a portrait of Reagan
copies of American Spectator (naturally;.. what would post-Apocalypse living be without AS?)

Mike D.| 1.9.12 @ 8:10AM

No, I teach volunteer coarses for our County Emergency Management office on Radiation, Radiation measurement and surveying. I purchase, repair and pulse calibrate these instruments and resell them. We have a Nuclear power plant in our county, that is why radiation education is important not only for terrorism purposes but for anybody who wants to educate themselves on the subject and understand what it is and what it isn't. I am a member of our local amatuer radio club emergency group, Amatuer Extra license. So, I don't hide, threat assessment has nothing to do with "positive thinking" thats a luxery for your ilk. Also, you really need to have that Reagan thing up your @ss that bothers you surgically removed. You'll feel SO much better. Somehow I see our friend Alan here being one of the poor wretches in the New Orleans Stadium two days after the hurricane, hands in the air and looking to the sky, waiting for the government to save his sorry @ss. Yeah, I can see that!

Petronius| 1.6.12 @ 10:49AM

There are only a few "American" cities remaining anyway: Indianapolis, Tulsa, OK.C. Waco, Nashville, Greenville, Cincinnati, and Dallas. The rest are full of liberals. And there are the prophetic words of the late Frank Zappa. "There will be no nuclear war. There's too much real estate involved." China gets it. So does Saudi Arabia. But the Norks, Pakis, and Iranians are like our Occupiers. They're in it for emotional vindication, and won't hesitate to claim credit for such an act. If they took out San Francisco, I'd be tempted to send a thank you note, but their mail service isn't any good.

David W| 1.6.12 @ 11:09AM

So basically, there is nothing we can do (and don't forget, if Chavez is still around he'd be happy to lend a hand to someone).

Occam's Tool| 1.6.12 @ 4:45PM

When it happens, I will run for President, as the leader of the Wake Up America Party. My Party's motto will be: "Those Motherfuckers are going to pay."

If you want to know more, read Caliphate by Tom Kratman. That's the best of these novels. And I'm not Tom, or have any financial interest in this. But I will run for President under those circumstances, with that motto.

Al Adab| 1.6.12 @ 5:36PM

There was a made for TV movie a number of years ago in which someone unknown sailed a fishing boat in Charleston with a device aboard. It went off when they tried to disarm it. Same result but without the global and national panic which todays media would promulgate. Cancel the election? Possibly.

Paul Kotik| 1.7.12 @ 8:14PM

I remember that one. The terrorists were getting radiation sick on the boat, right?

Russell| 1.6.12 @ 5:40PM

If Cohen is correct in observing :

"There's no such thing as rationalizing with the irrational…. "

what on Earth is Wohlstetter doing at The Discovery Institute?

All American American| 1.6.12 @ 6:18PM

Ahhh, the book contains the ever-feared but highly mythical "right wing domestic terrorists." Just who are these guys anyway? Oh wait, they're guys like me, vets who own guns and are pro-life, I forgot. Yeah, lump us in with the Satan-worshipping death cultists of islam.

Any book that panders like that is not worth my hard-earned fiat money anyway. Right wing domestic terrorists---puh-LEEEEZE!

russel| 1.6.12 @ 7:07PM

A surface device won't happen . What could and probably send us back to the 1800's is an EMB , a detenotion of a rather crude nuclear device over Kansas . Launched from some old barge by an old SCUD . The electromagnetic disruption kills all circuit boards , so anything computerized / circuit - boarded we've come to depend on is worthless . No nothing . Say what you will about Gingrich , but he has warned about his , as have those in the military . A dooms day we could stop with proper anti-missile defense .

Kingofthenet| 1.7.12 @ 5:46PM

So what? anything EMP would destroy could be easily replaced, it's not going to damage the mechanical 's, just the sensitive circuit boards.

Alan Brooks| 1.8.12 @ 2:26PM

"Say what you will about Gingrich , but he has warned about this"

Gingrich thinks he is Dr. No; he wants to zap N. Korea with a deathray or something.

POST American| 1.6.12 @ 8:54PM

---------------------FINAL WORD-----------------------

And BTW ---ANYONE heard ANYTHING
lately on the greatest world nuclear disaster
in history over in FUKISHIMA.

Remember? Fukishima ---the tsunamis
on 3/11/ 2011 and the second quake on
4/11/ 2011.

Remember? ---it followed on that other
greatest tsunami in recorded history
back in 2005, in SE Asia, on Dec 26th
------MAO TSE TUNG'S Birthday------.

Glad there're NO questions about those
'E-vents'.

------------------------------------------PSHEW!

Leveut| 1.6.12 @ 9:32PM

"There's no such thing as rationalizing with the irrational…. The reason the cold war stayed cold was the existence of mutual fear."

No. The cold war stayed "cold", which is to say non-nuclear, is because the US and the Soviet Union came from a sufficiently similar viewpoint and rationale that they understood and could reason with and about each other, just enough.

" When two countries share the same nightmare, war is unlikely."

Exactly my point. But to share the same nightmare, there has to be some significant commonality of principles and beliefs.

" But when one country's nightmare is the other country's dream, well.… It's clear, once they get nuclear weapons they'll blackmail us into submission or actually use them. You can't threaten them because they are eager to die. "

And that is not because the "other side" is irrational, it is because they are rational from their viewpoint, based on their premises and their culture. And those things are not at all similar to ours, or the Soviet Union's. Nevertheless, within their belief system, and their culture, and their religion, they are perfectly rational and consistent.

carnot| 1.7.12 @ 12:47PM

consistent...maybe.

rational? gimme a break. that's nonsense. rational from what perspective? you're being circular here.

BackToBasics| 1.7.12 @ 12:19AM

Which shows that from a Western perspective we could label strict Moslems as irrational rationalists. Maybe that's why the ardent followers of Islam and especially their Ayatollahs and Imams look so angry.

They could not label us that way from their perspective. Their understanding of us would stop at "irrational infidels."

mmercier| 1.7.12 @ 2:26AM

An older but appropriate read is "War Day". It is still available methinks.

I would not piss on Cohen if he was on fire.

Kingofthenet| 1.7.12 @ 5:44PM

Any terrorist nuke would likely be small and NOT airburst, limiting damage, I doubt they could EVER get half a Hiroshima.

Tenn Slim| 1.8.12 @ 8:49AM

Nuclear explosions, in and among themselves, are so far foriegn to the average US Citizen, as to be almost unbeliveable.
Unless one has actually experienced a test, of whatever vintage, one cannot grasp the power of such.
A devastated city, the surronding area, deaths, and the anger generated by such, in the rest of the US, would negate the DNA. If there were muted or no response from a deficient admin, the country would revert to regions, almost overnight.
We live, now, in such a seething caldron. The admin loves to play with the scales of reaons, justice and economics. They have no concept of the end results of thier gamemanship. Thier "ends justify the means" philosophy is based on not having a clue as to the "ends".
The Chaldean Hand has written.
Semper FI

WGMOW| 1.8.12 @ 5:24PM

Oh great, the idiot writes a book which can be used as a roadmap for a future terrorist attack. Remember Tom Clancy's "Debt of Honor"? Remember the September 11, 2001 attcks?

grambini| 1.8.12 @ 7:33PM

The holy bible says in revelation: ch 18 vs 15-18 15The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,

16And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

17For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,

18And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
MY point is that I always believed that it would be the vatican in rome, but now I am convinced it will be New York City where their are seven boroughs.

grambini| 1.8.12 @ 7:39PM

The bible says that it is the great Babylon that sits on seven hills. New York is not known for its seven hills but rather her seven boroughs?

POST American| 1.8.12 @ 10:14PM

------------------BOTTOM LINE------------------------

"IF Ron Paul doesn't win, IF the
Globalists ARE NOT put out of action
in Novemer 2012 ----you're going to have
to decide. IF you continue living in
America ---you will be living in a
full-blown police state. They're going
to pick you clean, and herd you into
FEMA camps. There you'll be wasted
away with medical neglect and GM
food and tainted water.
It is the end of everything.
SO, again, you'd better start
deciding, making plans because
THIS IS THEIR PLAN--"

It REALLY is kiddies.

--------------------------------------------REALLY

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