Nuclear Proliferation and the Potential Threat of Nuclear Terrorism

摘要

For many centuries, security strategies have been based on boundaries: the strategic placement of cities and borders to take advantage of natural barriers; defences that relied on walls, trenches and armadas; and the use of ethnic and religious groupings or other categories to distinguish friend from foe. In the 20th Century, the advent of airplanes, submarines, ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction began to undermine this approach to security - by making borders increasingly porous, and by enabling the remote delivery of destruction on a scale previously not envisioned. But the forcing factor - the change that has altered the international security landscape so drastically that it has compelled a fundamental reevaluation of security strategies - is, in fact, globalisation. The global community has become interdependent, with the constant movement of people, ideas and goods. Many aspects of modern life - global warming, Internet communication, the global marketplace, and yes, the rise in international terrorism - point to the fact that the human race has walked through a door that cannot be re-entered. Our approaches to national and international security must be in-keeping with this reality.