Decius wrote:
the idea of an organized covert group with the resources to obtain a nuclear weapon blowing up a few city blocks and spewing radioactive material into the atmosphere in an attempt to make the planet more sustainable for human life is nonsentical.

[ Well, one could argue that detonating a nuclear device is inherently non-sensical, rendering the motivations of the perpetrators somewhat less subject to rules of logic.

That being said, I basically agree that ecoterrorists or any other domesitc terrorists aren't the most likely danger... I think this story came about more because of the current season of 24 than anything else.

As far as this not being Al Quaeda's M.O., well, i'm not sure they're coherent enough to say that cateorically, but I will say that the scrutiny (and there is scrutiny) placed on nuclear and radiological weapons makes them rather less attractive than, as you say, the homegrown, harder to trace stuff, which is no less effective in accomplishing their goals, as we've sadly seen.

As a postscript, the Department of Homeland Security has a top level office called the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, which is tasked with, well, detecting the transport or acquisition of nuclear/radiological material that could be used in such an attack. Their capability and capacity is not something i'm qualified to assess, but I thought I'd at least note that someone has been assigned to the problem...

RE: Reuters AlertNet - Nuclear terrorism risk grows more real - analysts