From the World War II era of the Manhattan project and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to the declarations of war on Iraq and Afghanistan because of their supposed possession of nuclear weapons, this article seeks to identify a pattern in the behaviors of contemporary terrorist groups. Gary Ackerman, director of Unconventional Weapons and Technology Division at START, sheds light on the mentality behind many groups’ apocalyptic outlook of purging the world through use of nuclear weapons.
A Department of Homeland Security Emeritus Center of Excellence led by the University of Maryland