Tip on Nuclear Attack Risk Was Kept From New Yorkers

[Gonzo]

Talk about a dilemma. Panic 18 million residents & tourists, many of which would still be stuck in the tunnels & bridges or say nothing & have 1/8 of the US population get destroyed.

Mon Mar 4, 3:03 PM ET
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN The New York Times

A month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, senior Bush administration officials received an intelligence report that terrorists had obtained a 10-kiloton nuclear weapon from the Russian arsenal and were planning to smuggle it into New York City, a government official said yesterday.

Confirming an account in today's issue of Time magazine, the official said the highly classified intelligence report had come from a source of questionable reliability and had circulated among a relatively few top officials who concluded, after weeks of investigation, that it was false.

The report was kept a tight secret former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, the New York Police Department and even senior Federal Bureau of Investigation officials were not told so as not to panic New Yorkers, Time said. It said a 10- kiloton bomb detonated in Lower Manhattan would kill 100,000 people, sicken 700,000 with radiation and flatten everything within a half-mile.

 

[unclehobart]

1/8 of the US population? Thats waaay high.

 

[Gonzo]

1/8 is 35M--consider-DE, NJ, PA, NY, CT, RI, MA, VT, NH & ME would be affected by fallout. Possibly OH(unlikely), VA, DC, MD, WV too

 

[unclehobart]

So a light fallout amount in Maine is equal to destroyed and death? I don't think so. Certain amounts of fallout would travel very far indeed, but the lethality sphere isn't nearly as large as you think it is... even with a 50 megaton blast. If fallout equals death, be sure to include everyone in Europe as they happen to be in our exit airflow. Massachusetts? Thats over 100 miles away. Heck, Certain parts of it are 100s of miles away. 30 bombs couldn't cover the territory you are claiming.

 

[Gonzo]

Destruction ends at the rivers, large scale cancer at about 50 miles. No, not large term D&D, but a quickly escalated death rate would occur up to 100 miles, though it would slow down as you get farther from "the new" ground zero.

OK, unc, you made your point-how's 1/16th the US population sound?

 

[Huge]

From a NY'er POV: While I am not mad that the public was kept in the dark about this, I am not happy that our officials were not told about this, even if to do nothing.

 

[Gonzo]

Imagine what the shitstorm woulda been if the officials knew, left town & didn't pass the word...

 

[s4]

I read somewhere that the nuke plot was a hoax.

 

[Gonzo]

Unfortunately, after Sept 11, we don't have the luxury of thinking/hoping/praying it's a hoax.