This companion book to a PBS series (airing April 14-17) details the threats facing the U.S. today-from nuclear, chemical and biological attack and from terrorism-and outlines possible solutions. Schram, a syndicated columnist for Scripps-Howard, succeeds admirably in translating eight hours of documentary footage into anecdotal prose. There is a wealth of historical and statistical detail here (for example, that there are 32,000 nuclear bombs and warheads on the planet, all but 2,000 belonging to the U.S. and Russia), but Schram lets the interviews carry the book. Thus Leonid Smirnoff, a former foreman at a Russian chemical-research site, tells how he easily siphoned off enriched uranium to sell on the black market, enough for a terrorist to build a nuclear bomb. An Iraqi defector who worked on Saddam Hussein's nuclear program details how, in 1956, the U.S. gave Iraq the Manhattan Project reports through its ill-advised Atoms for Peace program. In discussing chemical threats, Schram details efforts by companies like DuPont and Dow after WWI to sell legislators on the idea of "humane" chemical warfare. Also alarming is the section on Project 112, in which the U.S. Army and Navy targeted populations in American cities in secret open-air biological tests. The centerpiece of the section on terrorism is an informative series of interviews with Rohan Gunaratna, an expert on al-Qaeda. Gunaratna notably singles out terrorist propaganda as a powerful fund-raising and recruitment tool that must be dismantled if the war on terror is to succeed. The final section of the book outlines solutions aimed at addressing the poverty and political unrest around the world that he says foster terrorism and other potential threats.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
"Safeguarding the United States homeland in the age of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism" is an issue on the minds of not just our elected leaders but also every citizen, a concern reflected in the presentation next month of a PBS miniseries on the topic by Ted Turner Documentaries, which will be anchored by Walter Cronkite. This book is the companion to the series, which both analyzes the situation and prescribes solutions. Schram, a journalist and book writer, basically divides his commentary into two aspects, reasons for people to be alarmed and what to do to reduce the risk, as he sees the likelihood of potential threats coming in three arenas: from nuclear devices, chemical weapons, and biological weapons. He offers fresh insights into such relevant subtopics as the Al-Qaeda operation and the mind-set of the typical suicide bomber. Solutions are laid primarily at the door of today's world leaders, who, the author insists, must first and foremost safeguard and destroy the world's supply of weapons of mass destruction. All discussion points are spelled out for everyone to understand--not watered down, just made clear. The book, and the series to follow, is shocking, discomfiting, and necessary. Brad Hooper
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