KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Las VegasLas Vegas Think Tank Tackles Nuclear Terror Threat

Las Vegas Think Tank Tackles Nuclear Terror Threat

Five years after the attacks of 9/11, our country is woefully unprepared for a major disaster according to the experts.

Worst of all would be a terrorist detonation of a nuclear device.

An atomic explosion in a major American city would devastate the country, but too little is being done to prevent such an incident according to a new Las Vegas-based organization that thinks nuclear terrorism is by far our most pressing issue.

"When you're all caught up with gay marriage and flag burning and stem cell research, this kinda gets lost in the shuffle. This is the top issue. This trumps every other issue," Al Marquis, founder of Target: Nuclear Terrorism, says.

To Al Marquis, the threat of nuclear terrorism is far more pressing than global warming or energy prices or anything else. It should be on the lips of every presidential hopeful and congressional leader but isn't.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks five years ago, the chairman of the 9-11 commission declared nuclear terrorism to be the nation's number one threat.  The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog thinks if extremist groups obtain nuclear weapons, there is little doubt they will use them. Half of the nuclear stockpile of the former USSR is, as yet, unsecured. Rogue nations with atomic arsenals could potentially cooperate with terrorist groups.

"Al Qaida has announced plans that they want to see an American Hiroshima. They say they want a world without Anglo Saxon civilization. They have the money. They have the resolve," Marquis says.

Marquis is best known as a successful Las Vegas attorney but he has spent years on the frontlines of nuclear issues. He emphasizes that nuclear terrorism isn't a partisan issue because the effects of an unexpected detonation cuts across party lines.

The 9/11 attacks occurred in New York but affected the economy of the entire country, including Las Vegas. A detonation, in say, Los Angeles, would be a disaster for Nevada and not just because of a loss of tourists.

"Imagine Los Angeles being destroyed by a nuclear weapon. We'd have no electricity here, maybe for months. You can't buy anything. Can't buy gasoline or groceries. The food delivery system would break down in a matter of days. There would be no food in your grocery stores, no water coming out of your faucet. No electricity in town. How long would it take for us to have complete anarchy here, and in other cities as well?" Marquis says.

Could it happen? The experts say yes.

If terrorists could obtain weapons grade material, they would have little trouble smuggling it into the country, despite the existence of detection entities like the nest team. Un-inspected trucks cross the porous border with Mexico every day. Un-inspected cargo containers arrive daily in major American ports.

The public furor that erupted when Dubai wanted to buy American ports offers a ray of hope, marquis says. When the public became fired up about that issue, the politicians responded.

That's why Marquis has funded a non-profit organization, Target: Nuclear Terrorism (TNT). It's Web site explains the issues and solicits people to become members. All funds collected will be used to purchase a media presence to make TNT a self-perpetuating nationwide entity.

"People don't want to talk about it. It's unsettling to discuss. Because people aren't talking about it, the politicians in D.C. won't discuss it either. You take the Dubai ports issue. It also demonstrates that when the people get up in arms, Washington will respond. That's what we want to do with TNT," Marquis says.

It's a snowball that he thinks can begin rolling in Las Vegas.

Send feedback to I-Team Reporter George Knapp at gknapp@klastv.com