How to Build a Nuclear Bomb and other weapons of mass destruction

New York, NY: Nation Books, 2004. First edition. First printing [stated]. Trade paperback. Very good. Glued binding. xx, 180, [8] pages. Illustrations, black & white. Further Reading. Source notes. Index. Cover has slight wear and soiling. Contents cover Nuclear Weapons, Biological Weapons, Chemical Weapons, What does it take to make a WMD, Case Studies Iraq and North Korea, What is the International Impact of a WMD program?, Terrorism with weapons of mass destruction, Which groups are capable of making and using a WMD?, What can counterterrorism do?, and What does the future hold? Frank Charles Barnaby (27 September 1927 - 1 August 2020) was the Nuclear Issues Consultant to the Oxford Research Group, a freelance defense analyst, and a prolific author on military technology. He was based in the United Kingdom. He was born in Andover, Hampshire, and was educated at Andover Grammar School and the University of London. Barnaby trained as a nuclear physicist and worked at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, Aldermaston, between 1951 and 1957. He was on the senior scientific staff of the Medical Research Council (UK) when a university lecturer at University College London (1957-1967). Barnaby was Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) from 1971-1981. In 1981, Barnaby became a founding member of the World Cultural Council. He was a Professor at the VU University Amsterdam 1981-85, and awarded the Harold Stassen Chair of International Relations at the University of Minnesota in 1985. He has been the Executive Secretary of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) are the greatest threat to national security in the twenty-first century. How to Build a Nuclear Bomb explains what it takes for a rogue state or terrorist group to obtain and use them. But nuclear weapons and terrorism expert Frank Barnaby has not written a collection of scare stories. His purpose in How to Build a Nuclear Bomb is to counteract the "misinformation, often put out for propaganda purposes" and general ignorance on this most urgent of topics. Barnaby describes, in straightforward, non-sensational terms what is involved when a state or a terrorist group sets out to make a weapon of mass destruction, what they are capable of doing, and what is needed to produce one. By outlining the parameters of the problem, Barnaby is able to accurately gauge the threat that WMD pose, arguing that counterterrorist measures urgently need to be stepped up to meet the challenges of a new era of international terror.