Cargoes of Doom: National Strategies of the U.S. to Combat the Illicit Transport of Weapons of Mass Destruction by Sea

The growing availability of weapons-grade plutonium and uranium, as well as radioactive materials that could be used to produce a radiological dispersal device or “dirty bomb,” poses a grave threat to international peace and security and to the security of the United States. The existing nonproliferation regime has so far failed to address adequately international and national security concerns. Accordingly, a number of states, including the United States, have launched national and multilateral efforts to combat proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This chapter seeks to provide an overview of the security strategies of the United States that are relevant to an analysis of the legal and policy issues surrounding efforts to prevent or disrupt the illicit transport of weapons of mass destruction by sea. It is hoped that these materials will provide a foundation for the reader to evaluate the other contributions in this collection. --Introductionhttps://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/faculty-books/1014/thumbnail.jp