Atomic demolition munition
Due to their relatively small size and light weight, ADMs could be emplaced by military engineers or special forces teams, then detonated on command or by timer to create massive obstructions.
By destroying key terrain features or choke points such as bridges, dams, mountain passes and tunnels, ADMs could serve to create physical as well as radiological obstacles to the movement of enemy forces and thus channel them into prepared killing zones.
[5][6] According to official accounts, the United States deployed ADMs overseas in Italy and West Germany (Fulda Gap) during the Cold War.
[13] ADMs have never been used commercially although similar small devices, often modified to cut down on fission yield and maximize fusion, have been deeply buried to put out gas well fires as part of the Soviet test program.
[19] The Special Atomic Demolition Munition (SADM) was a family of man-portable nuclear weapons fielded by the US military in the 1960s, but never used in actual combat.
The two-person team would place the weapon package in the target location, set the timer, and swim out into the ocean where they would be retrieved by a submarine or a high-speed surface water craft.
The Medium Atomic Demolition Munition (MADM) was a tactical nuclear weapon developed by the United States during the Cold War.
While a number of steps were taken to consolidate and improve the security of Russia's strategic nuclear arms, particularly under the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, concern[by whom?]
In a worst case analysis, a suitcase nuke would be small enough to be hand-carried into a major population or leadership center undetected and then detonated.
In May 1997 General Alexander Lebed told an American Congressional delegation that Russia had lost dozens of atomic demolition units.
[22][23] On 23 February 1999, the PBS investigative program Frontline aired a special on Russian nuclear security that included a series of interviews with several of the individuals who spoke publicly during the 1997 debate on suitcase nukes.
The former commander of U.S. nuclear forces, retired General Eugene Habiger, also appeared on Frontline and expressed doubt about the size of such devices, calling the term suitcase "a little optimistic."
In it, Yossef Bodansky, an American terrorism analyst, author, and head of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Non-Conventional Warfare claimed that he had learned, through sources in Russia and the Middle East, that bin Laden had "a few of the ex-Soviet 'suitcase' bombs acquired through the Chechens.″[25] Two months later, on 5 October, the Moscow daily Komsomolskaya Pravda published an interview in which Bodansky, citing "various intelligence sources," claimed that bin Laden had acquired, through Kazakhstan, "from several to twenty tactical nuclear warheads."
[26] Bodansky's claims surfaced again on 25 October 1999 when The Jerusalem Report published an article on bin Laden and suitcase nuclear devices.
Following the 11 September terrorist attacks on the United States, fresh attention was focused on al-Qaeda's desire for weapons of mass destruction but with more urgency than in the past.
Representative Weldon, once again at the forefront of the debate, stated "Do I think he [bin Laden] has a [sic] small atomic demolition munitions, which were built by the Soviets in the Cold War?
"[29] On 17 January 2002, Russia's Atomic Energy Minister, Aleksandr Rumyantsev, told Interfax it would be impossible for terrorists to construct a portable nuclear weapon, citing a lack of "necessary potential and materials."
