Germany is well prepared to protect its nuclear power plants against a
terrorist attack, the former head of Germany’s BND foreign intelligence
agency, told New Europe.
“I was a long time ago responsible for security of the German nuclear
power plants and we have done a lot. We have done a lot in order to
secure these plants. Therefore it will be very, very difficult to get
access to German nuclear power plants. I don’t know the situation
exactly in Belgium, I don’t know in France, but I think at least that
after the last events they would have higher security measures in order
to project these nuclear power plants,” August Hanning said in an
interview on the sidelines of GLOBSEC2016 in Bratislava on April 16.
He said that a chemical bomb or biological weapon is far more
dangerous than a dirty bomb although the latter is very attractive to
terrorists because it can spread panic.
Hanning highlighted the continuous “very good cooperation” between
German and US anti-terrorism units. “Our whole system, law enforcement,
internal system in order to protect our population against terrorist
threats is closely related to the US. We’re to a certain extent
dependent from the US because the National Security Agency (NSA)
provides us with a lot of information, very necessary for us. Let me
say, it’s part of our German security architecture,” the former head of
Germany’s BND foreign intelligence agency said.
Meanwhile, former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff
told a roundtable with journalists in Bratislava on April 17 that “the
number one terrorist threat now is Daesh”.
“The US has done and continues to share and work closely with
European intelligence agencies both before these attacks and after these
attacks and I think that there’s increasing interest in being
cooperative,” Chertoff said, responding to a question from New Europe
about cooperation between the US, the EU and Russia.
“With Russia, historically we have had a degree of cooperation on
terrorism issues because Russians have been victims of terrorism, as
have Americans. Obviously, there’re some areas of disagreement between
the US and Russia with respect to other issues. But on the issue of
radical Islamist terrorism I think there probably is room for
cooperation and some information sharing,” Chertoff said.
Turning to nuclear threats, he noted that the nuclear proliferation
issue is nation state issue. Therefore, that’s why there’re initiatives
like the one that was hosted in Washington recently with respect to
nation states that have nuclear weapons to control them and make sure
they don’t get out of control,” he said, referring to the nuclear
conference in Washington DC on April where US President Barack Obama
called for a boost in national security.
“A dirty bomb does not require a nation state. It requires getting
control of radioactive material which actually somewhat different than
the radioactive material in a nuclear bomb and somewhat embedding it in a
conventional bomb,” Chertoff said, adding that there is radioactive
material all over the world used for medical purposes, research and
other activities.
“That’s much more of a country-by-country effort to make sure we’ve
secured the radioactive material. We have an effort like that in the
United States; other countries should do that as well. But that’s really
done on a national basis because there is no, you can find this
material locally. It doesn’t require international movements,” he said.
Turning to the issue of securing nuclear power plants, he referred to
press reports that ISIS infiltrated plants in Brussels. “A nuclear
plant wouldn’t blow up like a bomb. But as we saw in Fukushima it could
cause a lot of damage. Obviously securing nuclear facilities is a
critical element of infrastructure and should be a very high priority
for any nation that relies on nuclear power,” he said.
Trying to prevent a terrorism act at the initial stage is critical.
“This is not like television where it’s exciting if you wait until the
last minute to stop the plot, like James Bond,” the former Secretary of
Homeland Security said, smiling.
“In real life, if they get very far down you have a problem because
what’ll happen in part is, if they feel they’re being looked at, they
may accelerate the plot. So you’re looking for early indications that
someone is beginning to radicalise, beginning to think about carrying an
operation and at that point you want to be examining and investigating
that person so if they get to certain point you can immediately go in
and disrupt it instead of waiting,” he said.
Chertoff argued that European intelligence agencies should be aware
where people travel. “That’s why when the European voted a few days ago
to collect passenger name information. That’s a valuable tool to see if
someone travelled to Syria or Iraq because once someone has done that
they deserve a closer look,” he said.
Regarding Libya, he said the North African country fell into disorder
and has some of the characteristics of a failed state. “Now apparently
they have a unity government, but certainly the last couple of years we
have seen the results of toppling [Libyan leader Muammar al-] Gaddafy
without a plan what you are going to do afterwards and I think the
result of that was to destabilise not just the country but the North
Africa region,” Chertoff said.
He also argued that Iran remains a very big threat regionally and
Hezbollah, which has been acting basically in concert with Iran, is a
well-known terrorist organisation. “There’s a lot of concern about Iran
particularly because since they seem to now view themselves as permitted
to experiment with ballistic missiles, which I actually think they are
not permitted to do. But I have not seen that they have modified their
behavior in a way that makes me feel good or comfortable and I think
they continue to be involved in promoting disorder in Syria and in other
parts of the region. You don’t have the luxury when you’re doing
security only to have one problem at a time. I think they remain to be a
very serious regional problem,” he said.
Finally, asked by New Europe about North Korea, Chertoff said they
are really unpredictable. “Trying to get into the head of North Korea is
something beyond my ability to imagine. What is clear is that they do
have nuclear weapons. I don’t think that they have a hydrogen bomb but
they do have nuclear weapons. They do have missiles. I gather the most
recent test failed. But look any time someone makes reckless threats and
has significant weapons and, of course, they attacked Sony using cyber
weapons, you have to be concerned about them,” he said. “There’s also a
concern that North Korea might sell some its technology at some point as
there is indications they have done in the past. North Korea basically
almost fits the definition of a rogue state perfectly. They don’t follow
international norms, they blaster, they threaten, they are involved in
promoting criminal behaviour and I think they have to be contained.”
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/germany-nuke-plant-firewall-terrorists/