State Pursuit of Radiological Weapons: Case Studies on the United States and Egypt

Radiological weapons, also known as "dirty bombs", are weapons that disperse radioactive material by using conventional explosives. There has been extensive research on the use of the weapons by non-state actors, but there... [ view full abstract ]

Radiological weapons, also known as "dirty bombs", are weapons that disperse radioactive material by using conventional explosives. There has been extensive research on the use of the weapons by non-state actors, but there has been little research on nations that have attempted to develop these weapons. In this research project, I focused on the United States and Egypt as case studies. These two nations both attempted to develop these weapons but did so under different contexts and for different purposes.

The purpose of this project is to understand why nations seek to develop these weapons in order to curb their proliferation in the future. My research utilized a wealth of historical documents that I examined to piece together the radiological weapons programs of the United States and Egypt. I uncovered new documents and even procured declassified information from Swiss, Egyptian, and United States' archives to piece together how their programs were structured.

I performed this research during my semester at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. I worked as a research assistant at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies where I did the research on this project.