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September 15, 2002

The Soviet Union had hundreds of portable nuclear weapons for use by engineers and commandoes to destroy key targets, and such weapons would logically be of great interest to the terrorists of 2002. But the situation is somewhat less chilling than the popular press would lead one to believe. Like US weapons, these "atomic demolition munitions" had yields under a kiloton, and were the size of footlockers, not suitcases. At least one journalistic report of "suitcase nukes" came from a mistranslation of testimony to the US Congress by Russian General Lebed.--Stephen V Cole