As canned as these scenarios—all fictional, I should add—may seem, they are preposterously, ludicrously, and frighteningly closer to reality than almost anyone would realize. Indeed, 419 similar plotlines played out in real life from 1993 to 2013, said Erika Gregory, director of N Square, a two-year-old pilot program designed to spark ideas and build partnerships with the goal of ending the threat of nuclear weapons. That is the number of cases—that we know of, she says—in which nuclear or radiological materials were smuggled or stolen worldwide during those years.
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If there was a ray of good news that emerged from the discussion, it was that private enterprise may offer the best hope for easing this cataclysmic threat. Private industry, said Finlay, “moves faster, is more innovative, and can operationalize solutions to challenges much more expeditiously.” Part of what his organization does is to serve as a broker between private enterprise and government, trying to find that “shared value” on grand challenges like the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
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