Valerie Plame: The Power of Zero-A Clarion Call For Disarmament
The Power of Zero
After spending years trying to thwart the nuclear black market, a former CIA spy says the only way to prevent terrorists from getting the bomb is to eliminate all of the world’s nukes.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, there have been at least 25 incidents of lost or stolen nuclear explosive material. If we estimate that the amount of recovered material represents 10 to 30 percent of the total amount that’s made it onto the black market over the years, that translates into sufficient material to build two to five nuclear weapons. The CIA is trying to ensure that none of this falls into the hands of terrorists, but it’s an uphill battle if the leakage of materials continues.
In the previous century, America led the world and defined the age—defeating Hitler, rebuilding Europe through the Marshall Plan, promoting civil rights for all people, sending men to the moon. Now we must again lead the world to conquer the gravest danger of this young century—nuclear terrorism.
As a former covert CIA operations officer, Plame Wilson worked to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. She is the author of Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House, soon to be a movie starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn.