Terrorists with nuclear weapons

Tom Schelling writes in today’s WSJ:

[Terrorists] will discover, over weeks of arguing that the most effective use of the bomb, from a terrorist perspective, will be for influence.  Possessing a nuclear device, if they can demonstrate possession — and I believe they can, if they have it, without detonating it — will give them something of the status of a nation.  Threatening to use it against military targets, and keeping it intact if the threat is successful, may appeal to them more than expending it in a destructive act.  Even terrorists may consider destroying large numbers of people and structures less satisfying than keeping a major nation at bay.

No permalink is currently available, although it may pop up on the on-line edition.  Also pick up the paper copy for the front-page story about Caroline Hoxby and the recent disputes over her work on educational competition.

Addendum: Here is a link.

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