ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

When ISIS took control of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in 2014, it apparently had the makings of a devastating dirty bomb at its fingertips. Cobalt-60  is a common element in medical radiotherapy equipment used in cancer treatment. For about three years after ISIS overran the city, wary U.S. intelligence agencies were aware that two caches of  potentially dangerous cobalt-60 were in storage on a Mosul college campus in machines that were estimated to be 30 years old. Officials notified Iraqi military commanders about the threat, as their army battled ISIS block-by-block for control of the city for the past year or so. A  dirty bomb  is an explosive device laced with radioactive material. According to the  Daily Sheeple , had the terrorist army  weaponized the cobalt-60 , all bets would have been off. The isotope emits gamma rays at high intensity, making it effective in radiotherapy cancer treatments, however its high rad...

Following its most recent test-fire of an intercontinental ballistic missile on July 28, the communist regime of North Korea  has taken to the global stage  to announce that it apparently now has the capacity to hit potential targets anywhere in the United States. Kim Jong-Un reportedly issued a challenge to President Donald Trump after the test, warning him that North Korea’s advanced weapons technologies can now strike “at any place and time,” including locales as far away as New York City and Washington, D.C. Under Kim’s leadership, North Korea is said to have been working tirelessly for many years to develop  a nuclear weapon  powerful enough to traverse the Atlantic Ocean and hit targets in North America.  Since February , North Korea has successfully engaged in 12 missile launches, including both short- and intermediate-range missiles. But the last two launches have apparently involved missiles with intercontinental range – a first for the regime. ...

When a small, $400 remote-controlled quadcopter drone landed on the grounds of the White House in February 2015, Obama administration officials were in full freak-out mode. Just 10 days before that incident, officials from the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. military, and the FAA huddled for a “summit” regarding a danger that they had been contemplating for years: Terrorists’ use of weaponized drones for attacks or assassination. As reported by  Wired , while the conference was open to the public it was not open to the press, but one attendee  told the online tech magazine  it was an eye-opening experience: The officials played videos of low-cost drones firing semi-automatic weapons, revealed that Syrian rebels are importing consumer-grade drones to launch attacks, and flashed photos from an exercise that pitted $5,000 worth of drones against a convoy of armored vehicles. (The drones won). However, the attendee noted, the most impactful visual aide...

An unknown amount of radioactive material has been  reported stolen  in Northern Mexico, prompting a massive search that spans across the Mexican states of Leon, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas and Coahuila, according to a recent announcement from the head of national emergency services. Mexico’s National Coordinator of Civil Protection, Luis Felipe Puente, encouraged anyone with information about the theft to immediately contact authorities, but also warned people not to handle the radioactive material if it is found. According to local media, the material was taken from an engineering school in the state of Nuevo Leon. “This was industrial equipment that included Iridium-192… which can be dangerous for people if it is taken out of its container,” the Interior Department said in a statement. The radioactive material stolen back in April marked the seventh known case of radioactive material theft in Mexico since 2013, according to the AFP. As serious as this ...