As a subcontractor to TASC I participated in an open source study of RDD threats in 2004. The study has never been publically released and last I heard was under DOE review for classification. The study was funded by the S&T Directorate of DHS. The studies conclusion was that the threat was real but extremely limited. The British government takes the threat more seriously than in the US.
An almost two year old Federal Register Notice of DHS/FEMA may be of interest!
The most interesting thing besides being issued in the Federal Register is that Secretary Michael Chertoff actually signed off on the Federal Register document. It would be interesting to know what DHS guidance documents reference this notice and whether it is employed across the board in DHS training activities and whether the STATE and LOCALS know of its existence and have adopted it for their own use. By the way the doctrine of creating a National Security Zone will be blogged on later. This concept was first used when a Minuteman missle silo exploded in Missouri in the 1970's.
The Federal Register document can be found at:
Planning Guidance for Protection and Recovery Following Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD) and Improvised Nuclear Device (IND) Incidents--73 Fed. Reg. pp. 45029-45048 (August 1, 2009)!
