Members of the Tokyo Fire Department rescue a man in the role of the injured during an anti-terrorism exercise conducted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government at Tokyo Big Sight on November 7, 2008 in Tokyo, Japan. The first anti-RDD (radiological dispersal device) terrorism field training exercise on the local government level in Japan is being held to improve management abilities on RDD or 'dirty bomb' attack cases by using the latest equipment, facilities and vehicles.
As Stratfor has noted for several years now, media coverage of the threat posed by dirty bombs runs in a perceptible cycle with distinct spikes and lulls. We are currently in one of the periods of heightened awareness and media coverage. A number of factors appear to have sparked the current interest, including the recently concluded hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama. Other factors include the resurfacing rumors that al Qaeda militant Adnan El Shukrijumah may have returned to the United States and is planning to conduct an attack, as well as recent statements by members of the Obama administration regarding the threat of jihadist militants using weapons of mass destruction (WMD). A recent incident in India in which a number of people were sickened by radioactive metal at a scrap yard in a New Delhi slum also has received a great deal of media coverage.
