Today Barack Obama signed into law H.R. 730, which establishes a nuclear forensics team at the Department of Homeland Security.
Different countries' nuclear material have different "fingerprints"--combinations of isotopes that make them uniquely identifiable. Thus, a nuclear explosion of a bomb from Russia would leave different markers than one from North Korea. This is immensely important, because if a country were to "hand-off" a nuclear bomb to a terrorist, then the US could trace it back to the state and use massive retaliation. The ability to fingerprint quickly could reestablish nuclear deterrence against such handoffs.
Different countries' nuclear material have different "fingerprints"--combinations of isotopes that make them uniquely identifiable. Thus, a nuclear explosion of a bomb from Russia would leave different markers than one from North Korea. This is immensely important, because if a country were to "hand-off" a nuclear bomb to a terrorist, then the US could trace it back to the state and use massive retaliation. The ability to fingerprint quickly could reestablish nuclear deterrence against such handoffs.
