Nightline 5/18: "Loose Nukes" and link to free video (no joke!)

link for free video of "Last Best Chance":

http://actnow.saferworld.org/video/

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Loose Nukes

May 18, 2005


Nuclear nonproliferation and one of the world's richest men: not necessarily two items you would see lumped together. But on tonight's "Nightline," you will. He thinks the world's gravest threat is nuclear material getting into the wrong hands ... and he wants the world to know about it. So he's spending his own money to make sure the message gets out.


For those of you who follow the hit drama, "24," you know that a nuclear warhead has been launched and an American city is about to be hit. It is our worst nightmare -- but it's fiction, right? How real can that threat be? Well, there are a lot of serious people who think the nuclear threat is real. They are particularly concerned about the vast amount of nuclear materials across the globe that are poorly protected, or easily available from the former Soviet Union, for example. Former Sen. Sam Nunn (a sponsor of legislation that provides funding and expertise to help countries to dismantle and secure their nuclear materials) has been a tireless voice on this issue. As the head of an advocacy group, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), he suggested they make a movie to spread the word of the threat. That million-dollar effort, "Last Best Chance," a 45-minute movie, doesn't have the high-tech glossy look of "24," but it has a plot involving al Qaeda terrorists, Russian mobsters, a crooked nuclear scientist and a U.S. president played by former Sen. Fred Thompson, who laments that the problem could have been solved years ago if everyone had taken it seriously. The movie will have a screening in Washington tonight.

Now this is where one of the world's richest men comes in. One of NTI's biggest backers is Warren Buffett. He is known as the "Oracle of Omaha," a phenomenally successful businessman. When he talks people usually stop to listen. At Berkshire Hathaway's recent annual meeting, he urged shareholders to order the film (it is available free online). Buffett has donated $10 million to NTI in the past two years and plans to donate $7 million annually through 2009.

Correspondent Jake Tapper will have a background report on the real threat that "loose nukes" pose. Ted Koppel will talk to Warren Buffett about something that he thinks is the most pressing issue of our time.

We hope you'll join us.

Madhulika Sikka & the "Nightline" staff
Senior Producer
ABC News Washington Bureau