Special Assignment: "A Terrorist's Tool" originally aired Thursday, February 13, 2003 at 11 p.m.

It's 9:00 in downtown Los Angeles -- an explosive is detonated in the ventilation system of a 30-story high rise. Authorities arrive in the lobby -- their Geiger counters begin to tick. It is a terrorist attack using a radiological weapon.

The building is evacuated. A few people receive lethal doses of radioactive material. They'll die within days. Others who inhale microscopic amounts will contract lung cancer and die in a few years. All this, from radioactive material found inside the bright orange case in the back of this pickup truck.

"It is as toxic as plutonium," says Dan Hirsch, Former director of nuclear policy at UC Santa Cruz, and current president of a nuclear watchdog group.

It is transported on our freeways through neighborhoods, left unattended in parking lots -- stolen at an alarming rate, as the nation braces for a terrorist attack.

"Something certainly needs to be done," says Michael Levi, a nationally recognized expert in terrorism and dirty bombs for the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, D.C.

"They have no idea how dangerous it is," Hirsch says.

CIA Director George Tenet: "The information we have points to plots aimed at targets in the United States that could include the use of a radiological dispersal device."

If al Queda is planning an attack, where is it getting the radioactive material? We searched for answers inside these federal documents, which list all missing radioactive material over the past few years. Inside the 400 pages we found a disturbing pattern -- nearly identical thefts, each involving a particular type of radioactive device stolen from the backs of pickup trucks.

It is a device, which contains a radioactive material that's as deadly as plutonium. The material in one device is enough to contaminate a large building. The amount in 30 devices could contaminate a few city blocks.

"It would seriously contaminate a square mile," Hirsch says. "A speck of dust could guarantee you cancer."

We set up surveillance at a Southern California company that has 30 of the devices. We found the garage door open for hours at a time, the devices clearly within reach. The driveway shared by many different companies, open to the public. No security in sight.

Hirsch: "The evidence you've uncovered indicates a huge gap in the state security and, frankly, the country's security. And you as a reporter are able to find in these records a clear pattern, a clear vulnerability, and the authorities have done nothing about (it)."

The devices are usually transported in the back of pickup trucks. We followed this one as it traveled on L.A. freeways and residential neighborhoods. Records show most of the devices are stolen from the trucks when left on the street.

Watch as the driver parks, then gets out and walks away, leaving the device unattended. Here you can see the containers are secured by a single chain, looped through flimsy metal handles.

"Something needs to be done about security," Levi says.

"They're traveling around in bright orange cases. That is really a pre-911 approach because from a public safety point you want to know what it is, but from a national security standpoint you don't want anyone to have a clue."

And these devices are being stolen at an alarming rate. One was stolen just last month in San Francisco. In December, one was stolen in Redlands. In November, it was San Diego.

Since 1997, 30 devices have been lost or stolen in California -- 25 are still missing. Texas has an even bigger problem, with 54 stolen or missing. In Arizona, the number is 23. In Florida, 22.

In fact, devices have been lost or stolen from all of these states. More than 200 lost, stolen or missing nationwide.

"I couldn't understand authorities seeing a pattern like that, and not doing something about it."

The state health department regulates radioactive material in California. In a written statement we obtained, the department says it doesn't have the authority to levy fines for violations of radiation protection laws. All it can do is investigate and write a report.

Hirsch: "You have a regulator that says go ahead and do what you want. Why don't you put up a sign that says, 'Osama Bin Laden come and get it.'"

We found many pages of state statutes, which clearly give the State Health Department authority to levy fines and even call for criminal penalties. State Sen. Gloria Romero has found them too.

"You open up the book you turn to this page, here you have a number of statutes," says Sen. Romero, a member of the Senate Public Safety Committee.

"I think we have to get answers from the Department of Health Services. I think we have to hold hearings on this but I think we have to have a commitment that the public safety will be trusted."

Hirsch: "As we have seen from your videotape, the ability to attain the material seems to be extraordinarily easy. I think the risk is very, very worrisome and troubling because officials are not taking it as seriously as the adversaries."

Consider the totals: more than 200 devices lost or stolen, the majority never recovered -- each packing deadly radioactive material, still carried in the back of open pickup trucks, till secured by a simple cable lock, still left unattended, still being stolen and never recovered, while the nation braces for a terrorist attack.

Just to be clear: We have chosen to leave out the name of the radioactive material and the name of the device because we don't want to make it easy for would-be terrorists to get their hands on one.

CBS Special Assignment

Back to Hotsheets