We should all take the bit about being able to construct a “relatively sophisticated nuclear device,” with a grain of salt.
An actual bomb is beyond the capability of anybody but a nation-state. Al-qaeda, et al don't have a chance of anything more than a dirty bomb. While dirty bombs suck too, they are limited to contamination of a couple of city blocks - not actual kinetic destruction of those blocks and the contaminated have a high survivability level given the kind of treatment immediately available in a city.
Also, in this day and age of the NSA and supporters using weasel words, I have to wonder if (a) this info was declassified to support justifications for the NSA and (b) if the line about a "nuclear device" is more weasel wording to sound scary without literally claiming they could build a bomb.
An actual bomb is beyond the capability of anybody but a nation-state. Al-qaeda, et al don't have a chance of anything more than a dirty bomb. While dirty bombs suck too, they are limited to contamination of a couple of city blocks - not actual kinetic destruction of those blocks and the contaminated have a high survivability level given the kind of treatment immediately available in a city.
Also, in this day and age of the NSA and supporters using weasel words, I have to wonder if (a) this info was declassified to support justifications for the NSA and (b) if the line about a "nuclear device" is more weasel wording to sound scary without literally claiming they could build a bomb.