Can you please give me a link to that stories?

Can you recommend any good books on the subject?

I think the reality of the issue is the biggest counter-argument to M.A.D. Not that the concept of M.A.D. isn't sound, per se, just that it's not a strong retort to concerns about the risk of use of nuclear weapons, or even the outbreak of nuclear war.

M.A.D. is dependent on both a strong rational actor model and as well as a strong and strict state apparatus. In reality, at the end of the day what seems to have kept us away from nuclear war is the simple fact that most people are extremely risk averse and, in the first instance, will behave rather empathetically even against enemies. That's comforting from a humanist perspective, but given the prevalence of traits like psychopathy and other pathologies in the general population not anywhere near the kinds of odds that justify the current number and administration of nuclear weapons and weapons-grade material.

I don't care about sloppy combination locks or omg-I-almost-launched-a-retaliation-strike-at-a-flock-of-geese, I care about a commercial rental vehicle being used that you know, I might rent some day and drive.

I think the cesium is probably more dangerous than the plutonium, because it ignites spontaneously in air and explodes in contact with water. If the crackheads who have it break open the container, we'll probably know who they are pretty quickly, especially if it's a radioactive isotope.

I have traveled with a nuclear soil density gauge a few times and was always told to keep it in the truck at night so as to minimize my exposure. That said the case was locked and the case was then locked by two independent locks to the truck. The gauge I was using used small cesium and americium sources.

Wait, is it harmless or is it going to cause a cluster of diseases in the next few years?? It can't be both!

Not trying to be political but when in the past was incompetence at this level considered OK?