Fissile material can be found in as many as 46 countries around the world.

Leftover materials from the former Soviet Union, which built a massive nuclear arsenal during the Cold War, pose the biggest threat as they are spread throughout Russia and the other states of the former USSR - often in under-secured facilities.

On Monday, former members of the Sept. 11 commission held a hearing to discuss the threat of nuclear materials abroad and weapons of mass destruction in the possession of terrorists. The House Homeland Security Committee met Tuesday to discuss similar issues.

"Right now we are involved in a race between cooperation and catastrophe," former Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga., of the United States' relationship with Russia. Nunn, now CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, co-founded the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program 13 years ago with Sen. Richard Lugar R-Ind.

The Nunn-Lugar program provides assistance to Russia and the former Soviet republics to secure and destroy their excess nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, delivery systems and nuclear material.

Approximately 54 percent of such materials have been secured so far. Nunn, however, is calling for more allocation to speed up the project. At the current rate, it will take an estimated 14 years to finish the job, he said.

Nunn has criticized Congress and administrations dating back to George H. Bush for delays and inaction in working with Russia to safeguard and destroy its vast stockpiles of nuclear material and weapons of mass destruction. Nunn graded the United States and Russia harshly for their joint efforts in securing against the threat.

"Nothing is more urgent and I urge presidents Bush and Putin to act within the next thirty days," said Nunn. "This is a liability issue that has to be solved."

Rep. James R. Langevin D-RI, told a House hearing on preventing nuclear and biological attacks that there have been 200 cases of smuggling of radioactive and fissile material in Russia. Russian newspapers also recently reported that Chechen rebels have twice tried unsuccessfully this year to gain access to nuclear facilities.

Despite this, no action to strengthen Nunn-Lugar has been taken since Sept. 11, critics say.

In recent conversations with the Russian defense ministry, however, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States and Russia are working to move past bureaucratic logjams that have blocked progress.

Liability has been one area of American concern.

If a nuclear incident occurred under the watch of the private U.S. companies doing the work of the program, Rep. Norman Dicks D-Wash., said it would be a controversial matter as to who would take the blame.

A defense official, speaking to United Press International on condition of anonymity, said the issue is more about timing than politics. "You will be hard pressed to find anyone against securing nuclear threats abroad -- it's a matter of how fast it can be accomplished," said the spokesperson.

The official, however, said the liability issue has been overblown.

"Threat reduction between the United States and the Soviet Union was agreed to before Sept. 11, but things were much more deliberate then," said the spokesperson.

"Then Sept. 11 happens and all of the sudden people start talking about the threat of nuclear terrorism and say -- we need to make this happen faster."

Testifying before the subcommittee, David Albright, director of the Institute for Science and International Security, said the United States should do more to get its own personnel on the ground in Russia to make sure proper measures are being taken to secure nuclear facilities.

He noted that greater diplomacy would need to occur before that happens.

Whatever is to be done, experts and lawmakers alike emphasized that it needs to become an urgent priority.

"Our progress since Sept. 11 is not what it should be," said Dr. Ashton Carter, co-director of the Preventive Defense Project Monday. "We have a war on terror, but we do not have a war on weapons of mass destruction and it will be unforgivable if counter-measures are not taken until a disaster occurs."

About half of the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations for legislation have been passed in Congress, reported former commissioner Tim Roemer.

But the recommendations the commission made about securing against nuclear weapons are not among them.

Part of the problem, said Steven Brill, founder and chairman of the America Prepared Campaign, a nonpartisan outfit designed to encourage Americans to prepare for terrorist attacks, is that much of the focus of regulation has been securing against the last terrorist attack rather than planning ahead as to what the next threat might be.

"Democracies are historically not very good at dealing with long term crises," said Brill. As an example, he said that while federal regulations do not allow a person to park their car less than 300 feet from an airport terminal, people can still park their cars right next to shopping malls and baseball stadiums.

"We have dealt with an earlier crisis at the expense of a larger example," said Brill."

Carter said the threat of what weapons of mass destruction could do to one of the major cities of the world is beyond comprehension and steps to curtail a disaster are immediately necessary.

"There has been almost no response. It is as if we are as asleep at the switch of weapons of mass destruction as we were to terrorism before Sept. 11," said Carter.

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