As if anyone around here needed further proof to keep a few extra water bottles in the trunk (among other things), the following article/link paints a picture mainstream America only whispers about behind closed doors. It details the seconds, minutes, hours and days following a nuclear explosion in downtown DC. One of the "experts" quoted in the story below summed the situation up best. "Everyone hates this conversation, but I get even madder when I see how little we deal with it. There are things we can do, and do well—and it's OK to talk about it."

This person obviously isn't talking about anyone around here...

Surviving a Nuclear Attack on Washington, D.C.
by Sydney J. Freeberg Jr., National Review

WASHINGTON — What if we fail to prevent an attack?

Assume every line of defense against nuclear terrorism is breached: the efforts to lock up nuclear material abroad, to spy out hidden weapons programs, to deter rogue states and capture terrorists, to detect smuggled bombs at the border or downtown — every preventive measure discussed in the previous five installments of this series. Assume someone, somehow, gets all the way through. It only has to happen once.

Assume that this someone puts together a crude atomic bomb, of the “Little Boy” type dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, a heavy and awkward device but one still small enough to fit into a medium-size truck.

Assume that of all the potential targets in the world, from Los Angeles to Moscow, the spot where this someone parks the bomb is on Pennsylvania Avenue, halfway between the White House and the U.S. Capitol.

Assume the bomb goes off. Now what?