LONDON, England — In the late 1990s, getting permission to visit former Soviet nuclear sites was relatively easy and after to speaking to scientists still at work in them, the security was rather shocking. But what has alarmed me more over the years was realizing that North American and European research and academic facilities could do with a security audit themselves.

British regulators have routinely outlined security lapses and in the United States nuclear research labs have been penetrated with relative ease by nuclear safety campaigners posing as students. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has found that a radioactive source is lost or stolen in the United States almost every day.

In the words of President Barack Obama, "loose nuclear materials could exterminate any city on earth." So the effort to secure those materials needs to be a global one. The U.S.-led megaports system is a frontline defense for a non-proliferation strategy.

The program is seven years old and aims to equip 100 seaports by 2015 so that they can screen ship, rail and truck traffic through monitoring portals looking for radiological and nuclear material.

In one megaport in Antwerp, Belgium, port authorities say they are currently screening about 70 per cent of all traffic, 80 per cent of which ends up on North American soil.

"We seized 50 containers in 2008 with all kinds of nuclear and radioactive sources and that's all kinds of travel coming from all kinds of containers," says Noel Colpin, Director-General of Belgium’s Customs and Excise authority.

None of those incidents posed a serious terror threat but security officials say screening all container cargo is still a key goal.

"I think it’s very important because before we didn't know it, now we can do the screening and we are indeed surprised by the number of seizures and the importance," adds Colpin.

Since 2001, databases kept on behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency indicate roughly a doubling of illicit trafficking in materials that could be used in dirty bombs using radioactive material or in a few cases for nuclear devices.

One favoured route, through Russia, into Georgia and on to Turkey, means cargo gets an easy ride through to Europe and ports like this one in Belgium. While incidents involving weapons-grade nuclear material are rare, guarding against them is worth doing whatever it takes.

"It’s a game changer, it will change everything we take for granted for a very, very, long time. It’s lives lost, infrastructure damage, counting to billions, but you also have the political fallout, who knows what happens next," says Andreas Persbo, a nuclear researcher with Vertic.

Experts point out, we are still vulnerable, an IND, or Improvised Nuclear Device, could be shielded after being encased in lead and uranium and doesn’t even carry a signature.

"We’re not complete with our mission yet, and we have a ways to go to get to our ultimate goal which is protecting maritime traffic anywhere that it’s going," says William Kilmartin, a program director with the Megaports Program.

And what worries security authorities most is a tangible nexus between arms-dealers, organized crime and terrorists who would seek out insiders from state-sponsored nuclear weapons programs. It’s a deadly combination that experts say could slip through even the best of defenses.

Many Muslim women in Europe say they don’t buy it. Make no mistake, no matter how Muslim women feel about the burka most of them would say politicians have no business banning or defending it.

As one woman wrote to us after we asked her opinion, “It seems that in a hundred years, little has changed in Mr Sarkozy's mind about imposing his version of liberal values. In the shadow of the sumptuous Versailles Palace, his comments seem little other than cheap shots at winning political points, without really addressing the heart of the issue. How can a politician determine what a woman should wear?”

Many women point out that the burka or niqab is seen by some as a sacred expression of religious freedom and by others as a hideous example of female oppression. But as with free speech, some may not like what you’re wearing but they will defend your right to wear it.

While the French culture and character is central to this story, its separation between church and state and the secularism of the republic, some say this cannot possibly justify telling women what they can and can’t wear in public.

This is a raging debate throughout Europe and one that makes many quite uncomfortable. Even Muslim groups in France were muted in their response.

In the Netherlands and France there are bans on wearing any outwardly religious symbols including face veils.  For justification, many point out that in Turkey, a Muslim country, secularism is taken seriously and head coverings are forbidden in government offices and schools.

But banning face coverings anywhere in public would go a step too far according to many including U.S. President Barack Obama.

In an historic speech to the Muslim world from Cairo in June, Obama said he did not believe the state should dictate how people – and Muslim women in particular – should dress.

And it’s true that a ban in places like Britain or the United States would never be proposed or accepted. Many are sceptical that Sarkozy’s proposals will amount to anything but in the meantime it is serving to further widen the cultural divide between Europe and its Muslim communities.

Let us know what you think, we want to hear from you.

London, England—Slick and accessible, one of the latest offerings from Somalia’s Al Qaeda backed Al-Shabab looks more like a reality TV show than a recruitment tool for terrorists.

And then there’s the English—American English.

“Away from your family, away from our friends, away from ice, candy bars, all those things is because we’re waiting to meet the enemy.” says a man reported to be Abu Mansoor al-Amriki. Al Qaeda propaganda refers to him as ‘the American” and it is one of the first times he has ever shown his face. He is now apparently in Somalia training and counselling Somalis from North America and Europe.

And then there’s the jihad call to arms with a hip-hop vibe.

“Mortar by mortar, shell by shell, only going to stop when I send them to hell” raps the unidentified voice-over of the video.

“We’re seeing perhaps their most sophisticated attempt so far to really reach an audience of potential recruits in America and that’s one of the things that made that video very significant” says Ben Venzke of the IntelCenter, a Washington-based research group that tracks Al Qaeda’s development and messages.

“They’re casting it in a way that’s going to speak to the youth of today,” says Venzke who adds, “Most of the time what we’re seeing in their videos directly parallels what the groups are doing operationally, what they are targeting, where they’re recruiting.”

Sheik Ahmed Matan says he knows that firsthand. The respected member of Britain’s Somali community says he knows of hundreds of young Somali men who have returned to Somalia for terrorist training.

“A lot of young people from here, from America, from Canada, from everywhere from Europe they went there, ” he says adding these men are capable of being sent back home to conduct terrorist operations, even suicide bombings.

“It can be, they can train anytime and send them here, anytime,” says Sheik Matan.

Somalis from North American and Europe are beginning to come to terms with the problem of recruitment. The U.S. and British governments say Somalia is an emerging terror hot spot, which can pose a threat beyond its borders.

Sheik Matan says he often challenges ‘recruiters’ at mosques and elsewhere in Britain demanding they stop brainwashing younger Somalis about Islam. He says the government should play a greater role in monitoring what is said and done at these mosques but doing so has proved highly controversial in Britain and throughout Europe.

But there is evidence that Al Qaeda is successfully preying on some of those with Western backgrounds. One of them was a business student from London who suddenly left for Somalia and only surfaced about 18 months ago on this martyrdom video just before blowing himself up in Southern Somalia killing at least twenty people.

In an off-the-record briefing with CNN, U.S. Defence officials told CNN months ago that one of their worst nightmares would be Al Qaeda operating freely in Somalia. Now that nightmare continues, with Somalis in North America and Europe admitting Al Qaeda’s reach is spreading to their communities.