To Our Readers

By ELIZABETH VALK LONG President

When 350 grams of plutonium, the world's most toxic substance, shows up in a suitcase at the Munich airport, the imagination rushes to sci-fi scenarios. But the threat is real. Is this deadly material one more indication of nuclear proliferation? The basis for the next wave of terrorism?

To give TIME's readers a realistic assessment of a perilous situation, we drew on the experience of Bruce van Voorst, who has covered Germany off and on since 1965, and who took over in May as our Bonn bureau chief. Van Voorst considers himself a lucky man: "My timing has always been good. I was in Germany when Willy Brandt set Ostpolitik in motion -- leading to German unification; in South America when Allende fell; with Kissinger during his shuttle diplomacy."

This story tested his timing. "In Europe, August means either no stories or big ones with no sources," Van Voorst observes. "Americans just have nothing to compare to this total vacation exodus. Most calls aren't answered." Investigating whether the plutonium really came from Russia, as claimed by German sources but denied by Russian officials, Van Voorst was able to tap his long-standing contacts in German and American intelligence circles to help sort out the likely possibilities.

He also contributed to our coverage of the capture of Carlos, a chapter in a story that might be called the old face of terrorism. To separate fact from legend in this shadowy career, he detailed Carlos' extensive comings and goings in East Berlin during the 1970s and '80s. Explains Van Voorst: "It was a matter of checking documents and prosecution sources to triangulate important clues about Carlos' operations."

"Bruce wouldn't know how to do a superficial job on a story," says executive editor Richard L. Duncan. "He's almost a compulsive reporter, always poking and prodding." And trusting his luck -- which on the whole, Van Voorst feels, is holding. For one thing, it has brought him back to Germany, after a decade as TIME's national security correspondent in Washington. "What I hope to cover in these next years is the question of what Germany is like as a normal nation," he says. "The division has been overcome, and new generations are coming along for whom World War II is a matter for the history books. The reunited country is, without perhaps even wanting to be, the strongest and politically the most important nation in Europe."