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'AQ Khan did not act alone'
 The AQ Khan network could not have carried out its activities without the awareness of the Pakistani government, the Swedish Weapons of Mass Destru-ction Commission said in a report.The commission, headed by former IAEA chief Hans Blix, said that as far as it was aware, nuclear weapons had never been stolen or transferred from arsenals of states. The threats posed by existing nuclear weapons relate in the first place to the risks of deliberate use. High representatives of nuclear-armed states have recently alluded in precisely calculated ambiguity to a readiness actually to use nuclear weapons. Additional dangers could arise as a result of accidents, miscalculations, faulty intelligence and theft of unauthorised use. Addressing the possibility of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons, it said nobody could make a nuclear weapon without fissile material and the technical knowledge to design and manufacture a device. The first task is more difficult than designing a weapon. The basic information to design a crude nuclear device is publicly available. To produce the plutonium or highly enriched uranium needed to make a nuclear weapon is difficult and expensive. It requires the kind of infrastructure that is likely to be available only to states. There is a risk that security weaknesses could allow terrorists to steal enough material. Posted by: Fred 2006-12-07 |
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