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Pakistani Nuclear Security Worries U.S. Officials

Pakistani Nuclear Security Worries U.S. Officials
Global Security Newswire Jan. 12, 2009 Preventing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal from falling into extremist hands is a more important security priority for the United States than stabilizing Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a Bush administration report delivered to the team preparing for Barack Obama’s presidency, the New York Times reported yesterday

“Only one of those countries has a hundred nuclear weapons,” the report’s lead author said. Concerns persist over Islamabad’s ability to protect the arsenal, according to the Times.

U.S. intelligence officials have briefed Obama on the possibility that some Pakistani scientists with radical Islamic sympathies have sought to join the ranks of the nation’s nuclear elite……………………….The official also expressed concern that militants could try to steal nuclear weapons that were being transferred between facilities. Some U.S. officials were concerned that the recent terrorist attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai might have been intended to spur Pakistan to move tactical nuclear weapons to border positions so they could be stolen, the Times reported.

NTI: Global Security Newswire – Pakistani Nuclear Security Worries U.S. Officials

January 13, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | safety | antinuclear, nuclear, radioactive, uranium