Pakistan: Nuclear Assets Safe

[January 26, 2008]  ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan is increasingly alert to the possible threat of Islamic extremists seeking control of its nuclear weapons, but its security system is fail-safe despite the rising militancy in the country, a top official said Saturday.

Some 10,000 soldiers have been deployed to secure the U.S.-ally's nuclear facilities as part of a command and control system headed by President Pervez Musharraf and other top officials, said Khalid Kidwai, head of the Strategic Plans Division which handles Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.

"There's no conceivable scenario, political or violent, in which Pakistan will fall to extremists of the al-Qaida or Taliban type," the retired general said at a briefing for foreign journalists. "Pakistan's nuclear weapons, fissile material and infrastructure are absolutely safe and secure."

Kidwai said his division still planned for any contingency and has reassessed the militant threat in light of escalating attacks on security forces and intelligence personnel, although it had received no intelligence of a terrorist plot against the nuclear facilities.

"You are always responding to threats, the last six months is no exception," he said. "The state of alertness has gone up."

Pakistan, which acquired its nuclear technology secretly and outside international oversight, tested its atom bomb in 1998 in response to a test by its historical rival and neighbor, India.

Fears over the security of its nuclear assets grew after the chief scientist behind its uranium enrichment program, A. Q. Khan, was exposed in early 2004 as having sold sensitive technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya. Pakistan has since instituted its command and control system to prevent a repeat.

But the upsurge in militant violence and U.S. concerns that al-Qaida has regrouped along Pakistan's volatile border with Afghanistan have reignited international concerns. Media reports have said the Pentagon has contingency plans for seizing Pakistan's nuclear facilities if they ever fall into the hands of Islamic extremists.

Kidwai described that as "irresponsible talk" and said the United States would not be able to succeed in such an operation.

The wide-ranging media briefing covered the safeguards Pakistan has put in place to prevent accidental use of a bomb and nuclear proliferation, and even an overview of the procedure for launching a nuclear strike. Foreign diplomats received a similar briefing earlier this month.

Kidwai said that after the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. had offered to share its "best practices" in nuclear security, and as a result, Pakistan had accepted $8-10 million dollars in U.S. aid to enhance physical security of its nuclear assets and for training.

He said Pakistan had insisted that no outsiders, including Americans, would come to Pakistan as a condition for acceptance of the aid. The U.S. was supporting the establishment of an academy for Pakistani nuclear personnel that he hoped would be up and running in 18 to 24 months.

Kidwai said any decision on using a nuclear weapon would rest with the 10-member National Command Authority chaired by the president, "hopefully by consensus but at least by majority." The decision would be conveyed to the Strategic Plans Division and then through the military chain of command.

Having given the order, the National Command Authority could still call off a nuclear strike at the last minute, even if a pilot had left Pakistani airspace. An authorization code was needed by a pilot or officer commanding a missile-launch from the ground to finally press the button.

He said that of about 10,000 scientists involved in the nuclear program, some 2,000 working in particularly sensitive areas were subject to intense scrutiny throughout their lives. This included regular reports on their political, financial and moral background, and their medical and psychological fitness.

Kidwai acknowledged that two Pakistani nuclear scientists had met with Osama bin Laden in Kandahar, Afghanistan, during the rule of the Taliban regime. But a three-month investigation held after the Sept. 11 attacks on America had cleared the two men and established "nothing dangerous had happened."

Otherwise, Kidwai said there had only been "minor incidents" of personnel in the nuclear program stepping out of line. He cited the case of one scientist who had made a speech against the United States and Musharraf at a mosque and was consequently removed from his job.

Khan, the scientist who became a national hero for developing Pakistan's atomic bomb, remains under house arrest in a villa in a residential part of Islamabad for his role in selling nuclear secrets.

Pakistan's government insists it was unaware of his dealings, but refuses to allow foreign investigators to question him.

[Associated Press; By MATTHEW PENNINGTON]

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