nuclear proliferation Archives

Netanyahu Worked Inside Nuclear Smuggling Ring

On June 27, 2012, the FBI partially declassified and released seven additional pages [.pdf] from a 1985–2002 investigation into how a network of front companies connected to the Israeli Ministry of Defense illegally smuggled nuclear triggers out of the U.S.* The newly released FBI files detail how Richard Kelly Smyth — who was convicted of … Continue reading

Sorting Out the Facts About Iran

On the issue of Iran’s “nuclear ambitions” you hear one thing on Monday, a different thing on Tuesday. “It’s a puzzlement!” to quote Yul Brynner’s famous line in The King and I. But in this case, the confusion is hardly insignificant. In a speech on March 4 to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), … Continue reading

Israel’s Nuclear Triggers

FBI files detailing Israel’s stealth acquisition of U.S. nuclear triggers were declassified and released on Dec. 28, 2011. The FBI’s secret Portland and Los Angeles inter-office communications were originally scheduled for release in the year 2036. Their availability today reveals how Israel’s elite spy networks acquire U.S. nuclear technologies while evading criminal and diplomatic consequences. … Continue reading

The Absurd US Stance on Israel’s Nukes: A Video Sampling of Denial

On Tuesday, at a rare joint session of Congress for a foreign leader, members of Congress will clap hands raw for Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel—a nation many members of Congress are incapable of speaking simple truths about. The upshot of the professional wrestling “fight” between Obama and Netanyahu the last several days … Continue reading

Pollard Espionage Ring Still Unfolding

Almost one year ago Victor Gilinsky and Roger J. Mattson penned the stunning article “Revisiting the NUMEC Affair” in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. It describes how in the 1960s Israeli agents and their U.S. collaborators stole highly enriched uranium from the Pennsylvania NUMEC plant for Israel’s first atomic weapons. The two former Nuclear Regulatory … Continue reading

High Stakes for Upcoming Nuclear Negotiations With Iran

Negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 – the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) plus Germany – will resume in Istanbul, Turkey, on Jan. 21. Although Turkey, which together with Brazil signed an agreement with Iran last May to store a significant portion of Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) on … Continue reading

Carrots Likely Better Than Sticks in Iran Dealings

Although the recently released WikiLeaks secrets document the well-known animosity of Iran’s neighbors to the radical Islamist regime – with their hopes for a U.S. attack on the nation over its nuclear enrichment program – talks to end the Iranian effort will continue. In advance of the next installment of negotiations to be held in … Continue reading

Turkey’s Policy Toward Iran Is Worth Emulating

The sad truth is that if Iran wants a nuclear weapon, it will likely eventually get one. So the United States should quit wasting valuable political capital beseeching, threatening, and horse-trading with China, Russia, and other UN Security Council members to incrementally ratchet up likely futile multilateral economic sanctions against Iran. Economic sanctions rarely work … Continue reading

Israel’s Bomb Out of the Shadows

Israel faces unprecedented pressure to abandon its official policy of “ambiguity” on its possession of nuclear weapons as the international community meets at the United Nations in New York this week to consider banning such arsenals from the Middle East. Israel’s equivocal stance on its atomic status was shattered by reports on Monday that it … Continue reading

Brazil-Turkey-Mediated Iran Deal Puts Ball in US Court

The administration of President Barack Obama has reacted skeptically to the nuclear swap accord signed Monday by Iran, Turkey, and Brazil, suggesting that Tehran would have to take significant additional steps to satisfy U.S. and Western demands to curb its nuclear program. “We acknowledge the efforts that have been made by Turkey and Brazil,” White … Continue reading