International Smuggling Ring Had Nuclear Blueprints...

[ForeverNight]

WASHINGTON - An international smuggling ring that sold bomb-related parts to Libya, Iran and North Korea also managed to acquire blueprints for an advanced nuclear weapon, according to a draft report by a former top U.N. arms inspector that suggests the plans could have been shared secretly with any number of countries or rogue groups.

 

The drawings, discovered in 2006 on computers owned by Swiss businessmen, included essential details for building a compact nuclear device that could be fitted on a type of ballistic missile used by Iran and more than a dozen developing countries, the report states.

 

The computer contents -- more than 1,000 gigabytes of data -- were recently destroyed by Swiss authorities under the supervision of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, which is investigating the now-defunct smuggling ring previously led by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

 

But U.N. officials cannot rule out the possibility that the blueprints were shared with others before their discovery, said the report's author, David Albright, a prominent nuclear weapons expert who spent four years researching the smuggling network.

 

"These advanced nuclear weapons designs may have long ago been sold off to some of the most treacherous regimes in the world," Albright writes in a draft report about the blueprint's discovery. A copy of the report, expected to be published later this week, was provided to the Washington Post.

 

Traveling with President Bush in Europe, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Sunday that he had not read accounts of the Albright report, "but obviously we're very concerned about the A.Q. Khan network, both in terms of what they were doing by purveying enrichment technology and also the possibility that there would be weapons-related technology associated with it." [/Quote]

 

Source

 

Interesting, no? Makes one wonder who could've had access...

[*Don*]

I getting chills down my spine whenever I read this in the news these days.

It really makes one wonder what may have happened and who may have seen the plans...

[Det. Bart Lasiter]

I wish I had that much hard disk space :/

[Arcesious]

Well this is certain to bring somewhat of a 'red scare', like in the cold war... The instant a nuclear device is detonated, it would most likely trigger a massive launch of nuclear arms, thus, possibly destroying all mankind or most of it... I hate it when idiots get to have control of powerful things, whilst I can't do anything about it.... I'm not saying that I beleive it's true that someone got the blueprints, but I have no evidence as to whether or not someone does... Either way, It makes me very angry to see my life hanging by a thread, in the hands of idiots, that thread we're all hanging by being the clever term called 'mutually assured destruction'. I'd rather not have the destiny of my life possibly determined by the arrogant agendas of others.

[Totenkopf]

Well.....more important than getting blueprints is actually accessing the material to build a bomb. There's more than enough knowledge floating around on how to build bombs for the serious minded to produce a blueprint anyway. There was a case a number of years ago of a grad student who "built" a bomb as part of his classwork (thesis/project, I forget exactly which) and got a visit from his Uncle Sam.

[Ray Jones]

No, that was in an ancient Stargate Atlantis episode I saw last week.

[Totenkopf]

Cute, ray, but wrong. This preceded the whole SG series by a decade or more.

[EnderWiggin]

Either way, It makes me very angry to see my life hanging by a thread, in the hands of idiots, that thread we're all hanging by being the clever term called 'mutually assured destruction'. I'd rather not have the destiny of my life possibly determined by the arrogant agendas of others.

 

Don't be such a fatalist.

 

They have the plans, true. But they don't have the stuff yet, and then they actually have to use it. Even terrorists will think twice about launching a nuke. Perhaps they'll threaten with it, but I don't think MAD is imminent just yet.

 

_EW_

[Rev7]

They have the plans, true. But they don't have the stuff yet, and then they actually have to use it. Even terrorists will think twice about launching a nuke. Perhaps they'll threaten with it, but I don't think MAD is imminent just yet.

This is true.

 

However, it is a threat. Just the knowledge of how to make something like this is dangerous, in my opinion. If a country that has the means to create a device like this, gets their hands on the blueprints....

[mur'phon]

We already have several nuclear armed countries, how many have used a nuke? The thing is nukes are a nice "bully weapon". If, let's say Iran get nukes, its main purpose would be to prevent Israel/the U.S from attacking it, as well as bullying/offer protection to its neighbours.

[Jae Onasi]

The internet has plans for nuclear devices, too. Getting the stuff to make it is another matter.