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Let’s keep ‘generic’ for drug prescriptions

On September 18, I posted that that four former executives of Japanese company, Mitutoyo Corp, were found guilty of illegally exporting devices that could be used in producing nuclear weapons. That is true, but from the perspective of actually trying to prevent such things from happening there is more to the story. And, as is usually the case, the redoubtable reporter Mark Hibbs had the story first; back in January, to be precise. Here is some of what he wrote in the January 15 issue of Nuclear Fuel:

Questioning President Musharraf’s hero?

We wonder how Dr Khan feels about this. Even though it was Pakistani President Musharraf who relieved Dr Khan of his job and put him in house arrest in February 2004, Musharraff has always been protective of him. In the past, he said, He is my hero. He always was and still is, because he made Pakistan a nuclear power (Shopping For Bombs, p 214). That helps explain why Musharraf has steadfastly refused to allow Dr Khan to be interrogated by outsiders.

Khan’s network just keeps going and going and going…

The Jerusalem Post ran an article September 20, which may very well be the first article, linking whatever it was in Syria that was attacked by Israel in early September, to wider nuclear proliferation concerns. The article by Yaakov Katz stated:

This week, Khan's name again made headlines – this time over suspicions that his black-market ring was behind the supply of nuclear technology and material to the facility that Israel – according to foreign news reports – bombed two weeks ago in northern Syria.

Khan? I’ll get back to you on that

Since I just blogged about Iran I’m thinking what does it say about American intelligence abilities that some of the best information on Iran’s nuclear program and, for that matter, Khan’s network, has come from private sources. Now I’ve got nothing against private sources; in fact, I’ve long been a huge proponent of increased reliance on OSINT. But it does raise the issue of how effective and interested the US government is in taking out clandestine nuclear trafficking networks.

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