Getting to Zero – Update
USA
Dr Khan enters the presidential race
It almost slipped by me but you will be happy to note that Dr Khan is an issue in the US presidential election; at least he is to one Republican candidate.
Consider this exchange during the October 9, 2007 Republican Debate on economic issues.
MS BARTIROMO: Mayor Giuliani, foreign acquisitions in the United States are headed for a record in 2007.
We’d like to thank the Academy…
This October 7 Los Angeles Times article caught my eye.
Got your cloak? Dagger? Tickets for Operation Spy?
I’ll have the chestnuts, steamed fish, and No-dong missiles
I have previously mentioned the recent publication of the book DECEPTION: Pakistan, the United States and the Global Nuclear Weapons Conspiracy by Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark.
But since the October 7, 2007 Sunday Times (London) chose to review it. Let's look at this one excerpt.
The nuclear black market – fun for the whole family
There are various ways to measure the worth of a man. One of them is to count the number of books written about him. In that regard I note the newest book, formally published later this month, to examine Dr Khan's entrepeneurial network. It is America and the Islamic Bomb: The Deadly Compromise by David Armstrong and Joseph Trento. Here is the blurb from the Amazon listing:
The measure of Dr Khan
Speaking of wider proliferation concerns, I'd be remiss if I did not mention the recent report Project Butter Factory: Henk Slebos and the AQ Khan nuclear network by Frank Slijper (September 2007 ). From the press release:
To ask the question is to answer it
I think events of this year alone show that the answer to the question, explicit in the title of this 2006 congressional hearing, is no. I recommend taking a glance so you can see how little we have advanced since then.
May 25, 2006:
Hearing: The A.Q. Khan Network: Case Closed?
HEARING TRANSCRIPT (.HTM)
HEARING TRANSCRIPT (.PDF = 517 KB)
Khan and PSI
Another noteworthy comment by David Albright in the course of his testimony was on the challenges governments and international organizations face in addressing illicit trade. For example, he wrote: