The UN's top nuclear official called for a new international regime to destroy the flourishing black market in nuclear technology Thursday, describing current controls as "kaput."
Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, said the trade in the technology was now a dangerous "supermarket."
He said recent revelations of clandestine sales to North Korea and Libya were "the tip of the iceberg."
International investigations, led by the CIA and the IAEA but also involving British intelligence (MI6), are being conducted as a matter of urgency into the network in nuclear technology stretching from Europe to Asia, with a hub in the Middle East.
ElBaradei said he knew of people in at least five countries believed to be involved in the nuclear rackets.
His comments came as Abdul Qadeer Khan, the mastermind of the Islamic world's first nuclear bomb, who has admitted trading nuclear information and equipment with other countries, was pardoned on Thursday by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
ElBaradei said Khan's admissions made the issue urgent.
"Khan is the tip of an iceberg for us," he said.
"You need a complete overhaul of the export control system ... This is a number one international security problem we are facing."
He added: "This supermarket is the most dangerous we have seen in years. It is not just Doctor Khan. There are many, in many countries."
He criticized the current regime of export controls as a "gentleman's agreement."
ElBaradei was pessimistic about the chances of combating the trade.
"The spread of nuclear technology and knowledge is out of the tube," he said. "We won't be able to put it back. I am not optimistic, frankly."
Musharraf said on Thursday that international investigators would not be allowed to interview Khan.
But it is almost certain that Pakistan will provide all the information requested by the US and the IAEA on nuclear transfers to Libya, North Korea and Iran.
CIA Director George Tenet, said both the CIA and MI6 had been tracking Khan's network for years.
He said: "Working with our British colleagues, we pieced together the picture of the network, revealing its subsidiaries, its scientists, its front companies, its agents, its finances and manufacturing plants on three continents," Tenet said.
"Our spies penetrated the network through a series of daring operations over several years," Tenet said.
The British government on Thursday night refused to elaborate on the role of MI6 in these operations.
Investigators from ElBaradei's agency are working with national intelligence services to try to crack the contraband networks.
A leading IAEA investigator has recently been to Germany to question retired engineers. A Dubai-based British businessman is also believed to be involved, though the Foreign Office said yesterday it had no knowledge of him.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
RSS