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CIA used Swiss to thwart foreign nuclear programs

The CIA recruited a family of Swiss engineers to help it thwart the Libyan and Iranian nuclear programs as well as an underground supply network of Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the New York Times reported on its Web site late on Sunday. The newspaper said the operation involved Friedrich Tinner and his two sons, who have been accused in Switzerland of dealing with rogue nations seeking nuclear equipment and expertise.

But the case has been hampered by the destruction of relevant documents, which was done, Swiss officials said, to prevent their falling into terrorist hands.

But the Times said the real reason for the destruction was pressure from the CIA, which feared that its ties with the Tinners would be exposed.

Over four years, the CIA paid the Tinners US$10 million, some of which was delivered to them in a suitcase stuffed with cash, the Times said, citing unnamed officials. In return, it said, the Tinners delivered a flow of secret information that helped end Libya’s nuclear weapons program, reveal Iran’s atomic efforts and undo Khan’s nuclear supply network.

The Tinners also played an important role in a clandestine US operation to funnel sabotaged nuclear equipment to Libya and Iran, the Times said.

Friedrich Tinner began working with Khan in the mid-1970s, using his expertise in vacuum technology to help Khan’s develop atomic centrifuges, the report said. But in 2000, the CIA recruited his son, Urs Tinner, who eventually persuaded his father and younger brother to join him as moles. As part of their services, the Tinners helped the CIA sabotage atomic gear bound for Libya and Iran, the report said.

In 2003 and 2004, International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors discovered vacuum pumps delivered to Iran and Libya that had been damaged cleverly so that they looked perfectly fine but failed to operate properly, the Times. They traced the defective parts from Pfeiffer Vacuum in Germany to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
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