Be Afraid

Pakistan's Nukes in the Balance

As insurgency spreads, risk of theft increases.

We have bigger things to fear than swine flu: “As the insurgency of the Taliban and Al Qaeda spreads in Pakistan, senior American officials say they are increasingly concerned about new vulnerabilities for Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, including the potential for militants to snatch a weapon in transport or to insert sympathizers into laboratories or fuel-production facilities,” reports The New York times. While authorities emphasized that the threat was not imminent, they also made clear that “the United States does not know where all of Pakistan’s nuclear sites are located.” Pakistan keeps deflecting American requests for details about the location and security of the country’s nukes. “Some of the Pakistani reluctance, they said, stemmed from longstanding concern that the United States might be tempted to seize or destroy Pakistan’s arsenal if the insurgency appeared about to engulf areas near Pakistan’s nuclear sites.”