Word: khans
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Michael Levi, a proliferation expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, says Khan himself is not a threat. As a private Pakistani citizen, he will not have the access to sensitive technology and facilities, and Levi believes the networks Khan once ran to trade nuclear secrets have largely been smashed. "He can't enable proliferation simply with the ideas in his head," says Levi...
...experts are divided on whether A.Q. Khan himself poses a threat to nonproliferation efforts. David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, says Khan's release was "a big defeat for nonproliferation." He warns that Khan was now free "to do whatever he wants, and may return to criminal activity...
...Bush adminstration that they had 'shut down' the network were never true," he tells TIME by e-mail. "The network still operates, in part to keep equipment coming into the Pakistani program. European intelligence agencies say companies and individuals in the network are still involved in black market sales. Khan's release means it is likely that these operations will increase." (See a map of A. Q. Khan's dangerous game...
...experts all agree that Khan's release is a terrible signal. "There are others in the Pakistani establishment who have access to sensitive materials, and we would have liked them to know that there would be consequences to any misuse," says Levi. "But Khan's release undermines any deterrent effect." (See pictures of A. Q. Khan's nuclear bazaar...
Levi hopes that the Pakistani government will now persuade Khan to cooperate in investigations into his network. "The impact of what he did is still alive, we don't fully understand it," says Levi. The British government has already asked Pakistan to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency access to Khan. Previous such requests went nowhere. Pakistan's foreign ministry has said it now considers the Khan affair a closed chapter...