Word: supnick
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...investigators might have found it easier to piece together information on Iraq's nuclear capabilities if U.S. Customs agent Daniel Supnick had made a little trip to Baghdad two years ago. In 1989, posing undercover as a California electronics executive, Supnick met in London with Iraqi officials eager to buy 5,000-volt capacitors for use in triggering nuclear devices. When the Iraqis invited Supnick to tour their nuclear facilities back home, Supnick wanted to give it a try. But the State Department nixed the idea as too risky for the agent...
...said Supnick. The devices would explode at sea level. Of course, he added, they would not work at higher levels...
Boasting that CSI could modify the capacitors to fit Iraq's precise requirements, Supnick asked why the devices were needed. General laser research, said the engineers. Fine, said Supnick. CSI would produce capacitors that work beautifully in lasers. Of course, he added, they wouldn't work anywhere else...
Fine, said Supnick. At what altitude should they detonate...
Pause. More conferring in Arabic, and as the meeting wore on, the Iraqis kept changing the specs until they fitted those of a nuclear warhead detonation capacitor. But Supnick informed them that the U.S. Government would not license the capacitors for export if the true destination, Baghdad, were revealed. The Iraqis' solution: the shipment would be described as parts for "computer-room air conditioners...