Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Daily News
November 6, 2007 By James Gordon Meek, Daily News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — It’s unlikely a Pakistani nuclear missile will fall into Al Qaeda hands if President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is toppled, but the Bush administration can’t swear it won’t happen.
“You can never rule that out,” a U.S. official familiar with intelligence on Pakistan told the Daily News yesterday. “We view it as unlikely — at this point.”
Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile is under military control and estimates put it at between 24 and 100 ballistic missiles, many presumably aimed at India.
Even if Musharraf was killed or forced out, it “seems remote” that there would be a danger of the weapons falling into extremists’ hands, agreed exCIA Pakistan station chief Robert Grenier.
“Is there a near-term worry? I would say no,” said Grenier, now with the security firm Kroll.
Concerns were raised when Musharraf declared a state of emergency last week and imposed a form of martial law. Pakistan is the birthplace of Al Qaeda and is the likely hiding place of Osama Bin Laden, who has tried to acquire a nuclear bomb.
As for whether the U.S. could secure missile sites using special forces— or even locate them all — if the crisis deepened, Grenier said, “I wouldn’t bet on it.”
Musharraf’s weakening hold on power has “everyone worried,” said Vincent Cannistraro, another former CIA official.
Benazir Bhutto, who returned from exile to share power with him, told CNN yesterday that safeguards over the nuclear stockpile “could weaken” because of the political chaos. Another top Pakistani official told The News that losing control of even a single missile is as remote as “a giant asteroid hitting the Earth.”
In recent years, Musharraf’s regime has moved to solidify command and control over the nuclear deterrent so that no one official is in charge of it, including the president, sources said.
November 6, 2007 By James Gordon Meek, Daily News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — It’s unlikely a Pakistani nuclear missile will fall into Al Qaeda hands if President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is toppled, but the Bush administration can’t swear it won’t happen.
“You can never rule that out,” a U.S. official familiar with intelligence on Pakistan told the Daily News yesterday. “We view it as unlikely — at this point.”
Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile is under military control and estimates put it at between 24 and 100 ballistic missiles, many presumably aimed at India.
Even if Musharraf was killed or forced out, it “seems remote” that there would be a danger of the weapons falling into extremists’ hands, agreed exCIA Pakistan station chief Robert Grenier.
“Is there a near-term worry? I would say no,” said Grenier, now with the security firm Kroll.
Concerns were raised when Musharraf declared a state of emergency last week and imposed a form of martial law. Pakistan is the birthplace of Al Qaeda and is the likely hiding place of Osama Bin Laden, who has tried to acquire a nuclear bomb.
As for whether the U.S. could secure missile sites using special forces— or even locate them all — if the crisis deepened, Grenier said, “I wouldn’t bet on it.”
Musharraf’s weakening hold on power has “everyone worried,” said Vincent Cannistraro, another former CIA official.
Benazir Bhutto, who returned from exile to share power with him, told CNN yesterday that safeguards over the nuclear stockpile “could weaken” because of the political chaos. Another top Pakistani official told The News that losing control of even a single missile is as remote as “a giant asteroid hitting the Earth.”
In recent years, Musharraf’s regime has moved to solidify command and control over the nuclear deterrent so that no one official is in charge of it, including the president, sources said.