U.S. Special Forces On Standby To Safeguard Pakistan Nuclear Arsenal
December 30, 2007
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There are reports that U.S. special forces snatch squads are on standby, awaiting orders to seize or disable Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal in the event of a collapse of government authority or the outbreak of civil war in Pakistan.
The snatch teams, including volunteer scientists from America’s Nuclear Emergency Search Team organization, are under orders to take control of an estimated 60 warheads located in six to 10 high-security Pakistani military bases.
Military sources say contingency plans are being continually being reviewed and re-evaluated to prevent any of Pakistan’s atomic weapons falling into the hands of Islamic extremists if President Pervez Musharraf’s administration appears threatened by civil unrest.
Members of the special forces are already believed to be nearby in neighboring Afghanistan and are on alert, awaiting orders to launch the mission. Satellite surveillance of Pakistan has also been heightened to keep track of the possible movement of nuclear weapons and missile delivery systems.
According to a US Congressional report published in November, Pakistan’s nuclear deterrent consists of warheads for missiles and bombs dropped from aircraft.
To maintain security, the weapons are not stored fully-assembled. Warheads, detonators and missiles are kept separately, but able to be assembled fairly quickly in the event of a national crisis.
While the US has stated publicly its confidence that Pakistan’s military has the weapons “under effective technical control”, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted two years ago that if there was a radical Islamic coup, the US was “prepared to try to deal with it”.
Internal security at Pakistan’s nuclear storage sites is the responsibility of a 10,000-man security force commanded by a two-star general. Every member of the force is vetted with the aim of weeding out sympathisers of the Taliban and al Qaeda or anyone with extreme Islamic views.
US diplomatic and military initiatives since 2001 have concentrated on trying to ensure that pro-western commanders were in charge at the most sensitive sites.
There has also been pressure to keep Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency, thought to contain a number of high-ranking pro-Taliban supporters, out of the nuclear loop.
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