Peddling Peril: How the Secret Nuclear Trade Arms America's Enemies

by David Albright

“THE UNLEASHED POWER OF THE ATOM HAS CHANGED EVERYTHING SAVE OUR MODES OF THINKING, AND WE THUS DRIFT TOWARD UNPARALLELED CATASTROPHE.” —ALBERT EINSTEIN

W ith the revelation of Iran’s secret uranium enrichment facilities, North Korea’s brazen testing of missiles and nuclear weapons, and nuclear-endowed Pakistan’s descent into instability, the urgency of the nuclear proliferation problem has never been greater. Based on his extensive experience in tracking the illicit nuclear trade as one of the world’s foremost proliferation experts, in Peddling Peril David Albright offers a harrowing narrative of the frighteningly large cracks through which nuclear weapons traffi ckers—such as Pakistani nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan—continue to slip.

Six years after the arrest of Khan, the networks he established continue to thrive, with black markets sprouting up across the globe. The dramatic takedown of the leader of the world’s largest and most perilous smuggling network was originally considered a model of savvy detection by intelligence and enforcement agencies, including the CIA and MI6. But, as Albright chronicles, the prosecutions of traffickers that were much anticipated have not come to pass, and Khan himself was released from house arrest in February 2009.

Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea all use statesponsored smuggling networks that easily bypass export regulations and avoid detection. Albright illuminates how these networks have learned many ways to trick suppliers across the globe, including many in the United States, into selling them vital parts, and why, despite the fact that, since 2007, several dozen companies have been indicted—with some pleading guilty—for suspicion of participating in illicit trade, very few prosecutions have been achieved.

Peddling Peril charts the dealings of several of these companies. Albright also reports on the hopeful story of the German company Leybold’s decision to become an industry watchdog, and shows how this story reveals just how effective corporate monitoring and government cooperation would be if more serious efforts were made. Concluding with a detailed plan for clamping down tightly on the illicit trade, Albright shows the way forward in the vital mission of freeing the world of this terrifying menace.

Genres: Nonfiction, Iran

304 pages, Hardcover

First published February 22, 2010

Reviews

[Tech Historian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads Like Extended Footnotes

One of the dilemmas researchers have is how to make their material accessible for a broader audience than just their peers.

Given the potential consequences of nuclear proliferation and the complexity of the issues, one would hope experts in this field could summarize issues in a way that policy makers (and the public) can understand and take action.

Unfortunately the author (who I respect tremendously,) and the book fails- the author provides a laundry list of facts and fails to integrate them in a coherent whole.

Nuclear weapons complex
Trying to describe the dangers of proliferation without putting centrifuges in context of a weapons complex assumes the reader is a domain expert like the author. In the 244 pages of the book there wasn't a single description of the components of a weapons complex.

It would have been helpful to start with the U.S. Manhattan Project and describe and diagram what were the key facilities necessary for a Plutonium weapon. How were these facilities different for a U-235 weapon? Why did we and other countries choose both?

This introduction could have been done in a 2 pages and a simplified diagram of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex.

Nuclear weapons Design
The goal of fissile material production is a weapon. Using U-235 versus plutonium has benefits and drawbacks. What are they? Why are fusion weapons harder to produce?

This introduction to the weapons could have been done in a 1/2 page with a diagram of the two types of fission weapons and a third showing a fusion device.

U-235 Separation Choices
Why did the U.S. initially use electromagnetic separation versus thermal, to produce U-235? Why has centrifuge separation for U-235 become the current method of U-235 production for proliferators?

This introduction could have been done in 2 pages and a diagram.

Centrifuges
Amazingly the book lacks a diagram of the components that make up a centrifuge. Yet the numbingly long list of centrifuge parts are thrown out to the reader without context. ([...] and the NRC have simplified diagrams, so do many others.)

This didn't have to be a huge section of the book, 5 pages would have sufficed, but it would have turned the mind-numbing laundry list of facts into a coherent story.

Centrifuge separation plant
The core of this book is how Pakistan used illicit trade to build their centrifuge separation plant and closes with Iran about to complete theirs. Unbelievably nowhere in the book is a diagram of the subsystems that make up of a centrifuge separation plant. Yet a key part of the book is the litany of vendors and individuals who contributed to the illicit trade in these subsystems. Where was Leybold-Heraeus's vacuum systems used? Without a diagram these are gratuitous facts without context.

Then how are centrifuges assembled into cascades? How many are needed to get to enriched uranium? To weapons grade?

As this is the heart of the book, 5 pages with a diagram would have allowed the reader to follow the story of not only the Pakistani effort, but understood Iran's progress to date.

Iran
Iran's progress in enriching fuel would be understandable to a layman if there had been a canonical diagram of a separation plant. Then the author could have used it to show their progress year by year. No wonder policy makers and the public are confused.

People/Company Relationships
The author has mined the literature for a list of people and companies who are at the heart of the proliferation scheme. Chapter Two "Pakistan Gets the Bomb" is everything that's wrong with this book. It tells the story of Pakistan and Khan's network in acquiring centrifuge and separation plants components. But it reads like an extended set of footnotes - wonderful for a researcher, but unbelievably tedious an inaccessible to anyone not filing a police report.

All it would have taken is a flow chart, org chart of or some visual way to connect the cast of characters and company's.

Summary
If this book had been marketed as a scholarly research paper I would have rated it much differently (4-stars) than one with a glossy cover and a mass-market title.

My suggestion to the author; you are a great researcher. But if the intent is to reach more than your peers who are experts in WMD and proliferation you need to be able to tell this story simply. Assume you were briefing a member of congress who wasn't a proliferation expert. You have 30 minutes and you want them to understand and remember the issues. It can be done with five diagrams.

Try drawing them and revise the book.

[Isaac C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard, very technical read. However, the author accomplishes the goal he set out to achieve. The narrative that follows AQ Khan alleviates some of the weight of the hard core nuclear terminology. I would recommend reading this book especially in light of all that is currently happening with Iran and North Korea!

[E.J. Cullen · Rating 3 out of 5]

As Tom Lehrer sang, in '65:
"First we got the bomb, and that was good,
'Cause we love peace and motherhood.
Then Russia got the bomb, but that's okay,
"Cause the balance of power's maintained that way.
Who's next...?

Luxembourg is next to go,


And (who knows?) maybe Monaco.
We'll try to stay serene and calm
When Alabama gets the bomb.
Who's next?"

Well, now, 45 years later, there are bombs and plans for more bombs all over the planet, bombs a lot more compact and destructive than anything dropped on Japan. Governments like Germany, Holland, Switzerland and myriad others have been negligent in policing and prosecuting illicit trade in nuclear materials and hardware. Iran, Syria, Myanmar, (who?) and Al Queda are known wannabes dealing in illicit nuclear trade. Can Taiwan, Algeria, Egypt, South Korea, Turkey, the Saudis, and others be far behind?

This book is very interesting if you can keep track of the names and acronyms that rival the number of those in a thick, old -fashioned Russian novel. The book contains more than a little plodding, heavy reading for those interested in simply getting a handle on the problem and will probably be treasured more by those who enjoy a dry history of names and facts.

That said, this work re-emphasizes that it's a cold, dangerous world out there and it's only going to get more-so unless a whole bunch of our diddling world leaders get together, agree on what constitutes a crime against humanity, and do something - Quickly. Fat chance.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a great description of one of the known nuclear smuggling networks, how it formed, who it's main participants were and how it was broken up. It also a fascinating look at the efforts of various states to acquire nuclear weapons technology.

The motives of the main participants in the network are not explicitly determined, and, apart from the leader, it's generally clear that overwhelming greed was a determining factor. The leader of the network remains something of an enigma - charismatic, intelligent, but with a different moral compass.

You don't need to understand any physics to read this book, and the technical descriptions are handled well. The author doesn't allow the technicalities to interrupt a really interesting story about a network and its demise. The chapters are logically divided, although within each chapter there was sometimes a confusing lack of chronology. A couple of times, I was left confused about what did actually happen next.

Overall, an interesting look at international investigation, and what happens when very intelligent people with access to potentially dangerous technology are not suspicious enough of their colleagues or their motives.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was packed with details. If you are interested in the subject, it's very informative.