CIA to Show Proof of Syrian Reactor

In congressional briefings today, CIA Director Michael Hayden plans to show a video depicting North Korean personnel in a Syrian building that appeared to be modeled after a North Korean nuclear reactor, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, April 23).

The Syrian facility — destroyed by Israel in September — shows “remarkable resemblances inside and out to Yongbyon,” said a U.S. intelligence official, referring to the North Korean plutonium production reactor that is now being disabled as part of a six-nation deal to denuclearize the Stalinist state (see related GSN story, today).  The video appears to show a nearly identical design for the Syrian reactor’s core, including the number and configuration of fuel rods (Robin Wright, Washington Post, April 24).

“The belief is that the reactor was nearing completion,” said one official familiar with the set of briefings scheduled to be delivered to a number of congressional committees today (Kralev/Carter, Washington Times, April 24).

“The reactor was put out of commission before it was loaded with nuclear fuel, before it became operational,” an official told Agence France-Presse.  “It was not designed to produce electricity.”

“If it had been complete, the reactor would have been capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons, but it was destroyed before it could so,” the official added.  “That’s the result of solid intelligence” (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, April 23).

Israeli intelligence officials provided their U.S. counterparts with the video before launching the Sept. 6 air strike that destroyed the site, the Post reported.  Syrian officials have persistently denied that the site had a nuclear role, but have rebuffed inspection requests from the International Atomic Energy Agency.  The site was quickly razed following the Israeli attack, and a new structure has been erected.

Syrian officials continued their denials yesterday and said the public release of the information was intended to derail the North Korean denuclearization agreement.

“If they show a video, remember that the U.S. went to the U.N. Security Council and displayed evidence and images about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,” said Syrian Ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha.  “I hope the American people will not be as gullible this time around.

“We do not want to plan to acquire nuclear technology as we understand the reality of this world and have seen what the U.S. did to Iraq even when it did not have a nuclear program.  So we are not going to give them a pretext to attack Syria,” he added.

“[Why are] they repeating the same lies and fabrications when they were planning to attack Iraq?  The reason is simple:  It's about North Korea, not Syria.  The neoconservative elements are having the upper hand,” Moustapha said (Wright, Washington Post).

Indeed, one former U.S. official suggested yesterday that North Korea was using Syria to circumvent its denuclearization commitments.

“North Korea is outsourcing its nuclear weapons program.  And if you want to hide your activities from inspectors in North Korea, what better place than Syria?” former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton told the Washington Times (Kralev/Carter, Washington Times).

Two nuclear proliferation experts, however, questioned whether the destroyed Syrian facility was part of a nuclear weapons program.

“The United States does not have any indication of how Syria would fuel this reactor, and no information that North Korea had already, or intended to provide the reactor’s fuel,” said David Albright and Paul Brannan, of the Institute for Science and International Security, in an analysis released today.

In addition, U.S. and Israeli intelligence agencies “have not identified any Syrian plutonium separation or nuclear weaponization facilities,” according to the analysis.

“The absence of such facilities gives little confidence that the reactor was part of an active nuclear weapons program.  The apparent absence of fuel, whether imported or indigenously produced, also lowers confidence that Syria has an active nuclear weapons program,” he said (Institute for Science and International Security release, April 24).

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