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Counterterrorism Group Grew Fivefold Since 2006
More than 50 countries have joined an international program to boost security measures at nuclear sites over the last two years, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 31, 2006). The Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism was established in June 2006 by U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin in an effort to prevent terrorist entities from seizing nuclear materials. “At that first meeting here in Rabat, we were a small but strong partnership of 13 nations. Today, our partnership has 65 nations from all over the world, 22 of which are in attendance today,” U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Patricia McNerney said at a group meeting held this week in Morocco’s capital. Combating the threat of nuclear terrorism involves “preparing for and responding to a nuclear or radiological incident,” McNerney said. Moroccan Foreign Ministry official Omar Hilale urged observer nations represented at the conference yesterday to join an “unprecedented partnership against terrorism that is as blind as it is highly destructive.” Officials are expected to close the meeting today (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Feb. 5). At a forum on Asian security yesterday, Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee warned of the threats of nuclear terrorism and proliferation, Dawn reported. “A principal cause of concern in recent years has been the threat of nuclear proliferation,” he said. “This is not limited only to new states acquiring nuclear weapons capability. It also extends to the very real threat of terrorist groups laying their hands on nuclear material and even fully assembled nuclear weapons.” Nations must defend against diversion of their nuclear materials and technology, Mukherjee said. He also warned of “deliberate and callous proliferation by states including state failure to exercise adequate control over personnel engaged in nuclear programs. “Transfer of uranium enrichment technology, equipment and even weapon design has taken place clandestinely and flagrantly in our region,” Mukherjee said in a barely veiled reference to the black market network once led by top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan (see GSN, Jan. 14). “Even more alarming is the interest shown by radical terrorist groups in acquiring nuclear material and technology and the linkages that they had forged with a few nuclear scientists” (Dawn, Feb. 5).
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