WASHINGTON: Pakistan's nuclear facilities have come under attack from the Taliban and other groups and there is a genuine risk militants could seize weapons or bomb-making material, an article published in a West Point think tank newsletter said.

The Pentagon, seeking to bolster Pakistan's government in its fight against al-Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban forces, expressed satisfaction with security at the facilities.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are comfortable with the security measures the Pakistani government, the Pakistani military have in place to ensure that their nuclear arsenal is safeguarded, press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.

The Combating Terrorism Center, which is housed at the US Military Academy at West Point, published the article in the July edition of its Sentinel newsletter, copies of which were distributed widely on Tuesday.

The centre said the views expressed in the article were those of the author, and not those of West Point, the Army or the Defence Department.

Written by Shaun Gregory, director of the Pakistan Security Research Unit at the University of Bradford in Britain, the article detailed three attacks against Pakistan's nuclear facilities, and warned that sites in the country may be vulnerable to infiltration.

The risk of the transfer of nuclear weapons, weapons components or nuclear expertise to terrorists in Pakistan is genuine, the article said.

US officials say Washington has taken steps to mitigate the risks, such as by giving Pakistan assistance in checking containers leaving from key ports for radioactive materials.

Gregory wrote that Pakistani forces guarding the facilities underwent a selection process to keep militant sympathizers out. For added protection, warhead cores are separated from their detonators, and these components are kept in underground sites.

Some 8,000 to 10,000 members of the Pakistani army's Strategic Plans Division and other intelligence agencies are involved in providing security and monitoring, he said, citing interviews with Pakistani and French officials.

Despite these elaborate safeguards, empirical evidence points to a clear set of weaknesses and vulnerabilities in Pakistan's nuclear safety and security arrangements, Gregory wrote.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Prof Dr Ashfaque Ahmad, Planning Commissions Adviser on Science and Technology, said the countrys nuclear programme was in safe hands.

To guard against a possible Indian offensive, Pakistan located most of its nuclear weapons infrastructure in the north and west of the country, and in areas near Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The concern, however, is that most of Pakistan's nuclear sites are close or even within areas dominated by Pakistani Taliban militants and al-Qaeda, Gregory said.

He cited three attacks one on a nuclear missile storage facility in November 2007, one a month later on a nuclear airbase, and an August 2008 attack in which Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers blew up several entry points to an armament complex at one of Pakistan's nuclear weapons assembly sites.

A US intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the facilities described by Gregory were large and it was unclear whether the attackers knew what they contained.

If they were after something specific, or were truly seeking entry, you'd think they might use a different tactic, one that's been employed elsewhere such as a bomb followed by a small-arms assault, the intelligence official said.

Simply touching off an explosive outside the gate of a base with no follow-up doesn't get you inside. For those reasons, I wouldn't extrapolate from these incidents any kind of downgrade in the security of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal, the official added.

Pakistan is believed to have stockpiled approximately 580-800 kg of highly enriched uranium, sufficient amounts to build 30-50 fission bombs.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists estimated in 2007 that the Pakistani arsenal comprised about 60 warheads.

"""""He cited three attacks one on a nuclear missile storage facility in November 2007, one a month later on a nuclear airbase, and an August 2008 attack in which Pakistani Taliban suicide bombers blew up several entry points to an armament complex at one of Pakistan's nuclear weapons assembly sites.
""""

DAMN

OK POF SINCE WHEN IS IT A NUCLEAR FACILITY
i have visited that on a school trip a college trip and to buy 12 guage ammo for hunting i visite it almost every it like a thousant times
they manafacture 12 guage ammo at a nuclear facility LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLL

THATS FUNNY

wats more funny is

THE NUCLEAR AIRBASE

hum that would be the islamabad international air port
so if you guys ever feel like takking tour of a nuclear facility just buy a ticket and come to
ISLAMABAD INTERNATION AIR PORT /NUCLEAR AIRBASE

NUCLEAR STORAGE FACILITY

humm we are still clueless about that attack may be they send in some ants with suside jackets cause we never hurd any bang

they want war in your country they will do any thing to lie for there war just like iraq and the ahfganis

what do they have to say about a top indian nuke scientist who was abducted a few months back and found dead two days after near a stream?

besides it was the indian media going nuts about the above attacks...

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hahaha... can you imagine a illitrate taligoni reading "how to make a nuke bomb recipe" and snatching them while 1,000 or so commandos gaurding the nuke sites caught asleep?? their could be documents irrelevent to nuke bombs so how are those baboons going to know what they have picked? but wait, as far as i know, those dumb pakis stack such documents in tents across the street... and lol when they reach back to their cave they go loooookk i got it!! and obama i mean osama goes.... YOU IDIOT! thats a freaking news paper! hahahahaha...



____________________________________________
"Anti indian, the raja of the jungle!!"

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how come they still have the ability to make such redicilous claims ever the
weapons of mass destruction bull ****
lol

they r just building a case against us

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Pakistan Airforce: The largest distributor of Indian airforce parts in Asia



Pathankot Strike
8 F-86Fs of No 19 Squadron led by Squadron Leader Sajjad Haider struck Pathankot airfield. With carefully positioned dives and selecting each individual aircraft in their protected pens for their strafing attacks, the strike elements completed a textbook operation against Pathankot. Wing Commander M G Tawab, flying one of the two Sabres as tied escorts overhead, counted 14 wrecks burning on the airfield. Among the aircraft destroyed on the ground were nearly all of the IAFs Soviet-supplied Mig-21s till then received, none of which were seen again during the War.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFHlzP69n9c

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they must be looking for shan masala recipe .....lolzz.....wats wrong with these people.....ok no more crack and weed....

PEACE

Maybe your government should build more missiles...
who knows just in case of any conspiracy...

"""Maybe your government should build more missiles...
who knows just in case of any conspiracy...


""


we have enough missiles we just need a govt that has balls

We need a govt with enough balls to test the long range missiles sitting in our inventory and waiting to be tested on the field...

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