Tracking the Trade in Illicit Nuclear Weapons

DateTuesday, November 27, 2007
LocationSenate Capitol, Room S120

David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, physicist, and former UN weapons inspector, will join us for a discussion on the illicit trade in nuclear weapons.  The nuclear blackmarket includes the trade in expertise, technologies, components and materials.  The A.Q. Khan network operated in over 30 countries, often exploiting loopholes in national export regulations, but most of those involved have never been prosecuted. Nuclear smuggling has continued unabated, and there are indicators that these networks are wider and more pervasive than is often understood. Why is the illicit nuclear trade so dangerous, why is it so persistent, and what can the US and the international community do to thwart it?