Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons
Paul K. Kerr
Analyst in Nonproliferation
Mary Beth Nikitin
Specialist in Nonproliferation
June 14, 2016
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
RL34248
Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons
Summary
Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal probably consists of approximately 110-130 nuclear warheads,
although it could have more. Islamabad is producing fissile material, adding to related production
facilities, and deploying additional nuclear weapons and new types of delivery vehicles.
Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is widely regarded as designed to dissuade India from taking military
action against Pakistan, but Islamabad’s expansion of its nuclear arsenal, development of new
types of nuclear weapons, and adoption of a doctrine called “full spectrum deterrence” have led
some observers to express concern about an increased risk of nuclear conflict between Pakistan
and India, which also continues to expand its nuclear arsenal.
Pakistan has in recent years taken a number of steps to increase international confidence in the
security of its nuclear arsenal. Moreover, Pakistani and U.S. officials argue that, since the 2004
revelations about a procurement network run by former Pakistani nuclear official A. Q. Khan,
Islamabad has taken a number of steps to improve its nuclear security and to prevent further
proliferation of nuclear-related technologies and materials. A number of important initiatives,
such as strengthened export control laws, improved personnel security, and international nuclear
security cooperation programs, have improved Pakistan’s nuclear security.
However, instability in Pakistan has called the extent and durability of these reforms into
question. Some observers fear radical takeover of the Pakistani government or diversion of
material or technology by personnel within Pakistan’s nuclear complex. While U.S. and Pakistani
officials continue to express confidence in controls over Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, continued
instability in the country could impact these safeguards. Furthermore, continued Indian and
Pakistani nuclear weapons development could jeopardize strategic stability between the two
countries. For a broader discussion, see CRS Report R41832, Pakistan-U.S. Relations, by K. Alan
Kronstadt.
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Contents
Background ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Nuclear Weapons Program .............................................................................................................. 2
Background ............................................................................................................................... 2
Uranium Enrichment Program .................................................................................................. 3
Plutonium Program ................................................................................................................... 4
Nuclear Weapons Development ................................................................................................ 5
Nuclear Arsenal ......................................................................................................................... 6
Delivery Systems ................................................................................................................ 7
Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons ......................................................................................... 9
Nuclear Doctrine ..................................................................................................................... 10
Command and Control ............................................................................................................ 13
Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty........................................................................................................ 15
Nuclear Weapons Security ............................................................................................................. 15
U.S. Assistance ........................................................................................................................ 19
Proliferation ................................................................................................................................... 21
The A. Q. Khan Network ........................................................................................................ 22
Interactions with Al-Qaeda ..................................................................................................... 24
Pakistan’s Response to the Proliferation Threat ...................................................................... 24
Pakistan’s Civil Nuclear Program ................................................................................................. 26
Issues for Congress ........................................................................................................................ 27
Contacts
Author Contact Information .......................................................................................................... 29
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Background
Chronic political instability in Pakistan and Islamabad’s military efforts against the Taliban and
al-Qaeda have raised concerns about the security of the country’s nuclear weapons. Some
observers fear that Pakistan’s strategic nuclear assets could be obtained by terrorists or used by
elements in the Pakistani government. However, U.S. officials have generally expressed
confidence in the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.
The collapse or near-collapse of the Pakistani government is probably the most likely scenario in
which militants or terrorists could acquire Pakistani nuclear weapons. Gary Samore, then-
National Security Council Coordinator for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, stated in an April
2011 interview that
The Pakistani government takes the nuclear security threat very seriously, and they’ve
put a lot of resources into trying to make sure that their nuclear facilities and materials
and weapons are well secured. There’s no lack of recognition that this is a very important
issue, and there’s no lack of incentive on the part of the Pakistani government to maintain
control. What I worry about is that, in the context of broader tensions and problems
within Pakistani society and polity—and that’s obviously taking place as we look at the
sectarian violence and tensions between the government and the military and so forth—I
worry that, in that broader context, even the best nuclear security measures might break
down. You’re dealing with a country that is under tremendous stress internally and
externally, and that’s what makes me worry. They have good programs in place; the
question is whether those good programs work in the context where these broader
tensions and conflicts are present.1
Pakistani efforts to improve the security of its nuclear weapons have been ongoing and have
included some cooperation with the United States; former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
told a journalist in 2009 that Islamabad has “given State Department nonproliferation experts
insight into the command and control of the Pakistani arsenal and its on-site safety and security
procedures.”2 Moreover, following the 2004 revelations of an extensive international nuclear
proliferation network run by Pakistani nuclear official Abdul Qadeer Khan, as well as possible
connections between Pakistani nuclear scientists and Al Qaeda, Islamabad has made additional
efforts to improve export controls and monitor nuclear personnel. The main security challenges
for Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal are keeping the integrity of the command structure, ensuring
physical security, and preventing illicit proliferation from insiders.
Some observers are also concerned about the risk of nuclear war between India and Pakistan. The
two countries most recently came to the brink of full-scale war in 1999 and 2002, and, realizing
the dangers, have developed some risk reduction measures to prevent accidental nuclear war.
Nevertheless, Pakistan continues to produce fissile material for weapons and appears to be
augmenting its weapons production facilities as well as deploying additional delivery vehicles—
steps that will enable both quantitative and qualitative improvements in Islamabad’s nuclear
arsenal. Some observers have also argued that Pakistan’s expansion of its nuclear arsenal,
development of new types of nuclear weapons, and adoption of a doctrine called “full spectrum
deterrence” indicate “the growing nuclearization of Pakistan’s national security policy.” These
developments have “sparked international concerns about the safety and security” of the country’s
1 Peter Crail, Daniel Horner, and Daryl G. Kimball, “Pursuing the Prague Agenda: An Interview with White House
Coordinator Gary Samore,” Arms Control Today, May 2011.
2 Seymour M. Hersh, “Defending the Arsenal: In an Unstable Pakistan, Can Nuclear Warheads be Kept Safe?” The
New Yorker, November 16, 2009.
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nuclear weapons, as well as raised “concerns that these weapons might be used through
intentional, inadvertent, or accidental launch in a crisis or in limited warfare with India.”3
Nuclear Weapons Program4
A 2013 State Department report explains that India and Pakistan’s governments view nuclear
weapons as “vital to their security,” adding that these states’
respective decisions to pursue nuclear weapons stem largely from their troubled bilateral
relationship, assessments of threats posed by each other (and China in India’s case),
perceptions of enhanced national power or status derived from possession of such
weapons, and domestic politics. The nuclear programs are popular within each country
and are protected by strong institutional and domestic political constituencies. In view of
these factors, international pressure over a period of decades has had little direct impact
on the attitudes of India and Pakistan concerning nuclear weapons.5
Islamabad is expanding its nuclear arsenal and developing of new types of nuclear weapons.
Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Ambassador Richard Olson told the House
Committee on Foreign Affairs on December 16, 2015, that the United States is “concerned” about
“the pace and the scope of the Pakistan’s missile program, including its pursuit of nuclear
systems.”6 The Administration also worries that “a conventional conflict in Southwest Asia could
escalate to include nuclear use as well as the increased security challenges that accompany
growing stockpiles,” he added. Similarly, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Vincent Stewart
expressed concern in February 9, 2016, testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee
that the growth of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and Islamabad’s “evolving doctrine associated with
tactical nuclear weapons, increases the risk of an incident or accident.”7
Background
Pakistan’s nuclear energy program dates back to the 1950s, but it was the loss of East Pakistan
(now Bangladesh) in a war with India that probably triggered a January 1972 political decision
(just one month later) to begin a secret nuclear weapons program.8 Observers point to India’s
1974 “peaceful” nuclear explosion as the pivotal moment that gave additional urgency to the
program.9 During the 1970s, Pakistan began programs to produce highly-enriched uranium
3 Toby Dalton and Michael Krepon, A Normal Nuclear Pakistan, Stimson Center and Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, 2015.
4 Pakistan has signed neither the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty nor the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. However,
UN Security Council Resolution 1172, which was adopted in 1998 after India and Pakistan’s nuclear tests earlier that
year, called upon those countries to “stop their nuclear weapon development programmes, to refrain from
weaponization or from the deployment of nuclear weapons, to cease development of ballistic missiles capable of
delivering nuclear weapons and any further production of fissile material for nuclear weapons.”
5 Report to Congress: Update on Progress toward Regional Nuclear Nonproliferation in South Asia, submitted April 3,
2013.
6 “Rep. Ed Royce Holds a Hearing on U.S.-Pakistan Relations,” House Committee on Foreign Affairs, December 16,
2015.
7 Vincent R. Stewart, Lieutenant General, U.S. Marine Corps Director, Defense Intelligence Agency, Worldwide
Threat Assessment, Armed Services Committee, February 9, 2016.
8 See, for example, U.S. Department of Defense, Proliferation: Threat and Response, April 1996, p. 37.
9 According to one account, the government in June 1974 gave the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission the “official
go ahead” to build a nuclear weapon. (Shahid-Ur Rehman, Long Road to Chagai: Untold Story of Pakistan’s Nuclear
Quest, (Islamabad: Print Wise Publication), 1999. p.53).
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(HEU) and plutonium for use as fissile material for nuclear weapons. HEU and plutonium are the
two types of fissile material used in nuclear weapons. Pakistan first produced fissile material for
its nuclear weapons using gas-centrifuge-based uranium enrichment technology, which it
mastered by the mid-1980s. Gas centrifuges enrich uranium by spinning uranium hexafluoride
gas at high speeds to increase the concentration of the uranium-235 isotope.
Islamabad gained technology for its nuclear weapons program from many sources. This extensive
assistance included uranium enrichment technology from Europe and China.10 Islamabad has
received Chinese and European assistance for at least some of its plutonium program. A 2001
Defense Department report states that “China supplied Pakistan with nuclear material and
expertise and has provided critical assistance in the production of Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.”11
This assistance included help during the 1990s with a “plutonium production reactor” and ring
magnets from a Chinese entity for Pakistan’s enrichment program.12 China may also have
provided “nuclear weapons design information” to Pakistan.13 In addition, China and North Korea
have supplied missiles to Pakistan. One 2013 non-governmental report argues that Pakistan has
been procuring components for its enrichment program from foreign entities.14
Uranium Enrichment Program
The U.S. and other governments had information during the 1970s that Pakistan was constructing
a uranium enrichment facility.15 16 A.Q. Khan has stated that Pakistan began enriching uranium in
1978 and produced HEU in 1983.17 18 Pakistan told the United States in 1984 that it would
10 See Nuclear Black Markets: Pakistan, A.Q. Khan and the Rise of Proliferation Networks (London: The International
Institute for Strategic Studies), 2007.
11 U.S. Department of Defense, Proliferation: Threat and Response, January 2001, p. 27.
12 Ibid., p. 18. “Responses to Questions Submitted by Senator Coverdell on Behalf of Senator Bennett,” Department of
State, August 14, 1996.
13 Central Intelligence Agency, Chinese Policy and Practice Regarding Sensitive Nuclear Transfers: Special National
Intelligence Estimate, January 20, 1983. China transferred a complete nuclear weapon design, according to some
reports. (See Nuclear Black Markets, 2007, p. 26; Joby Warrick and Peter Slevin, “Libyan Arms Designs Traced Back
to China,” Washington Post, February 15, 2004; Albright, David. Peddling Peril: How the Secret Nuclear Trade Arms
America’s Enemies (New York: Free Press), p. 47.)
14 David Albright, Andrea Stricker, and Houston Wood, Future World of Illicit Nuclear Trade: Mitigating the Threat,
Institute for Science and International Security, July 29, 2013, p. 37.
15 For example, a 1978 memorandum from the National Intelligence Officer for Nuclear Proliferation stated that
Pakistan had a uranium enrichment plant “under construction,” but added that Islamabad had not yet acquired certain
key components., “Monthly Warning Report: Nuclear Proliferation,” National Intelligence Officer for Nuclear
Proliferation, NFAC-5472-78, December 5, 1978.
16 According to a 1979 Netherlands government report, which cited “[i]information from reliable sources,” Pakistan
had a “pilot installation with a very small enrichment capacity.” (Dutch Government Report of the Interministerial
Working Party Responsible for Investigating “The Khan Affair Report.” October 1979. p. 64.) According to a 1979
Australian intelligence assessment, “the acquisition by Pakistan of a nuclear explosive capability is three to five years
away.” (Pakistan Nuclear Developments: Action by Australia, Cabinet Minute: Foreign Affairs and Defence
Committee, Decision Number 9056, June 26, 1979.)
17 “Nuclear Bomb Was Manufactured in 1984: Dr. Abdul Qadir Khan,” Islamabad Jinnah, July 19, 2010; “Pakistan:
Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan Discusses Nuclear Program in TV Talk Show,” Islamabad Tonight, Aaj News Television,
August 31, 2009. Two non-Pakistani sources appear to at least partly corroborate this account. First, a 1981 State
Department draft paper indicated that Pakistan had not “proceeded to the systematic separation of special nuclear
materials, or the assembly and deployment of nuclear weapons.” (Special Assistant for Nuclear Proliferation
Intelligence, National Foreign Assessment Center, Central Intelligence Agency, to Resource Management Staff, Office
of Program Assessment et al., “Request for Review of Draft Paper on the Security Dimension of Non-Proliferation,”
April 9, 1981.) Second, according to a 2008 International Atomic Energy Agency report, A.Q. Khan offered centrifuge
(continued...)
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produce only low-enriched uranium (which is not used as fissile material in nuclear weapons), but
a 1986 Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) memorandum indicates that Islamabad
had violated the pledge and added that Pakistan had “overcome the last major obstacle to nuclear
weapons by producing enough high enriched uranium for one or more nuclear devices.”19
Pakistan’s “HEU production capacity” in 1987 was “sufficient to produce one bomb per year,”
according to an ACDA memorandum written the next year.20 The country’s main enrichment
facility is a centrifuge plant located at Kahuta;21 Pakistan may have other enrichment sites.22
Plutonium Program
A 1985 CIA report described a possible Pakistani plan to “build a plutonium production reactor”23
and Pakistan has operated the 40-50 megawatt heavy-water Khushab plutonium production
reactor since 1998.24 Islamabad has been constructing at least three additional heavy-water
reactors, which would expand considerably Pakistan’s plutonium production capacity, at the same
site; whether all four reactors at the site are operational is unclear, according to nongovernmental
expert reports.25 Additionally, Pakistan has a reprocessing plant26 at the New Laboratories facility
of the Pakistan Institute of Science and Technology (PINSTECH) and is apparently constructing
other such plants.27 Sources identify 2000 and 2002 as the dates when the PINSTECH plant
(...continued)
enrichment technology to Libya in 1984—a data point apparently corroborating the 1983 date. (Implementation of the
NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Report by the Director General,
International Atomic Energy Agency, GOV/2008/39, September 12, 2008).
18 Khan stated in a 2009 television interview that Pakistan stopped producing its first-generation centrifuge in 1983 and
started using a more advanced centrifuge. (“Pakistan: Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan Discusses Nuclear Program in TV Talk
Show,” 2009).
19 Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, “Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons Program and U.S. Security Assistance,”
Memorandum for the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, June 16, 1986.
20 Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, “Solarz Amendment Applicability to the Pakistani Procurement Case,” July
16, 1987.
21 This plant was completed “[b]y the end of 1980,” according to Dr. Samar Mubarakmand, a scientist closely involved
with Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. (“A Science Odyssey: Pakistan’s Nuclear Emergence Speech,” delivered by
Dr. Samar Mubarakmand, November 30, 1998.)
22 Zia Mian, A.H. Nayyar, R. Rajaraman and M.V. Ramana, “Fissile Materials in South Asia: The Implications of the
U.S.-India Nuclear Deal,” International Panel on Fissile Materials, September 2006 and David Albright, “Securing
Pakistan’s Nuclear Infrastructure,” in A New Equation: U.S. Policy toward India and Pakistan after September 11
(Washington: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) May 2002. For a list of Pakistani nuclear facilities, see
Nuclear Black Markets: Pakistan, A.Q. Khan and the Rise of Proliferation Networks, (London: The International
Institute for Strategic Studies), 2007, p. 19.
23 Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons Program: Personnel and Organizations: A Research Paper, Central Intelligence
Agency, November 1985.
24 A Pakistani newspaper reported in April 1998 that, according to a “top government source,” the reactor had begun
operating (“Pakistan’s Indigenous Nuclear Reactor Starts Up,” The Nation, April 13, 1998). A June 15, 2000, article
cited “U.S. officials” who indicated that the reactor had begun operating two years earlier (Mark Hibbs, “After 30
Years, PAEC Fulfills Munir Khan’s Plutonium Ambition,” Nucleonics Week, June 15, 2000). A 2001 Department of
Defense report states that the reactor “will produce plutonium,” but does not say whether it was operating (U.S.
Department of Defense, Proliferation: Threat and Response, January 2001, p. 27).
25 David Albright, “Pakistan’s Inventory of Weapon-Grade Uranium and Weapon-Grade Plutonium Dedicated to
Nuclear Weapons,” Institute for Science and International Security, October 19, 2015; David Albright and Serena
Kelleher-Vergantini, “Khushab Reactors Operational While New Construction Progresses,” Institute for Science and
International Security, February 29, 2016.
26 “Reprocessing” refers to the process of separating plutonium from spent nuclear fuel.
27 According to a 1983 State Department document, the New Laboratories facility was capable of extracting small
(continued...)
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began operating.28 Pakistan also appears to be constructing a second reprocessing plant at
PINSTECH29 and may be completing a reprocessing plant located at Chasma.30
Nuclear Weapons Development
The United States had information during the 1970s and early 1980s that Pakistan was pursuing
nuclear weapons designs, but exactly when Pakistan produced a workable nuclear explosive
device is unclear.31 According to a 1978 State Department cable, the United States estimated that
it would take Pakistan “at least” three to five years to produce a nuclear explosive device.32 A
1982 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) assessed that Pakistani nuclear testing would be”
feasible for the first time” in late 1983 or 1984.33 A 1985 National Intelligence Council report
states that Pakistan “probably [had] a workable design for a nuclear explosive device” and was
“probably ... a year or two away from a capacity to produce enough” highly enriched uranium for
such a device.34 According to a 1991 NIE, Pakistan had “a viable nuclear weapons design and has
components that it could assemble into nuclear devices on short notice.”35 Islamabad attained
such a capability “by the end of the 1980s,” said a 1993 report to Congress, apparently from the
National Security Council.36
Pakistani officials have cited 1984-1985 as the period during which Pakistan acquired the
capability to detonate a nuclear explosive device. A. Q. Khan stated in an interview published in
May 1998 that Islamabad “attained” the capability to detonate such a device “at the end of
1984.”37 Similarly, Khan reportedly stated in a January 2010 speech that Pakistan “had become a
nuclear power” in 1984 or 1985.38 Moreover, “senior Pakistani politicians” told a Canadian
parliamentary committee in June 1998 that Pakistan had “reached the nuclear ‘threshold’ by
(...continued)
quantities of plutonium, but large enough to “allow for expansion of reprocessing capacity.” (The Pakistani Nuclear
Program, Department of State, June 23, 1983).
28 Nuclear Fuel reported in 2000 that, according to “senior U.S. government officials,” Islamabad had begun operating
a “pilot-scale” reprocessing facility at PINSTECH (Hibbs, June 15, 2000). Former Pakistani Strategic Plans Division
official Feroz Khan wrote that then-President Pervez Musharraf “made the decision to begin reprocessing plutonium
production in 2002.” (Khan, Feroz. Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani Bomb. (Stanford, California: Stanford
University Press), 2012, p. 395.
29 David Albright and Serena Kelleher-Vergantini, “Pakistan’s Chashma Plutonium Separation Plant: Possibly
Operational,” February 20, 2015. The 2001 Defense Department report states that reprocessing facilities “are under
construction,” but does not identify any sites (Proliferation: Threat and Response, p. 27).
30 Construction on the facility was begun during the 1970s with French assistance, but France cancelled its assistance
for the project later that decade. See also Albright and Kelleher-Vergantini, February 20, 2015.
31 See, for example, a 1978 Central Intelligence Agency report, ((Untitled) RE: Pakistan Strong Motivation to Develop
Their Nuclear Capability, April 26, 1978), as well as The Pakistani Nuclear Program, June 23, 1983.
32“Ad Hoc Scientific Committee and Related Topics,” January 27, 1978.
33 Nuclear Proliferation Trends Through 1987, A National Intelligence Estimate, NIE 4-82, July 27, 1982.
34 The Dynamics of Nuclear Proliferation: Balance of Power and Constraints, National Intelligence Council,
September 1985.
35 Prospects for Special Weapons Proliferation and Control, National Intelligence Estimate, NIE 5- 91CV2, July 1991.
36 Report to Congress on Status of China, India and Pakistan Nuclear and Ballistic Missile Programs, 1993.
37 “Pakistan: Qadeer Khan Interviewed on Pakistan N-Test,” The News, May 30, 1998. Khan made a similar claim in
February and July 2010 interviews (“Pakistan: Dr. A.Q. Khan Condemns Nawaz Sharif for Not Testing Nuclear
Bomb,” Islamabad Khabrain Online, February 20, 2010; Islamabad Jinnah, July 19, 2010).
38 Khalid Iqbal, “Pakistan to Never Face 1971-Like Situation Again: AQ Khan,” The News, January 10, 2010.
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1984-85.”39 According to former Pakistani Strategic Plans Division (SPD) official Feroz Khan,
Pakistan developed a nuclear device suitable for explosive testing by the end of 1984, but it “was
still a large bomb that could be delivered only by a C-130 cargo aircraft with no assurance of
delivery accuracy.”40 According to former President Musharraf, Pakistan’s “nuclear capability
was not yet operational” in 1999, although the country had tested nuclear explosive devices
during the previous year. “Merely exploding a bomb does not mean that you are operationally
capable of deploying nuclear force in the field and delivering a bomb across the border over a
selected target,” he explained.41
President Bush’s failure to certify in 1990 that Pakistan did not “possess a nuclear explosive
device” led to a cut-off in military and financial aid under the Pressler Amendment.42 After India
conducted nuclear weapon tests on May 11 and May 13, 1998, Pakistan’s government responded
on May 28 and May 30 with six tests in western Pakistan. Test yields were about 10 kilotons and
5 kilotons, according to seismic analysis.43 The United States imposed additional sanctions after
the tests, but these were lifted after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
Nuclear Arsenal
According to public estimates, Pakistan has about 110-130 nuclear weapons, although it could
have more.44 Dr. Samar Mubarakmand, a scientist closely involved with the country’s nuclear
weapons program, stated in a 2016 interview that only China, France, Russia, and the United
States have more nuclear weapons than Pakistan.45 According to one unofficial estimate, Pakistan
has produced approximately 3,000 kilograms of weapons-grade HEU and approximately 200
kilograms of plutonium for nuclear weapons.46 Islamabad continues to produce both HEU and
plutonium for nuclear weapons and is developing and deploying a variety of weapons. A 2014
press report citing Dr. Mubarakmand states that “Pakistan has over 15 types of nuclear weapons,
from large weapons that can be carried on fighter jets to small ones that can be loaded onto
39 Bill Graham, M.P, Canada and the Nuclear Challenge: Reducing the Political Value of Nuclear Weapons for the
Twenty-First Century, Report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, December 1998.
40 Khan, 2012, p. 189.
41 Pervez Musharraf, In the Line of Fire: A Memoir (New York: Free Press), 2006, pp. 97-98.
42 The Pressler Amendment (August 1985) linked aid and military sales to two certification conditions: (1) that
Pakistan not possess a nuclear explosive device; and (2) that new aid ‘will reduce significantly the risk’ that Pakistan
will possess such a device. For background summary of sanctions legislation, see CRS Report 98-486, Nuclear
Sanctions: Section 102(b) of the Arms Export Control Act and Its Application to India and Pakistan, by Jeanne J.
Grimmett, and CRS Report RS22757, U.S. Arms Sales to Pakistan, by Richard F. Grimmett.
43 Seismic data showed yields less than those officially announced by Pakistan and India. See Gregory van der Vink,
Jeffrey Park, Richard Allen, Terry Wallace and Christel Hennet, “False Accusations, Undetected Tests and
Implications for the CTB Treaty,” Arms Control Today, May 1998.
44 Hans M. Kristensen and Robert S. Norris, “Pakistani Nuclear Forces, 2015,” Nuclear Notebook, Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists. “World Nuclear Forces,” SIPRI Yearbook 2015.
45 Shahid Javed Daskavi, “If Nuclear Program Were Under Supervision of Political Governments, God Knows What
Would Have Happened: Samar Mubarakmand,” Jehan Pakistan, February 5, 2016. According to a 2010 British
government report, the United Kingdom’s nuclear arsenal consisted of “not more than 225 warheads.” (Securing
Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: The Strategic Defence and Security Review, Presented to Parliament by the Prime
Minister, October 2010.) A 2013 non-governmental report repeated that number. (Robert S. Norris & Hans M.
Kristensen, “The British nuclear stockpile, 1953–2013,” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 69:4. pages 69-75, 2013.)
46 David Albright, “Pakistan’s Inventory of Weapon-Grade Uranium and Weapon-Grade Plutonium Dedicated to
Nuclear Weapons,” Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium 2015, Institute for Science and International Security,
2015.
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ballistic missiles, and even smaller warheads for cruise missiles and tactical nuclear weapons.”47
Pakistan’s HEU-based nuclear warheads use an implosion design with a solid core of
approximately 15-20 kilograms of HEU.48 Pakistan has also produced plutonium-based
warheads,49 which likely contain approximately 4-6 kilograms of plutonium, according to one
expert estimate.50 Pakistan has reportedly addressed issues of survivability through pursuing a
second strike capability, possibly building hard and deeply buried storage and launch facilities,
deploying road-mobile missiles, deploying air defenses around strategic sites, and utilizing
concealment measures.
Delivery Systems
Pakistan has “aircraft and land-based missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons,” according
to a 2013 State Department report.51 Pakistan has two types of delivery vehicles for nuclear
weapons: aircraft controlled by the Pakistan Air Force and surface-to-surface missiles controlled
by the Pakistan Army.
Aircraft
According to former SPD official Khan, Pakistan in 1995 “had a nuclear device deliverable by
fighter aircraft.”52 Islamabad could modify F-16 fighter aircraft purchased from the United States
to deliver nuclear weapons; it is widely believed that Pakistan has made the relevant
modifications to its U.S.-supplied F-16s.53 The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified
Congress in 2006 of a possible sale of 36 F-16s; the United States ultimately sold and delivered
18 of the aircraft.54 Then-Assistant Secretary of State John Hillen told Congress during a July
2006 hearing that the F-16s to be transferred would not “be capable of carrying a nuclear
weapon.” Hillen acknowledged that Pakistan could modify the aircraft to carry nuclear weapons,
but added that U.S. monitoring of the aircraft, along with U.S. “leverage,” would prevent the
Pakistanis from carrying out such a conversion. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency
notified Congress on February 11, 2016, that the State Department has approved the sale of eight
additional F-16s to Pakistan. Mirage V aircraft may also be used as delivery vehicles.55
Missiles
Then-DIA Director Burgess told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 10, 2011, that
Pakistan is developing new missile systems which, when deployed and added to Islamabad’s
47 “Going Nuclear: Plutonium and Uranium Bombs (Pt. 6),” Mainichi, August 12, 2014.
48 Robert Norris and Hans Kristensen, “Nuclear Notebook: Pakistan’s Nuclear Forces, 2007,” Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists, May/June 2007.
49 Then-DIA Director Burgess described Pakistan’s nuclear weapons as “based primarily on highly enriched uranium”
(Burgess, March 10, 2011).
50 Norris and Kristensen, 2011.
51 Report To Congress: Update on Progress toward Regional Nuclear Nonproliferation in South Asia, submitted April
3, 2013.
52 Khan, 2012 p. 186
53 The 1993 National Security Council report indicated that Pakistan would use these aircraft to deliver nuclear
weapons. See National Security Council, Report to Congress.
54 See Major U.S. Arms Sales and Grants to Pakistan Since 2001, June 11, 2015.
55Kristensen and Norris, 2015; Salik, Naeem, The Genesis of South Asian Nuclear Deterrence: Pakistan’s Perspective,
(Oxford: Oxford University Press), 2009, p. 215.
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current ballistic missiles, will enable Pakistan “to strike a variety of targets at ranges of 200-2000
kilometers with both conventional and nuclear payloads.”56 Several years later, Admiral Cecil
Haney, Commander of U.S. Strategic Command, stated in June 2014 event that “Pakistan
continues to develop and upgrade their nuclear delivery systems for a full range of platforms,
including both ballistic and cruise missiles.”57
Pakistan continues to carry out ballistic missile tests and notifies India in advance in accordance
with an October 2005 bilateral missile pre-notification pact.58 Islamabad has several types of
nuclear-capable road-mobile ballistic missiles: the solid-fuel Hatf-III (Ghaznavi), with a range of
approximately 250-290 kilometers;59 the solid-fuel Hatf-IV (Shaheen), with a range of 750
kilometers;60 and the liquid-fuel Hatf-V (Ghauri), with a range of 1,250 kilometers.61 According
to a 2013 National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC) report, the solid-fuel Hatf-VI
(Shaheen-2), with a range of 2,000 kilometers, “probably will soon be deployed.”62 Pakistan has
also tested a version of the Shaheen-1 missile, called the Shaheen-1A, with a range of 900
kilometers.63 Additionally, Islamabad has announced flight tests of a nuclear-capable ballistic
missile, called the Shaheen-3, with a range of 2,750 kilometers.64 This missile, according to
Lieutenant General (Retired) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, former Director General of Pakistan’s
Strategic Plans Division, is designed to reach Indian islands so that India cannot use them as
“strategic bases” to establish a “second strike capability.”65
Pakistan has also announced successful tests of the Hatf-II (Abdali), a short-range ballistic missile
with a range of 180 kilometers66 which NASIC characterizes as “[d]evelopmental.” The missile
“carries nuclear as well as conventional warheads,” according to a February 2013 government
56 Burgess, March 10, 2011.
57 “Remarks to the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), Air Force Association (AFA) and Reserve
Officers Association (ROA) Congressional Breakfast Seminar Series,” June 18, 2014.
58“Agreement Between the Republic of India and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on Pre-Notification of Flight Testing
of Ballistic Missiles.” Full text on the Henry L. Stimson Center website: http://www.stimson.org/?SN=
SA20060207949.
59 National Air and Space Intelligence Center, Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat, 2013; “Pakistan Conducts
‘Successful’ Training Launch of Surface-To-Surface Ballistic Missile Hatf III,” Inter Services Public Relations, May 8,
2014.
60 Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat, 2013. Dr. Samar Mubarakmand gave the missile’s range as 700 kilometers
during a 2004 television interview (“Capital Talk Special,” GEO-TV, May 3, 2004). A January 2008 Pakistani press
release also gave the range as 700 kilometers (Inter Services Public Relations, January 25, 2008). However, a May
2010 Pakistani press release gave the range as 650 kilometers (Inter Services Public Relations, May 8, 2010).
61 Ibid. A November 2014 Pakistani press release gave the range as 1,500 kilometers (“ISPR: Pakistan Conducts
‘Successful Training Launch’ of Hatf-VI Ballistic Missile,” Inter Services Public Relations, November 13, 2014).
62 Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat, 2013. An April 2015 Pakistani government press release gives the range as 1,300
kilometers. (“ISPR: Pakistan ‘Successfully’ Conducts ‘Training Launch’ of Ghauri Missile System,” Inter Services
Public Relations, April 5, 2015).
63 “Revision: Alert: Pakistan Conducts ‘Successful’ Flight Test of Shaheen-1A Ballistic Missile,” Inter Services Public
Relations, December 15, 2015.
64 “ISPR: Pakistan Conducts ‘Successful’ Test-Fire of Shaheen-III Ballistic Missile,” Inter Services Public Relations,
March 9, 2015; “ISPR: Pakistan Conducts ‘Successful Flight Test’ of Shaheen-3 Surface-To-Surface Ballistic Missile,”
Inter Services Public Relations, December 11, 2015.
65 “A Conversation with Gen. Khalid Kidwai,” Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference 2015, March 23,
2015.
66 Inter Services Public Relations Press Release, March 11, 2011; Inter Services Public Relations Press Release,
February 15, 2013.
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Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons
statement.67 In addition, Pakistan has also tested its short-range NASR ballistic missile (see
below). Pakistan is developing nuclear-capable cruise missiles: the Babur (ground-launched) and
the Ra’ad (air-launched), both of which will have estimated ranges of 350 kilometers.68 A May
31, 2012, flight test announcement gave the Ra’ad’s range as “over 350” kilometers; 69 a January
19, 2016, Pakistani government announcement gave the range as 350 kilometers;70 an October 28,
2011, Pakistani government announcement gave the Babur’s range as 700 kilometers.71
Sea-Based Nuclear Weapons
A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson reacted to India’s July 26, 2009, launch of its first
indigenously built nuclear-powered submarine by asserting that “continued induction of new
lethal weapon systems by India is detrimental to regional peace and stability,” adding that
“[w]ithout entering into an arms race with India, Pakistan will take all appropriate steps to
safeguard its security and maintain strategic balance in South Asia.”72 India is developing
“submarine-launched ballistic missiles,” according to Admiral Haney.73 In May 2012, Admiral
Mohammad Asif Sandila, then-Chief of Pakistan’s Naval Staff, announced “the formal
establishment of the Naval Strategic Force Command of Pakistan,” describing the force as “the
custodian of the nation’s 2nd strike capability.”74 General Kidwai indicated during a March 2015
conference that the submarine program is “a work in progress,” adding that “this capability will
come into play in the next few years.”75
Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons
Pakistan is developing what the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency described in
February 2015 as “close-range ‘battlefield’ nuclear weapons to augment its existing ballistic
missiles.”76 Kidwai explained that Pakistan has “opted to develop a variety of short range, low
yield nuclear weapons, also dubbed tactical nuclear weapons.”77 For example, Pakistan conducted
in April 2011 the first successful flight test of the solid-fuel Hatf IX (NASR), a road-mobile
missile with a range of 60 kilometers78 which “carries nuclear warheads of appropriate yield with
high accuracy”79 and “has been specially designed to defeat all known Anti Tactical Missile
Defence Systems.”80 Some observers have expressed concern that non-strategic nuclear weapons
67 Inter Services Public Relations Press Release, February 15, 2013.
68 Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat, 2013.
69 “Pakistan: New Cruise Missile Capable of Carrying Nuclear Warheads,” Associated Press of Pakistan, April 29,
2011.
70 Inter Services Public Relations Press Release, May 31, 2012.
71 Inter Services Public Relations Press Release, January 19, 2016.
72 “Remarks of the Spokesman on the Launching of the Indian Nuclear Submarine,” PR. No. 288/2009, July 27, 2009.
73 “Remarks to the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA), Air Force Association (AFA) and Reserve
Officers Association (ROA) Congressional Breakfast Seminar Series,” June 18, 2014.
74 “Naval Chief Inaugurates Naval Strategic Force Headquarters,” Inter Services Public Relations, May 19, 2012.
75 “A Conversation with Gen. Khalid Kidwai,” 2015.
76 Vincent R. Stewart, Lieutenant General, U.S. Marine Corps Director, Defense Intelligence Agency, Worldwide
Threat Assessment, Armed Services Committee, February 3, 2015.
77 “A Conversation with Gen. Khalid Kidwai,” 2015.
78 Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat, 2013.
79 Inter Services Public Relations Press Release, April 19, 2011.
80 Inter Services Public Relations Press Release, February 11, 2013.
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Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons
could increase the risk of nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan. (See “Nuclear Doctrine”
section).
Nuclear Doctrine
The United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office has argued that “Pakistan’s strategic
posture, including nuclear, is clearly framed around its perception of the threat from India.”81
Similarly, then-DIA Director Burgess told the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 10,
2011, that the “persistent India-Pakistan rivalry drives Islamabad to develop its nuclear
infrastructure, expand nuclear weapon stockpiles ... and seek more advanced nuclear warheads
and delivery systems, including cruise missiles.”82 Pakistan has repeatedly described its strategic
doctrine as “credible minimum deterrence.”83 Islamabad has pledged no-first-use against non-
nuclear-weapon states, but has not ruled out first-use against a nuclear-armed aggressor, such as
India.84
In 2004, a Pakistani official described four policy objectives for Islamabad’s nuclear weapons:
deter all forms of external aggression; deter through a combination of conventional and strategic
forces; deter counterforce strategies by securing strategic assets and threatening nuclear
retaliation; and stabilize strategic deterrence in South Asia.85 Pakistani officials have also
indicated that this nuclear posture is designed to preserve territorial integrity against Indian
attack, prevent military escalation, and counter India’s conventional superiority.86 Air
Commodore Khalid Banuri, Director of Arms Control and Disarmament Affairs in Pakistan’s
Strategic Plans Division, explained in December 2011 that Islamabad’s nuclear arsenal is part of
an effort “to deny India the space for launching any kind of aggression against Pakistan.”87 More
recently, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson asserted in a September 3, 2013, statement
that the country’s “nuclear deterrence capability is aimed at maintaining regional stability in
South Asia.” Pakistani Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry explained in October 2015 that
the country’s “nuclear programme is one dimensional: stopping Indian aggression before it
happens. It is not for starting a war. It is for deterrence.”88
Despite Islamabad’s stated wish to avoid a nuclear arms race with New Delhi,89 Pakistan appears
to be increasing its fissile production capability and improving its delivery vehicles in order to
81 Memorandum submitted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, October 1, 2008. Cited in House of Commons
Foreign Affairs Committee, Global Security: Non–Proliferation Fourth Report of Session 2008–09, June 14, 2009. A
2009 French parliamentary report makes a similar observation. Les Enjeux Géostratégiques des Proliférations, La
Commission Des Affaires Étrangères, Assemblé Nationale, November 18, 2009.
82 Burgess, March 10, 2011.
83 See for example, “Record of the Press Briefing by Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson,” May 21,
2015, and Statement by Ambassador Masood Khan, Permanent Representative of Pakistan at the 2014 Session of the
United Nations Disarmament Commission, April 7, 2014. A January 13, 2010, statement describing a National
Command Authority meeting refers to Pakistan’s “policy of credible minimum deterrence.”
84 Memorandum from Air Commodore Khalid Banuri, 2011.
85 Mahmud Ali Durrani, “Pakistan’s Strategic Thinking and the Role of Nuclear Weapons,” Cooperative Monitoring
Center Occasional Paper 37, July 2004.
86 For an in-depth discussion of minimum deterrence, see Naeem Salik, “Minimum Deterrence and India Pakistan
Nuclear Dialogue: Case Study on Pakistan,” Landau Network Centro Volta South Asia Security Project Case Study,
January 2006.
87 Memorandum from Air Commodore Khalid Banuri, Director of Arms Control and Disarmament Affairs in the SPD,
received by CRS analyst December 4, 2011.
88 “Tactical N-arms to Ward off War Threat, Says FO,” Dawn.com, October 20, 2015.
89 For example, Ambassador Masood Khan, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, stated on April
(continued...)
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Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons
hedge against possible increases in India’s nuclear arsenal and also to deter Indian conventional
military action. Indeed, aspects of the credible minimum deterrence doctrine have always been
ambiguous and the concept appears to have changed over time. A 2013 State Department report
explains that Islamabad has not “publicly articulated clear requirements or quantified what
stockpile of nuclear weapons and fissile material would be sufficient to achieve” its credible
minimum deterrence posture.90 Pakistani officials have argued that a variety of nuclear arsenals
could satisfy credible minimum deterrence; Air Commodore Banuri asserted in December 2011
that Pakistan’s “deterrence requirement remains dynamic” and a precise number of nuclear
weapons to satisfy this requirement “cannot be quantified.”91 He also argued that “India’s massive
conventional military build up, the India-U.S. nuclear deal,” and India’s pursuit of missile defense
systems, forced Pakistan “to make qualitative and quantitative adjustments” to its nuclear
arsenal.92 Banuri also cited Indian military doctrines that Islamabad describes as prescribing rapid
conventional military action against Pakistan.
Describing the evolution of Pakistan’s deterrent, General Kidwai explained that the nuclear
program “started with a concept of credible minimum deterrence,” but Islamabad “translated it ...
to the concept of full spectrum deterrence.”93 Kidwai added that Pakistan developed this doctrine
in response to possible Indian rapid conventional military attacks, arguing that some Indian
officials were “toying with the idea of finding space for conventional war,” because Pakistan
lacked non-strategic nuclear weapons and New Delhi did not believe that Islamabad would
retaliate with its other nuclear weapons.
Pakistani officials have argued that non-strategic nuclear weapons can increase the credibility of
its nuclear deterrent versus Indian conventional military operations. General Kidwai argued that
“by introducing the variety of tactical nuclear weapons in Pakistan’s inventory, and in the
strategic stability debate, we have blocked the avenues for serious military operations by the other
side.”94 In 2011, Kidwai described the first test of the NASR missile as “a very important
milestone in consolidating Pakistan’s strategic deterrence capability at all levels of the threat
spectrum.”95 Some observers have expressed concern that such weapons could increase the risk of
nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan for at least two reasons. First, Pakistani military
commanders could lose the ability to prevent the use of such weapons, which would be more
portable and mobile than Islamabad’s current nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles. Second,
Pakistani forces may launch non-strategic nuclear weapons in order to counter possible Indian
preemptive attacks on those weapons’ launch platforms.96
(...continued)
7, 2014, that “[w]e do not want an arms race in South Asia.” According to a September 2013 National Command
Authority statement Pakistan intends to “adhere to the policy of Credible Minimum Deterrence, without entering into
an arms race with any other country.” (Press Release No PR133/2013-ISPR, September 5, 2013).
90 Report To Congress, April 3, 2013.
91 Memorandum from Air Commodore Khalid Banuri, Director of Arms Control and Disarmament Affairs in the SPD,
received by CRS analyst December 4, 2011.
92 Ibid. For details about the 2008 U.S.-India nuclear cooperation agreement, see CRS Report RL33016, U.S. Nuclear
Cooperation with India: Issues for Congress, by Paul K. Kerr.
93 “A Conversation with Gen. Khalid Kidwai,” 2015. Despite the name change articulated by Kidwai, a Pakistani
Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated on April 7, 2016, that Pakistan is “committed to credible minimum deterrence”
Record of the Press Briefing by Spokesperson on April 7, 2016.
94 Ibid.
95 No PR94/2011-ISPR, April 19, 2011.
96 See, for example, Feroz Hassan Khan and Ryan W. French, U.S.-Pakistani Nuclear Relations: A Strategic Survey,
(continued...)
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Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons
Pakistani officials have also argued that the ambiguity concerning Islamabad’s no-first-use policy
serves to maintain deterrence against India’s conventional superiority; a Foreign Ministry
spokesperson stated May 21, 2009, that “there are acquisitions of sophisticated weaponry by our
neighbour which will disturb the conventional balance between our two countries and hence,
lower the nuclear threshold.” Other analysts argue that keeping the first-use option against New
Delhi allows Islamabad to conduct operations, such as support for low intensity conflict or proxy
war in Kashmir, while effectively deterring India at the strategic level.97 In any case, Pakistani
statements suggest that the government has a high threshold for using nuclear weapons.
According to a 2012 State Department report, Pakistan previously has said that “nuclear use
would be a ‘last resort’ under circumstances that are ‘unthinkable.’”98
Nevertheless, Pakistani officials have said for some time that the government may need to
increase significantly its nuclear arsenal in response to possible Indian plans to do the same.
According to an April 2006 television broadcast, Pakistani officials from the government’s
National Command Authority (NCA) expressed “concern” that the 2008 U.S.-India nuclear
cooperation agreement could tilt the strategic balance between India and Pakistan in favor of the
former. The officials suggested that Islamabad may need to increase or improve its nuclear
arsenal in order to “to meet all requirements of minimum credible defence deterrence.”99
Similarly, according to the January 2010 statement, the NCA identified “developments
detrimental to the objectives of strategic stability in the region,” including India’s acquisition of
“advanced weapons systems” and missile defense systems. The NCA also noted that the 2008
decision by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to exempt India from some of its export
guidelines, as well as subsequent nuclear fuel supply agreements that New Delhi has concluded
with several governments, “would enable India to produce substantial quantities of fissile
material for nuclear weapons by freeing up its domestic resources.” The statement suggests that
Pakistan could increase or improve its nuclear weapons in response to these developments, but
does not explicitly say so. Shahzad Chaudhry, a retired Pakistani Air Vice Marshall, argued
during a July 18, 2011, U.S. Institute of Peace event that India’s stockpile of reactor-grade
plutonium is an additional concern for Pakistan.100
India has stated that it needs only a “credible minimum deterrent,” but New Delhi has never
defined what it means by such a deterrent and has refused to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty. Furthermore, both the 2008 U.S.-India nuclear cooperation agreement and associated
NSG decision renewed New Delhi’s access to the international uranium market. This access has
apparently resulted in more indigenous Indian uranium available for weapons because it will not
be consumed by India’s newly safeguarded reactors.101 Pakistani officials have offered estimates
(...continued)
Report, Number 2014-005, Project on Advanced Systems and Concepts for Countering WMD Naval Postgraduate
School, April 2014.
97 Kanti Bajpai, “No First Use in the India-Pakistan Context,” Pugwash Workshop No. 279, November 2002.
98 Report To Congress: Update on Progress toward Regional Nuclear Nonproliferation in South Asia, submitted March
20, 2012.
99 “Pakistan Command Meeting Voices Concern Over Indo-US Nuclear Deal,” Pakistan TV, April 12, 2006.
100 For details about India’s reactor-grade plutonium, see International Panel on Fissile Materials, Global Fissile
Material Report 2010: Balancing the Books: Production and Stocks, pp. 120-122. Reactor-grade plutonium can be used
as fissile material in nuclear weapons; see U.S. Committee on the Internationalization of the Civilian Nuclear Fuel
Cycle; Committee on International Security and Arms Control, Policy and Global Affairs Division; National Academy
of Sciences and National Research Council, Internationalization of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Goals, Strategies, and
Challenges, 2008, p. 17.
101 See RL 33016.
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Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons
for the number of additional nuclear weapons that New Delhi could build. For example, Wajid
Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, argued in an October
2010 letter to a British newspaper that eight Indian nuclear reactors that will not be subject to
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards have the potential to produce 280
nuclear weapons annually.102 India currently has approximately 110-120 nuclear weapons,
according to one public estimate.103
Whether and to what extent Pakistan intends to continue increasing its nuclear arsenal is unclear.
General Kidwai asserted in 2015 that the country’s nuclear weapons program “is not open ended”
and indicated that Islamabad will not increase the number of weapons significantly during the
next 10-15 years.104 “There’s no need” for Pakistan to develop longer-range missiles than it
currently possesses, he added. Current and former Pakistani officials have also argued that the
country has achieved its goal of deterring Indian conventional attacks. “War is no more an
option,” Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry stated in October 2015.105 Despite its
increasing nuclear arsenal, Pakistan “reaffirmed” in a May 17, 2016, joint statement with the
United States that Islamabad “will not be the first in its region to resume nuclear testing” 106
Command and Control
Pakistan’s command and control over its nuclear weapons is compartmentalized and includes
strict operational security. Islamabad’s Strategic Command Organization has a three-tiered
structure, consisting of the National Command Authority (NCA), the Strategic Plans Division
(SPD), and the Strategic Forces Commands. General Kidwai asserted in 2015 that the NCA and
SPD have “operational control” over Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, explaining that “only day-to-
day administrative control, some kind of technical control” has been delegated to the country’s
armed services.107 The NCA, established in 2000 and codified in the National Command
Authority Act, 2010, supervises the functions and administration of all of Pakistan’s organizations
involved in nuclear weapons research, development, and employment, as well as the military
services that operate the strategic forces. The prime minister, as head of government, is
chairperson of the NCA.108 The NCA also includes the chair of the joint chiefs of staff; the
102 “Pakistan for Reducing Existing Stocks of Fissile Material: Wajid,” Associated Press of Pakistan, October 19, 2010.
If Hasan’s estimate assumes that Indian weapons designers could build weapons which would each contain
approximately 4.5 kilograms of reactor-grade plutonium, then the estimate would be roughly consistent with a 2006
estimate that these reactors could produce 1,250 kilograms of reactor-grade plutonium per year (see Mian et al., 2006).
103 Robert Norris and Hans Kristensen, “Nuclear Notebook: Indian Nuclear Forces, 2015,” Bulletin of the Atomic
Scientists, September/October 2015. James N. Miller, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, told the
House Committee on Armed Services in November 2011 that “ India and Pakistan are... increasing the size of their
nuclear arsenals, but each is estimated to have fewer weapons than China,” which had “a few hundred nuclear
weapons.” (Statement of Dr. James N. Miller, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Before The
House Committee On Armed Services, November 2, 2011.)
104 “A Conversation with Gen. Khalid Kidwai,” 2015.
105 Dawn.com, October 20, 2015.
106 Gary Samore included Pakistan in a list of countries “where testing might make sense in terms of” their nuclear
weapons programs (Arms Control Today, May 2011). In August 2003 responses to questions for the record from the
Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the CIA stated that Pakistan “almost certainly would conduct nuclear testing
in reaction to an Indian nuclear test.” However, Dr. Rifaat Hussain of Quad-i-Azam University in Islamabad stated that
it is “extremely unlikely” that, absent additional Indian nuclear tests, Pakistan will test nuclear weapons (personal
email, October 6, 2011).
107 “A Conversation with Gen. Khalid Kidwai,” 2015.
108 When the NCA was established in 2000, the government’s announcement designated the Head of Government, or
Prime Minister, as Chairperson. At that time, General Musharraf, as Chief Executive, became Chairperson and stayed
(continued...)
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Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons
ministers of defense, interior, foreign affairs, and finance; the director general of the SPD; and the
commanders of the Army, Air Force, and Navy.
The final authority to launch a nuclear strike requires consensus within the NCA; the chairperson
must cast the final vote. The NCA is comprised of two committees, the Employment Control
Committee (ECC) and the Development Control Committee (DCC), each of which includes a mix
of civilian and military officials. The ECC’s functions include establishing a command and
control system over the use of nuclear weapons. The DCC “exercises technical, financial and
administrative control over all strategic organisations, including national laboratories and
research and development organisations associated with the development and modernisation of
nuclear weapons.”109 The NCA also has a “fully automated Strategic Command and Control
Support System, which “enables robust Command and Control capability of all strategic assets
with round the clock situational awareness in a digitized network centric environment to decision
makers.”110
The SPD is headed by a director general from the Army and acts as the secretariat for the NCA.
The SPD’s functions include formulating Islamabad’s nuclear policy, strategy, and doctrine;
developing the nuclear chain of command; and formulating operational plans at the service level
for the movement, deployment, and use of nuclear weapons. The Army, Air Force, and Navy each
have their own strategic force command, but operational planning and control remains with the
NCA. The SPD coordinates operational plans with the strategic forces commands. According to
current and former Pakistani officials, Islamabad employs a system which requires that at least
two, and perhaps three, people authenticate launch codes for nuclear weapons.111
The National Command Authority Act, 2010, addresses the problems of the proliferation of
nuclear expertise and personnel reliability. It outlines punishable offenses related to breach of
confidentiality or leakage of “secured information,” gives the SPD authority to investigate
suspicious conduct, states that punishment for these offenses can be up to 25 years imprisonment,
and applies to both serving and retired personnel, including military personnel, notwithstanding
any other laws.
(...continued)
in that position after becoming President in 2002. He appointed the Prime Minister as Vice Chairman. However,
President Zardari returned the NCA to its original structure when, in a November 2009 re-promulgation of the 2007
NCA Ordinance, he specified that the Prime Minister would be Chairperson, removing himself from that position (this
re-promulgation also abolished the position of Vice Chairman). According to Brigadier General (Ret.) Naeem Salik, the
change in Chairmanship may have only a symbolic impact on nuclear policy-making, since no changes were made to
the Strategic Plans Division itself. A July 2009 Supreme Court decision required that the Ordinances from the
Musharraf era be made law.
109 Nuclear Black Markets: Pakistan, A.Q. Khan and the Rise of Proliferation Networks, (London: The International
Institute for Strategic Studies), 2007, p. 111; Pakistan Announcement of Nuclear-Weapons Command-and-Control
Mechanism, Associated Press of Pakistan, February 3, 2000. Nuclear Black Markets, pp. 110-111, has organization
charts of the NCA and SPD.
110 Inter Services Public Relations Press Release, November 28, 2012.
111 See P. Cotta-Ramusino and M. Martellini, “Nuclear Safety, Nuclear Stability And Nuclear Strategy In Pakistan: A
Concise Report Of A Visit By Landau Network - Centro Volta,” January 14, 2002. Available at
http://www.pugwash.org/september11/pakistan-nuclear.htm; Kenneth N. Luongo and Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Naeem Salik,
“Building Confidence in Pakistan’s Nuclear Security,” Arms Control Today, December 2007; Robin Walker,
“Pakistan’s Evolution as a Nuclear Weapons State: Lt. Gen. Khalid Kidwai’s CCC Address, Strategic Insights,
November 1, 2006.
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Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty
Pakistani officials cite their concern about India’s recently-acquired ability to expand its nuclear
arsenal as a reason for refusing to support negotiations in the Conference on Disarmament (CD),
which operates by consensus, on a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT).112 Such a treaty would
ban the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. The CD adopted a program of work113
in May 2009 that established a working group charged with negotiating an FMCT on the basis of
the 1995 “Shannon Mandate.”114 Although Pakistan supported the work plan in 2009, it did not
support the adoption of a draft program of work for 2010.115 Ambassador Zamir Akram,
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the CD, stated on February 18, 2010, that Islamabad had
supported the 2009 program of work116 because the government had believed that the Obama
Administration might reverse U.S. policy on nuclear cooperation with India.
Pakistan, which is widely regarded as the main opponent to the start of negotiations,117 argues that
a treaty on fissile material should not only prohibit the production of new material, but should
also require states with such material to reduce their stocks.118 A treaty without such a
requirement, according to Pakistan, will put the country at a disadvantage with respect to India
because of what Islamabad characterizes as New Delhi’s larger fissile material stocks and
production capability.119 Although the Shannon Mandate states that it “does not preclude any
delegation” from proposing the inclusion of existing stocks in the negotiations, Islamabad has
argued that the CD ought to determine the treaty’s scope prior to beginning negotiations.120
Nuclear Weapons Security
According to a 2001 Department of Defense report, Islamabad’s nuclear weapons “are probably
stored in component form,”121 which suggests that the nuclear warheads are stored separately
from delivery vehicles. According to some reports, the fissile cores of the weapons are separated
from the non-nuclear explosives.122 According to Dr. Mubarakmand, the scientist closely
112 For more information about the treaty, see CRS Report RL33865, Arms Control and Nonproliferation: A Catalog of
Treaties and Agreements, by Amy F. Woolf, Paul K. Kerr, and Mary Beth D. Nikitin.
113 Decision for the Establishment of a Programme of Work for the 2009 Session, Conference on Disarmament,
CD/1864, May 29, 2009.
114 Report of Ambassador Gerald E. Shannon of Canada on Consultations on the Most Appropriate Arrangement to
Negotiate a Treaty Banning the Production of Fissile Material for Nuclear Weapons or Other Nuclear Explosive
Devices, CD/1299, March 24, 1995.
115 Draft Decision for the Establishment of a Programme of Work for the 2010 Session, Conference on Disarmament,
CD/1889, July 6, 2010. Also see Statement by Ambassador Zamir Akram, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the
Conference on Disarmament, August 31, 2010.
116 Statement by Ambassador Zamir Akram, February 18, 2010.
117 Zia Mian and A.H. Nayyar, “Playing the Nuclear Game: Pakistan and the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty,” Arms
Control Today, April 2010.
118 Akram, February 18, 2010; Ibid.
119 Ibid. See also Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations and Other International Organizations,
“Working Paper by Pakistan: Elements of a Fissile Material Treaty (FMT),” August 21, 2015.
120 Akram, August 31, 2010.
121 Proliferation: Threat and Response, p. 27.
122 Joby Warrick, “Pakistan Nuclear Security Questioned; Lack of Knowledge About Arsenal May Limit U.S.
Options,” Washington Post, November 11, 2007; Peter Wonacott, “Inside Pakistan’s Drive To Guard Its A-Bombs,”
(continued...)
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involved with the country’s nuclear weapons program, Pakistani nuclear weapons are “stored in
three to four different parts at three to four different locations,” adding that, “[i]f a nuclear
weapon doesn't need to be launched, then it is never available in assembled form.”123 The 2001
Defense Department report says that Pakistan can probably assemble its weapons fairly
quickly.124 It warrants mention that, although separate storage may provide a layer of protection
against accidental launch or prevent theft of an assembled weapon, it may be easier for
unauthorized people to remove a weapon’s fissile material core if it is not assembled. Dispersal of
the assets may also create more potential access points for acquisition and may increase the risk
of diversion.125
As the United States prepared to attack the Afghan Taliban after September 11, 2001, then-
President Musharraf reportedly ordered that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal be redeployed to “at least
six secret new locations.”126 This action came at a time of uncertainly about the future of the
region, including the direction of U.S.-Pakistan relations. Islamabad’s leadership was uncertain
whether the United States would decide to conduct military strikes against Pakistan’s nuclear
assets if the government did not assist the United States against the Taliban. Indeed, then-
President Musharraf cited protection of Pakistan’s nuclear and missile assets as one of the reasons
for Islamabad’s dramatic policy shift.127
These events, in combination with the 1999 Kargil crisis, the 2002 conflict with India at the Line
of Control, and revelations about the A. Q. Khan proliferation network, inspired a variety of
reforms to secure the nuclear complex. Risk of nuclear war in South Asia ran high during the
1999 Kargil crisis, when, according to former William J. Clinton Administration officials, the
Pakistani military began preparing missiles to deliver nuclear weapons.128 It should be noted that,
even at the high alert levels of 2001 and 2002, there were no reports of Pakistan mating the
warheads with delivery systems.129
In the fall of 2007 and early 2008, some observers expressed concern about the security of the
country’s arsenal if political instability were to persist.130 Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto
said in a November 5, 2007, interview that, although then-President Musharraf claimed to be in
firm control of the nuclear arsenal, she feared this control could weaken due to instability in the
country.131 Similarly, Michael Krepon of the Henry L. Stimson Center has argued that “a
(...continued)
Wall Street Journal, November 29, 2007; David E. Sanger, “Trust Us: So, What About Those Nukes?,” New York
Times, November 11, 2007; Nuclear Black Markets, 2007, p. 33; Cotta-Ramusino and Martellini, 2002.
123 “Pakistan Refutes Saudi Funding, Weapons Claims,” World Bulletin, November 9, 2013.
124 Proliferation: Threat and Response, p. 28.
125 See Graham Allison, “What About the Nukes?” Newsweek Web, December 28, 2007.
126 Molly Moore and Kamran Khan, “Pakistan Moves Nuclear Weapons - Musharraf Says Arsenal Is Now Secure,”
Washington Post, November 11, 2001.
127 “Partial transcript of Pakistan President Musharraf’s televised speech asking the people of Pakistan to support his
course of action,” September 19, 2001.
128 Bruce Riedel, “American Diplomacy and the 1999 Kargil Summit at Blair House,” Center for the Advanced Study
of India, Policy Paper Series, 2002.; Strobe Talbott, Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb,
(Brookings Institution Press: Washington, DC), 2004, pp. 161-162; Aziz Haniffa, “Pressure Must Also be Put on India
to De-Escalate,” India Abroad, June 14, 2002. Former SPD official Khan’s book contests these claims (Khan, 2012. pp.
314-315).
129 Lavoy, 2006.
130 “Opinions Mixed on Pakistani Nuclear Security,” Global Security Newswire, November 6, 2007.
131 Also see comments by David Albright in the same interview (“Pakistan in Crisis: Interview with Benazir Bhutto,”
CNN, November 5, 2007).
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prolonged period of turbulence and infighting among the country’s President, Prime Minister, and
Army Chief” could jeopardize the army’s unity of command, which “is essential for nuclear
security.”132 U.S. military officials also expressed concern about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear
weapons.133 Experts also worry that while nuclear weapons are currently under firm control, with
warheads disassembled, technology could be sold off by insiders during a worsened crisis.134
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen described U.S. concern about the
matter during a September 22, 2008, speech:
To the best of my ability to understand it—and that is with some ability—the weapons
there are secure. And that even in the change of government, the controls of those
weapons haven't changed. That said, they are their weapons. They're not my weapons.
And there are limits to what I know. Certainly at a worst-case scenario with respect to
Pakistan, I worry a great deal about those weapons falling into the hands of terrorists and
either being proliferated or potentially used. And so, control of those, stability, stable
control of those weapons is a key concern. And I think certainly the Pakistani leadership
that I've spoken with on both the military and civilian side understand that.135
U.S. officials have stated that U.S. knowledge of Pakistan’s arsenal is limited. For example, then-
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mullen stated during a May 14, 2009, hearing before the
Senate Armed Services Committee that “we’re limited in what we actually know” about
Islamabad’s nuclear arsenal. Nevertheless, U.S. officials have expressed confidence regarding the
security of Islamabad’s nuclear weapons. Defense Intelligence Agency Director Stewart stated in
February 2016 that “Islamabad continues to take steps to improve its nuclear security, and is
aware of the threat presented by extremists to its program.”136 More recently, White House Press
Secretary Josh Earnest stated on October 15, 2015, that
we continue to have confidence that the government of Pakistan is well aware of the
range of potential threats to its nuclear arsenal, and we continue to be confident that
Pakistan has a professional and dedicated security force that understands the importance
and the high priority that the world places on nuclear security.137
Ambassador Olson told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on December 16, 2015, that
Washington has “confidence in the capabilities of ... the Pakistani security forces to control and
secure their nuclear weapons,” adding that Islamabad has “specifically taken into account the
insider threat” to its nuclear arsenal. A former Administration official wrote in September 2014
that
The likelihood [of] terrorists obtaining nuclear weapons or nuclear material from
Pakistani facilities is currently very low because of the extraordinary measures the
Pakistan government and military have taken over the last decade... Pakistani nuclear
materials do not pose the concerns that they once did.138
132 “U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Relations,” Statement before the Committee on Senate Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services,
and International Security June 12, 2008.
133 “Lieutenant General Carter Ham Holds a Defense Department Briefing,” CQ Transcripts, November 7, 2007.
134 Also see comments by David Albright in “Pakistan in Crisis,” 2007.
135 Remarks by Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the L.A. World Affairs Council,
September 22, 2008.
136 Stewart, February 9, 2016.
137 White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest Holds White House Regular News Briefing, October 15, 2015.
138 Email to author, September 11, 2014.
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Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller
expressed confidence in the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal during a March 17, 2016,
Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, but added that Pakistan's “battlefield nuclear
weapons” are a security concern because such weapons “cannot be made as secure” when
deployed.139
Other governments have also voiced opinions regarding the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.
For example, Indian National Security Adviser M. K. Narayanan said that the arsenal is safe and
has adequate checks and balances.140 Similarly, then-Secretary of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth Affairs David Miliband told the Charlie Rose Show on December 15, 2008, that
Islamabad’s nuclear weapons “are under pretty close lock and key.” Furthermore, according to
Director of the French General Directorate of External Security Erard Corbin de Mangoux,
Pakistan’s military and civilian leaders have a “sense of responsibility” to maintain control over
the country’s nuclear weapons; these leaders “know that the international status to which they
aspire depends directly on their ability to exercise complete control over such an instrument of
power,” he argued in an interview published in spring 2010.141
Other non-U.S. officials, however, have sounded somewhat less optimistic. For example, Russian
Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said in a March 24, 2009, television interview that Moscow
is “very much concerned” about the security of Pakistan’s arsenal.142 Indian officials expressed
concerns about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal following the May 2011 insurgent attack
on the Karachi military installation.143
Pakistani officials have consistently expressed confidence in the security of the country’s nuclear
arsenal.144 Then-President Musharraf stated in November 2007 that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons
are under “total custodial controls.”145 According to Pakistan’s 2014 Nuclear Security Summit
statement, the country’s “nuclear security regime is anchored in the principle of multi-layered
defense for the entire spectrum of any nuclear threat” and includes a “specially trained Special
Response Force,” an “integrated intelligence system” and “[f]orce validation exercises.”146 The
SPD “has two separate divisions to oversee security and intelligence, with more than 25,000
personnel between them,” according to SPD official Adil Sultan.147
Pakistan has also cited its Centre of Excellence on Nuclear Security to bolster its nuclear security
credentials. In its 2016 Nuclear Security Summit statement, Islamabad explained that the center,
in conjunction with two other Pakistani government bodies, provides “exhaustive education and
training in areas including physical protection, material control and accounting, transport security,
139 “Sen. Bob Corker Holds A Hearing on Reviewing The Administration's Nuclear Agenda, Panel 1,” Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations, March 17, 2016.
140 “Pak Nukes Safely Guarded, Says Narayanan,” The Press Trust of India, December 16, 2007.
141 Isabelle Lasserre, “Intelligence and the New Threats,” Politique Internationale, January 1-March 31, 2010.
142 Lyubov Pronina and Ellen Pinchuk, “Russia ‘Concerned’ About Security of Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal,”
Bloomberg, March 25, 2009.
143 “Safety of Pakistan’s Nukes a Global Concern: India,” Indo-Asian News Service, May 25, 2011.
144 Air Commodore Khalid Banuri, Director of Arms Control and Disarmament Affairs in the SPD, stated in a 2008
interview that Islamabad has “consistently augmented” its nuclear weapons security since 1998 (Ahmed Quraishi,
“Interview: Air Commodore Khalid Banuri – ‘Don't Mess With Pakistan’,” January 17, 2008),
http://www.globalpolitician.com/24013-pakistan.
145 “Pakistan Nukes Under Control: Musharraf,” Agence France Presse, November 13, 2007.
146 “Nuclear Security Summit 2014 National Statement: Pakistan.”
147 Adil Sultan, “In Defence of Pakistan’s Nuclear Management,” IISS Voices, June 26, 2015.
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cyber security and personnel reliability.” In addition, the government points to its status as a party
to the Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material, including the 2005 amendment to
the convention.148
The May 2011 U.S. strike that killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden generated a public
discussion in Pakistan as to whether a country such as India or the United States could
successfully attack and destroy Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.149 Responding to these concerns,
then-Prime Minster Gilani stated May 25, 2011, that the country’s “strategic assets are well
protected and our capability to defend our sovereignty, territorial integrity and liberties of our
people, is very much in place.”150
In addition to the above scenarios, the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could also be
jeopardized by another conflict between India and Pakistan, Michael Krepon argued, explaining
that an “escalating war with nuclear forces in the field would increase the probability of
accidents, miscalculations, and the use of nuclear weapons” because
[w]hen tensions rise precipitously with India, the readiness level of Pakistan’s nuclear
deterrent also rises. Because the geographical coordinates of Pakistan’s main nuclear
weapon storage sites, missile, and air bases can be readily identified from satellites—and
therefore targeted by opposing forces—the dictates of deterrence mandate some
movement of launchers and weapons from fixed locations during crises. Nuclear weapons
on the move are inherently less secure than nuclear weapons at heavily-guarded storage
sites. Weapons and launchers in motion are also more susceptible to “insider” threats and
accidents.151
Such a war, Krepon added, would also place stress on the army’s unity of command. Krepon has
also pointed out that Islamabad faces a dilemma, because less-dispersed nuclear weapons may be
more vulnerable to a disarming military strike from India.152
U.S. Assistance
During former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s January 2005confirmation hearing, then-
Senator John Kerry asked what would happen to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons in the event of a
radical Islamic coup in Islamabad, Secretary Rice answered, “[w]e have noted this problem, and
we are prepared to try to deal with it,” suggesting that the United States had plans to secure
Pakistani nuclear weapons in case of a loss of control by the Pakistani government153 On
November 12, 2007, responding to press reports about this contingency, a Pakistan Foreign Office
spokesperson said, “Pakistan possesses adequate retaliatory capacity to defend its strategic assets
and sovereignty,” emphasizing that Islamabad’s nuclear weapons have been under “strong multi-
layered, institutionalized decision-making, organizational, administrative and command and
148 For information about the convention, see CRS Report RL33865, Arms Control and Nonproliferation: A Catalog of
Treaties and Agreements, by Amy F. Woolf, Paul K. Kerr, and Mary Beth D. Nikitin.
149 Jane Perlez, “Pakistan Army Under Scrutiny After U.S. Raid,” New York Times, May 5, 2011; Zahid Hussain,
Matthew Rosenberg and Jeremy Page, “After Raid, Confused Response,” The Wall Street Journal, May 9, 2011; Toby
Dalton and George Perkovich, “Beware Decline in Pakistani Relations,” Politico, May 16, 2011.
150 Press Information Department, “Prime Minister Gilani’s Opening Statement at the Defence Committee of the
Cabinet,” Pakistan Official News, May 25, 2011.
151 Krepon, June 12, 2008.
152 Michael Krepon, “Complexities of Nuclear Risk Reduction in South Asia,” The Hindu, May 29, 2009.
153 “The Nomination of Dr. Condoleezza Rice to be Secretary of State,” Hearings before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, January 18 and 19, 2005. The concept of a contingency plan to take over Pakistan’s nuclear assets was first
written about by Seymour Hersh, “Watching the Warheads,” The New Yorker, November 5, 2001.
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control structures since 1998.”154 The issue of U.S. contingency plans to take over Pakistani
strategic assets was raised again in the press following Benazir Bhutto’s assassination, and was
met with similar assurances by Pakistan’s government.155
Responding to a report detailing alleged U.S.-Pakistani discussions regarding contingency plans
for U.S. forces to help secure Islamabad’s nuclear weapons, a Pakistan Foreign Office
spokesperson stated on November 8, 2009, that Pakistan “does not require any foreign assistance
in this regard.” Pakistan will never “allow any country to have direct or indirect access to its
nuclear and strategic facilities,” the spokesperson said, adding that “no talks have ever taken
place on the issue of the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal with U.S. officials.”156 Then-
Secretary of Defense Gates stated in January 2010 that the United States has “no intention or
desire to take over any of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.”157
The United States reportedly offered nuclear security assistance to Pakistan soon after September
11, 2001.158 U.S. assistance to Islamabad, which must comply with nonproliferation guidelines,
has reportedly included the sharing of best practices and technical measures to prevent
unauthorized or accidental use of nuclear weapons, as well as contribute to physical security of
storage facilities and personnel reliability.159 As noted above, Islamabad employs a system
requiring that at least two, and perhaps three, people authenticate launch codes for nuclear
weapons.160 Security at nuclear sites in Islamabad is the responsibility of a 10,000-member
security force, commanded by a two-star general. Former Pakistani military officials have said
Pakistan has developed Permissive Action Links (PALs) for its warheads without U.S.
assistance.161 PALs require a code to be entered before a weapon can be detonated.
Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage confirmed in a November 2007 interview
that there has been U.S. assistance in securing Pakistani nuclear weapons, explaining that the
United States was unlikely to intervene militarily in a crisis in Pakistan because “we have spent
considerable time with the Pakistani military, talking with them and working with them on the
security of their nuclear weapons. I think most observers would say that they are fairly secure.
They have pretty sophisticated mechanisms to guard the security of those.”162 Rolf Mowatt-
Larssen, former Director of the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence at the U.S.
Department of Energy, pointed out in May 2009 that “there’s not a lot of transparency into” how
154 “Strategic Assets Are Safe, Says FO,” Dawn, November 12, 2007. Press reports appear to use “Foreign Office” and
“Foreign Ministry” interchangeably.
155 “Pentagon Readies Plan for Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal,” The Guardian, December 28, 2007. For a discussion of
executing such a plan, see Shaun Gregory, “The Security of Nuclear Weapons in Pakistan,” Pakistan Security Research
Unit Brief Number 22, University of Bradford, November 18, 2007. Available at http://spaces.brad.ac.uk:8080/
download/attachments/748/Brief_22finalised.pdf.
156 “Pakistan Foreign Office Rejects U.S. Media Report on Nuclear Arsenal,” Associated Press of Pakistan, November
9, 2009.
157 “Express TV Interview,” January 21, 2010.
158 Alex Wagner, “U.S. Offers Nuclear Security Assistance to Pakistan,” Arms Control Today, December 2001.
159 Joby Warrick, “U.S. Has Concerns Over Security of Pakistan’s Nuclear Weapons,” The Washington Post,
November 11, 2007; David Sanger and William Broad, “U.S. Secretly Aids Pakistan in Guarding Nuclear Arms,” The
New York Times, November 17, 2007.
160 Mubarakmand provided some details about Pakistan’s use of such codes in a 2004 interview (“Capital Talk
Special,” GEO-TV, May 3, 2004).
161 General Kidwai has stated that “if a country can make complex nuclear weapons and ballistic cruise missiles grant it
that PALs is a far simpler technology” (cited in Martellini, 2008).
162 “A Conversation with Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage,” PBS: The Charlie Rose Show,
November 6, 2007.
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Islamabad spends the U.S. funds, but he nevertheless characterized them as “money well
spent.”163 A Pakistani official said in November 2009 that Pakistan reserves the right to “pick and
choose” the nuclear security measures it will undertake, adding that Islamabad will only accept
such measures that are “non-intrusive.”164
The extent to which Pakistan has shared information about its nuclear arsenal with the United
States is unclear. Although, as noted, former President Musharraf has acknowledged that
Islamabad has shared some information, General Tariq Majid, then-chair of Pakistan’s Joint
Chiefs of Staff Committee, stated November 9, 2009, that “there is absolutely no question of
sharing or allowing any foreign individual, entity or a state, any access to sensitive information
about our nuclear assets.”165 Air Commodore Banuri indicated in a 2008 interview that Islamabad
accepts U.S. “education and awareness, but in a completely non-intrusive way,” adding that
Pakistan has “some rudimentary equipment and some training” from the United States. Banuri
described U.S. access to Pakistan’s nuclear weapons facilities as a “red line” that Islamabad will
not cross.166
The U.S. government has also reportedly offered assistance to secure or destroy radioactive
materials that could be used to make a radioactive dispersal device, and to ship highly enriched
uranium used in the Pakistani civilian nuclear sector out of the country.167 Pakistan’s response to
these proposals is unclear, and downturns in the bilateral relationship overall may have
complicated efforts to make progress in this area.
It is worth noting that, according to some observers, spent fuel from Pakistan’s Karachi and
Chasma nuclear power plants could be vulnerable to theft or attack.168 However, Pakistani
officials have expressed confidence in the security of its facilities169 and have said that Islamabad
has no plans to transport spent fuel from either reactor. Moreover, the Pakistan Nuclear
Regulatory Authority (PNRA) has a Nuclear Security Action Plan, which includes a description
of regulations for handling spent nuclear fuel. The PNRA states that Pakistan follows IAEA
physical protection standards.
Proliferation
A fundamental aspect of nuclear security is ensuring that personnel with sensitive knowledge do
not transfer that expertise. Although Pakistan has made significant reforms in this area, many
observers continue to be concerned that other states or terrorist organizations could obtain
material or expertise related to nuclear weapons from elements in Pakistan.170
163 Ben Arnoldy, “Could Taliban Get Keys to Pakistan’s A-Bomb? Experts See the Islamic Fighters as Less of a Risk
than Radical Insiders Gaining Access to Nuclear Materials,” The Christian Science Monitor, May 15, 2009.
164 Mariana Baabar, “Pak N-safety Plan,” The News International, November 10, 2009.
165 Ibid.
166 Quraishi, January 17, 2008.
167 Bryan Bender, “Pakistan, US in Talks on Nuclear Security,” The Boston Globe, May 5, 2009.
168 Abdul Mannan, “Preventing Nuclear Terrorism in Pakistan: Sabotage of a Spent Fuel Cask or a Commercial
Irradiation Source in Transport,” in Pakistan’s Nuclear Future, 2008; Martellini, 2008. Some analysts argue that spent
nuclear fuel is more vulnerable when being transported.
169 Martellini, 2008.
170 For more information on Pakistani proliferation, see CRS Report RL33192, U.S.-China Nuclear Cooperation
Agreement, by Mark Holt, Mary Beth D. Nikitin, and Paul K. Kerr; CRS Report RL32745, Pakistan's Nuclear
Proliferation Activities and the Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission: U.S. Policy Constraints and Options, by
Richard P. Cronin, K. Alan Kronstadt, and Sharon Squassoni. Also see CRS Report RL33498, Pakistan-U.S. Relations,
(continued...)
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The A. Q. Khan Network171
Proliferation networks stemming from Pakistan have their roots in the effort to develop a
Pakistani nuclear bomb. Beginning in the 1970s, Pakistan used extensive clandestine procurement
networks to obtain technology for its own nuclear weapons program. A report from Pakistan’s
Inter-Services Intelligence published September 15, 2011, stated that Pakistan, as an
under-developed country with no industrial infra-structure, had to buy each and every bit
of material and piece of equipment surreptitiously from abroad in the open market and
had to establish a network of cover companies within the country and outside to by-pass
embargoes and import all the necessary items.172
Former Pakistani nuclear scientist A. Q. Khan directed this procurement and subsequently used a
similar network to supply Libya, North Korea, and Iran with designs and materials related to
uranium enrichment.173 174
The current status of Pakistan’s nuclear export network is unclear, although most official U.S.
reports indicate that, at the least, it has been damaged considerably. Then-Director of National
Intelligence John D. Negroponte implied that the network had been dismantled when he asserted
in a January 11, 2007, statement to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that “Pakistan
(...continued)
by K. Alan Kronstadt.
171 For a description of the network’s activities and their implications, see R.S. Kemp, “The Nonproliferation Emperor
Has No Clothes: The Gas Centrifuge, Supply-Side Controls, and the Future of Nuclear Proliferation,” International
Security, Spring 2014. See also Nuclear Black Markets: Pakistan, A.Q. Khan and the Rise of Proliferation Networks
(London: The International Institute for Strategic Studies), 2007, and David Albright, Peddling Peril: How the Secret
Nuclear Trade Arms America’s Enemies, The Institute for Science and International Security, 2010.
172 Available at http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/09/16/aq-khan-report-isi/#ixzz1Y9ZIgsQV.
173 Libya obtained uranium enrichment technology and nuclear weapons designs that could support a nuclear weapons
program. North Korea currently has a plutonium-based nuclear weapons program and may also have a uranium-based
nuclear weapons program. The United States has suspected Iran of pursuing both plutonium- and uranium-based
nuclear weapons programs. Such activity has been of historic concern; a 1979 State Department memorandum stated
that Libya, Iraq, or Iran “might be prepared to provide economic support” to Islamabad “in exchange for nuclear
cooperation from Pakistan.” (Department of State Action Memorandum, “PRC Paper on South Asia,” March 23, 1979).
Additionally, a 1979 memorandum from the National Intelligence Officer for Nuclear Proliferation stated that Pakistan
“might already have been induced to share with identified foreigners some sensitive nuclear equipment and to propose
terms for possible future nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia, Libya, or Iraq.” (“Monthly Warning Report – Nuclear
Proliferation,” NFAC – 3871-79, July 24, 1979).
174 The network also supplied Libya with “documents related to the design and fabrication of a nuclear explosive
device,” according to the IAEA (Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Socialist People’s Libyan
Arab Jamahiriya, GOV/2008/39, September 12, 2008). However, these documents lacked “important parts” for making
a nuclear weapon, according to former IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei (The Age of Deception: Nuclear
Diplomacy in Treacherous Times (New York: Metropolitan Books), 2011, p. 155) and the International Institute for
Strategic Studies described the design as “95% complete” (Nuclear Black Markets, 2007, p. 79). Moreover, Khan told a
former member of his network that he had “supplied the Libyans with plans for a non-working nuclear device” (Extract
from the Statement of Sayed Abu Tahir Bin Bukhary, June 7, 2006, Annexure L in Plea and Sentence Agreement, State
vs. Geiges, Wisser, and Krisch Engineering, September 2007). According to former SPD official Feroz Khan, “the
bomb design exposed in Libya was not the one Pakistani scientists worked on and eventually tested” (Khan, 2012, p.
189).
In addition to the documents supplied to Tripoli, members of the network also had computer files containing “drawings
for the components of two smaller, more advanced nuclear weapons” (David Albright, Peddling Peril: How the Secret
Nuclear Trade Arms America’s Enemies, The Institute for Science and International Security, 2010. p.151). However,
according to former IAEA official Olli Heinonen, these “detailed designs” were not “complete sets” of weapons design
information. Heinonen suggested that other members of the network could have possessed more complete nuclear
weapons designs (interview with CRS analyst, August 4, 2011).
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had been a major source of nuclear proliferation until the disruption of the A.Q. Khan
network.”175 When asked about the network’s current status during a July 25, 2007, Senate
Foreign Relations Committee hearing, then-Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns
replied that
I cannot assert that no part of that network exists, but it’s my understanding based on our
conversations with the Pakistanis that the network has been fundamentally dismantled.
But to say that there are no elements in Pakistan, I’m not sure I could say that.176
Similarly, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies found in a May 2007
report that “at least some of Khan’s associates appear to have escaped law enforcement attention
and could ... resume their black-market business.”177 The State Department imposed sanctions in
2009 on 13 individuals and three companies for their involvement in the Khan network. The
sanctions were imposed under the Export-Import Bank Act, the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention
Act, and Executive Orders 12938 and 13382.
A Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson told reporters in May 2006 that the government
considered the Khan investigation “closed”—a position a Foreign Ministry spokesperson
reiterated on February 6, 2009.178 Acting Assistant Secretary of State Vann Van Diepen described
the network as “basically defunct” during a July 22, 2010, congressional hearing, adding that
“we’re on the lookout for sort of the next A.Q. Khan network, so to speak.”179 Furthermore, a
March 2012 State Department report described the network as “defunct” and the 2013 version of
the same report stated that “[t]here is no indication” that the Pakistani government “has supplied
nuclear weapons-related materials to other countries or non-state actors” since the Khan network
was “exposed and shut down in 2004.”180
Asked during the 2007 hearing about Pakistan’s cooperation in investigating the network, Burns
acknowledged that the United States had not had “personal, consistent access” to Khan, but added
that he did not “have all the details of everything we’ve done.” Sources report that Islamabad has
responded to written questions from the IAEA and has been cooperative with the agency’s
investigation of Iran’s nuclear program.181 Former IAEA official Olli Heinonen, who investigated
the Khan network during his time at the agency, stated in an interview published in October 2011
that Khan “answer[ed] some of my questions in writing through secret channels.”182 More
recently, then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Ellen
Tauscher told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2009 that the United States has
175 Unclassified Statement for the Record Annual Threat Assessment, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, January
11, 2007.
176 “Pakistan's Future: Building Democracy, or Fueling Extremism?” Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, July 25,
2007.
177 Nuclear Black Markets, 2007, p. 159.
178 “Dr. Khan Probe a ‘Closed Chapter’: FO Hails APHC-Singh Meeting,” Dawn, May 03, 2006. Munir Ahmad,
“Disgraced Pakistan A-bomb Scientist Declared Free,” The Associated Press, February 6, 2009.
179 “Transshipment And Diversion: Are U.S. Trading Partners Doing Enough To Prevent The Spread Of Dangerous
Technologies?” Hearing of the Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, July 22, 2010.
180 Report to Congress: Update on Progress toward Regional Nuclear Nonproliferation in South Asia, submitted March
20, 2012; Report to Congress: Update on Progress toward Regional Nuclear Nonproliferation in South Asia, submitted
April 3, 2013.
181 Personal communication, November 9, 2007.
182 “Former IAEA Deputy Chief Voices Concern About Iran, North Korea, Pakistan,” Der Spiegel, October 2, 2011.
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“obtained a great deal of information about the Khan network without having direct access to
A.Q. Khan.”183
Interactions with Al-Qaeda
According to reports, Al-Qaeda unsuccessfully sought nuclear weapons assistance from the Khan
network184 but did receive limited help from at least one other group in Pakistan. Retired Pakistan
Atomic Energy Commission scientists, long-time rivals of A. Q. Khan, and Islamic
fundamentalists—Sultan Bashiruddin Mahmood and Chaudiri Abdul Majeed may have provided
some help to al-Qaeda representatives.185 The assistance under the umbrella of the Umma
Tameer-e Nau (UTN) humanitarian organization was reportedly related to weapons of mass
destruction, but details are scarce on the extent of the transfers, and the events following the
September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States may have cut off this interaction.
Mahmood and Majeed met with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri in August 2001 in
Afghanistan to discuss, among other topics, the necessary elements for developing a nuclear
weapons infrastructure, details of nuclear bomb design, and how to construct radiological
dispersal devices.186 Mahmood was a public figure well-known for his eccentric and extreme
views about science and Islam, and he was demoted in 1999 to a lower rank in part because of his
radicalism. Mahmood then sought early retirement and started the UTN organization. After the
United States briefed the Pakistani government about this activity at the highest levels in the fall
of 2001, the Pakistani authorities detained the Mahmood and Majeed for multiple rounds of
questioning. Through these interrogations and searches in Afghanistan, UTN’s work with al-
Qaeda on biological weapons and rudimentary nuclear weapons technology came to light.187 The
Pakistani government did not press criminal charges against Mahmood and Majeed, but put the
scientists under house arrest in 2002. This extreme case raised awareness of the “insider threat”
and subsequently led to changes in Pakistani personnel security policy, detailed below. Accounts
raise the possibility of other groups or individuals also providing al Qaeda or other groups with
nuclear expertise, but less information is publicly available.188
Pakistan’s Response to the Proliferation Threat
Then-Under Secretary Burns testified in July 2007 that the Bush Administration has “told the
Pakistani government that it is its responsibility ... to make sure” that neither the Khan network
nor a “similar organization” resurfaces in the country. Since the revelations about the network,
Pakistan appears to have increased its efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation. Ambassador Olson
183 Question #54, Pre-Hearing Questions for the Record by Senator Richard Lugar Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, Nomination of Ellen M. Tauscher to be Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International
Security.
184 Former Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet wrote in his memoirs that the United States “received
fragmentary information from an intelligence service” that in 1998 Osama bin Laden had “sent emissaries to establish
contact” with the Khan network. Tenet, George and Harlow, Bill, At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA,
HarperCollins: New York, 2007. p. 261; Albright, Peddling Peril, 2010.
185 For a detailed discussion, see Albright, 2010.
186 Ibid. According to a 2005 report by the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding
Weapons of Mass Destruction, al-Qaeda “had established contact with Pakistani scientists who discussed development
of nuclear devices that would require hard-to-obtain materials like uranium to create a nuclear explosion.
http://www.wmd.gov/report/index.html.
187 Albright, 2010. Tenet, 2007.
188 Albright, 2010.
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argued during a December 16, 2015, House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing that Pakistan has
“made considerable progress” in its nonproliferation efforts. It is worth noting that, because Khan
conducted his proliferation activities as a government official, they do not necessarily indicate a
failure of Islamabad’s export controls.
Pakistani officials argue that Islamabad has taken a number of steps to prevent further
proliferation of nuclear-related technologies and materials.189 For example, Islamabad adopted in
September 2004 new national export controls legislation which includes a requirement that the
government issue control lists for “goods, technologies, material, and equipment which may
contribute to designing, development, stockpiling, [and] use” of nuclear weapons and related
delivery systems. According to a February 2008 presentation by the Director of Pakistan’s
Strategic Export Controls Division (SECDIV),190 the lists, which were issued in October 2005,
include items controlled by multilateral export control regimes, such as the Nuclear Suppliers
Group, the Australia Group, and the Missile Technology Control Regime.191 The government
issued revised control lists in 2011 and 2015.192 According to a 2013 State Department report, the
2011 revisions contained “gaps” which must be closed before the lists are “fully harmonized with
the multilateral [export control] regimes.”193 Pakistan asserted in its 2016 Nuclear Security
Summit statement that the 2015 revisions cover “the scope of export controls maintained” by
those three regimes.
The export controls legislation also includes a catch-all clause, which requires exporters to notify
the government if they are aware or suspect that goods or technology are intended by the end-user
for use in nuclear or biological weapons, or missiles capable of delivering such weapons.194 The
legislation includes several other important elements, such as end-use and end-user certification
requirements and new penalties for violators. Since its adoption, Pakistan has established the
SECDIV and an associated Oversight Board. The SECDIV is responsible for formulating rules
and regulations for implementing the legislation. The board is comprised of officials from
multiple agencies and is headed by Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary.
Islamabad says that it has also taken several other steps to improve its nuclear security. For
example, the government announced in June 2007 that it is “implementing a National Security
Action Plan with the [IAEA’s] assistance.” That same month, Pakistan also joined the U.S.- and
189 Details of Pakistan’s nuclear-related legislation can be found in the country’s reports to the UN 1540 Committee.
Both can be found at http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N04/597/46/PDF/N0459746.pdf?OpenElement.
190 Presentation given to Partnership for Global Security Workshop, “Meeting the Nuclear Security Challenge in
Pakistan,” February 21-22, 2008. http://www.partnershipforglobalsecurity.org/documents/zafar_export.pdf.
191 The Nuclear Suppliers Group is a multilateral, voluntary group of nuclear supplier states which have agreed to
coordinate their exports of civilian nuclear technology and materials in order to prevent importers from using them to
produce nuclear weapons. The Australia Group is a voluntary, informal, export-control arrangement through which
participating countries coordinate their national export controls to limit the supply of chemicals and biological agents,
as well as related equipment, technologies, and knowledge, to countries and nonstate entities suspected of pursuing
chemical or biological weapons capabilities. The Missile Technology Control Regime is an informal, voluntary
arrangement in which participants agree to adhere to common export policy guidelines applied to an “annex” that lists
items related to the proliferation of ballistic and cruise missiles, rockets, and unmanned air vehicles capable of
delivering weapons of mass destruction.
192 Communication of 30 September 2015 from the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the Agency Concerning the
Export Control Policies of the Government of Pakistan and a Statutory Regulatory Order, International Atomic Energy
Agency, INFCIRC/890, November 9, 2015.
193 Report To Congress, April 3, 2013.
194 The Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Ordinance of 2000 regulates the import and export of
chemicals in accordance with the convention.
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Russian-led Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. As noted above, the December 2007
National Command Authority Ordinance also includes measures to prevent the spread of nuclear-
related materials and expertise.
Pakistani officials participating in an April 2007 Partnership for Global Security workshop argued
that Islamabad has improved the reliability of its nuclear personnel by, for example, making
security clearance procedures more stringent. However, the officials also acknowledged that
Islamabad still needed to do more to control its nuclear expertise.195 Similarly, then-Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mullen stated on May 14, 2009, that the country’s personnel reliability
system must “continue to improve.” Some reports about the early January 2011 shooting of
Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab province, have raised questions about Pakistan’s ability
to vet security personnel properly.196
The United States has provided export control assistance to Pakistan. Burns described several
such efforts in his July 2007 testimony.197 And according to an October 2007 U.S. Government
Accountability Office report, Islamabad was during FY2003-FY2006 the second-largest recipient
of bilateral U.S. assistance designed to improve target countries’ export controls. Pakistan
received such assistance from the Departments of State, Energy, and Homeland Security.198 More
recently, the United States has “provided feedback to Pakistan on improving its strategic trade
controls,” according to the 2013 State Department report.199
Pakistan’s Civil Nuclear Program
Pakistan sees nuclear power as a key component of its economic development and energy
security. The country obtains slightly less than 5% of its power from nuclear energy, or 400 MWe
and electricity consumption in Pakistan is increasing. Islamabad plans to increase nuclear energy
production to 8,800 MWe by 2030 and 40,000 MWe by 2050.200 The Pakistan Atomic Energy
Commission is in charge of nuclear R&D, and all research and power reactors.
Pakistan operates three civilian power reactors under International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) safeguards201 at two sites: a Canadian-supplied 100 MWe heavy-water-moderated reactor
in Karachi (Karachi Nuclear Power Plant 1 (KANUPP)), which began operating in 1971, and two
195 Building Confidence in Pakistan’s Nuclear Security: Workshop Synopsis. April 30, 2007.
196 Asif Shahzad, “Pakistani Governor Killed by own Bodyguard,” Associated Press, January 4, 2011; Salman Masood
and Carlotta Gall, “Crisis Grows in Pakistan with Killing of Governor; Government Shaken amid Fears Islamists have
Infiltrated Security Forces,” The International Herald Tribune, January 6, 2011; Asif Shahzad and Sebastian Abbot,
“Shadow over Pakistan Security Grows,” Associated Press, January 12, 2011.
197 Burns mentioned Pakistan’s participation in the Container Security Initiative and the Secure Freight Initiative.
Under these programs, “the United States and Pakistan worked together to install screening and radiation detection
equipment to scan U.S.-bound cargo.” He also stated that the Department of Energy “is working with Pakistan on
radiation source security and is in the process of finalizing an agreement to install radiation detection equipment at
Pakistani ports and border crossings.”
198 GAO Report, Nonproliferation: U.S. Efforts to Combat Nuclear Networks Need Better Data on Proliferation Risks
and Program Results, October 31, 2007.
199 Report To Congress, April 3, 2013.
200 Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority Annual Report 2014; Statement by the Leader of the Pakistan Delegation,
59th IAEA General Conference, 14-18 September, 2015.
201 Unlike most International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards agreements, Pakistan’s agreements only cover certain
nuclear facilities in the country. Islamabad’s nuclear weapons program is not safeguarded. “Pakistan is committed to
keep all its future civil nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards” (“Pakistan & The NSG,” non-paper from the
Embassy of Pakistan circulated on June 3, 2015).
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Chinese-built 325 MWe pressurized water reactors (PWRs) at the Chasma site. Chasma-1 started
operation in 2000, and Chasma-2 in 2011. The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) is
building two additional reactors at KANUPP. There are plans for a fourth reactor at KANUPP;
the first reactor will be shut down. At the Chasma site, CNNC is constructing two additional
reactors. Furthermore, China and Pakistan have discussed Chinese construction of “three
additional nuclear reactors” to be built at Muzaffargarh in central Pakistan.202
U.S. officials and other NSG members have said that the Chasma-3 and -4 sales by China are
inconsistent with current Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) guidelines.203 Contracts for Chasma-1
and -2 were concluded before China joined the NSG in 2004. At that time, other NSG members
agreed “to grandfather construction of plants in Pakistan which China had initiated,” Assistant
Secretary of State Thomas Countryman said during a May 12, 2015, Senate Foreign Relations
Committee hearing. In 2008, China and Pakistan agreed to the Chasma-3 and -4 construction “in
response to the U.S.-India Peaceful Nuclear Cooperation Agreement,” according to a 2015
Nuclear Proliferation Assessment Statement submitted by the Obama Administration to
Congress.204 China argues that the contracts for Chasma -3 and -4 are grandfathered, but
Countryman stated that the NSG did not agree to grandfather any additional reactors. As noted,
the NSG changed its guidelines in 2008 to allow nuclear trade with India, but the group does not
allow trade with Pakistan. At present, China is apparently the only country planning to sell
nuclear power reactors to Pakistan.
Pakistan also operates two research reactors—Pakistan Research Reactor 1, which went critical in
1965,205 and Pakistan Research Reactor 2, which went critical in 1989.206 Pakistan Research
Reactor 1, which was originally supplied by a U.S. firm, was converted from using highly-
enriched uranium (HEU) to low-enriched uranium fuel in 1992.207 A “small amount” of the HEU
fuel remains in Pakistan.208
Issues for Congress
Legislation to authorize various forms of U.S. assistance to Pakistan contains provisions related
to Islamabad’s nuclear weapons program. S. 1707, the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of
2009, which became law (P.L. 111-73) on October 15, 2009, authorizes various forms of U.S.
assistance to Pakistan, including strengthening democratic institutions and law enforcement, as
well as supporting economic development, education, human rights, and heath care. P.L. 111-73
requires the President to certify that Pakistan is “continuing to cooperate with the United States in
efforts to dismantle supplier networks relating to the acquisition of nuclear weapons-related
materials, such as providing relevant information from or direct access to Pakistani nationals
associated with such networks.” It also requires a Semi-Annual Monitoring Report that is to
include a detailed description of Pakistan’s nuclear non-proliferation efforts and an assessment of
whether assistance has
202 Nuclear Proliferation Assessment Statement, April 21, 2015.
203 See CRS Report RL33192.
204 Nuclear Proliferation Assessment Statement, April 21, 2015.
205 Research Reactor Details - PARR-1. http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/rrdb/.
206 Research Reactor Details - PARR-2. http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/rrdb/.
207 I.H. Qureshi, “Recollections from the Early Days of the PAEC,” The Nucleus, 42 (1-2), 2005, pp. 7-11. Research
Reactor Details - PARR-1.
208 Matthew Bunn, Securing the Bomb 2010: Securing All Nuclear Materials in Four Years, (Cambridge, MA., and
Washington, DC: Project on Managing the Atom, Harvard University, and Nuclear Threat Initiative), April 2010, p. 28.
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directly or indirectly aided the expansion of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program,
whether by the diversion of United States assistance or the reallocation of Pakistan’s
financial resources that would otherwise be spent for programs and activities unrelated to
its nuclear weapons program.
In response to concerns expressed in Pakistan over the intent of the bill, a “Joint Explanatory
Statement” was submitted for the Congressional Record by then-Senate Foreign Relations
Committee Chairman John Kerry and then-House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard
Berman. The statement emphasizes that “the legislation does not seek in any way to compromise
Pakistan’s sovereignty, impinge on Pakistan’s national security interests, or micromanage any
aspect of Pakistani military or civilian operations.” Regarding reporting requirements on nuclear
nonproliferation cooperation, the statement says:
The many requirements of this report are intended as a way for Congress to assess how
effectively U.S. funds are being spent, shortfalls in U.S. resources that hinder the use of
such funds, and steps the Government of Pakistan has taken to advance our mutual
interests in countering extremism and nuclear proliferation and strengthening democratic
institutions.
There is no intent to, and nothing in this Act in any way suggests that there should be,
any U.S. role in micromanaging internal Pakistani affairs, including the promotion of
Pakistani military officers or the internal operations of the Pakistani military.209
Sections 9017(a) and 7044(d)(1) of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114-113)
require the Secretaries of State and Defense to certify that Pakistan is “preventing the
proliferation of nuclear-related material and expertise” in order for Pakistan to receive certain
U.S. funds. These sections contain waiver provisions.
It is worth noting that Pakistani officials have expressed interest in concluding a nuclear
cooperation agreement with the United States, which would require congressional approval.
Then-Prime Minister Gilani told a visiting congressional delegation in June 2011 that such
cooperation “would help build a positive image of the U.S. in the country.”210 More recently,
however, Pakistan appears to have emphasized its desire for membership in the NSG and
submitted its application for membership on May 19, 2016. Islamabad has argued that it is
“eminently qualified” for NSG membership, citing the country’s potential as an exporter of civil
nuclear goods and what Islamabad says are effective export controls, a good record regarding
nuclear safety and security, and adherence to its IAEA safeguards agreements.211 Pakistan has
also asserted that continued exclusion of the country from the NSG “would adversely affect
regional peace, security and stability,” as well as “undermine the global non-proliferation
regime.”212 According to U.S. law, the United States could apparently advocate for Pakistan’s
NSG membership without congressional approval. Although Ambassador Olson testified on
December 16, 2015, that the Obama Administration is “not negotiating ... a civil nuclear
cooperation agreement with ... Pakistan,” press reports indicate that the United States is
considering supporting Islamabad’s NSG membership in exchange for Pakistani actions to reduce
perceived dangers associated with the country’s nuclear weapons program.213 Asked during a May
209 See Congressional Record S10429-S10431.
210 Press Information Department, “United States Congressional Delegation calls on Prime Minister Gilani,” Pakistan
Official News, June 7, 2011.
211 Ibid; “Pakistan & The NSG.”
212 “Pakistan & The NSG.”
213 Daniel Horner, “Pakistan, U.S. Said to Be Talking on NSG,” Arms Control Today, November 2015; David E.
Sanger, “U.S. Exploring Deal to Limit Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal,” New York Times, October 15, 2015; Douglas
(continued...)
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27, 2016, press briefing whether the United States supports Pakistan’s NSG membership, State
Department spokesperson Mark Toner stated that “any country can submit its application for
membership and we will consider based on a consensus decision.”
Author Contact Information
Paul K. Kerr
Mary Beth Nikitin
Analyst in Nonproliferation
Specialist in Nonproliferation
pkerr@crs.loc.gov, 7-8693
mnikitin@crs.loc.gov, 7-7745
(...continued)
Busvine, “Nuclear Club Eyes Indian Inclusion, but Risks Pakistan's Ire,” Reuters, November 24, 2015.
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