Elite US forces to counter Pakistani nuke hijacks: Report

Agantrope

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The US army is training a crack unit "to seal off and snatch back Pakistani nuclear weapons in the event that militants, possibly from inside the country's security apparatus, get their hands on a nuclear device or materials that could make one", a media report said Sunday but Islamabad termed it "outlandish".

The specialized unit would be charged with recovering the nuclear materials and securing them, Times Online said.

"The move follows growing anti-Americanism in Pakistan's military, a series of attacks on sensitive installations over the past two years, several of which housed nuclear facilities, and rising tension that has seen a series of official complaints by US authorities to Islamabad in the past fortnight," Times Online said.

When the attention of a Pakistan foreign office spokesman in Islamabad was drawn to the report, he dismissed it as the "outlandish musings by an academic".

Online news agency quoted the spokesman as telling a private TV channel that the report was part of a "conspiracy" against Pakistan.

"Pakistan's nukes are safe and neither the militants nor any other group was capable enough to take over our atomic assets," the spokesman added.

He also rejected the suggestion that there was any danger of Pakistan's strategic assets falling into the wrong hands.

Times Online quoted Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, a former CIA officer who used to run the US energy department's intelligence unit, as saying: "What you have in Pakistan is nuclear weapons mixed with the highest density of extremists in the world, so we have a right to be concerned."

"There have been attacks on army bases which stored nuclear weapons and there have been breaches and infiltrations by terrorists into military facilities," he added.

Shaun Gregory, director of the Pakistan security research unit at Bradford University, has tracked a number of attempted security breaches since 2007. "The terrorists are at the gates," he warned.

In a counter-terrorism journal published by America's West Point military academy, he documented three incidents. The first was an attack in November 2007 at Sargodha in Punjab where nuclear capable F-16 combat jets are thought to be stationed.

The following month, a suicide bomber struck at Pakistan's nuclear airbase at Kamra in Attock district. In August 2008 a group of suicide bombers blew up the gates to a weapons complex at the Wah cantonment in Punjab, believed to be one of Pakistan's nuclear warhead assembly plants. The attack left 63 people dead.

A further attack followed at Kamra last October. Pakistan denies that the base still has a nuclear role, but Gregory believes it does, Times Online said.

Fears that militants could penetrate a nuclear facility intensified after a brazen attack on the Army Headquarters in Rawalpindi last October when 10 gunmen wearing army uniforms stormed inside and laid siege for 22 hours.


Elite US forces to counter Pakistani nuke hijacks: Report - US - World - The Times of India
 

..Azad

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Liquidating Pakistan's nuke.

"Elite US troops ready to combat Pakistani nuclear hijacks'

Here comes the platoon of unkil sam’s rangers to do a Sylvester Stallone. This header is all over the media - print or otherwise, even social sites were full of this ballyhoo. Tweetraties were also upto the hasten. The story satirically perceives that Pakistani warheads are atop on there projectiles; tugged underneath there vintage jets are waiting to be seized by their pure brigands. And taking a count of affairs, well trained Americans units are waiting to board there blackhawks, to fly in, saving all of us from the doomsday. New age media loves this masala, isn’t it?

Americans neither have any profound, special trained units to siege Pakistani nuclear weapon, as an act of siege is an given attainment of any special crack unit – nor its planning to secure there nuclear weapons. Cause it has already done so. But that does not takes away the unfeigned fear of nukes going to insane Islamic manslayers. As rightly stated in the words of Rolf Mowatt, reported in TOI - “What you have in Pakistan is nuclear weapons mixed with the highest density of extremists in the world, so we have a right to be concerned”.

In 2003 Americans installed PAL system on Pakistani nuclear weapons, this can be infer by the equanimity American shows at the time of Kamra attacks. If Americans do have the plans of storming Pakistani nuke bases, that was the time. Moreover Pakistani prime minister in 2005, under the constant pressure of international scrutiny, came out with a press statement which makes agencies worldover to utter only one word for him – ‘Fool’. He said Pakistan has developed PAL system and had installed it on nuclear weapons. He could have said Pakistan have developed some xyz or abc system for its nukes, cause PAL system is an American specific system. India also have such a system, maybe or not using same tech but we don’t call it an Indian PAL system, but Pakistani PM said that Pakistan had PAL system. Ciphering
and deploying an complex system such as PALs – overnight - only a developed nation like Pakistan can do.

A truth echoed by Indian National Security Adviser M K Narayanan in an interview, where he said Pakistani nuclear weapons are safe. Why? Perhaps high on American assurance.I really feel sorry for the Pakistani pride, there leaders/generals can sell anything for a healthy swiss account.

But this doesn’t means that America controls their nuke button. As can be learned by open material online that a system like PAL works on simultaneous authentication of codes. Americans have installed the system but the codes are still with the Pakistanis. At any given time there are three such persons in Pakistan who have the different codes to depart the nukes, absence of any one of them means nukes are noting but charged up radioactive equipage. And I am sure out of these three chaps one must be a paid American stooge.

Right now Pakistani nuclear weapons are well fortified by a strong 12000 plus men, in atleast two places headed by two core commanders, under the direct control of COS army.

India must ascertain who these men are, concealing key codes and make some inroads within these 12000 guards. In any future militarily adventurism, before targeting any missile bases or jet hangers, those three mice’s have be the must hit preys.


Jai Hind
Jai shri Ram
 

W.G.Ewald

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A question to WGE - what does the US military think of Pakistani nukes as compared to indian nukes? Does Pakistan have better/ higher yield nukes? Do they have more in number? Are they a big threat to countries other than India?
I never had access to that kind of info; when I worked for Defense Nuclear Agency it involved radiobiological effects, and my military experience in nuclear defense involved hypothetical downwind prediction problems (fallout) and the yields values were just plugged into the different situations. There were also formulae used in training to estimate weapon yield using cloud height at intervals after detonation. The cloud height data was provided as part of the problem to be solved. Strictly table-top exercises. The internet has many example of these types of calculations.

I would go to FAS.org first for an answer to your questions.
 
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W.G.Ewald

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P.S. Just for the purposes of truth in advertising, DFI has graciously awarded me the purely honorary rank of BG. I would like to make it clear that in the real world I am a retired Master Sergeant.:wave:
 

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