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Pakistan keeping nukes on the move in unescorted delivery vans to prevent US first-strike
Times ^ | November 4, 2011 | MARK THOMPSO

Posted on 11/04/2011 5:51:41 PM PDT by JerseyanExile

Instead of moving nuclear material in armored, well-defended convoys, the [Pakistani government] prefers to move material by subterfuge, in civilian-style vehicles without noticeable defenses, in the regular flow of traffic…according to a senior U.S. intelligence official, the Pakistanis have begun using this low-security method to transfer not merely the “de-mated” component nuclear parts but “mated” nuclear weapons. Western nuclear experts have feared that Pakistan is building small, “tactical” nuclear weapons for quick deployment on the battlefield. In fact, not only is Pakistan building these devices, it is also now moving them over roads.

What this means, in essence, is this: In a country that is home to the harshest variants of Muslim fundamentalism, and to the headquarters of the organizations that espouse these extremist ideologies…nuclear bombs capable of destroying entire cities are transported in delivery vans on congested and dangerous roads. And Pakistani and American sources say that since the raid on Abbottabad, the Pakistanis have provoked anxiety inside the Pentagon by increasing the pace of these movements. In other words, the Pakistani government is willing to make its nuclear weapons more vulnerable to theft by jihadists simply to hide them from the United States, the country that funds much of its military budget.

(Excerpt) Read more at battleland.blogs.time.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; deathtoislam; islam; jihad; nuclearweapons; nukes; pakistan; waronterror; wmd
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To: NonValueAdded

of course they are

I’d recommend beefing up detection... but it won’t matter with 0failure at the helm. he and his crew will just give directions around the detection units

staying away from the major cities would be a good idea


21 posted on 11/04/2011 7:45:25 PM PDT by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
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To: Longbow1969
and we could end up with a world war on our hands

That world war is coming is a given.

the only issue is, are we getting more or less prepared?

22 posted on 11/04/2011 7:49:48 PM PDT by Jim Noble (To live peacefully with credit-based consumption and fiat money, men would have to be angels.)
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To: steve86

well now, theres an interesting cover... no cover at all. just a massive, slow flying, UFO... that is also scanning for certain materials


23 posted on 11/04/2011 7:49:51 PM PDT by sten (fighting tyranny never goes out of style)
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To: SatinDoll
No one ever accused the Pakistanis of high intelligence.

These people do not think like we do. Until we understand that, we will not understand them.

24 posted on 11/04/2011 7:57:06 PM PDT by Former Proud Canadian (Obamanomics-The government gets rich, you get poor.)
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To: JerseyanExile
sounds like somebody needs their mouth washed out with soap, and then their throat cut...
25 posted on 11/04/2011 8:15:29 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: sten

Or little bitty tiny UFOs with gnat buzzing capability.


26 posted on 11/04/2011 8:24:15 PM PDT by txhurl (Did you want to talk or fish? Or feed the fish?)
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To: steve86
If you could erect a gamma detector say 100 sq meters you could go out farther.

It doesn't matter how large your detector is if the signal of interest is weaker than the natural noise. There are methods to find the signal in the noise but you need to know more - much more - about the signal. This is studied in great detail in the Information Theory.

So if the nuke doesn't radiate much more than a slab of granite that a contractor is carrying to install as a kitchen counter then there isn't much of a chance to tell the difference between the two. More likely you won't be able to detect either of those sources. To be successful you'd need to cover the entire country with detectors, and I'm sure Pakistani military will not be too happy about that.

It's also possible that the trucks that Pakistan uses to carry nukes have internal shielding. A common container can carry a lot of cargo - 20 to 25 tons.

Containers are also all alike, sturdy, and sealed - those are desired qualities for a covert transportation of stuff. A container can be quickly moved from a truck to a rail car, a ship, or it can be stacked so deep that nobody will be able to dig it out without some major time with the crane - not something that can be easily done by thieves.

27 posted on 11/04/2011 8:42:14 PM PDT by Greysard
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To: Greysard

Well, trying not to say too much, but in the 80s my brother worked on Bayesian probability applications in a very similar context: more or less continuously updating probabilities that the incoming is what you think it is; whether the incoming is a particle or something else.


28 posted on 11/04/2011 9:21:39 PM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature, not nurture (Could be worst in 40 years))
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To: sten; steve86; Greysard
staying away from the major cities would be a good idea

Try "sightseeing" around Kirana hills... say Sargodha, then routes east to Lahore, and from there, south. Also in and out of Taxila, Wah and Kamra...

...keeping in mind that guys on the ground there have not worked out so well recently. The ISI would be itching to create another incident.

And also bear in mind, the locals (non-military) love to decorate their trucks, buses, vans, you name it, anything that moves. They paint them with weird colors and hang all kinds of cr@p off it.

If I were thinking like them, I'd strip down something like this:

And shove single launchers in to something you see a lot of over there... perhaps one of their brightly decorated bus/van things, or smaller local-style trucks with the large overhang on the front.

29 posted on 11/04/2011 9:51:42 PM PDT by USF (I see your Jihad and raise you a Crusade)
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To: gaijin

Nope,on rivetjoint flights they light up like the 4th of July


30 posted on 11/04/2011 10:02:55 PM PDT by STD (Cut Taxes, Cut Spending Stupid!)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...
Instead of moving nuclear material in armored, well-defended convoys, the [Pakistani government] prefers to move material by subterfuge, in civilian-style vehicles without noticeable defenses, in the regular flow of traffic…according to a senior U.S. intelligence official, the Pakistanis have begun using this low-security method to transfer not merely the "de-mated" component nuclear parts but "mated" nuclear weapons.
I'm just glad this hasn't gotten any publicity. Thanks JerseyanExile.


31 posted on 11/05/2011 7:39:34 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's never a bad time to FReep this link -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: JerseyanExile
Repeat after me:

"...for I shall stand with them, should the political winds shift in an unfavorable direction."

Go blow yourself, Bambi.

Full Disclosure: *if* terrorists get hold of those nukes, and go after the US mainland, wouldn't it be ironic if they go after Harvard, Hollywood, Chicago, and Manhattan, in that order?

32 posted on 11/05/2011 10:52:09 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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