'The Atomic Bazaar': Terrorism and the nuclear arms race

Building nuclear weapons has become easier and easier for smaller, poor countries threatened by world powers.

from the May 15, 2007 edition

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In Part 2, Langewiesche explains, step by step, how a terrorist can assemble the materials needed to build a nuclear weapon. He eschews alarmism, using matter-of-fact language and emphasizing the obstacles. He demonstrates clearly, however, that long odds do not equate with impossible odds.

In Part 3, the centerpiece of the book, Langewiesche documents the rise of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, a Pakistani scientist who earned a doctorate in metallurgical engineering during 1972, found employment at a Dutch energy consulting company in Amsterdam, realized that he could steal bombmaking materials without getting caught, and then offered to generate a nuclear bomb for his native country, which feared attack by India.

Khan became a hero in Pakistan, then decided to branch out by helping other nations develop nuclear weapons. Langewiesche's narrative is chilling.

Part 4 focuses on Mark Hibbs, an American journalist based in Bonn, Germany, who writes for expensive, technical newsletters with names like Nucleonics Week. Although Langewiesche himself deserves credit for his journalistic exposés about nuclear proliferation, he crowns Hibbs as the premier reporter when it comes to ferreting out the truth about the ultimate weapon. Hibbs figured out what Khan was doing and how both corporations and governments ignored the welfare of mankind to enable him.

How does Langewiesche close his disturbing book? Not with a bang, but not with a whimper, either.

"There will be other Khans in the future. It seems entirely possible that terrorist attacks can be thwarted – though this would require nimble governmental action – but no amount of maneuvering will keep determined nations from developing nuclear arsenals.... Now and then a country may be persuaded to abandon its nuclear program, but in the long run, globally, such programs will proceed." Every global citizen, Langewiesche says, will have "to accept the equalities of a maturing world in which many countries have acquired atomic bombs, and some may use them."

• Steve Weinberg is a freelance book reviewer in Columbia, Mo.

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