The Secret Threat from Syria’s Nuclear Weapons Program

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The Secret Threat from Syria’s Nuclear Weapons Program

The United States must start thinking about how to secure Syria’s nuclear program and to locate the missing uranium and nuclear weapons-related technology before they can find their way into the hands of the Iranians or terrorist groups, LIGNET Managing Editor Fred Fleitz said in an interview this week.

“If Assad thinks he’s in danger, he just may decide to transfer some technology, or maybe some uranium, to Iran,” Fleitz said of the Syrian president, who has earned international opprobrium for his brutal crackdown on the opposition.
“When we think about a post-Assad Syria, we shouldn’t be overlooking this,” said Fleitz.
Fleitz, a long-time senior analyst with the CIA and senior staffer on the House Intelligence Committee until the spring of 2011, said there are many outstanding questions about Syria's nuclear program that date to the Bush administration.
Most of what is known about Syria’s nuclear program came to light in reports of Israel’s 2007 strike on the al-Kibar nuclear reactor in the Syrian desert about 20 miles outside the town of Deir el-Zor. The reactor, which was reportedly close to being operational, was destroyed by Israeli air strikes on September 6, 2007.“We know since this reactor wasn’t near any cities and didn’t have any infrastructure to produce power, this was not a reactor that was built for peaceful purposes,” Fleitz told journalist John Bachman. “This was a reactor that was built to make plutonium for weapons." In 2008, a U.S. intelligence briefing revealed that the al-Kibar reactor was built by North Korea, and was almost identical to one in Yongbon, North Korea, that is used to produce plutonium for North Korea's nuclear weapons. The briefing also revealed that the reactor was very close to being operational.
But Fleitz says this isn't the end of the story — Syria's nuclear program still poses a threat, especially if the Assad government falls and the country descends into chaos.
“In the eyes of some in the press, that was that. The threat was gone. But that’s not necessarily the case,” said Fleitz. “This reactor reportedly was close to operations, which raises the question: Where are the fuel rods for this reactor? Now, it’s possible that North Korea was going to ship these fuel rods to Syria. However, it’s also very likely that Syria was building a fuel fabrication building somewhere in the country to keep this reactor fueled. Also, since this reactor was likely for plutonium for weapons, there would have to be buildings to process that plutonium, to reprocess and extract the plutonium and then make it into weapons fuel. Where are those buildings? What technology does Syria have that other powers could possibly exploit or terrorist groups could exploit?”
The United States, said Fleitz has never bothered to ask these questions, or tried to answer them.
“Iran is running out of uranium, for enrichment, and it’s been looking all over the world for sources for uranium — supposedly for its power program, but most experts believe is for its weapons program. If there is an amount of uranium in Syria that Syria had amassed for its al-Kibar reactor, Iran’s going to want it. And I think that’s something that, in addition to worrying about Syria’s chemical and biological weapons program, the United States has to think about Syria’s nuclear weapons program and all the associated infrastructure and buildings and materials and uranium that had built up for this program. I think this is a serious threat.”
Many experts believe the al-Kibar reactor couldn’t have been put together without Iranian assistance, and that it may have in fact been an Iranian project, the manifestation of Iran’s attempt to pursue plutonium for use as fuel in nuclear weapons. Fleitz says there’s a “strong likelihood” that Iran and Syria were indeed collaborating on al-Kibar, building the facility “where the world wouldn’t be watching, in the middle of the Syrian desert.”
Chemical weapons
The Bush administration had repeatedly charged that Syria had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, basing this on U.S. intelligence reports. These weapons, says Fleitz, would “pose a significant threat” if they were to fall into the wrong hands.
“In all likelihood they are well guarded and well protected,” said Fleitz, and dismissed media speculation about the weapons being used on invading troops as unlikely.
“Now in terms of falling into the hands of terrorist groups, that is a real worry. The worry that militia groups could seize these