U.S. Misled Allies About Nuclear Export
North Korea Sent Material To Pakistan, Not to Libya
By Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 20, 2005; Page A01
In an effort to increase pressure on North Korea, the Bush
administration told its Asian allies in briefings earlier this year
that Pyongyang had exported nuclear material to Libya. That was a
significant new charge, the first allegation that North Korea was
helping to create a new nuclear weapons state.
But that is not what U.S. intelligence reported, according to two
officials with detailed knowledge of the transaction. North Korea,
according to the intelligence, had supplied uranium hexafluoride --
which can be enriched to weapons-grade uranium -- to Pakistan. It was
Pakistan, a key U.S. ally with its own nuclear arsenal, that sold the
material to Libya. The U.S. government had no evidence, the officials
said, that North Korea knew of the second transaction.
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Pakistan's role as both the buyer and the seller was concealed to
cover up the part played by Washington's partner in the hunt for al
Qaeda leaders, according to the officials, who discussed the issue on
the condition of anonymity. In addition, a North Korea-Pakistan
transfer would not have been news to the U.S. allies, which have known
of such transfers for years and viewed them as a business matter
between sovereign states.
The Bush administration's approach, intended to isolate North Korea,
instead left allies increasingly doubtful as they began to learn that
the briefings omitted essential details about the transaction, U.S.
officials and foreign diplomats said in interviews. North Korea
responded to public reports last month about the briefings by
withdrawing from talks with its neighbors and the United States.
In an effort to repair the damage, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
is traveling through East Asia this weekend trying to get the
six-nation talks back on track. The impasse was expected to dominate
talks today in Seoul and then Beijing, which wields the greatest
influence with North Korea.
The new details follow a string of controversies concerning the Bush
administration's use of intelligence on weapons of mass destruction.
In the run-up to the Iraq invasion in March 2003, the White House
offered a public case against Iraq that concealed dissent on nearly
every element of intelligence and included interpretations unsupported
by the evidence.
A presidential commission studying U.S. intelligence is reviewing the
case, as well as judgments on Iran and North Korea. The Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence also is reviewing evidence on nuclear,
chemical and biological programs suspected in Iran and North Korea.
The United States briefed allies on North Korea in late January and
early February. Shortly afterward, administration officials, speaking
to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity, said North Korea
had sold uranium hexafluoride to Libya. The officials said the
briefing was arranged to share the information with China, South Korea
and Japan ahead of a new round of hoped-for negotiations on North
Korea's nuclear program.
But in recent days, two other U.S. officials said the briefings were
hastily arranged after China and South Korea indicated they were
considering bolting from six-party talks on North Korea. The talks
have been seen as largely ineffectual, but the Bush administration,
which refuses to meet bilaterally with Pyongyang, insists they are
critical to curbing North Korea's nuclear program.
The White House declined to offer an official to comment by name about
the new details concerning Pakistan. A prepared response attributed to
a senior administration official said that the U.S. government "has
provided allies with an accurate account of North Korea's nuclear
proliferation activities."
Although the briefings did not mention Pakistan by name, the official
said they made it clear that the sale went through the illicit network
operated by Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, Abdel Qadeer Khan. But
the briefings gave no indication that U.S. intelligence believes that
the material had been bought by Pakistan and transferred there from
North Korea in a container owned by the Pakistani government.
They also gave no indication that the uranium was then shipped via a
Pakistani company to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and on to
Libya. Those findings match assessments by the International Atomic
Energy Agency, which is investigating Libya separately. Libya gave up
its nuclear weapons program in December 2003.
Since Pakistan became a key U.S. ally in the hunt for al Qaeda
leaders, the administration has not held President Pervez Musharraf
accountable for actions taken by Khan while he was a member of
Musharraf's cabinet and in charge of nuclear cooperation for the
government.
"The administration is giving Pakistan a free ride when they don't
deserve it and hurting U.S. interests at the same time," said Charles
L. Pritchard, who was the Bush administration's special envoy for the
North Korea talks until August 2003.
"As our allies get the full picture, it doesn't help our credibility
with them," he said.
Pritchard, now a Brookings Institution fellow, and others had
initially raised questions about the Libya connection when it became
public last month. No one in the administration has been willing to
discuss the uranium sale publicly.
In testimony to Congress last month, CIA Director Porter J. Goss spoke
extensively about North Korea's nuclear arsenal and capabilities. But
he gave no indication the intelligence community believed that North
Korea had supplied nuclear materials to Libya, that it was capable of
producing uranium hexafluoride or that it was a member of the nuclear
black market.
Two years ago, U.S. officials told allies that North Korea was trying
to assemble an enrichment facility that would turn uranium
hexafluoride into bomb-grade material.
But China and South Korea, in particular, have been skeptical of those
assertions and are becoming increasingly wary of pressuring North
Korea.
The National Security Council briefings in late January and early
February, by senior NSC officials Michael J. Green and William Tobey,
were intended to do just that by keeping the spotlight solely on North
Korea.
Pakistan was mentioned only once in the briefing paper, and in a
context that emphasized Pyongyang's guilt. "Pakistani press reports
have said the uranium came from North Korea," according to the
briefing paper, which was read to The Post.
After initial press reports about the briefing appeared last month,
Pyongyang announced that it possessed nuclear weapons and would not
return to the six-party talks.
Pritchard said North Korea's reaction was "absolutely linked" to the
Green-Tobey trip.
The United States tried to persuade North Korea to return to the
talks, but without success. The North Korean leadership responded with
a list of conditions, including a demand that Rice apologize for
calling it an "outpost of tyranny."
During the first stop on her Asian tour, Rice used noticeably softer
language on North Korea, telling a Tokyo audience that the U.S. offer
was open to negotiation, and that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il
should grab the opportunity.
Staff writer Glenn Kessler contributed to this report from Seoul.
"Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one,some bigger than others"
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