After Today's Brazen Attack On A Major Naval Base, Many Are Now Asking If Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons Are Secure

Fire and smokes erupt from a Pakistan's military air base after an attack by militants in southern Pakistan's Karachi on May 23, 2011. Four foreigners reportedly killed in a terrorist attack at a Pakistan Air Force base in Karachi late Sunday night. (Xinhua /Arshad)

Q+A-Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons, Safe Or Not? -- Reuters

(Reuters) - An assault on a naval base in Karachi is the latest militant attack on military installations in Pakistan, raising fears about the safety of the country's nuclear arsenal.

Pakistan has the fastest growing nuclear arsenal in the world and in a decade could pass France as the fourth-largest nuclear power, so such brazen attacks on secure military establishments -- militants also attacked the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi in 2009 -- give Western leaders nightmares about militants acquiring nuclear materials, or worse, an entire weapon.

Read more ....

My Comment: A massive intelligence failure on the part of Pakistan in not knowing that Bin Laden was in their country. Today's brazen attack by 15-20 Taliban militants of a major Pakistani naval air base ..... and their ability to not only destroy important assets, but to also be able to do it with ease and effectiveness. The inability (or unwillingness) of Pakistan to root out the Taliban from their safe havens in the Frontier region after numerous attempts to do so. Yup ..... we should be concerned about the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons.

What concerns me is that in Afghanistan, the Taliban have shown the ability to muster attacking forces of a few hundred well armed men. If such a force was to attack a Pakistani military base that had nuclear weapons in storage .... I would not be surprised if such an attack will enable the Taliban to not only secure a base for an indeterminate amount of time (at least for a few hours before Pakistani military units could respond) .... but more importantly .... be also able to whisk away a number of nuclear weapons.

Is this the nightmare of all nightmare scenarios .... you betcha.