In 2003 the United States invaded Iraq in part to end the threat posed by Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction.  Unfortunately, no significant WMDs have been found to date.  Nevertheless, the threat of such weapons falling into the hands of enemy states, religious fanatics and sub-national terror groups is growing by the day.  The latest development is Pakistan’s construction of a powerful new nuclear reactor at its Khushab nuclear site.

According to the Washington Post, the new reactor is a 1,000-megawatt behemoth capable of producing enough plutonium to build 40 to 50 nuclear weapons per year.  That’s about 20 times more than Pakistan is currently capable of producing.

Pakistan already has 30 to 50 nuclear warheads in its arsenal.  However, most of these are uranium-powered bombs that work by shooting two pieces of uranium together.  Uranium bombs tend to be large and heavy.  Plutonium warheads, in contrast, work by using shaped explosives to implode a small sphere of plutonium.  This is technically more difficult but the resulting warheads are smaller and lighter, ideal for mounting on missiles.

Aside from increasing the threat of a nuclear war with India, these smaller nukes will undoubtedly pose a grave terrorist threat.  Pakistan’s Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has a long history of sponsoring Islamist fanatics, including the Taliban as well as terrorists in Kashmir.  In addition, the ISI has been deeply involved in Pakistan’s domestic politics for decades.  It is entirely possible that the ISI might someday get its hands on one or more of Pakistan’s plutonium warheads and transfer them to al-Qaeda or some other terrorist group.  The possibilities are no doubt giving intelligence analysts in the U.S. a lot of sleepless nights.

Although Pakistan’s current leader, Pervez Musharaff, allegedly purged the ISI of Islamist sympathizers following 9/11, others no doubt still exist.  Also, President Musharaff has been the target of several assassination attempts, in part due to his decision to support the U.S. attack on Afghanistan.  When he goes, what will happen to Pakistan?  More to the point, what will happen to all those nukes?