PAKISTAN REPORTED NEAR ATOM ARMS PRODUCTION - WASHINGTON POST

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Body:  App ve#~f9rjPt6Kease 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000100440002-1
 Pakistan itsported Near
 Atom Arms Production
 Acquisition of Weapon Could Halt U.S. Aid
 By Bob Woodward`
 Washington Pool Slaff W~
 ent Reagan certified to
 Congress last week that Pakistan
 currently "does not possess a nu-
 clear explosive device," although
 according to intelligence reports
 considered reliable inside the ad-
 ministration, the country has re-
 cently made dramatic progress tt
 ward production of a nuclear weap-
 on.
 Presidential certification is re-
 quired by Congress as a condition of
 continued U.S, aid to Pakistan,
 which receives approximately $600 {
 million a year in military and eco-
 nomic
 assistance. Pakistan has co-
 operated with clandestine U.S. aid
 to Afghan guerrillas fighting the
 Soviet occupation of their country,
 and has provided facilities for U.S.
 intelligence-gathering near the So-
 viet Union,
 According to a classified Defense
 Intelligence Agency report, Pakis-
 tan detonated a high explosive de-
 vice between Sept. 18 and Sept. 21
 as part of its continuing efforts to
 build an implosion-type nuclear
 weapon, sources said.
 It was Pakistan's second such
 test this year, according to the
 sources, who said the Pakistanis 1
 have been conducting the tests for
 years in trying to perfect a nuclear
 weapons triggering package.
 Intelligence reports also show
 that Pakistan has enriched uranium
 to 93.5 percent at its atomic plant
 at Kahuta, according to authorita-
 tive sources. A 90-percent level is
 normally needed to make a bomb.
 President Reagan in late 1984 told
 Pakistani President Mohammed Zia
 ul-Haq in a top-secret letter that 5
 percent would be the highest en.
 richment level acceptable to the
 United States,
 In July, the White House warned
 Pakistani Prime Minister Mo-
 hammed Khan Junejo during his
 visit here that acquiring a nuclear
 weapon would result in the end of
 U.S. economic and military assist-
 ance.
 Pakistan has repeatedly denied
 that it is developing nuclear weap-
 ons. But a Special National Intelli-
 gence Estimate (SNIE) completed
 earlier this year by U.S. intelligence
 agencies cited numerous activities
 totally Inconsistent with those as-
 surances, according to sources. The
 SNIE concluded that Pakistan
 would have a small nuclear weapon
 at a future, unspecified date.
 Charles E. Redman, the State
 Department spokesman, said yes-
 terday that Reagan signed the
 See NUCLEAR, A16, Col. 3
 Pakistani Atom Weapon Reported Near
 NUCLEAR, From Al
 Pakistani certification Oct. 27. He
 added, however, that the Reagan
 administration still has "serious con-
 cerns" about the future and said the
 current certification should "not be
 interpreted as implying any U.S.
 approval of the Pakistani nuclear
 -program."
 He declined to comment on any
 intelligence reports.'
 There is disagreement among
 intelligence and nuclear nonprolif.
 eration experts about the exact sta-
 tus of the Pakistani program. One
 senior Reagan administration offi-
 cial confirmed that the program is
 advancing aggressively, but said
 that a new, multibillion-dollar U.S.
 assistance proposal would provide
 leverage to deter actual construc-
 tion of a bomb.
 Another official said Pakistan
 could assemble a bomb within two
 weeks.   Another  well-informed
 source said it could be done in a
 shorter time and, in practical terms,
 Pakistan is only "two screwdriver
 turns" from having a fully assem-
 bled bomb.
 said, keeping Pakistan from obtain-
 ing a bomb is a low priority on the
 list of administration foreign policy
 goals. Said one senior official direct-
 ly involved in monitoring the pro-
 gram, "This administration wouldn't
 come down on Pakistan if we found
 a bomb inqie'sbasjerilent."
 The reason, the lIburces said, is
 Pakistan's willingness to help the
 administration by acting as the
 pipeline for the hundreds of millions
 of dollars in CIA covert assistance
 that is provided the Afghanistan
 rebels-a top priority for Reagan
 and his administration. At the time
 of Junejo's visit last summer to
 Washington, Reagan said that Pak-
 istan was a "front line" against "the
 brutal Soviet occupation of Afghan-
 istan."
 Pakistan also cooperates with
 U.S. intelligence agencies in high-
 priority electronic intelligence gath.
 ering near the Soviet Union and in
 Southeast Asia, the sources said.
 On June 21 the Soviets issued a
 strongly worded, unusual warning
 to Zia charging that Pakistan had
 achieved the capability to build nu-
 clear weapons, which Moscow said
 Despite this evidence, sources it would not tolerate, according to
 sources.
 Within two days, the Reagan ad-
 ministration replied with its own
 protest, In effect telling Moscow to
 keep "hands off' Pakistan. This in
 effect made the administration a
 protector of the Pakistani program,
 and two sources said that the Pakis-
 tanis may have interpreted the ad-
 minstration's remarks as approval.
 A senior administration official
 disputed this interpretation, how-
 ever, saying the White House made
 clear last summer to Junejo that a
 single bomb would result in termi-
 nation of all U.S. aid.
 The intelligence report that ura-
 nium has been enriched at levels in
 excess of 90 percent has alarmed
 nuclear weapons experts  most.
 Leonard S. Spector, a nuclear pro-
 liferation expert at the Carnegie
 Endowment  for   International
 Peace, said yesterday that, if true,
 "it would be-the last important step
 in the Pakistani program. It was the
 one outstanding gap in their pro-
 gram and could be a terrible set-
 back to worldwide efforts to curtail
 the spread of nuclear weapons."
 Approved For Release 2000/08/08 : CIA-RDP96-00789R000100440002-1