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Pakistan: Instability Raises Nuclear Security Concerns

Pakistan: Instability Raises Nuclear Security Concerns

Summary Report

Summer 2007

Author: Hassan Abbas, Senior Advisor, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Belfer Center Programs or Projects: Belfer Center Studies in International Security; Managing the Atom; Project on India and the Subcontinent; Science, Technology, and Public Policy

 

Managing the Atom Fellow Hassan Abbas provides analysis of Pakistan’s nuclear command and control systems and the security of its nuclear program in the aftermath of the recent test-firing of a nuclear-capable missile and terrorist attack.

"A lack of certainty about the extent and nature of earlier proliferation activity makes it difficult to assess Pakistan's nuclear safety and control measures. The military is the custodian of these and can expect to remain so even in the event of transition to civilian rule. The key question is its competence in this role, and the risk of a fracture in the command structure should there be a split within the military as a result of intensified political instability."

This article is reprinted with the permission of Oxford Analytica Ltd © Oxford Analytica 2007

 

For more information about this publication please contact the MTA Project Coordinator at 617-495-4219.

For Academic Citation:

"Pakistan: Instability Raises Nuclear Security Concerns." Oxford Analytica, Summer 2007.

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Hassan Abbas

Dr. Hassan Abbas' research interests are nuclear proliferation, religious extremism in South and Central Asia, and relations between Muslims and the West. In association with the Belfer Center, he is currently working on a project focusing on police reforms and counterinsurgency in Pakistan.

  

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