Stealing the Atom Bomb: How Denial and Deception Armed Israel

by Roger Mattson

  173 “Questions and Answers on Safeguarding Special Nuclear Material,” Philippe G. Jacques, Acting director, AEC Division of Public Information, September 20, 1966.

  174 “Summary Notes of Meeting with Representatives of the Nuclear Materials Equipment Corporation,” F. T. Hobbs, Acting Secretary, Atomic Energy Commission, August 10, 1965.

  175 Seaborg, 1993, p. 197. “1965 Annual Report to Shareholders,” Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation, Apollo, Pennsylvania.

  176 The Invisible Bomb, Charles Frank Barnaby, Tauris, 1989. “Global Fissile Material report 2010: Balancing the Books: Production and Stocks,” Fifth annual report of the International Panel on Fissile Materials, Chapter 7, Israel.

  177 “A General Description of the NRX Reactor,” E. A. G. Larson, AECL 1377, CRIO-1043, Chalk River, Ontario, July 1961.

  178 Raviv and Melman 1990, p. 366.

  179 “NUMEC – Safeguards Controls Over Enriched Uranium (Briefing of February 14 and 16, 1966),” AEC Memorandum from Howard C. Brown to Commissioners, May 10, 1966.

  180 AEC memorandum, Ellyson Outten, Office of Investigations, Division of Inspection, to Anson Bartlett, Division of Inspection, February 28, 1966.

  181 AEC Memorandum to Howard C. Brown, Jr., Assistant General Manager for Administration, from Anson M. Bartlett, Division of Inspection, Earl F. Lane, Division of Security, and Samuel C. T. McDowell, Division of Nuclear Materials Management, “NUMEC Interviews of Former and Present Employees,” April 6, 1966, Labeled Official Use Only when released by FBI.

  182 “1965 Annual Report to Shareholders,” Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation, Apollo, Pennsylvania.

  183 AEC Memorandum to Howard C. Brown, Jr., Assistant General Manager for Administration, from Anson M. Bartlett, Division of Inspection, Earl F. Lane, Division of Security, and Samuel C. T. McDowell, Division of Nuclear Materials Management, “NUMEC Interviews of Former and Present Employees,” April 6, 1966, LABELED OFFICIAL USE ONLY when released by FBI.

  184 “Report of Survey: Control Over Enriched Uranium, Nuclear Materials & Equipment Corp., Apollo, Pennsylvania, Division of Nuclear Materials Management, Nuclear Materials Management Survey Number DNMM-53,” S. C. T. McDowell, Assistant Director for Control, AEC Division of Nuclear Materials Management, April 6, 1966, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 586, labeled OFFICIAL USE ONLY before release.

  185 Letter from Zalman M. Shapiro, President of NUMEC, to Mr. Charles A. Keller, Director, Production Division, Oak Ridge Operations Office, U.S. AEC, July 27,1965.

  186 AEC Letter, from R. L. Hollingsworth (AEC General Manager) to John T. Conway (JCAE Executive Director), February 14, 1966, p. 8, classified CONFIDENTIAL before release by AEC.

  187 “Review of Accountability Controls Over Special Nuclear Materials, Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation,” Report to Joint Committee on Atomic Energy by the Comptroller General of the United States, June 1967, p. 48, 71.

  188 Letter from Zalman M. Shapiro of NUMEC to Richard W. Kelley, Assistant Director, U.S. General Accounting Office, commenting on a draft statement of facts and issues, January 18, 1967, University of Arizona, Special Collections Library, papers of Morris Udall, MS 325, Box 366, Folder 4.

  189 “Report on Strategic Special Nuclear Material Inventory Differences,” Energy Research and Development Administration, ERDA-77-68, August 1977.

  190 “Highly Enriched Uranium: Striking a Balance, A Historical Report on the United States Highly Enriched Uranium Production, Acquisition and Utilization Activities from 1945 through September 30, 1996,” U.S. Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Revision 1, January 2001 (declassified January 2006), p. 107.

  191 “U.S. Policy on Israel’s Nuclear Program,” Telegram from Secretary of State Dean Rusk to U.S. Embassy in Israel, July 28, 1966, National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1964-66, DEF 12 ISR. Secret: Exdis.

  192 Report of Investigation, FBI Pittsburgh Field Office, pg. 25, February 18, 1969, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 304, labeled SECRET before redaction and release.

  193 Seaborg, 1993, p. 194 and 209 cited February 4, 1966 briefing by Brown and NUREG 0627 by Hockert, et al., December 1979 and said 93.2 kilograms of U-235. Cockburn, p. 73 said 206 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Hersh, p. 246 said 93.8 kilograms of enriched uranium. “Nuclear Nightmare: Many Scientists Fear Criminals, Terrorists Could Make Atom Bomb,” Alan A. Adelson, Wall Street Journal, June 13, 1968 said more than 100 kilograms of enriched uranium. “U.S. Unravels Apollo’s Losses of Nuclear Material,” John Fialka, Washington Star, June 20, 1977 said 206 pounds of high-enriched uranium. “Nuclear Plant Got U.S. Contracts Despite Many Security Warnings,” David Burnham, New York Times, July 4, 1977 said approximately half of 381.6 pounds of high-enriched uranium. Walker, p. 227, said nearly 100 kilograms (more than 200 pounds) of enriched uranium. “Hearings of the Senate Subcommittee on Reorganization, Research, and International Organizations of the Committee on Government Operations,” 1974, Senator Abraham Ribicoff, p. 315, said 220 pounds of U-235, corrected by General Edward Giller of AEC who said 65 kilograms of U-235.

  194 The National Resources Defense Council testified in 1977 before the Udall committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that NUMEC paid $929,000 for a loss of 67 kilograms of high enriched uranium on one contract out of a total MUF of 94 kilograms. “Nuclear Plant Got U.S. Contracts Despite Many Security Warnings,” David Burnham, New York Times, July 4, 1977 said the original penalty issued on March 23, 1965 was $2.8 million, later reduced to $735,000 for highly enriched uranium. Walker, 1992, p. 227, said NUMEC paid, “over a million dollars” for the loss of 100 kilograms of enriched uranium.

  195 “Inquiry into the Testimony of the Executive Director for Operations,” Volume III Interviews, Interview of Ralph G. Page, NRC Offices of General Counsel and Inspector and Auditor, February 1978, p. 11.

  196 Walker, 1992, p. 229 – 231.

  197 Letter from Lawton Geiger, AEC Office of Naval Reactors, to Zalman Shapiro, NUMEC, February 13, 1962.

  198 Memorandum from J. A. Waters, AEC Director of Security, to A. W. Betts, AEC Director of Military Applications, February 27, 1962.

  199 “Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation, Apollo, Pennsylvania,” Memorandum for Files, H. J. Badini, AEC Division of Security, August 1, 1963.

  200 FBI memorandum from SAC Pittsburgh to Director, “Zalman Mordecai Shapiro, IS-Israel, Atomic Energy Act,” June 13, 1968.

  201 Internal AEC memorandum to Harry R. Walsh, Director of Security and Property Management Division from G. A. Palazzolo, Chief, Research Branch, AEC Headquarters Division of Security, undated, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 1, labeled OFFICIAL USE ONLY before redaction and release. FBI Memorandum from Special Agent in Charge, New York to Director, FBI, Subject redacted, October 1, 1965, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 7, labeled OFFICIAL USE ONLY before redaction and release.

  202 Federal regulation 10 CFR 50.38 sets forth rules on foreign ownership and control.

  203 FBI Memorandum from Director to SAC, Pittsburgh, mailed June 1, 1965, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 3, labeled SECRET, before redaction and release.

  204 FARA: Foreign Agents Registration Act, website of U.S. Department of Justice, accessed January 19, 2016 at http://www.fara.gov.

  205 License Amendment Request for Apollo Uranium Plant, AEC Docket No. 70-135, August 12, 1966, describing organization and professional qualifications of key NUMEC staff; Pittsburgh and Beyond: The Experience of the Jewish Community, A Guide to the NCJW Pittsburgh Section Oral History Collection, National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Section, 2002; “NUMEC Made Significant Advancements,” Valley News Dispatch, a publication of Trib Total Media, August 28, 2002.

  206 FBI Memorandum from SAC, WFO (redacted) to Director, FBI, August 23, 1965, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 6, labeled SECRET before redaction and release.

  207 “Pittsburgh and Beyond: The Experience of the Jewish Commu
nity,” A Guide to the NCJW Pittsburgh Section Oral History Collection, National Council of Jewish Women, Pittsburgh Section, 2002.

  208 Technion website http://pard.technion.ac.il.

  209 “French Journalist & Deputy Mayor Karsenty, Who Exposed Al-Durah Fraud, Addresses ZOA Dinner,” Morton A. Klein, ZOA Press Release, November 26,2008.

  210 “ZOA’s lost tax-exemption status prompts demand for new leadership,” Jonah Lowenfeld, Jewish Journal, September 14, 2012.

  211 “Spy Story,” Yossi Melman, Jerusalem Post, May 27, 2014.

  212 Israeli Intelligence Heritage and Commemoration Center, http://iicc.org.il. “Museums in Israel,” Jewish Virtual Library, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/index.html. “Conferring the ‘Hero of Silence’ Order on David G. Littman (July 1, 2009).” New English Review, http://www.newenglishreview.org/David_G._Littman/Conferring_the_%22Hero_of_Silence%22_Order_on_David_G._Littman_(July_1,_2009)/. All sites accessed November 29, 2015.

  213 FBI Memorandum from SAC, New York (redacted) to Director, FBI, October 1, 1965, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 7, labeled SECRET before redaction and release.

  214 FBI Investigation Report, Pittsburgh Office (redacted), October 25, 1965, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 8, labeled SECRET before redaction and release.

  215 FBI Memorandum from Director to Mr. J. Walter Yeagley, Assistant Attorney General, January 7, 1966, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 11, labeled SECRET before redaction and release.

  216 AEC letter from Chairman Glenn T. Seaborg to Joint Committee Chair Chet Holifield, February 14, 1966.

  217 FBI Memorandum from D. J. Brennan, Jr., to Mr. W. C. Sullivan, February 18, 1966, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 12, labeled SECRET before redaction and release.

  218 FBI Memorandum from D. J. Brennan, Jr., to Mr. W. C. Sullivan, February 18, 1966, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 12, labeled SECRET before redaction and release.

  219 FBI Letter to AEC Director, Division of Security, from John Edgar Hoover, FBI Director, March 1, 1966, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 13, unclassified.

  220 DOJ Letter from J. Walter Yeagley, Assistant Attorney General, Internal Security Division, to Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, March 23, 1966, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 14, labeled CONFIDENTIAL before redaction and release.

  221 FBI Memorandum from Director FBI to SAC, Pittsburgh, April 28, 1966, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 19, labeled SECRET before redaction and release.

  222 “Damage Caused by ‘Friendly’ Spies,” Stephen Green, Christian Science Monitor, May 22,1989; Schweizer, Chapter 11.

  223 “U.S. an Intelligence Target of the Israelis, Officials Say,” Charles R. Babcock, Washington Post, June 5, 1986; Blitzer, p. 163.

  224 FBI investigation report, Pittsburgh Office of FBI, author’s name redacted, June 21, 1966, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 23, labeled CONFIDENTIAL before redaction and release.

  225 DOJ Memorandum to Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation from J. Walter Yeagley, Assistant Attorney General, Internal Security Division, September 14, 1966, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 25, unclassified.

  226 FBI Letter from (redacted) to (redacted), transmitted “By Liaison,” October 13, 1966, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 27, not classified before redaction and release.

  227 AEC Letter from John V. Vinciguerra, Assistant General Manager for Administration, to J. Edgar Hoover, FBI Director, November 3, 1966, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 29, labeled CONFIDENTIAL before redaction and release.

  228 FBI Memorandum from Director to J. Walter Yeagley, Assistant Attorney General, November 14, 1966, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 32, labeled SECRET before redaction and release.

  229 Justice Department Memorandum, from J. Walter Yeagley, Assistant Attorney General Internal Security Division, to Director, FBI, Subject [redacted], January 6, 1967, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 33, labeled CONFIDENTIAL before redaction and release.

  230 Cohen 1998, p. 44-45.

  231 Hersh,p. 86.

  232 “The American Connection: How Israel Got the Bomb,” John Fialka, Washington Monthly, January 1,1979.

  233 “NUMEC Sale to Atlantic Is Approved,” Jack Markowitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 15, 1967.

  234 Smith, p. 74.

  235 FBI Report, Pittsburgh Office, May 5, 1969, “Dr. Zalman Mordecai Shapiro, Internal Security – Israel, Atomic Energy Act,” classified SECRET before redaction and release.

  236 Smith, p. 74-77.

  237 Cohen 1998, p. 1, 80-84,117-119,196-202; Hersh, p. 162.

  238 Hersh, p. 159-162.

  239 Teller, p. 471-473.

  240 Karpin, p. 290-293.

  241 Reed and Stillman, p. 16-25.

  242 Younger, p. 25-26. Reed and Stillman, p. 15.

  243 Hersh, p. 131.

  244 Cohen 1998, p. 214.

  245 Cohen 1998, p. 190-192.

  246 “The Third Temple’s Holy of Holies: Israel’s Nuclear Weapons,” Warner D. Farr, LTC, U.S. Army, Counter Proliferation Paper No. 2, USAF Counter Proliferation Center, Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, September 1999.

  247 Hersh, p. 131.

  248 Cohen 1998, p. 231, note 403.

  249 Reed and Stillman, p. 5, 119, 372.

  250 “Crossing the Threshold: The Untold Nuclear Dimension of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and Its Contemporary Lessons,” Avner Cohen, Arms Control Today, June 2007. “Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, Volume XVIII, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1964-67,” Item 391, Telegram from the Department of State to the Embassy in Israel, February 23, 1967, Department of State, Washington, DC.

  251 Avner Cohen, personal communications, January 2016.

  252 Reed and Stillman, p. 129.

  253 “Charge A-bomb fuel was easy to take,” James Coates, Chicago Tribune, June 11,1979.

  254 “The real source of Israel’s first fissile material (Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation),” Henry Myers, Letter to the Editor, Arms Control Today, October 1,2007.

  255 Karpin, p. 296.

  256 Hersh, p. 57.

  257 John Fialka, personal communication, January 9, 2009.

  258 “Spies Like Us: Spy vs. spy intrigue between the CIA and Israel, centered around the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv,” Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv, Tablet Magazine, Netbook Inc., April 8, 2010.

  259 John Hadden, Jr., personal communication, July 7, 2014.

  260 “CIA Found Israel Could Make Bomb: Soil, Air Samples Disclosed Atomic Capability,” John J. Fialka, Washington Star, December 8, 1977. “Atomic Thefts: Udall Blasts ‘Misrepresentation’,” John J. Fialka, Washington Star, December 16, 1977. “Record of Interview with Bill Knauf and Jim Anderson, Department of Energy, Division of Inspection,” Glenn T. Seaborg, June 21, 1978, Glenn T. Seaborg Papers, Library of Congress. “The American Connection: How Israel Got the Bomb,” John J. Fialka, Washington Monthly, January 1, 1979. DOE internal memorandum with attachments, “August 8, 1977 NUMEC-Related Congressional Hearing,” Deputy Inspector General to Under Secretary, April 27, 1979, University of Arizona, Special Collections Library, Papers of Morris Udall, MS 325, Box 365 Folder 1. Hersh, p. 255. Seaborg 1993, p. 197. Cockburn, p. 79.

  261 “Highly Enriched Uranium: Striking a Balance; A Historical Report of the United States Highly Enriched Uranium Production, Acquisition and Utilization Activities from 1945 through September 30, 1996,” U.S. Department of Energy, Revision 1, January 2001 (declassified January 2006). See Figure 2.2, Integrated Operation of the Gaseous Diffusion Plant; Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons since 1940, Stephen I Schwartz, editor, Brookings Institution Press, 1998, p. 139; “Report on Use of Low Enriched Uranium in Naval Nuclear Propulsion,” Director, Naval Nuclear Propulsion, June 1995, p. 7; “U.S. Nuclear Weapons Research, Development, Testing, and Production, and Naval Nuclear Propulsion Facilities,” Compiled by Stephen I. Schwartz, Director, U.S. Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project, The Brookings In
stitution, August 1988; Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, p. 26; Director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion, p. 7; “Ending the Production of Highly Enriched Uranium for Naval Reactors,” Chunyan Ma and Frank von Hippel, The Nonproliferation Review, Spring 2001.

  262 Karpin, p. 303.

  263 “Inquiry into the Testimony of the Executive Director for Operations,” Volume III Interviews, Interview of Carl Duckett, NRC Offices of General Counsel and Inspector and Auditor, February 1978, p. 178.

  264 FBI memorandum from [redacted] to [redacted], “Dr. Zalman Mordecai Shapiro, Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC), Apollo, Pennsylvania, Atomic Energy Act,” March 12, 1968, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 44, labeled CONFIDENTIAL before redaction and release.

  265 FBI memorandum from [redacted] to Mr. W. C. Sullivan, “Dr. Zalman Mordecai Shapiro, Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC), Apollo, Pennsylvania, Atomic Energy Act,” April 11, 1968, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, labeled SECRET before redaction and release.

  266 CIA letter from Director Richard Helms to The Honorable Ramsey Clark, Attorney General, April 2, 1968.

  267 “Second collection of documents sent JCAE Executive Director George Murphy. This collection sent 5 April 1976,” Attached to a routing slip from John F. Blake, Acting Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, to Director of Central Intelligence, Subject: NUMEC, July 26, 1977, labeled SECRET before redaction and release.

  268 FBI memorandum from C. D. DeLoach to Mr. Tolson, “Dr. Zalman Mordecai Shapiro, Possible Atomic Energy Act Violation,” May 6, 1968, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 38, labeled CONFIDENTIAL before redaction and release.

  269 FBI memorandum from Director to SAC, Pittsburgh, May 20, 1968, FBI FOIA File No. 117-2564, document 44, labeled SECRET before redaction and release.

  270 FBI Memorandum, Originator and Recipient redacted, “Dr. Zalman Mordecai Shapiro: Internal Security – Israel, Atomic Energy Act,” May 24, 1968, labeled SECRET before redaction and release.

  271 “The Development of FBI Domestic Intelligence Investigations,” United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (Church Committee), 1975.