James Forsyth James Forsyth

Today’s most worrying news story

The news that AQ Khan was selling the electronic blueprints for a modern nuclear device brings home just how close some rogue nations might be to a nuclear bomb.

Here are the two key passages from The New York Times report:

American and international investigators say that they have found the electronic blueprints for an advanced nuclear weapon on computers that belonged to the nuclear smuggling network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the rogue Pakistani nuclear scientist, but that they have not been able to determine whether they were sold to Iran or the smuggling ring’s other customers.

The plans appear to closely resemble a nuclear weapon that was built by Pakistan and first tested exactly a decade ago.

The design is in electronic form, they said, making it easy to copy — and they have no idea how many copies of it are now in circulation.

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