Date

Oct 2, 1974

Description

After India’s “peaceful nuclear explosion” in May 1974, concern about its impact and implications put nuclear proliferation on the front burner in U.S. government policymaking. In late August 1974, the intelligence establishment published a top secret Special National Intelligence Estimate (SNIE), “Prospects for Further Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.” The document was closely held, but its conclusions, such as the ones about Israel, were distributed to senior officials at the Atomic Energy Commission and probably other agencies. Some years ago, the SNIE was substantially declassified including the section on Israel.

This is the excised version of the SNIE’s concussions that went public in early 1978 in response to a FOIA request by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Well covered in the news media was the CIA’s evaluation that Israel had produced nuclear weapons, a judgment based on “Israeli acquisition of large quantities of uranium, partly by clandestine means; the ambiguous nature of Israeli efforts in the field of uranium enrichment, [and] Israel’s large investment in a costly missile system designed to accommodate nuclear weapons.” [29]

Source

Digital National Security Archive

Document published in following posting(s):

1960 Intelligence Report Said Israeli Nuclear Site Was for Weapons

Dec 17, 2024

James G. Poor, Director, Division of International Security Affairs, Atomic Energy Commission, to Chair Dixie Lee Ray and Commissioners Kriegsman and Anders, “Prospects for Further Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons,” 2 October 1974, classification markings illegible, excised copy