Date

Feb 13, 1976

Description

In 1972, after a disastrous war with India, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Zulkifar Ali Bhutto directed Pakistani scientists to acquire a nuclear weapons capability and he increased the pressure after India’s May 1974 nuclear explosion.[6] Like India and Israel, Pakistan was an NPT holdout, refusing to sign the treaty. During 1974, U.S. intelligence picked up information about the Pakistani nuclear project, and official concern increased when the Pakistanis began talks with the French about acquiring a reprocessing plant and the West Germans about a heavy water plant. While not ready to recommend objections to either transaction, Kissinger’s advisers believed that the U.S. should put all three governments on notice that it had “reservations” about the proposed deals. According to Sonnenfeldt, “I believe it is inevitable that we must make representations to all three governments expressing our misgivings about these deals, otherwise you will be pilloried in Congress and the press for standing by while Pakistan acquires the wherewithal to build nuclear weapons.”

The State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) prepared a report on the Pakistani nuclear weapons effort. While only part of it is summarized on page 1 of Atherton’s memorandum, the “key judgement” comes across: the “‘unambiguous’ evidence that, following India’s 1974 nuclear explosion, Prime Minister Bhutto initiated a program intended to lead to development of a nuclear explosive capability.” While the proposed reprocessing plant was concerning, so was a proposed heavy water plant from West Germany. Even though it would come with IAEA safeguards, Atherton was concerned because a heavy water plant would “provide an additional, vital element in any future Pakistani weapons program.” It was not until 1977 that the French agreed with the U.S. to break the reprocessing plant contract, but there was no stopping Pakistan from heading toward a nuclear weapons capability.

Source

RG 59, Records of State Department Counselor Helmut Sonnenfeldt

Document published in following posting(s):

History of U.S. Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy, 1969-1977, Detailed in
New Declassified Documents Collection

Jun 25, 2025