&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Pak generals were on ‘Merchant of Death’ AQ Khan’s payroll, reveals ex-CIA spy who helped dismantle global nuke black market")
Former CIA officer James Lawler made shocking revelations on Pakistani nuclear scientist AQ Khan, saying "certain Pakistani Generals and leaders were on his payroll." Lawler, who is credited with dismantling the infamous Pakistani scientist's nuclear smuggling network across the world, stated that the United States was suspicious about Khan's activities but was unaware of the scale of his outward trafficking.
Lawler, who served as head of the CIA's Counter-Proliferation Division, in an interview with the News agency ANI said, “We were very slow. We thought it was serious that he was supplying Pakistan, but we did not imagine he was going to turn around and become an outward proliferator.”
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AQ Khan, who is considered as father of Pakistan's nuclear weapon programme, was also an architect of a global nuclear black market network that illegally supplied the atomic weapon technologies and operational knowledge to many countries, including Iran, North Korea, and Libya.
Divulging details of covert operations, Lawler described Khan as 'Merchant of Death' and revealed that they had to use covert entities that presented themselves as supplier of nuclear technology to infiltrate AQ Khan's networks.
“If I want to want to defeat proliferation and proliferators, I need to become a proliferator," he said.
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Lawler said the turning point came when, after 9/11, Washington decided to confront Pakistan with “absolutely incontrovertible evidence” of AQ Khan's activities.
George Tenet, who was CIA director at the time, personally apprised then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf of AQ Khan's operations of running an illegal nuclear smuggling network across the world. According to Lawler, Musharraf reacted furiously over sabotage and placed Khan under years-long house arrest, leading to the closure of his proliferation network.
The ex-intelligence officer also advocated for stronger Indo-US cooperation, cautioning that a nuclear conflict in South Asia would leave "only losers" and result in global devastation.
