Daily Alert Archives

Can a Saudi Nuclear Program Be Secretly Managed?

(Jerusalem Post) Yonah Jeremy Bob - The Saudis have requested that Washington provide it with a civilian nuclear program. One question raised involves what kind of insurance policy Israel would have against a Saudi ruler going rogue to try to transform the civilian program into a military one. Israeli sources say there are secret technological "backdoor" ways to ensure that if the Saudis started to misuse the program for military purposes, it could be shut down or otherwise sabotaged. However, former Israel Security Agency cyber official Harel Menashri said, "You can sell and craft a system with backdoors, but... the Saudis are not fools. They will figure it out - even if it takes two years or 10 years, and once they neutralize the backdoor, you have a big problem." Menashri also cautioned that "if the U.S. gives the Saudis [nuclear capabilities], it opens the entire Middle East to the problem of a nuclear race." He noted that originally, Russia only gave Iran a nuclear power plant. But eventually, Iran developed an independent local enrichment capability.
2023-09-18 00:00:00
Full Article