John Brennan, a top White House official who is the key counterterrorism adviser to President Barack Obama, has acknowledged that the Al Qaeda continues to covet officials in Pakistan's nuclear establishment and nuclear scientists in that country's weapons laboratories to acquire nuclear weapon material and expertise.
Brennan, assistant to the President and deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism and homeland security, at a briefing at the Washington, DC Convention Centre, where the Nuclear Security Summit is being hosted by Obama, said: "I think the Al Qaeda is looking for those vulnerabilities and facilities and stockpiles in different countries that would allow them to obtain the by-product of nuclear reactors and materials that they can use."
"But also to go after those individuals that might have access to the materials as well as individuals who have the expertise that they need to actually fabricate and improvise nuclear devices," he added.
Asked if there is any evidence that Al Qaeda has actually managed to do that, particularly in Pakistan, considering that that country's nuclear scientists had indeed once met with bin Laden, Brennan said: "There is evidence of their attempts to do that. I would like to think that we have been able to thwart their success to date."
The veteran intelligence official said that however, that Al Qaeda continues in these efforts and "we know individuals within the organisation that have been given that responsibility. So there has been demonstrated interest across a number of years and also one of the things we are most concerned about is that this is probably the most sensitive of their efforts."
"Therefore," Brennan argued, "it will have only a few people involved in the effort and therefore requires that very good intelligence work is done."
White House Robert Gibbs, jumped in at this time to note that the White House readout of the meeting between President Obama and Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Sunday at Blair House on the margins of the Summit, had noted that "the prime minister indicated his assurance that Pakistan takes nuclear security seriously and has appropriate safeguards in place."
Brennan refused to get into the details of the bilateral discussions between Obama and Gilani on this issue, but said, "It's part of a process that was started, at least in this administration 15 months ago, where we had regular ongoing conversations with a number of nations of the world, including Pakistan, addressing the goals and objectives that we know that the Al Qaeda is after and what type of threat they pose to our interests and to the interests of other countries."
"So, our engagement with Pakistan, runs the full gamut as far as what the Al Qaeda is trying to do whether it be to kill innocents or to carry out other types of attacks and objectives that really threaten our national security and of Pakistani national security," he said.
When pressed on the safety and security of Pakistan's nuclear assets falling into the hands of the Al Qaeda, Brennan declared, "Our concerns are global and that's why the President has brought together these individuals together, which is to make sure there is collective action."
Gibbs intervened again to point out that "the President was directly engaged on exactly this question, when (Pakistani) President (Asif Ali) Zardari and (Afghan) President (Hamid) Karzai travelled to the United States in March 2009 as part of that trilateral."
Brennan said, "Terrorist groups and internal criminal organisations will look for the weakest link in a chain and that's why it's so critically important that all countries take their responsibility seriously."
He reiterated, "There are materials that are out there that terrorist groups are trying to go after. We need to make sure we do everything possible as soon as possible to secure these materials, these stockpiles and deny them to terrorist organisations."
"The ability of a terrorist groups to find weapons or expertise is directly related to the vulnerability of these materials," he said.
Brennan said, "Over the years, the Al Qaeda, including some Al Qaeda members, have claimed that they already have such nuclear capabilities or weapons. That's not proved, but also at the same time, it's difficult to disprove something like that."
"There is no indication that I have that the Al Qaeda has a nuclear weapons capability. But at the same time though, I am determined to ensure that they are not going to be able to obtain that type of capability."
Thus, Brennan asserted that "the best way to do it as we continue to degrade and destroy the Al Qaeda, is to take away the opportunity they may have to acquire the fissile material -- highly enriched uranium or separated plutonium -- or the expertise that is required to use that fissile material to create an improvised nuclear explosive device."
