A former CIA officer has disclosed striking new details about the clandestine intelligence operation that penetrated, sabotaged and ultimately dismantled Abdul Qadeer Khan’s global nuclear trafficking empire — a network that fuelled covert weapons programmes in Iran, North Korea and Libya, and threatened to trigger a worldwide proliferation crisis.
James Lawler, a retired CIA counter-proliferation specialist who helped lead the mission, described how US intelligence slowly uncovered the extent of Khan’s nuclear black market, built over decades by Pakistan’s most celebrated nuclear scientist. In an interview with ANI, he explained that while Khan had originally been tasked with acquiring technology for Pakistan’s weapons programme, he later turned Pakistan’s nuclear infrastructure into an international black-market supply chain.
Lawler said the decisive moment arrived when CIA Director George Tenet confronted Pakistan’s then-president Pervez Musharraf with what he called “absolutely incontrovertible evidence” that Khan was secretly selling Pakistan’s nuclear secrets abroad. According to Lawler, Musharraf was enraged by the expose and reacted sharply, reportedly saying, “I’m going to kill that son of a b**ch.” The tense internal clash led to Khan being placed under a heavily controlled house arrest, effectively shutting down his proliferation activities.
The CIA officer described Khan’s operation as vast, resilient and cleverly dispersed — a global network of suppliers, intermediaries and covert channels. He said he nicknamed Khan “the Merchant of Death” because of the danger his activities posed. Intelligence services were shocked at the breadth of the network, which spanned Europe, the Middle East, and Asia and involved what Lawler described as “Pakistani generals and leaders on his payroll.”
One of the major breakthroughs came when a German cargo vessel, the BBC China, was intercepted carrying containers loaded with nuclear components built for Libya’s secret nuclear programme. When confronted with the evidence, Lawler said Libyan officials went silent before admitting the truth: “By Allah, you’re right. We did have a nuclear program.” The discovery eventually forced Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi to abandon his clandestine efforts.
Lawler explained that the CIA’s strategy relied on deep infiltration and controlled sabotage. Working with a small team of fewer than ten officers at headquarters and several undercover operatives abroad, the agency set up front companies that posed as legitimate suppliers of sensitive nuclear components. By appearing to be authentic vendors, they lured procurement agents directly into their net. This tactic allowed US intelligence to quietly penetrate the heart of Khan’s network and feed misinformation, disrupt centrifuge machinery and delay nuclear progress in multiple countries.
He said the guiding philosophy was simple: “If you want to defeat proliferators, you must become a proliferator.” Using this approach, the CIA inserted technical flaws, delayed shipments and sabotaged designs, all while collecting intelligence on clients across the Middle East and Asia.
Reflecting on the broader threat landscape, Lawler warned that Iran’s nuclear trajectory remains volatile. He said a nuclear-armed Iran could ignite a “nuclear pandemic” in the Middle East, prompting neighbouring powers to pursue their own nuclear weapons and dramatically raising the risk of escalation or miscalculation.
The revelations underscore how Khan’s network — once the most dangerous nuclear trafficking system in the world — was finally taken apart through secrecy, deception, international pressure and unprecedented intelligence coordination.
