Loose nukes:

A nightmare scenario has come true, to judge from the revelation this weekend that the smuggling network once run by AQ Khan, the so-called father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, had acquired, and stored electronically, blueprints for an advanced, compact nuclear device. This means that the knowledge needed to produce an easily deliverable nuclear weapon may have already passed into the hands of Iran, North Korea, some other truculent state, or a terrorist group.

Pakistan must make Khan available to tell IAEA inspectors who the buyers were for the nuclear weapon design he had obtained. Musharraf’s original motive for ensuring Khan’s silence was obvious. The former army chief sought to protect Pakistan’s military brass from embarrassment. For its part, Pakistan’s recently elected civilian government has eased restrictions on Khan. In a recent interview, Khan lauded one of the most powerful leaders in Pakistan, former PM Nawaz Sharif, for originally making Pakistan a nuclear power and for sending warm wishes to Khan while the world’s most dangerous proliferator was detained in his own house. The new civilian government ought to compel Khan and his accomplices to come clean about their peddling of nuclear wares. If not, Pakistan will take its place among the world’s most irresponsible rogue states. — The Boston Globe