U.S. AGENCIES SUSPECTED MISSING URANIUM WENT TO ISRAEL FOR ARMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000400060022-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 26, 2004
• Sequence Number: 22
• Publication Date: November 6, 1977
• Content Type: NSPR

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 5?--Two classified
documents written in 1976 and made pub-
lic today show that the nation's intelli-
gence agencies suspected that Israel
might have obtained up to 200 pounds
of uranium missing from.a Pennsylvania
factory in- the laid-1960's and used it to
produce nuclear weapons.
The Federal Government, over the
years, has publicly maintained there was
no evidence that the nuclear material,
which was discovered missing in 1965,
was stolen from the Nuclear Materials
and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) in
Apollo, Pa. The General Accounting Of-
fice, the only independent agency that
inestigated the case, concluded that the
evidence was insufficient to. make any
finding, but the documents released today
show that Federal officials suspected the
material had gone to Israel.
One of the documents was written by
Samuel C.T. McDowell, a scientist in the
Energy Research and Development Ad-
ministration, and was dated May 26.
1976. The document, a memorandum for
the scientist's files, said that on May 20
he met with an, official of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation who "asked what
technique might be available to determine
whether enriched uranium, if such can
be obtained from the Israelis, could be
traced to material from the NUMEC fa-
cility during the 1963-1965 timeframe."
Mr. McDowell said he had told the F.B.I.
that there were "two possibilities"for
tracing the-material.
No Other Cbuntry Named
A second document,: dated April 20,:
1976, also mentioned Israel and described
how the National Security Council and
the Central Intelligence Agency were
given scientific evidence about "the num-
ber of nuclear weapons that could have
been made if the material had been di-
verted."
No other country was named in the
documents as a possible recipient of the
missing uranium. The documents provide
the first specific indication of the serious-
ness with which intelligence agencies in
the Ford administration viewed the possi-
bility that the enriched uranium that
could- not be accounted for by the plant
may have been obtained by Israel.
The Carter Administration, apparently
concerned about its relations with Israel,
said last week that as far as it was con-
cerned the allegations about Israel re-'
mained unproved. _
Those concerned about the problem of
the spread of atomic weapons have cited
the unresolved circumstances o the Apol-
lo case as evidence of a failutsIp[t
try and government to protect the world
against the spread of such weapons to
new nations and even to terrorist groups.
Suspected Aliss ng rank rn ,Vent
A report dated Jan. 131, 1962, for in.
for .t mis stance, said. "Numerous deficiencies were
More Than 3,000 Documents
The two memorandums describing the
actions of the National Security Council,
the C.I.~~. and the F.B.I. were among more
than 3,000 documents that the Depart-
ment of Energy has made public about
the case in response to requests under
the Freedom of Information Act from
newsmen and the Natural Resources De-
fense Council, `an... environmental group
plant in the early 1960's, according to
the documents, were an Israeli metallur-
gist and two technicians from Argentina.
The documents also show that the compa-
ny had contracts to provide nuclear serv-
ices in at least. nine foreign countries,
found in NC"v1EC's overall security pro-
gram." Another' report, dated Jan. 22.
1962 said that if security discrepancies
"continue to develoa, classified weapons
work may be withheld from NUMMEC."
First Disclosure of Weapc),ns Work
This reference to "weapons work" dis-
closed in the documents made public
today was the first indication that the
company was involved in the early 60's
in nuclear production beyond the manu-
facture of fuel. .
Among the aliens working at the Apollo
critical of nuclear energy.
The case first became of major concern
in 1965, when 'an inspection by the Atom-
ic Energy. Commission determined that
the Nuclear Materials and Equipment
Corporation in Apollo was unable to ac-
count for a large amount of the uranium
it had been given-to turn into fuel for
Navy reactors and a space rocket, which
never took off.
Company Is_Investigated
Partly because of incomplete records,
even the Government's estimates of how
much uranium could not be accounted
for have not been consistent. According
to one summary prepared by the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, there was a.
cumulative loss of ?381.6 pounds of the
material, 200.3 pounds of which could
not be accounted for as having been
trapped in the machinery-, wiping rags
and other. equipment. Another summary,
apparently prepared for the White House
in 1976, said there was a shortage of
134 pounds of uranium.
Most experts agree that a nuclear bomb
could be made from about 10 pounds of
highly enriched uranium. Thus, depending
on which estimate is relied on, the urani-
um that could not be accounted for could
have been ilsed to make 13 to 20 bombs.
As a result of the discovery, the Nuclear
:.Materials and Equipmewnt Corporation
and Dr. Zalman M. Shapiro, the compa-
ny's founder and first president, have
been subjected to `investigations begin-1
ping in 1965,. 1966, 1968 and 1976. It,
was during the last investigation, which!
a Justice Department spokesman said'
yesterday was still open, that the memo-
randums about the 1976 actions of the
National Security Council, the F.B.I. and
the C.I.A. were writ en. ?
One of the docuents generated by the
Investigations and made public today was
an Atomic Energy Commission memoran-
I of Feb. 21, 1967, concluding that
an investigation by the F.B.I. and the Jus-
tice Department had uncovered no evi-
dence that either the Nuclear Materials
and Equipment Corporation or Dr. Shapi-
ro were agents of Israel or any other,
country. ,
Other documents, however, showed that
For. 911#bCi20"/,04At2CFA P818
r.
mission were eeply concerned about
Shapiro's alleged lack of attention to se-
curity and the presence in the plant tlur-
including Israel. ?
Some of the notes, letters, reports-and
other documents made public today also
undermined the- Government's repeated
assurances that there was no evidence
that nuclear material had been diverted.
A 1966 note, for instance,discussed- the
Atomic Energy Commission's system of
control of nuclear exports and said that
the "verfication of overseas shipments
largely ;s' based on the-assurned integrity
of the domestic shipper and of the foreign
receiver."
Another -note, discussing the Nuclear
Materials and Equipment Corporation,
said an examination of records of 32 of
its foreign shipments had found that in
26 of them the records were "incomplete,
inaccurate or missing." .
Discussing the. investigation into the
missing uranium, the Atomic Energy
Commission on Feb. 14, 1966, privately
told Congress that it was not possible'
to reconstruct "the specific events which
resulted in"this high loss."
Less Positive View
.s.a
~A'secret summary of. the case, appar-~
ently -prepared last year for President
Gerald R. Ford, also was far less positive
than recent public assertions. ? -- .
"The A.E.C. concluded that while the
possibility of diversion could not be ex-
cluded, in the absence of evidence to that
effect and in, the presence of facts tending
to supp.^rt a long history of accurnulatd
to'support a long history of accumulated
losses, there was not a basis for assigning
a high priority to the possibility of diver-
sion," it said. .
Harold Ungar," a Washington lawyer
now representing Dr. Shapiro, said his
client's position "is very simple: he never`
divert ed a - single microgram or nuclear f.
material'to. Israel or anyone else anu uuvc!
not believe that anyone else did so at:
the plant." - . ' ' - I
Mr. Ungar also said- "If they are pursu.i
ing Dr. Shapiro because he is Jewish and
a Zionist, for which he offers no aporo-
gies, it's a bell of a basis for,ln investiga=l
11315RO06 Ap?Q 2G
ernment'filas repeatedly
denied that it illegally obtained any nu-t
clear material from Dr. Shapiro's comps-t