The world has entered a second nuclear age. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the threat of nuclear annihilation is on the rise. Should such an assault occur, there is a strong likelihood that the trail of devastation will lead back to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani father of the Islamic bomb and the mastermind behind a vast clandestine enterprise that has sold nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea and Libya.
Khan's loose-knit organisation was and still may be a nuclear Wal-Mart, selling weapons blueprints, parts and the expertise to assemble the works into a do-it-yourself bomb kit. Amazingly, American authorities could have halted his operation, but they chose instead to watch and wait. Khan proved that the international safeguards the world relied on no longer worked.
Douglas Frantz is managing editor of the LA Times, where he has also worked in various reporting roles. A 2-time Pulitzer Prize finalist he has won many honours for his investigative reporting. His wife Catherine Collins is also a journalist and author.