WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (NNN-PTI) — India and Pakistan are not locked in a Cold War mentality of an arms race for numerical superiority although both the countries are “fielding” a strategic nuclear capability, according to a top US intelligence official.
The Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnel while assessing the “nuclear competition” between India and Pakistan also said that missile tests and new force deployments over the past three years have not affected their ongoing political dialogue.
“Although both New Delhi and Islamabad are fielding a more mature strategic nuclear capability, they do not appear to be engaged in a Cold War-style arms race for numerical superiority ,” said McConnel while briefing the Select Senate Committee on Intelligence on an unclassified version of the Annual Threat Assessment.
The top Intelligence person of the Bush administration also argued that the ongoing political uncertainty in Pakistan has not seriously threatened the military’s control over the countrys nuclear arsenals.
“We judge the ongoing political uncertainty in Pakistan has not seriously threatened the military’s control of the nuclear arsenal, but vulnerabilities exist.
The Pakistan Army oversees nuclear programmes, including security responsibilities, and we judge that the Army’s management of nuclear policy issues to include physical security has not been degraded by Pakistans political crisis,” the top Intelligence official maintained.
A good part of the assessment has been on the nature and continuing threats posed by the al Qaeda with McConnel not mincing words on how the intelligence community perceived this from the framework of Pakistan. – NNN-PTI