Nuclear Weapons Detonator Case - 'old news'?

[TacticalPeek]

Israeli Not Allowed Out in Nuclear Detonator Case

Thu January 15, 2004 06:19 PM ET

By Robert Boczkiewicz

DENVER (Reuters) - An Israeli citizen accused of illegally conspiring to send 200 U.S.-made nuclear weapons
detonators to Pakistan was ordered on Thursday to remain in custody while a Washington D.C. judge takes over his
case and decides whether he can be freed on bail.

Asher Karni, 50, was arrested on Jan. 1 at Denver International Airport after he arrived for a ski vacation on charges
being made by federal prosecutors in Washington.

On Monday, Denver U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Watanabe ordered him freed on a $75,000 bail provided he
remained at a rabbi's home in Maryland while his case proceeds in Washington. But the judge ordered Karni to
remain in custody to give prosecutors a chance to appeal his order.


more
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4136729


Sorry if this has already been posted, but I must have missed it here and elsewhere.

Atrios at Eschaton spotted it at Bad Attidudes

(Maybe UBL has kidney stones?)

[oneighty]

1. Curious?

I have some experience in that Field and have no idea what a nuclear detonator is. Any help out there?

Just curious.

180

[TacticalPeek]

2. I believe they mean a superfast microelectronic switch,

sometimes seen as the McGuffin in action tv/movies.

"The device, a spark gap that can send a synchronized electronic pulse to detonate a nuclear weapon, is also used
by hospitals to destroy kidney stones."

[oneighty]

3. Yes!

I just did a quick google. Detonator is poor terminology here. It is a high speed switching device, not a detonator. I just wonder that such a thing is commercially available. Must be huh?

180

[plurality]

4. I believe it's a high speed trigger

Their needed to set off the explosives around the fissile material that trigger the nuclear detonation. The explosives have to detonate with precision timing or the bomb will fizzle.

And it's somewhat old news, it was posted twice yesterday, but both times it sank like a rock. Evidently WMD trafickers being released on rabbinical supervision isn't of much interest to many.

[oneighty]

6. The

switching device is not a detonator. A detonator initiates the detonation of the high explosives involved in imploding the fissionable materials. The terminology is wrong.

180

[DrBB]

5. But Pakistan is our friend!

And so is Israel, for that matter. Ostensibly. Scary shit, man.

[ex_jew]

7. I was impressed that the LA Times yesterday devoted

half a page to exploring the role of private individuals in nuclear proliferation yet somehow amazingly could not be bothered to disclose te name of this fine Israeli citizen. I'd post a link but you have to register for the Times and I refuse to do so.

[lazarus]

8. This is just sitting here?

Folks, the Justice Department just let a man who is accused of selling nuclear arms components to Pakistan get out on bail. That's just insane.

On edit, here's what happened:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 (Reuters) — A federal judge on Wednesday granted bail to Asher Karni, 50, an Israeli citizen accused by the United States government of conspiring to send 200 American-made nuclear weapons detonators to Pakistan, dealing a setback to prosecutors who argued he might try to flee.

Judge Thomas Hogan said Mr. Karni must remain in home detention at the Hebrew Sheltering Home in nearby Silver Spring, Md., and wear a monitoring device.

In addition to the $75,000 bond posted on his behalf by another individual, Mr. Karni also must commit $100,000 of his own money, he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/29/international/asia/29STAN.html