WASHINGTON, U.S.A. – The following is being released by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy:

Declassified files from long-running investigations of the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) over alleged illegal diversions of US government-owned weapons-grade uranium to Israel are now available online at http://www.IRmep.org/ila/numec

The 733 pages of information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act for the new book Divert! NUMEC, Zalman Shapiro and the diversion of US weapons-grade uranium into the Israeli nuclear weapons program include:

A 1980 FBI interview of an eyewitness (PDF) of NUMEC executives stuffing U-235 canisters into sealed equipment shipped to Israel.

CIA Director of Operations Carl Duckett’s 1978 testimony about NUMEC (PDF) before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Atomic Energy Commissioner Glenn T. Seaborg’s reaction (PDF) to news that traces of Portsmouth U-235 of the type supplied to NUMEC had been picked up in Israel.

NUMEC corporate correspondence (PDF) with the AEC claiming that undercover Israeli intelligence agents Rafael Eitan and Ephraim Beigun visiting NUMEC in 1968 were merely energy scientists.

National Security Advisor Zbigniew Bresinski’s 1979 order (PDF) that Senator John Glenn not be given direct access to a top secret memorandum about “missing material from the NUMEC plant in Apollo, PA.”

Deputy Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti’s confidential letter (PDF) to President Jimmy Carter to “establish a plan for coordinated interagency action to detect and investigate the theft or diversion of nuclear material in the future.”

A 1978 congressional interview transcript (PDF) with NUMEC President Dr. Zalman Shapiro.

National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger’s 1969 strategy document (PDF) about how the US should respond to Israel’s clandestine nuclear weapons program.  “There is circumstantial evidence that some fissionable material available for Israel’s weapons development was illegally obtained from the United States by about 1965.”

FBI wiretap (PDF) of a 1969 toxic spill at NUMEC caused by improper storage.

According to a 2001 Department of Energy report, NUMEC lost 269 kilograms of highly enriched uranium between 1957 and 1968—the highest in the US and enough for dozens of atomic weapons.  The former NUMEC factory site is currently undergoing a toxic cleanup the US Army Corps of Engineers estimates could cost taxpayers between $250-$500 million.

The newly published book Divert! (available in paperback and Kindle) presents additional evidence that NUMEC—unable to complete US government contracts or protect workers and the environment—was originally established as a nuclear smuggling front.

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The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is attempting to block a brief filed by Director of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRmep) Grant F. Smith in the DC Court of Appeals on February 3, 2012.  The 78-page IRmep filing asserts “AIPAC has never abandoned its original role as an arm of the Israeli government in the United States.”

Citing declassified criminal investigations, IRmep underscores the public’s interest in the outcome of the case. “AIPAC’s observable standard for employees is ‘solicit, obtain and leverage classified information without being criminally indicted.’ AIPAC is never held publicly accountable for these types of activities which harm governance and public perception of rule of law.”

Exhibits include State Department files declassified on January 20, 2012 revealing in detail how former AIPAC Director Morris Amitay endangered US national security when he obtained Department of Defense secrets in 1974.  The IRmep brief also analyzes ongoing financial damages from a 1984-1987 incident.  The FBI investigated how AIPAC acquired an International Trade Commission report full of still-classified confidential business information.

AIPAC characterized the IRmep brief as “completely inaccurate portrayals of events that occurred decades ago” but seeks dismissal on procedural grounds.

IRmep argues for its acceptance even though oral arguments begin February 14, because “AIPAC is an organization that has long ‘had it both ways’” in functioning as an agent of the Israeli government without registering, influencing funding flows to political candidates while claiming charitable tax-exempt status, and rewarding employees who obtained classified information—until they are criminally indicted.”

Former employee Steven J. Rosen sued AIPAC and its board of directors for defamation in 2009.  AIPAC fired Rosen after FBI wiretaps alleged Rosen had received classified national defense information. Rosen was indicted for espionage in 2005 though charges were later dropped.  AIPAC claimed Rosen’s behavior “did not comport with standards that AIPAC expects of its employees.”  Rosen immediately appealed after the defamation suit was dismissed in 2011.

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