The Role of Intelligence in Countering Illicit Nuclear-Related Procurement (Book Chapter)

Thomas Fingar contributes his expertise in international intelligence, security, and policy to the book Preventing Black Market Trade in Nuclear Technology, edited by Matthew Bunn, Martin B. Malin, William C. Potter, and Leonard S. Spector. Fingar's chapter is, "The Role of Intelligence in Countering Illicit Nuclear-Related Procurement," which outlines the importance of coordinated intelligence strategies in curbing the proliferation of dark market nuclear trading.

Preventing Black Market Trade in Nuclear Technology offers the most detailed public account of how states procure what they need to build nuclear weapons, what is currently being done to stop them, and how global efforts to prevent such trade could be strengthened. Every nuclear weapons program for decades has relied extensively on illicit imports of nuclear-related technologies. While illicit nuclear trade can never be stopped completely, effective steps to block illicit purchases of nuclear technology have sometimes succeeded in slowing nuclear weapons programs and increasing their costs, giving diplomacy more chance to work. Hence, this book argues, preventing illicit transfers wherever possible is a key element of an effective global non-proliferation strategy.