Spain's Quest For Nuclear Weapons

Spain Eyed N-Weapons In 1970s: Report

Web posted at: 1/19/2008 1:3:32
Source ::: Agencies
Courtesy Of: ThePeninsulaQatar

MADRID • The CIA was worried late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco might develop nuclear weapons in the 1970s, according to declassified documents cited by Spanish newspaper El Pais yesterday.

"Spain is the one European country that is deserving of some attention as a possible proliferator in the years ahead," a declassified 1974 CIA report published on El Pais's website said.

The report, made available by the National Security Archive of George Washington University in Washington, D C, drew attention to Spain's extensive nuclear power programme, a pilot enrichment plant and the fact the country had refused to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty.