A Q Khan Network

The nuclear proliferation ring that sold centrifuge technology to three countries

Overview

The network built around Abdul Qadeer Khan, the metallurgist behind the Pakistani gas centrifuge program, sold nuclear weapons designs, components, and expertise to Iran, Libya, and North Korea for decades through middlemen on three continents. It was exposed when Libya abandoned its weapons program in 2003 and cooperated with investigators. Khan was pardoned by Pakistan's president but lived years under effective house arrest. The ring stands as the largest known proliferation network, and its unraveling reshaped counterproliferation policy worldwide. International inspectors later traced centrifuge designs common to all three programs back to his laboratories.