Might U.S. 'Secure' Pakistan's Nukes? Seymour Hersh Says Yes; Countries Say No

Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh's latest piece for The New Yorker has this page-one-worthy conclusion:

Current and former officials said in interviews in Washington and Pakistan that (the Obama) administration has been negotiating highly sensitive understandings with the Pakistani military. These would allow specially trained American units to provide added security for the Pakistani (nuclear) arsenal in case of a crisis.

Hersh adds that the U.S. has a highly trained response team that stands ready to enter Pakistan and grab the nuclear weapons' triggers in the event of a crisis. The goal: Keep those triggers out of terrorists' hands.

He continues:

 

In interviews in Pakistan, I obtained confirmation that there were continuing conversations with the United States on nuclear-security plans — as well as evidence that the Pakistani leadership put much less weight on them than the Americans did.

Pakistani and American officials are out knocking down Hersh's reporting. Pakistan's The Dawn Media Group reports that "the Foreign Office has said that Pakistan will never allow 'any country to have direct or indirect access to its nuclear and strategic facilities'."

And, Dawn notes that the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, "said that 'the United States has no intention to seize Pakistani nuclear weapons or material' (and) 'has confidence in Pakistan's ability to protect its nuclear programs and materials'."

For what it's worth, Hersh does report that a spokesman for U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen (chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff) said no such understandings had been reached. Still, his sources are telling him otherwise, Hersh reports.