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Southern Africa

South Africa

South African Nuclear History

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North America

United States

Photograph of the Port of Jaffa in Israel.

Middle East

Israel

Nuclear Proliferation

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Malan, Magnus

1930- 2011

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Western Europe

Great Britain

Soviet soldier taking a photograph of another soldier in Red Square, Moscow, 1959

Eastern Europe

Soviet Union

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Western Europe

France

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Vorster, B. J. (Balthazar Johannes)

1915- 1983

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Philip, Peter H.

-

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Sole, Donald Bell

-

Official portrait for President Jimmy Carter, 1978.

Carter, Jimmy

1924-

Photograph of President Ronald Reagan

Reagan, Ronald

1911- 2004

Israeli Nuclear History

Brazilian Nuclear History

Pakistani Nuclear History

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April 18, 1988	Decision of Ad Hoc Cabinet Committee, 'Programme Dunhill: Development of a Nuclear Capability for the SADF'
February 15, 1990	J. W. L. de Villiers, Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa, 'Phasing Out of the RSA's Nuclear Weapons Capability' Proposal to dismantle South Africa's nuclear weapons devices and components with the intention of disguising their production. South Africa would only admit to producing highly enriched uranium, not manufacturing nuclear weapons.
November 17, 1989	Memorandum, 'Main Points Arising from Luncheon on 14 November 1989'
September 3, 1985	Meeting of Ad Hoc Cabinet Committee Under the Chairmanship of the Honourable State President
February 26, 1990	Republic of South Africa, 'Dismantling of Nuclear Weapons' Authorization signed by State President F. W. de Klerk to begin dismantling South Africa's nuclear weapons.
August 10, 1977	Letter, Warren Christopher to William Hyland, 'Response to Soviet Message on South Africa' This draft reply to Leonid Brezhnev's August 1977 message to Jimmy Carter on the suspicious site in the Kalahari Desert includes a number of interesting points, among them a request for the "geographic coordinates, size, configuration, and exact nature of the facility." Presumably this information would be used by the US to better target its reconnaissance satellites on the site.
April 15, 1994	Telegram, US Defense Intelligence Agency, 'South Africa: Nuclear Program in Turmoil' With the liquidation of South Africa’s weapons program, “disgruntled” scientists under threat of lay-off “threatened to reveal closely guarded secrets … unless they receive severance pay.”
February 1980	Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Special Project Division, 'Proliferation Analysis and International Assessments' This issue of Proliferation Analysis and International Assessments includes a heavily excised article on Iraq, a piece on South Africa’s security prospects, and a apparently a third essay that has been wholly exempted. The essay on South Africa’s nuclear aims suggests that the arguments pro and con for a nuclear capability to deal with regional security threats are so powerful that “internal political and bureaucratic” consideration are probably more relevant for nuclear decisions.
December 1979	Interagency Intelligence Memorandum, US Director of Central Intelligence, NI IIM 79-10028, 'The 22 September 1979 Event' [2004 Release] This study begins, as the National Security Council requested, by assuming that the September 22, 1979 Vela event was a nuclear detonation. It discusses the possibility that the detonation could have occurred due to an accident, and noted the Defense Intelligence Agency’s suggestion that the Soviet Union might have had reasons to conduct a covert test in violation of its treaty commitments. But most of the study is concerned with other possibilities to explain the incident – a secret test by South Africa or Israel, or India, or Pakistan, or a secret joint test by South Africa and Israel. The 2004 version, in some instances, contains more information through page 10 than the 2013 version.
December 1979	Interagency Intelligence Memorandum, US Director of Central Intelligence, NI IIM 79-10028, 'The 22 September 1979 Event' [2013 Release] This study begins, as the National Security Council requested, by assuming that the September 22, 1979 Vela event was a nuclear detonation. It discusses the possibility that the detonation could have occurred due to an accident, and noted the Defense Intelligence Agency’s suggestion that the Soviet Union might have had reasons to conduct a covert test in violation of its treaty commitments. But most of the study is concerned with other possibilities to explain the incident – a secret test by South Africa or Israel, or India, or Pakistan, or a secret joint test by South Africa and Israel. The 2013 release (which is currently under appeal) includes some information from a “Secret Test by Others” (Pakistan, India) and the map on page 12 that had not been released before.