WASHINGTON – US National Director of Security Daniel Coats in his remarksbefore the Senate committee had said: “We remain concerned about Pakistan’scontinued development control of nuclear weapons,” but did not express anyconcern about India’s nuclear programme, although the report notes thatIndia had, in 2018, conducted its first deployment of a nuclear-poweredsubmarine armed with nuclear missiles.
The 2019 report mentions that “Pakistan continues to develop new types ofnuclear weapons, including short-range tactical weapons, sea-based cruisemissiles, air-launched cruise missiles, and longer range ballisticmissiles.”
A 2016 Harvard Kennedy report on prevention of nuclear terrorism statesthat India’s nuclear security measures “may be weaker than those ofPakistan”.
However, the risk of theft across the border “appears to be moderate”,while in Pakistan it “appears to be high”.
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The overall threat from weapons of mass destruction is expected to continuegrowing in 2019, according to the US threat report, which claims thatPakistan and India’s growing nuclear arsenals “increase the risk of anuclear security incident in South Asia”.
It adds that new types of nuclear weapons “will introduce new risks forescalation dynamics and security in the region”.
