Egypt said conducting covert missile program

Tuesday, April 4, 2000

WASHINGTON -- A leading defense analyst linked to the Pentagon says Egypt is conducting a covert missile program in cooperation with North Korea.

Anthony Cordesman, senior fellow for strategic assessment and co-director of the Middle East program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Congress last week that Egypt is working with North Korea and China to develop missiles and nonconventional weapons.

Cordesman said the development of medium-range missiles with nonconventional warheads by the leading ally of the United States has encouraged Iran and Iraq to do the same. "These nations see proliferation in Israel and they see it in Syria," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 28. "They see it in Algeria, they see it in a covert program in Egypt, a program in Libya and a lesser program in the Sudan. They interact constantly with China and North Korea, or at least entities in those countries, as suppliers."

The repeated references to Egypt by Cordesman comes after the CIA released an unclassified report that reported missile cooperation between Cairo and Pyongyang. The report did not elaborate but last year the State Department imposed sanctions on three Egyptian government companies accused of exporting dual use technology for Pyongyang's missile programs. Cordesman also listed Egypt as one of several countries with chemical weapons capability.

A former senior Pentagon official, Cordesman pointed to other U.S. allies in the Middle East with vigorous missile and nonconventional programs. "Already the Saudis have long-range missiles," he said. "Already Egypt is conducting a clandestine missile development program with North Korea. Israel has a strong missile and nuclear program. If we watch what happens in this region, who is going to turn away from proliferation unless they believe, in the southern Gulf, at least, that they can trust us to retaliate and to deter?"

Cordesman said U.S. intelligence is "horribly understaffed" in analysts with a technological background to determine the progress of missile programs of rivals of Washington such as North Korea and Iran.

"And if we can't fix that, I think in the long run, we are going to have some very, very unpleasant surprises," he said.

Cordesman said the proliferation of nuclear weapons programs in the Middle East has made arms control extremely difficult. He quoted an Israeli military officer, who planned the 1980 bombing of the Iraqi Osirak nuclear reactor, as saying recently that this attack could not be repeated today in neighboring Iran.

"No, it would be absurd," Cordesman quoted the Israeli as saying. "We couldn't find the targets, we couldn't hit them ...We might bomb the wrong thing, but I don't think we have the capability to bomb the right one."