Expert calls proliferation top threat, blames exports of dual-use tech

WASHINGTON -- Egypt and Iran are importing engines for missiles without U.S. interference and, government sources and analysts warned, Washington may be paving the way for these states to export systems banned by the Missile Technology Control Regime.

The sources said Egypt and Pakistan are among U.S. allies in the Middle East and south Asia that are importing missile engines for their ballistic missile programs. The biggest supplier of the rocket engines, they said, is North Korea.

"Today, Egypt, Iran, Syria and Pakistan are importing these rocket motors in sufficient quantities without any trouble," said Gary Milhollin, director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control.

"The spread of weapons of mass destruction, rather than competition with the Soviet Union, is now the foremost strategic threat to the United States. Because mass destruction weapons are built mainly with dual-use equipment, the control of dual-use exports is of vital military and strategic importance."

Milhollin testified recently to the Senate Armed Services Committee against a bill that would liberalize U.S. exports of numerous dual-use equipment. He said the Export Administration Act would end up lifting restrictions on the export of rocket motors.

The Egyptians have told the Clinton administration that the engines are meant for Cairo's civilian satellite program. But the U.S. sources said the engines can be used for Egypt's missile program.

Earlier this month, a CIA report pointed to cooperation in missile technology between Egypt and North Korea. The unclassified section of the report sent to Congress did not elaborate.

"Any bill that decontrols rocket motors should be viewed with suspicion," Milhollin said.

The bill would decontrol dual-use equipment used in the development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, Milhollin said. They include the release for export of nuclear weapons triggers and glass and carbon fibers used in ballistic and cruise missiles.

Government sources said Egypt would greatly benefit from the lifting of restrictions on dual-use equipment for missiles. They pointed out that in 1988 U.S. authorities foiled an attempt by a California rocket scientist to load 420 pounds of carbon fibers on a military transport plane bound for Cairo and meant for the Condor ballistic missile project with Argentina and Iraq.

The bill stipulates that equipment that are produced on a massive scale and are available in foreign countries can also be exported by the United States. Critics said this could include North Korean rocket engines and other missile components.

"Instead of trying to cut export controls further, we now need to strengthen controls to combat proliferation, the main threat of the post-cold war era," Milhollin said.

Another leading analyst, Robert Joseph of the National Defense University, said Washington will encounter Russia's determination to export advanced missile and nuclear technology to Iran, a signer of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. "There is no more bitter irony than to listen to Russian officials tell us that Iran, as a member in good standing of the NPT, is not only deserving but entitled to the dual use technology that Moscow has contracted to sell it, and that we know will be helpful to further Iran's nuclear weapons program," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last Thursday.