Fallout: The True Story of the CIA’s Secret War on Nuclear Trafficking

Investigative journalists Collins and Frantz, who documented how rogue Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan created a nuclear black market in 2007’s The Nuclear Jihadist, return to the subject in this sobering, true-life “part spy story, part cautionary tale.” The authors focus this time on the CIA’s participation in “a massive cover-up” to prevent public disclosure of its passive role in Khan’s proliferation activities. For years the CIA had Khan under constant surveillance, but instead of moving to shut down his “nuclear bazaar,” the CIA and policymakers watched and discussed how and when to act. Collins and Frantz conclude that “the CIA was addicted to information, not action.” When the agency finally moved to roll up Khan’s global proliferation ring, it sought to conceal the “bad judgments and operational errors” that allowed the ring to flourish for years. Nuclear proliferation is one of our era’s critical issues, and Collins and Frantz’s exposé makes a timely contribution to how institutional errors and bad calls in Washington have left America more vulnerable to global terrorism. (Feb.)