Deep Dives Research Challenge 15 (Wikileaks) - The Apollo Affair

National Security Archive

The Apollo Affair (also known as the NUMEC Affair) was an incident that took place in 1965, which alledges that the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) was responsible for losing or 'diverting' an estimated 200-600 pounds of highly enriched uranium. There is much circumstantial and documented evidence to suggest that the President and co-founder of NUMEC, Zalman Shapiro, was directly involved in the alledged transfer of Uranium to Israel, to aid in it's nuclear weapons programme with the assistance of Israeli Intelligence (MOSSAD) and with the possible co-operation of the CIA itself, who has for decades tried to hinder and even block a proper investigation into the incident, along with the FBI and other governmental agencies. The official position of the agenicies, remains that there is 'inconclusive evidence' to support claims of a diversion of the highly enriched uranium.
         

From Shapiro's page on Wikipedia:

NUMEC began by doing consulting work for companies in the nuclear field, and it was the first company able to provide fuel that could be used for nuclear reactors. After the company was awarded a contract to process enriched uranium, it was told to inventory its uranium. The inventory came up short, and after a series of efforts to search and recover the material from the factory and its disposal site, the company paid $834,000 to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) for the missing uranium.

Shapiro was a long-time Zionist, and he had business interests and contacts among high government officials in Israel, including a contract to build nuclear-powered generators for Israel. He was suspected for many years of diverting some 269 kilograms (591 pounds) of uranium to Israel, enough to make several nuclear weapons. In September 1968, four Israeli intelligence agents visited NUMEC; among them was Rafi Eitan, who was listed as a defense ministry chemist.

The missing uranium was investigated several times over two decades. Both the AEC and the FBI examined the records and the plant; only a small portion of what was thought to be missing was located. Estimates of the missing amount have varied as well, from 200 pounds to almost 600 pounds. However, no charges were ever filed, and one report concluded that there was "no substantive evidence to indicate that a diversion occurred". Shapiro denied any wrongdoing, and said that such discrepancies are "not unusual" and that losses could be explained as normal to the complex processing.

The lone fact that Shapiro was President and co-founder of NUMEC, who also had business interests and contracts with high government officials to build nuclear-powered generators for Israel, should raise many questions and cast a dark shadow over the whole affair, including the supposed investigations themselves from the Intelligence agencies invovled.

Another interesting fact was the timely visit to NUMEC from Rafi Eitan and three other Israeli Intelligence officers, around the time of the alledged diversion taking place. This FBI document also shows documented foreknowledge of the four Israeli agents (including Eitan) visiting the NUMEC site. This memorandum from Carl. E . Duckett addressed to the director of central Intelligence, definitively shows that there was no real effort to actually investigate the matter to the full capability of the CIA and other agencies.
         

LA Times

Although Eitan is revered and dubbed as a 'legendary' Mossad agent within intelligence circles (including in the US), he was directly invovled in a case openly acknowledged and discussed by the same intelligence circles, known as the pollard affair, where he was assigned by Israel as the handler for Jonathan Pollard (convicted Israeli Spy), to cary out an operation where he stole hundreds of classified documents. All of this makes you wonder how much deception is involved in the public discussion about so many of these cases, which ultimately sees Israel 'actually' compromising US national security by using spies to compromise their own so-called ally.

stratfor.com

I am not convinced and somehow fail to see the broken trust line in the above extract, considering the context in which the Washington political machine operates and current world events are taking place right now.

Nevertheless, Eitan's involvement in The Pollard affair is characterised as "fascinating", by parts of the US intelligence community, but somehow his convenient and timely visit to NUMEC during the Appollo Affair is basically ignored and considered as part of an array of 'inconclusive evidence'. How can this conclusion be possible, considering Eitan's past involement in helping to steal the property and secrets of another nation. Not only that, but he was also part of a machine that operates under the guise of nuclear 'ambiguity', which enables Israel to escape any formal investigation for nuclear capability and/or posession of nuclear arsenals, whilst also not having to abide to the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
         

From a 2008 Congressional Report on Biological, Chemical Weapons and Missiles posted on Wikileaks:

wikileaks.org
         
Interesting....According to this report produced by Congress, Israel produced their first nuclear weapon in the late 1960's - not long after the Apollo Affair!

And the methods used to attain the materials to make those weapons, eerily fit the descripton provided of how they are aquired! Except it conveniently only applies to non-allied states!

There is obviously and justifiably so, still a lot of conjecture and secrecy about what actually took place at the NUMEC plant to this very day, and the FBI itself is adding fuel to the fire, by deliberatly using common delaying and stonewalling tactics at any attempts to have any more documentation released through the FOIA process, on the basis of 'not being abe to locate them', as we can see from this exchange between muckrock.com (who do an amazing job in the public interest) and the FBI.
         

The final response to the FOIA request from the FBI on the Apollo Affair:

muckrock.com

In a Wikileaks Stratfor email leak, a link to a story about the incident is shared internally which includes information about new developments and fresh accusations, showing more evidence with documentation to prove Israeli involvement in the incicdent.

https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/20/202302_-mesa-israel-us-ct-israel-stole-uranium-from-u-s-report-will.html

The link to the story in the Stratfor email leads to the research conducted by Grant. F. Smith, the Director of the Institute of Research: Middle Eastern Policy, who has reasearched this and many other cases involving the Israeli states influence in American and Middle Eastern policy, and author of the book Divert! who appeared on a C-Span public broadscast, where he questioned a US nuclear safeguards expert on the alledged diversion incident of 1965.
         

Here is the short clip:

In a damning and comprehensive 62 page report released by the Government Accountability Office or GAO in 1978, it heavily criticises and squarely points the finger at the incompetencies and failures of the Intelligence communities to complete a full and comprehensive investigation into the incident.
         

Here are a few extracts from the report which I deem to be important to share within this article:

I think the publicly accessible information alone, is more than just circumstantial in this case. In fact this smells like a good old fashioned cover-up. As the saying goes, all roads lead to Rome....But in this case it seems, that all roads lead to Israel through it's Intelligence assets at home and abroad.

Follow the links within this article, to read in a lot more detail for yourself, and make up your own mind!

         
         
As always, have a great day and PEACE