CRS reports Pakistan may have second-strike capability

A Congressional Research Service report says Pakistan may have developed a second-strike capability — and nuclear parity with India.  Facing a choice between redeploying its arsenal to multiple locations, as it did in 2001 as the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, or protecting them at a single location from insider theft, the report indicated Pakistan will move its weapons to underground, mobile or strategic locations. According to Michael Krepon of the Ploughshares-funded Stimson Center, “The guardians of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal currently sit on the horns of a dilemma: Consolidation of Pakistan’s nuclear assets would protect most effectively against insider threats, while dispersion of Pakistan’s nuclear assets would protect most effectively against pre-emption by external threats.”