Dealing With the Dear Leader
Ann Louise Bardach / NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL - 17/02/03

Rumsfeld sat on the board of directors of technology giant ABB who landed a $200 million contract to deliver two nuclear reactors to North Korea

Feb. 17 issue — Bush administration hard-liners have always taken a dim view of their predecessors’ handling of North Korea. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz has castigated the 1994 deal that promised Pyongyang two light-water nuclear reactors in exchange for a freeze of the North’s nuclear-weapons program.

BACK IN 1998 his current boss, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, chaired the Ballistic Missile Threat commission that also suggested the Clintonites had gotten a raw deal, judging that “North Korea maintains an active weapons of mass destruction program, including a nuclear weapons program.” week International February 17th Issue.

What no one noticed at the time was that Rumsfeld also sat on the board of directors of technology giant ABB. Two years later the company landed a $200 million contract to deliver the two nuclear reactors to North Korea, with Rummy still on the board. The company sold its nuclear division four months later to British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. for almost $500 million. Rumsfeld stepped down in February 2001 to join the cabinet.

Although the ABB reactors were sanctioned by the 1994 accord, “their waste material could be used for ‘dirty’ bombs,” says energy expert Anna Aurilio. Rumsfeld has long been adamant about not making concessions to the North. But when asked about the sale of the reactors, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clark said, “Secretary Rumsfeld does not recall it being brought before the board at any time.”

© 2003 Newsweek, Inc.

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