-------------------------------------------------------------
The Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) and the
diversion of US government weapons-grade uranium to Israel
On September 10, 1968 NUMEC receives a key coordinator of Israel's
clandestine nuclear weapons program
(Avraham Hermoni) and three undercover Israeli intelligence
operatives. NUMEC tells the Atomic Energy
Commission the Israeli visitors are energy specialists.
Documents
Since the mid-1960s law enforcement and regulatory agencies suspected
a small nuclear processing facility in Pennsylvania had illegally
diverted U.S. government-owned weapons-grade nuclear material into
Israel's clandestine nuclear weapons program. The Nuclear Materials
and Equipment Corporation received start-up capital organized by a
mysterious former smuggler with deep and ongoing ties to Israeli
intelligence. FBI investigations revealed NUMEC President Zalman
Mordecai Shapiro also had repeated unexplained interactions with
Israeli intelligence and organized a joint venture with the primary
front organization of the Israeli nuclear weapons program. According
to a 2001 US Department of Energy report, NUMEC still holds the record
for the highest losses of bomb-grade material of any plant in the
United States.
In April 1976 Attorney General Edward Levi ordered the FBI to reopen
an investigation into Dr. Zalman Shapiro and the Nuclear Materials and
Equipment Corporation (NUMEC). The newly reopened investigation looked
beyond violations of the Atomic Energy Act. The FBI's new mandate was
to also uncover "any attempt by anyone in the executive branch to
prevent or impede an investigation into this alleged diversion, or to
withhold any information regarding this alleged diversion from any
investigative body." The FBI code-named its investigation "DIVERT."
The FBI interrogated high-level officials from U.S. government
agencies and NUMEC employee eyewitnesses to nuclear diversion.
Inexplicably, on January 23, 1981 the FBI placed the NUMEC
investigation into "closed status" until further instructions from the
Department of Justice. Field offices were ordered not to destroy
files without instructions from FBI headquarters. The NUMEC
investigation portfolio, which had passed from LBJ, to Nixon, and on
to Ford was closed at the end of the Carter administration.
Document/PDF Contents
Articles of Incorporation
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
490 KB, 8 pages NUMEC is incorporated on December 31, 1956 in the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by Zalman M. Shapiro (Nautilus nuclear
submarine program chemist, Zionist Organization of America
Pennsylvania chapter president), Leonard Pepkowtiz (Manhattan Project
weapons physicist) and Frederick Foerscher.
Articles of Merger
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
219 KB, 25 pages Apollo Industries holding company created on March 1,
1958 out of merger of three defunct companies: Apollo Steel Company,
American Nut and Bolt Fastener Company and San Toy Mining Company.
Apollo Industry directors included Ivan J. Novick (future ZOA
president) ,David Lowenthal (refugee smuggler who also fought in
Israel), Zalman Shapiro (NUMEC president, ZOA chapter president), and
Elliott W. Finkel (former DOJ attorney dismissed over conflicts of
interest).
NUMEC_1966
Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation
6.1 MB, 62 pages Company calendar listing NUMEC's services.
071967_Atantic_Richfield
Hanford
135 KB, 2 pages The Atomic Energy Commission gives Atlantic Richfield
at $30 million/year contract to manage Hanford facilities if it buys
and takes over NUMEC. Pages extracted from cost-plus operating
contract.
1091168-000-117-2564 Section 1
FBI
2.2 MB, 45 pages
Section 1 - Zalman Shapiro investigated by the FBI for potential
Foreign Agents Registration Act after 61 kilograms of U-235 are
discovered missing from the Nuclear Materials and Equipment
Corporation. FBI establishes surveillance of Shapiro in 1968. Nature
of David Lowenthal's relationship and financing of NUMEC discovered.
David Lowenthal observed in photos "shaking hands with Ben-Gurion and
Moshe Dayan" and "reportedly fought for Israel as a freedom fighter in
1956 and travels to Israel on the average of approximately once per
month." NUMEC's founders, security clearances, shipment of 320 grams
of plutonium to Israel in 1963, censored files.
1091168-000-117-2564 Section 2
FBI
728 KB, 11 pages On September 6, 1968, the US attorney general
requests investigation "whether the subject is acting as an agent of
the Israeli Government." September 6, 1968 NUMEC request for visit of
Avraham Hermoni (Israeli nuclear weapons chief), Ephraim Biegun,
Avraham Bendor, and Rafael Eitan (founder of LAKAM economic espionage
network). The intelligence operatives enter under the cover of being
"thermo electric generator specialists."
1091168-000-117-2564 Section 3
FBI
35 KB, 1 page Censored content.
1091168-000-117-2564 Section 1 (830179)
FBI
3.2 MB, 56 pages FBI initiates physical and wiretap surveillance of
Zalman Shapiro on November 5, 1968. "We are investigating Shapiro to
determine extent of his relations with Israeli government. As head of
Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation, Apollo, Pennsylvania,
which processes uranium-235 for nuclear reactors, Shapiro has access
to atomic energy material which could be most helpful to the
Israelis...subject has been in contact on two occasions with Dr.
Avraham Hermoni, Scientific Counselor, Israeli Embassy, Washington
D.C., and Israeli intelligence agent. Source has also disclosed
contacts with a senior official of Israeli military intelligence,
individuals associated with Israeli Atomic Energy Commission and
member of Israeli Internal Security Service...he is considering
settling permanently in that country and, if necessary, would fight
for Israel..." "Investigation has further disclosed that subject and
others involved in instant case, in addition to holding top positions
in their respective fields, are very active and highly regarded in
various Jewish organizations which exert some influence in this
country...." "It is considered opinion of person familiar with this
case that an interview with subject and/or others intimately involved
in this case would develop very little pertinent information..."
"Attorney General under date of 3/28/1969 approved our request for
continuation of Electronic Surveillance for a period of three months
effective 4/1/1969. Wiretap summaries. Atomic Energy Commission
interview of Shapiro on August 14, 1969. Discussion of 1968 Hermoni
meeting in Shapiro's home, clandestine Shapiro meeting with Israeli
intelligence agent in Pittsburgh airport. "Only when we confronted
with the fact that we were aware of the meeting did he admit to such a
meeting had taken place and his explanation that the purpose of the
meeting had been to discuss payment of a bill and other commercial
matters did not appear to be completely candid..."
Wiretap
FBI
362 KB, 11 pages May 5, 1969 FBI wiretap of a radioactive spill at
NUMEC caused by improper storage.
"9:18 p.m.: CENSORED reported on a spillage at the plant. They have
the area roped off and it will take some pick and shovel work to dig
up the contaminated areas. CENSORED said they are getting 100,000
counts. CENSORED said, “Oh, God.” They are dampening it down to avoid
dust and will cover it if it looks like it may rain. CENSORED asked if
there is anything on AAI? …
9:20 p.m.: CENSORED said that he heard that American Instrument
Company [is] up for sale. He said he heard this from the former sales
manager."
A phone call placed just two minutes after the first confirms that:
"it’s not only a bad spill but “actually they are operating outside
compliance.” They had the drums all together. They have about 200
drums and estimate that about six a day will corrode through. The
trouble lay with a fluoride which was put in to help the decay, and
this was not checked. CENSORED said they are also about $230,000 over
on their construction costs for the scrap plant. Z [Zalman Shapiro]
said if they could get other people, there would be a lot of firing."
1091168-000-117-2564 Section 4
FBI
6.3 MB, 95 pages January 20, 1969 FBI report on Shapiro meetings with
Hermoni to coordinate a plutonium purchase, Shapiro requests to AEC
about availability of plutonium (does not mention Israel as
destination). AEC Commission Glenn Seaborg approves sales "Criticality
is the only concern in terms of the amount of plutonium 238 that can
be used in any particular device." Details of NUMEC trying to obtain
US government equipment for free by falsely claiming it is
contaminated. Zalman Shapiro discusses settling in Israel. NUMEC
discovered to be an agent of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, and have
a joint venture with the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, the cover
organization for Israel's nuclear weapons program. Shapiro concerned
US will not sell fighter jets to Israel. FBI source speculates that
U-235 could have been shipped to Israel within food irradiator units
with "no questions asked." NUMEC catalog of irradiators. In February
of 1969, FBI reviews NUMEC's classified contracts with the US
government. NUMEC attempts to hire AEC or "other government agencies"
employees. Secret Service warned on February 18, 1969 that Shapiro
"under active investigation as member of other group or organization
inimical to the U.S." February 16, 1968 report of Shapiro hosting a
meeting in his home "with Avraham Hermoni, Scientific Counselor,
Israeli Embassy, and ten other men who have special skills and
knowledge in scientific and technical fields on 11/4/1968. This
meeting was held to assist Hermoni in gathering necessary data in
these areas for Israel." Shapiro discusses obtaining plutonium 238
with Colonel Avraham Eylonie. Shapiro meets with Israeli defense
minister at the Israeli embassy on November 26, 1969 before leaving
for Israel between November 28 and December 12, 1968. Profiles of
NUMEC executives. Summary of 1965 Foreign Agents Registration Act
investigation of Shapiro. June 21, 1966 FBI interview of Shapiro.
NUMEC employee interviews
1091168-000-117-2564 Section 5
FBI
3.1 MB, 39 pages Zalman Shapiro listed in "Security Index" because he
"continues to solicit information of Israeli scientific [censored]
personnel." NUMEC selected in 1964 to run "free world's only full-
scale production boron isotope facility" in Niagara [Lewiston], NY.
Shapiro assisting in a secret converter "British Project." Supermarket
advertiser Frank Noll writes "Dr. X" story about Shapiro working in
Israeli nuclear weapons program.
07191969
Nixon Presidential Library
973 KB, 18 pages July, 1969 Henry Kissinger strategy document about
what stance to take about the Israeli nuclear weapons program. "There
is circumstantial evidence that some fissionable material available
for Israel's weapons development was illegally obtained from the
United States by about 1965." Justification for "ambiguity" stance.
1091168-000-117-2564 Section 6
FBI
1 MB, 26 pages Illegible files. September 3, 1969 FBI director memo
to AEC and DOJ about August 1969 AEC interview of Zalman Shapiro. "The
basis of the security risk posed by the subject lies in his continuing
access to sensitive information and material and it is believed that
the effective way to counter this risk would be to preclude Shapiro
from such access, specifically by terminating his classified contracts
and lifting his security clearances. AEC security statement that
Shapiro has "knowingly established an association with individuals
reliably reported as suspected of espionage." "It was reported in
1961 that Dr. Abraham Hermoni was a member of the Israeli Intelligence
Service; that in 1963 Dr. Hermoni was known to be engaged in the
establishment of a technical intelligence network in the United
States, and that prior to his assignment as Scientific Counselor of
the Israeli Embassy, Washington, D.C. he was intimately connected with
Israeli efforts to develop nuclear weapons in his capacity as
Technical Director, Armament Development Authority, Ministry of
Defense." On November 4, 1970, the FBI notes that Shapiro has taken a
job at Kawecki Berylco Industries, and "holds a 'Secret' clearance
which was transferred to that facility by the Defense Supply
Agency..." Note "Shapiro has been alleged to have furnished
information to Israeli Government in the past regarding nuclear
developments via Israeli Embassy officials interested in this field
for the benefit of Israeli defense efforts. He is carried on the
Security Index by Pittsburgh due to his activities. He has recently
acquired a new and sensitive position with a nuclear development
company in Pennsylvania...classified 'Secret' since it sets forth
information from [censored] Army communications similarly classified."
09031969
Gerald Ford Presidential Library
332 KB, 6 pages September 3, 1969 FBI Director memo to CIA Director.
"The basis of the security risk posed by the subject lies in his
continuing access to sensitive information and material and it is
believed the only effective way to counter this risk would be to
preclude Shapiro from access, specifically by terminating his
classified contracts and lifting his security clearances..."
1091168-000-117-2564 Section 7
FBI
5.9 MB, 136 pages FBI interviews Kanwecki Berylco Industry executive
on March 4, 1971 about Zalman Shapiro's attempts to obtain classified
information without proper security clearance. Joint Committee on
Atomic Energy attempts to obtain FBI files "concerning Shapiro or any
of his associates or acquaintances who could be involved in
intelligence or diversion of nuclear material activities on behalf of
a foreign government." in May of 1976. FBI offers a summary, but
states that attorney general would have to approve file release.
April 22, 1976 summary of FBI investigations of NUMEC for special
nuclear materials loss. On May 14, 1976 US attorney general orders an
FBI investigation "be conducted to determine whether or not a
diversion of nuclear material had occurred at the Nuclear Materials
and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC), Apollo, Pennsylvania, partially
owned and operated by the subject, and if this diversion had been to
the benefit of the Government of Israel" and "Obstruction of
Justice." Attorney General provides list of Atomic Energy Commission
executives to interview. Fully and partially censored FBI interview
records. 1976 investigation captioned "DIVERT." List of NUMEC
executives to interview.
12071977
Jimmy Carter Presidential Library
146 KB, 2 pages December 7, 1977 Memo to Zbigniew Brezinski about
Congressional investigation of NUMEC. "Dingell's pursuit of the
question of whether the CIA withheld information from other agencies
strikes me as potentially dangerous..."
1091168-000-117-2564 Section 8
FBI
625 KB, 8 pages June 27, 1977 FBI interview of Zalman Shapiro.
"..Shapiro voiced certain reservations relative to its purpose and was
concerned that display of the form implied certain unlawful acts on
his part." "Shapiro emphasized that the matter of significant
diversion of special nuclear material at NUMEC was out of the question
and added that Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) officials had, in fact,
assured him personally that NUMEC MUF compared favorably with MUF
experienced throughout the rest of the industry."
021978
Inquiry into the Testimony of the Executive Director for Operations
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Page accidently released to NRDC
3.5 MB, 3 pages Classified summary of CIA Directorate of Operations
briefing to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission about NUMEC diversion
accidentally released to the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Mr.
Duckett raised the question of whether the U.S. had intentiona1ly
allowed material to go to Israel. He said that if any such scheme was
under consideration, he would have known about it and he never heard
so much as a rumor about this. He, therefore, does not believe there
is any substance to this allegation. In support of this view, he
related that CIA had drafted a National Intelligence Estimate on
Israel's nuclear capability in 1968. It it was the conclusion that
the Israelis had nuclear weapons. He showed it to Mr. Helms. Helms
told him not to publish it and he would take it up with President
Johnson. Mr. Helms later related that he had spoken to the president,
that the President was concerned, and that he had said, 'Don't tell
anyone else, even Dean Rusk and Robert McNamara."
06211978
Glenn T. Seaborg Papers
Library of Congress
482 KB, 1 page Glenn Seaborg office diary. On June 21, 1978
Department of Energy investigators Bill Knauf and Jim Anderson visit
former Atomic Energy Commissioner Glenn T. Seaborg. They tell Seaborg
that traces of Portsmouth U-235 (the government-owned material
primarily delivered to NUMEC for processing into fuel) had been picked
up in Israel. On March 3, 1979 Seaborg refuses to be interviewed by
FBI investigators.
Archive A 1978 General Accounting Office study concludes that the US
government never credibly investigated the NUMEC diversion and
documents FBI and CIA refusal to cooperate..
12121978
Morris K. Udall Papers at the University of Arizona
4.2 MB, 119 pages Transcript of December 21, 1978 Congressional
Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs interview of Zalman Shapiro.
"We know now that as far back as 1966, at least one staff member of
the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy questioned the propriety of then
AEC Chairman Seaborg having testified that he thought that " there has
not been any material diverted from peaceful to military uses." We
know also that in December 1971, William Riley, former director of AEC
security, wrote in a memorandum that Dr. Shapiro reported to Riley
that he (Dr. Shapiro) had been told by officials of the government of
Israel that an unnamed AEC Commissioner had suggested to
representatives of a foreign government that Dr. Shapiro had been
involved in diversion of materials to the Israelis..."
02281979
Jimmy Carter Presidential Library
145 KB, 3 pages Confidential letter from Deputy Attorney General
Benjamin Civiletti to President Jimmy Carter about how after the GAO
report about NUMEC the US would "establish a plan for coordinated
interagency action to detect and investigate the theft or diversion of
nuclear material in the future."
11271979
Jimmy Carter Presidential Library
107 KB, 2 pages Staffer Jerry Oplinger asks National Security Advisor
Zbigniew Brezinski for permission to show Senator John Glenn a top
secret memorandum about "missing material from the NUMEC plant in
Apollo, PA." Brezinski formally disapproves, telling Oplinger to
"Brief him [Senator Glenn] orally."
1091168-000-117-2564 Section 10
FBI
3.9 MB, 54 pages March 28, 1980 interviews with NRC officials reveal a
former NUMEC employee eyewitness to diversion. FBI NUMEC truck driver
interview. FBI NUMEC shipping clerk interview. March 24, 1980 FBI
Ammonator interview. "he then noticed the NUMEC owner, Dr. Zalman
Shapiro, pacing around the loading dock while [censored] (shipping and
receiving foreman) and [censored] (truck driver for NUMEC) were
loading 'stove pipes' into the steel cabinet type equipment that he
observed on the truck...the 'stove pipes' are cylindrical storage
containers used to store canisters of high enriched materials in the
vaults located at the Apollo nuclear facility...the 'stove pipes'
contained three or four canisters which were described as highly
polished aluminum with standard printed square yellow labels,
approximately three inches in diameter by six inches tall, that
normally were used to store high enriched uranium products...defined
as 95 percent uranium." January 15, 1981 former NUMEC employee
interview.
Archive Zalman Shapiro seeks exoneration from the NRC assisted by
Israel's longest registered foreign agent law firm in Washington DC
with assistance from Senator Arlen Spector. The NRC refuses to clear
Shapiro or NUMEC over the U-235 losses.
New Book
Divert!: NUMEC, Zalman Shapiro and the diversion of US weapons grade
uranium into the Israeli nuclear weapons program
Based on an exhaustive review of formerly classified government
documents-as well as previously unexplored corporate filings, office
diaries and unguarded interviews-Grant F. Smith has written a riveting
story of the 1960s diversion of US weapons-grade nuclear material from
an Israeli front company in Pennsylvania into the clandestine Israeli
atomic weapons program. The talented but highly conflicted founder of
the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC)-Dr. Zalman
Mordecai Shapiro alongside his close friend and financial backer David
Lowenthal-engaged in a ferocious clandestine drive to funnel the most
valuable military material on earth that forever tilted the balance of
power between Israel and the world. Divert! chronicles Zalman
Shapiro's journey from crafting ingenious innovations for the Nautilus
nuclear submarine in the 1950s to his costly pursuit of America's most
advanced hydrogen bomb designs in the 1970s. Tasked during secret
summits with high-level Israeli intelligence agents, guided by
Israel's top nuclear arms designers, and defended by Israel and its US
lobby, Shapiro and NUMEC drove the CIA and FBI from furious outrage to
despair. Presidents from LBJ to Jimmy Carter secretly grappled with
how to respond to Israel's brazen theft of American nuclear material
before finally deciding to bury the entire affair in classified files.
But NUMEC's toxic secrets have refused to be buried alive. Newly
declassified wiretaps have risen from the grave, detailing Shapiro's
utter contempt for worker and nuclear safety. David Lowenthal's role
as an international refugee smuggler between the US, Europe and Israel-
before organizing financing for NUMEC-is placed under new scrutiny.
This explosive story emerges even as the US Army Corps of Engineers
struggles to quietly clean NUMEC's toxic waste near Apollo,
Pennsylvania with $170 million in taxpayer funding. At a time when
America is coming under intense pressure to attack on the mere
suspicion that Iran is diverting nuclear material, Divert! stands as
the ultimate cautionary tale of how US Middle East policy is
continually undermined from within by corruption, immunity, deceit and
unwarranted secrecy. Paperback and Kindle.