The CIA Insider Who Tried to Stop A.Q. Khan’s Nuclear Empire | Richard Barlow

Wikipedia:

Richard Barlow is an American intelligence analyst and a former expert in nuclear non-proliferation for the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Defense. He lost his job and was subjected to a campaign of persecution and intimidation after he expressed concern to his managers in the US Department of Defense over testimony to congress that he believed to be false about Pakistan’s nuclear weapon program during the presidency of George H. W. Bush. Since then, he has had occasional contract work for various federal agencies including the CIA, the State Department, the FBI and Sandia National Laboratories. In 2013 he had been unemployed since 2004 when his job at Sandia had been eliminated. “If they had busted those [Pakistani] networks,” he told journalist Jeff Stein, “Iran would have no nuclear program, North Korea wouldn’t have a uranium bomb, and Pakistan wouldn’t have over a hundred nuclear weapons they are driving around in vans to hide from us.”

. . .Barlow is not a whistleblower in the traditional sense, because he did not release classified information to the public. Instead, he lawfully disclosed in a classified briefing to a committee of the US Congress information that his management did not want shared with Congress. Because of his lawful and protected disclosures, he was fired for asking his managers to correct the record when blatantly false statements had been made to Congress.

. . .Following congressionally ordered investigations, the inspector general at the State Department concluded that Barlow had been fired as a reprisal. However, the inspectors general at the CIA and the Defense Department stated that the Pentagon was within its rights to fire Barlow. A final investigation by Congress’ own Government Accountability Office was completed in 1997 and “largely vindicated” Barlow, who had his security clearance restored. During the investigation, the State department inspector-general, Sherman Funk, described Barlow as “one of the most brilliant analysts I’ve ever seen”.

. . .The activities of the Defense Department officials, however, including Cheney, Libby, Wolfowitz and Hadley, were never investigated. Rep. Stephen Solarz, a major player in counter-proliferation, told Seymour Hersh for the latter’s famous exposé of the Pakistani nuclear program that “If what Barlow says is true, this would have been a major scandal of Iran-Contra proportions, and the officials involved would have had to resign. We’re not dealing with minor matters. Stopping the spread of nuclear weapons is one of the major foreign-policy issues of the nation—not to mention the law of the land.”

Barlow, however, was unable to find employment after his clearance was removed and marriage broke up. “They viciously tried to destroy my life, personally and professionally” he is quoted as saying. “Not just my career, but they went after my marriage, my livelihood, and smeared my name in truly extraordinary ways that no one had ever seen before or since—at least not until the Wilsons were victims of the same people years later.” According to Barlow the allegations included the “fabrication” that he “was an ‘intended’ Congressional spy”, that he was an alcoholic, had not paid his taxes, and was an adulterer. “Then they accused me of being psychotic and used that to invade my marital privacy, including that of my now ex-wife who also worked at the CIA, and sought to destroy my marriage as punishment.”

Video Title: The CIA Insider Who Tried to Stop A.Q. Khan’s Nuclear Empire | Richard Barlow. Source: ANI News. Date Published: November 7, 2025.