For the first time since the end of the Cold War, the threat of nuclear annihilation is on the rise. Should such an assault occur, there is a strong likelihood that the trail of devastation will lead back to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani father of the Islamic bomb and the mastermind behind a vast clandestine enterprise that has sold nuclear secrets to Iran, North Korea, and Libya. Khan's loose-knit organization was and still may be a nuclear supermarket, selling weapons blueprints, parts, and the expertise to assemble the works into a do-it-yourself bomb kit. Amazingly, American authorities could have halted his operation, but they chose instead to watch and wait. Khan proved that the international safeguards the world relied on no longer worked.--From publisher description.

Originally published in hardback under the title: The nuclear jihadist. Twelve, 2007.

The smiling man -- An accidental opportunity -- The Muslim alliance -- Going home -- The Pakistani pipeline -- Double standards -- The road to Kahuta -- Operation butter factory -- Actionable intelligence -- A nuclear cowshed -- See no evil -- Crimes and cover-ups -- Nuclear ambiguity -- Man of the year -- One-stop shopping -- Wishful thinking -- Saddam's gambit -- Missed signals -- Nuclear nationalism -- More and more pieces -- A mysterious murder -- Inside the network -- Tightening the noose -- "With us or against us" -- Diplomatic chess -- Spy games -- The drowning man -- Checkbook proliferation -- Nuclear Wal-Mart -- Who's next?.