美国怀疑以色列与60年代铀失窃案有关

Declassified documents from the 1970s provide new evidence that federal officials believed bomb-grade uranium that disappeared from a Pennsylvania nuclear facility in the 1960s was likely taken for use in a clandestine Israeli atomic-weapons program.

20世纪70年代的解密文件提供了新的证据，表明美国联邦官员相信，上世纪60年代在美国宾夕法尼亚州核设施丢失的核弹级铀很可能被用于以色列的秘密原子武器计划。

The documents, obtained earlier this year through public-records requests by a Washington-based nonprofit group, also indicate that senior officials wanted to keep the matter under wraps for fear it could undermine U.S. Middle East peace efforts.

这些文件还显示，高层官员希望将此事保密，因为他们担心这可能会破坏美国促进中东和平的努力。这批文件是华盛顿的一个非营利组织今年早些时候通过请求披露公共档案获得的。

Though the Central Intelligence Agency's case for the suspected theft wasn't conclusive, it was sufficiently persuasive that 'I do not think that the President has plausible deniability' regarding the question, said a memo dated July 28, 1977, by a National Security Council staffer in President Jimmy Carter's administration.

美国前总统卡特(Jimmy Carter)执政时期的美国国家安全委员会一位工作人员在日期为1977年7月28日的一份备忘录中称：美国中央情报局(Central Intelligence Agency, 简称CIA)对这起疑似盗窃案并无最终定论，但足以使我认为总统并没有在这个问题上进行巧妙的推诿。

A security council memo to Mr. Carter a few days later expressed more uncertainty about whether a theft had occurred, but noted that then-Secretary of State Cyrus Vance had a coming Middle East trip and discussed the need to keep attention 'away from the CIA's information.'

美国国家安全委员会在几天后提交给卡特的备忘录中表达了更多对于是否已发生盗窃的不确定，但表示时任国务卿万斯(Cyrus Vance)即将访问中东，并提出有必要将注意力从CIA的情报上转移。

The question of whether one of America's closest allies was involved in the theft of some of its most valuable and dangerous material in pursuit of nuclear weapons has been one of the enduring mysteries of the atomic age. The suspected theft has drawn the attention of at least three presidents and other senior government officials.

作为美国最亲密的盟友之一，以色列是否参与了盗取美国最有价值、最危险的某些材料用于制造核武器，这个问题一直是原子时代的未解之谜。以色列盗铀的嫌疑引起了至少三位总统和其他政府高官的注意。

The evidence suggested that 'something did transpire,' said Zbigniew Brzezinski, Mr. Carter's national-security adviser, in a recent interview. 'But until you have conclusive evidence you don't want to make an international incident. This is a potentially very explosive, controversial issue.'

卡特的国家安全顾问布热津斯基(Zbigniew Brzezinski)近期接受采访时说，有证据表明，某些东西确实消失不见了；但在掌握决定性证据之前，美国并不想引发国际事件。他说，这有可能会是一个极具爆炸性、争议性的事件。

Besides, he added, 'What are we going to say to the Israelis, 'Give it back?' '

他还说，美国人应该怎么跟以色列人说呢？“把美国的东西还回来”？

Israel has never said whether it has nuclear weapons. A spokeswoman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., declined to comment for this article.

以色列从没有表示过是否拥有核武器。以色列驻华盛顿大使馆发言人也拒绝就本文发表置评。

So did a spokeswoman for the Obama administration, which like past U.S. administrations has declined to say whether it believes Israel has an atomic arsenal. A CIA spokesman also declined to comment.

奥巴马政府发言人同样不愿置评。过去的几届政府也是一样，都不愿评述是否认为以色列掌握了原子武器。CIA发言人也不予置评。

Mr. Carter, who said at a 2008 gathering in Britain that he believes Israel has nuclear weapons, declined through a spokeswoman to be interviewed.

卡特通过发言人表示不愿就此接受采访。2008年，卡特曾经在英国一次会议上说，他坚信以色列拥有核武器。

His diplomatic efforts as president, which helped produce a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in 1979, likely wouldn't have been possible 'if there was some huge scandal at the time about this,' said John Marcum, the staffer who wrote the July 28, 1977, memo, in a recent interview.

卡特在任职总统期间的外交努力促成以色列与埃及在1979年达成了和平条约。但撰写1977年7月28日备忘录的工作人员马库姆(John Marcum)在近期一次采访中称，如果当时有关此事的某个重大丑闻被曝光，卡特可能就不会作出上述努力。

The theft suspicions surround events at a now-dismantled facility in Apollo, Pa., owned by a company called Nuclear Materials & Equipment Corp., or Numec. In the mid-1960s, some 200 pounds of bomb-grade uranium--enough possibly for several Hiroshima-sized bombs--couldn't be accounted for there.

疑似的盗铀事件发生在一家名为Nuclear Materials & Equipment Corp.（简称Numec）的公司在宾夕法尼亚州阿波罗一处现已被拆除的设施内。上世纪60年代中期，约200磅核弹级铀材料在这里莫名失踪，如此大量的铀足以生产好几枚爆炸威力堪比广岛事件的核弹。

An FBI investigation began in the late 1960s, which drew interest from top Nixon administration officials, including the president, couldn't determine what happened to the uranium, according to Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agency documents. But FBI officials did raise questions about suspected dealings between Numec's founder and president, Zalman Shapiro, and Israeli intelligence officials, according to government documents. Babcock & Wilcox Co., a nuclear-technology company that acquired Numec in 1971, declined to comment.

根据美国联邦调查局(FBI)等机构档案，60年代末FBI开始对此事进行调查，并受到了尼克松(Richard Nixon)政府高级官员及总统本人的关注，但调查无法判定核材料究竟为何失踪。据政府档案，FBI官员的确怀疑Numec创始人兼总裁夏皮罗(Zalman Shapiro)可能与以色列情报官员进行了交易。在1971年收购了Numec的Babcock & Wilcox Co.拒绝就此置评。

In an interview late last year, the 93-year-old Mr. Shapiro said that no theft took place. He said his dealings with Israel, where Numec had commercial activities, were legitimate and to his knowledge never involved intelligence officials.

93岁的夏皮罗在去年底的一次采访中称没有发生盗窃事件。他说，他与以色列的交易是正当的，且据他所知从未有情报官员参与其中。Numec曾在以色列有商业活动。

Potentially crucial sections of the recently released documents--obtained by the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy, an organization that has been critical of Israel--remain classified.

最近公布的文件中具有潜在重要性的部分仍属机密。这些文件被一直以来批评以色列的组织Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy获得。

The latest document release underscores the need for the government to declassify the remaining information about the suspected theft, some former federal officials say.

一些前联邦官员称，这次的文件公布凸显出政府有必要解密有关被指失窃案的剩余信息。

'We know the CIA thought the material was stolen. We want to know why they thought that,' says Victor Gilinsky, a former commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

核能管制委员会(Nuclear Regulatory Commission)前专员吉林斯基(Victor Gilinsky)说：“我们知道中央情报局以为材料被偷了，我们想弄清他们为何这样认为。”

Government records show that a federal nuclear-enrichment facility in Ohio sent shipments to Numec containing the highest percentage of U235, the explosive form of uranium, ever known to have been produced, said Roger Mattson, another former NRC official.

另外一位核能管制委员会前官员马特森(Roger Mattson)称，政府记录显示，俄亥俄州的一个联邦核浓缩设施向Numec发送了含有迄今为止已知生产出来的最高浓度铀235的货物。铀235是爆炸性的铀。

Did the CIA later find that such uranium had turned up in Israel, as some documentary evidence suggests? 'That's not something that's declassified,' said Jessica Tuchman Mathews, a national-security official in the Carter administration who wrote or received some of the recently declassified documents.

中央情报局后来是否发现这些铀最终落入以色列之手，就像一些文档证据所显示的？卡特政府时期的国家安全官员马修斯(Jessica Tuchman Mathews)称，这部分文件还没有解密。马修斯曾撰写或接到最近解密的部分文件。