Countries of Proliferation Concern - Libya

For many years Libya was motivated to engage in aggressive pursuit of WMD in response to Israel's nuclear program and the nation's desire to assume a more prominent role in regional politics. Libya used chemical weapons in the 1987 conflict in Chad, and stockpiled nuclear weapons technology for many years. Once considered a serious danger to the Middle East because of its support of terrorist organizations and pursuit of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons, Libya took a dramatic turn in 2003. Following the fall of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime, Libya began to quietly negotiate with the United States and Britain to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons in exchange for normalized relations with the West. By December it had agreed to end all of its WMD programs and allow international inspectors into the country. As part of the agreement, Libya also agreed to eliminate ballistic missiles with a range over three hundred kilometers (186 miles), abide by the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) guidelines, and sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

According to Disarming Libya: Weapons of Mass Destruction (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, April 22, 2004), Libya's development of nuclear weapons was farther along than the United States or Britain had believed. Libya possessed a large number of centrifuges required to enrich uranium for weapons use as well as weapons design information. "The design closely resembles a 1960s vintage Chinese nuclear warhead," the report stated. In January 2004 it was revealed that both Libya and Iran had received nuclear development assistance from Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan's leading nuclear scientist. Destruction or removal of Libya's WMD capabilities began in January 2004 with the removal of 55,000 pounds of documents and components to the United States. In March 2004 more than a thousand tons of missile and centrifuge parts, missile launchers, and related equipment were shipped out.