While the influencers fight to be known, who really influence the future of the planet, remain anonymous. An example of this is Stephen Joseph Lukasik, an American physicist, second director with more years in the position of DARPA (Agency for Advanced Defense Research Projects) and Leader of a study that analyzed how long it would take a billionaire to develop its own atomic bomb.
The study, funded by the Pentagon and focused on “dishonest businessmen, Analyze whether a private company or a wealthy entrepreneur could produce nuclear weapons. “
“We find out What would a private organization do if I wanted to build and sell nuclear weapons – Lukasik explained in An interview -. It turned out to be a fairly profitable business. ”
The study exposes in detail, including staffing, how could such a company operate. The study concluded that Producing the first bomb would require only an investment of one billion dollars and five years.
All analysis It was treated as if it were a legitimate business: establishing the best ways to avoid the detection of intelligence agencies regarding the initiative. A company, for example, would be in charge of the design of the centrifugators; Another would produce highly enriched uranium; A third would be in charge of chemical processing. A company could even work directly with a dishonest nuclear power.
If the idea of a private company financing weapons of mass destruction seems extreme, it must be remembered that even The Pentagon recognizes that Private capital is the main source of financing for key military technologies.
And the example that first arises in the popular imaginary is that of Elon Musk, a millionaire who controls technologies that have developed outside the federal contractslike its Starlink satellite network, which can change the course of wars.
Obviously, the report does not mention Musk or any other American businessman, but Brian Michael Jenkins, co -author of the study, said that A figure like Musk’s was precisely the type of scenario in mind when conducting the study.
The study itself consisted of monthly meetings at Lukasik’s house, on the outskirts of Washington DC Approximately 10 participants assumed the roles of two opposite forces: A red team, composed of nuclear entrepreneurs, and a blue team, which represented governments trying to detect and stop them.
Between meetings, the task of Investigate the technical and political problems that could allow the proliferation of a private nuclear program.
“My best friend was Alibaba’s website, because I can find anything in him, as massive nitric acid amounts”, Recalls Katie Leach, a chemistry to whom Lukasik recruited for the project.
Once the study was finished, Lukasik communicated the conclusions to the Pentagon, an agency that indicated that, While the report itself was not classified, “it contains sensitive material that limits its distribution.”
“I think that, in the years since its publication, nothing has happened that, in my opinion, reduces the probability of the study’s conclusions -concludes Jenkins -. In any case, If we talk about the privatization of war through intermediaries and private parts that can be denied, I think the trajectory supports that idea”