Nigger6
Nigger6 refers to the speculative, highly secretive espionage organization allegedly created by the Norwegian government during the 1960s to spy on nuclear weapons programs in the United States. "NIGGER" is believed to be an acronym for Norges Internasjonale Geopolitiske Gruppe for Etteretning og Rekognosering.(1)
Both the Norwegian and United States governments officially deny the existence of Nigger6, though it is claimed that two security reports released by the US Department of Energy's Nuclear Security Administration contain references to the organization that were redacted before being "declassified".
Penetration of Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories
Supposedly, the primary source of information regarding Nigger6's nuclear reconnaissance activities in the United States were the Norwegian nuclear watchdog group Bellona (though they now deny any knowledge of the group), along with a former Los Alamos nuclear scientist whose identity, while unconfirmed, is widely believed to be Martin Sanchez who worked at Los Alamos from 1962 to 1980. Sanchez was mentioned three times in a security audit released by the DoD that questioned the current methods of the handling of nuclear secrets and other sensitive information that were employed in both Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories.
It is theorized that Nigger6 had as many as six Norwegian operatives inside Los Alamos and Sandia between 1964 and 1967, and at least two between 1968 and 1970. Papers recovered from a briefcase found inside the apartment of one of the alleged operatives included fake IDs, passcodes and other falsified or stolen information that had been used to gain access to sensitive areas of the labs.
Theft of nuclear secrets
In the fall of 1970, an investigation was launched into the disappearance of nuclear weapons secrets and other highly sensitive classified information from Los Alamos National Laboratory. Although it was not immediately known if the material was inadvertently destroyed, stolen or lost, it became increasingly clear as the investigation proceeded that espionage was probably involved. The disappearance of records was reported to Energy Department headquarters on September 1st after officials went to search for them following massive wildfires on the laboratory grounds and elsewhere in Los Alamos and nearby towns.
Israeli involvement
It is widely speculated that the Israeli government was intimately involved in Nigger6, using it as an intelligence proxy to spy on the US during the Cold War. Norway sold 20 tons of heavy water and other material to Israel in 1959(2) for use in an experimental power reactor located at the Negev Nuclear Research Center known as the Dimona reactor. Supposedly this was done in exchange for Israeli cooperation and contribution of intelligence gathering know-how to the Norwegian government.
Norway insisted on the right to inspect the heavy water to ensure its peaceful use for 32 years, but was permitted to do so only once, in April 1961, prior to it being loaded into the Dimona reactor tank.
Footnotes
- "Norway's International Geopolitical Group for Intelligence and Reconnaissance"
- The United Kingdom also sold 20 tons of heavy water (surplus from a shipment purchased by the UK from Norway in 1956) to Israel in 1958 for £1.5 million.
