Nuclear Triggers

Krytrons resemble old-style radio tubes. The 1-in. by 2-in. glass-and-wire devices, which sell for about $75 each, are high-speed electronic switches that were developed in the 1940s and used in early office copiers. They are still used in weapons research and as timing mechanisms in firing medical lasers. But more ominously, they can act as triggers for nuclear explosions.

Last week a federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted Richard Kelly Smyth, a California electrical engineer, on charges of illegally shipping 8,100 Krytrons to Israel without a required Government export license. The case is the result of a two-year U.S. Customs Service investigation called Operation Exodus, designed to stop the flow of military and high-tech equipment from the U.S. Smyth, 55, the owner of a small electronics consulting firm in Huntington Beach, is also charged with lying to authorities by falsely labeling the Krytrons "G-Dest," a term for general-destination, no-license- required goods, or "pentodes," which are used as voltage amplifiers. The Krytrons, shipped to Israel in packages of ten to 100 between 1980 and 1982, apparently were never inspected by customs officials.

The Israeli government, which is widely presumed to have the ability to manufacture nuclear weapons, acknowledged that it has the Krytrons and offered to return any unused tubes to the U.S. A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Ministry said none of the Krytrons had been exported to a third country, and all were used for nonnuclear defense-industry research. However, Israeli and American sources in Washington say that the Krytrons were purchased for Israel's Bureau for Scientific Coordination, an innocuously titled office that runs the country's nuclear-weapons programs.

+ When the Israelis were first informed of the investigation by Assistant Secretary of State Richard W. Murphy earlier this year, they apparently were not aware of the export licensing requirements for Krytrons. Prime Minister Shimon Peres last week told a U.S. television interviewer that Israel's close relationship with the U.S. obviates any need to smuggle out sensitive technology. Israeli officials at first did not seem to appreciate U.S. concern about the problem. Federal prosecutors say the Israelis were recalcitrant in the early stages of the investigation but later became considerably more cooperative. State Department officials said last week that with Smyth's indictment the U.S. considers the matter resolved.

Smyth, who has been in Europe, is expected to return to Los Angeles next week. His lawyer claims that the engineer was "nothing more than a middleman" who was carelessly unaware of the restrictions on Krytron exports.