The depth and sophistication of the worldwide Islamic nuclear conspiracy supposedly headed by Abdul Qadeer Khan is incredibly frightening: U.S. Discusses Depth of Khan’s Nuclear Network.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — The black-market network of Pakistan’s top atomic scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, stretched across several continents, had active training programs and received $100 million from Libya for equipment and technology to make nuclear weapons, senior U.S. officials said Monday.

Operatives in at least a dozen countries manufactured, sold or transported nuclear components to Libya, Iran, North Korea and perhaps other nations as part of Khan’s enterprise in recent years, the officials said.

“Asia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East — it really did span the entire globe,” said one, who requested anonymity. “We were surprised by the quantity and how advanced it was.”

The disclosures marked the most comprehensive statements by senior Bush administration officials about the network run by Khan, the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear program. He is believed to have personally made millions of dollars from illicit sales of nuclear technology and components to rogue nations.

The officials spoke during a daylong media tour of the U.S. Energy Department’s top-secret Y-12 National Security Complex, which put on display 55,000 pounds of nuclear components surrendered by Libya in recent months, including centrifuges — used to enrich uranium — and other equipment allegedly supplied by Khan’s network.

It’s a very good thing that this conspiracy was broken open. But we’d have to be foolish in the extreme to believe that we’ve pulled it up by the roots, and can now stop worrying.

First, there is the simple question of how far the clandestine nuclear programs of other Arab states (Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the other Persian Gulf hangers-on) have gone.

And second, since we haven’t had access to Khan himself, and Pakistan is doing everything possible to obfuscate the investigation (e.g. pardoning Khan the day after his involvement was revealed), how do we know the conspiracy was actually shut down?