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French Interior Minister Calls For Agency To Track Potential Biological Weapons Materials
French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin today called for creation of a U.N.-affiliated organization to track potential biowarfare agents and keep them away from terrorists, Reuters reported (see GSN, Feb. 23). “Why not create a joint database mapping sensitive labs, with an alert network for thefts, disappearances and suspect transactions, as well as a list of groups and individuals subject to special vigilance because they have tried to acquire sensitive materials,” he said during an Interpol bioterrorism conference in Lyon, France. Villepin did not propose giving inspection powers to such an agency, but said that biotechnology companies, laboratories, hospitals and universities need to better monitor themselves on issues of hiring, pathogen work and access to sensitive areas, according to Reuters. Interpol President Jackie Selebi warned of bioterror attacks on livestock or the food chain. “Major panic, temporary paralysis of government functions and private businesses and even civil disorder are all likely outcomes of a bioterrorism attack,” Selebi said. “In fact, bioterrorism appears particularly well suited to the small, well-informed groups. A bioterrorist’s lab could well be the size of a household kitchen and the weapon built there could be smaller than a toaster, and the range of options available to terrorists will continue to grow” (Mark Trevelyan, Reuters, March 1). “There is no criminal threat with greater potential danger to all countries, regions and people in the world than the threat of bioterrorism,” Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said at the conference. “There is no crime area where police have as little training than in preventing — or responding to — bioterrorist attacks.” He added that al-Qaeda wants to use biological and chemical weapons and has posted manufacturing instructions on the Internet, according to the Associated Press. “Terrorists do want to use biological weapons,” said Noble. “The threat is worthy of immediate preparation” (Associated Press, March 1). Al-Qaeda conducted biological warfare experiments in the Republic of Georgia, Villepin said, according to Interfax “Several al-Qaeda cells have been trained in Afghanistan where they have learned to use biological agents including anthrax, ricin and botulism toxins,” Villepin said. “Later, after the fall of the Taliban regime, those groups continued their experiments in the Pankisi Gorge, on the territory of Georgia, bordering Chechnya” (see GSN, May 5, 2004; Interfax/Mosnews.com, March 1). Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said he had no information on Villepin’s claim, according to Interfax. “Over the last year, no foreign secret service has given us information on terrorists in the Pankisi Gorge developing biological and chemical weapons,” he said (Interfax, March 1). More than 400 delegates — including scientists, police chiefs and experts — from about 120 countries are discussing bioterrorism and law enforcement preparedness during the two-day conference in Lyon, Agence France-Presse reported. Follow-up training workshops are scheduled for the end of this year in South Africa, and next year in Chile and China, according to AFP (Michel Moutot, Agence France-Presse, March 1). Meanwhile, Russian Federal Security Service Director Nikolai Patrushev today called for law enforcement and security agencies around the world to consolidate efforts at preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction, ITAR-Tass reported (Alexander Shashkov, ITAR-Tass, March 1). Patrushev spoke at the fourth international conference of heads of security services held in Novosibirsk, which includes representatives from the former Soviet Union, the Group of Eight world’s leading industrial nations, the European Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, according to RIA Novosti (RIA Novosti/BBC Monitoring, March 1).
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