International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said yesterday that recent Libyan nuclear disclosures showed that Tripoli had breached the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (AFP photo/Libyan TV). U.S. to Aid Libyan WMD Program Dismantlement The United States plans to assist Libya’s stated intention to dismantle its WMD programs, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Dec. 29)...Full Story

Washington Reviewing Policy Toward Iran After recent “encouraging” moves from Iran, the United States is considering opening a dialogue with Tehran, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 19)...Full Story

United States Concerned About Pakistani Nuclear Stockpile The United States is exploring whether to revive an initiative to help Pakistan secure its nuclear arsenal, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Sept. 29)...Full Story

	Tuesday, December 30, 2003

U.S. to Aid Libyan WMD Program Dismantlement The United States plans to assist Libya’s stated intention to dismantle its WMD programs, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Dec. 29). According to a senior Bush administration official, the United States plans to send an initial team of technical experts to Libya next month. The team is also expected to include British experts, the Post reported (Daniel Williams, Washington Post, Dec. 30). U.S. and British intelligence services believe that Libya has at least 11 sites connected to WMD-related efforts, the official said (Maggie Michael, Associated Press/Boston Globe, Dec. 30). Meanwhile, initial inspections of Libyan nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency Sunday have indicated that Libya was in breach of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, according to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei. “There were some imports and some activities they should have reported,” he said. ElBaradei said the disclosure of Libya’s covert nuclear program indicated the inadequacy of current international inspections. IAEA inspectors have visited Libya for years but they never found any of the equipment that was seen Sunday, some of which was found in dirt alleys in city areas, according to the Post. “Low-level programs like this are difficult to detect. They can be run in a garage,” ElBaradei said. “You would have to be lucky or have very good intelligence to run across it. We’re doing a lot of soul-searching,” he said. ElBaradei called for new export controls on the types of equipment seen during the Libyan inspections, which included centrifuges and equipment for purifying uranium. He also said that international monitoring of enriched uranium production sites was also needed. “The leeway for countries to develop uranium is too risky. We need to choke the supply,” ElBaradei said (Williams, Washington Post). Back to top       Syrian Company Helped Smuggle Weapons Into Prewar Iraq Documents recovered in Iraq indicate that a Syrian trading company called SES International Corp. helped Iraq illicitly obtain military equipment and weapons between 2000 and 2003, the Los Angeles Times reported today (see GSN, Dec. 1). SES International is headed by a cousin of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and is controlled by other members of the ruling Baath Party and of Assad’s Alawite clan, according to the Times. Iraqi records indicate that the firm signed more than 50 contracts to provide the Iraqi military with weapons and equipment prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom, including ballistic missiles and nerve gas antidotes, the Times reported.  According to the Times, SES International played a role in a failed Iraqi attempt to obtain North Korean ballistic missile technology. In February, two North Korean officials met with the head of the al-Bashair Trading Co., the largest Iraqi military procurement company, at SES International offices in Damascus. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss an Iraqi payment of $10 million for ballistic missile components. With the aid of the Syrian company, Iraqi officials authorized a payment of almost $2 million to North Korea. A Western intelligence official said the North Korean-Iraqi meeting at SES International occurred with at least the tacit approval of the Syrian government. “A North Korean is not a tourist,” the official said. “Either Syria gave direct approval. Or it turned a blind eye,” the official added. In an e-mail to the Times today, SES International said that any suggestion that it had been involved in illegal trade was “false” (Drogin/Fleishman, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 30). Back to top       Reviewers Find That African Uranium Claim by Bush Was Careless, Not Deceitful An advisory board to U.S. President George W. Bush has determined that Bush’s January State of the Union address included information about prewar Iraq’s WMD programs that was not properly evaluated, a source involved in the inquiry into the address said last week (see GSN, Oct. 30). Bush’s State of the Union address came under heavy criticism for its inclusion of a disputed claim that Iraq had sought to obtain uranium in Africa. The Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, which was asked by the White House to investigate how the claim came to be included in the speech, has determined that there was no attempt by the White House to deceive the public, the source said. White House officials “truly believed when it landed on their desk it was right, but they should have checked the information, asked more questions,” the source said. “They truly believed what landed on their desk; they trusted what came out of the CIA,” the source added (CNN.com, Dec. 24). British Officials Confirm Effort to Place Iraqi WMD Stories in Media Meanwhile, the British government Saturday confirmed that the MI6 intelligence service had organized an effort to place stories in the media about prewar Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, according to the London Sunday Times. MI6 had orchestrated Operation Mass Appeal, which was launched in the late 1990s to disseminate information about Iraqi efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, but had never spread misinformation, a senior official said. “There were things about Saddam’s regime and his weapons that the public needed to know,” the official said, referring to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (Nicholas Rufford, London Sunday Times, Dec. 28). Back to top       Syria Introduces Resolution on Middle Eastern WMD-Free Zone By Jim Wurst Global Security Newswire UNITED NATIONS — With just three days left to serve on the U.N. Security Council, Syria yesterday introduced a draft resolution calling on Middle Eastern countries East to create a region free of weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, Dec. 15). Syrian Ambassador Fayssal Mekdad said a Middle Eastern WMD-free zone “should be at the top of the agenda of the international community.” He added, “This is a very crucial issue in the Middle East, and I think once we achieve it, we shall have a further step in solving … complicated problems in a very sensitive region.” With inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Iran and Libya determining the nuclear weapons capabilities of those countries, Mekdad said, “Recent interest shown by members of the Security Council … encouraged us to come to the council before we leave to put the issue [forward].” The draft “emphasizes” the role of the council “in adopting a global approach to countering the spread of all [weapons of mass destruction] in the countries of the Middle East without exception” and calls on the states in the region to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the Chemical and Biological Weapons Conventions. Some Arab states, including Syria, are not parties to all of the latter three conventions, but Israel is the only country in the region outside of the NPT. “It is applicable to everybody, but in fact Israel is the real [issue], whether we like it or not, because Israel has all these kinds of weapons,” said Mekdad. The draft cites previous council and General Assembly resolutions and unanimous decisions from the review conferences of the NPT in 1995 and 2000 calling for negotiations for creating a Middle Eastern zone free of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.  The draft also asks Secretary General Kofi Annan to submit a report within one month upon implementation of the resolution. Neither Mekdad nor Ambassador Stefan Tafrov of Bulgaria, the current president of the council, said whether they expected the council to take up the draft again before the end of the year. Back to top       European Union Drafts Tougher Nonproliferation Policy The European Union established a new nonproliferation policy this month that includes the use of U.N.-sanctioned military action as a last resort, the Financial Times reported (see GSN, Dec. 12). The new strategy stresses the use of political, diplomatic and financial pressure to stop states from violating international nonproliferation agreements. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana originally drafted the policy in June and he will take it to Tehran next month in an attempt to encourage Iranian officials to continue their recent moves toward nuclear transparency. European officials will use the effort to stem Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons development as a test case for the new, tougher policy, according to the Times. The strategy will also include more financial support for the International Atomic Energy Agency and an effort to increase international export controls (Judy Dempsey, Financial Times, Dec. 29). Back to top

Washington Reviewing Policy Toward Iran After recent “encouraging” moves from Iran, the United States is considering opening a dialogue with Tehran, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 19). “There are things happening, and therefore we should keep open the possibility of dialogue at an appropriate point in the future,” Powell said. Iran has recently allowed international inspectors unfettered access to nuclear facilities, made contact with moderate Arab governments and accepted U.S. help after a large earthquake, the Washington Post reported. “All of those things taken together show, it seems to me, a new attitude in Iran in dealing with these issues — not one of total open generosity. But they realize that the world is watching and the world is prepared to take action,” Powell said. The White House is reviewing its policy toward Iran for the third time since President George W. Bush took office, according to the Post (Robin Wright, Washington Post, Dec. 30). Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said today, however, that U.S. aid in the aftermath of the earthquake would have no effect on the decades-old freeze in relations between the two countries. “I don’t think this incident will change our relations with the United States,” he said during a news conference in Kerman province, where as many as 50,000 died from the earthquake. “This has got nothing to do with political issues. The problems in Iran-U.S. relations are rooted in history,” he added (Reuters/Yahoo!News, Dec. 30). Back to top       United States Concerned About Pakistani Nuclear Stockpile The United States is exploring whether to revive an initiative to help Pakistan secure its nuclear arsenal, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Sept. 29). Bush administration officials are concerned that the al-Qaeda terrorist network or Islamic extremists within Pakistan’s security forces might attempt to gain access to the country’s nuclear weapons or nuclear material. The White House is also concerned about the nuclear weapons stockpile if Pakistani president and U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf. is killed or deposed. Extremists have twice attempted to assassinate Musharraf in the last month. “It’s what we don’t know that worries us,” said a senior administration official, “including the critical question of how much fissile material Pakistan now holds — and where it holds it.” Under U.S. President George W. Bush and his predecessor, Bill Clinton, U.S. officials have looked into the possibility of securing Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile if the country fell into chaos (see GSN, Nov. 5, 2001). That move, however, would be “an extremely difficult and highly risky venture,” said a Pentagon official (Sanger/Shanker, New York Times, Dec. 30). Back to top       IAEA Scientists Analyzing Iranian Nuclear Evidence The International Atomic Energy Agency is using its advanced laboratories in Austria to determine if Iran has been illicitly enriching uranium, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Dec. 19). Iranian officials have said that nuclear equipment — examined by U.N. inspectors earlier this year — was already contaminated when it was brought into Iran. IAEA scientists at the Safeguards Analytical Laboratory are investigating whether the uranium on the equipment was, in fact, enriched domestically. “This is an exhaustive process,” said an IAEA official, adding “we haven’t set deadlines.” The laboratory touts its ability to discover even single atoms of enriched uranium. “We don’t care about the quantities,” said Diane Fischer, an analyst at the facility. “The whole purpose is to look for evidence of undeclared activities,” she added. The laboratory analyzes up to 2,000 nuclear samples and 500 environmental samples each year. “We’re very proud,” said Werner Burkart, deputy director general at the IAEA. “You can sample dust from a truck that has passed by a factory. You can see a single atom.  It’s really marvelous,” he added (William Broad, New York Times, Dec. 30). Back to top       Ukrainian President Asks United States to Fund Rocket Fuel Disposal Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma this month asked the United States to restore funding for ballistic missile disposal efforts, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 11). In a Dec. 17 letter, Kuchma asked U.S. President George W. Bush to honor 10-year-old U.S. pledges to underwrite the destruction of 5,000 metric tons of ballistic missile fuel for SS-24 ICBMs. The fuel is currently stored in eastern Ukraine and the country is at risk of “an ecological catastrophe in one of its most populated regions,” according to the letter. In 2000, U.S. lawmakers approved $24 million to build a facility to destroy the fuel but the funding was later curtailed, according to AFP. The nuclear warheads were removed from the ICBMs in 1996 and transferred to Russia. The center was originally scheduled to be completed by 2004 and the fuel was to be destroyed by the end of 2007 (Agence France-Presse, Dec. 17). Back to top       U.S. Officials Not Yet Sure of North Korean Nuclear Talks The United States is receiving ambiguous signals on the possibility of talks early next year to defuse the nuclear standoff with North Korea, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Dec. 29). North Korea and China, which has hosted the meeting in the past, announced recently that Pyongyang had agreed to resume the talks. North Korea also, however, released a statement saying that it had been slandered by U.S. President George W. Bush and “U.S. imperialists.” “I don’t think we’re close until we’re there,” U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said yesterday. “It’s a complex diplomatic effort that requires patience and does not lend itself to sort of flights of exuberance,” he added (Allen/Ricks, Washington Post, Dec. 30). Pyongyang has previously demanded concessions before returning to the negotiating table. “Frankly I don’t know what it means,” a senior U.S. official said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Dec. 30). Back to top       Russia Fields New Topol-M ICBM Unit Russia formally deployed six new Topol-M long-range ballistic missiles at the Tatishchevo missile base in the Saratov region Dec. 21, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Dec. 11). Each of the missiles has been armed with a single nuclear warhead, but there are plans to load three individually targeted warheads on each missile, according to AP.  “This is the most advanced state-of-the-art missile in the world,” Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in remarks broadcast by Russian television stations Monday. “Only such weapons can ensure and guarantee our sovereignty and security and make any attempts to put military pressure on Russia absolutely senseless,” he added. Col.-Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, head of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, said that a mobile version of the Topol-M missile is expected to be operational next year (Associated Press/CNN.com, Dec. 22). Solovtsov also said earlier this month that the Strategic Missile Forces plan to conduct 10 ICBM training launches next year. The purpose of the launches is to evaluate the dependability of Russian missiles and to prolong their service lives, he said. In addition, Solovtsov said that the 10-warhead SS-18 ICBM would remain in service for another 10 to 15 years (ITAR-Tass, Dec. 17). Back to top

U.S. Researchers Discover Possible New Anthrax Toxin Treatment U.S. researchers have discovered a possible new treatment to counter the effects of a toxin produced by anthrax bacteria, BBC News reported today (see GSN, Dec. 18). Scientists at the Harvard Medical School and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston have discovered six chemicals believed to prevent the anthrax toxin known as “lethal factor” from entering cells. The discovery was made using a new technique that evaluates large numbers of protein fragments to identify those that could interfere with the workings of the toxin, according to BBC News. Lewis Cantley, one of the scientists involved in the research, said the discovery could lead to a new anthrax treatment and could reduce the need for mass vaccinations. “Unlike an anti-serum, which would require that whole populations be vaccinated, regardless of whether or not an anthrax outbreak developed, a therapeutic combination of antibiotics and drugs wouldn’t have to be used except in the incidence of actual disease,” Cantley said. “This approach would not only reduce the risk of side effects, but could also prove cost effective,” he said (BBC News, Dec. 30).   Back to top

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