Top Iranian nuclear official Hassan Rohani spoke today on Iran’s plans for its nuclear program (AFP photo/Henghameh Fahimi). Iran Warns Nuclear Freeze Is Temporary Iran said today the suspension of its uranium enrichment program was only a temporary measure, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 29). “The Islamic republic has not renounced the nuclear fuel cycle, will never renounce it and will use it,” Iran’s top national security official and nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani said...Full Story

Bush Administration May Yet Pursue New Nuclear Weapons Capabilities By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Bush administration could try to revive in fiscal 2006 several controversial nuclear weapons research and develop programs for which Congress killed fiscal 2005 funding earlier this month, a U.S. Energy Department official told Global Security Newswire last week see GSN, Nov. 22)...Full Story

North Korea Willing to “Dismantle” Nuclear Weapons, U.N. Official Says North Korea would be willing to “dismantle” its nuclear weapons infrastructure as part of a comprehensive agreement including the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, U.N. General Assembly President Jean Ping said yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 29).   ..Full Story

	Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Australia May Have Transferred Nuclear Weapons-Related Technology to Countries Seeking Weapons of Mass Destruction, Official Says Australia may have “innocently” transferred nuclear weapons-related technology to countries with WMD programs, Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said today (see GSN, Nov, 19). In remarks on the sidelines of a meeting held in Sydney of the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, Hill described the technologies as “nuclear-area technologies that can have legitimate nonthreatening value, but at the same time can be used within a nuclear weapons program.” “They can be exported quite innocently and there have been suggestions that some may have been exported from Australia innocently that have been used within WMD, at least research programs,” Hill said. Hill’s comment came in response to recent allegations by the environmental group Greenpeace that the Australian government supported research conducted by the company Silex Systems Ltd. on laser enrichment, Agence France-Presse reported (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 30). Back to top       Discovery of Chemicals Indicates Iraqi Militants Preparing Chemical Weapons Attacks, U.S. Army Spokesman Says Citing the discovery last week of chemicals in two houses in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, U.S. military spokesman Army Lt. Col. Steven Boylan said yesterday that Iraqi militants are preparing to conduct biological and chemical attacks (see GSN, Nov. 29). Among the materials discovered, he said, were instructions on how to produce anthrax, as well as instructions and materials for producing blood agent, Boylan told the Washington Times. “This definitely shows that they had the intent and willingness to go down that road,” he said. “The intent is there to at least make it and potentially to use it.” A U.S. military team has since removed the materials and testing has begun, Boylan said (Bill Gertz, Washington Times, Nov. 30). Danish Court Set to Rule on Former Intelligence Officer Who Leaked Reports on Prewar Iraqi WMD Meanwhile, a Danish court is expected today to issue a ruling in the case of former military intelligence officer Maj. Frank Grevil, who has been on trial this month for leaking confidential reports on prewar Iraq’s WMD efforts. Grevil has admitted to providing the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende with sections of intelligence reports that he helped to write, according to the Associated Press. If convicted, Grevil could face up to two years in prison (Jan Olsen, Associated Press, Nov. 30). Back to top       Australia Calls on More Asian Nations to Join WMD Interdiction Effort More Asia-Pacific nations should become involved in the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, which is aimed at interdicting illicit WMD-related shipments, Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill said today (see GSN, Nov. 15). “It is imperative to expand Asia-Pacific countries’ support for and, where possible, involvement in the PSI,” Hill told an international conference of PSI experts held in Sydney, according to Reuters. “Several instances have been revealed of weapons of mass destruction-suitable materials and missile parts and technology being diverted through front companies in the region. Many more, no doubt, have eluded our scrutiny,” he said. Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand are the only Asia-Pacific countries publicly affiliated with the effort. China and South Korea have been reluctant to join, seemingly to avoid offending North Korea — widely seen as a prime target of the initiative, according to Reuters. North Korean U.N. Ambassador Pak Gil has said the involvement of Russia, Japan and the United States in PSI would undermine efforts to resolve the standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear program. Hill, however, encouraged Asian nations to join the initiative as an effort to prevent WMD proliferation. “Countries with weapons of mass destruction programs or aspirations, notable North Korea and Iran, have dishonored their international treaty obligations,” Hill said. “It is clearly in all countries’ security interests to prevent the advent of more nuclear weapons states, especially in regions of instability and conflict,” he added (Michelle Nichols, Reuters, Nov. 29). Back to top       “Terror Town USA” to Be Site of Anthrax, Chemical Weapons Attacks A town purchased in late September by a U.S. Homeland Security Department subcontractor and converted into a counterterrorism training center is expected to stage its first mock attack on Dec. 2, the Washington Times reported Friday (see GSN, Oct. 7). The New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology bought Playas, N.M., in its entirety for $5 million as a setting for scenarios such as water-supply poisonings and anthrax and chemical-weapons attacks, officials said. A scenario in which a radiological weapon is detonated to track the spread of radiation over the town is also planned, according to the Times (Maxim Kniazkov, Washington Times, Nov. 26). Back to top

Iran Warns Nuclear Freeze Is Temporary Iran said today the suspension of its uranium enrichment program was only a temporary measure, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 29). “The Islamic republic has not renounced the nuclear fuel cycle, will never renounce it and will use it,” Iran’s top national security official and nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani said. “We have proved that, in an international institution, we are capable of isolating the United States. And that is a great victory,” he added. The suspension helped lead to a decision yesterday by the IAEA not to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council. Rohani said Iran had only agreed to the suspension of nuclear activities for the duration of negotiations with France, Germany and the United Kingdom, which Iran expects will lead to lucrative trade deals. “The suspension will only last as long as the negotiations. It should be a question of months and not years. We should not feel during the negotiations that they are trying to gain time,” he said. Meanwhile, the United States reacted with skepticism to yesterday’s resolution, the Washington Times reported. “It’s a start,” said a senior administration official. “But we’ve seen these agreements before and, unfortunately, Iran hasn’t always lived up to them.” Other officials added that Washington still reserved the right to refer Iran’s nuclear work to the Security Council unilaterally. “I don’t think we take things off the table,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. “We always reserve the right, as a member of the Security Council, to take that matter to the Security Council.” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher expressed disappointment that the IAEA stopped short of referring Iran to the Security Council. “While we might have preferred a different outcome, while we might have preferred referral, we went along with the resolution,” he said. “We expressed our reservations about today's decisions, but we now look to the International Atomic Energy Agency to continue its investigation into Iran’s safeguards.” “The United States remains as skeptical as ever that Iran will, in fact, live up to the terms of this agreement,” Boucher said. “If they do violate it — in the pure skeptic’s view, when they violate it — it will be reported, and that’ll be the basis for further action” (Bill Sammon, Washington Times, Nov. 30). European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana today welcomed a “new chapter” in Iran-EU relations and confirmed plans to resume trade talks, AFP reported. Solana welcomed the adoption of the IAEA resolution on Iran’s nuclear program. “Now the work on solid long-term arrangements can proceed rapidly. This work should aim at providing lasting confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program,” he said. “Working together in a constructive spirit, I believe we now have the chance for a new chapter in our relationship with Iran,” he added (AFP/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 30). Franc, Germany and the United Kingdom plan to hold new trade and nuclear talks with Iran next month, France announced today, according to AFP. The talks are expected to take place around Dec. 15, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Cecile Pozzo di Borgo. “This accord will in the long term give us objective guarantees as to the exclusively civilian use of the Iranian nuclear program,” she said (AFP/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 30). Elsewhere, China today welcomed the IAEA resolution on Iran, saying all countries have the right to peaceful nuclear technology, Reuters reported. “China holds a supportive attitude toward the resolution just adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue. “We believe this will ... ensure the rights of all countries to peaceful use of nuclear energy under guaranteed supervision,” Zhang said. “This resolution will help properly resolve the Iran nuclear issue under the IAEA framework as soon as possible” (Reuters, Nov. 30). Back to top       Bush Administration May Yet Pursue New Nuclear Weapons Capabilities By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Bush administration could try to revive in fiscal 2006 several controversial nuclear weapons research and develop programs for which Congress killed fiscal 2005 funding earlier this month, a U.S. Energy Department official told Global Security Newswire last week see GSN, Nov. 22). The administration has made no decision yet, however, on whether or not to do so, National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Bryan Wilkes said. In an interview following Congress’s vote on the fiscal 2005 Omnibus Appropriations bill, Wilkes described some of the options available to the NNSA, which has funded the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator and other “advanced concepts” nuclear weapons projects through the national nuclear laboratories. Other than canceling the programs, the agency could seek permission from congressional appropriators to transfer some money from other accounts for the current fiscal year and it could try to pursue renewed funding in fiscal 2006, which begins next Oct. 1, he said.  Wilkes said though, “It’s too early to tell what we’re going to do.” “We are disappointed that the appropriators in Congress did not follow the administration’s requests in several areas. And we’re going to have to finish collecting the information, take a look at the numbers, and as soon as we feel we have some good solid information really sit down and assess what we’re going to do down the line, for the long haul,” he said. Funding for This Year Believed Unlikely The omnibus bill, a massive collection of legislation appropriating money for multiple agencies, included language allowing the Energy Department to “reprogram” funding, that is, to shift money from one account to another. The NNSA, however, first would need to obtain permission from congressional appropriators for shifts of more than $1 million and Wilkes said it would probably be difficult for the administration to persuade the committees to give that permission. “It’s not very likely that the same people who are zeroing out certain accounts for next year are going to approve certain funds being moved there,” he said. The funding was cancelled at the insistence of Representative Dave Hobson (R-Ohio), who chairs the key House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. Hobson has argued that the programs are destabilizing internationally. Wilkes said the scientists who work on the programs do other work as well, so their talents would not be lost to the agency were no funding obtained for this year. In fact, about $9 million for advanced concepts was transferred in the bill to a program for designing improvements to existing nuclear weapons, he said. Whereas national laboratories employees did “idea work” for the advanced concepts program, now they’re doing “design work on current weapons. So you still have people doing something with that money,” Wilkes said. The administration had requested $27.6 million in appropriations for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator program and $9 million for other Advanced Concepts Initiative programs. Earlier this year, Congress had passed legislation that authorized in full that spending, but the omnibus bill following the direction of the House Appropriations Committee did not provide the money. The bill also eliminated $30 million to shorten the preparation time to conduct a nuclear test, if ordered by the president; and all but $7 million of $29.8 million requested for constructing a new facility to build new plutonium triggers, or “pits,” for nuclear weapons. Matt Martin, deputy director of the British American Security Information Council, wrote in a Nov. 24 press release that the battle over the programs may not be over. “President Bush has made new and modified nuclear weapons an important piece of his plan for U.S. strategic planning, and he is not likely to give up easily on this effort,” he wrote. “This is not winning the war by a long shot.  But it is a consequential step and should send a very loud message to the administration,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in a statement last week of the funding cuts. Back to top       North Korea Willing to “Dismantle” Nuclear Weapons, U.N. Official Says North Korea would be willing to “dismantle” its nuclear weapons infrastructure as part of a comprehensive agreement including the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, U.N. General Assembly President Jean Ping said yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 29).    Pyongyang was also “committed” to participate in the suspended six-party talks, he added. The talks involve China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States. “The North Korean authorities told me that they have agreed in the objective of the talks, which means dismantlement of their nuclear weapons and the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” said Ping, who returned Friday from a trip to North Korea, South Korea and China. Ping said the North Korean officials he met with, including Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun, said the six-party format “is the appropriate one. … They agree on the objective, they agree on the format and they told me that they think the talks should resume as soon as possible.” The officials added, however, that “there is a need before resuming to improve the climate for negotiations,” Ping said. He said they did not elaborate on what this meant. In the past, North Korea has accused the United States of threats and a belligerent attitude towards Pyongyang. Ping said North Korea considers its nuclear weapons program as a self-defense measure “because they think – rightly or wrongly – that there are hostilities against them” therefore “they put dismantlement in the general framework of denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.” Ping, who is also the foreign minister of Gabon, said he had briefed officials of South Korea, China and the United States on his trip, but had yet to talk to any Russian or Japanese officials. The International Atomic Energy Agency found North Korea in “noncompliance” with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in January 2003 after Pyongyang expelled agency inspectors. The agency’s Board of Governors referred North Korea’s noncompliance with the NPT to the Security Council in February 2003. The council has taken no public action on the matter since then.  When asked what was his role as General Assembly president in this process since the secretary general has a special advisor on North Korea and the issue is on the Security Council’s agenda, Ping said, “I was invited by a government and that government decided to talk about these issues … I was not asked to play a specific role” (Jim Wurst, GSN, Nov. 30). Meanwhile, Chinese officials said today that Pyongyang is waiting to set a date for another round of negotiations on its nuclear program in order to evaluate any new U.S. policies as President George W. Bush prepares for a second term in office. “As to when the next round of six-party talks will be held, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea needs to further observe the new U.S. government to see if its policies on the D.P.R.K. have changed,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue.  Beijing’s special envoy to North Korea, Ning Fukui, visited North Korea Nov. 24-26 and spoke with senior officials, Zhang said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 30). Back to top       Peace Dialogue With India Can Resolve All Issues, Musharraf Says Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said yesterday that the peace dialogue launched early this year with India could settle all lingering disputes between the two nuclear-armed rivals, including over the region of Kashmir (see GSN, Oct. 28). “We have initiated a process of rapprochement with India and we look forward to a peaceful coexistence with India in the region, through confidence-building measures and through resolution of all disputes,” Musharraf said in a speech during a lunch with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula di Silva in the capital of Brasilia. “May I say, we see a light at the end of the tunnel, now that the process of rapprochement has started,” Musharraf added. He also said, though, that India needed to do more in the peace process, according to Reuters. “I would like to say that it needs two hands to clap,” Musharraf said later during a press conference. “So my hand is there, I hope the other hand will also be there and then we will be able to reach peace” (Reuters, Nov. 29). India and Pakistan yesterday agreed on new dates for a planned meeting between their top foreign ministry officials to review the progress of the peace dialogue, according to an Islamabad-based foreign ministry official (Jorge Svartzman, Agence France-Presse, Nov. 30). Back to top       U.S. National Laboratories Chief Proposes Regional Nuclear Alliances The head of the U.S. Sandia National Laboratories has recently proposed that collective security agreements involving nuclear and non-nuclear states could help better protect countries against possible nuclear threats, the Associated Press reported Sunday (see GSN, June 22). Such agreements, similar to NATO, could reduce the need for non-nuclear countries to develop their own arsenals, and could replace the weakening concept of deterrence, Sandia head C. Paul Robinson wrote in a commentary published in the British scientific journal Nature. “I strongly believe that the advantage of nuclear deterrence reached a peak with the end of the cold war more than a decade ago, and has been fading ever since,” he wrote (Associated Press, Nov. 28). Back to top

U.S. Judge Dismisses Libel Suit Filed by Hatfill Against New York Times U.S. federal judge Claude Hilton has dismissed a libel suit brought by former U.S. Army biologist Steven Hatfill against the New York Times and Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Oct. 22). Hatfill last year accused Kristof and the Times of implicating him in the 2001 anthrax attacks. In an opinion released yesterday, though, Hilton ruled that the focus of Kristof’s columns had been at the FBI’s handling of the anthrax investigation, the Times reported. Hatfill’s attorney Victor Glasberg said it was too soon to determine whether Hatfill would appeal (Nat Ives, New York Times, Nov. 30). Back to top

Iranian Satellite Could Be Front for Missile Technologies, U.S. Intelligence Sources Say U.S. intelligence analysts are concerned about a suspected launch of a satellite by Iran planned for early next year, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 24, 2002). The launch preparation “is something that needs to be watched closely,” a U.S. government missile analyst familiar with Iranian capabilities told Aviation Week & Space Technology. Tehran’s satellite research efforts could be a “Trojan Horse” to advance its missile capabilities or nuclear warhead-related technologies, sources said. Some of the materials and technologies necessary for satellite design could also be used to develop components for small nuclear weapons, according to the report. Satellite launch attempts could also help Iran to further improve the Shahab 3 missile under the cover of a civilian space program, according to a report in Aviation Week & Space Technology. If Iran successfully launched a satellite, it would have both regional and global ramifications, sources said. “It would move the Iranians from the junior varsity into the big leagues,” an analyst said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 29). Back to top

Australian Government Distributes Anti-Radiation Drugs to States The Australian government has begun distributing drugs intended to combat radiation as part of a plan to defend against a radiological attack, the Sunday Mail reported Sunday (see GSN, Nov. 19). In addition, the federal government is also distributing radiation-detection equipment to states (Sunday Mail, Nov. 28).               Back to top

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