U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan is set to receive tomorrow a report on reforming the United Nations to meet new international threats (AFP photo/Stan Honda). U.N. Panel Recommends Nonproliferation Reforms By Jim Wurst Global Security Newswire UNITED NATIONS — While the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has restrained the demand for atomic weapons, the world is “approaching a point at which the erosion of the nonproliferation regime could become irreversible and result in a cascade of proliferation,” according to a new report on reforming the United Nations to meet new threats (see GSN, Nov. 29). Without a strong nuclear nonproliferation regime, the reports says, the approximately 40 countries that have the capacity to produce nuclear weapons may be tempted to do so...Full Story

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Steps Down By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The first leader of the young U.S. Homeland Security Department resigned yesterday to spend more time with his family, culminating a decision-making process he said began in earnest when President George W. Bush was re-elected last month (see GSN, July 30)...Full Story

Bush Reiterates Support for Intelligence Bill By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Amid calls for greater White House involvement in efforts to pass the stalled intelligence reform bill, U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday strongly stated his support for the measure (see GSN, Nov. 29)...Full Story

	Wednesday, December 1, 2004

Bush Reiterates Support for Intelligence Bill By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Amid calls for greater White House involvement in efforts to pass the stalled intelligence reform bill, U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday strongly stated his support for the measure (see GSN, Nov. 29). “Let’s see if I can say it as plainly as I can — I am for the intelligence bill,” Bush said yesterday during a press conference in Ottawa with Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. The bill, reached after weeks of work by House and Senate negotiators, has been in limbo after House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) refused to hold a vote last month due to the opposition of House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.). Hunter has opposed the bill, in large part, due to concerns that the national intelligence director position created by the bill could jeopardize the ability of military commanders to receive battlefield intelligence. Sensenbrenner’s opposition has centered on a lack of provisions in the compromise bill concerning illegal immigration. The White House has faced repeated calls by supporters of the reform bill both inside and outside of Congress to do more to secure its passage. Bush said yesterday that he planned to talk by the end of the week with Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) “to express to them” his support for the measure. Bush also said that Vice President Dick Cheney met yesterday with the former members of the Sept. 11 commission, which included a call for the creation of a national intelligence director in a set of recommendations it released this summer. Speaking before the meeting, former commission Chairman Thomas Kean said the purpose of the session was to help “coordinate efforts” on the bill’s passage. “We want to find out from him [Cheney] what we can be doing that we’re not doing, perhaps. We may have some suggestions for him as to ways we think he might be helpful. And we think he’s a very important player in this,” Kean said. Last month, Cheney reportedly personally contacted Hunter in an unsuccessful effort to seek his support for the intelligence reform bill. Kean also said that he believed Bush’s support for the bill was genuine and that the president would do “everything he can” to see it approved. “This is a president who means what he says and says what he means. People recognize that.  He said he’d support this bill in the campaign, he’s said it since, and I don’t have any doubt about that,” Kean said. “So I do believe that his support is going to be important and I believe vital as we get this bill through.” Lawmakers are expected to again consider the bill when they return to Washington for a two-day session beginning Dec. 6. Hastert has reportedly indicated, though, that he will not hold a vote on the bill without the support of a majority of House Republicans and the backing of Hunter and Sensenbrenner. Kean and other former members of the Sept. 11 commission called again on lawmakers to approve the bill next week, expressing concern that “momentum” for intelligence reform may be lost if lawmakers wait until when Congress formally reconvenes in January to address the issue. “The choice is between this bill and the status quo,” Kean said. “The status quo failed us.  The status quo does not provide our leaders with the information they require to keep the American people safe. Reform is an urgent matter, and reform simply must not wait until after the next attack.” While noting the executive orders signed by Bush this summer that increased the authority of the director of central intelligence, former Sept. 11 Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton said yesterday that such measures did not go far enough in implementing effective intelligence reform. “We think one of the key points here is that these changes have to be institutionalized and made permanent, and they are … not done that way unless you have legislation passed,” Hamilton said. “Executive orders come and they go. Policy-makers come and they go.  This is a great big complicated government, and it is necessary to put into place the permanent institutional changes if you want to strengthen and enhance the intelligence community,” he added. Back to top

U.N. Panel Recommends Nonproliferation Reforms By Jim Wurst Global Security Newswire UNITED NATIONS — While the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has restrained the demand for atomic weapons, the world is “approaching a point at which the erosion of the nonproliferation regime could become irreversible and result in a cascade of proliferation,” according to a new report on reforming the United Nations to meet new threats (see GSN, Nov. 29). Without a strong nuclear nonproliferation regime, the reports says, the approximately 40 countries that have the capacity to produce nuclear weapons may be tempted to do so. Controlling the global stocks of highly enriched uranium is fundamental to both preventing breakouts from the treaty by nations and keeping bomb-grade material out of the hands of terrorists, according to the report. Strengthening the authority of the International Atomic Energy Agency is integral to this strategy. The Additional Protocol that gives the agency greater inspection rights should be “today’s standard for IAEA safeguards” against proliferation and a new agreement should be drawn up “which would enable [the] IAEA to act as a guarantor for the supply of fissile material to civilian nuclear users,” the report says. Halting the spread of weapons of mass destruction, especially to terrorists, is one of the elements of the report commissioned by Secretary General Kofi Annan one year ago to make the United Nations more effective in addressing the evolving threats to international security.  The 16-member High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Changes was created in the aftermath of the deeply divisive debate in spring 2003 over the pre-emptive invasion of Iraq by the United States. The refusal of the Security Council to endorse the invasion, the U.S. disregard of the will of the majority of U.N. members, and the ensuring chaos in Iran prompted this U.N. evaluation, said a senior official involved in the panel yesterday, briefing journalists prior to the release of the report.  The report will be presented tomorrow to Annan and the U.N. General Assembly. The panel’s 101 reform recommendations covering nonproliferation and other areas are likely to be incorporated in a proposal Annan will present in the spring that will be the focus of a summit at the United Nations in September 2005, prior to the start of the next General Assembly. Nuclear Weapons The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is under stress both from the failure of the nuclear powers to disarm and from non-nuclear states parties suspected of exploiting treaty provisions that allow for peaceful nuclear work to develop weapons technology.  “Lackluster disarmament by the nuclear weapon states weakens the diplomatic force of the nonproliferation regime and thus its ability to constrain proliferation,” the report says. On the other side of the coin, there is the concern that some NPT states “will covertly and illegally develop full-scale weapons programs or that — acting within the letter but perhaps not the spirit of the treaty — they will acquire all the materials and expertise needed for weapons programs with the option of withdrawing from the treaty at the point when they are ready to proceed with weaponization.”  To address this possibility, the panel recommends that if a state announces its intention to withdraw from the treaty, the Security Council should require “immediate verification” that the nation is not violating the pact by developing nuclear weapons.  The panel said the five nuclear powers that are party to the treaty — the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China — “must honor the commitments … to move towards disarmament and be ready to undertake specific measures in fulfillment of those commitments,” including promises not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states.  “It would be valuable if the Security Council explicitly pledged to take collective action in response to a nuclear attack or the threat of such attack on a non-nuclear weapon state,” the report says. In addition, the United States and Russia “should commit to practical measures to reduce the risk of accidental nuclear war, including, where appropriate, a progressive schedule for de-alerting their strategic nuclear weapons.” All countries should ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, negotiate a fissile material cutoff treaty that “ends the production of highly enriched uranium for nonweapon as well as weapons purposes,” and make greater efforts to create nuclear weapon-free zones in the Middle East and South Asia. The terrorist threat has taken on greater urgency because of two recent developments, the report says. First, terrorist organizations have demonstrated greater “global reach and sophisticated capacity,” and secondly terrorists now “will seek to cause mass casualties” through the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction.  “If you wanted to have a comprehensive defense against nuclear terrorism, what it would mean is, first of all, cleaning up all of the highly enriched uranium in the world. Secondly, strengthening the Nonproliferation Treaty to create incentives to reduce the amount of highly enriched uranium that is produced,” the U.N. official said. Biological and Chemical Weapons Like nuclear weapons, it is vital to keep the materials for biological and chemical munitions out of the hands of terrorists, according to the report. However, these other weapons present a different set of problems.  Advances in biotechnology mean that many people will be able “to create designer pathogens” in small, undetectable laboratories, the official said. “In such a world, the ability to create a robust treaty that could monitor [and] verify the creations of such pathogens is extremely difficult.”  On the other hand, “you can defend against [biological attacks with] a robust public health capacity,” he said. There is therefore a need for “a major initiative to strengthen global public health,” including greater World Health Organization monitoring of infectious disease outbreaks. He said such a policy would have a “dual benefit” of addressing infectious disease — the leading killer in the developing world — along with bioterrorism. The report suggests that the Security Council “consult with the WHO director general to establish the necessary procedures for working together in the event of a suspicious or overwhelming outbreak of infectious disease.” The report recommends that the parties to the Biological Weapons Convention return to negotiations over a verification protocol for the treaty and that they “should also negotiate a new biosecurity protocol to classify dangerous biological agents and establish binding international standards for the export of such agents.”  Terrorism The United Nations, and the Security Council in particular, is not fully using its authority in combating terrorism, the report says.   “The report is critical of the United Nations that it has not taken advantage of its normative strength to put forward a strong vision of a principled effective counterterrorism strategy that would protect human rights and the rule of law,” the official said at yesterday’s briefing. The panel said the United Nations should promote “a comprehensive strategy” that includes “working to reverse the causes or facilitators of terrorism,” including the lack of social and political rights, poverty and “state collapse”; creating “better instruments for global counterterrorism cooperation,” such as strong human rights instruments and more effective intelligence-sharing; tighter controls on terrorist financing; and greater use of the Geneva Conventions, the International Criminal Court and the Security Council’s counterterrorism directorate. Defining terrorism is another issue hampering an effective U.N. role, the report says. “The United Nations’ ability to develop a comprehensive strategy has been constrained by the inability of member states to agree on an antiterrorism convention including a definition of terrorism,” according to the panel. Blocking agreement on a definition are two controversies: whether a definition should include the use of force by states against civilians and whether people living under foreign occupation have the right to use violence that targets civilians. The panel seeks to resolve these issues by flatly stating, “Attacks that specifically target innocent civilians and noncombatants must be condemned clearly and unequivocally by all.” The panel — working from language contained in the incomplete draft terrorism convention and in Security Council Resolution 1566 — defines terrorism as “any action … that is intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or noncombatants, when the purpose of such an act, by its nature or context, is to intimidate a population, or to compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act.” Back to top       United States Imposes Sanctions on Chinese, North Korean Entities for Alleged Aid to Iran By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The United States last week imposed sanctions on four Chinese entities and one North Korean company for allegedly aiding Iran’s WMD and ballistic missile efforts (see GSN, Oct. 14). The sanctioned entities are the Chinese companies Liaoning Jiayi Metals and Minerals Co., Wha Cheong Tai Co. and Shanghai Triple International, as well as the Chinese national Q.C. Chen, according to a notice published today in the Federal Register. Sanctions were also imposed against the North Korean Changgwang Sinyong Corp., which a U.S. State Department official described as the main marketing entity for the North Korean military (see GSN, Oct. 25). The five entities were sanctioned for allegedly violating the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 through the transfer of items controlled under multilateral export control programs, such as the Missile Technology Control Regime; or other items with “the potential to make a material contribution” to WMD programs or cruise and ballistic missile efforts. The State Department official declined to comment on the specific nature of the alleged transfers, but noted the past suspected activities of some of those entities sanctioned last week. “Serial proliferator” Q.C. Chen has been previously sanctioned for allegedly aiding Iran’s chemical weapons program, the official said. The United States has also previously sanctioned the Wha Cheong Tai Co. and the Changgwang Sinyong Corp. for alleged aid to Iran. The two-year sanctions prohibit the five entities from entering into contracts with, or receiving aid from, the U.S. government. The sanctions also prohibit the sale to the entities of defense items by the U.S. government, and bar the export to the entities of controlled items from the United States. The State Department official said that the alleged transfers occurred in the latter half of 2003. In a report released last week, the CIA noted the aid provided during that time period by Chinese and North Korean entities to Iran’s chemical weapons and ballistic missile programs (see GSN, Nov. 26). Iran’s missile efforts have been the subject of recent increased media attention. Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell charged that Tehran was seeking to modify its ballistic missile arsenal to be able to carry nuclear warheads. Iran last month also announced that it had reached the capability to mass-produce an improved version of its Shahab 3 missile, which has a range of 1,300 kilometers. Last week’s sanctions marked the third time this year that the United States has punished foreign entities for allegedly aiding Iran’s WMD and missile efforts. Sanctions have previously been imposed on entities from a number of countries in addition to China and North Korea, such Russia, India, Belarus, Macedonia, Ukraine, Spain and Taiwan. Back to top       Former Danish Intelligence Analyst Receives Six Months in Prison for Leak of Prewar Iraq Intelligence Former Danish military intelligence analyst Frank Grevil was sentenced yesterday to six months in prison for giving to a leading Danish newspaper a report that said there was no evidence prewar Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, Nov. 30). Danish judge Elisabeth Larsen said Grevil’s actions might have damaged the international reputation of the Danish military intelligence service, according to Agence France-Presse. Grevil, though, said his sentence was “completely disproportionate” to his actions. “It’s as if the legal system has forgotten that people sometime follow their conscience, and it was my conscience that led me to provide these documents,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Tehran Times, Dec. 1). Back to top       India, Southeast Asian Nations Agree to Increase Cooperation Against Proliferation India signed a pact with 10 Southeast Asian countries yesterday intended to increase cooperation in a number of areas, including combating terrorism and WMD proliferation, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, June 28). The agreement was signed at the end of the third annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, held in the Laotian capital of Vientiane (Associated Press, Nov. 20). Back to top

Iran Nuclear Decision Not “Final Step,” Bush Says U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday said Iran’s decision to suspend uranium enrichment activities did not go far enough in demonstrating that it does not plan to develop nuclear weapons, Reuters reported (see GSN, Nov. 30). “The Iranians agreed to suspend but not terminate their nuclear weapons program. Our position is that they ought to terminate their nuclear weapons program,” Bush said. “I viewed yesterday’s decision by the Iranians as a positive step, but it is certainly not the final step and it is very important for whatever they do to make sure that the world is able to verify the decision they have made,” he added (Reuters, Nov. 30). Meanwhile, Iran is expected to demand that European countries deliver on promises made in exchange for the suspension, as both sides prepare for what are expected to be tough negotiations later this month, experts told Agence France-Presse. Items on the agenda, according to a confidential European Union paper obtained by AFP, include an EU-Iran trade agreement and European support for Iran’s entry into the World Trade Organization, among other items. “In these negotiations it is possible for Iran to make demands that can’t be met, such as immediate moves towards a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East,” Gary Samore of London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies told AFP. The Iranians are looking to “preserve as much of the fuel-cycle program as they can, including things like research. All of that will come clear when the real negotiations begin in December,” Samore said. It also remains to be seen whether the United States will support whatever deal is negotiated between Iran and the Europeans, said analyst David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security. “I think the United States has a tremendous ability to disrupt” the EU-Iran talks, Albright said. “Iran can say, if the United States doesn’t participate in this deal and our security concerns, why should we give up nuclear weapons,” Albright said. “Right now Washington is comfortable sitting on the sidelines,” Samore said. “If the negotiations succeed with the United States not having to do anything, then Washington will be quietly happy.” The United States will, however, have to make a decision when it is “clear that Washington’s participation is necessary in order to guarantee the success of the negotiations,” Samore added (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 30). Back to top       North Korea Blasts IAEA Decision Against Referring South Korea to U.N. Security Council Over Experiments North Korea announced today that it would increase its “nuclear deterrent force” in reaction to last week’s decision by the International Atomic Energy Agency to forgo referring South Korea to the U.N. Security Council for its undeclared nuclear experiments, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 29). “Under this situation the D.P.R.K. is left with no option but to increase its nuclear deterrent force,” a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement published by the official KCNA news agency. “If the IAEA does not settle the secret nuclear experiments of South Korea in an understandable manner, this issue will stand out as the most important issue at the six-party talks pending a top priority discussion,” he said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Dec. 1). Meanwhile, Pyongyang has barred the removal of South Korean construction equipment and almost 200 cars from the site of a suspended power plant project, demanding that the United States pay “compensation” for the program’s continuing suspension, the Associated Press reported. The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, the international consortium established under the 1994 Agreed Framework to build two power reactors in North Korea in exchange for dismantlement of Pyongyang’s nuclear program, last week extended the suspension for another year. The organization stated that “the future of the project will be assessed and decided by the Executive Board before the expiration of the suspension period,” indicating the project’s chances for survival are based on whether North Korea is willing to resume stalled disarmament talks. Pyongyang has threatened seize the construction equipment, computers and any remaining technical documents at the site, according to AP (Peter James Spielmann, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Dec. 1). Elsewhere, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun began a European tour today with a visit to the United Kingdom, AFP reported. Roh’s scheduled talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair tomorrow are expected to focus on the North Korean nuclear standoff, officials said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Dec. 1). Back to top

Researchers to Begin Human Testing of Ricin Vaccine The U.S. Food and Drug Administration yesterday allowed the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center to begin a clinical trial on humans to test the safety of a new ricin vaccine, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Sept. 13). The trial will involve a genetically engineered protein vaccine, RiVax, administered in different amounts to up to 15 volunteers, according to Ellen Vitetta, who led the team that developed the vaccine. Antibodies to ricin produced in the inoculated volunteers will then be administered to mice that will be exposed to 10 times the lethal dose of ricin. The trial will be stopped and work on the vaccine discontinued if safety problems in humans are detected, Vitetta said. “But, I think the chances of that are so low to be infinitesimal.” The vaccine in previous trials protected mice and rabbits exposed to ricin, AP reported (Associated Press/USA Today, Dec. 1). Back to top       Company Begins Work on Anthrax Vaccine Facility The U.S. company Emergent BioSolutions Inc. yesterday began developing a new facility capable of producing 100 million doses per year of anthrax vaccine, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Nov. 16). The company, which is the parent firm of anthrax vaccine producer BioPort Corp., has purchased a building in Maryland for the $95 million vaccine production plant, which is expected to be completed within two years, AP reported. The U.S. government has agreed to purchase at least 5 million doses of Emergent’s anthrax vaccine. Emergent’s plant in Lansing, Mich., which has produced more than 5 million anthrax-vaccine doses for U.S. military inoculations, will continue to operate, a company spokeswoman said (David Dishneau, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Nov. 30). Back to top

U.S. Finishes Deploying PAC-3 Systems in South Korea The U.S. Eighth Army’s 35th Air Defense Brigade has finished its deployment of Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missile interceptor systems at a South Korean air base, officials said yesterday (see GSN, April 30). “The deployment of Patriot PAC-3 Air Defense Artillery Brigade was completed last week with the final load of equipment into Gwangju Air Base,” the U.S. military said in a statement. The base is about 200 miles south of Seoul, according to United Press International. The brigade will also command the six PAC-1 and PAC-2 batteries in South Korea, the officials added (United Press International/Washington Times, Nov. 30). Back to top       Bush Pushes Missile Defense in Canada U.S. President George W. Bush, on his first official visit to Canada, yesterday discussed the U.S. missile defense program with Prime Minister Paul Martin, the CanWest News Service reported (see GSN, Nov. 29). “We … discussed ways to strengthen the security partnership that for more than six decades has helped to keep this continent peaceful and secure,” Bush said during a press conference with Martin. “We talked about the future of NORAD and how that organization can best meet emerging threats and safeguard our continent against attack from ballistic missiles,” Bush said, referring to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which monitors for missile and air attack against the United States and Canada (Dawson/Blanchfield, CanWest News Service, Dec. 1). Back to top

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Steps Down By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The first leader of the young U.S. Homeland Security Department resigned yesterday to spend more time with his family, culminating a decision-making process he said began in earnest when President George W. Bush was re-elected last month (see GSN, July 30). Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said he would remain in his post until Feb. 1 but could leave earlier if a successor is named. “I think we’ve accomplished a great deal in a short period of time,” Ridge said at a press conference here yesterday. “There will always be more work for us to do in Homeland Security.” The former Pennsylvania governor oversaw the largest U.S. government reorganization in more than half a century. Established in 2002 as a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks, the 180,000-employee department took in newly created institutions and integrated 22 existing agencies that had been housed in other Cabinet departments.  In a statement yesterday, Bush praised Ridge for his handling of the mammoth task. Although Ridge said he could offer no specific evidence of planned attacks that were thwarted by Homeland Security, he said he was “confident that the terrorists are aware” of new U.S. air, port and border defenses and of new information-sharing among various levels and branches of government. “I’m also confident that, based on what detainees have told us, that if you increase your security and your vigilance, that that’s a deterrent,” Ridge said. Asked about any disappointments during his tenure as secretary, Ridge said he wished certain initiatives — cooperation with the European Union on matters such as border security and technology, for example — could have been started earlier than they were. “By and large, there have been no disappointments,” though, he said. Among the department’s early accomplishments, Ridge cited new protections at ports, innovations in security technology and cooperation with state and local governments and private companies. “Homeland Security has never been to me just a department,” he said. “It is about the integration of a country.” Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in a statement that Ridge “should be particularly commended for successfully working to increase cooperation among federal, state and local homeland-security officials and first responders.  He greatly improved the communication with those who are on the front lines in the event of an attack and strengthened the preparedness of communities throughout America.” Virginia Governor Mark Warner's top emergency-preparedness adviser, George Foresman, said today that he once feared the creation of Homeland Security would “interrupt the nation's momentum” in preparing for terrorist attacks after Sept. 11, 2001. He said, however, that Ridge has done “a phenomenal job” to assuage his fears. “While there were some bumps along the way, there was not a major interruption of momentum,” Foresman said at a conference in Baltimore. Heritage Foundation homeland-security expert James Carafano said Ridge’s greatest contribution was “in forging a national homeland-security strategy, a strategic approach to fighting terrorism.” “The fundamental principle of that strategy was building a layered defense, a balance of initiatives working together to prevent, respond to and recover from terrorist attacks,” Carafano said in a statement. Carafano cited in particular the Container Security Initiative and the National Incident Management System (see GSN, Oct. 20; GSN, Nov. 16). Ridge’s successor, said Carafano, must deepen the integration of Homeland Security’s different agencies, make the department’s grant program for emergency response more risk-based and less arbitrary and clarify federal leadership roles in areas such as biological defense. House of Representatives Select Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) said Ridge’s accomplishments have been far-reaching. “Under his stewardship, we have made our homeland more secure on virtually every front,” Cox said. “While more remains to be done, the job of securing the American homeland is certainly well begun.  These achievements are all the more remarkable given the enormous internal management challenges Secretary Ridge faced upon taking over a new department made up of 22 previously independent legacy agencies.” Said Cox’s Democratic counterpart on the committee, Jim Turner (D-Texas), “Secretary Ridge had the difficult task of overseeing the largest government reorganization since World War II, and his efforts will have a lasting and positive impact on the security of our nation.” Asked about the reasons for his resignation, Ridge said a government official’s whole family “puts the public-service uniform on” and mentioned a desire for more time to devote to activities such as his son’s rugby games. Virginia’s Foresman said the United States can lessen the impact of Ridge’s departure by focusing on broad goals that have been established since Sept. 11. “What we are doing in America will transcend a change in leadership, but it will demand a consistent vision for the future,” he said. Back to top       Radioactive Devices Pose Terrorism Risk, Experts Say There are nearly 2 million radioactive devices being used by private and public institutions in the United States, raising concerns about whether some of that technology could be acquired by terrorist groups seeking to make a dirty bomb, the Harrisburg, Pa., Patriot-News reported Monday (see GSN, Nov. 2). The U.S. Energy Department has estimated that 14,000 of the most dangerous radioactive devices will be shut down by 2010. “How many are a significant threat? ... I’ve heard around 1,900 to 2,000,” said Joel Lubenau, a physicist and former adviser to two Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairmen. Once such device, called a gammator, contains cesium 137 in a powdered form — ideal for use in a dirty bomb that combines conventional explosives with a radioactive agent, experts said. A 2003 report found that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission had licensed 134 gammators, eight of which were lost. “If you could put cesium from a gammator into a dirty bomb, you sure could contaminate a large neighborhood and create a lot of panic,” said Terry Devine of the Conference of Radiation Control Directors. “It would be an expensive cleanup job.” There is no federal dumpsite for discarded radioactive devices, the Patriot-News reported.  The Energy Department, in the meantime, established the Off-site Source Recovery Program to collect surplus radioactive isotopes. Some experts have said, however, that the program is underfunded and behind schedule. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued roughly 40,000 “general” licenses for 600,000 nuclear devices, according to the Patriot-News. The Government Accountability Office has found that the commission has no current address or response from up to 16,000 license holders and 240,000 devices (Garry Lenton, The Patriot-News, Nov. 29).     Back to top

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