U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, shown in December. Ridge’s fiscal 2005 budget request seeks reduced spending on terrorism and WMD response programs (AFP photo/Luke Frazza). Bush Seeks Cut in Terrorism, WMD Response Funds By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The federal budget request submitted Monday by U.S. President George W. Bush would cut spending by 18.5 percent for the main federal office funding terrorism and WMD response efforts around the country, according to Bush administration figures (see GSN, Feb. 3)...Full Story

Pakistan Says Khan Takes Full Responsibility for Nuclear Transfers The “father” of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, today took full responsibility for transferring Pakistani nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, according to an official Pakistani statement (see GSN, Feb. 3)...Full Story

Pentagon Plans to Double National Missile Defense Interceptors By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Bush administration will ask Congress this year for money to significantly expand its planned national missile defense system, setting up a potential battle with legislators who say the ground-based system that remains under development should first be demonstrated to work under realistic conditions (see GSN, Feb. 3)...Full Story

	Wednesday, February 4, 2004

Bush Seeks Cut in Terrorism, WMD Response Funds By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The federal budget request submitted Monday by U.S. President George W. Bush would cut spending by 18.5 percent for the main federal office funding terrorism and WMD response efforts around the country, according to Bush administration figures (see GSN, Feb. 3). According to a White House summary of the Homeland Security Department portion of Bush’s fiscal 2005 budget proposal, the president requested $3.56 billion for the department’s Office for Domestic Preparedness, compared with estimated spending of $4.37 billion on the office in fiscal 2004. The proposed cut follows official predictions last year of significant increases for the office. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in July that he expected about $7.5 billion per year to be available over the short term to state and local governments through the Office for Domestic Preparedness (see GSN, Aug. 8, 2003). “This budget reflects some tightening of government spending, and we are very pleased to have an additional $3.5 billion to give out to first responders,” Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Rachel Sunbarger said today in an interview. Ridge Says Current Formula Giving Way to More Targeted Spending Asked Monday about the budget cut, Ridge said the office is adopting “a more targeted approach” to grant-giving. The secretary cited an increase in one component of Bush’s Office for Domestic Preparedness budget request, the Urban Area Security Initiative, as one example of more targeted spending. The program’s budget is $727 million for fiscal 2004, while the president is requesting $1.45 billion for fiscal 2005. The urban initiative provides grants to major cities based on population, presence of critical infrastructure and threat and vulnerability assessments. The main federal first-responder grant program, though, distributes funds based on a formula that does not take threat into account and has seen its budget cut. Under the responder grant program, every state receives .75 percent of the total program amount, and population determines how the rest of the funds are distributed. The question of how to distribute the grants has sparked debate in Congress and elsewhere about whether to seek universal readiness to handle a terrorist attack or to give more weight to risk and impact assessments. Pending legislation would introduce an element of risk assessment into the first responder grant process (see GSN, Dec. 19, 2003), but Ridge made no specific reference this week to the prospects for more targeted spending outside the urban area program. “You will notice a strategic shift,” Ridge said Monday of the president’s budget request, “from resources that go out to the states based on formula to resources … that go out to regions where we have basically an algorithm that says, ‘Let’s look at population, population density. Let’s look at critical infrastructure, and let’s examine the threat.’ So there is a shift of considerable resources from the basic formula program to a more targeted approach based on threat and potential catastrophic economic or human loss.” Seeking to “put this all in perspective,” Ridge said there has been “a 900 percent increase” in first-responder funds for the last three years, compared with the previous three-year period. He said his department distributes “adequate dollars” to responders and must now “make sure that we’re getting a return on the investment.” Office’s Assessment Capacity Disputed The overall outlook for more targeted spending on first responders is unclear, in part because the Homeland Security Department so far has limited capacity to assess the terrorist threat around the United States. The department’s Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate is required under the 2002 legislation that created the department to conduct a national threat assessment, but department officials have said the project will not be completed for three to five years (see GSN, Jan. 30). Bush’s budget request includes $864.6 million ― a 3 percent increase, according to the Homeland Security Department ― for the directorate. The senior Democrat on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, Jim Turner (Texas), this week questioned whether the Homeland Security Department can better target first-responder spending without completing the national assessment, while the office of Committee Chairman Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) focused on the department’s existing capabilities. Committee Democrats and Republicans have clashed frequently over Bush’s homeland security policy (see GSN, Jan. 20). “I am concerned that we are not spending our tax dollars as effectively and as wisely as we need to,” Turner said in a statement. “The Department of Homeland Security must move forward with the congressionally mandated national threat and vulnerability assessment for us to know what our true priorities should be, and we must define the essential capabilities required for our first responders before we will know whether we are spending our tax dollars wisely,” Turner said. Cox spokeswoman Liz Tobias, however, said the department’s existing assessment “capabilities are substantial, and we expect them to grow more substantial.” “The committee and the chairman are very pleased that the FY ‘05 budget takes a step toward risk-based allocation” of the responder funds, Tobias said yesterday. She called Bush’s budget request “a fiscally responsible step” in keeping with the first responder legislation now before the committee. Back to top

Powell Reaffirms that Iraq Invasion Was “Right Decision” U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday appeared to back away from comments made earlier this week that he did not know if he would have supported the invasion of Iraq if he had known at the time that Iraq did not possess WMD stockpiles, according to New York Times (see GSN, Feb. 3). Powell made his initial comments Monday in an interview with the Washington Post. In comments yesterday that had been coordinated with the White House, though, he said, “The bottom line is this: the president made the right decision.” According to the Times, Powell’s comments in his Post interview had irritated some White House officials, who have complained before that the secretary has not always followed the official line on national security issues. One Bush administration official said yesterday that Powell was “a little forward on his skis again.” Some senior White House officials also said yesterday, though, that President George W. Bush himself was not angry with Powell over his remarks and understood that Powell’s comments were similar to his own (Richard Stevenson, New York Times, Feb. 4). U.S. Intelligence Commission Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers have begun suggesting possible members for a planned commission to investigate U.S. intelligence-gathering efforts, according to the Washington Times.  Among those suggested are former Senator Warren Rudman (R-N.H.), former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger and former Speaker of the House Tom Foley (D-Wash.), the Times reported. The commission may also include some current members of Congress, a senior Bush administration official said Sunday. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said yesterday that the commission members will be “people of integrity,” and pledged their independence. “The people that the president will appoint to this commission will be people of experience in the public sector. They will be people with expertise in intelligence,” McClellan said. “Their independence will be spelled out in the executive order that the president signs,” he said (Joseph Curl, Washington Times, Feb. 4). Back to top       Satellite Images of Iraqi Convoys Led to Belief that Iraq Possessed Chemical Weapons Satellite images taken in 2002 of Iraqi truck convoys suspected of carrying chemical weapons were instrumental in shifting the view of U.S. intelligence from a suspicion that prewar Iraq might have possessed chemical weapons to a belief that it did, USA Today reported today. To date, though, no stockpiles of chemical weapons have been found in Iraq (see GSN, Jan. 28). In March 2002, a U.S. spy satellite photographed trailer trucks outside a military bunker in western Iraq. Over the next two months, seven other convoys were spotted, according to four high-ranking U.S. intelligence officials. The eight convoys raised suspicion because they appeared to have extra security and because they appeared to be accompanied by what were believed to be decontamination tankers, USA Today reported. The eight convoys also appeared to be similar to known Iraqi chemical weapons convoys that had been detected by U.S. satellites in 1988. During briefings with top CIA officials, analysts compared the old and new photos, and compared the photos of the suspicious convoys with more than 100 conventional military shipments also photographed in 2002, USA Today reported. One high-ranking intelligence official said the convoy images were “an extraordinarily important piece. It’s one of those ‘dots’ without which we could not have reached that judgment that [former Iraqi President] Saddam [Hussein] had restarted chemical weapons production.” By September, analysts working to prepare the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraqi WMD efforts concluded with “high confidence” that the convoys were carrying chemical weapons, according to USA Today.  Shortly before Operation Iraqi Freedom began, however, there were signs that the convoys indeed might not have been carrying chemical weapons, USA Today reported. U.N. weapons inspectors who had visited the sites where the convoys were photographed found no traces of biological or chemical weapons. In addition, they also found no sign of decontamination trucks (John Diamond, USA Today, Feb. 4). During his U.N. Security Council presentation last year, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell cited the presence of decontamination trucks outside of suspected chemical weapons bunkers (see GSN, Feb. 6. 2002; Mike Nartker, GSN). Since the war, the four high-ranking intelligence officials said, no decontamination trucks have been found. U.S. intelligence analysts were unsure, both prior to the invasion and now, about where the eight convoys were traveling to and from, nor do they know exactly what they were carrying, according to USA Today. “We couldn’t get a destination,” a top intelligence official said. “We tried and tried and tried.  We never could figure that out,” the official added (Diamond, USA Today). Back to top

Pakistan Says Khan Takes Full Responsibility for Nuclear Transfers The “father” of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, today took full responsibility for transferring Pakistani nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, according to an official Pakistani statement (see GSN, Feb. 3). Khan “accepts full responsibility for all the proliferation activities which were conducted by him during the period in which he was at the helm of affairs at Khan Research Laboratories,” a government statement said. Khan met today with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, according to the Associated Press. Khan told state-run PTV that Musharraf had been “extremely kind and understanding” during the meeting. “We discussed this ongoing affair, the international campaign against Pakistan about nuclear matters,” Khan said. “I explained ... the background on what was happening and what had happened, and he appreciated the frankness with which I gave him the details,” he said. In addition, Khan has also requested to be forgiven for his activities in a “mercy petition” to Musharraf, the official statement said. Musharraf is set to hold a meeting later today with the Nuclear Command Authority, which controls Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, to decide on Khan’s petition, according to the Associated Press (Munir Ahmad, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 4). The head of Pakistan’s ruling PML party, Chaudhry Shujat Hussain, said today that Khan has not signed a confession and that the scientist has also denied any involvement by Musharraf in nuclear transfers (CNN.com, Feb. 4). A senior Pakistani official said yesterday that Khan is likely to be pardoned without a trial. Khan would likely be pardoned because after he confessed, “there was no further need to humiliate the father of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, who has kept the nation safe from Indian attack,” the senior official said.  In addition, a trial would be too sensitive when “political opposition to the president is building up,” the official said. One Western diplomat, though, said that Western countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency would probably demand that their experts be allowed to question Khan “in jail and not after a pardon in his mansion.” Another diplomat said there would be an international outcry if Khan escaped punishment. “He is the world’s biggest criminal, involved for 27 years in selling nuclear technology. If you let him off with a slap on the wrist, then what kind of message are you sending to others?” the diplomat said (Rashid/Gedye, London Telegraph, Feb. 4). Back to top       U.S. Open to North Korean Nuclear Freeze, But Rejects Financial Compensation The United States said yesterday that it was willing to discuss a “freeze” of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, but would not offer North Korea financial compensation for doing so, according to the Financial Times (see GSN, Feb. 3). A new round of six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear program has been scheduled to be held in Beijing later this month. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday that the United States would not “pay again” for unfulfilled promises made by North Korea in the past. The United States is willing, though, to provide North Korea with some kind of security assurance in the context of a regional agreement, he said. Boucher also reaffirmed that the final U.S. goal was a verifiable and irreversible end to all North Korean nuclear efforts (Ward/Dinmore, Financial Times, Feb. 4). An Australian delegation sent to North Korea over the weekend received assurances that Pyongyang’s offer to freeze its nuclear program in exchange for U.S. concessions could lead to full nuclear dismantlement, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il “confirmed that North Korea's offer to ‘freeze’ its nuclear activities in return for certain ‘reciprocal measures’ was only the first step in a process which would lead to the eventual dismantlement of its nuclear weapons program,” Downer said (Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times, Feb. 4). North Korea, though, has reiterated its demands for security guarantees and compensation in exchange for halting its nuclear weapons program.  “The important thing is for us to begin resolving the problem on the principle of simultaneous actions,” said Kim Ryong Song, head of a North Korean delegation that arrived in Seoul yesterday for three days of talks. “If that is difficult for the U.S. to do, the first stage should be a freeze for compensation,” Kim said (Jack Kim, Reuters, Feb. 4). South Korean delegate Shin Eon-sang called on North Korea to be more flexible. “We urged North Korea to take a more progressive position on the dismantlement of the nuclear programs in general because it will be difficult to resolve the nuclear issue in the near future just with North Korea’s offer of a freeze in exchange for compensation,” Shin said (Soo-jeong Lee, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 4). Some experts have said that North Korea is becoming increasingly willing to strike a deal with the United States over its nuclear weapons program to bring in needed aid. “The North Koreans are getting weaker. They can’t stand it any longer.  They feel they have to make a deal,” said Toshio Miyatsuka, a Japanese expert on North Korea at Yamanashi Gakuin University. Eric Heginbotham, an Asian specialist at the Council on Foreign Relations, said there appears to be a new willingness to negotiate by both North Korea and the United States. “My level of confidence that there will be some progress is higher than it was a year ago, or even six months ago. But I do think this will take a while,” he said (Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 4). Back to top       Recovered Libyan Nuclear Program Materials Included Warhead Designs The recent delivery of materials from Libya’s nuclear weapons program to the United States included nuclear warhead designs suspected of being of Pakistani origin, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Feb. 3). Libyan officials have said they acquired the designs for more than $50 million through an international nuclear black market that has been connected to the head of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, Abdul Qadeer Khan (see related GSN story, today). Experts familiar with the designs have said they resemble the warheads China tested in the late 1960s and passed on to Pakistan. Experts have said that the warhead designs and uranium enrichment centrifuge designs recovered from Libya also appear to be of the same origin. “My understanding is that it did come from Pakistan,” said Institute for Science and International Security President David Albright. U.S. officials are currently studying the Libyan designs to determine if they are complete, the Times reported. Officials are also examining if North Korea obtained similar warhead designs through the black market (Broad/Sanger, New York Times, Feb. 4). Meanwhile, U.S. and British officials are scheduled to hold a joint meeting with their Libyan counterparts Friday in London to discuss “how to move ahead” with improved relations, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, adding that the situation with Libya has “fundamentally changed.” “We’ve seen a couple of weeks of action on the removal and verification” of Libyan WMD materials, Boucher said. “It’s appropriate to have a political dialogue on what lies ahead,” he said. Friday’s meeting is also expected to include discussion on another visit to Libyan WMD sites by U.S. and British experts, as well as the removal of more WMD program components to the United States, Boucher said (Barry Schweid, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 3). Back to top       IAEA Protocol Would Require U.S. to Declare Many More Nuclear Activities, Official Says The United States would be required to provide significantly more information on its nuclear activities to the International Atomic Energy Agency if it ratifies the Additional Protocol to its IAEA safeguards agreement, as is expected, U.S. officials said this week. Despite those requirements, the officials said they anticipated that the agency would conduct very few inspections of U.S. facilities, Energy Daily reported today (see GSN, Jan. 29; George Lobsenz, Energy Daily, Feb. 4). The protocol is considered an important tool to improving the agency’s ability to verify international compliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, as it is designed primarily to allow more intrusive monitoring of non-nuclear weapon states’ activities. The declared nuclear weapons states have also signed protocols, but because they acknowledge having nuclear weapons programs, their weapons facilities are generally off-limits to the IAEA. So far, China is the only nuclear weapons state to have ratified its Additional Protocol (see GSN, May 10, 2002), and the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing last week to consider recommending the agreement for ratification (Greg Webb, GSN, Feb. 4). If approved, the U.S. protocol would require “nearly all” U.S. Energy Department laboratories and facilities to declare their activities to the IAEA, said National Nuclear Security Administration head Linton Brooks in last week’s hearing. Currently only three Energy Department facilities report on their activities to the agency, which conducts monthly inspections of highly enriched uranium and plutonium at the Hanford site in Washington, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Y-12 plant in Tennessee, according to Energy Daily. Brooks said the protocol would require hundreds of activities to be declared, mostly in the areas of civil nuclear power, such as uranium enrichment facilities and nuclear reactor maintenance equipment. Nevertheless, he said he expected the international agency to conduct inspections only in “rare circumstances.” The United States would reserve the right to exclude the agency from national security sites and to deny access to commercially sensitive programs as well, Energy Daily reported. Brooks estimated that implementing the protocol at Energy Department sites would initially cost $13.5 million, with $1.3 million needed annually thereafter (Lobsenz, Energy Daily). Back to top       Third U.S. Missile Submarine Begins Conversion A U.S. Trident ballistic missile submarine entered a shipyard in Washington state Monday to begin a three-year process to be converted to launch conventional cruise missiles, the Bremerton (Wash.) Sun reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 19, 2003). The USS Michigan is the third out of a planned four Trident submarines to undergo the conversion process, which will give it the capability to carry 154 cruise missiles and 66 special forces personnel, according to the Sun. Later this year, the fourth submarine, the USS Georgia, will begin the conversion process (Chris Barron, Bremerton Sun, Feb. 3). Back to top       Pentagon Seeks to Reduce Active B-1 Bomber Fleet The U.S. Air Force plans to reduce its active force of B-1 bombers, the Abilene (Texas) Reporter-News reported yesterday. The long-range bombers were originally intended to carry strategic nuclear weapons, but have been converted for conventional missions (see GSN, Oct. 8, 2003). The reduction was revealed by the Defense Department in a phone call to U.S. Representative Charlie Stenholm (D-Texas), whose congressional district includes Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene. Stenholm said the Pentagon is seeking to eliminate the 13th Bomb Squadron at the base, which consists of seven B-1s, by transferring four to another squadron and placing three in a backup capacity. The cost-saving move could cost the air base 140 jobs, according to the Reporter-News. Stenholm vowed to fight the move. “It is important to remember this is only a proposal at this time,” he said. “We have a long ways to go before the Air Force’s plan becomes a reality, and I plan to work closely with Dyess officials to make sure their mission is protected,” he added (Tara Copp, Abilene Reporter-News, Feb. 3). Back to top       United States to Send B-52 Bombers to Guam This Month The U.S. Defense Department has decided to send about six nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and 300 service members from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Guam this month, base spokeswoman Maj. Dani Johnson said yesterday (see GSN, June 12, 2003). The bombers are being sent to Guam to help make up for losses in combat power caused by rotating troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Associated Press reported (Associated Press/New York Times, Feb. 4).  Back to top

Ricin Confirmed at U.S. Senate; Offices to Remain Closed for Days U.S. Senate office buildings are expected to remain closed for several additional days while authorities investigate the discovery of ricin inside a suite of offices used by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), officials said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 3). Frist said during a press conference yesterday that several tests had determined that the recovered substance was ricin, pronouncing the results “definitive” (Mike Nartker, GSN, Feb. 4). “Indeed, this is ricin,” Frist said. “This is an insult, an assault on the Senate side of the United States Capitol. We are in a world where things like ricin, that we never had to think about, we do have to think about,” he said. The powdered ricin was discovered Monday afternoon in Frist’s office suite in the Dirksen Senate Office Building by an intern, according to the Washington Post. An FBI official said the intern noticed dust on a mail-sorting machine located in a small mailroom attached to Frist’s office. It is still unknown exactly how the ricin entered the mailroom, law enforcement sources said, adding that they suspected it had been mailed. No personnel have reported suffering any suspicious symptoms yet, the Post reported (Morello/Hsu, Washington Post, Feb. 4). The U.S. Postal Service late Monday night closed a Washington postal facility located on V St. that processes government mail, according to the Post. Sixty samples were taken from the facility and sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing, with results likely to become available today, postal spokeswoman Irene Lericos said (Fernandez/Weisman, Washington Post, Feb. 4). Possible Terrorism Connections While Frist yesterday described the incident as an act of terrorism, law enforcement officials only said that terrorism had not yet been ruled out. “We know that this was sent specifically to the United States Senate, to an individual,” Frist said. “Because it is a poison, a toxic chemical that we know is deadly, that we know there is no treatment for that, the assumption is the intent to harm,” he added (Morello/Hsu, Washington Post). A spokesman for the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., said the facility would probably compare samples of the ricin discovered at the Senate with other ricin samples collected in the past. The U.S. military has recovered ricin samples from al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer (Borenstein/Chatterjee, Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 4). White House Targeted Last Year Law enforcement sources said yesterday that the U.S. Secret Service intercepted in November a letter containing a vial of ricin addressed to the White House, but never made the incident public, according to the Post. The White House letter was nearly identical to one discovered in October at a South Carolina mail-sorting facility that also contained a vial of ricin, sources said. Both letters were signed “Fallen Angel” and complained of new trucking regulations (see GSN, Nov. 25, 2003). The White House letter was discovered in November at an “offsite mail facility” used by the White House and contained “a fine powdery substance” that tested positive for ricin, an administration law enforcement official said. “It was … determined that there was no public health risk because of the low potency and granular form of the substance,” the official said (Dan Eggen, Washington Post, Feb. 4). In addition, investigators are also looking at whether the Senate ricin incident is connected to the 2001 anthrax attacks, which targeted two senators, including then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), according to the Post (see GSN, Jan. 27). “That is obviously one of the main lines of inquiry that we’re pursuing,” an FBI official said. “There are a lot of similarities that certainly raise the possibility of a connection,” the official added (Eggen/Leonnig, Washington Post, Feb. 4). Postal Response Meanwhile, U.S. Postal Service officials said the Senate ricin incident would help strengthen their request to Congress to include more funding for biological detection equipment in the agency’s fiscal 2005 budget, according to the Post. The Postal Service had asked the White House to include in its budget request about $780 million for additional biological detection equipment, but the request was denied, postal spokesman Mark Saunders said (Fernandez/Weisman, Washington Post). The ricin incident could also increase support among members of Congress for a developmental system to replace paper mail they receive with electronic copies, according to the Associated Press. The project, which began in February 2003 with 12 lawmakers participating, involves letters being sent to a facility in Leesburg, Va., where they are then electronically scanned into “PDF” files and delivered to lawmakers on a CD-ROM, AP reported. The House Administration Committee, which oversees the project, plans to expand it to include 25 lawmakers by next month. “It’s another second step of security,” committee Chairman Bob Ney (R-Ohio) said. Ney also said the ricin incident could lead to the system’s use by all lawmakers. “It makes the discussion of digital mail pop right up to the top,” he said (Malia Rulon, Associated Press/Washington Post, Feb. 4). Back to top

Nigeria Rejects North Korean Missile Offer Nigeria has decided to reject a North Korean offer of ballistic missile technology, the Los Angeles Times reported today (see GSN, Jan. 29). Nigeria made its decision after the United States suggested it might impose sanctions if Abuja were to purchase North Korean missiles, U.S. officials said (Los Angeles Times, Feb. 4). Back to top

Pentagon Plans to Double National Missile Defense Interceptors By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Bush administration will ask Congress this year for money to significantly expand its planned national missile defense system, setting up a potential battle with legislators who say the ground-based system that remains under development should first be demonstrated to work under realistic conditions (see GSN, Feb. 3). “I think it’s safe to say that this is going to be a contentious issue. … Why the heck should we get more pregnant on this thing when we haven’t tested it?” said a Democratic congressional aide who asked to not be identified. Under previously funded plans, the Missile Defense Agency intends to place 20 interceptors at Ft. Greely, Alaska and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California during fiscal 2004 and fiscal 2005. In addition, the agency intends to deploy 10 sea-based interceptors, down from 20 projected last year, by October 2005. The new plans, described in a fiscal 2005 budget document released Monday, would potentially double the number of ground-based missile interceptors from 20 to 40. The plans call for acquiring up to 10 additional missile interceptors and silos at Ft. Greely, Alaska, and up to 10 interceptors for a still-undisclosed third site. The additional systems would be fielded during fiscal years 2006 and 2007. The budget document does not specify the cost of the additional systems. It projects, though, an overall cost increase of $4.8 billion for the fiscal 2006-7 block of activities, for which some funding is sought for next fiscal year. Need for More Testing Cited Last year, two key Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee said they had received Republican assurance — in exchange for their support of the initial fielding — that the system would be rigorously operationally tested before any additional missiles were fielded. In a joint statement last May, Representatives John Spratt (D-S.C.) and Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) said they were promised that committee leaders would urge the Bush administration to ensure “that after the initial deployment of 20 ground-based interceptors and up to 20 sea-based interceptors, the Pentagon will rigorously test BMD [ballistic missile defense] systems and comply with initial test and operational evaluation requirements prior to further BMD deployments” (see GSN, May 16, 2003). In the end, however, the committee’s guidance to the House defense authorization bill only urged the military to fully test the system for suitability and effectiveness before making the missiles operational. “That’s what we’ll hang our hat on,” the aide said. Last year, the Missile Defense Agency eliminated nine intercept tests from the system’s future test schedule, as officials cited a shortage of missiles and other factors.  Thomas Christie, the Pentagon’s top testing official, reported last month that he was currently unable to evaluate the planned system’s operational capability because of the limited testing conducted so far on the missile interceptors (see GSN, Jan. 22). Testing Requirements U.S. law permits the Pentagon to deploy new weapons systems on a limited basis before their testing is complete, but the congressional aide said it would be difficult for the administration to argue that the additional missile interceptors and the new launch site would conform to existing rules on building untested weapons. The current law allows for a major defense program to conduct “limited low-rate production” prior to completing operational testing for suitability and effectiveness. The law says, however, that programs cannot proceed beyond low-rate initial production “until initial operational test and evaluation of the program is completed.”  The law defines low-rate initial production as the minimum quantity necessary to conduct operational testing, to establish an initial production base for the system, and “to permit an orderly increase in the production rate for the system sufficient to lead to full-rate production upon the successful completion of operational testing.” Correction A GSN story yesterday, “Bush National Missile Defense System Will Lack Missiles At Start,” incorrectly reported that while campaigning for president in 2000, President George W. Bush had specified a time for deploying a national missile defense system. On Sept. 1, 2000, Bush criticized then-President Bill Clinton for leaving “this important unfinished business for the next president” and vowed to deploy “at the earliest possible date.” Back to top

Bush Orders Added Measures to Protect U.S. Food Networks In a presidential directive issued last week, U.S. President George W. Bush ordered the Homeland Security Department to oversee an expanded effort to protect the nation’s food supply from terrorist foul play (see GSN, Oct. 10, 2003). “This directive establishes a national policy to defend the agriculture and food system against terrorist attacks, major disasters and other emergencies,” says Homeland Security Presidential Directive-9, released by the White House yesterday. Such events “could have catastrophic health and economic effects,” the directive adds. Bush’s order directs the Homeland Security Department to guide the activities of three other agencies — the Agriculture Department, the Health and Human Services Department and the Environmental Protection Agency — in conducting vulnerability assessments, developing surveillance and monitoring systems, and preparing response plans. The Bush administration’s budget proposal, formally submitted this week to Congress, requests significant increases for food safety activities (see GSN, Feb. 3; White House release).   Back to top

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

© Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.