U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Conference on Disarmament Jackie Sanders spoke last week on U.S. policies toward to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva). U.S. Advocates “Incremental” Nuclear Disarmament By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Facing apparent foreign criticism that U.S. policies are undermining global nuclear nonproliferation efforts, a senior U.S. diplomat last week said that a newly emerged “nexus” of terrorism and illicit WMD development argues for “incremental,” unregimented nuclear disarmament. “Events of the past few years have introduced a new and destabilizing unpredictability into world affairs,” Ambassador Jackie Sanders, the senior U.S. representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, said in a speech Thursday to the conference...Full Story

Iran Says Nuclear Work Is Peaceful, Diplomats Say it Could Damage International Confidence; ElBaradei to Visit Next Week Iran’s plan to restart nuclear work might not be an explicit violation of its agreement to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, but diplomats said yesterday that the announcement could undermine confidence in the country’s nuclear intentions (see GSN, March 29)...Full Story

Alleged North Korean Testing Witness Says He Lied North Korea produced four witnesses Tuesday countering the claims of a defector who alleged that Pyongyang tested chemical weapons on prisoners, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, March 3)...Full Story

	Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Top U.S. Weapons Inspector in Iraq Set to Brief Lawmakers Today on WMD Search Chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq Charles Duelfer was expected today to tell U.S. lawmakers that the Iraq Survey Group still has found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and that the search will continue, U.S. officials said yesterday (see GSN, March 29). Duelfer, who replaced David Kay in January, was set to brief the Senate Armed Services Committee and Select Committee on Intelligence today during closed hearings about the recent efforts of the Iraq Survey Group. He is also scheduled to brief members of the House of the Representatives later this week, Reuters reported (Tabassum Zakaria, Reuters/Yahoo!News, March 29). A classified report that Duelfer has prepared about the WMD search in Iraq “does not draw any conclusions” and is mainly intended as “an update” for the Bush administration and lawmakers, a U.S. intelligence official said. The CIA hopes to release a public version of Duelfer’s report today, the intelligence official said (Douglas Jehl, New York Times, March 30). Back to top

U.S. Advocates “Incremental” Nuclear Disarmament By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Facing apparent foreign criticism that U.S. policies are undermining global nuclear nonproliferation efforts, a senior U.S. diplomat last week said that a newly emerged “nexus” of terrorism and illicit WMD development argues for “incremental,” unregimented nuclear disarmament. “Events of the past few years have introduced a new and destabilizing unpredictability into world affairs,” Ambassador Jackie Sanders, the senior U.S. representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, said in a speech Thursday to the conference. The new threat “poses a risk to the very pillars of civilization,” Sanders said. She added, “These developments do not mean the nuclear disarmament process needs to stop. … But it illustrates the obvious point that disarmament of any type does not take place in an international security vacuum and reinforces the conclusion that sweeping, unfocused approaches to disarmament such as a nuclear weapons convention or setting timetables are illusory and will not work.” “As history teaches us, progress will come only through incremental approaches that take account of states’ threat perceptions,” she said. U.S. Policies Criticized Sanders’ comments followed speeches at the conference earlier this month by representatives of friendly nations who appeared to criticize the United States indirectly for pursuing policies perceived counter to its commitments to move toward nuclear disarmament. The discussion comes as parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty prepare for a major review conference next year. Article 6 of the treaty requires parties to work “in good faith” toward nuclear disarmament and, in the even longer term, toward “general and complete disarmament.”  At a 1995 treaty review conference, the nations permitted by the treaty to possess nuclear weapons — the United States, Russia, France, China and the United Kingdom — agreed to move toward eventual nuclear disarmament in exchange for a permanent extension to the treaty. At the 2000 review, the five powers agreed to take 13 steps toward disarmament. Critics have charged the United States with making insufficient progress on those commitments, citing research and development of new nuclear weapons capabilities, a 2002 strategic policy document that identified certain non-nuclear countries as potential nuclear-weapons targets, and the U.S. refusal to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (see GSN, June 20, 2003). In a March 16 statement to the conference, Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds appeared to restate that concern, though without identifying the United States directly. “We see a trend toward increased emphasis on nuclear weapons as part of security strategies and signs that a new generation of nuclear weapons might be in the making,” according to a released text of her speech.  “Such pursuits would undermine the credibility of the nuclear nonproliferation regime and could prompt a new arms race,” she said. Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham, in a speech delivered that same day, said his government would be “pressing hard” for progress on the 1995 deal and said failure could encourage proliferation, according to a released text of his speech. “Without progress toward nuclear disarmament, it will be very difficult to keep non-nuclear countries from seeing nuclear weapons as [a means of] deterrence or even to obtain political prestige,” he said. Similarly, Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen in a released text called progress on disarmament and nonproliferation “mutually reinforcing.” He added, “There is a tendency for some members of the treaty to stress its nonproliferation aspects to the neglect of the disarmament provisions of the NPT.” U.S. Examples of Progress In her address last week, Sanders listed a number of U.S. policy developments that she said demonstrate a “strong U.S. record” on nuclear arms reduction. She said the United States in the 1990s withdrew from service “large numbers” of nonstrategic weapons, dismantled more than 13,000 nuclear weapons, and with Russia removed large quantities of fissile material from military stockpiles. During the Bush administration, she continued, the United States signed a 2002 treaty with Russia to withdraw from operational deployment all but a maximum of 2,200 strategic warheads by the end of 2012. “This reflects a commitment at the highest political level in both countries to Article 6 implementation,’ she said. Critics, though, have said that the latest treaty requires no destruction of any weapons and that the off-loaded warheads could be quickly returned to service. Sanders also cited a policy outlined in the administration’s 2002 Nuclear Posture Review to focus less on overwhelming nuclear retaliation against Russia, and more on pursuing a variety of nuclear capabilities including low-yield weapons for addressing other threats, as well as conventional weapons, national missile defense and “revitalized defense infrastructure.” The approach “represents an historic break from the past,” she said, adding that by integrating non-nuclear weapons into offensive strategic capabilities, the United States is “thereby reducing dependence on nuclear weapons.” Critics have charged the opposite, saying the administration’s interest in developing less-destructive, lower-yield weapons and weapons for destroying chemical and biological agents, could increase the prospect of nuclear use. Ireland’s Cowen appeared to echo that concern, saying the development of new types or new uses for nuclear weapons “suggests that the taboo on the use of such weapons could be weakened.” Sweden’s Freivalds said military planners could be tempted to use “nonstrategic” nuclear weapons as “battlefield weapons” and that “blurring the lines between conventional weapons and nonstrategic nuclear weapons would lower the threshold against the use of nuclear weapons.” Citing the global proliferation of underground bunkers that might offer defense against nuclear attack, U.S. officials have argued that lower-yield weapons could be useful for threatening foreign leaders who either do not value the welfare of their people and would risk overwhelming retaliation, or who believe the United States would not strike a populated area with large-scale nuclear weapons. The Bush administration also is studying improving a high-yield earth-penetrating weapon, citing an inability to strike very deeply buried bunkers. “Greater flexibility is needed with respect to nuclear forces and planning than was the case during the Cold War,” said the Nuclear Posture Review. “Today’s nuclear arsenal continues to reflect its Cold War origin, characterized by moderate delivery accuracy, limited earth penetrator capability, high-yield warheads, silo- and sea-based ballistic missiles with multiple independent reentry vehicles, and limited retargeting capability,” it said. Better Climate Needed Sanders said that non-nuclear states share a responsibility for creating an international climate to enable nuclear-armed states to reduce their stockpiles. “While the nuclear weapon states have the primary responsibility to pursue measures related to nuclear disarmament, all parties can contribute meaningfully toward that goal by helping to fashion an international environment that is conducive to a reduced reliance on nuclear weapons and to their eventual elimination,” she said. “Achieving nuclear disarmament is a gradual process that will be long and difficult. Political realities and changes in science and technology are among the factors that make it so,” she said. Back to top       Iran Says Nuclear Work Is Peaceful, Diplomats Say it Could Damage International Confidence; ElBaradei to Visit Next Week Iran’s plan to restart nuclear work might not be an explicit violation of its agreement to suspend its uranium enrichment activities, but diplomats said yesterday that the announcement could undermine confidence in the country’s nuclear intentions (see GSN, March 29). Nuclear energy chief Ghulam Reza Aghazadeh announced Sunday that Iran has resumed uranium processing at a site in Isfahan. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran disclosed its intentions in February to resume that work. “The Iranians reported to us in February that they were going to begin this activity in March, and IAEA inspectors will be visiting the Isfahan facility this week,” said agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming (Michael Adler, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, March 29). Meanwhile, the agency announced today that Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, would travel to Iran next week to urge Iran to cooperate fully with inspections. Fleming said the purpose of the visit, the third for ElBaradei since the agency began investigating the country in February 2003, is “to consult on outstanding issues relevant to the IAEA’s verification of Iran’s safeguards agreement” under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, March 30). While Iran “technically” may convert uranium under an October deal with the United Kingdom, Germany and France, the move could violate Iran’s agreement with the agency to suspend all enrichment-related activities, according to a Western diplomat. The agency has portrayed that suspension agreement as a confidence-building measure, according to the Agence France-Presse. “It depends on what they’re doing exactly,” said the diplomat. “It’s not black and white.  There’s a big political context,” he added. Another diplomat said the suspension has “only to do with the production of uranium hexafluoride” and that Iran does “not have the capability to produce uranium hexafluoride” at Isfahan (Adler, Agence France-Presse, March 29). Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said yesterday that Iran has no plans to acquire nuclear military capabilities, and that the country is cooperating with nuclear inspectors now in the country, the Iranian state news agency reported. “Iran’s nuclear projects are merely aimed at taking peaceful advantage of the nuclear power under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Kharazi said. “After the signing of the Additional Protocol of the IAEA Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty by Iran, the IAEA experts have been able to visit our nuclear facilities without facing any obstacles and Iran’s close cooperation with the IAEA would continue on the same basis,” he added (IRNA, March 30). Back to top       Mexico Signs IAEA Additional Protocol Mexico signed the Additional Protocol to its International Atomic Energy Agency nuclear safeguards agreement during a ceremony yesterday in Vienna, according to a statement by the Mexican Ministry of Energy, Mines and State-Owned Industry (see GSN, March 12). The Additional Protocol will give the agency authority to conduct more intrusive monitoring of Mexico’s nuclear activities. While Mexico is the first Latin American country to sign the protocol, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said yesterday after the signing ceremony that he hoped that Argentina and Brazil would soon follow suit (Xinhua News Agency, March 30). Back to top

Judge Delays Anthrax Case-Related Lawsuit Against Justice Department U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton yesterday ordered a six-month delay of a lawsuit filed by former U.S. Army biologist Steven Hatfill against the U.S. government for targeting him in the investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks, according to the Baltimore Sun (see GSN, Jan. 27). Walton yesterday agreed to delay until Oct. 7 requiring the government to answer most of the questions submitted by Hatfill’s attorneys. Walton also ordered the government to provide him with another private update on the anthrax investigation in July, when the FBI said that more sophisticated tests conducted on the powder used in the attacks may reveal more information about the origin of the anthrax, the Sun reported. While sympathizing with Hatfill, who has been fired from two jobs since becoming the public face of the anthrax investigation, Walton said that he also agreed with the government’s need to prevent the lawsuit from interfering with the investigation. “Obviously we’re talking about a very important investigation in which the lives of elected officials were put in jeopardy and the lives of other people were taken,” Walton said (Scott Shane, Baltimore Sun, March 30). In his lawsuit, Hatfill has claimed that the Justice Department ruined his reputation by naming him as a “person of interest” in the anthrax investigation. U.S. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bucholtz said during yesterday’s proceedings, though, that Attorney General John Ashcroft had done so to “downplay” Hatfill’s status and to make clear he was not a suspect in the case. Mark Grannis, an attorney for Hatfill, dismissed Bucholtz’s claim, according to the Associated Press. “Mr. Ashcroft acted to protect both the department and his own political image at the expense of Mr. Hatfill’s constitutional rights,” Grannis said (Associated Press/USA Today, March 29). Back to top

Alleged North Korean Testing Witness Says He Lied North Korea produced four witnesses Tuesday countering the claims of a defector who alleged that Pyongyang tested chemical weapons on prisoners, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, March 3). At a press conference today at the People’s Culture Palace in Pyongyang, 59-year-old Kang Pyong Sop, his wife, a son and a daughter told reporters that his eldest son, Kang Song Guk, who defected to South Korea seven years ago, deceived him into falsifying documents detailing North Korean testing of chemical weapons on human subjects (Associated Press, March 30).  The documents were featured in a BBC documentary broadcast last month (BBC, Feb. 11) Human rights activists in South Korea earlier said that Kang, an engineer at the Vinalon chemical complex in Hamhung, North Korea, was arrested on Jan. 3 with his wife and a son by Chinese officials while attempting to escape to Laos by way of China. Activists had demanded that North Korea release the family. The engineer said Song Guk gave him falsified blank official documents last November in China, asking him to detail accounts of the human experiments. His son said the documents would be worth “a huge sum of money” from South Korean human rights activists, Kang said. “When I said the production of chemical weapons was unthinkable at my complex, my son told me that he would prepare documents, insisting that those human rights organizations in the South would simply believe that the complex is a chemical factory and may produce such things,” Kang said. The circumstances under which Kang held the news conference were not clear, according to the Associated Press. Kang’s other son, Song Hak, said at the news conference that his brother “was idle from his early years and did not like to study at all. It is hard to believe that such false documents were invented by my brother’s head. I think that my brother was allured by some agents who sought to isolate and stifle the (North)” (Associated Press, March 30). Back to top       Chechen Militant Leader Alleges Russian Chemical Attacks, Threatens Retaliation Chechen militant leader Shamil Basayev has alleged that Russia is using chemical weapons against Chechens and threatened to retaliate in kind, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Jan. 12). “We reserve the right to use chemical and toxic substances and the same poisons against Russia,” he wrote in a letter posted today on the Kavkaz Center Web site. Basayev said that Chechen militants would attack Russians outside of the country in revenge for the killing of a Chechen leader last month in Qatar, according to AP.  The Russian Federal Security Service refused to comment on Basayev’s letter, AP reported (Judith Ingram, Associated Press/San Diego Union-Tribune, March 30).   Back to top       U.S. to Modify Chemical Weapons Disposal Method at Utah Facility The U.S. Army plans to make $50 million in plant modifications at the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah, altering the facility’s method for incinerating the mustard agent stockpile after the discovery of heavy metals in the agent’s storage containers, the Salt Lake Tribune reported (see GSN, Sept. 11, 2003). Mercury was discovered in the storage containers after disposal began in 1996, according to depot spokeswoman Alaine Southworth. Under the plan, a neutralization-bulk-container-washout system and a mercury filtration system would be installed in one of the two liquid incinerators at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility, 45 miles outside of Salt Lake City. The metal parts furnace there would also be modified slightly for the incineration of containers that have not been contaminated by mercury and of mustard-filled projectiles, according to the Tribune. “It’s a pretty significant effort,” said Gary McCloskey, vice president of EG & G, the company that operates the incinerator. “It’ll be the largest facility modification effort ever in an active chemical weapons disposal facility,” he added. The incinerator has destroyed 6,000 tons of sarin, and work is under way on destroying 1,300 tons of VX nerve agent. Once the remainder of the VX is disposed of this summer, the Army plans to make the necessary incinerator alternations to begin destroying mustard gas, a blister agent that can dissolve human tissue on contact. Numerous activist groups have sued the Army in U.S. District Court in Washington, alleging that incineration is not the safest method for disposal of the toxic chemicals (Dawn House, Salt Lake Tribune, March 30). Back to top

U.S. Navy to Study Limited Ballistic Missile Defense The U.S. Navy plans to study a limited ballistic missile defense system as a replacement for an earlier system that became too expensive, Defense Daily reported yesterday (see GSN, March 29). The Navy proposes to spend $30 million in an attempt to modify Standard Missile 2 surface-to-air missiles to intercept ballistic missiles in a project approved by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. Funding is not included in the Navy’s fiscal 2005 budget request, but Congress could supply additional money. The Pentagon canceled an earlier version of the plan, called Navy Area Defense, in 2001 due to cost overruns and office of defense secretary ordered the Navy to provide alternatives. The Navy came up with several, and Wolfowitz approved the SM-2 option (Jason Sherman, Defense News, March 29). Back to top       Few Significant Problems Anticipated in NATO-Russia Missile Defense Cooperation, Alliance Head Says NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer yesterday said he foresees “no major hiccups” in efforts to increase cooperation on missile defense between the alliance and Russia (see GSN, March 16). “It is progressing well,” de Hoop Scheffer said in remarks to reporters in Washington. Earlier this month, NATO and Russia held a joint exercise in Colorado intended to help lay the foundation for increased missile defense interoperability, Aerospace Daily reported. While missile defense cooperation may be discussed at a planned NATO summit to be held in late June in Istanbul, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet indicated if he will attend, Scheffer said (Marc Selinger, Aerospace Daily, March 30).     Back to top

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