Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu gives the peace sign yesterday upon being released from prison after serving an 18-year sentence. Vanunu said he was “proud and happy” to have released Israeli nuclear secrets to a London newspaper (AFP photo/Tal Cohen). Vanunu Freed; Nuclear Secrets Reported Found in Cell The director of the prison from which Mordechai Vanunu was released today said security services seized confidential information about Israel’s nuclear program from the whistleblower’s cell just before his release, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, April 20). “The security services have searched his cell and examined his notebooks and letters that he wants to retrieve once he is freed,” said Yossi Migdad, director of Shikma Prison. “Anything which reveals confidential information has been seized,” he added (Agence France-Press, April 21)...Full Story

Pentagon Panel Suggests Chemical Calmatives By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. military should consider developing chemical agents for temporarily incapacitating humans, a Defense Department advisory panel said in a recent report. ..Full Story

China Says North Korea Wants to End Nuclear Standoff China said yesterday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is committed to a “nuclear weapon-free goal” and that he wants to end the standoff over his nuclear weapons program through diplomacy, Associated Press reported (see GSN, April 20)...Full Story

	Wednesday, April 21, 2004

New, Old Intelligence Agencies Clarify Roles By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The new Terrorist Threat Integration Center is the primary U.S. agency responsible for analyzing terrorism-related intelligence and providing the president with the resulting analyses, four U.S. officials stated in a letter to senators released yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 10). The letter’s recipients, Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.), first requested the clarification after a related February 2003 hearing. In an October 2003 letter, they asked the four directors “which component of the U.S. intelligence community has the primary responsibility for the analysis of foreign intelligence relating to terrorism” and which “has the primary responsibility for the analysis of domestic intelligence relating to terrorism.” In their reply, dated April 13, Terrorist Threat Integration Center Director John Brennan, FBI Director Robert Mueller, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and CIA Director George Tenet wrote that while the Terrorist Threat Integration Center has “primary responsibility in the USG [U.S. government] for terrorism analysis,” the Homeland Security Department’s Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate has “primary responsibility for matching the assessment of the risk posed by identified threats and terrorist capabilities to our nation’s vulnerabilities.” The agency heads said the FBI, which experts and legislators have proposed stripping of its domestic intelligence role, has “primary responsibility with regard to the analysis of” terrorism information that “has been determined to have no … link to international terrorism.” Back to top

British Scientists Recommend WMD Response Agency The United Kingdom needs a new national agency to coordinate responses to a potential chemical or biological attack, an organization of British scientists said today (see GSN, April 19). The Royal Society, an academy of leading scientists, today released a study calling for better organization across industry, academia and government to prevent and respond to terrorist attacks. “The U.K. needs to have a new center to harness all the expertise that already exists,” said Herbert Huppert, leader of the working group that produced the paper (Patricia Reaney, Reuters, April 21). The report, Making the U.K. Safer: Detecting and Decontaminating Chemical and Biological Agents, identified specific areas where improvement is needed, including increased training for emergency service personnel and more realistic exercises dealing with simulated attacks. The center would need more than $35 million annually over 10 years to fund its work offering expert advice, developing procedures and performing research (Royal Society study, April 2004). Back to top

Vanunu Freed; Nuclear Secrets Reported Found in Cell The director of the prison from which Mordechai Vanunu was released today said security services seized confidential information about Israel’s nuclear program from the whistleblower’s cell just before his release, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, April 20). “The security services have searched his cell and examined his notebooks and letters that he wants to retrieve once he is freed,” said Yossi Migdad, director of Shikma Prison. “Anything which reveals confidential information has been seized,” he added (Agence France-Press, April 21). Upon release from the prison, Vanunu said at a news conference that he received “very cruel and barbaric treatment” from Israel’s security services and remained unrepentant for giving away Israeli nuclear secrets, the Associated Press reported. “To all those who are calling me traitor, I am saying I am proud, I am proud and happy to do what I did,” Vanunu said. “I said, Israel don’t need nuclear arms, especially now that all the Middle East is free from nuclear weapons,” he added. Defense Ministry spokeswoman Rachel Niedak-Ashkenazi said Vanunu, a former technician at Israel’s Dimona nuclear plant, maintained detailed accounts of his observations at the plant and that he had an “excellent memory.” “It was a lot more than a personal diary,” she said. “To us this showed an intention and ability to make future use of it,” she added. Vanunu claimed the papers were of a personal nature and were written in 1991 (Peter Enav, Associated Press/Washington Times, April 21). Back to top       China Says North Korea Wants to End Nuclear Standoff China said yesterday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is committed to a “nuclear weapon-free goal” and that he wants to end the standoff over his nuclear weapons program through diplomacy, Associated Press reported (see GSN, April 20). China’s Xinhua news agency reported that Kim, during a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing, said North Korea’s “basic position on seeking a peaceful solution through dialogue has not changed.” Xinhua said Kim and Hu “agreed to continue … jointly pushing forward the six-party talks process.” The report was China’s first public confirmation of the North Korean leader’s three-day visit to China (Audra Ang, Associated Press/PennLive.com, April 21). Back to top       Iran Arrests Nuclear Experts for Passing Information to Foreign Sources Iran has arrested two nuclear experts for transferring clandestine information about its nuclear programs to foreign sources, Reuters today reported an Iranian newspaper as saying (see GSN, April 20). “The two nuclear experts, who were transferring classified information abroad, were arrested by security agents after an extensive investigation,” according to an unidentified source quoted in the Iranian hard-line Ya-Lesarat newspaper. The arrest is potentially the first of its kind reported in Iran, and such security-related offenses could carry the death penalty, according to Reuters (Reuters, April 21). Back to top       Russia Test-Fires Ballistic Missile Russia test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia into the Pacific Ocean, Associated Press reported today (see GSN, March 1). The launch served to test cosmodrome systems and obtain technical information on the rocket flight, the missile forces’ press service told Interfax (AP/The Australian, April 21). Back to top

Palestinian Student Reportedly Intended to Make HIV Bomb A Palestinian engineering student intended to construct an HIV-infected bomb to be detonated in a crowded place in Israel by a suicide bomber, Fox News reported today from Jerusalem (see GSN, April 13). Rami Abdullah, 24 and a member of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, said he had researched the possibility of making an HIV-infected weapon on the Internet. He was searching for an HIV-infected blood donor when he was arrested last month. “After a period, it will kill a lot of people,” Abdullah said. Abdullah said he still intends to build a biological weapon once he is freed from prison if the intifada is still going on (Claudia Cowen, Fox News, April 21). Back to top       Infectious Disease Laboratory is Safe, University Says Boston University used ads in the city’s two newspapers yesterday to make its case for the safe nature and value of an infectious disease laboratory planned for a residential neighborhood (see GSN, April 14). Research at the laboratory “will develop drugs, vaccines and treatments for emerging infectious diseases whether they occur naturally or are deliberately introduced through bioterrorism,” the school said in a full-page ad published in the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. About 330 scientists signed the statement, numerically topping the 150 scientists who signed a letter sent last week to city officials in opposition to the laboratory (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, April 21). Back to top

Pentagon Panel Suggests Chemical Calmatives By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. military should consider developing chemical agents for temporarily incapacitating humans, a Defense Department advisory panel said in a recent report. The so-called “calmative” agents “might be considered to deal with otherwise difficult situations in which neutralizing individuals could enable ultimate mission success,” the Defense Science Board said in a report late last month, Future Strategic Strike Forces. It suggests the Pentagon’s Joint Nonlethal Weapons Directorate run by the Marine Corps pursue the technology and investigate its relationship to international treaty requirements. The directorate “should broaden its tactical and operational focus to consider the strategic applications and associated treaty issues of nonlethal weapons,” the report says. Treaty Issues The report drew media attention late last month for recommending that the United States develop low-yield nuclear weapons for replacing some high-yield arms in the U.S. strategic arsenal That recommendation is one of several potentially controversial suggestions in the 166-page report, including: a better high-yield earth-penetrating nuclear weapon, “low-fission” nuclear weapons that might cause less “collateral damage” but require nuclear testing, and “directed energy” weapons such as lasers and high-powered microwaves for “less-than-lethal” use against humans. The report cites a need for “nonlethal effects directed at the physiological or psychological functions of specific individuals or the populace.”  “Applications of biological, chemical, or electromagnetic radiation effects on humans should be pursued,” it says. Development of chemical incapacitants by the military could raise questions about U.S. compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits using chemicals against humans in warfare, experts said. Creating some ambiguity, the treaty does not prohibit use of riot control agents such as pepper spray for crowd control or use of chemicals for law enforcement purposes, they added (see GSN, April 29, 2003). The report acknowledges the treaty issue, and suggests the directorate also examine the matter. “The treaty implications are significant,” it says. Ed Hammond, co-director of the advocacy group The Sunshine Project, called the recommendation “shortsighted,” because it could weaken international adherence to Chemical Weapons Convention restrictions. “Do they really think we’re the only ones that can do this?” he said. Hammond’s organization has documented Defense Department chemical incapacitant program activities. A GSN story in November 2002 reported Pentagon funding of chemical incapacitants research (see GSN, Nov. 4, 2002). “Speaking for The Sunshine Project, we’ve concluded that it’s already taking place. I think it’s clear from the evidence,” Hammond said. He said the report and a report by the National Academies of Sciences released in November 2002 effectively legitimize such research and help bring it “out of the closet.” Technical Issue The Defense Science Board report recommends pursuing incapacitants and other technologies as means to give the United States a “richer set of effects” produced by payloads on strategic weapons systems. The report does not detail how the chemicals might be applied. It noted, though, the difficulty of using chemical incapacitants in a way that minimizes unintended fatalities and conforms to the Chemical Weapons Convention.  “The principle technical issue is the balance between effectiveness (i.e., the targets are truly ‘calmed’) and margins of safety (i.e., avoiding overexposure and resulting fatalities of neutral bystanders),” the study said. In an example that experts say illustrates both the utility and difficulty of having such a capability, Russian authorities in October 2002 used a reported anesthetic derivative in a rescue operation to free nearly 600 theatergoers held by suspected bomb-wielding hostage-takers.  Hostages were freed, their captors killed, and no bombs went off. More than 100 hostages, however, reportedly died from exposure to the agent or agents. Other Technologies Another issue suggested by the board with potential treaty implications is using lasers or high-powered microwaves against people. The microwaves could be used to produce a burning sensation that would drive a person out of an area, and lasers may be used “at lower powers to dazzle eyesight or burn skin and objects,” the report says. “Existing treaties may limit some aspects of these applications,” it states. Also having international treaty implications is a so-called “low-fallout” nuclear weapon, designed to “reduce or eliminate collateral damage.” While designs for such weapons were previously tested by the United States, the report says the nuclear design community has not reached a consensus on whether nuclear testing would be needed. Testing would require ending a U.S. moratorium on live testing and withdrawal as a signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The report says testing is not considered necessary for two other controversial activities recommended, which the administration currently is pursuing: developing a better high-yield earth penetrating weapon and low-yield weapons. Back to top       Four Terror Suspects Killed by Jordanian Police Jordanian police killed four men suspected of involvement in a chemical bomb plot during a raid yesterday in Amman (see GSN, April 19). Three other men were detained at the basement hideout, though their relationship to the dead suspects was not immediately known, Associated Press reported. Authorities said conspirators, believed to have been linked to al-Qaeda, planned to use a chemical bomb and poison gas on several targets, including the U.S. Embassy, but were foiled by raids in March and April. A tip led hundreds of police officers yesterday to a building in Amman. They called on the men inside to surrender, but were met with gunfire, AP reported. After 2« hours police fired tear gas into the building and six special forces officers stormed inside. Three of the men killed in the building were foreigners, but a government spokeswoman did not specify their nationalities (Jamal Halaby, AP/Tri-City Herald). Senior U.S. officials said chemicals discovered during earlier raids came from Syria, according to the Boston Globe. “There is evidence that it came from Syria into Jordan,” said U.S. Representative Elliot Engel (R-N.Y.). “The Jordanians believe that and I believe that” (Bryan Bender, Boston Globe, April 20). Back to top       Chemical Stockpiles Need Better Monitors, Group Says Chemical stockpiles and disposal sites in the United States should use monitors that can detect an agent release in seconds rather than hours, the Chemical Weapons Working Group said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 6). The coalition of citizens’ groups said it can take as long as 12 hours for present monitors to detect leaks of chemical agents, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. An advanced system used by U.S. troops in Iraq could catch a release in 20 seconds, the organization said. “Current systems have significant problems in identifying and quantifying agents — coupled with an unacceptable time frame within which to warn depot workers and communities of a possible release of agents,” Craig Williams, the organization’s director, said during a telephone press conference. Total price for the monitoring systems would be $25 million, Williams said. The U.S. Army’s monitoring system at the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah “is effective and fully provides for the protection of its workers, the community and the environment,” said spokesman Chuck Sprague (Dawn House, The Salt Lake Tribune, April 21). Back to top

New Pentagon Terms Tie Contractors’ Fees to Missile Defense Success In an effort to encourage the successful development of missile defense systems, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency has begun to issue contracts that reward defense contractors more for successful results than for meeting planned schedules, Defense News reported this week. One of the first such contracts was for the Kinetic Energy Interceptor, a $4.5 billion program awarded to a team led by Northrop Grumman and Raytheon (see GSN, April 20). “We do not pay them profit or fee for trying hard, delivering hardware, being responsive or having won the contract. Their profit rests on results,” an MDA official said last week. The terms of the KEI contract require the contractors to destroy target missiles in five consecutive tests. “Should they fail to hit the target on any of the five tests, they forgo the profit associated with that opportunity,” the official said. Similarly, the agency’s contract with Boeing for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system links about half of the contractor’s expected profit to successful test results (Ratnam/Singer, Defense News, April 19). Back to top

U.S. Environmental Regs Inadequate For Dirty Bomb Fallout, Study Says U.S. environmental cleanup laws and regulations are inadequate and uncoordinated for responding to the detonation of a “dirty” nuclear bomb, according to a study to be published next month in Environmental Science & Technology (see GSN, March 19). The study claims that if the United States were attacked with a radiological device, various conflicting regulations from different agencies could obstruct efforts at cleanup and restoring order. While a number of radiation regulations would apply in the event of a dirty bomb attack, none are specifically appropriate to such a scenario, said Deborah Elcock, an environmental policy analyst at Argonne National Laboratory and lead author of the paper. She added that the report calls attention to policy flaws but does not make particular recommendations. “This paper is not intended to propose or advocate particular policies,” Elcock said in a prepared statement. “We do advocate expediting the process, ensuring public involvement and balancing existing radiation protection goals with more generally applicable society goals,” she added (American Chemical Society release, April 15). Back to top       Correction Due to an editor’s error, an article based on an April 2003 news report on U.S. weapons inspections in Iraq was incorrectly posted Tuesday in Global Security Newswire.         Back to top

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