U.S. and Russian officials signed an agreement today to conduct operations to remove weapon-usable nuclear fuel from research reactors around the world. The fuel shown above was removed from the Serbian reactor at Vinca in 2002 (AFP photo). U.S., Russia Sign Agreement on Recovery of Russian-Origin HEU From Research Reactors The United States and Russia signed an agreement today to recover Russian-origin fresh and spent highly enriched uranium fuel from research reactors around the world, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, May 26)...Full Story

Former U.S. Senator Praises U.S. Effort to Recover Nuclear Material, Outlines Recommendations for G-8 Summit By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) yesterday praised a new U.S. Energy Department program to help secure and eliminate nuclear and radioactive materials that might be attractive to terrorists, and outlined several new nonproliferation measures he hoped would be announced at this year’s Group of Eight summit (see GSN, May 26)...Full Story

U.S. Reaches Deal to Upgrade Radar in Greenland By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Denmark and its territory Greenland have agreed to allow the United States to upgrade a radar in Greenland for use in the U.S. national missile defense, a key development in the Bush administration’s efforts to expand the planned system (see GSN, May 18)...Full Story

	Thursday, May 27, 2004

Ashcroft Warns of Possible Al-Qaeda Attack This Summer, Citing “Credible” Information By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The United States has received “credible intelligence” that al-Qaeda may attempt an attack during the summer within the United States, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said yesterday (see GSN, May 26). “This disturbing intelligence indicates al-Qaeda’s specific intention to hit the United States hard,” Ashcroft said during a joint press conference with FBI Director Robert Mueller. Concerns over a possible attack are based both on information received from “multiple sources” and on public statements made by al-Qaeda operatives throughout the year, according to Ashcroft. For example, an al-Qaeda spokesman said after the March 11 bombings in Madrid that preparations for an attack in the United States were “90 percent” complete, Ashcroft said. “We are at a critical time, I believe. We have not had an event in nearly two years. I think we are primed for that,” Suzanne Mencer, director of the U.S. Homeland Security Department Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness, said yesterday at a defense industry conference in Arlington, Va. U.S. officials have warned, according to reports, that an al-Qaeda attack this summer might involve the use of weapons of mass destruction. Ashcroft said that several major events planned to occur over the next few months, including a planned meeting of leaders from the Group of Eight global economic powers next month in Georgia and the Democratic and Republican Party presidential conventions scheduled respectively for Boston and New York City, pose “especially attractive targets” for terrorists. Bush administration officials said, though, that there was no specific information on possible targets or locations for the feared attack. “What we’re saying is there’s intelligence indicating that they would like to carry out their attacks over the summer or fall time period, and that you have to keep in mind that there are a number of high-profile events, they’re symbolic events, there are large gatherings of people at those events. The terrorists would like nothing more than to try to carry out an attack like that against a large gathering of people,” White House press secretary Scott McClellan said yesterday during a separate briefing. He added than an attack may be carried out against U.S. interests abroad. McClellan also said that U.S. President George W. Bush had no plans to change his schedule in response to the new alert. In addition, the American public should not let the announcement disrupt summer plans, he said. “Terrorists want to spread fear and chaos, and they want to try to disrupt our lives. It’s important that we go about living our lives,” McClellan said. The new information has not resulted in a change to the national terrorism alert level, which stands at yellow, indicating an “elevated” risk of attack. Bush administration officials yesterday defended the decision to not raise the level. “All threats we take very seriously,” McClellan said. “Just because the threat level may not be raised doesn’t mean we aren’t taking additional measures to try to prevent attacks from happening in the first place,” he said. The New York Times reported today, though, some Bush opponents, such as leaders of law enforcement and firefighter unions allied with presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.), alleged that the timing of the new threat was influenced by a desire to distract from the situation in Iraq and the president’s sinking poll numbers. During their joint press conference yesterday, Ashcroft and Mueller announced that the FBI was seeking seven suspected al-Qaeda operatives that pose “a clear and present danger to America.” The suspected operatives are: *         Abderraouf Jdey, a Tunisian-born Canadian citizen who is believed to have been selected for flight training in preparation for a possible attack against the United States; *         Adnan Shukrijumah, who was born in Saudi Arabia and carries a Guyanese passport, and who spent 15 years within the United States; *         Adam Gadahn, a U.S. citizen who converted to Islam and is suspected to having trained in Afghanistan; *         Aafia Siddiqui, a female suspected al-Qaeda operative who attended colleges near Boston; *         Amer El-Maati, a Canadian citizen of Egyptian and Syrian origin who is believed to have discussed hijacking an airliner in Canada and using it to attack a building in the United States; and *         Fazul Abdullah Mohammed and Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who have been indicted in the United States for their roles in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. To help counter the potential threat, the FBI has created a new task force to coordinate intelligence, analysis and field operations and to review previously collected information, Ashcroft said. The Justice Department is also seeking “unprecedented” cooperation with state and local law enforcement in collecting information, he said. Ashcroft also called on the U.S. public to be on the lookout for the seven suspects identified at yesterday’s briefing and for potential terrorist threats in general. “We ask citizens to be aware of their surroundings. Public awareness may cause terrorists to change their plans or targets our cause terrorists to disrupt or delay their plans. If you see suspicious activity, report it to your local police department, sheriff’s office, or to the FBI,” he said. Back to top       Panel Finds Complexity Slows U.S. Antiterrorism Spending By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A U.S. panel seeking ways to speed the flow of federal antiterrorism funds to emergency responders has concluded that the complexity of the process is slowing spending despite good intentions by most parties, a source familiar with the panel’s work said today (see GSN, March 16). President George W. Bush’s administration two months ago created the 20-member task force of state and local officials to seek ways to speed the flow of grant funds. The panel has now completed a draft of its recommendations and plans to deliver a final version to the administration in about two weeks, the source said. The source called the system for distributing the funds “incredibly complex,” saying that the federal Homeland Security Department and most states have designated funding recipients as required by law but that “administrative and procedural issues” slowed actual spending. The source cited obstacles including cities’ procedural obligations when making purchases, state requirements for legislative approval of allocations and a common “catch-22” in which municipalities cannot begin procurement processes without already having the necessary funds for the purchase but can receive only reimbursements from state governments. The findings are similar to those of recent reports on the problem (see GSN, May 14). The report comes amid intense scrutiny of the system by which the federal government funds emergency responders’ purchases of everything from radios to chemical-agent detectors. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and others have spoken of a “logjam” in the pipeline, and states and cities have locked horns for more than a year over local officials’ claims that money is not reaching them quickly enough. It would be a “dramatic oversimplification,” the source said, to cast blame on Washington or the states for slow spending. Available data do not support the view that direct funding to cities, something various mayors and members of Congress have advocated, would alleviate the problem, the source said. A top Homeland Security official yesterday indicated that the department’s view resembles that of the task force, saying the grants should generally continue to be channeled through state governments. Emergency responders’ needs should be met through a “regional approach” in which municipalities work together to coordinate equipment purchases and other efforts, Office for State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness Director Suzanne Mencer told a defense industry conference in Arlington, Va. “The best way to do that is to have it go through the state. … We firmly believe that the funding should go through the state,” she said. Mencer was until recently head of the department’s Office for Domestic Preparedness, which has been consolidated with the Office of State and Local Government Coordination to form the office she now leads. The office is Homeland Security’s main vehicle for funding state and local preparedness and response. Several pending congressional bills would alter the department’s method for distributing the grants (see GSN, Dec. 19, 2003). Homeland Security now provides each state with .75 percent of its total emergency response-grant budget and distributes the rest based on population density and other factors. The pending bills largely reflect a desire by Congress to give more weight to risk and threat assessment and to spend less based on arbitrary formulas. A bill that has passed the House Select Committee on Homeland Security would also provide for some direct grants to intrastate regions and, when states are found in breach of their obligation to “pass through” funds to local governments, allow direct payments to cities. A top emergency-preparedness adviser to Virginia Governor Mark Warner, George Foresman, told the defense contractors yesterday that although the homeland security business is probably not yet what they hoped at the outset, it is “about to be.” Foresman said the funding task force, of which Warner is a member, would offer suggestions for changes at all levels of government but that spending has already begun to increase. “One of the things that the data told us is that the process is maturing, particularly in the last several months. … We’ve seen rapid increases in the expenditure of federal funds,” Foresman said. “The system is beginning to work like a well-oiled machine,” he said. Disputing a conference participant’s characterization, Foresman said the system is not “broken.” “There are contributing factors at all levels of government as to why the system is not working as smoothly as it could,” he said. Foresman stressed the importance of a national assessment of the terrorist threat, which Homeland Security is required to produce under the 2002 legislation that created the department, as a means of deciding where to target response funds. He said the current system of grants to states is the best method for distributing the funds until the assessment is completed. “Until we get that [assessment] and until we have some validation that there’s equity in it, then we can’t go to a full risk-based funding approach,” Foresman said. Back to top

Former U.S. Senator Praises U.S. Effort to Recover Nuclear Material, Outlines Recommendations for G-8 Summit By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) yesterday praised a new U.S. Energy Department program to help secure and eliminate nuclear and radioactive materials that might be attractive to terrorists, and outlined several new nonproliferation measures he hoped would be announced at this year’s Group of Eight summit (see GSN, May 26). Yesterday in Vienna, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced the launch of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, which would work to recover U.S.- and Russian-supplied highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel and spent fuel from research reactors around the world. The United States would also work to convert research reactors to use low-enriched uranium fuel. In remarks yesterday in Washington, Nunn said the new effort represents a “significant breakthrough” in nonproliferation.  “There should be no higher security priority for our nation than keeping nuclear weapons materials out of the hands of terrorists. … We are in a race between cooperation and catastrophe,” said Nunn, co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Nunn also called on U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin to demonstrate “sustained focus [and] leadership” to prevent bureaucratic obstacles from hindering the initiative. Such obstacles have been credited with delaying a U.S.-Russian agreement to eliminate almost 70 tons of weapon-grade plutonium (see GSN, May 10). In addition, Nunn said, Bush and Putin should each appoint “high-level” officials to brief them “every day” on the progress of the effort. Russia’s main role in the new effort would be to accept and secure repatriated Russian-origin uranium and spent fuel, said Center for Strategic and International Studies Senior Adviser Michele Flournoy. Moscow would also need to incorporate the returned material into efforts to blend down HEU stockpiles to lower enrichment levels, she said yesterday. Russia could also help to either recover materials from, or shut down altogether, a U.S.-supplied research reactor in Iran, said CSIS Senior Adviser Robert Einhorn, noting the lack of U.S. diplomatic influence on Tehran. The reactor, provided to Iran through the Cold War-era Atoms for Peace program, has been implicated in nuclear experiments that the International Atomic Energy Agency deemed in violation of Iran’s commitments under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Einhorn said. G-8 Global Partnership Nunn also yesterday discussed the Group of Eight Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction — a nonproliferation effort launched during a 2002 G-8 summit in Canada. Under the effort, the G-8 countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States —agreed to pledge $20 billion over 10 years to fund nonproliferation projects, primarily within Russia. Since its inception, several additional donor countries have joined the partnership and the United States recently expressed a desire to bring both even more donor countries as well as new recipient countries to the effort (see GSN, April 27). While saying that “real progress” has been made through the Global Partnership, Nunn also said that “dangerous gaps” remain between the response so far of partnership members and the scope of the problem. He said that he hopes that this year’s G-8 summit, set for next month at Sea Island, Ga., would result in several new nonproliferation measures, including an endorsement of the new U.S.-Russian “global cleanout” program, as well as plans to secure nuclear fuel taken from decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines. While the United States has placed less priority on the issue of decommissioned submarines than has Russia, it is important for Washington to acknowledge Moscow’s priorities in nonproliferation projects, Nunn said. The United States and Russia should also announce plans to increase transparency and security of tactical nuclear weapons, Nunn said. Such weapons are small enough to be placed on the back of a truck, smuggled into a city and detonated, he warned, adding “No more city.” Nunn also said that he hoped this year’s summit would result in new plans to accelerate funding provided through the Global Partnership for Russian chemical weapons disposal and efforts to improve security at chemical weapons storage sites. At a chemical weapons disposal plant under construction near the Russian town of Shchuchye, more than 1 million canisters of nerve agent, each with the capability to kill as many as 80,000 people, are being stored in buildings “you wouldn’t put a good horse in,” Nunn said (see GSN, May 21). In addition, the G-8 members should also announce this year plans to secure Russian biological weapons stocks at both civilian and military facilities, Nunn said, adding that the issue was a “fundamental matter … of some urgency.” While progress has been made at civilian sites, similar efforts at Russian military facilities have stalled because of a lack of transparency, he said. Nunn added that if Moscow increased transparency of its military biological research sites, the United States should respond with some degree of reciprocity to help increase confidence (see GSN, May 25).  There is “10,000 times more risk” that terrorists would conduct a biological weapons attack using agents stolen from Russian sites or with the aid of a Russian scientist than Russia would conduct a deliberate biological attack on the United States, Nunn said. Reciprocal transparency of biological-related sites, though, should be limited to a bilateral basis between the United States and Russia, he said. Nunn also called on Bush and Putin to announce “bilateral transparency” of U.S. and Russian biological defense efforts. While saying that he did not believe the United States is conducting biological weapons research for offensive purposes, Nunn added that biological defensive research has raised suspicions of intent both between the United States and Russia and in the greater international community (see GSN, May 21). Also in the field of biological weapons, Nunn said that G-8 leaders should announce plans to combat infectious diseases around the world, noting that a potential biological weapons attack may be first seen as a natural disease outbreak. “The fight against biological terrorism and the fight of infectious disease is the same fight,” Nunn said. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Sam Nunn is chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative.  NTI is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by National Journal Group.] Back to top       U.S. Commission on Prewar Iraq Intelligence Meets The bipartisan presidential commission created earlier this year to examine U.S. intelligence on prewar Iraq held its first meeting yesterday, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, April 2). During the closed meeting, the commission heard from about a dozen experts, including former chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq David Kay, current and former members of the Iraq Survey Group and members of the National Intelligence Council, AP reported. The meeting focused on Iraq, but the commission’s work will include studying threats posed by terrorist groups and other countries, the commission’s chairmen, former Senator Chuck Robb (D-Va.) and U.S. Court of Appeals senior judge Laurence Silberman, said in a statement. The commission is expected to meet again today to hear testimony from about a dozen additional experts, commission spokesman Larry McQuillan said (Katherine Pfleger Shrader, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, May 27). Meanwhile, a book by British journalist John Kampfner says that British Prime Minister Tony Blair sought to block the United States from conducting an inquiry into prewar intelligence on Iraq because Blair was in “denial” over the issue, according to the London Guardian. According to Blair’s Wars, the prime minister’s senior foreign affairs adviser, Nigel Sheinwald, contacted U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice in late January to discuss whether the United States would conduct an inquiry. Rice told Sheinwald at that time that while the United States was considering the proposal, no decision had yet been made. “The British were miffed that the Americans had not bothered to tell them,” Kampfner wrote. During a second call to Rice on Feb. 1, according to the book, Sheinwald sought to persuade her to reject the inquiry, but was rebuffed. “You have your politics, we have ours,” Rice told Sheinwald, according to the book (Nicholas Watt, London Guardian, May 27). In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday that U.S. investigators have been unable to find the Iraqi officers whose recorded voices were featured in Powell’s February 2003 briefing to the U.N. Security Council.  During his presentation, Powell played recordings, obtained through intercepted telephone conversations, of men identified as Iraqi military officers seemingly discussing ways to hide WMD stockpiles from U.N. inspectors. In one recording, a man identified as a captain told a colonel to “remove ... the expression ... ‘nerve agents’” when found in “wireless instructions,” the Sun reported. Powell said yesterday that the tapes were authentic. “We can’t find those guys. I don’t know who those guys were.  But the tapes were real tapes. We didn’t make them up,” Powell said (Mark Matthews, Baltimore Sun, May 27). Back to top       EU Members Agree to Strengthen WMD Language in Syrian Trade Agreement European Union members agreed yesterday to include language calling on Syria to renounce weapons of mass destruction in a trade association agreement between the EU and Damascus, according to Agence France-Presse (see GSN, May 17). The new language will be presented to Syria “in the next few weeks,” a diplomatic source in Brussels said. “The language on what efforts Syria should make against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction has been hardened up,” the source said (Agence France-Presse, May 26). Back to top

U.S., Russia Sign Agreement on Recovery of Russian-Origin HEU From Research Reactors The United States and Russia signed an agreement today to recover Russian-origin fresh and spent highly enriched uranium fuel from research reactors around the world, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, May 26). “Together, the United States and the Russian Federation are working to reduce the global threat posed by unsecured nuclear and radiological materials,” U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said after signing the agreement, which is part of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative Abraham announced yesterday (Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press, May 27). Under the agreement, the United States pledges to help fund the recovery effort. Russia will supply experts and equipment to retrieve material from 20 reactors in 17 countries and return it to secure storage sites within Russia, said Federal Atomic Energy Agency spokesman Nikolai Shingarev. The initial stage of the effort will focus on removing materials from 13 reactors, with those in Belarus, Poland, Romania, Ukraine and Uzbekistan to be given high priority, according to Shingarev. While no official cost estimates for the project have been given, nuclear experts reportedly said that it would probably cost $80 million over two years (Simon Saradzhyan, Moscow Times, May 27). Back to top       Iran Threatens to Resume Uranium Enrichment Failure by the International Atomic Energy Agency to acknowledge Iran’s cooperation during the investigation of the country’s nuclear activity could lead Tehran to resume enriching uranium and restrict inspectors’ access to nuclear facilities, Reuters reported today (see GSN, May 26). “The (International Atomic Energy Agency’s) decision will have an influence on our cooperation with the agency,” President Mohammad Khatami said. “We suspended (uranium) enrichment voluntarily, we implemented the Additional Protocol (on snap inspections) voluntarily, so we can stop that at any time,” he added. Last week, Iran submitted to the agency what it said is a complete accounting of the country’s nuclear activities. While Tehran has repeatedly called for the IAEA Board of Governors to remove its case from the agenda at next month’s meeting in Vienna, Khatami today acknowledged that it was unlikely the agency would close the dossier. “We know this case is not going to be closed in June, but the June meeting’s decision is very, very important,” he said. The agency has not received full cooperation from Tehran in recent weeks and access to some military sites has been denied, diplomats said Iranian officials have previously denied such allegations, but Khatami suggested today that inspectors have been barred from some sensitive sites. “We will not let anyone have access to our military secrets,” he said. “But based on the regulations we have let the inspectors visit military sites which do not involve secrecy or confidentiality,” he added. Khatami went on to warn that, should the IAEA report not reflect what he called Iran’s cooperation with the agency, his government could switch to less accommodating policies. “If we feel that, under political pressure, they don’t mention Iran’s goodwill and cooperation, we will adopt new methods,” Khatami said. He added that Iran has no intention of following North Korea’s example of pulling out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as some hard-liners in the Islamic Republic have advocated (Hafezi/Charbonneau, Reuters/Yahoo!News, May 27). Meanwhile, Iran reappointed Hassan Rohani, a midlevel cleric who has defended the country’s nuclear efforts, to a three-year term as secretary general of the Supreme National Security Council, Voice of America reported (Voice of America, May 25). Back to top       No Date Set for Next Korean Nuclear Talks There is no set date for the next full round of multilateral talks on the North Korea nuclear standoff, South Korea announced today (see GSN, May 26). Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, traveling in Russia, said the six countries involved in negotiations were still discussing the date of their next meeting, the Yonhap News Agency reported. “I think more time will be needed in coming to an agreement on the date,” Ban said. “We still hope to have the meeting by the end of next month, but other countries have a lot of diplomatic schedules set for the month. So there are still a lot of possibilities left,” he added. While dismissing speculation that there might be disagreements between South Korea and the United States over Washington’s demands for “complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement” of North Korea’s nuclear programs, Ban said Seoul is exploring alternative terminology that could be acceptable to Pyongyang. “There are no differences on basic principles,” said Ban of the U.S. and South Korean positions. “It’s just that the North is strongly resisting the CVID. So we are trying to find out if there is any other alternative wording, without changing the basic principles. It’s something that still needs to be discussed closely with the U.S.,” he added (Yonhap, May 27). Back to top       Brazil, China Discuss Nuclear Trade Deal Brazilian officials are considering selling unenriched uranium to China in exchange for nuclear power technology, Bloomberg reported yesterday (see GSN, April 28). Several Brazilian leaders were in China this week, and Chinese officials are set to travel to Brazil in August to discuss uranium purchases and possible uses of that country’s nuclear technology, Brazil said. “We have no agreement yet,” Science and Technology Minister Eduardo Campos said yesterday during a World Bank conference in Shanghai. “We plan to explore greater cooperation,” he added. Campos said China plans to build 11 nuclear power plants. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is seeking closer ties and increased trade with China, which boasts the world’s seventh-largest economy. However, a Brazilian official disputed comments made yesterday by Lula that his country and China are considering developing uranium mines together.   “There’s no such project planned,” Brazilian Mining and Energy Minister Dilma Rousseff said from Shanghai. “Mining is my area, and there’s nothing to that,” he added (Bloomberg, May 26). Brazil’s nuclear programs could create another source of materials and technologies for other developing nations with nuclear ambitions, according to Knight Ridder. The country has already been criticized for barring IAEA inspectors from a planned uranium enrichment facility outside Rio de Janeiro (see GSN, April 20; Kevin Hall, Knight Ridder, May 27). Back to top       New Indian Government Plans to Promote Nuclear Disarmament While Maintaining “Credible” Weapons Program While India plans to “take a leadership role in promoting universal nuclear disarmament,” it also is set to maintain a “credible nuclear weapons program,” the country’s new government announced today (see GSN, May 24). India’s new government, led by the Congress Party, outlined its nuclear-related positions in an agenda released today. The Congress Party’s stance on maintaining a nuclear arsenal is a shift from its earlier position of ambiguity, according to the Xinhua News Agency (Xinhua News Agency, May 27). Back to top       Former Iraqi Nuclear Scientist Declines Political Post Former Iraqi nuclear scientist Hussain al-Shahristani is no longer being considered to lead the new Iraqi interim government, set to take office by the end of next month, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, May 14). During former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s regime, al-Shahristani opposed the Iraqi leader’s plans to develop nuclear weapons and as a result was imprisoned in the Abu Ghraib prison for several years, according to the Times. Al-Shahristani fled Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War and in following years headed an Iraqi exile group based in London. While U.S. and Iraqi officials said Tuesday that al-Shahristani was a leading candidate for interim leader, he said yesterday that he had doubts about accepting the position, the Times reported. U.S. and Iraqi officials have said that other individuals are now under consideration (Christine Hauser, New York Times, May 27). Back to top       Israeli Police Arrest Journalist on Suspicion of Meeting With Nuclear Whistleblower Vanunu Israeli police yesterday arrested British journalist Peter Hounam, who 18 years ago reported Israeli whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu’s revelations about Israel’s nuclear program, according to Agence France-Presse (see GSN, April 21). Hounam, who was arrested in his Jerusalem hotel by agents from the Shin Bet internal security service, was suspected of having been in recent contact with Vanunu to discuss producing a book and possibly a movie, according to Israeli Army radio. The whistleblower, who was recently released from prison after serving 18 years, has been barred from talking with foreigners without prior approval. The Jerusalem district court today issued a gag order preventing any further release of information on Hounam’s arrest, AFP reported (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, May 27). Israeli Government Press Office Director Danny Seaman defended Hounam’s arrest and noted that his office had issued Hounam a press card two weeks ago without difficulty. “This is irregular and so I assume they did not arrest him as a journalist but because for security-related reasons,” Seaman said. “The Shin Bet is a serious organization that deals with serious issues,” he added. Hounam’s attorney Avigdor Feldman, who was allowed to meet with his client today, said, however, that Hounam had not violated any restrictions. “The man was arrested for no reason. He was arrested as part of the security establishment’s never-ending obsession with Vanunu,” Feldman said (Arieh O’Sullivan, Jerusalem Post, May 26). Back to top

Discovery of Chemical-Filled Iraqi Shells Raises Concerns, Chief U.S. Weapons Inspector Says It is probable that further chemical weapons will be found in Iraq, chief U.S. weapons inspector in Iraq Charles Duelfer said yesterday following the recent discovery of two munitions containing mustard agent and sarin (see GSN, May 26). “We need to investigate whether there are more where that came from, wherever that is, and we need to make certain that they’re not finding their way into anticoalition or terrorist hands,” Duelfer said in an interview with CNN. While he believes it is probable that at least some additional chemical munitions would be discovered, Duelfer said he did not believe there were thousands of such shells waiting to be found. “We have found one. We don’t know if that means there are more,” Duelfer said. “We don’t know if that means they are making their way into hands of those who would use them against the coalition. But certainly, it is important, because there were not supposed to be any,” he added. Duelfer also said that he plans to present a report on the findings of the Iraq Survey Group, the unit conducting the search for evidence of prewar Iraq’s alleged WMD efforts, within the next few months. “We’re looking for something that does exist, and that is the truth. You know I wasn’t sent here to find weapons of mass destruction. I was sent out here to find the truth about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs,” Duelfer told CNN (David Ensor, CNN.com, May 26). Back to top       Defense Department Orders Chemical Weapons Audit The U.S. Defense Department is auditing the accelerated destruction project for mustard agent at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado, just after Congress voted to reinstate the project’s funding over the Pentagon’s opposition, the Pueblo Chieftain reported today (see GSN, May 10). The department is questioning the project’s operation under primary contractor Bechtel and whether the program has been structured to increase its cost. Members of the local Citizens Advisory Commission received a letter from acting Undersecretary of Defense Michael Wynne requesting an investigation of the project by the department’s inspector general, according to the Chieftain. The letter states that the Pueblo project was slated to cost $1.6 billion and employ no more than 587 workers at a 95,000-square-foot facility. The revised plan has 1,100 workers at a 240,000-square-foot plant and “could end up costing the government hundreds of millions of dollars more than anticipated,” Wynne wrote. Wynne’s asked auditor to examine the Bechtel contract and determine if the terms of the agreement gave the contractor an incentive to inflate the proposal unnecessarily. A draft report of the audit is expected in July, according to the Chieftain (John Norton, Pueblo Chieftain, May 27). Back to top       Army, Contractor Fined $52,000 for VX Release The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced yesterday that it fined the Army and a contractor nearly $52,000 for releasing an unknown quantity of VX nerve agent in August 2002 on Johnston Atoll, site of the first U.S. chemical weapons incinerator (see GSN, Nov. 7, 2003). The release at a chemical weapons facility occurred when a tray holding remnants of a VX shell was improperly loaded into an incinerator, the Associated Press reported. No exposures or harm to any person or wildlife were reported as the result of the release, said Dean Higuchi of the environmental agency’s San Francisco office. Located 825 miles southwest of Honolulu, the atoll is a national bird sanctuary and was once the site of 6 percent of the U.S. stockpile of chemical armaments. Congress ordered the mustard and nerve agents and explosives destroyed in 1986. Work by the Army and contractor Washington Group International began in 1990 (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, May 27). Back to top

U.S. Reaches Deal to Upgrade Radar in Greenland By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Denmark and its territory Greenland have agreed to allow the United States to upgrade a radar in Greenland for use in the U.S. national missile defense, a key development in the Bush administration’s efforts to expand the planned system (see GSN, May 18). The deal, approved by the Danish parliament today and expected to be formally signed this summer, appears to be a win-win-win-lose, respectively, for the United States, Greenland, Denmark, and the local Eskimos. Improving the existing early warning radar at the U.S. Thule Air Base on the far northwest coast of Greenland would give the planned U.S. ballistic missile defense system a well-located, more-precise sensor for tracking long-range ballistic missiles launched from Southwest Asian countries, such as Iran. The deal would require no direct financial compensation from the United States to Greenland, something originally sought by Greenlandic officials. It would, though, revise the 1951 U.S.-Danish agreement on creation and use of the base to make Greenland’s Home Rule Government a signatory, according to a senior Home Rule official. That was a major issue with Greenlanders and something the Bush administration previously said it opposed (see GSN, Jan. 2, 2003). “The ‘51 agreement has been a giant thorn in our side because it reflects Greenland as a colony. Now we’re an equal partner,” Greenland Deputy Foreign Minister Mikaela Engell said in a telephone interview. Greenland could also gain tougher environmental restrictions at the base and surrounding area and potential U.S. cooperation on trade, technology, education and other issues, she said. The Danish government gains influence from the agreement because the base “gives Denmark a card to play in the NATO game,” she said. U.S. ambassador to Denmark Stuart Bernstein called the agreement “a win-win-win solution that both enhances our security and broadens the foundation for our partnership,” the Associated Press reported today. The indigenous Eskimos of the Thule area, however, apparently get nothing directly from the deal and believe it could undercut their efforts to obtain compensation for being denied access to the base and a surrounding security zone.  This week, 428 tribe members are expected to sue Denmark for compensation and access to the area, saying the 1951 deal was made without their consultation. The tribe had taken its case to the Danish Supreme Court and lost last November and is planning to present its case tomorrow at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. “They’re pissed off. They say they weren’t consulted,” said Jane George, a reporter for the weekly Nunatsiaq News based in Arctic Quebec. Bush Plans Advancing Greenland’s Home Rule Government and its parliament last week approved the deal and the Danish parliament approved it today. President George W. Bush is scheduled to meet with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen tomorrow in Washington, though the White House has not listed missile defense as a major topic of discussion with its Iraq-war coalition partner. Engell said all parties wanted to secure agreement on the deal before the Bush-Rasmussen meeting, “so it wouldn’t come up as an issue.” The agreement is a key objective in the Bush administration’s efforts to construct a long-range, ground-based antiballistic missile system. The administration plans to activate elements of the planned system on the western side of North America and in the Pacific this year, directed at an anticipated North Korean ICBM capability.  A Southwest Asian ICBM capability is viewed as a more distant threat, with a flight-test worthy Iranian capability not anticipated for as many as five to 10 years from now, according to 2001 U.S. intelligence community estimates. Nevertheless, the administration last year negotiated an arrangement with the United Kingdom to upgrade a U.S. radar at the Fylingdales air base (see GSN, Feb. 6, 2003) and in 2002 requested permission for the Thule upgrade.  It reportedly also is negotiating with European countries to deploy an interceptor missile base for countering a potential Southwest Asian capability. No Direct Financial Compensation The deal has political significance for Greenland’s Home Rule Government, which has sought independence from Denmark and until now has had no authority to conduct foreign relations. In the future, the United States would have to negotiate additional agreements with Greenland and Denmark if it wants to add missile defense capabilities, Greenlandic officials said. “This is not sort of a carte blanche to start building missiles. … If the United States should want to upgrade the radar again or build a new X-band radar it would require a new request,” Engell said. The Pentagon, though, rebuffed appeals for compensation, Engell said. “We pushed as hard as we could but the message we got at that point was that the Pentagon would rather look for a solution that was poor technically and more expensive than to actually cough up money, real money,” she said. “When we started pushing really hard, suddenly Canada popped up as a possibility for a site,” she said. New Requirements In exchange for allowing the upgrade, Greenland would gain U.S. collaboration on issues such as energy, technology, tourism, infrastructure, education and scientific research, and Greenlanders would have access to previously unavailable scholarships in the United States, Engell said. “It doesn’t give us a stack of dollars right away, but it gives us partnerships,” she said. George said Greenland is “hoping to get contracts from the construction of the upgraded radar system.” In addition, the 1951 agreement would be revised to remove a restriction against direct contact between the indigenous population and the base personnel, Engell said.  The agreement also would require the United States to adhere to the toughest environmental restrictions at the base, either U.S. or Greenlandic, and would permit Greenlandic inspections, she said.  “The environment has been an enormous concern of ours. We really had no insight into what was going on,” she said. The Air Force base, 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle, hosts an early warning radar and space surveillance operations. The surrounding Thule Defense Area is approximately 287 square miles, slightly more than four times the size of the District of Columbia. The United States also agreed to conclude a status-of-forces agreement with Greenland, a common arrangement for defining the legal status of U.S. personnel and property in a foreign country and the authority of a host government on matters of criminal and civil jurisdiction, she said. “What we wanted was an agreement comparable with others around the world,” Engell said. While the Home Rule Government considered local concerns that the missile defense radar would make Thule a bigger target for U.S. adversaries, Engell said there was a conclusion that the site generally would not add risk. “Who knows if missile defense is going to work at all?” she said. Back to top       Contractor Begins Manufacturing Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense Missile in Alabama Lockheed Martin said it began manufacturing the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile today at its facility in Troy, Ala. (see GSN, Dec. 19, 2003). The facility is set to perform final integration, assembly and testing of the missile. The THAAD system is designed to defend troops, population centers and critical infrastructure against short- to medium-range ballistic missiles. It is comprised of a command and control/battle management system, missiles, launchers and radar, according to Lockheed Martin (Lockheed Martin release, May 26).   Back to top

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