U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton (shown in a May photo) disclosed yesterday that Iran plans to resume producing uranium enrichment centrifuge parts (AFP photo/Tatyana Makeyeva). Iran Announces Resumption of Centrifuge Production By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Iran announced yesterday that it would resume producing uranium centrifuge parts that the United States believes are intended for a nuclear-weapon program (see GSN, June 23). Tehran said it would restart production next week, despite having promised in talks with European countries not to make the parts, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton said at a congressional hearing yesterday (see GSN, June 24). “Iran has announced a substantial resumption of its uranium-enrichment program” and is “reneging” on commitments made to France, Germany and the United Kingdom, Bolton told the House International Relations Middle East and Central Asia Subcommittee...Full Story

North Korea Threatens Nuclear Test North Korea yesterday threatened to test a nuclear weapon unless its demands for energy aid were met, according to U.S. officials (see GSN, June 24)...Full Story

Sarin and Mustard Shells Found in Iraq, Duelfer Says As many as 12 sarin and mustard gas shells dating back to the 1991 Gulf War have been found in Iraq, U.S. chief weapons inspector in Iraq Charles Duelfer said yesterday (see GSN, June 17)...Full Story

	Friday, June 25, 2004

Greece Joins U.S. Container Security Initiative Greece yesterday agreed to become the 18th country to join the U.S. Container Security Initiative, under which U.S. customs agents are stationed at international seaports to screen U.S.-bound cargo shipments for WMD-related contents (see GSN, June 22). Under the agreement, U.S. customs officials will be deployed at the Greek port of Piraeus.  In addition, the United States plans to loan special inspection devices to Greece so that cargo screening can begin by the middle of next month, ahead of the 2004 Athens Olympics. “I am deeply grateful for the support of the Hellenic Republic for the implementation of CSI in Piraeus, Greece. This is another important step in the war on terrorism,” U.S. Deputy Homeland Security Secretary James Loy said in a press statement (U.S. State Department release, June 24). Back to top

Iran Announces Resumption of Centrifuge Production By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Iran announced yesterday that it would resume producing uranium centrifuge parts that the United States believes are intended for a nuclear-weapon program (see GSN, June 23). Tehran said it would restart production next week, despite having promised in talks with European countries not to make the parts, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton said at a congressional hearing yesterday (see GSN, June 24). “Iran has announced a substantial resumption of its uranium-enrichment program” and is “reneging” on commitments made to France, Germany and the United Kingdom, Bolton told the House International Relations Middle East and Central Asia Subcommittee. A British Foreign Office spokesman today confirmed that London has received a letter from Tehran announcing the move. “The U.K. is disappointed and regrets the Iranian announcement, for which there is no reason,” the spokesman said. He said France, Germany and the United Kingdom are discussing how best to proceed with Iran. Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement that “Iran is not searching for nuclear weapons, but we will never abandon nuclear technology and the mastery of this science,” according to the Washington Post. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran has written to the three European countries and the International Atomic Energy Agency about its nuclear programs but would not confirm Iran is planning to resume centrifuge-component production, AFX reported. Parties to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, such as Iran, are entitled to develop peaceful nuclear programs in exchange for their commitment to forgo nuclear weapons. Iran maintains its multifaceted nuclear program is mainly for energy purposes. Bolton reiterated the U.S. contention that Tehran’s enrichment efforts are part of a nuclear-weapon program. “Iran is a rogue state, and it will remain so until it can demonstrate that it has completely, verifiably and irreversibly dismantled its WMD-related programs,” Bolton said. Iran has been under fire for more than a year because of what the U.N. nuclear agency calls imperfect cooperation with inspectors examining the country’s various nuclear facilities. Tehran late last year promised the three European countries it would suspend uranium-enrichment activities, but controversy ensued over whether the suspension included centrifuge-component production at six government and three private facilities. Ultimately, Iran told the watchdog agency it would suspend production by April 9, and inspectors confirmed the suspension was in effect at the government facilities. Iran always acknowledged the three private facilities continued production. Bolton called yesterday’s Iranian announcement an act of “defiance” of the IAEA Board of Governors. A week ago, in the latest in a series of resolutions expressing concern about Iran’s cooperation, the board urged Iran not to make centrifuge parts (see GSN, June 18). In the resolution, the 35-country panel “recalls that in previous resolutions, the board called on Iran to suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, welcomes Iran’s voluntary decisions in that respect, regrets that those commitments have not been comprehensively implemented and calls on Iran immediately to correct all remaining shortcomings and to remove the existing variance in relation to the agency’s understanding of the scope of Iran’s decisions regarding suspension, including by refraining from … all production of centrifuge components.” Bolton was cautious in discussing the effect of Iran’s announcement on prospects for referring the case to the U.N. Security Council, as the United States advocates. In his prepared testimony, Bolton said it is “not a question of ‘if’ but of ‘when’” the IAEA board will send the case to New York. Asked by subcommittee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) whether Iran yesterday crossed a “red line,” he said, “I don’t think that it is sustainable for the EU-3 not to recognize that this is a substantial setback.” “I’ve been pushing a Security Council referral for a year, and I’m going to keep pushing it,” he added in remarks to reporters after the hearing. Bolton said no single piece of information proves Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, but that the breadth of Iranian nuclear efforts, which range from uranium mining to enrichment, suggests an arms program. The “risk of being wrong,” he added, is great enough to require action. Legislators at the hearing repeatedly interrupted one another to accuse the other party of being responsible for the Iran crisis. Democrats said the Bush administration has failed to enforce sanctions against Iran, while Republicans said former President Bill Clinton’s trade policies enriched the suspected nuclear proliferator. Representative Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) said the current administration has not sufficiently enforced the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, under which the United States may impose sanctions on companies that invest too heavily in Iran. Sherman said the United States has allowed Japanese oil companies to invest nearly $2 billion in the past two years in a country with “nuclear weapons that would be smuggled into our cities.” “We have passed a very clear law that your administration is deliberately ignoring,” said Sherman, the senior Democrat on the committee’s International Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Human Rights Subcommittee. Bolton Champions Counterproliferation, Plays Down U.S. Weapon Work Without drawing explicit conclusions for Iran policy, Bolton affirmed his belief in the value of military counterproliferation actions and in the irrelevance of U.S. nuclear work to other countries’ pursuit of nuclear weapons. The undersecretary cited Libya, which last year gave up its WMD programs after years of negotiations and pressure, as a model of muscular nonproliferation policy. “Without the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, we never would have seen the decision by Libya to give up the weapons of mass destruction,” Bolton said. Bolton rejected suggestions by Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) that new U.S. nuclear-weapon research could weaken Washington’s hand in international efforts to curb proliferation (see GSN, June 24). The State Department official said “the argument is raised” in discussions with other nations about proliferation but that U.S. research is not among the countries’ primary concerns. “I do not believe … that states that are seeking a nuclear-weapons capability are motivated by our research and development,” Bolton said. U.S. weapon research and efforts to stop nuclear proliferation elsewhere are “really in separate universes,” he said. Back to top       North Korea Threatens Nuclear Test North Korea yesterday threatened to test a nuclear weapon unless its demands for energy aid were met, according to U.S. officials (see GSN, June 24). The threat came during a meeting between U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly and North Korean negotiators in Beijing, officials told Reuters. “In the course of the discussion, the North Koreans made a reference to testing and they made it as part of an argument why we should accept their proposal right away,” a U.S. official said. “It was a fairly transparent ploy,” the official added (Arshad Mohammed, Reuters/Yahoo!News, June 25). Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda warned today that such a move by Pyongyang would “pose a great threat to [Japan’s] national security,” Agence France-Presse reported (Agence France-Presse, June 25). The third day of six-nation talks was delayed today by a bilateral meeting between China and North Korea (Agence France-Presse, June 25). Talks are set to conclude tomorrow without the planned closing ceremony, the Associated Press reported. “The meeting will end, but there will be no closing ceremony,” said a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, who gave no reason for the cancellation (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, June 25). Some experts said North Korea is not likely to test a nuclear weapon. “A nuclear test would have the immediate effect of uniting all the allies in the region … just as the missile test in ‘98 drove Japan back to the strong side of the ledger for the U.S,” said Jon Wolfsthal, deputy director of the Nonproliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Wolfsthal also viewed the U.S. proposal put forth this week as a significant change in the U.S. position (see GSN, June 23). The shift was first signaled publicly as early as March, Wolfsthal said, when the administration indicated its willingness to “let the idea of regime change fall by the wayside” in a major speech by State Department policy planning director Mitchell Reiss (see GSN, March 15). The new proposal was forged with assistance from Japan and South Korea and was also presented to China prior to the talks, according to Wolfsthal. He said the Japanese and South Koreans were particularly pleased because the softening U.S. stance would be popular in those countries. “At home, it makes it much easier for them to keep cooperating with the U.S.,” he said. He added that South Korea and Japan were likely to offer energy aid to North Korea regardless of the U.S. position, partly due to the U.S. decision earlier this month to withdraw troops from South Korea.  “If the U.S. is going to weaken its defense posture while refusing to negotiate, they were going to take matters into their own hands,” Wolfsthal said. With U.S. troops “so overcommitted around the world that we are withdrawing troops from the Korean front line,” Wolfstahl said a U.S. military response in North Korea was unlikely, although still possible. “There are military options — they are ugly and they are dramatic,” he said. “While the U.S. is likely to prevail in such a conflict, it is one we are likely to avoid,” he added. Wolfsthal also said that the United States has dropped the phrase “complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement” to describe its demands to North Korea with regards to its nuclear programs in response to North Korean objections to the term, while the State Department insisted yesterday that the goal of “CVID” has not changed. “My understanding is that, to ourselves, we will say ‘a rose is a rose is a rose,’” Wolfsthal said (Marina Malenic, GSN, June 25). Meanwhile, nine parties have agreed to provide energy to North Korea if it dismantles its nuclear weapons program in accordance with the U.S. plan, said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher at a daily press briefing yesterday. “We know that nine U.S. parties, some of our friends and allies in the talks, are prepared to provide energy assistance to North Korea, non-nuclear energy assistance, once the program is stopped and we’re starting to move down the road,” said Boucher, who did not name the parties specifically (State Department briefing, June 24).. Elsewhere, U.S. officials said Secretary of State Colin Powell is considering meeting briefly with his North Korean counterpart next week when both men are scheduled to attend a regional conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, the Washington Post reported (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, June 25). Back to top       IAEA Investigates Syrian Nuclear Capability The International Atomic Energy Agency is investigating whether Syria may have obtained nuclear technology through the international nuclear smuggling network headed by former top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Los Angeles Times reported today (see GSN, May 27). Intelligence reports indicate that Khan visited Syria during the late 1990s and met secretly with Syrian nuclear officials in Iran, said Western diplomats. In addition, a U.S. experimental electronic monitoring device recently detected signals that Syria may be operating uranium enrichment centrifuges, according to the Times. Syria’s representative to the agency in Vienna did not respond to requests for comment, the Times reported. Both the agency and the U.S. State Department declined to comment on the allegations. While agency may be considering Syria as a possible client of the international nuclear network, investigators found no evidence that Khan visited Syria or provided it with nuclear technology, said a senior European diplomat. Some U.S. officials and other Western diplomats have said that the information linking Syria to the nuclear network is not conclusive (Douglas Frantz, Los Angeles Times,June 24). Back to top       Kazakh Nuclear Physics Institute Ships Isotopes to U.S. Through Nonproliferation Program A Kazakh research institute earlier this month delivered its first shipment of radioactive isotopes to the United States through a U.S. Energy Department nonproliferation program, Artem Arzumanov of the Kazakh National Nuclear Center said yesterday (see GSN, May 6). The Kazakh Nuclear Physics Institute in the city of Almaty shipped 100 mili curie of germanium 68 to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, Arzumanov said. The shipment was the first the institute has conducted through the U.S. Initiative for Proliferation Prevention, which seeks to engage nuclear production and research facilities in the former Soviet Union in producing civilian products, he said. Germanium 68 is used in the medical community to detect cancer as well as cardiac and nervous system illnesses. The 100 mili curie shipment is sufficient to examine dozens of patients, according to the Associated Press. Under the program, the Kazakh Nuclear Physics Institute will deliver 200 mili curie of germanium 68 to the United States next year and 300 mili curie of the isotope in 2006. If the program is success, Kazakhstan hopes to reach a long-term agreement with the Untied States for continued germanium 68 shipments, Arzumanov said (Bagila Bukharbayeva, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, June 24). Back to top       Australia to Aid in Russian Submarine Dismantlement Australia plans to provide Russia with $7 million to aid with nuclear submarine dismantlement efforts, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday (see GSN, June 9). The funding, to be administered through the Group of Eight’s Global Partnership, would be used to help decommission more than 40 Russian nuclear submarines moored off Russia’s eastern coast, according to Downer. He said the project would aid global nonproliferation efforts by preventing rogue states from obtaining the vessels’ nuclear fuel (AAP Newsfeed, June 24). Back to top       U.S. Readies Minuteman 3 ICBM Replacement Study The U.S. Air Force is expected to begin in about a month a study of possible replacements for the Minuteman 3 ICBM, Air Force Space Command chief Gen. Lance Lord said yesterday (see GSN, April 16). The analysis of alternatives will begin once the Defense Department gives formal approval, Lord said, adding that the study should take a year to complete. Its purpose is to examine conventional and nuclear options for a new land-based strategic deterrent, according to Aerospace Daily & Defense Report. The Air Force, which has an arsenal of about 500 Minuteman 3s, wants to field a replacement to the missile by 2018, according to Aerospace Daily & Defense Report. Lord said yesterday that the Air Force plans to maintain the Minuteman 3s until about 2020 (Marc Selinger, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, June 25). Back to top

Bioterrorism Spending at $14 Billion Since Attacks The United States has spent $14 billion on bioterrorism defense since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a report released this month by the Biosecurity Center of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (see GSN, May 7). Researchers say nearly all those funds have been targeted at preventing a bioterrorist attack on U.S. soil, according to the Associated Press. Published in the center’s quarterly journal, Biosecurity and Bioterrorism, the report does not include spending by federal law enforcement agencies or most outlays by the Defense, Energy and Justice departments. The researchers did not evaluate the efficacy of the spending. “The way to look at it is a substantial amount of money has been invested in biodefense,” said Ari Schuler, a research analyst and author of the report. “From a fiscal level, there is a great deal of money. But the other side of that is that money is no indication of success or failure,” he added (Mike Crissey, Associated Press/PhillyBurbs.com, June 25). Back to top       Coming Soon: 10-Minute Test for Suspicious Powders The U.S. Justice Department’s Center for Domestic Preparedness is overseeing a project that could soon enable emergency responders, armed with a field test kit costing about $10, to identify mysterious white substances within 10 minutes, the Anniston (Ala.) Star reported (see GSN, Feb. 7, 2003). A rapid test has been sought since the 2001 anthrax mail attacks, after which laboratories were overwhelmed by requests to identify unknown powders, the Star reported. All suspected biological agents are still required to be analyzed in a government laboratory, according to the Star. However, the test, which has a 99-percent accuracy rate in laboratories, could allow local agencies to assess the severity of potential biological incidents more quickly. An efficient, effective field test would be particularly beneficial in identifying hoaxes, local health officials said. “It would be great in savings of manpower and money,” said Calhoun County, Ala., Public Health Department administrator Donald Bain. “Now, if you find it, you have to assume for everyone’s safety that it’s dangerous until proven otherwise,” he added. The field test would use some common items such as protein and pH strips, a vial and instruments that are basically spoons, according to the Star (Nathan Solheim, Anniston Star/Tuscaloosa News, June 24). Back to top       Ricin Materials Found in Massachusetts Apartment A raid Wednesday on a Boston-area apartment by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives yielded materials that could be used to produce ricin, the Boston Herald reported (see GSN, May 17). “It’s unclear at this point what he’s up to,” a source familiar with the investigation said of tenant Michael Crooker, who ATF spokesman Jim McNally said has “a significant [criminal] record.” “They came across all this stuff to make bombs and castor beans to make ricin,” said another source (Rosinski/Farmer, Boston Herald, June 24). Back to top       Correction An article Wednesday in Global Security Newswire incorrectly described Elisa Harris, senior research scholar at the University of Maryland’s Center for International and Security Studies, as calling for greater transparency in biotechnology research. Her proposals in fact call for more transparency in biodefense research (see GSN, June 22). Back to top

Sarin and Mustard Shells Found in Iraq, Duelfer Says As many as 12 sarin and mustard gas shells dating back to the 1991 Gulf War have been found in Iraq, U.S. chief weapons inspector in Iraq Charles Duelfer said yesterday (see GSN, June 17). Terrorists operating in Iraq are also attempting to recruit former Iraqi WMD experts to assist in attacks on coalition forces, he said. “When we have investigated certain labs and contacted certain former experts in the WMD program, we have found that they are being recruited by anticoalition groups,” Duelfer, who heads the Iraq Survey Group, told Fox News. “They are being paid by anticoalition groups. We’re seeing interest in developing chemical munitions,” he added (Fox News, June 24). Back to top       Army Unable to Locate Aberdeen Chemical Leak Source The U.S. Army has not yet determined the source of a mustard agent leak detected Wednesday morning in a storage building at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, the Baltimore Sun reported (see GSN, June 24). “Finding the leak may be difficult because it could be as small as a pinhole,” said installation spokesman George Mercer. “The real issue now is finding the leak and evaluating what to do with the container,” he added. No mustard agent has been detected outside the storage building, Mercer said (Patrick Tyler, Baltimore Sun, June 25). Back to top       Exploding Vending Machine Creates Chemical Agent An explosion and small fire inside a vending machine in a Texas hospital transformed the appliance’s freon coolant into phosgene, Reuters reported today (see GSN, June 22). Used as a choking agent, phosgene was responsible for most of the chemical warfare deaths during World War I (Centers for Disease Control, Facts About Phosgene). A food service employee was working on the soda machine in the Park Place Medical Center in Port Arthur, Texas, when the explosion occurred, according to local Fire Marshal Mark Mulliner. “When freon gas from the cooling system came into contact with the heat from the fire, it changed composition to a phosgene gas,” Mulliner said. “We were fortunate one of our officers who was first on the scene had some familiarity with phosgene and quickly evacuated the area,” said Mulliner, who added that the weaponization of the vending machine appeared to be a “freak accident.” “I’ve been here 27 years and I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said (Reuters/Yahoo!News, June 25). Back to top

Base Receives First Missile Interceptor Booster The first interceptor booster for the U.S. Ground-based Midcourse Defense missile defense system has been delivered to Fort Greely, Alaska, officials said Wednesday (see GSN, June 18). The booster is set to be equipped with a kill vehicle payload next week, said Maj. Gen. John Holly, program director for the Pentagon’s Ground-based Midcourse Joint Program office. The full interceptor is scheduled to be placed into an underground silo at the Alaskan base next month, he said. It would also be the first interceptor to be placed on alert as part of the Bush administration’s missile defense plan, Holly said. The agency plans to have five interceptors deployed at Fort Greely by the end of the year (Shelby Spires, Huntsville (Ala.) Times June 24). Back to top       Pentagon Tests Key Missile Defense Radar Piggybacking on a U.S. Air Force strategic missile test, the Missile Defense Agency successfully tested a sea-based missile tracking radar Wednesday, the Huntsville (Ala.) Times reported (see GSN, Dec. 12, 2003). An Aegis radar aboard the USS Paul Hamilton tracked the flight of a long-range Minuteman 3 missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and transmitted the information to a missile defense command system in Colorado, said Maj. Gen. John Holly, program director for the Missile Defense Agency’s Ground-based Midcourse Joint Program office (see GSN, June 24). “The Aegis tracked it. Our system tracked it, and our system was able to take the data feeds from the Aegis and generate a fire control solution just as if that had been a real target,” Holly said. The information transfer was the first successful Aegis-to-ground missile defense system communication about a missile, according to Holly. The test was designed to demonstrate whether the ground system could use other military radars to track a missile, Holly added (Shelby Spires, Huntsville Times, June 24). Back to top       SBIRS-High Overrun Estimate Confirmed Cost overrun estimates totaling $1.5 billion for the Space-Based Infrared System High are accurate for the time being, U.S. Air Force Space Command chief Gen. Lance Lord said yesterday (see GSN, April 22). The planned system is intended to replace the current system of missile-launch detection satellites. “I think that it is going to be fairly accurate,” Lord said, according to Defense Daily. “I think I’m going to stand behind that for right now,” he added (Amy Butler, Defense Daily, June 25).   Back to top

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