The United States plans to reduce its entire stockpile of nuclear weapons, such as those carried by the B-2 bomber (above), by 2012, the Bush administration announced yesterday (AFP photo/Tim Sloan). U.S. Announces Plan for Major Nuclear Stockpile Reductions The United States plans to reduce its nuclear weapons arsenal by nearly half over the next eight years, the Bush administration said in a classified report submitted this week to Congress (see GSN, March 30)...Full Story

New Pit Facility Should be Deferred, Expert Says By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Bush administration’s plan to build a new facility for producing the plutonium cores, or “pits,” of nuclear weapons is premature by at least several years, a former senior U.S. military official said today (see GSN, March 29)...Full Story

Intelligence Key to Countermeasure Work: Officials By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The United States is making heavy use of threat information and intelligence analyses to guide its biological-defense research priorities, top officials involved in the effort said yesterday (see GSN, June 3)...Full Story

	Friday, June 4, 2004

Former Senators Warn of Terror Attack William New Technology Daily WASHINGTON — The next terrorist attack is coming and the United States is far from prepared, two former senators who are experts in the homeland security movement, said Thursday. “Myself, my hair is on fire,” said former Senator Gary Hart, borrowing a phrase recently popularized by former White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke. “I for one think it is only a matter of time before [an attack] happens again in a devastating way,” former Senator Warren Rudman said. The two spoke at a McGraw-Hill homeland security conference. Hart, a Colorado Democrat, and Rudman, a Republican from New Hampshire, oversaw a commission that warned of imminent terrorist attacks prior to Sept. 11, 2001. They said they tried unsuccessfully early in the administration to meet with President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. They did meet with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but the ex-senators said that beyond being respectful and taking notes, little happened (see GSN, Oct. 30, 2002). Hart urged the public and private sector attendees “not [to] fall into the Washington trap” of gauging the nation’s preparation by the amount of money being spent. Hart also criticized the administration over a report that a shared database between the FBI and the Customs Service would not be operational until 2008. “That is unacceptable,” he said. “We cannot wait.” Both senators said the federal government should act at home more like it is engaged in war. Hart said tax cuts should be curtailed and the private sector, which controls most of the nation’s critical infrastructure, should be commanded to better secure assets under wartime conditions. “What bothers me is the rhetoric [of the administration] doesn’t match the performance,” he said. Some of the Hart-Rudman report’s recommendations included investing more in domestic security and in math and science education, which Hart said has not been done. They also urged the reorganization of national security, Congress and finding ways to attract the best people to government. Their recommendation to create a domestic security department initially was opposed by Bush. Rudman criticized policy-makers for being driven by events rather than foresight, and said Congress has ceded too much power to the White House. He said the government has poured money into air travel security because the attack used that means but that if the attack had come at a seaport, the spending would have been there instead. He said the top priority should be to provide first responders basic equipment, and to allocate funding to localities based on threats, not population. Rudman said the president’s creation of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center helped unite the disparate intelligence bodies. He said he favors basic standards for chemical plants, nuclear facilities and cyber security. Both senators said they back the establishment of House and Senate committees with permanent oversight of the new department, and said other chairmen would have to relinquish jurisdiction. Rudman warned policy makers: “I think there will be hell to pay in this country politically if something happens.” Back to top       Reactors Prepared for Attack, NRC Chairman Says By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission had considered the potential for a terrorist attack against U.S. nuclear reactors for decades before the events of Sept. 11, 2001, NRC Chairman Nils Diaz said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 25, 2003). Many safety plans and procedures were already in place at the time of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Diaz said, limiting the overhauling that had to be made afterward as the United States scrambled to increase its security. “It was not a wholesale revamping. … It was a significant tuning,” Diaz said during a seminar at the McGraw-Hill Homeland Security Summit. “We were among the best prepared then and we are among the best prepared now,” he added. The commission regulates 104 commercial nuclear power plants in the United States, along with research reactors, nuclear waste disposal and spent fuel storage facilities. Its duties include ensuring security at facilities through annual inspections and “force-on-force” exercises. The 1979 partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania prompted “a sudden new focus” on safety planning for reactors, said Margaret Ryan, editorial director of McGraw-Hill’s Platts global nuclear and coal group. “Before 9/11 everyone worried about what might get out of a nuclear plant, and no one worried about what might get into a nuclear plant,” Ryan said in introducing Diaz. In his brief speech, Diaz focused on concerns about the possibility of terrorists crashing an airplane into a reactor in an attempt to release radioactive gases or attacking a facility by ground with an armed force. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has responded to the Sept. 11 attacks in various fashions, according to the agency’s Web site. Its efforts include working with other agencies to strengthen airline security, enhancing training and mitigation procedures at facilities and requiring reactors to update assessments of potential terrorist threats. There is a common response to most any action against a nuclear reactor, Diaz said — shut down the reactor, cool the core and ensure barriers are in place to block radioactive gases from reaching the public. He expressed confidence that a terrorist attack — even by airplane — would not result in the release of nuclear material. More specific response concerns have been discussed with reactor operators, Diaz said. “They have been inspected and they have been covered,” he said. Others have not always felt as strongly about the NRC safeguards. The General Accounting Office last year said in a report that the agency played down the significance of security problems and operated flawed exercises on terrorist attacks. “The steps the NRC has taken to improve security since 9/11 are not nearly sufficient to protect nuclear reactors against the terrorist threat we know they face,” U.S. Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.), one of the congressmen who requested the GAO study, said today in a prepared statement. “These inadequate measures suggest that the NRC stands for ‘Not Really Concerned’ when it comes to addressing the threat of terrorist strikes against reactors,” Markey added. Reactor security measures have been developed with the nuclear industry, rather than with independent security experts or state and local officials, Markey said. He called on the commission to initiate a public process of security improvements. Environmental and government watchdog groups last year also argued that a “force-on-force” exercise at the Indian Point nuclear power plant in New York was unrealistic as guards were informed of the training months in advance, there were too few mock attackers and some exercises were done during the day. Diaz acknowledged yesterday that the Indian Point security force knew of the training exercise, but said they did not know how it would occur. He also said security forces at nuclear reactors are being trained at night, and that work continues to integrate facilities’ emergency preparedness plans with local agencies. All plants have been ordered to increase their capability to repel attacks by land, sea or air, Diaz said. “We have assessed what needed to be done and we have done what needed to be done,” he said. Back to top

Tenet Resignation Could Be Linked to Senate Report on U.S. Intelligence Assessments of Iraq A 400-page Senate committee report on the issue of U.S. intelligence on prewar Iraq may have played an important role in the decision this week by CIA Director George Tenet to resign, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, June 3). The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report, which was submitted to the CIA for comment last month, is a highly critical and detailed account of a number of mistakes made by U.S. intelligence in assessing prewar Iraq’s alleged WMD efforts, according to U.S. officials and people close to Tenet. The criticisms in the classified report, a public version of which is set to be released this month, include poor prewar intelligence collection by agents and satellites and poor analysis of the gathered information, according to officials who have read the report. “There are some things that are indefensible,” said a recently retired intelligence official who saw the report. “There are some real errors, of omission and commission, and it’s not going to be a pretty picture,” the retired official said. A senior intelligence official said, however, that Tenet had neither read nor been briefed on the Senate report, calling any connection between the document and his resignation “bunk.” Tenet had previously been scheduled to appear before the Senate intelligence panel this week to offer final comments on the report during a closed session, congressional officials said. When Tenet canceled his appearance, he cited other commitments and gave no indication that he was set to resign, they said (Douglas Jehl, New York Times, June 4). The U.S. State Department yesterday denied that Secretary of State Colin Powell’s reported disappointment over prewar intelligence played a role in Tenet’s departure, according to Agence France-Presse. “Don’t make a link between the two,” State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said (Agence France-Presse, June 3). Meanwhile, CIA Deputy Director for Operations James Pavitt also plans to resign from the agency, a U.S. official said yesterday. Pavitt had decided to resign prior to Tenet’s announcement, the official added (Agence France-Presse/Channel News Asia, June 3). Back to top       U.N. Resolution on Iraqi Sovereignty Should Include WMD Search, Russia Says A draft U.S.-British U.N. resolution on Iraqi sovereignty needs to detail who would be responsible for searching for Iraq’s alleged WMD stockpiles and who would be responsible for any discovered weapons, Russian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Alexander Konuzin said yesterday (see GSN, May 27). “It is our opinion the resolution being prepared by the Security Council on Iraq must give a clear answer to the question — who will bear the responsibility for looking for traces of weapons of mass destruction,” Konuzin said during an open U.N. Security Council meeting. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that it was too soon to discuss the issue. “We understand that this issue is still really outstanding and leftover from previous resolutions, and we have discussed that among ourselves and the new administration; but it’s too soon really to address it at this stage,” Zebari said (Kim Gamel, Associated Press/Canoe, June 4). Back to top       Libya Resumes U.S. Oil Exports, Seeks U.S. Aircraft Libya has resumed oil exports to the United States, and is interested in purchasing U.S.-built aircraft, U.S. Assistant Commerce Secretary William Lash announced yesterday (see GSN, May 19). A Libyan oil industry source said that oil shipments to the United States resumed last month, according to Agence France-Presse. Libya’s improved relations with the United States, including new trade ties, occurred after Tripoli agreed to renounce its WMD efforts. Lash also said that he discussed during a meeting yesterday with senior Libyan officials in Tripoli the sale of Boeing aircraft to the African nation (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, June 4).  Back to top       France to Hold WMD Attack Simulation Ahead of D-Day Commemorations France is set to simulate an attack using weapons of mass destruction today in Normandy to test the country’s security chiefs, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 23, 2003). The exercise is designed to “verify the quality of links and procedures,” according to Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin. It is scheduled just two days before world leaders — including U.S. President George W. Bush, French President Jacques Chirac and 15 other heads of state — are set to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the allied invasion of Normandy. French police and military commanders would remain in control rooms during the exercise to test communications systems and coordination of forces in the event of a nuclear, radiological, biological or chemical attack, officials said. “There will be no troop deployment on the ground,” a senior official added. Ministry officials denied that the test, which de Villepin first made public yesterday, had been hurriedly organized at the request of the United States ahead of Sunday’s ceremonies. The interior minister added that the exercise was “usual, (and) was scheduled” (Agence France-Presse/Australia Herald Sun, June 3). Back to top       NATO Plans to Deploy WMD Team at Olympics NATO is set to deploy its new Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Battalion at the Olympic Games in Greece in August, Jane’s Defense Weekly reported (see GSN, June 2). Under the command of a Czech colonel, the 160-person multinational unit is scheduled to deploy near Athens this month. Based in the Czech Republic, the battalion was formed last year and is set to attain full operational capability by July 1. The Olympics assignment will be its first operational deployment (Theodore Valmas, Jane’s Defense Weekly, June 9). Back to top

U.S. Announces Plan for Major Nuclear Stockpile Reductions The United States plans to reduce its nuclear weapons arsenal by nearly half over the next eight years, the Bush administration said in a classified report submitted this week to Congress (see GSN, March 30). The stockpile reduction plan, which was adopted last month, when fully implemented would leave the United States with “the smallest nuclear weapons stockpile we’ve had in several decades,” National Nuclear Security Administration head Linton Brooks said yesterday. Brooks said he could not disclose specific reduction numbers.  “The numbers I’m prepared to use are ‘almost in half’ and ‘smallest in several decades,’” he said. President George W. Bush announced in November 2001 that the United States would reduce the number of “operationally deployed” strategic warheads by about two-thirds by 2012, leaving no more than 2,200 warheads. However, that decision pertained only to the number of strategic weapons that are deployed and ready for immediate use, not to the total U.S. nuclear weapons inventory, the Times reported. The plan announced yesterday covers additional armaments, including short-range weapons that are not considered strategic, reserve weapons and “logistical spares,” which would be used to replace weapons recalled for overhaul. The United States currently has 10,000 nuclear weapons if all categories are included, and the new plan would cut that number to 6,100, said Tom Cochran, an expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Cochran added that some of the weapons to be removed from the active category would be dismantled, while others would be put into reserve, meaning that they could be redeployed quickly. The rest of the weapons would be decommissioned and would be retired with others of their kind at the Pantex plant in Texas, which Brooks said is now engaged in “life extension” of existing weapons. He added that President George H.W. Bush decided to retire the U.S. stock of nuclear artillery shells before leaving office in 1993 “and we just finished dismantling the last one last year” (see GSN, Dec. 12, 2003). Brooks noted the stockpile reduction would be the largest in history in percentage terms. Cochran agreed that the reduction was significant. However, he added that the process would be slow. “These cuts are over eight years,” Cochran said. “That’s two presidential administrations. This is not a fast-paced reduction,” he added. Brooks wrote to members of Congress to explain that reducing the stockpile would require more work on the remaining weapons. “We must continue the administration’s efforts to restore the nuclear weapons infrastructure,” the letter says. Brooks said the reduction means that the Modern Pit Facility, a new bomb plant planned by the administration, could be smaller than it might have otherwise been. He added that one reason for the memo issued Tuesday was to convince members of Congress that a new plant is still needed to build the plutonium triggers of nuclear weapons (see related GSN story, today). “We’ve not yet been able to convince some of our congressional colleagues that the Modern Pit Facility is unrelated to any notion of future weapons development or future weapons growth,” he said (Matthew Wald, New York Times, June 4). Back to top       New Pit Facility Should be Deferred, Expert Says By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Bush administration’s plan to build a new facility for producing the plutonium cores, or “pits,” of nuclear weapons is premature by at least several years, a former senior U.S. military official said today (see GSN, March 29). The United States has more than enough plutonium pits on hand for its needs, said Retired Air Force Chief of Staff Larry Welch, a senior fellow at the Institute for Defense Analysis. He added that a debate within the nuclear weapons design community over whether those pits significantly deteriorate as they age would not be settled for several years. “We are about three or four years from having collected enough information from [pits subjected to an accelerated aging process] … to get an agreement within the weapons design community on the answer to that question,” he said, speaking at a breakfast sponsored by the National Defense University Foundation. “So far, there is no evidence that the plutonium undergoes aging changes in 40 or 50 years that would make it unreliable,” he said. Producing some controversy, the Bush administration has requested $29.8 million for fiscal 2005 to develop a Modern Pit Facility for producing 125 to 450 pits annually. Both the House of Representatives and Senate have initially approved the request in full (see GSN, May 21). A site has not yet been decided for the facility, with one of several prime candidates, Nevada, last year saying it opposes housing the plant (see GSN, Aug. 6, 2003). The administration sought $22.8 million this fiscal year for pit development, but Congress approved just $10 million, citing the administration’s failure to produce a plan for the future of the nuclear weapons stockpile. The details of the stockpile plan were sent to Congress this week, the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration said yesterday (see related GSN story, today). Agency Administrator Linton Brooks said almost half of U.S. nuclear warheads would be dismantled, and that will mean a smaller pit production capability would be needed. The Natural Resources Defense Council estimates the current number of active and reserve warheads at about 10,640. The administration continues to maintain, however, that a new production facility is needed, even more so with the announced reduction in arsenal numbers. “In recommending this stockpile plan to the president, we recognize that maintaining the nation’s nuclear deterrence with a much smaller stockpile means that we must continue administration efforts to restore the nuclear weapons infrastructure,” Brooks said in a letter to Congress accompanying the report. Some experts say a new production facility is not needed any time in the near future ð— that aging plutonium pits should instead be refurbished, some 20 to 50 per year, based on existing designs. The Natural Resources Defense Council recommended in a report released in April to “defer consideration, possibly indefinitely, of a larger Modern Pit Facility until both pit lifetimes and future nuclear weapons requirements are clearer, and rely on the newly modernized interim pit fabrication capability at Los Alamos as a sufficient hedge against uncertainty.” Welch said the money spent on a new production facility could be better used elsewhere. “We should not, in my view, start today with all of the other needs that we have in the nuclear weapons area,” he said, citing among other things high-energy-density experiments. He said the United States will eventually need a new production facility, but that, “My view, at this moment, there is no basis for saying we need to start now.” Back to top       Libyan Technicians Studied Malaysian Centrifuge Production Technology, Security Officials Say Nuclear trafficking suspect Buhary Syed Abu Tahir secretly brought several Libyan technicians to Malaysia for training on machines used to manufacture centrifuge components, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, June 1). Scomi Precision Engineering, the Malaysian company that supplied parts for Libya’s nuclear programs through a contract with Tahir, built the facility where the training occurred, security officials told AP. The company has said it was not aware its components were being used for nuclear technology; it was cleared of wrongdoing in February by Malaysian police. Police said in February that Tahir contracted Swiss engineer Urs Tinner as a consultant in the parts production, but did not mention the Libyan technicians (Rohan Sullivan, Associated Press I, June 4). Tahir is suspected of being a high-level operative in the nuclear black market led by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. The Sri Lankan businessman is being held at a prison camp for two years under a Malaysian law that allows detention without trial, AP reported. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said today that officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency would not be allowed to question Tahir, the Associated Press reported “This is something that has already been talked about between our people and the agency,” Badawi said. “It is not something new anymore to me,” he added. Malaysian officials had already ruled out giving U.S. officials access to Tahir, saying they don’t want any “foreign intervention” in the case (Rohan Sullivan, Associated Press II, June 4). Back to top       Senate Defeats Nuclear Waste Amendment; Debates Funds for Nuclear Weapon Research By Amy Klamper CongressDaily WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate defeated an amendment yesterday to strike a legislative provision in the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill, allowing the Energy Department to reclassify high-level nuclear waste at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina as low-level waste. The amendment, offered by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) failed on a 48-48 vote. As floor debate on the $401 billion defense bill continued, Senators Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) offered an amendment that would eliminate funding for research and development of a new generation of nuclear weapons. The underlying bill includes $27.6 million for the development of a 100-kiloton bunker-buster, known as the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, and $9 million for the Pentagon's Advanced Concepts Initiative, which includes so-called “low-yield” weapons of less than 5 kilotons. Feinstein and Kennedy said the administration’s plan to study and develop new nuclear capabilities would open the door to a new generation of nuclear weapons and provoke another nuclear arms race. Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) emphasized the funding would pay only for a study. “No new nuclear weapon is envisioned here,” Kyl said, adding intelligence reports indicate a propensity among potential enemies of the United States to deeply bury critical targets to avoid attack by conventional weapons. He said new nuclear weapons could be more effective against such targets, so “why would we want to deny ourselves that capability?” The Senate is expected to resume debate on the bill today, with no votes scheduled until Tuesday. Senate leadership said yesterday it expected to complete action on the bill next week. Back to top       Russia to Complete Destruction of Missile Launcher Russian Strategic Missile Force technicians are expected today to complete the destruction of a rail-mobile ballistic missile launcher, according to a Russian Defense Ministry source (see GSN, June 1). The dismantlement is being conducted at a facility in the western town of Bryansk, and is being observed by a U.S. inspection team as called for in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the source said. The launcher will be the 13th such system to be destroyed since early 2002, the source said (Interfax, June 4). Back to top       Correction GSN incorrectly reported yesterday that the latest U.S. subcritical nuclear experiment was set to take place in coming weeks (see GSN, June 3).  The underground experiment “Armando” was conducted May 25 at the Nevada Test Site, according to government scientists (Associated Press/KRNV.com, May 26). Back to top

Intelligence Key to Countermeasure Work: Officials By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The United States is making heavy use of threat information and intelligence analyses to guide its biological-defense research priorities, top officials involved in the effort said yesterday (see GSN, June 3). In the face of Democratic charges that President George W. Bush’s administration is doing too little to prepare for a biological attack, officials told a congressional panel that U.S. defenses are flexible and that research priorities are based on the latest intelligence. “The biomedical research agenda we have formulated concerning potential agents of bioterrorism is well conceived and will rapidly lead to new and improved medical countermeasures against agents of bioterrorism,” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci told the House Select Committee on Homeland Security. Senior committee Democrat Jim Turner (Texas) said the administration’s Project Bioshield, which the congressional chambers passed in different versions, would do too little to protect against potentially biologically engineered agents (see GSN, May 20). The project is intended to guarantee a government market for countermeasures that drug companies view as unlikely to generate profits. Turner said the United States should seek the ability to develop countermeasures against new pathogens “in as little as a few months or even weeks.” Last month, he introduced legislation to that effect in a bid to stake out a Democratic position on the matter ahead of coming appropriations debates (see GSN, May 5). With Democrats pressing the White House to do more, administration officials and supporters have stressed the limits of government action and the need to set priorities. Committee Chairman Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) yesterday spoke of the “paramount need to prioritize research goals and objectives in consultation with the widest range of U.S. government and outside experts.” “Credible intelligence will be a key factor in this prioritization,” Cox said. Fauci and Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Penrose Albright, who is the No. 2 official in the Homeland Security Department’s Science and Technology Directorate, said their agencies’ approach to research is based on current threats and nimble enough to respond to new ones. The infectious-disease chief said his institute’s research agenda is “based on an overall threat assessment formulated by CDC [the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] in close cooperation with the intelligence community.” Fauci acknowledged that a lower priority is assigned to “emerging pathogens that could be engineered for mass dissemination in the future,” known as Category C agents, than to Category A agents such as anthrax and smallpox or to Category B agents, which pose a “moderate” danger. He added, though, that government agencies have plans and experience that would enable them to respond quickly to an unforeseen threat. “To receive information about new threats that may arise, we work closely with DHS [the Homeland Security Department], which provides threat assessments concerning issues germane to our research. Because new infectious-disease challenges emerge naturally on a regular basis, NIH [the National Institutes of Health, which includes Fauci’s agency] has considerable experience in rapidly mobilizing research resources to confront new infectious-disease threats. This experience serves us well when called upon to adjust our research priorities in response to new intelligence information,” Fauci said. Albright highlighted his office’s cooperation with Homeland Security’s Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate, which gathers threat information from other government agencies. “They are partners in the total interagency efforts to obtain, assess and disseminate information regarding potential threats to America from terrorist actions. These threat and vulnerability assessments are inputs into the strategy and research, development, testing and evaluation activities of the Science and Technology Directorate,” he said. The information directorate is required under the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which created the department, to produce a national assessment of the terrorist threat and U.S. vulnerabilities. Critics have attacked the directorate for making progress too slowly on the project, while various Homeland Security officials have projected the assessment would be completed anywhere from this year to several years down the road. Albright said his office is funding, on behalf of the information directorate, an “all-WMD assessment effort” focused on “determining the capabilities of state and nonstate terrorist groups to develop and deliver or deploy any chemical/biological/radiological/nuclear/explosives agent within the United States.”  The first reports from the project have been submitted to the information directorate and include information on 20 groups’ capabilities. Back to top

China, MTCR Members Plan Two Sets of Talks This Year on Chinese Membership Officials from China and the Missile Technology Control Regime are set to hold two more rounds of talks this year on the Beijing’s possible membership in the 33-nation group that agrees to implement similar export controls on missile technology, China Daily reported today (see GSN, June 3). The purpose of the talks would be to clear up “old differences” and to evaluate China’s national export control system to see if it meets MTCR standards, sources said. MTCR and Chinese officials held talks earlier this week in Beijing, during which regime officials said they would actively consider China’s application, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. All MTCR members would have to approve the application (Hu Xiao, China Daily, June 4). Back to top       Pakistan Conducts Second Test of Ballistic Missile Pakistan today conducted a second successful test of its nuclear-capable, medium-range Ghauri 5 missile, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, June 1). Pakistan informed its nuclear-armed rival India before testing the 1,500-kilometer-range missile, according to AP. The launch was described as a routine test, AP reported. Pakistan is also expected this month to test its long-range Ghauri 3 ballistic missile, which has a range of 3,500 kilometers and could strike most any target in India (Munir Ahmad, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, June 4). Meanwhile, India plans to test its 3,000-kilometer-range Agni 3 missile later this year, said V.K. Aatre, scientific adviser to defense minister. “We have started integrating it (Agni 3). In this kind of high-end technologies, it is very difficult for me to indicate a time. We are at it.  We are still a few months away,” he said yesterday. “It is certainly not in the next three months,” he added (Deepikaglobal.com, June 4). Back to top

Kerry Says He Would Cut Missile Defense Funding to Pay for 40,000 More Soldiers Democratic presidential candidate Senator John Kerry (Mass.) said yesterday that if elected he would reduce funding for the national missile defense program to help pay for military initiatives, including expanding the U.S. Army by 40,000 active-duty soldiers, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, April 16). Kerry (D-Mass.) said the missile defense program was “the wrong priority” at a time when the nature of national security threats has changed. “We must build missile defense, but not at the cost of other pressing priorities,” he said (Dan Balz, Washington Post, June 4).   Back to top

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