By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — The international organization responsible for promoting a global nuclear test ban treaty and preparing to monitor compliance with the pact could face significant changes over the coming year, according to officials and documents (see GSN, July 25, 2003). A large number of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization’s roughly 178 internationally recruited professional staff expect to leave the nearly 8-year-old organization by 2006 in accordance with a seven-year service limit and a temporary policy allowing for a two-year extension (see GSN, Feb. 21, 2003). A comprehensive organizational review is planned for this year and next that could precipitate a restructuring of the organization. An external team will conduct the review to examine how its functional structure, methods of operation, and staffing profile might be changed as the organization shifts from a buildup phase to one of testing and evaluation and operation and maintenance. In addition, the Vienna-based organization’s founding executive secretary, German Ambassador Wolfgang Hoffmann, is scheduled to leave the position next July and be replaced by a successor to be chosen in November. Future executive secretaries will serve a maximum of two four-year terms. The organization’s International Data Center, which receives and processes global monitoring data, and its on-site inspection office, also will get new directors this year. These bureaucratic changes are not as significant as fundamental challenges the organization faces, said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. “These are ordinary and useful steps in the development of the CTBTO. However, the real problems the CTBTO faces have to do with obtaining the full contributions of all the member states and obtaining the additional signatures and ratifications to put the international monitoring system in full effect along with the on-site inspection capabilities of the system,” he said. A former CTBTO official who asked not to be identified, though, said he believes the changes could have a significant impact, with the review potentially producing a more flexible organization that is better able to shift resources, rather than hiring new personnel, to meet changing challenges. The loss of skilled professionals because of the tenure policy, meanwhile, could be harmful, the former official said. “They’ll reach a bow wave where a number of very crucial people, the bones of the organization in a way because they have so much requisite experience, could be lost unless the organization smartly manages the turnover and willfully makes exceptions to the seven-year policy,” the former official said. The organization’s decision last month to accept national dues payments in two currencies, the U.S. dollar and the Euro, instead of just the dollar, could also affect the organization. As the dollar has weakened against the Euro, the organization has effectively lost money. Working with two currencies, however, could complicate the CTBTO finances, the former official said. Difficulties in collecting full dues from members have also troubled the organization, which is operating under a $95 million budget this year. Details of the plans were described in the final report of the 22nd session of the organization’s preparatory commission last month. The organization was created in November 1996, two months after the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly and opened for signature. Most countries in the world have signed, 172 of 194, and 115 have ratified, with new nations added nearly every month (see GSN, July 6). International monitoring stations continue to be constructed worldwide, with more than 100 transmitting data that would indicate any nuclear testing. The treaty has not entered into force, as 12 of 44 required states, including the United States, have not ratified. Concerns persist in the international community that the ban and the organization are in danger, because of the prospect that a member or nonmember will resume testing. North Korea has been cited as a concern, having suggested it may test a nuclear weapon, according to U.S. officials (see GSN, June 25). Analysts also have questioned whether the United States might decide to resume testing in the future, either to help maintain its current nuclear weapons stockpile or develop new capabilities (see GSN, Sept. 3, 2003). The Bush administration has opposed ratifying the treaty to preserve the option of future testing, but has adhered to a unilateral testing moratorium adopted following the last U.S. nuclear test in 1992. Secretary of State Colin Powell said at a congressional hearing this year the United States “will maintain our test prohibition. There’ll be no testing on our side.”
By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — The United States and Romania signed an agreement Monday for U.S. help to repatriate Russian-origin spent nuclear fuel from a Romanian research reactor (see GSN, May 27). Under the agreement, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration would aid with the removal of spent fuel from a 2-megawatt research reactor at the Institute of Nuclear Physics and Engineering in the village of Magurele near Bucharest. The material would then be returned to Russia for storage. As host country, Romania would assist in the operation by providing security and other measures, NNSA spokesman Bryan Wilkes said today. In September 2003, a joint U.S.-Russian operation removed about 15 kilograms of Russian-origin fresh nuclear fuel originally slated to be used in the reactor from the Pitesti Institute for Nuclear Research, west of Bucharest (see GSN, Sept. 22, 2003). Nuclear nonproliferation experts have warned of the proliferation risks posed by unsecured fresh and spent nuclear fuel at research reactors around the world, which could be attractive to terrorists seeking to develop crude nuclear or radiological weapons. In late May, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced the launch of the U.S. Global Threat Reduction Initiative, which seeks to work with Russia to repatriate all Russian-origin fresh highly enriched uranium fuel by the end of 2005 and accelerate and complete the return of all Russian-origin spent fuel by 2010 (see GSN, May 26). According to the NNSA, there are about 4 metric tons of Russian-origin nuclear material at 20 reactor sites in 17 countries (see GSN, June 7). While refusing to provide specific details as to when spent fuel would be returned from the Magurele reactor, Wilkes said that all Russian-origin spent fuel in Romania is set to be repatriated by the end of 2006. Many details of the U.S. plan to support the effort remain undisclosed, such as, the cost of the operation, the current security situation at the Romanian site, and how much material is set to be returned to Russia from the reactor. A 2000 study prepared by the European Commission says there are 226 spent fuel assemblies in storage at the reactor site. Romania decided in 2002 to permanently shut down the Magurele reactor, which had been inactive since 1997, to prepare it for decommissioning, according to the U.S. Energy Department. The U.S.-Romanian agreement on implementing nuclear nonproliferation projects was signed Monday in Washington at the Romanian Consulate by Abraham and Romanian Minister Delegate of the Commission for Nuclear Energy Serban Valeca. “This agreement provides yet another excellent opportunity for the United States and Romania to work together to reduce the threat of terrorism through the removal of proliferation-attractive material under the Global Threat Reduction Initiative,” Abraham said Monday in a press statement.
U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham yesterday blocked the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico from conducting classified research until recently discovered security concerns are corrected, according to Agence France-Presse (see GSN, July 20). The Energy Department on Monday began reviewing security procedures at the nuclear weapons research facility following the reported disappearance earlier this month of computer storage disks. Classified research would not resume at Los Alamos until it is determined “that the newly implemented corrective actions provide for complete and verifiable custodial control of such media,” Abraham said in a statement (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 21). Abraham also said that he envisioned classified research resuming at Los Alamos in stages, according to the Washington Post. “Given the very broad nature of the classified activities under way at the lab and likely differences in the ability of some divisions to implement security modifications more quickly than others,” he said, “I expect the restart of the various operations to take place in stages rather than all at once.” During the halt, “supervisors are going to have one-on-one meetings with every single employee to explain the rules and expectations at Los Alamos,” laboratory spokesman Kevin Roark said. “If we get the sense that someone here isn’t willing to buy into that, then they should consider other places of work,” he said. In addition to firings, the revocation of security clearances held by some Los Alamos scientists is also being considered, a senior Energy Department official said (Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, July 21). Meanwhile, a delegation of Energy Department officials and lawmakers that visited Los Alamos earlier this week found that in addition to poor attitudes about security among personnel, the laboratory might also suffer from poor security procedures, according to the Los Angeles Times. The delegation found that the missing computer storage disks were kept in a small safe in hallway next to a vending machine, the Times reported. Access to the safe was governed through an honor system because the safe’s custodian was nowhere in sight, according to the Times. “It was just put down at the end of a hallway, and it looks to me like it was put there because there was space,” said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas), who was a member of the delegation. “I don’t think there was any strategic reason it was put there. There weren’t any barriers, and there weren’t surveillance cameras,” he said Eleven Los Alamos employees had the combination to the safe, and all have denied taking the missing disks, the Times reported (Vartabedian/Hanley, Los Angeles Times, July 21). Barton said yesterday that it appears that the two missing computer disks were lost and not stolen. He also said, though, that the disks contained important information related to experiments conducted by Los Alamos’s weapons physics division. “If they were to fall into the wrong hands, it would not be a positive thing for the national security of the United States,” Barton said (Blumenthal/Chang, New York Times, July 21).
U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said today that North Korea should follow the Libyan model of fully eliminating its nuclear programs and that the United States would not be “fooled again” by the offer of a nuclear freeze (see GSN, July 20). The Bush administration would not negotiate a “band-aid solution” that would allow North Korea to someday “flip a switch and unfreeze its programs,” Bolton said. “We are interested in a lasting and meaningful solution to the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons program,” he said. “This was the fundamental failing of the 1994 Agreed Framework and it will not be replicated by the Bush administration,” he added. “We will not be fooled again,” he said. Bolton also ruled out rewarding North Korea for a freeze of its nuclear programs and said instead that Pyongyang should look to Libya’s disarmament as a model. Libya has begun to re-enter the international community after leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi pledged to end all WMD efforts (see GSN, June 29). “Our experience with Libya shows that a freeze is unnecessary, and moreover, would simply delay the time when the people of North Korea could reap the benefits of rejoining the international community,” said Bolton. “The United States and the United Kingdom did not offer specific promises or rewards to the Libyans,” he went on. “Rather, we held out the most attractive incentive available: the ability to naturally reap the benefits that comes from participating fully in the community of nations. … Economic and security benefits have been the natural and inevitable result,” he added. The United States appeared to soften its stance toward North Korea during six-party negotiations in Beijing last month, presenting a plan in which North Korea would be compensated by other negotiating partners for a freeze of its nuclear programs (see GSN, July 13). However, Bolton said the United States would offer no specific rewards to North Korea for complete dismantlement of all nuclear programs, as the U.S. continues to demand. “The principle of not rewarding outlaw regimes merely for coming back into compliance with their past obligations is an important one for the United States to uphold,” he said. “It is not only anathema to our values — it is a bad policy. It will encourage further violations not only with the state in question, but other rogue states as well,” he added (Marina Malenic, Global Security Newswire, July 21). Meanwhile, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations Gil Yon Park said yesterday at a one-day visit to the U.S. Senate that his country is prepared to freeze its nuclear development in exchange for “reward,” Asia Africa Intelligence Wire reported. “A freeze is a first step in the dismantlement of the nuclear weapons program and it should come together with rewards,” said Park. Those rewards must include lifting of U.S. economic sanctions and energy aid of 2 million kilowatts of power, he added. Park said there are positive aspects to the U.S. offer presented at the last round of six-party talks, but that it also contains “regrettable elements.” “That is a road map for disarming the D.P.R.K. in stages,” he said. “In other words, it calls for the D.P.R.K. to scrap all its nuclear programs first before our demands can be considered,” he added. Park said the U.S. demand that Pyongyang provide a comprehensive list of its nuclear facilities and disable them within three months was “unscientific” and unrealistic.” “The Korean Peninsula is technically in a state of war and therefore, it is an unreasonable argument to demand the D.P.R.K. disarm first,” Park said (Asia Africa Intelligence Wire/BBC Monitoring, July 21). During Park’s visit, some U.S. lawmakers urged greater efforts in finding a solution to the standoff, Agence France-Presse reported. Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, told Park that his country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons capability destabilizes the region and is politically and economically self-defeating. “The North’s nuclear program is a giant albatross around your neck, in my view,” Biden told Park. “It’s a waste of resources (and) strains relations with your neighbors,” he went on, adding that nuclear weapons lulled North Korea into a “false sense of security.” “We seek permanent verifiable elimination of all of North Korea’s weapons,” Biden said, adding that both Washington and Pyongyang would reap benefits from such a move. “This is not a zero-sum game,” he said. Representative Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) added that “there’s no more important issue that confronts the world” than convincing North Korea to dismantle its nuclear programs (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 20).
U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton last week talked with British officials about when to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council over Tehran’s alleged nuclear weapons program, said a U.S. official (see GSN, July 20). The official would not comment on when the United States would seek a referral, but noted that the International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors is set to meet in September and in November. “Bolton consulted with the British about what might be the appropriate time to move it to the U.N. ... unless they (the Iranians) change their record of noncompliance,” the officials said. “We are talking to the Brits about precisely that. ... It’s all in the conditional,” said another official (Arshad Mohammed, Reuters, July 20). Meanwhile, Israel’s intelligence chiefs warned today in an annual report to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s security cabinet that Iran would have a nuclear weapons capability by 2007, Agence France-Presse reported. Israeli military intelligence chief Gen. Aharon Zeevi Farkash said earlier this month he believed Iran would be able to build a nuclear weapon by 2007. Today’s report is further endorsed by all of the country’s main intelligence agencies (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 21).
There is no evidence that Syria is attempting to develop nuclear weapons, International Atomic Energy Agency Director Mohamed ElBaradei said in remarks televised today in Egypt (see GSN, June 28). “We have no proof that Syria is trying to engage in nuclear activities in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty,” ElBaradei said. “We have no information that Syria is involved in any prohibited nuclear activity,” he added (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 21).
Illicit mining at a closed uranium mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo poses a terrorism risk, U.N. investigators warned yesterday (see GSN, June 1). The U.N. mission in the African nation yesterday called on the Congolese government to exercise tighter control over the Shinkolobwe mine. Roughly 15,000 miners have ignored Congolese President Joseph Kabila’s order earlier this year to end activity at the mine, according to the Associated Press. U.N. investigators have “recommended that this mine be secured and put in the charge of a private operation for much more disciplined operations, with the aim of avoiding risks including the high rate of radioactivity ... and uranium trafficking with those who shouldn’t get it in their hands,” U.N. mission spokesman Alexandre Essome said (Associated Press/News24.com, July 20).
An unarmed Peacekeeper MX ICBM was test-launched early this morning to a target in the Kwajalein Missile Range in the Pacific Ocean, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 10). The 1:01 a.m. launch from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California was a routine test of the weapon’s accuracy and reliability, according to the U.S. Air Force (see GSN, June 24; Associated Press/Monterey County Herald, July 21).
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