Flanked by members of his Cabinet, U.S. President George W. Bush today called for the creation of a national director of intelligence and a national counterterrorism center (AFP photo/Stephen Jaffe). White House to Move Forward on Intelligence Reform By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W. Bush today announced plans to implement two key intelligence reform proposals put forth last month by the Sept. 11 commission — the creation of a national intelligence director and the development of a national counterterrorism center (see GSN, July 30)...Full Story

Iran Admits Resuming Centrifuge Assembly; European Powers Report “No Progress” in Talks Iran acknowledged Saturday that it had resumed building centrifuges for uranium enrichment, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 30)...Full Story

U.S. Energy Department Not Doing Enough to Convert Research Reactors to LEU Use, GAO Says By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A U.S. Energy Department effort to reduce nuclear proliferation risks at research reactors around the world is being hindered by financial and technical concerns, U.S. congressional auditors reported Friday (see GSN, July 21)...Full Story

	Monday, August 2, 2004

White House to Move Forward on Intelligence Reform By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W. Bush today announced plans to implement two key intelligence reform proposals put forth last month by the Sept. 11 commission — the creation of a national intelligence director and the development of a national counterterrorism center (see GSN, July 30). Calling the commission’s recommendations “thoughtful and valuable,” Bush said he would ask Congress to create a national intelligence director who would serve as “the president’s principal intelligence adviser” and who would coordinate domestic and foreign intelligence operations. The new director, who would be separate from the head of the CIA, would also have the authority to coordinate budgets and set intelligence priorities among the various agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community, Bush said. He said creating the position would require a “substantial revision” to the 1947 National Security Act, which established the CIA as the “primary civilian intelligence-gathering organization in the government.” Bush also said that he would move forward on the creation of a national counterterrorism center, which would build on the existing Terrorist Threat Integration Center and serve as a “knowledge bank” for terrorism-related information. The new center, according to Bush, would coordinate and monitor the counterterrorism efforts of all relevant agencies and be responsible for preparing the daily terrorism threat report for the president and senior officials. The director of the new center will report to the CIA director until a national intelligence director is in place, Bush said. Contrary to the Sept. 11 commission’s recommendation, Bush said he did not support making the national director of intelligence a Cabinet-level position. “I think it ought to be a stand-alone group to better coordinate, particularly between foreign intelligence and domestic intelligence matters. I think it’s going to be one of the most useful aspects of the national intelligence director,” Bush said. Some senior Bush administration officials, most notably acting CIA Director John McLaughlin, have argued that creating a national intelligence director would add needless layers of bureaucracy. Bush said today, though, that he supported the proposal because “it was the right thing to do.” “The best decision-making process is one where people have different opinions and they bring them to me in a forthright way, and then I make the decision about what I think is best,” Bush said. Bush also said that within “the coming days,” he would issue a series of directives to implement other recommendations put forth by the Sept. 11 commission, such as improved intelligence sharing among various agencies, the creation of a dedicated work force within the FBI to analyze domestic terrorism-related intelligence and improved human intelligence and analytic capabilities within the CIA. In addition, Bush said that he has asked a presidential commission established in February to examine WMD-related intelligence to consider whether a center similar to the national counterterrorism center should be created to analyze proliferation-related intelligence. “All these reforms have a single goal. We will ensure that the people in government responsible for defending America and countering terrorism have the best possible information to make the best decisions,” Bush said during a press conference in the White House Rose Garden, flanked by senior officials including Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Bush’s announcement today followed a review of the Sept. 11 commission’s recommendations by a Cabinet-level task force. In addition, while most of Congress is currently in recess, relevant committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate are scheduled to hold hearings this month on the commission’s intelligence reform recommendations with the aim of producing legislation by the end of the year. During the first such hearing, held Friday by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers expressed support for the commission’s recommendations.  In his remarks, Bush emphasized the need to move forward on another recommendation put forth by the Sept. 11 commission — improved congressional oversight of intelligence and homeland security efforts. He said that there were now “too many committees with overlapping jurisdiction” to provide effective oversight.  “I mean, it seems like it’s one thing to testify and for there to be oversight; it’s another thing to make sure that the people who are engaged in protecting America don't spend all their time testifying. And so there’s going to be some important reforms. We look forward to working with Congress on the reforms,” Bush said. Democrats, including presidential candidate Senator John Kerry (Mass.), have chided Bush for moving too slowly on intelligence reform. The president should call the full Congress back from its summer recess to begin work immediately, Kerry said today. “The time to act is now, not later,” he said, according to the Associated Press. Kerry also argued that the intelligence director should work from within the White House. “You give greater power and leverage to the person who is the national director if they are seen as speaking directly for the president within the White House,” he said. “You also coordinate more effectively with the other agencies that you need to coordinate in order to summon the greatest possible response to protect Americans” (Deb Riechmann, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Aug. 2). Back to top       Iran May be Refuge for Senior Al-Qaeda Operatives Investigations by several European countries have found that Iran has provided refuge for several senior al-Qaeda operatives, the Los Angeles Times reported yesterday. While Iran has claimed to have cracked down on terrorism, the country is believed to have been used as a safe haven in recent years for operatives such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is believed to be the head of the insurgency movement in Iraq and of a broader terrorist group; and Saif Adel, who is suspected of being al-Qaeda’s top military official, according to the Times.  “The Iranians play a double game,” a top French law enforcement official said. “Everything they can do to trouble the Americans, without going too far, they do it. They have arrested important al-Qaeda people, but they have permitted other important al-Qaeda people to operate. It is a classic Iranian style of ambiguity, deception, manipulation,” the official said. The nature of Iran’s connection to al-Qaeda is unclear due to the Islamic republic’s complex politics and secrecy, according to the Times. Iranian support of al-Qaeda, if it exists, remains limited, according to investigators. Some experts have said that al-Qaeda may be receiving support more from Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guard than from the government itself, according to the Times. “When the Iranian government says it is not dealing with al-Qaeda, it is telling the truth,” said Mustafa Alani of the Royal United Services Institute, a think tank affiliated with the British Defense Ministry. “It’s not the government — it’s the Revolutionary Guard,” Alani said (Sebastian Rotella, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 1). Back to top       Jordan to Charge 17 in Alleged Chemical Weapons Plot Jordan is set to file charges this week against 17 militants in connection with a foiled chemical attack plot against the U.S. Embassy, the Jordanian prime minister’s office and other sites in the country, Reuters reported (see GSN, April 30). The 17 include four militants killed in clashes with Jordanian forces in April (Reuters/Yahoo!News, Aug. 1). Jordanian authorities announced three arrests on Sunday, bringing the number of militants in police custody to nine, the Associated Press reported. The four remaining suspects, including reported al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, are to be tried in absentia. The militants were all affiliated with a previously unknown group called Kata’eb al-Tawhid — “the Battalions of Monotheism” — that has been linked to al-Qaeda, according to Jordanian officials. Azmi al-Jayousi, the alleged mastermind of the Jordan-based cell, has confessed to the plot, which would have been al-Qaeda’s first chemical attack, the officials added (Jamal Halaby, Associated Press/Bradenton Herald, Aug. 1). “The charge list will be sent very soon to the military prosecutor to be formally issued against the defendants,” a security source told Reuters, adding that the trial could start as soon as September. The defendants are set to stand trial on several charges including “conspiracy to carry out terrorist acts” against Jordanian intelligence headquarters and U.S. interests in the country, according to Reuters The suspects could receive the death penalty if convicted of the principal charges, a judicial source said. Back to top

U.K. Intelligence Official Allegedly Sought to Include Unsubstantiated Iraq WMD Claims in Recent Report A member of the Iraq Survey Group, which is searching for evidence of Iraq’s alleged prewar WMD efforts, claimed that the new chief of the British MI6 intelligence agency attempted to include unsubstantiated claims in a recent ISG report, the London Independent reported today (see GSN, July 21). According to the ISG member, John Scarlett sent a confidential e-mail to the unit in early March with 10 “golden nuggets” for possible inclusion into the group’s report.  The list included claims that prewar Iraq had a secret smallpox program and that it had developed mobile chemical weapons laboratories, the ISG official told the London Mail. The group rejected Scarlett’s suggestions. “Let’s face it, he wanted us to include lies,” the ISG member said (Andrew Woodcock, London Independent, Aug. 2). Back to top

Iran Admits Resuming Centrifuge Assembly; European Powers Report “No Progress” in Talks Iran acknowledged Saturday that it had resumed building centrifuges for uranium enrichment, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 30). “We still continue suspension on uranium enrichment, meaning that we have not resumed enrichment,” said Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi. “But we are not committed to another agreement with them [the United Kingdom, Germany and France’ on not building centrifuges,” he said. Iranian leaders decided to resume building centrifuges because the three European nations failed to persuade the International Atomic Energy Agency to close its file on Iran’s nuclear program, Kharazi added (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Aug. 1). A leading Iranian national security official said today that his country’s leaders are not worried by threats that Iran would be referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible action. “The most America can do to get its way is to impose economic sanctions, but our experience of these over the past 25 years have proved that they are ineffective,” said Sayed Hossein Mussavian, a member of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. “Even if the case is taken to the U.N. Security Council, nothing more than that (sanctions) can happen. It will fail.  It does not worry us,” he added, according to the official news agency IRNA (Agence France-Presse, SpaceWar.com, Aug. 2). Meanwhile, talks between Iran and the three European countries in Paris last week produced “no substantial progress” on Iran’s nuclear efforts, European Union diplomats said yesterday. “Each side repeated their positions, and there were no changes,” said a diplomat from one of the three European countries. “We would like Iran to stop nuclear fuel cycle work, but Iran sees its suspension as just a temporary measure. Therefore, no substantial progress was made,” the source told Agence France-Presse. “This is disappointing, but having said that, nobody was honestly expecting a breakthrough,” the diplomat said. “The meeting was more aimed at keeping up contacts,” the diplomat added (Stefan Smith, Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Aug. 1). Back to top       U.S. Energy Department Not Doing Enough to Convert Research Reactors to LEU Use, GAO Says By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A U.S. Energy Department effort to reduce nuclear proliferation risks at research reactors around the world is being hindered by financial and technical concerns, U.S. congressional auditors reported Friday (see GSN, July 21). The department is working to convert 105 research reactors that use highly enriched uranium fuel, which could be used by terrorists seeking to develop crude nuclear weapons, to the use of low-enriched uranium fuel. In a separate effort to reduce security risks at research reactors, the Energy Department launched in May the Global Threat Reduction Initiative to recover fresh and spent highly enriched uranium fuel provided by the United States and Russia. Since the Energy Department began its conversion effort in the late 1970s, 39 of the 105 targeted reactors have converted, or are in the process of changing, to the use of LEU fuel, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Thirty-five of the remaining 66 reactors could convert to using low-enriched uranium, but have no plans to do so, according to the GAO report. The other 31 reactors included in the Energy Department’s efforts cannot use the LEU fuel that is now available. Eight convertible reactors are located within the United States and have not switched to LEU fuel due to lack of adequate funding from the Energy Department. The cost is estimated at between $5 million and $10 million per reactor, according to the GAO report. “Other than funding, there are no significant obstacles” at six of the reactors, located at U.S. universities, to conversion, the report says. The report quotes officials with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees private nuclear facilities, as saying that they view the conversion of the eight reactors as a “security enhancement.” The Energy Department and the reactors’ operators, though, have placed less priority on their conversion, citing security at and the small amount of highly enriched uranium used at the reactors, according to the report. The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration did not return calls today for comment. Fourteen of 20 foreign-based reactors targeted for conversion by the Energy Department also have no plans to change, according to the report. These reactors either view conversion as too expensive or lack adequate funding, the report says. It also says that only one of seven research reactors targeted by the U.S. effort that use highly enriched uranium provided by Russia plans to convert to low-enriched uranium. The Energy Department is working on two new types of LEU fuel — known as dispersion fuel and monolithic fuel — that could be used by reactors that cannot work with the current fuel. However, these are not expected to be ready for use until 2010 at the earliest, the report says. It also warns that the department has no plans to develop other types of LEU fuel should those two be found to be ineffective, noting that dispersion fuel has experienced failures in testing to the point that the Energy Department may cancel its development. The GAO also examined the Energy Department’s efforts to replace highly enriched uranium with low-enriched uranium in the production of medical isotopes. While one small-scale isotope producer in Argentina has converted to low-enriched uranium, large-scale producers have expressed concerns about conversion costs and the increased amount of waste produced through LEU use, the report says. Back to top       French Inquiry Into Niger Uranium Industry Security May Have Led to Forged Documents Showing Iraq Link A 1999 French investigation into the security of Niger’s uranium industry may have created a market for documents that resulted in the forging of materials purporting to show that prewar Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium in the African nation, the Financial Times reported today (see GSN, July 16). Italian businessman Rocco Martino in 1999 provided France with genuine documents that indicated that prewar Iraq sought to increase trade with Niger — trade that was assumed to be related to uranium, according to Western intelligence officials. When asked by French officials to provide more information, Martino submitted the fraudulent documents, the Times reported. Martino has said that the Italian foreign intelligence service created the documents and arranged for him to receive them through an official at the Niger Embassy in Rome, according to the Times. French officials have neither confirmed nor denied that Martino was a source, the Times reported. Italy yesterday denied having any involvement in the forged documents (Mark Huband, Financial Times, Aug. 2). Back to top       China, S. Korea Discuss New Round of Nuclear Talks China’s special envoy to the North Korean nuclear talks met with officials in South Korea today to discuss an agenda for the next round of six-party negotiations aimed at ending the atomic standoff on the Korean Peninsula, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 30). Ning Fukui met South Korean counterpart Cho Tae-yong to prepare for working-level talks, expected this month, in advance of a fourth round of senior-level talks planned for September. “I believe it is now time to have specific discussions on how to call a working-level meeting and how to have a good fourth round of talks,” Ning told Cho before their closed-door meeting, according to Reuters.  “We only have two months before the scheduled fourth round of talks at the end of September,” said Ning, who is scheduled to travel to Tokyo tomorrow. The dates for the meetings “are still moving” and China might hold the working-level talks in late August, said South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil (Reuters/Yahoo!News, Aug. 2). Back to top

Italy Said to Be Target of Chemical Weapons Threats Islamic extremists are attempting to acquire chemical weapons for use against Italy and its forces serving in Iraq, according to a report released Saturday by Italian security services (see GSN, Jan. 27, 2003). “We remain concerned about the possibility of … toxins,” the report states, indicating that either terrorists infiltrating the country from abroad or cells already implanted in Italy could implement the plan, Agence France-Presse reported. The report also says that Italian troops in Iraq are believed to be at the most risk of a chemical attack (Agence France-Presse, July 31). Back to top

India, Israel Look at Long-Range Missile Partnership India and Israel are considering a possible collaboration on developing longer-range ballistic missiles, Indian Defense Adviser V.K. Atre said Saturday (see GSN, July 13). “Wherever they have strengths, we want to jointly develop the missiles so that both the countries can benefit and share designs, costs and risk,” Atre said (Press Trust of India, July 31). Back to top

Greek PM to Direct Missile Defense at Olympics Greek Prime Minister Costas Carmanlis will have authority to use Patriot missiles to shoot down airborne threats to this month’s Olympic Games, a missile battery commander said Friday (see GSN, July 30). If Carmanlis “gives the order, then within 15 seconds the missiles will be in the air,” said Air Force Maj. Dimitris Mandilis. Details of the Greek air defense strategy have not been made public. Drills have included preparations for Sept. 11-style attacks, according to the Associated Press. Beginning next week, only authorized aircraft will be allowed within 27 miles of Athens, Mandilis said. A complete no-fly order will cover Olympic venues and other games sites, which are scheduled for Aug. 13-29, he said. The orders will remain in effect until Oct. 5, following the end of the Paralympics. The French Crotale and Russian Tor air defense systems are also being used at the Olympics, but the Patriots are considered the primary option against any possible threat, AP reported. “No object will be able to fly anywhere undetected,” Mandilis said (Miron Varouhakis, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, July 30). Back to top

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