U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said yesterday that efforts are being made to protect the ventilation systems of New York City hotels in preparation for the Republican National Convention next week (AFP photo/Stan Honda). U.S. Seeks Building-Defense Systems to Make Biological, Chemical Attacks Pointless By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A protective system being developed by the U.S. Defense Department could soon render it pointless for terrorists to attack U.S. buildings with biological or chemical agents, the lead official in the effort told Global Security Newswire last week (see GSN, March 4)...Full Story

Cargo Inspection Program to be Expanded The United States aims to expand screening of shipping containers for weapons of mass destruction and other contraband before the cargo is allowed into the United States, the head of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection bureau announced yesterday (see GSN, July 28)...Full Story

Researchers Study Needle-Free Anthrax Vaccine By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — In a matter of years, anthrax vaccine might be available in an easily administered powder form rather than the liquid that requires a needle and a medical professional to do the injecting (see GSN, Aug. 20)...Full Story

	Thursday, August 26, 2004

U.S. Senate Working Group to Examine Proposals on Improving Intelligence, Homeland Security Oversight By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The leaders of the U.S. Senate yesterday announced the creation of a bipartisan working group to examine improving congressional oversight of intelligence and homeland security (see GSN, Aug. 24).  The 22-member working group will examine the reform recommendations made last month by the Sept. 11 commission and present its findings to the Senate leadership “as expeditiously as possible,” Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said in a joint statement.  The members of the working group include Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Whip Harry Reid (D-Nev.), as well as the chairpersons and top Democrats of the Senate Appropriations, Armed Services, Foreign Relations, Governmental Affairs, Intelligence and Rules committees. “This working group will address the findings and recommendations outlined by the 9/11 commission that deal with the Senate’s oversight role and functions. Ensuring that the Senate is as effective as possible when dealing with the threat of terrorism is a principal concern, and I welcome the working group’s recommendations,” Frist said. In its report, the Sept. 11 commission said the House and Senate intelligence panels lack “the power, influence and sustained capability” to provide effective oversight over U.S. intelligence and homeland security efforts. In response, the panel recommended either the creation of a joint House-Senate intelligence committee or the creation of an intelligence committee in each house of Congress with combined funding appropriation and authorization powers. Following the release of the commission’s report, some members have testified before Congress in support of the creation of a joint intelligence committee.  The commission also recommended that only a small number of members of Congress, ranging from seven to nine, be appointed to the intelligence committee or committees. Those members should be allowed to serve indefinitely, the commission said. To improve homeland security oversight, the commission recommended the creation of permanent homeland security committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Currently, there only exists the Select Committee on Homeland Security in the House of Representatives. “Of all our recommendations, strengthening congressional oversight may be among the most difficult and important. So long as oversight is governed by current congressional rules and resolutions, we believe the American people will not get the security they want and need,” the Sept. 11 commission report says. While most of Congress has been in recess, lawmakers over the last several weeks have held a number of committee hearings in both the House and the Senate to examine the issue of intelligence reform and the recommendations proposed by the Sept. 11 commission. Those hearings have focused on proposed structural changes to the U.S. intelligence community, including the creation of a national intelligence director and national counterterrorism center. The commission also warned in its report of the bureaucratic disputes likely to occur as lawmakers consider changing the structure and authority of congressional committees. “Few things are more difficult to change in Washington than congressional committee jurisdiction and prerogatives. To a member, these assignments are almost as important as the map of his or her congressional district,” the commission said. Senate Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) said yesterday that new Senate working group “is an opportunity for us in the Senate to prove that there really are no turf battles here and no protection of personal interests, but that our paramount goal is to do the work we are charged with doing to make this country safer.” The House of Representatives does not now plan to convene a similar working group, with the Republican leadership preferring instead to allow the various House committees to address oversight reform. Meanwhile, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) yesterday named Representative Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) to head the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (see GSN, Aug. 16). Hoekstra will replace Representative Porter Goss (R-Fla.), who was selected by President George W. Bush earlier this month as his nominee to serve as CIA director. “Pete has big shoes to fill, but I am confident he will do an excellent job,” Hastert said. Back to top

U.S. Seeks Building-Defense Systems to Make Biological, Chemical Attacks Pointless By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A protective system being developed by the U.S. Defense Department could soon render it pointless for terrorists to attack U.S. buildings with biological or chemical agents, the lead official in the effort told Global Security Newswire last week (see GSN, March 4). Researchers are developing a ventilation-based system to protect Defense Department buildings that is also intended for widespread use outside the military, Immune Building Program Manager Wayne Bryden wrote in an e-mail to GSN. “The DARPA Immune Building Program has developed the machinery and the industrial base to provide protection against C/B attack for all buildings in the nation. When Immune Building technology is widely implemented, this attack option will effectively be removed from the arsenal of our enemies,” wrote Bryden, whose program is part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Special Projects Office. Following the Homeland Security Department’s decision early this month to raise the color-coded threat level for financial institutions around Washington and New York, police in the two cities stressed the need for effective ventilation-based biological and chemical protection (see GSN, Aug. 3). Speaking yesterday in New York about security for next week’s Republican National Convention, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge took up the same theme, citing a preconvention effort to “increase security at hotels to protect both the building and the ventilation systems.” Biodefense Research Group Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Preston McGee, whose firm is marketing a ventilation-based defense system developed at Johns Hopkins University, said the need for new technology to counter the threat is clear. “Being in the industry, being in the business, I know that there’s not a whole lot out there,” McGee said in a recent interview. In a bid to address such concerns, Bryden’s researchers are piecing together new detection, filtration, neutralization and decontamination technologies in a program that began in 2001 and is slated for a demonstration in early 2006. Battelle Building Protection Director Michael Janus, whose firm was awarded a $20 million contract this year to manage the final two years of the Immune Building Program, said in a recent interview that a “near-optimal solution” is in place and researchers are now working to “finalize the optimization process.” The researchers are seeking to give the Pentagon tools to make military facilities virtually invulnerable to biological and chemical attacks — thereby making savvy attackers unlikely to use such methods, according to Bryden. The results of the program, though, would not remain within the Defense Department, Bryden wrote. “The government has paid commercial firms to develop the underlying technologies and systems solutions for the IB Program, so the capability to produce these systems already resides within the commercial sector. We have also worked to keep interested parties aware of the outstanding progress of the program,” he wrote. “We have every expectation that the industrial base, seeded by the Immune Building activities, will be able to effectively protect a wide range of buildings from chemical and biological threats, no matter how they are delivered.” Leading up to a final demonstration at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., in less than two years, the Immune Building design is now being honed at a test site in Anniston, Ala. A single, multilayered protection system installed in an existing building at the Missouri facility would also serve to demonstrate a “building protection tool kit” that civilian and military building managers can tailor to their own risk analyses, cost constraints and structural requirements. “You can think about it being almost like a menu of options that, if you have a very high threat level, you may use a significant portion of the menu,” Janus said. “Regardless of what threat you’re talking about, each building owner is always going to conduct a risk analysis,” he said. “The purpose of this program was to show that a lot of these state-of-the-art technologies could be put together to provide you with a very high level of protection, while at the same time looking at less-than-optimal systems.” The system involves advanced sensors and filtration and neutralization technologies, and the demonstration will also include decontamination and forensic-evidence collection, according to Bryden. He added that the system would incorporate both “passive” catchall defenses that would operate at all times and “active,” sensor-based protection that would react to the presence of a pathogen. “Modeling, analysis and extensive experiments conducted in the Immune Building Program,” he said, “have determined that the most effective and lowest-cost solution to protect a building from chemical and biological attack is a mixture of passive and active technologies. While passive-only approaches provide significant levels of protection, they are less cost-effective.” The degree to which civilian buildings that may be at risk have already installed ventilation-based defenses remains unclear. Some critics have called attention to what they see as an alarming dearth of such defenses around the country. “The majority of the HVAC [heating, ventilation and air-conditioning] community is ill-prepared to deal with a real biological or chemical accident,” McGee said. “They don’t want to talk, because most of them do not have a fail-proof methodology of protecting the building. It’s just not there.  That was the cause for DARPA to come up with the Immune Building Program.” “The terrorists, unfortunately, are just as smart or smarter than they are,” he added. “The available solutions are out there for people to buy, and the companies that have solutions are selling it, [so] the terrorists know what’s out there — and there’s not a whole lot out there.” Janus said building owners have been “pretty responsible at looking at this problem” but that it is too early to expect widespread installations of the latest technology. Five to 10 years ago, he said, “This type of problem would not even hit the radar screen. … Now it’s starting to make the Top 10 list of concerns.” Back to top       Cargo Inspection Program to be Expanded The United States aims to expand screening of shipping containers for weapons of mass destruction and other contraband before the cargo is allowed into the United States, the head of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection bureau announced yesterday (see GSN, July 28). Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner said his agency plans to expand the Container Security Initiative beyond the 25 international seaports now participating to cover more than 80 percent of U.S.-bound freight. “The 25 ports represent the world’s major seaports, but we are not stopping there. We plan to expand the CSI network even farther,” Bonner said in a press release. Expansion will cover strategic ports that are able to participate and make significant numbers of shipments to the United States, Bonner said. Under the initiative, U.S. customs agents placed in foreign ports examine shipping containers bound for the United States and identify those that pose a potential terrorist risk. Customs officers use large-scale gamma ray and X-ray imaging systems to screen for contraband. Inspectors also use radiation detection devices to scan for radioactive materials. If necessary, containers are opened and unloaded by the host government’s customs service for a manual inspection, which is observed by CSI officials. The inspection effort was proposed by Bonner and launched in January 2002, according to the press release (U.S. Customs and Border Protection release, Aug. 25). Back to top       Terrorists May be Looking to Conduct Maritime Attack, U.S. Air Force General Says Terrorists might be focusing on attacking the United States by sea now that authorities are better prepared for another attack from the air, U.S. Air Force Gen. Ed Eberhart said yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 17). Such an attack could involve weapons of mass destruction or the launching of a missile from offshore, said Eberhart, commander of both the Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). “I believe that it is just a matter of time until the terrorists try to use a seaborne attack, a maritime attack against us,” he said. “Our maritime domain awareness is not as secure ... as our monitoring of our air space” (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Aug. 25). Back to top       British Lawmaker Seeks to Impeach Blair Over Iraq British lawmaker Adam Price is seeking to impeach British Prime Minister Tony Blair for allegedly misleading Parliament about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the London Telegraph reported today. Price has prepared a report on Blair’s alleged “high crimes and misdemeanors” that will be the basis for the indictment, according to the Telegraph. The report is apparently set to accuse Blair of lying to lawmakers and the public about alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq because he had made a secret agreement with U.S. President George W. Bush to invade Iraq, the Telegraph reported. Price’s impeachment attempt is likely to be rejected by the House of Commons, however, because parliamentary authorities consider the practice obsolete, the Telegraph reported (Andrew Sparrow, London Telegraph, Aug. 26). Back to top

Russia Denies Delay in Iran Nuclear Reactor Project The Bushehr nuclear power reactor in Iran is still set to begin operating in 2005, a spokesman for the Russian agency leading the facility’s construction said today in rejecting Iranian indications that the power plant is behind schedule (see GSN, Aug. 23). “I don’t know what that is all about. We have not been officially notified of any delays. In fact, there are no delays,” said Nikolai Shingaryov, a spokesman for the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency. “We intend to start it up in 2005. And we will do so.” Senior Iranian nuclear official Assadollah Sabouri said Sunday that construction delays had pushed the reactor’s target startup date to October 2006 (Reuters/Yahoo!News, Aug. 26). Meanwhile, Iranian Ambassador to Russia Gholamreza Shafei said today that his country would soon sign an agreement with Moscow for the return of spent fuel from the Bushehr reactor to Russia, ITAR-TASS reported. “All clauses, except for the price, have already been screened by the parties and negotiations are now in progress on the mutually acceptable decision of the price issue,” Shafei said. “It is expected that these documents will be signed in the nearest future either in Moscow or in Tehran” (Valery Agarkov, ITAR-Tass, Aug. 26). Elsewhere, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi today contradicted a report that ran Wednesday in an Iranian state-run newspaper quoting Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani as saying that Iran had produced nuclear defense equipment, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 25). Iran has “never” claimed to be producing nuclear defense equipment, Kharazi said. Kharazi also called for international pressure on Israel to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. He said the Islamic republic favors a nuclear weapons-free Middle East, but “the problem is that Israel has full capability in nuclear weapons (and has) a large arsenal of nuclear weapons as well as other weapons of mass destruction.” Israel has never confirmed nor denied having nuclear weapons, but is widely believed to possess atomic arms. Iran is an NPT member state. “Every country in the Middle East is feeling insecure because of the capabilities of Israel,” Kharazi said. “I believe the international community has to put pressure on Israel to become a member of NPT and … eliminate its existing nuclear weapons” (Oliver Teves, Associated Press, Aug. 26). Iranian officials also announced yesterday that they have clarified all ambiguities over their country’s nuclear program and that they expected the International Atomic Energy Agency to clear it of any wrongdoing in a report due in September. “The new report is a clear sign of our progress in solving technical ambiguities with the agency,” Hossein Mussavian, secretary of the foreign policy committee of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was quoted by state-run media as saying. Some Western and nonaligned diplomats in Vienna said the report would be inconclusive regarding the nature of Iran’s nuclear activities. “I expect that there will not be any new negative news about Iran and the IAEA,” a Western diplomat on the 35-member IAEA Board of Governors told Reuters. “There will be some questions answered, but a few new questions may be raised. And there are still some old, unresolved negative issues” (Hafezi/Charbonneau, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Aug. 25). Back to top       Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Resumes Work Work involving the use of classified computer disks has resumed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Aug. 20). U.S. Energy Department officials Tuesday approved the resumption of work at six of the facility’s 34 division, Lawrence Livermore spokeswoman Susan Houghton said. She added that work is set to resume in the other divisions in the next few weeks. The Energy Department last month ordered a halt to work involving the disks at all facilities after the reported disappearance of two disks believed to contain classified information from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. In addition to Lawrence Livermore, work has also resumed at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Pantex facility in Texas, AP reported (Erica Werner, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Aug. 26). Back to top       Y-12 Plant Conducts First Terrorism Response Drill The U.S. Energy Department’s Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., yesterday conducted an emergency drill that for the first time involved a simulated terrorist attack, according to the Associated Press. Upwards of 1,000 representatives of 26 federal, state and local agencies took part in the drill, which involved a simulated “dirty bomb” attack at the plant’s main entrance. Previous exercises have focused more on a fire or explosion at the plant, according to AP. In the simulation, two environmental terrorists blew themselves up with a bomb carrying cesium 137 stolen from an out-of-state hospital. Two Y-12 guards and two police officers were fictitiously treated at a local emergency room while first responders dealt with the aftermath of the explosion. Y-12 manager Bill Brumley said he was pleased with the initial results of the exercise. “It went reasonably well,” he said. “This was a very difficult exercise for us based on the number of people that were involved and the uncertain nature of the event” (Duncan Mansfield, Associated Press, Aug. 25). Back to top       South Korean Official Says Breakthrough in Nuclear Talks Unlikely Before U.S. Elections There is not likely to be any significant movement in the standoff over North Korea’s nuclear program before the U.S. elections in November, South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck said today (see GSN, Aug. 25). “Political situations are developing to make it difficult to reach an agreement,” said Lee, South Korea’s primary nuclear negotiator, according to the Yonhap News Agency. “I don’t think the situation will allow the United States to reach an agreement one month before the presidential elections, and North Korea is also likely to want to see the outcome of the elections,” Lee said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Aug. 26). Back to top

Researchers Study Needle-Free Anthrax Vaccine By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — In a matter of years, anthrax vaccine might be available in an easily administered powder form rather than the liquid that requires a needle and a medical professional to do the injecting (see GSN, Aug. 20). Researchers from the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and the medical technology firm Becton, Dickinson and Co. (BD) are studying a vaccine that could be inhaled through the nose using a “powder delivery device,” researchers said in a press release. The new form could make it easier, less expensive and less painful to protect civilians and soldiers from an anthrax attack (see GSN, June 30). Trained personnel now must administer anthrax vaccinations, with each shot requiring a separate needle and ampule containing the solution. The injections can be painful, and there is the risk for accidental needle-sticks to medical workers. A prepackaged powder vaccine could be more easily and quickly self-administered, without any needle problems or support, USAMRIID microbiologist Robert Ulrich said in an interview with Global Security Newswire. “The idea is to increase compliance, so we have the greatest number of people possible who will not have an objection to the vaccine,” Ulrich said. If it works, the new system also “would certainly expedite” mass vaccinations, he added. Details of the planned vaccine were presented this week at the 228th national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia. Development began in 2000, as the Defense Department looked for alternatives to vaccinations involving needles, Ulrich said. The active ingredient in the powder is an anthrax recombinant protective antigen, a nontoxic component of the lethal anthrax toxin that is expected to replace the existing treatment if approved by the federal government, said Noel Harvey, BD director of advanced drug delivery. Laboratory tests showed that rabbits that received the powder vaccine intranasally had an 83 to 100 percent survival rate when exposed to a lethal dose of inhaled anthrax, the press release states. That is similar to the protection from the liquid vaccine. Data also indicates that the powder could be kept at room temperatures and that its shelf life could be longer than the liquid vaccine’s two-to-three year lifespan in a freezer. Both of those characteristics would save the government money in storing the treatment, Ulrich said, though no specific figures are yet known. Present anthrax vaccines require six doses over 18 months, plus a recommended annual booster shot. Researchers do not know yet how many doses or what time period would be needed using the powder vaccine, according to the press release. It takes a period of months for the existing anthrax vaccine to convey a protective immune response in humans, Ulrich said. Testing on rabbits indicates the powder version might shorten that time period. “Of course, there is no human data for that yet,” he said. It is expected to take another two to three years of drug stability and animal analysis before the vaccine is ready for clinical testing. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration would decide if the inoculation can be tested on humans, and has final say on whether it can be made available for widespread use. “Traditionally, it can take years,” Ulrich said. “Everyone would like to see it speed up, and it’s possible with Bioshield it could.” Signed into law last month, Project Bioshield is meant to spur private development of treatments for victims of biological and chemical agents and to speed the federal approval process for medicines (see GSN, July 21). If successful, the powder anthrax vaccine would join the growing number of inoculations that no longer necessarily require injections, such as an intranasal flu treatment. “We’re very early in the process, but for the first stages in testing, it looks promising,” Harvey said. Back to top

Deseret Munitions Deliveries Expected to Resume This Weekend; Mustard Agent Leak Detected Deliveries of VX nerve agent spray tanks from the U.S. Army’s Deseret Chemical Depot to the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Utah are expected to resume this weekend after safety reviews are completed, the Salt Lake Tribune reported (see GSN, Aug. 25). Officials determined that workers failed to conduct a required second pressure test on tank valves when they were received at the disposal facility. The tests had been conducted prior to shipping, according to officials (Dawn House, Salt Lake Tribune, Aug. 25). Meanwhile, liquid mustard agent was detected Tuesday afternoon in a storage structure at the depot, according to an Army press release. Workers later discovered three leaking 155 mm projectiles. Approximately two cups of liquid mustard leaked out of the projectiles onto wooden pallets and two teaspoons collected on the concrete floor of the storage igloo, according to the statement. Workers decontaminated the floor, stored the contaminated wood inside airtight drums and packed the projectiles into airtight containers. The incident posed no danger to workers or the environment, according to the Army (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Aug. 24).   Back to top

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