Global Security Newswire: By National Journal

    Issue for Wednesday, September 22, 2004

    Week in Review

    Search and View Past Issues

  terrorism  
U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Approves White House Choice for CIA Director Full Story
Former U.S. Officials, Lawmakers Call for Slower Approach in Intelligence Reform Efforts Full Story
Pentagon Establishes HQ to Defend Washington, D.C. Full Story
Japan Has Secret Military Plan for Potential North Korea Terrorist Attack, Report Says Full Story
Recent Stories

  wmd  
United States Lifts Economic Sanctions Against Libya Full Story
CIA Review Finds Flaws in Prewar Iraq Assessments Full Story
Bush Calls for International Aid for Iraq Full Story
Kerry Attacks Bush Administration Use of Prewar Iraqi WMD Intent as Rationale for War Full Story
Researchers Release Building Security Software Full Story
EU, Syria Agree on WMD Clause in Trade Deal Full Story
Upper House of Pakistani Parliament Approves Export Control Bill for Nuclear and Biological Items Full Story
United States, India to Increase Defense Cooperation Full Story
Recent Stories

  nuclear  
Iran Defies IAEA Resolution Calling for Nuclear Suspension, Resumes Uranium Conversion Full Story
Nations Back Global Threat Reduction Initiative Full Story
North Korea Rejects Further Nuclear Talks, Says It Won’t Give Up Weapons Program Full Story
China Says South Korean Nuclear Experiments Should be Topic of Six-Party Talks on North Korea Full Story
IAEA Conducts Annual Meeting Full Story
Work Needed Against Nuclear Profiteers, U.S. Says Full Story
More Than 40 Countries Could Have Nuclear Weapons Know-How, IAEA Chief ElBaradei Warns Full Story
U.S. Ships Weapon-Grade Plutonium to France Full Story
United States Eases Restrictions on Exports to India Full Story
Russia Plans New Round of Missile Tests Full Story
Recent Stories

  biological  
New Assessment Casts Doubts on Past Claims on Cuba’s Biological Weapons Capacity, Officials Say Full Story
Recent Stories

  chemical  
South Korea, Thailand Halted 70-Ton Shipment of Toxic Chemical to North Korea, News Report Says Full Story
Chemical Disposal Allowed to Proceed at Umatilla Full Story
Recent Stories

  missile1  
United States Imposes Sanctions Against Chinese Firm Full Story
Iran Tests Nuclear-Capable Missile Full Story
Recent Stories

  missile2  
Retired Commander Says Missile Defense is Political Full Story
Recent Stories

 

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Each [ship] is equipped with heavy weaponry … and a specialized guard force. The people that are doing this have a lot of experience doing this. They’re not shipping oranges.
—National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Bryan Wilkes, addressing safety concerns about a U.S. shipment of plutonium headed for France.

READERS’ NOTICE: Global Security Newswire was not published Monday and Tuesday due to technical difficulties.



Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (left) said yesterday during a military parade in Tehran that Iran would continue with its nuclear program (AFP photo/Behrouz Mehri).
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami (left) said yesterday during a military parade in Tehran that Iran would continue with its nuclear program (AFP photo/Behrouz Mehri).
Iran Defies IAEA Resolution Calling for Nuclear Suspension, Resumes Uranium Conversion

Iran has begun converting uranium ore as part of the process of uranium enrichment, the country’s top atomic energy official announced yesterday, defying the latest International Atomic Energy Agency resolution calling on the Islamic republic to halt all enrichment work (see GSN, Sept. 17)...Full Story

United States Lifts Economic Sanctions Against Libya

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — Nearly 20 years after they were imposed, U.S. President George W. Bush lifted economic sanctions from Libya on Monday to reward Tripoli for the progress made in disclosing and dismantling its WMD programs (see GSN, Sept. 17)...Full Story

Nations Back Global Threat Reduction Initiative

By Greg Webb
Global Security Newswire

VIENNA — More than 90 nations agreed Sunday to support a U.S. initiative to reduce the vulnerability of nuclear and radiological materials worldwide. U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) in May and received a broad endorsement for the effort during a two-day “partnership” meeting here (see GSN, Sept. 16)...Full Story

Current Issue Wednesday, September 22, 2004
terrorism

U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Approves White House Choice for CIA Director

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence yesterday approved the White House’s choice for the new director of central intelligence, Representative Porter Goss (R-Fla.) (see GSN, Sept. 15).

The committee voted 12-4, with one member giving no instructions, to send Goss’s nomination to the Senate floor for a full vote, scheduled to occur later today. 

“I am pleased the committee acted quickly and voted strongly in favor of the nomination of Porter Goss. His experience in both oversight and as [a CIA] intelligence officer makes him uniquely qualified to lead the intelligence community as we debate its critical reforms,” committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said in a statement.  

The four senators who opposed Goss were Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), who had often criticized the congressman as too political a choice to lead the CIA, as well as Senators Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

“I voted against this nomination because Porter Goss has repeatedly used intelligence issues for partisan purposes during his tenure as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. While I appreciate his testimony and commitment to nonpartisanship if confirmed, I must vote on his record, not his promises,” Rockefeller said in a statement.

During a committee hearing yesterday on his nomination, Goss said that if he is confirmed as CIA director, he would seek to correct officials who made claims that went beyond available intelligence.

“I can assure you: I am going to defend that the product is pure and that the understanding is absolutely clear about that. And if there is a misunderstanding or if there’s a question about that, I would be very quick to point it out,” Goss said.

Senior Bush administration officials have been heavily criticized for making statements on prewar Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction and ties to terrorism prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom that were not supported by available U.S. intelligence. As an example, Levin noted during yesterday’s hearing the now-discredited claim made in 2001 by Vice President Dick Cheney that Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta met with Iraqi intelligence agents in 2000 in Prague. 

In reply, Goss said that would be an example of a statement for which he would seek a correction.

“If I were confronted with that kind of a hypothetical, where I felt that a policy-maker was getting beyond what the intelligence said, I think I would advise the person involved. I do believe that would be a case that would put me into action, if I were confirmed,” he said.

Goss said that he would not always seek public corrections if government officials went beyond the available intelligence in their statements.

“I’m not sure public is the only way. Sometimes private words work. Sometimes other approaches work. I think power of persuasion — sometime it’s a good thing; sometimes there are just plain misunderstandings,” he said.

In addition, Goss told lawmakers that he did not believe that Bush administration officials knowingly inflated their claims on prewar Iraq.

“I don’t believe any public official in a position of responsibility has deliberately mischaracterized or misled anybody in the United States or anyplace else,” he said.

The White House’s nomination this summer of Goss, former head of the House intelligence panel, came as lawmakers were working to implement the intelligence reform proposals made by the Sept. 11 commission, including the restructuring of the U.S. intelligence community through the creation of a national intelligence director (see related GSN story, today). During yesterday’s hearing, Goss reiterated his support for such efforts and outlined several reform proposals he would seek to implement if confirmed as head of the CIA, such as having intelligence analysts work with case officers in the field “so that they can understand better what the problems are out there and so the case officer can understand better what it is the analyst absolutely needs.”

Goss told lawmakers that he would establish a “very clear direct line” with intelligence analysts to prevent them from feeling pressured to develop certain assessments — a claim made by some intelligence analysts during the runup to the Iraq war.

“I, if I am confirmed, do not want to be the person standing in front of the president of the United States, or anybody even close to that rank, with information that I do not have full confidence in. And I am not going to have full confidence in information that has been contaminated by policy-making,” he said.

Goss yesterday continued to come under criticism by some Democratic lawmakers, chiefly Rockefeller, that he was too political of a choice for the job.

“How does one simply become a different person?” Rockefeller said.

“If I didn't think I could do this … I wouldn’t be sitting before you, because I feel just as strongly as you do about it, senator,” replied Goss, who pledged during a previous confirmation hearing to be nonpartisan if confirmed.

Committee Chairman Roberts backed Goss.

“If people don’t understand that this is a partisan outfit in the Congress, they’re either very naive or very disingenuous or have their head lodged firmly where there is no sun or light,” Roberts said.

“Does this mean that no member of the Senate or House … can serve in … any kind of duty in this place?” he added.


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Former U.S. Officials, Lawmakers Call for Slower Approach in Intelligence Reform Efforts

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — A panel of 11 former senior U.S. government officials and senators yesterday called for a slower approach toward implementing intelligence reform, saying the issue was too important to undertake during the November election season (see GSN, Sept. 17).

“Elections are a perfect time for debate, but a terrible time for decision-making. When it comes to intelligence reform, Americans should not settle for adjustments that are driven by the calendar instead of common sense; they deserve a thoughtful, comprehensive approach to these critical issues,” said a statement released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The statement was signed by two former secretaries of state, Henry Kissinger and George Shultz; two former defense secretaries, Frank Carlucci and William Cohen; former CIA Director Robert Gates; former Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre; and former Senators David Boren (D-Okla.), Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), Gary Hart (D-Colo.), Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and Warren Rudman (R-N.H.).

Spurred by recommendations made this summer by the Sept. 11 commission, U.S. lawmakers are working to quickly bring intelligence reform legislation for votes in both houses of Congress. Chief among the commission’s recommendations was the creation of a national director of intelligence to oversee the U.S. intelligence community.

The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which was chosen by the Senate leadership to prepare the body’s main intelligence reform bill, yesterday held the first markup hearing of legislation introduced earlier this month by Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) and top Democrat Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.). The committee voted 12-5 to reject a proposal based on recommendations made last month by Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) to give the new national intelligence director authority over the Defense Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies now under the Defense Department (see GSN, Aug. 27). The Governmental Affairs Committee is scheduled to conduct a second markup hearing on the Collins-Lieberman bill today (see GSN, Sept. 16).

In their statement yesterday, the former officials and senators said that if Congress seeks to implement intelligence reform prior to the November elections, then lawmakers have “an obligation to return to this issue early next year … to address these issues more comprehensively.” The group outlined nine “principles” that should guide intelligence reform efforts, including strengthening the authority of the leader of the intelligence community, separating intelligence from policy, improving analyses and increasing information sharing.

During a hearing held yesterday by the Senate Appropriations Committee on intelligence reform, Kissinger reiterated his call for a slower approach.

“The consequences of this reform will inevitably produce months and maybe years of turmoil as the adjustments are made in the operating procedures of the national security apparatus and of the intelligence machinery,” he said.

“What we are urging is a time for reflection and a time for consideration, with maybe a short deadline of six to eight months, but to take it out of the immediate pressures of a period that is bound to affect the thinking,” Kissinger added.

Kissinger received support from the committee’s top Democrat, Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.).

“I firmly believe that we should not rush pell-mell into making sweeping intelligence changes simply for the sake of change,” Byrd said. “The disastrous stampede to pass the Iraq war resolution and to create a brand new Department of Homeland Security in the run-up to the 2002 elections should give us sufficient pause to think twice before we attempt to reorganize crucial intelligence activities with one eye on the clock and one eye on the polls.”


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Pentagon Establishes HQ to Defend Washington, D.C.


The U.S. Defense Department has established the Joint Forces Headquarters for the National Capital Region to defend Washington, D.C. against a terrorist attack and to assist in the response to incidents involving nuclear, chemical, biological weapons, the Associated Press reported Monday (see GSN, June 29).

“There are vulnerabilities in the nation’s capital,” Army Maj. Gen. Galen Jackman, commander of the new facility at Fort McNair, said Monday without elaborating.

The facility will be able to monitor intelligence from government agencies, and has a $3.2 million mobile command center equipped with computers, telephones and other equipment allowing personnel to drive to an emergency scene and remain in touch with the defense secretary and other officials, AP reported (Robert Burns, Associated Press/Bradenton Herald, Sept. 20).


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Japan Has Secret Military Plan for Potential North Korea Terrorist Attack, Report Says


The Japanese army has developed a secret plan to respond to a possible chemical or biological attack by North Korea, Agence France-Presse reported Sunday.

The antiterrorism plan also seeks to prevent potential assassination attempts on leading figures, AFP reported. It foresees up to 2,500 North Korean agents infiltrating Japan from vessels carried by spy ships or wooden aircraft, which would not be easily detected by radar, according to Kyodo News. 

The plan calls for deployment of ground troops at 135 key facilities, including nuclear power plants (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo! News, Sept. 19).


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wmd

United States Lifts Economic Sanctions Against Libya

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — Nearly 20 years after they were imposed, U.S. President George W. Bush lifted economic sanctions from Libya on Monday to reward Tripoli for the progress made in disclosing and dismantling its WMD programs (see GSN, Sept. 17).

Bush signed an executive order ending the national emergency declared in 1986, eliminating the requirement for U.S. companies to obtain Treasury Department licenses before engaging in trade with Libya. The move also allows for direct air travel between the United States and Libya and releases more than $1 billion worth of frozen assets.

The move is expected to be met by a payment of more than $1 billion from Libya to the families of the victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said in a statement.

Monday’s action was the latest in a set of rewards the United States has offered Libya since it agreed late last year to dismantle its WMD programs. The Bush administration in April began lifting economic sanctions against Libya, and in June decided to resume direct diplomatic links with Tripoli.

In his statement Monday, McClellan outlined the steps Libya has taken to fulfill its pledges to eliminate its WMD and long-range missile programs, including:

ú         aiding the removal of “all significant elements” of its declared nuclear weapons program, shipping hundreds of tons of material and equipment to the United States;

ú         signing and implementing the Additional Protocol to its International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards agreement, which gives the agency authority to conduct more intrusive monitoring of Libya’s nuclear efforts;

ú         beginning the conversion of its Rabta chemical weapons facility into a pharmaceutical plant;

ú         destroying its chemical munitions stockpile and preparing chemical weapons agents for destruction under international supervision;

ú         eliminating its Scud C ballistic missile arsenal; and

ú         agreeing to eliminate its Scud B ballistic missile arsenal. There had been previous suggestions that Libya might have been allowed to convert its Scud B missiles to carry smaller payloads for shorter ranges (see GSN, April 12).

According to the State Department, Libya has also agreed to convert a reactor at Tajura to use low enriched uranium as fuel.

“Concerns over weapons of mass destruction no longer pose a barrier to the normalization of U.S.-Libyan relations,” McClellan said.

The White House’s move to lift economic sanctions against Libya as “overdue,” former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Mack. With the end in 2003 to multilateral sanctions imposed by the United Nations against Libya, unilateral U.S. sanctions were much less effective in modifying Tripoli’s behavior, said Mack, vice president of the Middle East Institute here.

Mack also said today that Libya could serve as an example to other countries of the “concrete benefits” of “coming in out of the cold.”

In addition, the European Union has decided to end its arms embargo against Libya and to implement the U.N. decision to lift economic sanctions, Reuters reported today. 

Even though the White House has decided to lift economic sanctions, Libya will remain on the U.S. State Department’s list of terrorism-sponsoring nations, which means that restrictions on foreign assistance, arms exports and dual-use exports will stay in place. Before Libya can be removed from the list, Congress must receive notification 45 days in advance of action that Tripoli has provided no support for terrorist organizations within the past six months and that it has announced a policy of continued nonsupport for terrorism, said State Department spokeswoman Susan Pittman.

Pittman yesterday refused to comment on what progress Libya has made on being taken off the list of terrorism-sponsoring nations, saying only that some outstanding issues need to be resolved.

“They know what they need to do,” she said.

One source of concern, according to McClellan, is allegations of Libyan involvement in a plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah — claims that Tripoli has denied (see GSN, July 30). 

“We welcome Libya’s formal renunciation of terrorism and Libyan support in the global war against terrorism, but we must establish confidence that Libya has made a strategic decision that is being carried out in practice by all Libyan agencies and officials,” McClellan said.

Libya is expected to release an additional payment of $2 million to the families of each victim of the Lockerbie bombing once it is removed from the list of terrorism-sponsoring countries, reports indicate.

Meanwhile, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday that U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is considering an invitation to visit Libya.

“I was invited to make a trip to Libya at some point in the future and we will take that under serious consideration,” Abraham said during a news conference in Istanbul.

He added, though, that no trip would occur until after the U.S. November elections.


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CIA Review Finds Flaws in Prewar Iraq Assessments


A CIA internal review has found that while there were errors in the analyses on prewar Iraq, the agency’s conclusion that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction was reasonable given the intelligence available before the invasion, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, June 17).

An internal document dated August 2004 and obtained by the Times details the conclusions of the Iraq WMD Review Group, which completed a 10-month review in May. The group’s findings state that there were problems of “sourcing,” “insufficient follow-up” and “imprecise language” in prewar Iraq intelligence. In addition, the review found a number of cases where analysts “misrepresented the meaning” of intelligence reports, according to the Times.

The agency failed to confirm assertions in an October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons and was restarting its nuclear weapons program, the review found. It also said the CIA’s analytical branch had “never been more junior or more inexperienced” than it is now.

In an interview with the Times, acting CIA Director John McLaughlin noted the conclusion reached by the internal review that the CIA’s prewar Iraq assessments were reasonable given the available intelligence at the time.

“We’re not kidding ourselves,” McLaughlin said. “Reasonable doesn’t mean we were right” (Douglas Jehl, New York Times, Sept. 22).


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Bush Calls for International Aid for Iraq

By Jim Wurst
Global Security Newswire

UNITED NATIONS — U.S. President George W. Bush, speaking yesterday at the United Nations, called for greater international efforts to help stabilize Iraq because a democratic Iraq “is good for the long term security of us all.”

On the opening day of the two-week general debate of the new General Assembly, Bush said progress is being made in creating democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq but that terrorists are challenging that work.

“Today, the Iraqi and Afghan people are on the path to democracy and freedom.  The governments that are rising will pose no threat to others.  Instead of harboring terrorists, they are fighting terrorist groups,” he said. “A democratic Iraq has ruthless enemies — because terrorists know the stakes in that country.  They know that a free Iraq in the heart of the Middle East will be a decisive blow against their ambitions for that region.”

Bush said the interim Iraqi government of Ayad Allawi “has earned the support of every nation that believes in self-determination and desires peace.  … Coalition forces now serving in Iraq are confronting the terrorists and foreign fighters, so peaceful nations around the world will never have to face them within our own borders.” The Iraqi prime minister, who was in the General Assembly hall, is scheduled to address the assembly on Friday.

“We must continue to show our commitment to democracy in those nations,” Bush said. “As members of the United Nations, we all have a stake in the success of the world's newest democracies.”

“We are determined to destroy terror networks wherever they operate — and the United States is grateful to every nation that is helping to seize terrorist assets, track down their operatives and disrupt their plans,” Bush added. “We are determined to end the state sponsorship of terror.”

In his only reference to weapons of mass destruction, Bush said, “We are determined to prevent proliferation, and to enforce the demands of the world.”

His speech was met with subdued applause at the conclusion.

This is the third year in a row that Iraq has been a feature of Bush's address to the General Assembly. In 2002, he challenged the United Nations to confront the government of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, which Bush called “a grave and gathering danger. To suggest otherwise is to hope against the evidence.” He said the United Nations risked becoming “irrelevant” if it did not act. In 2003, after the war, he was less emphatic about Hussein’s arsenals of weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaeda — charges that have never been proven — and instead called on the United Nations to assist in rebuilding Iraq.

In his address to the General Assembly yesterday morning, Secretary General Kofi Annan did not directly criticize U.S. policy as he did last week when he called the U.S. invasion of Iraq “illegal.” Instead he took an indirect approach by stressing the need to strengthen the international rule of law.

“The rule of law is at risk around the world. Again and again, we see fundamental laws shamelessly disregarded,” he said. The “prevalence” of terrorist attacks and other acts of violence “reflects our collective failure to uphold the law and to instill respect for it in our fellow men and women. We all have a duty to do whatever we can to restore that respect.”

“From trade to terrorism, from the law of the sea to weapons of mass destruction, states have created an impressive body of norms and laws,” Annan said. “Yet this framework is riddled with gaps and weaknesses. Too often it is applied selectively and enforced arbitrarily.”

In an apparent critique of U.S. opposition to verification and other monitoring provisions for arms-control agreements, Annan said, “It is by strengthening and implementing disarmament treaties, including their verification provisions, that we can best defend ourselves against the proliferation — and potential use — of weapons of mass destruction.” He added, “It is by applying the law that we can deny financial resources and safe havens to terrorists — an essential element in any strategy for defeating terrorism.”


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Kerry Attacks Bush Administration Use of Prewar Iraqi WMD Intent as Rationale for War

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential nominee Senator John Kerry (Mass.) on Monday sharply attacked one of the main rationales offered by the Bush administration for the invasion of Iraq — that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had the intent to develop weapons of mass destruction and was seeking the capability to do so (see GSN, Sept. 17).

The Iraq Survey Group, the U.S. unit searching for evidence of prewar Iraq’s alleged WMD efforts, is reportedly set to address the issues of intent and WMD capabilities in a report expected to be made public in the next several weeks.   In a scathing critique of President George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq war delivered at New York University, Kerry labeled such issues as merely an “excuse.”

“Thirty-five to 40 countries have greater capability to build a nuclear bomb than Iraq did in 2003. Is President Bush saying we should invade all of them? I would have personally concentrated our power and resources on defeating global terrorism and capturing Osama bin Laden,” Kerry said.

He also accused the Bush administration of exaggerating prewar Iraq’s actual stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorism.

“By one count, the president offered 23 different rationales for this war. If his purpose was to confuse and mislead the American people, he succeeded,” Kerry said.

Kerry’s remarks were met by similarly harsh words Monday from Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

“Today my opponent continued his pattern of twisting in the wind with new contradictions of his old positions on Iraq. He apparently woke up this morning and has now decided, no, we should not have invaded Iraq, after just last month saying he still would have voted for force, even knowing everything we know today. Incredibly, he now believes our national security would be stronger with Saddam Hussein in power, not in prison,” Bush said during a re-election campaign stop in New Hampshire.

In his remarks, Kerry defended Congress’ decision to grant Bush the authority to use force in Iraq, saying that move was necessary to force Hussein to allow U.N. weapons inspectors to return to his country. Bush, though, “misused” his authority, Kerry said.

“The idea was simple. We would get the weapons inspectors back in to verify whether or not Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. And we would convince the world to speak with one voice to Saddam: Disarm or be disarmed,” he said.

“Instead, the president rushed to war, without letting the weapons inspectors finish their work. He went purposefully, by choice, without a broad and deep coalition of allies. He acted by choice, without making sure that our troops even had enough body armor. And he plunged ahead by choice, without understanding or preparing for the consequences of postwar, none of which I would have done,” Kerry added.

The Bush administration’s focus on Iraq has hurt the war on terrorism and ignored other threats to U.S. security, such as the nuclear efforts of Iran and North Korea, Kerry said.

“Let me put it plainly — the president’s policy in Iraq has not strengthened our national security, it has weakened it,” he said.

Speaking in Ohio, Cheney rejected Kerry’s accusation that the White House had described prewar Iraq as an “imminent” threat.

“Our argument was that Saddam Hussein posed a gathering threat, that in a post-9/11 world we could not wait until a threat was imminent. By then it would be too late to spare American lives,” he said.

“This is a profound difference between President Bush and Senator Kerry. As Senator Kerry said in his acceptance speech in Boston, he would respond after an attack on America. … President Bush wants to protect America before we are attacked again,” Cheney added.


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Researchers Release Building Security Software

By Joe Fiorill
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — U.S. researchers yesterday released new software to help commercial buildings around the country assess and reduce their vulnerability to a biological, chemical or radiological attack (see GSN, Aug. 26).

The Building Vulnerability Assessment and Mitigation Program asks building managers a lengthy series of questions about emergency plans, building access and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, then generates cost-appropriate recommendations for improvements.

“You can make improvements without spending thousands and millions of dollars, and there’s things that almost any facility can do,” scientist Tracy Thatcher of the U.S. Energy Department’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said yesterday in a telephone interview.

Interest in protecting buildings against chemical or biological attack has grown steadily since the 2001 anthrax attacks. Many experts view ventilation systems as the most likely vector of a WMD attack on a building, and recent years have seen a surge in efforts to prevent air-circulation systems from propagating attacks.

One high-profile effort is the Immune Building program being conducted by the Special Projects Office of the Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Defense researchers are studying and testing cutting-edge, HVAC-based WMD defenses with an eye toward a 2006 demonstration at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

In a program that is more modest but potentially better-suited to offer quick help to the average building manager, Thatcher and her colleagues at Berkeley Laboratory developed their software with funding from the California Energy Commission and have made it available free on the Internet.

Although Thatcher said HVAC systems remain the “first line of defense” against an attack, improving ventilation defenses through changes such as installation of high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters can necessitate costly increases in energy consumption, as well as cumbersome structural alterations.

The scientists took such obstacles into account as they developed their program. Their software assesses vulnerability “while minimizing energy penalties sometimes associated with improving HVAC system security,” the laboratory said yesterday in a press release.

The program prioritizes recommendations based both on threat and on cost.

“Lots of buildings end up with lots of low-cost recommendations — low or no cost … and then you have these other things which can be much higher [-cost], and whether or not you choose to do those will depend on whether or not you can afford them,” Thatcher said.

Rather than suggesting costly HVAC changes, Thatcher said, the program could recommend that a building manager improve general building security, change mail procedures or ensure that a member of the building’s emergency-response team be familiar with the HVAC system.

“The idea is to get people to think about things that you don’t normally think about,” Thatcher said.

Some building managers consulted for the project had “thought about it [WMD defense] fairly carefully,” she said, but all had “areas of it [that] they hadn’t really thought about.”

The software does not ask building managers about, or recommend, the use of specific technologies. Rather, managers are asked questions such as whether their buildings are “accessible to nonemployees without escort,” whether “all building occupants know how to recognize a chemical or biological agent” and whether they have “the ability to quickly determine wind direction from within the building (e.g., with a windsock or a wind gauge).”

Thatcher said ventilation systems remain crucial, however, and most buildings should have certain basic HVAC defenses in place.

For example, she said, “You really should have controls that allow you to quickly shut down your fans.” Also important, she added, is “just knowing that you have somebody who understands the ventilation system on your emergency-response team.”

Among the obstacles preventing some building managers from taking action, Thatcher said, is a perception that effective changes would be too numerous or too expensive to be feasible.

“There’s in some ways too much information with not enough sorting,” Thatcher said.


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EU, Syria Agree on WMD Clause in Trade Deal


Syria and the European Union have reached agreement over a nonproliferation clause in a proposed trade deal, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, July 28).

The agreement was reached last week during a visit by an EU delegation to Syria, according to a Western diplomat in Beirut. EU foreign ministers must now approve the pact, AFP reported.

The trade deal between the EU and Syria has been stalled by a dispute over the EU requirement that all such deals must contain a clause obligating the parties to nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, AFP reported (Agence France-Presse, Sept. 21).


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Upper House of Pakistani Parliament Approves Export Control Bill for Nuclear and Biological Items


The upper house of the Pakistani Parliament has approved a bill to strengthen the country’s export controls on nuclear- and biological-related items, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday (see GSN, Sept. 14).

The bill provides for a prison sentence of up to 14 years or a fine of up to $285,000, or both, for anyone spreading nuclear technology or hardware. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is expected to sign the bill into law, the Times reported (Los Angeles Times, Sept. 19).


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United States, India to Increase Defense Cooperation


The United States and India announced yesterday that they plan to increase defense cooperation as part of a strategic partnership intended to combat terrorism and WMD proliferation, according to the Associated Press (see related GSN story, today).

During a meeting yesterday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, U.S. President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “recognized the importance of working closely together in the war against terrorism and in combating proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems,” according to a joint statement (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 22).


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nuclear

Iran Defies IAEA Resolution Calling for Nuclear Suspension, Resumes Uranium Conversion


Iran has begun converting uranium ore as part of the process of uranium enrichment, the country’s top atomic energy official announced yesterday, defying the latest International Atomic Energy Agency resolution calling on the Islamic republic to halt all enrichment work (see GSN, Sept. 17).

Iran has converted “some of the 37 tons” of uranium ore it has mined, said Reza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran’s atomic energy organization. 

“Tests have been successful but these tests have to be continued using the rest of this material,” he said (Michael Adler, Agence France-Presse, Sept. 21).

In a Saturday resolution, the IAEA’s Board of Governors urged Iran to “suspend all [uranium] enrichment-related activities,” among other demands.

Iranian leaders quickly rejected the resolution.

“We’ve made our choice: yes to peaceful nuclear technology; no to atomic weapons.” Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said yesterday during a military parade in Tehran. “We will continue along our path even if it leads to an end to international supervision” of the country’s nuclear activities (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 21).

In Washington yesterday, a U.S. State Department spokesman accused Iran of engaging in an “unrelenting push toward nuclear weapons capability,” AFP reported.

“It should come as no surprise that Iran has defied the board (of the IAEA) once again and announced it is producing uranium hexafluoride (gas), the material for centrifuge enrichment,” said department spokesman Kurtis Cooper.

“The rush to convert 37 tons of yellowcake into feed stock for centrifuge enrichment has no peaceful justification,” Cooper said. “Iran has no operating nuclear power plants” (Michael Adler, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Sept. 21).

European Union officials warned yesterday that they would not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran, Reuters reported.

The body however, remained committed to offering energy and other cooperation in exchange for Iran’s agreement to forego nuclear arms, said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

“I think we have to keep on doing the utmost in talking and dialogue. ... If we fail in that direction, we may have to resort to other mechanisms (such as taking the issue to the U.N. Security Council but) we prefer not to have to,” he said (Carol Giacomo, Reuters, Sept. 21).

Libya, which last year renounced its WMD programs, Monday urged Iran to follow its example by heeding the IAEA call to stop uranium enrichment, Reuters reported.

“As [IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei] said [yesterday], some things have to be fulfilled by Iran,” Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Matouq Matouq said after a meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

Matouq cited Tripoli’s December 2003 decision to abandon weapons of mass destruction as an example for all.

“Libya has set an example for everybody” (Reuters, Sept. 20).

Iran has said the technologies it is developing, including uranium enrichment techniques and a heavy-water production facility, are for peaceful purposes.

Aghazadeh said Monday that the heavy water project “is now going on.”

He also announced that Russian Atomic Energy Agency Director Alexander Rumyantsev plans to visit Tehran “in the near future” to “work out and finalize” a fuel supply agreement for the Bushehr power reactor that Russia is helping to build in Iran.

Russia has insisted that any agreement would require return of spent fuel to Russia, but the pact has been delayed for years.

Financial and technical issues have caused the delay, Aghazadeh said Monday (Greg Webb, Global Security Newswire, Sept. 21).

Elsewhere, “war games” played by the CIA and the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency led to the conclusion that attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities would not be effective in resolving the standoff with Tehran, Newsweek reported.

“The war games were unsuccessful at preventing the conflict from escalating,” an unnamed Air Force source told the magazine (Barry/Ephron, Newsweek/MSNBC, Sept. 27).


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Nations Back Global Threat Reduction Initiative

By Greg Webb
Global Security Newswire

VIENNA — More than 90 nations agreed Sunday to support a U.S. initiative to reduce the vulnerability of nuclear and radiological materials worldwide. U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) in May and received a broad endorsement for the effort during a two-day “partnership” meeting here (see GSN, Sept. 16).

Abraham indicated Saturday that the United States would direct another $3 million toward initiative activities, adding to the more than $400 million already committed.

The threat reduction initiative seeks to identify and secure potentially dangerous materials at international nuclear research reactors. In particular, the program seeks to prevent terrorists from acquiring fresh highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel — which could be used to create a nuclear weapon if enough were stolen — as well as spent reactor fuel, which could be used to make “dirty bombs.”

The weekend meeting was jointly coordinated by the United States and Russia and held in the shadow of the adjacent International Atomic Energy Agency headquarters, as officials there discussed Iran’s nuclear activities (see related GSN story, today).

The GTRI effort was described by one U.S. official as being “like motherhood: everyone is for it,” and a number of recent successes have bolstered its startup. In particular, the United States has financed or administered several missions to transfer fresh HEU fuel, from research reactors in Eastern Europe and central Asia, back to Russia, the original supplier.

Despite these successes, implementation of the global effort poses daunting obstacles, according to experts here. The hurdles consist of an incomplete inventory of nuclear materials worldwide, the cost of implementing reactor security or conversion measures, and some nations’ resistance to surrendering materials they believe give them more international standing.

The hopes for the program are ambitious.

“The challenge we face in the 21st century … is not just a challenge related to securing dangerous materials,” Abraham said in his opening statement to the meeting. “Rather, the challenge that confronts us is directed at thwarting the aims of senseless killers, killers always searching for more treacherous means to sow terror and death.”

To date, U.S.-sponsored missions have returned weapon-usable materials from a number of research reactors to Russia. These missions include the repatriation of 48 kilograms of HEU fuel from Serbia (see GSN, Aug. 23, 2002), 14 kilograms from Romania (see GSN, Sept. 22, 2003), 17 kilograms from Bulgaria (see GSN, Dec. 29, 2003), nearly 17 kilograms from Libya (see GSN, March 8), and most recently 11 kilograms of enriched uranium from Uzbekistan (see GSN, Sept. 14). 

In addition, the United States recently retrieved spent nuclear fuel assemblies it had provided to research reactors in Germany (see GSN, Aug. 13).

More missions are expected in the near future, with Russia’s top nuclear official Alexander Rumyantsev announcing Monday that discussions were under way to remove fresh fuel from Ukraine and the Czech Republic, and that efforts to collect spent fuel are being negotiated with Uzbekistan and Serbia.

These missions, however, have dealt only with known stocks of fresh and spent fuel.

A looming problem might be to simply identify and locate all the nuclear materials in the United States and Russia as well as the material those nations have supplied to the world over the past five decades.

“The first task we must undertake involves creating an official inventory of high-risk materials worldwide, which includes, but is not limited to, materials located at enrichment plants, conversion facilities, reprocessing plants, research reactor sites, fuel fabrication plants and temporary storage facilities. It also includes the kinds of material that could be used in a [radiological dispersal device],” Abraham said.

This task would certainly be complicated at a global level, experts here said, but of more worry perhaps would be the initial problem of creating an accurate database of materials located in the former Soviet Union.

“We are well aware of the location of research reactors and critical assemblies,” Rumyantsev said in a press briefing Sunday.

However, two U.S. officials said that the movement of nuclear research materials was so pervasive during the Soviet era that Russia does not have a complete understanding of where the materials are today.

An additional hurdle could be paying for the initiative on a global scale. The United States has so far funded the operations, but the plan calls for more expensive activities, such as converting HEU-fueled reactors to use lower enrichment levels.

A recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report noted that in the United States itself there are eight research reactors that could be converted to use low-enriched fuel, but so far no funds have been allocated for that work (see GSN, Aug. 2).

Also hindering the initiative’s progress is the prospect that some nations could be reluctant to abandon their nuclear facilities, according to Bill Potter, director of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

In Russia alone, Potter said, no research facility has completely parted with its highly enriched uranium. The Russian sites “do attach importance of certain kinds to the presence of HEU,” he said.

Therefore, in applying that experience to other former Soviet states and the wider world, it is critical that U.S. officials work diligently to understand what factors are important — including financial and political — to both site officials and national leaders, Potter said.

Despite these potential threats to the initiative’s progress, optimism abounded at the weekend meeting. Rumyantsev reported that 13 of the 17 nations with HEU-fueled research reactors have agreed to switch to low-enriched fuel. The remaining four face technical hurdles that will need more time to overcome, he said, but the problems would be solved.

“Together with the U.S. Department of Energy, we will certainly bring this job to conclusion,” Rumyantsev said.


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North Korea Rejects Further Nuclear Talks, Says It Won’t Give Up Weapons Program


North Korea’s state news agency announced that the nation would not participate in nuclear talks nor consider dismantling its nuclear weapons program in light of recently disclosed nuclear experiments by South Korea, the Financial Times reported Sunday (see GSN, Sept. 17).

“It is self-evident that the resumption of the talks can no longer be discussed unless the U.S. drops its hostile policy based on double standards toward [North Korea] and that the latter can never dismantle its nuclear deterrent force,” said the Korean Central News Agency.

“What infuriates (North Korea) is that the U.S. has so far shut its eyes to the secret nuclear activities of its allies under its nuclear umbrella but has pressurized (North Korea) to accept (dismantlement),” said KCNA.

The state news agency said it was unfair that all six countries taking part in the talks — China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Russia and the United States — either have nuclear weapons or the potential to develop them, yet only North Korea’s program was being discussed, according to the Times (Andrew Ward, Financial Times, Sept. 19).

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun met in Moscow yesterday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss North Korea’s nuclear activities and other issues, Agence France-Presse reported.

Senior officials in both countries agreed that “there is no ‘safe’ alternative to the regime of Kim Jong Il” in North Korea at this time, according to the Russian business daily Kommersant (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Sept. 21).

Putin yesterday called on North Korea to resume six-party talks.

“Our country has consistently called for a non-nuclear status on the Korean Peninsula and for the continuation of the six-nation negotiating process,” Putin said (AFP/SpaceWar.com, Sept. 21).

Roh, however, said today that he saw no reason to “rush” talks and that he believed the U.S. presidential election was the main factor in Pyongyang’s decision to stall, Reuters reported.

“It is important to take things one step at a time, not to rush things, and to stick to the principle on the question of North Korea’s nuclear weapons as long as the situation does not worsen,” Roh said. (Martin Nesirky, Reuters, Sept. 22).

Meanwhile, a Chinese official yesterday expressed concern about the stalled talks, focusing on the “lack of trust” between the United States and North Korea, AFP reported.

“From the current attitudes of the parties involved, there are major difficulties in the attempt to hold the meeting as scheduled,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan.

“We’re worried but we won’t abandon our efforts to push all parties to display pragmatism, restraint and flexibility in their efforts,” he said (AFP, Sept. 21).

After meeting in New York with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister for human rights Choe Su Hon, British Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell said North Korean officials indicated they remained committed to taking part in nuclear talks despite refusing to set a date, CNN reported.

“We do need to see positive steps by North Korea to come back to the next round of the six-party talks to set a date to start the program of disarmament,” said Rammell (Jonathan Wald, CNN.com, Sept. 21).

Elsewhere, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Sunday that he does not believe a reported explosion earlier this month on North Korea’s northern border with China was a nuclear blast, but is not “100 percent sure,” the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 17).

Reports from agencies with devices that monitor explosions suggest “that it doesn’t look like a nuclear explosion,” IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said on CNN’s Late Edition.

“I am leaving the door open,” he said. “I think I would like to go there. ... If North Korea would like to exclude that possibility completely, they would be well advised to allow us and other experts to go and inspect that. As long as we are not there, I cannot exclude that possibility 100 percent” (Associated Press/Chicago Sun-Times, Sept. 20).


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China Says South Korean Nuclear Experiments Should be Topic of Six-Party Talks on North Korea


South Korea’s recently revealed nuclear experiments should be discussed at the next round of multilateral talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, China said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 16).

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said the South Korean experiments, which involved small amounts of enriched uranium and plutonium, should be discussed at talks involving China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States.

South Korea, however, has rejected such an idea, a senior official said today.

“These experiments have no relevance to the six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program,” said Chung Woo-seong, a foreign affairs adviser to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. “The experiments were merely on a laboratory scale and the government had no roles in the experiment” (Agence France-Presse/Channel News Asia, Sept. 22).

IAEA Conducts New Inspections

Meanwhile, a five-member team from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived Sunday at a South Korean nuclear facility to begin a weeklong inspection, according to Agence France-Presse (see GSN, Sept. 16).

The team traveled to the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute, about 100 miles south of Seoul, and is expected to report its findings to the U.N. agency by November, AFP reported. The purpose of the inspection is to interview South Korean nuclear scientists, following the revelation of the country’s experiments involving enriched uranium and plutonium (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Sept. 20).


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IAEA Conducts Annual Meeting

By Greg Webb
Global Security Newswire

VIENNA — At a critical time for the international nuclear nonproliferation regime, the U.N. nuclear watchdog began its annual meeting Monday. 

This general conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency is the first agency-wide meeting since the disclosure of a nuclear smuggling network led by a former top Pakistani nuclear scientist, and it follows nearly two years of international wrangling over how to respond to Iran’s advanced nuclear programs.

The agency has taken criticism for not detecting or investigating those events earlier, and member states are scrambling to enhance the organization’s powers and to shore up the shaken foundations of the nonproliferation system.

As the first plenary session opened, the Iran issue rose immediately to the forefront as agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei called on Tehran “to continue to accelerate its cooperation, pursuing a policy of maximum transparency and confidence building, so that we can bring the remaining outstanding issues to resolution within the next few months and provide assurance to the international community.”

ElBaradei’s remarks were a bit softer than the agency’s Board of Governors, which Saturday cautioned Iran to improve its cooperation with the agency by the board’s next meeting, scheduled to begin in late November (see related GSN story, today).

The United States weighed in a few minutes after ElBaradei.

“As a party to the [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty], Iran accepted legally binding obligations. For nearly 20 years, it has acted contrary to those obligations, secretly building sensitive nuclear fuel-cycle facilities, and doing so for weapons purposes,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

Iran responded in the afternoon with a statement asserting the nation’s right to pursue peaceful nuclear energy and vowing to continue to its efforts.

As for the smuggling problem, Abraham introduced a proposal to help nations crack down on the ability of individuals, acting without state authority, to conduct nuclear trade (see related GSN story, today).

Concerned about potential terrorist access to nuclear materials, both the United States and Russia yesterday praised a growing international partnership to identify and secure fresh and spent fuel at research reactors worldwide. Such facilities could be attractive targets to terrorists seeking to acquire materials for making nuclear weapons or dirty bombs (see related GSN story, today).

While nonproliferation dominated the headlines here so far, the agency is conducting its routine administrative responsibilities of selecting officers and approving budgets.

These activities highlighted the difficult balance the institution has faced from its creation in 1957: To assist nations to develop nuclear technologies — primarily for power and medical applications — while working simultaneously to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Demonstrating the dichotomy, ElBaradei’s 30-page statement to the conference discusses advances to nuclear technology for energy, agriculture, water desalination, cancer treatment, but these topics are followed by a report on measures to improve nuclear safety, security and nonproliferation.


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Work Needed Against Nuclear Profiteers, U.S. Says

By Greg Webb
Global Security Newswire

VIENNA — Concerned about “individual profiteers” who can proliferate nuclear technology without their government’s permission, the United States on Monday called for a new international effort to prevent black market nuclear trade (see GSN, Aug. 12).

“We must address the threat that individuals with access to nuclear material and technology may in some way or at some time be open to coercion, corruption, or compromise,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, speaking on the opening day of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s annual meeting here.

The risk is more than abstract. Early this year top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan reportedly confessed to selling nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea (see GSN, Feb. 2). The United States has accepted Pakistan’s assertion that Khan acted without official authorization.

“Individual profiteers, trading in nuclear weapons designs, technology, and equipment, make evident that the nuclear threat is not limited to sovereign states alone,” Abraham said.

To combat the problem, Abraham proposed a collaboration between IAEA member governments and the nuclear industry “to ensure that export control laws are followed, and that there will be swift enforcement action when they are not.”

The new “partnership” would “seek to find new ways to thwart the black market trade,” he added. This work would involve the full range of fuel-cycle firms, from uranium mine operators to manufacturers of dual-use nuclear equipment.


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More Than 40 Countries Could Have Nuclear Weapons Know-How, IAEA Chief ElBaradei Warns


More than 40 countries may possess the technical knowledge to produce nuclear weapons, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned Monday (see GSN, May 25).

In addition to the declared nuclear weapons states, some “estimates indicate that 40 countries or more now have the know-how to produce nuclear weapons,” IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said in his keynote address to the agency’s general conference in Vienna. “We are relying primarily on the continued good intentions of these countries, intentions, which ... could ... be subject to rapid change” (see GSN, July 30).

ElBaradei also suggested it was time to strengthen monitoring of nuclear activities, which until recent years has depended mostly on voluntary disclosure, the Associated Press reported.

Uncovered or suspected clandestine nuclear activities over the past two years in countries such as Iran and North Korea seem to have prompted ElBaradei’s remarks, according to AP.

The “relative ease with which a multinational illicit network could be set up and operate demonstrates clearly the inadequacy” of current nuclear export controls, ElBaradei said, referring to the nuclear black market revealed by the reported confession of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan (George Jahn, Associated Press/Miami Herald, Sept. 20).


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U.S. Ships Weapon-Grade Plutonium to France


A shipment of weapon-grade plutonium is now heading by ship from the United States to France, the Associated Press reported Monday (see GSN, Sept. 17).

An armored ship carrying the materials and escorted by a second ship has left U.S. shores, according to U.S. officials, who would not specify when the shipment departed due to security concerns.

Plans call for the plutonium to be converted into nuclear fuel at a French reactor, and then returned to the United States for testing at a commercial reactor. The United States does not have a conversion plant.

Opponents say the transports create the potential for ecological harm or diversion by terrorists, AP reported.

About 20 people waved signs along the Charleston, S.C., waterfront Monday to protest the move, according to AP.

“This is really the wrong signal to be sending to countries around the world,” said Tom Clements of Greenpeace International.

National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Bryan Wilkes said ample precautions had been taken to guarantee secure transport of the plutonium.

“We’re confident this material will be fully protected every step of the way. Each [ship] is equipped with heavy weaponry ... and a specialized guard force. The people that are doing this have a lot of experience doing this. They’re not shipping oranges” (Jennifer Holland, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 20).


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United States Eases Restrictions on Exports to India


The United States has eased restrictions on technology exports to India’s civilian space agency and to Indian civilian nuclear power plants, the Financial Times reported Monday (see GSN, Jan. 13).

The move, announced over the weekend, came six years after the United States imposed sanctions against India following its first declared nuclear weapons test, according to the Times

The two countries have also agreed to continue talks on missile defense cooperation, according to the Times (Edward Luce, Financial Times, Sept. 20).


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Russia Plans New Round of Missile Tests


Russia plans to soon conduct a new round of ballistic missile tests, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Monday (see GSN, Sept. 8).

“There is a plan, and several submarines are already on combat duty,” he reportedly said during a weekly meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and top officials (Associated Press, Sept. 20).

Meanwhile, the Dmitry Donskoy submarine is expected to test the Bulava solid-fueled intercontinental missile next week in the White Sea, according to a source at the shipyard upgrading the submarine (Interfax, Sept. 20).


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New Assessment Casts Doubts on Past Claims on Cuba’s Biological Weapons Capacity, Officials Say


A new assessment of Cuba’s biological weapons capacity has determined that is no longer clear whether Havana has an active and offensive program, the New York Times reported Saturday (see GSN, April 1).

According to a U.S. intelligence official, the new assessment says that U.S. intelligence “continues to believe that Cuba has the technical capability to pursue some aspects of an offensive biological weapons program.”

“There is still much about Cuba that is cause for concern, including the production and export of dual-use items and cooperating with countries on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism,” the official said.

The new assessment of Cuba’s biological weapons capacity contradicts a 1999 National Intelligence Estimate and claims made by senior Bush administration officials, according to the Times. It was prepared using stricter standards developed after intelligence assessments on prewar Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction were found to have been flawed, the Times reported.

“The new assessment is the product of a fresh, hard look at the reporting,” said an intelligence official. The standards used were “exceptionally stringent in how we treat our sources, evidence and analysis,” the official added.

Administration officials said that a National Intelligence Estimate on biological weapons is being prepared and is expected to take several months to complete (Steven Weisman, New York Times, Sept. 18).


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South Korea, Thailand Halted 70-Ton Shipment of Toxic Chemical to North Korea, News Report Says


North Korea attempted to import 70 tons of sodium cyanide from Thailand last September before South Korea intervened to halt the shipment, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 29).

An unidentified South Korean firm sold 338 tons of sodium cyanide to a Thai company in February 2002, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as telling a National Assembly hearing on Friday. The Thai firm then allegedly arranged to ship 70 tons of the chemical to North Korea.

South Korea persuaded the Thai government to block the shipment, according to Chosun and other South Korean news reports.

Sodium cyanide is used for fertilizer production and has other industrial applications, but it is also a precursor chemical for sarin nerve agent, according to AP.

The shipment was stopped as part of an international effort to crack down on illegal trade in precursor chemicals, said Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow.

“It was the result of close cooperation between the Thai and South Korean authorities that we were able to discover the shipment of the chemicals,” Sihasak told AP on Saturday, adding that the action was made possible by “close intelligence sharing that we have between Thailand, South Korea and other allies.”

It remains unclear why Pyongyang tried to purchase the chemical, but the country is thought to have a large stockpile of chemical and biological weapons, according to U.S. and South Korean officials (Associated Press/USA Today, Sept. 18).


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Chemical Disposal Allowed to Proceed at Umatilla


The Oregon Court of Appeals this week denied an effort to immediately stop chemical weapons incineration at the U.S. Army’s Umatilla Chemical Depot, rejecting claims in a lawsuit that emissions from the facility would harm pregnant women, breast-feeding infants and children (see GSN, Sept. 10).

In its ruling, the three-judge panel also said it expected the lawsuit filed by the group GASP to eventually fail, according to the Associated Press.

“We’re pleased that agent operations can continue,” said Dennis Murphey, program administrator for the chemical demilitarization program for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, one of the respondents to the lawsuit.

GASP lawyer Stuart Sugarman said the group is discussing its options following the court’s ruling.

The U.S. Army began destroying sarin-filled M55 rockets on Sept. 7, after years of delays caused by testing. A week later, however, workers violated a safety rule by walking into a contaminated area without the requisite protective gear, causing a temporary work stoppage. The Army resumed operations Monday (Associated Press/OregonLive.com, Sept. 21).


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United States Imposes Sanctions Against Chinese Firm

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The United States on Monday imposed sanctions against a Chinese entity for allegedly engaging in missile proliferation activities (see GSN, June 18).

Sanctions were imposed against the Xinshidai company, also known as the China New Era Group, because the company is believed to have made a “material contribution” to a foreign country’s WMD-capable missile program, a U.S. State Department official said. The official refused to identify the recipient country or say what items may have been transferred.

The two-year sanctions prohibit the U.S. government from doing business with or providing aid to the Chinese company, and also prevent the company from exporting goods to the United States. In addition, the U.S. State Department has suspended all licenses for exports of defense items from the United States or transfers of U.S.-origin defense items to the Chinese entity, according to a notice published Monday in the Federal Register.

According to a fact sheet prepared by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Xinshidai is an arms trade-related import-export company and is jointly administrated by the Chinese Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and the Chinese military. Several Chinese companies associated with Xinshidai, according to NTI, have also been subjected to U.S. sanctions, including the China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corp. and the China North Industries Corp. (NORINCO).

Monday’s announcement is the first time the United States has imposed sanctions against Xinshidai, the State Department official said. The official refused to comment, though, on whether the company has been the subject of past concerns over possible missile proliferation activities.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not return calls for comment. While Beijing has repeatedly noted its commitment to nonproliferation, suspected activities by Chinese entities remain a source of U.S. concern. The most recent warnings came in a report released this summer by the Congress-mandated U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (see GSN, June 16).

“Unfortunately, even in light of overwhelming evidence of the increased threat to global security, Chinese entities continue to proliferate,” the commission said.

China is seeking membership in the Missile Technology Control Regime, a multilateral group whose members agree to implement similar export controls on missiles and related technologies. The regime is set to hold its annual plenary meeting early next month in South Korea (see GSN, Aug. 9). The State Department official said that while these new sanctions underline the continued proliferation concerns posed by some Chinese entities, he did not believe they would have an impact on next month’s meeting. The official added that the timing of the sanctions relative to the MTCR meeting was “coincidental.”

In a separate notice published Monday in the Federal Register, the U.S. State Department announced an extension of a waiver of sanctions imposed last year against the Chinese government. 

In September 2003, the United States imposed sanctions against NORINCO for alleged missile proliferation-related activities. While the sanctions would also have applied to all other Chinese state-owned entities engaged in activities related to the development of ballistic missiles, electronics, space systems and military aircraft, the State Department issued a one-year waiver at the time, saying such a move was in U.S. national security interests (see GSN, Sept. 19, 2003).

In Monday’s announcement, the State Department said the sanctions would continue to be waived for an additional six months.


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Iran Tests Nuclear-Capable Missile


Iran test-fired a medium-range version of the nuclear-capable Shahab 3 ballistic missile Saturday (see GSN, Sept. 8).

The Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported that the missile has a range of 2,000 kilometers. Iran has claimed that the missile would be used for defensive purposes, according to Zaman Online (Zaman Online, Sept. 19).


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Retired Commander Says Missile Defense is Political

By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — A former U.S. strategic forces commander on Monday charged that the Bush administration’s planned deployment of components of a national missile defense system this year is politically motivated and will not be capable of protecting the country (see GSN, Sept. 14).

“In my view it is 95-percent political in nature,” said retired Gen. Eugene Habiger, a former commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, in charge of all Air Force and Navy strategic forces.

The Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system “certainly doesn’t have any credible capability, and I cannot recall any military system being deployed in such a manner,” he said, referring to the system that U.S. President George W. Bush in December 2002 ordered deployed this year. 

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last year set the deployment date for Oct. 1, although he recently indicated that the date is flexible and that the system could be taken back off alert for development and testing (see GSN, Aug. 19).

He and other officials have said the administration’s approach is to initially deploy a “limited” capability that would be improved in future years with better technologies and additional systems as they are developed.

“We’re developing, testing and beginning to deploy limited defenses against ballistic missiles to deter rogue states from attempting to think that they can blackmail America or our friends and allies,” Rumsfeld said at an event last week.

In an e-mailed statement, Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin denied any political motivation in the timing of the planned deployment.

“The Missile Defense System has undergone extensive testing, and will continue to do so for many years in order to improve and enhance our defensive capabilities against a ballistic missile attack,” she said. “Politics do not enter into the picture. The safety of our country and its citizens transcends politics.”

Suitability Debate

Habiger, who is now a distinguished fellow at the University of Georgia’s Center for International Trade and Security, said his comments were not politically motivated, but made rather “because I think we’re making a mistake in terms of the allocation of resources.”

“It appears our mind-set is still Cold War driven … that we are potentially under a kind of Cold War kind of threat,” he said. “In my view, the threat is going to be asymmetrical in nature, not force on force against the United States.”

“I think we’re going down a very, very dangerous path when the politicians of the United States of America are dictating what military weapons systems are going to be deployed,” he said, speaking at an event sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

President George W. Bush in a campaign speech last month said the system is needed to address future threats (see GSN, Aug. 20).

I think those who oppose this ballistic missile system really don’t understand the threats of the 21st century. They’re living in the past.  We’re living in the future,” he said.

In an earlier statement last month, Bush said the deployed “components” of the system would fulfill a 2000 campaign pledge to field an “effective” national missile defense system “at the earliest possible date” (see GSN, Aug. 5).

Capability and Need Questioned

Also speaking at the event Monday, Philip Coyle, the Pentagon’s former top weapons testing official, said that Bush would not fulfill his pledge because the system will lack key components, such as an advanced radar for tracking and targeting, and has not been demonstrated effective against a real threat.

Bush “hasn’t been able to deliver on that promise, because the Missile Defense Agency hasn’t been able to deliver a system that works,” said Coyle, who is now a senior adviser with the Center for Defense Information.

Habiger said that what is planned for deployment this year, including up to 10 interceptor missiles, has not been proven capable under realistic conditions.

“We will be putting a system on alert that has not been flight-tested in nearly two years and never with the actual interceptor that is being put in the ground up at Fort Greely, Alaska,” he said.

He argued further that no threat today justifies the deployment and that “it’s very doubtful that that threat will evolve in the future.”

North Korea — the threat which U.S. officials have previously said is driving the missile-defense deployment — would need to master nuclear weapons miniaturization technology to be able to strike the U.S. mainland using the Taepodong 2 missile the communist nation is suspected to be developing, and would have great difficulty doing so, Habiger said.

 “The warhead would have to be no heavier than 300 kilograms … To miniaturize something that is going to go into the nose cone of an ICBM and is going to experience [G-forces, vibration, temperature extremes] takes a lot of technology, takes a lot of work and a lot of time,” he said.

“We have a threat that’s based upon a system that is not been flight-tested and has some severe challenges,” he said of the North Korean missile system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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