New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D), shown last year, arrived yesterday in Pyongyang to discuss North Korea’s nuclear plans (Alex Wong/Getty Images). New Mexico Governor Arrives in North Korea for Nuke Talks New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) arrived in Pyongyang yesterday, state media reported last night (see GSN, Oct. 14). Richardson plans to ask North Korean officials for detailed plans on how they would dismantle their nuclear programs and for a commitment on inspections, the Associated Press reported yesterday...Full Story

Japan Considers Installing U.S. Early Warning Radar Japan might permit installation of the U.S.-developed early warning X-band radar system to detect ICBMs launched at the United States, United Press International reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 11)...Full Story

Boston Nuclear Terror Suspect Arrested Mexican authorities have arrested a man accused of making a false nuclear threat on Boston earlier this year, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Feb. 23)...Full Story

	Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Saddam Hussein Murder Trial to Start Tomorrow The murder trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is scheduled to begin tomorrow, Knight Ridder reported today (see GSN, July 26). Hussein and his seven co-defendants, who will be tried simultaneously according to Iraqi law, are charged with the 1982 deaths of 143 people in the city of Dujail. While a reading of the charges and a statement by the prosecution is expected, the trial is likely to recess quickly to give Hussein’s defense lawyer more time to study documents he received last month. If convicted, the accused could be executed after the trial, despite other pending charges, according to Knight Ridder. A Shiite-sponsored television channel, meanwhile, has been airing advertisements featuring footage of Kurdish children killed by chemical weapons allegedly used by the Hussein regime. “The problem is that Saddam is feeling very comfortable, living in a safe place, eating good food and getting good sleep,” said Hamadi Khalif, a former Ministry of Housing employee. “We are not.  All we want is to see Saddam executed” (Nancy Youssef, Knight Ridder/Yahoo!News, Oct. 18). Back to top

New Mexico Governor Arrives in North Korea for Nuke Talks New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) arrived in Pyongyang yesterday, state media reported last night (see GSN, Oct. 14). Richardson plans to ask North Korean officials for detailed plans on how they would dismantle their nuclear programs and for a commitment on inspections, the Associated Press reported yesterday. “We’re going to focus on two important areas: one is verification, the second is what steps are the North Koreans taking to dismantle their nuclear weapons — concrete steps,” Richardson told AP. “It was a major step forward in the last six-party talks, and now is the follow-through,” he said. “Where I think I can help is in the implementation — I’m not there to negotiate anything new.” Richardson is accompanied by officials from New Mexico public health, energy and other agencies to demonstrate the types of assistance North Koreans could expect in return for disarmament, he said. “The idea behind the experts is to say, look ... there will be advantages” to abandoning atomic bombs, he said (Joseph Coleman, Associated Press/San Diego Union-Tribune, Oct. 17). Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld plans to encourage Chinese officials while in Beijing this week to press North Korea on nuclear disarmament, AP reported today (Robert Burns, Associated Press/BreitBart.com, Oct. 18). A senior Chinese diplomat is expected in North Korea today to discuss the next round of six-nation nuclear talks, tentatively scheduled for next month, Agence France-Presse reported. Li Bin, Beijing’s new special envoy for North Korea, is expected to spend two days in the North, and to visit the United States and South Korea next week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced. “The major topic is to discuss with officials from the three countries ... to make preparation for the next round of six-party talks,” said spokesman Kong Quan (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Oct. 18). Back to top       U.S. Says Iran Must Resume Nuclear Negotiations Iran must resume nuclear negotiations with the European Union or face referral to the U.N. Security Council and possible sanctions, the Bush administration announced yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 17). “We continue to call on Iran to get back to the negotiating table and act in good faith,” said spokesman Scott McClellan. “You saw at the International Atomic Energy Agency that a majority now supports sending Iran to the Security Council if they don’t come back to the table and negotiate in good faith,” McClellan said (see GSN, Sept. 26). “And that is certainly an option that is on the table, and if Iran does not change its behavior and get back to the negotiating table, it is an option that is available to the international community,” Agence France-Presse quoted McClellan as saying (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Oct. 17). Meanwhile, Iran’s ambassador to France, Sadeq Kharrazi, denied a report yesterday in USA Today that he had indicated Tehran was open to direct nuclear negotiations with the United States, Xinhua reported. Kharrazi said Iran “sees no urgency in holding talks with the United States,” state media reported. “The official policy of the government is to have no direct and official talks with the U.S. administration on nuclear issues,” he said (Xinhua/People’s Daily, Oct. 18). Back to top       Boston Nuclear Terror Suspect Arrested Mexican authorities have arrested a man accused of making a false nuclear threat on Boston earlier this year, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Feb. 23). Jose Ernesto Beltran Quinonez was arrested Saturday in Mexicali, according to the FBI. Bureau spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said that U.S. authorities expect Beltran to be extradited within 60 days.  Beltran has been indicted for perpetrating a terrorist hoax and making false statements about a plot to smuggle a nuclear warhead into the United States from Mexico for use in Boston. His call to the California Highway Patrol on Jan. 17 caused subway and airport security increases in Boston. Beltran later said he had not called in the threat, instead suggesting it came from someone else using his cellular telephone. He was taken into custody by Mexican authorities in January but was released and has been on the run since then (Associated Press/CNN, Oct. 18). Back to top       British Leaders Oppose Nuclear Arsenal Upgrade Plan British lawmakers and high-level military officials are questioning Prime Minister Tony Blair’s decision to replace the country’s arsenal of Trident nuclear missiles with new weaponry, The Independent reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 13). There is “a serious debate” taking place “at all levels” over the long-term need for a nuclear deterrent, a senior defense department source told the Independent. Defense Secretary John Reid last week released budget details indicating that funding for the Aldermaston nuclear weapons production facility has been set at nearly $3.5 billion for the next three years. The average annual cost of running the Atomic Weapons Establishment has been $524 million since 2000. Next year’s expenditure is expected to increase to $886 million, and to continue to rise, according to the Independent. Three members of Parliament from Blair’s own Labor Party have drafted a resolution questioning the cost of the upgrade and have called for a vote on the matter at one of their regular Monday meetings (Andy McSmith, The Independent, Oct. 17). Back to top       Russia Removes Nuclear Fuel from Submarine Nuclear fuel has been removed from the final submarine to be decommissioned at the Russian Northern Fleet’s Gremikha base, ITAR-Tass reported last week (see GSN, Oct. 11). The submarine has also been disarmed and is expected to be towed to the Nerpa shipyard and scrapped, according to Valeriy Panteleyev, the head of the SevRAO company, which deals with nuclear and radiation safety issues on Russia’s Kola Peninsula. A delegation of French nuclear experts, officials from the European Union Tacis program and representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development visited Gremikha submarine last week. The visit was to determine progress by the Russian navy and SevRAO in implementing recommendations to better store radioactive materials at Gremikha’s nuclear storage depot.  France is expected to invest several million dollars into the nuclear storage program, Panteleyev said. The exact dollar amount will be determined in future talks (ITAR-Tass, Oct. 14). Back to top

New Technology Shows Promise Against Bioagents Pharmaceutical company AVI BioPharma in clinical testing has found that “antisense” technology has been able to block the cellular mechanisms that anthrax and ricin use to induce lethal toxicity, the company announced last week (see GSN, Oct. 4). The company has also been able to combat the Ebola and Marburg viruses in these trials, according to a company press statement.  The clinical trials have been partially funded by the U.S. Defense Department and are being conducted with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. The trials were conducted on mice, guinea pigs and nonhuman primates. Early studies of mice showed that when given the company’s Neugene antisense technology, almost all survived exposure to lethal levels of anthrax spores. More extensive tests are planned exploring efficacy against anthrax infection. Tests also showed the Neugene technology to be effective against Marburg, with a high survival rate when Marburg genes were targeted. Tests also found that the antisense agents were virus-specific, meaning treatments for Ebola would not provide protection against the Marburg virus. In the past, attempts to treat Ebola in all three species have found little success, according to the release (AVI BioPharma release, Oct. 17). Back to top

Moscow Slams U.K. on Iran Missile Allegations The Russian Foreign Ministry suggested today that a British newspaper report on alleged transfers of missile technology by Russian intermediaries to Tehran was “politically commissioned,” Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 17). An article in this week’s Sunday Telegraph “aimed only at creating a false impression in British and international society about Russian policy in the area of missile nonproliferation,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Similar articles “unfortunately appear quite regularly in the Western media,” the statement adds. The statement goes on to question whether the article “was not politically commissioned. In that case, there is a clear question: who commissioned it and who paid?” (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Oct. 18). Back to top

Japan Considers Installing U.S. Early Warning Radar Japan might permit installation of the U.S.-developed early warning X-band radar system to detect ICBMs launched at the United States, United Press International reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 11). Japanese officials have been open to the proposal, hoping for improved information sharing with the U.S. military, sources told the Asahi Shimbun. Tokyo, meanwhile, plans to deploy a domestically developed radar system to detect medium-range ballistic missiles in 2008, UPI reported (United Press International, Oct. 17). Back to top       Technical Problems Delay THAAD Tests Technical difficulties have delayed flight tests for the U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense program’s interceptor, Inside the Army reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 23). The Missile Defense Agency earlier this year said the first test of the reconfigured program had been delayed from the second quarter of fiscal year 2005 to the first quarter of fiscal 2006.  “As with most complex systems, technical discoveries have delayed completion of interceptor qualification, integration and assembly,” said THAAD project manager Army Col. Charles Driessnack. “However, confidence continues to build as issues are identified and resolved and functionality is tested and demonstrated along the path to flight.” The ground-based THAAD program is designed to protect population centers and forward-deployed troops from short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. The system uses hit-to-kill kinetic energy warheads against missiles toward the end of their flight either high in or outside of the atmosphere. The system’s Flight Test-01, scheduled for this fall, is being touted as a “walk-up” test to demonstrate missile performance. Flight Test-02, also scheduled for fall, will integrate a flight test with a virtual intercept. The entire system will be working during this test but there will be no attempt to actually intercept a target. A target will be launched, however, to simulate a live target, according to Inside the Army. Next winter, the program will have its first chance to intercept a target, although that is not the object of the test. A test in spring 2006 will be designed to test the system’s interception capabilities, Inside the Army reported. The final missile characterization test will be conducted at White Sands, N.M., in summer 2006. It will be designed to examine how the interceptors work in the low atmosphere.  When the tests are finished, the system will be moved to the Pacific Missile Range Facility for additional testing, according to Inside the Army (Ashley Roque, Inside the Army, Oct. 17). Back to top       Seoul Plans Budget Increase to Boost Defenses South Korea plans set aside $92.5 billion by 2008 to improve its national missile defenses and other military capabilities, the Seoul Times reported (see GSN, July 14). “We're pushing for President Roh Moo-hyun's cooperative self-defense system, under which we transform the South Korea-U.S. alliance to one in which our role is strengthened,” the Yonhap News Agency quoted Defense Ministry official Maj. Gen. Bang Hyo-bok as saying. The money would be used to purchase or develop sophisticated weapons, including airborne early warning systems, Patriot missiles, multifunction satellites and Aegis-equipped destroyers, according to Yonhap (Seoul Times, Oct. 18).   Back to top

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