U.S. soldiers investigated a suspected chemical weapons site in Baquba, Iraq, in 2003. U.S. WMD hunters in Iraq completed their search last month without finding any stockpiles (AFP Photo). U.S. WMD Hunters Leave Iraq The search for evidence of prewar Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction has ended, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Nov. 10, 2004). Officials with the Iraq Survey Group, which conducted the search, told the Post that a lack of new information and the continuing violence in Iraq led them to end their efforts shortly before Christmas. The findings in the interim report the ISG released last fall will stand as the unit’s final conclusions, which will be published this spring, the Post reported (see GSN, Oct. 7, 2004)...Full Story

Nations to Discuss Using Nuclear Test Sensors as Tsunami Warning System By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Parties to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty are expected to begin discussing next week whether to expand the responsibilities and capabilities of the treaty’s monitoring organization to include global tsunami alerts, in response to the Northern Sumatra earthquake and the subsequent tsunami in December...Full Story

Bush Inauguration to Have “Unprecedented” Security By Joe Fiorill, Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — There are no known terrorist threats to this month’s U.S. presidential inauguration, but the security measures planned for the event are “unprecedented,” Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 4)...Full Story

	Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Bush Inauguration to Have “Unprecedented” Security By Joe Fiorill, Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — There are no known terrorist threats to this month’s U.S. presidential inauguration, but the security measures planned for the event are “unprecedented,” Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 4). Speaking at a briefing on security measures planned for the Jan. 20 inauguration, Ridge said threat information in March and April of last year indicated an “election-year” plot against the United States but that “the decibel level is down” since then. “There is no specific threat directed toward the inaugural or the inaugural activities,” Ridge said. Defense Department inauguration security chief Galen Jackman told reporters his Joint Task Force-Armed Forces Inaugural Committee has been working with the CIA and FBI in planning inauguration security and responds to new threat information “on a minute-by-minute basis.” “We have monitored the threat intensity over the last several months,” said the general, who commands both the inauguration group and the Pentagon’s permanent National Capital Region Joint Task Force. Ridge said the color-coded terrorist threat level would not be raised for the inauguration but that Homeland Security is “as vigilant as ever.” “The security for this occasion will be unprecedented,” he said, citing harbor patrols, mobile coordination units, round-the-clock surveillance at pertinent facilities and portable x-ray equipment to examine deliveries and visitors’ packages. Ridge said Homeland Security has helped to increase security at Washington’s hotels ahead of the inauguration, including by bolstering defenses against a chemical or biological attack via heating and ventilation ducts (see GSN, Aug. 26, 2004). Other planned security measures for the event include the deployment of the U.S. Marine Corps Chemical Biological Incident Response Force, members of which displayed WMD detection and decontamination equipment for those gathered at yesterday’s briefing. The force will be working to support state and local emergency responders at the inauguration, force public affairs officer Christopher Reed said in an interview. Jackman said the Marine Corps unit “has a very good capability to detect chemical, biological and radiological weapons.” Ridge said the Secret Service, which is part of his department and is the lead agency for security at the inauguration, has prepared for the event for more than a year, holding several interagency training exercises for the purpose. Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency is to coordinate emergency management and response at the event. Also participating in the security effort are Homeland Security agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is to provide hazardous-materials response capabilities, and the Coast Guard, which plans to patrol the Washington Channel and the Anacostia and Potomac rivers. More than 60 police agencies are expected to be on hand, Washington Metropolitan Police Department Chief Charles Ramsey told reporters. Ridge estimated the total number of expected police personnel at 6,000. Military personnel assigned to inauguration security will number about 2,500, and another 4,700 troops will be present in ceremonial roles and could be drafted into security duty, said Jackman. “I think people ought to feel very safe coming to this event,” he said. Back to top

U.S. WMD Hunters Leave Iraq The search for evidence of prewar Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction has ended, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Nov. 10, 2004). Officials with the Iraq Survey Group, which conducted the search, told the Post that a lack of new information and the continuing violence in Iraq led them to end their efforts shortly before Christmas. The findings in the interim report the ISG released last fall will stand as the unit’s final conclusions, which will be published this spring, the Post reported (see GSN, Oct. 7, 2004). “The September 30 report is really pretty much the picture,” an intelligence official said. “We’ve talked to so many people that someone would have said something. We received nothing that contradicts the picture we’ve put forward. It’s possible there is a supply someplace, but what is much more likely is that (as time goes by) we will find a greater substantiation of the picture that we’ve already put forward,” the official added (Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, Jan. 12). Back to top       Ecologist Helps U.S. Effort to Find Peaceful Work for Former Iraqi Weapons Scientists A U.S. ecologist specializing in squirrel behavior has taken on a year-long State Department job recruiting former Iraqi weapons scientists and engineers, attempting to find peaceful employment for them, the Associated Press reported last week (see GSN, Oct. 4, 2004). The State Department launched the program — modeled on a similar effort initiated in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union — last December with a $2 million grant. The department is seeking another $20 million over the next two years to expand the program, according to AP.  University of Richmond ecologist Peter Smallwood runs what amounts to a science dating service in Baghdad, finding positions for ex-weapons scientists in the new government’s environment and energy ministries, among other employers, AP reported. “I’ve got 116 guys so far,” Smallwood told AP. “I expect to have many more in the new year.” The number of recruits on his payroll has nearly tripled in six months and includes the staff of a pesticide front company that manufactured sarin nerve agent for former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s regime. Until Smallwood makes a match, he pays recruits a “living wage” of under $1,000 a month, he said. Critics have dismissed the program as “diplomatic welfare,” according to AP. Supporters, however, have said the effort is worth the relatively low cost. “They found a way to survive without selling their know-how to proliferators,” said Jon Wolfsthal of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “It’s not a perfect program. But if it keeps them at home, it’s money well spent.” “Compared to the cost of the war, what’s a few tens of millions to make sure these guys don’t relapse?” he added (Joseph Verrengia, Associated Press/Boston Globe, Jan. 8). Back to top       U.S. State Department to Combine Arms Control, Nonproliferation Bureaus U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has approved the merger of the State Department’s arms control and nonproliferation bureaus, officials said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 7). The decision to merge the two bureaus was based on a recommendation made last fall by the department’s inspector general, according to the Washington Times. The department’s other two international security-related bureaus — political-military affairs and verification and compliance — would remain separate, the officials said. “The report of the inspector general found that we still have structures created for Cold War challenges,” a State Department official said. “We need to reduce overlap by retooling and improving efficiency.” Arms Control Association Executive Director Daryl Kimball said, though, that the merger “represents a further diminishing of the importance of U.S. arms-control policy within the larger federal bureaucracy” (Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times, Jan. 12). Back to top

Nations to Discuss Using Nuclear Test Sensors as Tsunami Warning System By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Parties to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty are expected to begin discussing next week whether to expand the responsibilities and capabilities of the treaty’s monitoring organization to include global tsunami alerts, in response to the Northern Sumatra earthquake and the subsequent tsunami in December. Over the past seven years, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization headquartered in Vienna has been building a global network of seismic and other sensor systems for detecting illicit nuclear weapons testing any place on the planet. Seventy-eight of those sensor stations — seismic, hydroacoustic, and one infrasound — detected the massive Dec. 26 earthquake in the Indian Ocean that caused a massive tsunami. The tidal surge devastated coastal areas, and current estimates place the death toll at more than 150,000 people.  Seconds after the earthquake, raw data was relayed to the organization’s headquarters in Vienna and then out to certain countries with capabilities to receive it, including some in the affected region: Australia, Indonesia, Thailand, Kenya, Malawi, Oman and South Africa, according to the organization. About two hours later, an initial assessment of the event was forwarded to all member states, after some computer processing. While most nations received that latter information too late to provide any warning that might have saved lives, CTBTO spokeswoman Daniela Rozgonova said that treaty parties have informally been discussing giving the organization an early warning role and capabilities. More formal discussions are expected to begin in Kyoto next week and the issue is on the agenda of a meeting of the organization’s Preparatory Commission Bureau also next week, she said. Meanwhile, the organization has been developing evaluations and estimates for hardware and software upgrades that would be needed for the early warning role.         “Nothing is finalized as yet, however,” she said. The organization’s network currently “does not include equipment to detect tsunamis directly, and the [sensor data] processing does not include a capability to determine the mechanism of an earthquake automatically,” the organization said in a statement released last week. “The issuance of a reliable tsunami alarm requires the rapid determination of the earthquake mechanism, the incorporation of data from pressure detectors designed to detect tsunami waves directly, and appropriate arrangements for rapid dissemination of alarms to responsible entities who can take actions at national level,” it said. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association said the organization’s current detection and communication infrastructure does offer a potentially efficient way to provide an early warning capability. “What is unique about the CTBTO is that it is the only quasigovernmental agency, U.N.-affiliated agency, that as a matter of normal practice collects seismic signals from a global network and is organized technically and politically to deliver that information directly to governments,” he said. “It represents an important resource, especially for those countries without the scientific capabilities to replicate that on their national territory,” he said. Rozgonova stressed that any decision to give the organization an early warning role rests with its 174 member states. Kimball said some member states have shown reluctance to let the organization take on that role out of concern countries might misinterpret earthquake data as evidence of an illicit nuclear blast. Some states “are somewhat concerned about false accusations being levied on them” and some “are hesitant to make the data widely available because it means that even those states that do not sign or ratify the treaty might reap the benefits of the organization’s system,” he said. Kimball said some CTBTO employees in past years also have worried that such a role might divert resources from constructing the monitoring system and sustaining the organization. The organization’s potential role for early warning could, however, boost the organization’s standing in some states and therefore insulate its funding from cuts, he said. Back to top       IAEA Inspectors Arrive in Iran; EU-Iran Trade Negotiations Resume in Brussels A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived today in Iran to carry out inspections at the Parchin military complex, while Iranian officials warned that the group would not be allowed to “spy” on Iran, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Jan. 10). “We are watchful. We have allowed inspections into our military installations but we will not allow any espionage or the theft of information from our military sites,” Hossein Mousavian, spokesman for Iran’s nuclear negotiators, told the Mehr news agency. “It is not necessary for the inspectors to enter the installations. They are authorized to take samples outside (the buildings) using their equipment.” The inspectors plan to stay in Iran for a week and to begin taking environmental samples from Parchin tomorrow, the ISNA news agency reported (Agence France-Presse I/SpaceWar.com, Jan. 12). Meanwhile, the European Union resumed trade talks with Iran today as part of a deal struck in November, whereby Iran agreed to suspend all uranium enrichment activities, AFP reported. Iranian officials, however, also announced today that Tehran could resume uranium enrichment soon. “Suspension of enrichment is for a limited period to win the confidence of the international community,” chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani said (Agence France-Presse II/SpaceWar.com, Jan. 12). Back to top       Russia to Observe U.S. Nuclear Weapons Exercise By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The United States plans to conduct a nuclear weapons security exercise this spring, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman said today (see GSN, Aug. 3, 2004). The “nuclear weapons convoy security exercise” is scheduled to be held in April, the spokesman said. He added that during the exercise, “mounted, dismounted, static and mobile tactics” would be practiced. The spokesman declined to provide further details, such as how many people or what facilities may be involved. According to recent reports, the exercise is to be held in Wyoming. The Defense spokesman, however, could not confirm such information. The United States has extended an invitation for six Russian observers to attend the exercise, according to the Pentagon spokesman. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said yesterday that Moscow has accepted the invitation. “We are pleased to take up this invitation to take part in this … exercise so that the experts of both of the militaries of the two nations could be trained up in a proper way,” Ivanov said during a joint Pentagon press briefing with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Russia’s invitation to observe the exercise provides “graphic evidence” of improved U.S.-Russian cooperation and transparency “in the very sensitive areas of our collaboration,” Ivanov said. Ivanov is in the United States this week to meet with various high-level U.S. officials, and is expected to return to Moscow Saturday. The four-day tip is reportedly not connected to a summit set to be held next month between U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. The Russian observers are set to come from the Defense Ministry’s 12th Main Directorate, which oversees Russia’s nuclear arsenal. The deputy head of the directorate, Vladimir Verkhovtsev, has praised international observation of various security exercises as an important “first step” in achieving improved cooperation. “In the second stage of cooperation, one can move to joint activities by specialists from the nuclear states for mitigating and dealing with the consequences of incidents involving nuclear weapons. This is very laborious task, requiring complete understanding and accountability in one’s actions – and with no room for mistakes,” Verkhovtsev was quoted today in a press release from the PIR Center think-tank in Moscow. “Here, the interaction of the personal staffs of the brigades for dealing with the consequences, which will prepare to work together in emergency situations, is most important,” he added. Last year, the Russian Defense Ministry held a similar exercise on protecting nuclear weapons transports from possible terrorist attacks. The exercise, which was observed by representatives from 17 members of NATO, included simulated attacks on road and rail shipments of nuclear weapons. The Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on whether representatives from other countries have been invited to attend the U.S. exercise. Ivanov was quoted yesterday by the Russian media source RIA Novosti as saying, though, that for the first time only Russian observers had been invited. Back to top       U.S. Delegation Meets Senior North Korean Official A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation led by Representative Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) met today in Pyongyang with North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Jan. 11). The six-member delegation is next expected to travel to Russia, South Korea, China and Japan — the four other countries involved in six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program (Associated Press/Washington Post, Jan. 12). Back to top       The Bahamas Join U.S. Megaports Program The Bahamas have become the sixth country to join the U.S. Megaports Initiative, which is intended to prevent illicit shipments of nuclear and radioactive materials, the U.S. Energy Department announced yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 22, 2004). Under the agreement, radiation detectors would be installed at one of the Bahamas’ busiest seaports, the department said in a press release. “Helping better protect the world’s maritime shipping network from nuclear smuggling is an important objective we are working to achieve,” U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in the release.  “Cooperating with the Bahamian government will enable our countries to further international nonproliferation efforts and better protect the citizens of the Bahamas, the United States and other countries against nuclear terrorism” (U.S. Energy Department release, Jan. 11). Back to top

Canadian, U.S. Firms to Begin Plague Vaccine Trial A U.S. biotechnology company and a Canadian vaccine manufacturer are set to begin the first phase of clinical trials of a plague vaccine, the Canadian Press reported (see GSN, Dec. 7, 2004). The U.S. Defense Department contracted with ID Biomedical of Vancouver and DVC, a Maryland-based vaccine developer, to develop protection for soldiers against biological warfare agents. If successful, the vaccine would probably be stockpiled for the military, not distributed for routine use by the public. “I don’t foresee — and I hope it never comes to it — where you would go and get your plague vaccine,” said Dean Linden, spokesman for ID Biomedical. “It would be sort of for a military application.” DVC expects to begin trials on 44 volunteers aged 18 to 40 at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. “The safety of this vaccine has already been thoroughly evaluated in animals,” said DVC spokesperson April Finnen. “We expect the Phase 1 trial to confirm the vaccine is safe for human use” (Terri Theodore, Canadian Press/Yahoo!News, Jan. 11). Back to top

Legislator Issues First Direct Acknowledgement of Washington Train Diversion; New D.C. Bill Planned By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A local legislator here has directly acknowledged for the first time in public that trains carrying highly toxic chlorine gas no longer take their longtime route through the heart of Washington (see GSN, Jan. 11). The acknowledgement is contained in a memorandum that District of Columbia Council member Carol Schwartz sent to colleagues Friday. The Washington Post reported yesterday on other aspects of the memorandum. The document, which Schwartz released to the press, came in response to a memorandum earlier Friday in which members Kathy Patterson and Phil Mendelson — who plan in the coming weeks to introduce legislation, opposed by Schwartz, that would ban chlorine shipments through the city — made reference to last week’s deadly chlorine-train accident in South Carolina (see GSN, Jan. 10). “Such a situation could not happen here in the District of Columbia, where we have been assured by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and CSX Transportation that trains containing hazardous chemicals have been rerouted around the District,” wrote Schwartz, who is chairwoman of the council’s Public Works and Environment Committee. At a closed-door Nov. 4, 2004, meeting of federal, local and CSX officials, Schwartz wrote, “We were told that rerouting of poisonous inhalation gases … has occurred since the Madrid, Spain, bombing last March.” In an e-mail to several reporters this week, Patterson quoted CSX Assistant Vice President for Public Safety Skip Elliott as saying at the Nov. 4 briefing that the rerouting “is temporary — as long as the threat exists.” Citing concerns about security and legal liability, government and CSX officials had carefully avoided directly stating that the trains were being diverted, although they had strongly implied as much. At a public council hearing on Nov. 22 of last year, Skip Elliott told Schwartz, “I … believe that your desire to achieve your goals” — that is, ensuring that the trains do not travel through Washington — “has been accomplished” (see GSN, Nov. 23, 2004). “If CSX would like to talk about rerouting,” the top federal official for Washington’s security, Thomas Lockwood, said at the public hearing, “they can. I cannot.”  Lockwood, who is director of Homeland Security’s National Capital Region Coordination Office, said the department could be held to account legally if it disclosed information about CSX security operations. Patterson charged Schwartz with violating the confidentiality of the Nov. 4 hearing, but Schwartz argued yesterday that she was not the first to reveal the information, because comments by CSX and federal officials at the Nov. 22 hearing had amounted to a public acknowledgement of the rerouting. Chlorine has a history of use as a chemical weapon, and local officials and environmental activists have expressed concern that terrorists could target the CSX shipments, which before rerouting traveled within a few blocks of the U.S. Capitol. An oft-cited study by a U.S. Naval Research Laboratory scientist indicates thousands of people could be killed within minutes if a rail tanker carrying chlorine ruptured near the National Mall. Council members agree that the trains should be prevented from traveling through Washington but are divided over how to accomplish the goal. Schwartz expressed fears yesterday that proceeding with legislation could backfire, since the federal government has the power to invalidate the city’s laws. She stressed the fact that rerouting is already taking place in the absence of a legislated ban. “Once you’ve accomplished getting these poisonous gases — toxic chemicals —from going through the city, why jeopardize that by actions that could be undone by pre-emption or by the courts?” Schwartz asked. Patterson and Mendelson continue to push for a formal legislative ban. As long as CSX diverts the trains voluntarily, Patterson wrote in her e-mail this week to reporters, “There is no guarantee that there will be permanent rerouting of toxics.” She said federal plans to spend nearly $10 million to “harden” the Washington rail corridor indicate that future shipments are planned. “The Bush administration will spend a significant amount of tax dollars to make certain that CSX can resume the shipments of toxic chemicals through the District of Columbia,” Patterson wrote. “This is not an acceptable resolution and underscores the need for legislation.” Patterson and Mendelson said Friday in their memorandum that they plan “within the next several weeks” to introduce a new version of a bill they have introduced unsuccessfully in the past, then to propose an emergency version of the legislation Feb. 1. Mayor Anthony Williams has said he could sign a bill banning the shipments if the council passed it, a possibility Patterson said yesterday is made more likely by awareness generated by the South Carolina accident and by the arrival of several new council members who won seats in November. Back to top       U.S. to Delay Building CW Disposal Sites The U.S. Defense Department plans to delay building two chemical weapons disposal facilities, USA Today reported (see GSN, Feb. 3, 2004). Major construction on the plants in Pueblo, Colo., and Blue Grass, Ky., would not begin until 2011 — approximately a five-year delay — according to Dec. 21, 2004, Pentagon documents obtained by USA Today. Officials are exploring alternatives for meeting a 2012 Chemical Weapons Convention deadline for destruction of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile, said Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin. The budget requires congressional approval, and lawmakers from Colorado and Kentucky said yesterday they would fight the new plan. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement that he would work “to prevent the destruction of these dangerous weapons from being unnecessarily delayed” (Peter Eisler, USA Today, Jan. 12). The Pentagon is planning to spend about $31 million annually on the Colorado and Kentucky sites over the next five years, a U.S. official told the Associated Press yesterday. The Kentucky facility received $105 million this year, while the Colorado facility received $5 million, according to Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working group (Nancy Zuckerbrod, Associated Press/Charlotte Observer, Jan. 12). “Communities that have been told for 20 years that the military will do whatever it takes to get rid of this stuff because it poses all of these risks now are being told that they have to let it sit,” said Williams (USA Today, Jan. 12). Back to top

Federal Prosecutors Charge U.S. Businessman With Aiding Iranian Missile Program Iranian-born U.S. businessman Mohammad Farahbakhsh has been charged with illegally smuggling dual-use equipment to Iran for use in Tehran’s ballistic missile program, U.S. federal prosecutors said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 10). Farahbakhsh has been charged with sending pressure sensors and other equipment to Iran through the United Arab Emirates. In recent raids of Farahbakhsh’s homes in California and Iowa, federal agents discovered computer files showing deliveries to the Iranian company Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, which is believed to be linked to Tehran’s missile program, prosecutors said. Farahbakhsh’s attorney Kristan Peters has said her client has no ties to the Iranian military (Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press/Newsday, Jan. 11). Back to top

U.S. Customs Chief Expresses Concern About Terrorist Nuclear Threat Al-Qaeda could acquire a nuclear device and transport it to the United States, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert Bonner warned yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 3). “I worry most about the nuclear threat,” said Bonner. “Al-Qaeda wants to get a nuclear device. I’m very concerned that at some point they will get it.” He added, however, that more sophisticated systems for detection of weapons of mass destruction have been installed in several overseas ports. Some 34 countries are cooperating with the United States on the Container Security Initiative and another 50 were expected to join the program this year, he said (Pranay Gupte, New York Sun, Jan. 12). Back to top       U.S. Firms Develop WMD-Proof Vacation Vehicle The U.S. companies Parliamentary Coach Corp. and Homeland Defense Vehicles are working to build a luxury recreational vehicle capable of withstanding biological, chemical and “dirty bomb” attacks, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 8, 2004). Occupants could live in the new vehicles, set to cost between $1.2 million and $2 million each, for several days, according to Homeland Defense President and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ayres.  “Many people enjoy the RV lifestyle, but we also live in an era when people have some level of fear about terrorism,” Parliament Chief Executive Harvey Mitchell said in a statement. “These concerns about terrorism are linked to states where people with RVs like to travel” (Reuters, Jan. 11).   Back to top

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