U.S. Energy Secretary nominee Samuel Bodman (shown in a December 2004 photo with President George W. Bush) appeared yesterday before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (AFP photo/Brendan Smialowski). U.S. Energy Nominee Bodman Would Enhance Nuclear Weapons Complex, Nonproliferation Work By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The United States should ramp up the capabilities of its nuclear weapon complex and its nonproliferation programs, President George W. Bush’s nominee to become the next U.S. energy secretary said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 10, 2004)...Full Story

Army to Study Moving Some U.S. Chemical Weapons By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army acknowledged yesterday that it has been directed to study relocating part of its chemical weapons stockpile, while a coalition of groups that have sprung up around disposal facilities pledged they would fight to keep the munitions from crossing state lines (see GSN, Jan. 18)...Full Story

Abraham Describes Improvements to Nuclear Weapon Complex Security Over Tenure as Energy Secretary By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Nearing the end of his tenure as U.S. energy secretary, Spencer Abraham this week detailed the progress his agency has made in improving the security of U.S. nuclear weapons-related sites (see GSN, Dec. 21, 2004)...Full Story

	Thursday, January 20, 2005

U.N. Ready to Increase Antiterror Campaign By Jim Wurst Global Security Newswire UNITED NATIONS — The chairman of the U.N. Security Council’s Counterterrorism Committee and the director of the committee’s secretariat said yesterday that the United Nations is ready to step up its efforts to coordinate the international campaign against terrorism (see GSN, Nov. 19, 2004). Russian Ambassador Andrei Denisov said his committee is ready to enter the next phase of its work “to increase the counterterrorism capacity” of states and to provide judicial and technical advice needed effectively combat terrorism on a global scale. “We are on the eve of the full-fledged and fully operational executive directorate,” he said. “Now we start the practical work.”  This “will be a momentous year for the counterterrorism activities of the United Nations,” said Javier Ruperez, executive director of the committee directorate. He said his office would be operational “in the next few weeks” and that 2005 is “most likely the year that the comprehensive [counterterrorism] strategy will be put together by the United Nations.”  There is a “need within the CTC to develop a scheme of cooperation with international and regional organizations so that the United Nations sets the norms for compliance with all the member states,” Ruperez added.  The press conference and a briefing Tuesday by Denisov to the Security Council come ahead of a meeting next week in Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan, in which attendees will work to devise a more cohesive international strategy against terrorism. Representatives from more than 70 international and regional governmental organizations are expected at the three-day conference. Ruperez said he expects “a vital, promising” meeting that will create an action plan “for months to come.” The meeting was set in a central Asian capital, he said, because this is “a region full of promise, and at the same time, unfortunately, full of problems [relating to] counterterrorism.” The Almaty meeting will be the fourth such regional meeting since the U.N. Counterterrorism Committee was formed. The committee was established under U.N. Resolution 1373, which was passed in the wake of the terror attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. The resolution requires states to adopt a range of counterterrorism laws, including denying financial support or safe haven for terrorist groups. The committee’s directorate — an expert body meant to help the council evaluate reports and monitor compliance with 1373 — was created in March 2004 in Resolution 1535. On Tuesday, Denisov briefed the Security Council on the work of the committee. He said 75 countries — which he declined to name at the press conference — had not met the deadline for submitting reports on their antiterror work. “It is not their denial of the importance of counterterrorism work but a lack of capacity” to comply with the “complicated” requirements of 1373, he said. One of the jobs of the directorate is to assist countries in meeting those requirements, Ruperez said.  The Counterterrorism Committee — and the United Nations as a whole — is still promoting counterterrorism without a consensus definition of terrorism. Ruperez said the recent report of the High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Changes (see GSN, Dec. 17, 2004), Security Council resolution 1566 and the draft terrorism convention being debated in the General Assembly’s legal committee all contain the same elements for a definition: political motivation, the killing of civilians and the objective of political manipulation.  “The universal consensus is forming around the notion that no reason — be it national, political or religious or ethnic or whatever — does justify the killing of civilians,” he said. “We are looking for a political definition,” Ruperez said. “Terrorism is not an ideology. … Terrorism is a method of action and what we are condemning is that method of action,” not the causes being expounded by terrorists. Denisov added that the “lack of a legal definition of terrorism is a problem but not an obstacle. It doesn’t give us permission to stop and not move forward.” Back to top

U.S. Senator Recounts Qadhafi’s Stated Reasons for Abandoning Libyan WMD Efforts Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi decided to abandon his nuclear weapons efforts after seeing how little such weapons benefited the United States in conflicts in Vietnam and Iraq, U.S. Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 13). During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing for secretary of state nominee Condoleezza Rice (see GSN, Jan. 19), Biden described a conversation he had with Qadhafi last year in Tripoli.  The senator also said that Qadhafi told him that if Libya had decided to ever use nuclear weapons, the United States would “blow me away,” according to the Associated Press. Resuming trade and economic connections with the United States was another disarmament incentive. Biden also said the Libyan leader preferred dealing with the United States as opposed to countries such as France. “You make a deal with the French, they say 90-10 and they take 95. The Americans, you say 50-50, they only take 50,” Biden quoted Qadhafi as saying (Associated Press, Jan. 19). Back to top

U.S. Energy Nominee Bodman Would Enhance Nuclear Weapons Complex, Nonproliferation Work By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The United States should ramp up the capabilities of its nuclear weapon complex and its nonproliferation programs, President George W. Bush’s nominee to become the next U.S. energy secretary said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 10, 2004). Washington should strive to end a legal dispute slowing nuclear threat-reduction cooperation with Moscow and should push ahead with plans to open a nuclear-waste storage site in Nevada, Deputy Treasury Secretary Samuel Bodman added at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on his nomination to succeed Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (see related GSN story, today). Welcomed by senators from both parties with promises to support his nomination, Bodman indicated his intention to continue what he described as improvements to the U.S. nuclear weapon complex under Abraham. “The nuclear deterrent was a vital factor in winning the Cold War, and it continues to be a key strategic component of our national security posture,” the nominee said. “Since the beginning of this administration, the Energy Department has made significant progress in upgrading the capabilities of the nuclear weapons complex and the facilities that support it. I look forward to continuing that progress.” The United States must also step up its already “impressive” nonproliferation efforts, Bodman said. “Few things are more important in today’s world than keeping weapons-usable nuclear material away from terrorists and enemy regimes,” he said. “Nuclear material around the world must be made more physically secure to make certain that it is never acquired for use in weapons, either in nuclear devices or in radiological dispersion devices.” Questioned by committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) on programs to secure nuclear materials abroad, Bodman said he would “put forth every effort to resolve” a liability dispute that has stymied progress on U.S.-Russian threat-reduction projects, including the Nuclear Cities Initiative and the Plutonium Science and Technology agreement. The stalemate centers on the breadth of the exemption from liability that U.S. personnel and contractors should enjoy in case of incidents arising during activities under the programs (see GSN, Jan. 14). “I can certainly attest to my commitment to follow through on [the] effort” to resolve the dispute, Bodman said. “This president — this administration — has made nonproliferation a very high priority. It will certainly remain a high priority.” Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said he and Bodman had met earlier yesterday to discuss a related international effort: the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, under which Washington is helping Moscow to repatriate Russian-origin reactor fuel from other countries.   Abraham said this month that Russia must accelerate its work on the initiative. Senators raised a number of other nuclear-related matters at the hearing, including “bunker-buster” nuclear weapon development, the planned Modern Pit Facility and U.S. nuclear-test readiness. Bodman repeatedly indicated a willingness to look into the legislators’ concerns but also stressed his status as a nominee whose familiarity with many of the subjects mentioned dates only from his nomination last month. He said he had not seen the fiscal 2006 Energy Department budget request. The nominee said that if confirmed, he would “enthusiastically follow through” on plans to open a long-term nuclear-waste storage facility in 2010 at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. He called the plan “a matter of great importance,” adding that he would “execute the will of Congress and the will of the president in seeing to it that we follow through with Yucca Mountain” (see GSN, Nov. 19, 2004). Funding for Yucca Mountain has often proved divisive in Congress, and the project has reportedly been among factors behind legislators’ current stalemate over an Energy Department appropriations bill. Alliance for Nuclear Accountability Program Director Jim Bridgman said Bodman’s remarks on the storage site imply “that the administration will not try to seek another solution, as they did [last] year through the Nuclear Waste Fund” (see GSN, June 10, 2004). “On the other hand,” Bridgman asked in an interview today, “can they really afford a close-to-$900 million request for this project?” Bodman praised Abraham’s efforts to speed up cleanup projects at U.S. sites contaminated by the government’s nuclear-weapon activities. The nominee said the timetable for the program has been reduced by 35 years under Abraham, a move he said would save the country about $50 billion. “I commend Secretary Abraham and the many DOE [Energy Department] employees for this accomplishment, and, if confirmed, I know that we will build on their achievement to ensure that chemical and radiological contamination at these facilities is properly dealt with and that, where practical, these sites are restored and returned to the public for safe and constructive use,” Bodman said. Bridgman acknowledged that Bush administration plans to speed the program could generate substantial savings but said there is no guarantee the acceleration will actually take place. He cited reports that the administration plans to cut cleanup funding in fiscal 2006. “We’re not there yet,” Bridgman said. “It’s great for them to be able to stand up there and say ‘We’re going to save all this money,’ but that’s still years down the road.” Back to top       Abraham Describes Improvements to Nuclear Weapon Complex Security Over Tenure as Energy Secretary By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Nearing the end of his tenure as U.S. energy secretary, Spencer Abraham this week detailed the progress his agency has made in improving the security of U.S. nuclear weapons-related sites (see GSN, Dec. 21, 2004). “My philosophy on security has been quite simple,” Abraham told departmental security personnel Tuesday. “When it comes to the security of a department with the responsibilities ours has — of maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, providing nuclear propulsion for the Navy and coordinating global nonproliferation efforts — there is no room for error.” Among the accomplishments listed by Abraham was an increase in annual spending for security-related activities from less than $1 billion to almost $2 billion. “We have, almost literally, doubled our efforts to make the department’s facilities safe and secure,” he said. Abraham also noted the two major revisions to the department’s Design Basis Threat (DBT) conducted since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — once in May 2003 and again in October 2004. While specific details of the threat assessment are classified, it is generally considered to represent the type of terrorist threat facility guard forces must be able to defend against. “These adjustments in the DBT represented significant increases in the level of protection afforded to our most sensitive national security assets,” he said. In contrast, Abraham said that the Design Basis Threat in place just prior to the Sept. 11 attacks, which was approved in 1995, “was at its lowest level since its initial inception, and paled in comparison to [threat] levels played out in the 9/11 attacks.” He blamed cost concerns, in part, to the lower assumed threat to nuclear sites prior to the Sept. 11 attacks.  “In essence, the lower the threat, the lower the security posture to defeat the threat, thereby the lower the routine operational cost to implement.” The Energy Department has also made “substantial progress” in consolidating the number of sites that possess nuclear materials in order to reduce possible terrorist targets, Abraham said. As part of that effort, the department began moving materials last fall from a site at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to a more secure facility at the Nevada Test Site (see GSN, Oct. 1, 2004). So far, the department has been able to close three sites that formerly housed nuclear materials, and has identified at least another four to be decommissioned, including facilities at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee, according to Abraham. In his remarks, Abraham said continued efforts were needed to improve the quality of departmental security forces to become “an elite fighting force.” He also said that he has organized a commission on examining new security technologies for possible use by the department. The Energy Department is also considering whether site security forces should be federalized, managed by one contractor with individual contracts for each site or by one contractor with a single contract for all sites, Abraham said. Peter Stockton, a senior investigator with the Project on Government Oversight watchdog group, today praised the emphasis Abraham and his retiring deputy, Kyle McSlarrow, have placed on security during their tenure. “They’re as good as I’ve ever seen,” he said. Stockton called on President George W. Bush’s nominee to replace Abraham, Samuel Bodman, to continue once he takes office with many of the efforts launched by his predecessor, including the further consolidation of nuclear materials (see related GSN story, today). “That’d be a huge plus to the complex,” Stockton said. Back to top       Iran Accuses U.S. of Trying to Disrupt EU Talks Iran will not stand for any efforts by the United States to undermine its nuclear negotiations with the European Union, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Tehran said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 19). “Relying on its enormous popular support, diplomatic capacity and full military capability, the Islamic Republic of Iran will firmly respond to any unwise measure or plan,” said spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi. U.S. Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice should review “the false and failed policies of the United States and avoid making the same mistakes” when she takes her new job, Asefi said. “The United States has fallen into an abyss of several crises as a result of the wrong attitude of its hard-line neoconservatives. There is no way out unless it reviews and corrects its past mistakes,” he said (Reuters, Jan. 19). Washington would further isolate itself and destabilize the world by attacking Iran, Tehran’s ambassador to the United Kingdom warned today, according to Agence France-Presse. “The United States should take lessons from its past mistakes and adopt a more responsible attitude and have a more multilateral approach towards the world issues,” said Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli. “Waging war against Muslims and ignoring its allies, including the Europeans, created tensions, instability, a less secure world and created an ocean of mistrust between the United States and the rest of the world,” he said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Jan. 20). During a confirmation hearing yesterday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rice said Washington would not support any regime solely to maintain stability, the Financial Times reported. “The United States government has often, as the president said, supported regimes in the hope that they would bring stability,” she said. “And we’ve been in the Middle East, sometimes blind to the freedom deficit in the hope that they would bring stability. We’re not going to do that any more.” Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) asked Rice whether Washington could reach an understanding with Iran if it gave up nuclear weapons. “I’m not going to get into hypotheticals,” she said, adding that the United States would examine the “totality of the issue” before making such decisions (Guy Dinmore, Financial Times, Jan. 18). Meanwhile, Germany said yesterday that a negotiated settlement was the only option in the standoff with Iran, AFP reported. “In the view of the German government, there is no alternative to these discussions,” said chief government spokesman Bela Anda. “These negotiations are taking place in close cooperation with the United States,” he said, adding that there was “nothing new” in U.S. President George W. Bush’s remarks Monday that Washington reserved the right to use various options to resolve the situation (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Jan. 19). Turkey also said yesterday that negotiations between Iran and the European Union should continue, AFP reported. “Turkey is in favor of the continuation of dialogue with Iran. We support the negotiations initiated by the European Union trio,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Namik Tan. “We also expect the International Atomic Energy Agency to reveal in the shortest possible time its final judgment on Iran’s nuclear activities,” he said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Jan. 19). Back to top       Bush Administration Hopeful for New Round of North Korea Nuclear Talks Soon The White House yesterday expressed hope that negotiations would soon resume in the effort to eliminate North Korea’s suspected nuclear weapons program, Reuters reported (see GSN, Jan. 18).  “We remain hopeful that North Korea will come back to the six-party talks very soon,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. McClellan added that the U.S. proposal put forth at talks last year should be the starting point for resolution of the standoff. “It’s important that, when we come back to the talks, we talk about how we can move forward in a substantive way on that proposal,” McClellan said. “We believe that was a proposal that addresses all the concerns of the various parties and is a good place to begin moving forward to resolving North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weapons,” he added (Reuters, Jan. 19). Some analysts said the second administration of U.S. President George W. Bush is likely to maintain a tough stance against North Korea, Agence France-Presse reported. “As we move into Bush’s second term, I don’t see any reason for optimism that there will be a change of course in the U.S. position on North Korea in any significant way,” said Fred Carriere of the New York-based Korea Society. Carriere added that Washington has not been swayed by European countries attempting to forge a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear standoff, which may indicate that the United States is unlikely to be any more flexible in dealing with North Korea. In a Senate committee confirmation hearing this week, Secretary of State designate Condoleezza Rice branded North Korea an “outpost of tyranny,” a remark that could further inflame Pyongyang, which reacted strongly two years to Bush’s remark including it in the “Axis of Evil,” according to AFP (P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse/PoliticalGateway.com, Jan. 20). Back to top       Russia to Scrap Ballistic Missile Submarine Russia reportedly plans to scrap one of its four Project 941 Typhoon ballistic missile submarines, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 14). The submarine, identified as serial number 712 by the Russian newspaper Izvestia, is one of the largest in the world and can hold up to 20 long-range ballistic missiles. The dismantlement will be funded by the United States thorough the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, according to AP. The Typhoon is believed to have inspired the fictional submarine depicted in Tom Clancy’s novel “The Hunt for Red October” (Associated Press, Jan. 19). Meanwhile, Russia has completed the dismantlement of two Project-949 nuclear submarines, Interfax reported yesterday (Interfax/BBC Monitoring, Jan. 19). Back to top

Three Boston University Researchers Exposed to Tularemia Last Year, Officials Confirm Three Boston University researchers last year contracted tularemia from their exposure to the pathogen in a university laboratory, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 8, 2004). The researchers violated procedures to protect them from exposure, but university officials could not say exactly how they were infected. Two researchers were sickened in May and the third in September. All three received antibiotics and recovered. Tularemia is noncommunicable, so the exposures posed no danger to the public, according to officials, and neither the university nor any government entities publicly disclosed the incidents until this week, AP reported. Meanwhile, the university is moving ahead with plans for a Biosafety Level 4 laboratory, which would house research on deadly agents such as plague and anthrax. The Boston Zoning Commission last week approved the laboratory, which still must be approved by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, according to AP. The Conservation Law Foundation said the tularemia exposures underscore the dangers of studying infectious agents in a highly populated urban area. “The assurances that BU has given that it can maintain perfect control of these facilities are called into question,” said Philip Warburg, the group’s president. “We’re also disturbed that this incident is only coming to light today.” Thomas Moore, acting provost of the university’s medical campus, said the tularemia exposures were not relevant to the debate over the new facility, because safety precautions there would be far more stringent than at the Level 2 laboratory. “The security levels in a BSL-4 laboratory are so far beyond what you would see in a BSL-2 laboratory that this would never happen there,” he said. “This has for sure heightened our awareness and attentiveness to safety issues in labs that operate at a lower level of security” (Associated Press/ SouthCoastToday.com, Jan. 19). Back to top

Army to Study Moving Some U.S. Chemical Weapons By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army acknowledged yesterday that it has been directed to study relocating part of its chemical weapons stockpile, while a coalition of groups that have sprung up around disposal facilities pledged they would fight to keep the munitions from crossing state lines (see GSN, Jan. 18). “While the Army may not be concerned about health and safety, we certainly are, and if they try to ship chemical weapons to Utah, they better hope the trucks have reverse because we’ll force them to go back,” Jason Groenewold of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah said during a teleconference with reporters. Plans developed in the late 1980s called for chemical weapons disposal facilities to be built alongside the eight storage depots containing the munitions. Under the terms of the multilateral Chemical Weapons Convention, the United States is required to destroy its full stockpile by 2007, but is also allowed to request a five-year extension. U.S. officials plan to seek the extension to 2012, according to an Army Chemical Materials Agency press release issued yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 31, 2003). Defense Department documents leaked last week indicated that construction on the Pueblo, Colo., and Blue Grass, Ky., chemical neutralization facilities could be delayed until 2011, just one year before the extended treaty deadline. The Pentagon on Jan. 10 ordered the Army’s Chemical Materials Agency to evaluate alternatives that would allow the United States to meet the April 2012 deadline. Among the alternatives is “relocation of some of the chemical weapons stockpile located at various storage sites across the United States,” according to the CMA press release. The agency is scheduled to brief the Defense Department on its findings on March 21. “We’re working on it,” said CMA spokesman Greg Mahall. “It’s way too early in the process to tell you anything concrete.” Mahall noted, however, that a study does not automatically indicate that transportation would be the chosen alternative. Colorado’s U.S. senators, Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar, were assured during a meeting Tuesday with Pentagon officials that chemical weapons would not be moved from Pueblo and that neutralization would remain the disposal technology, said Salazar spokesman Cody Wertz. They are scheduled to receive monthly updates on plans for the site. Speakers at yesterday’s press conference expressed skepticism over Defense Department pledges, and said they fear the Army means to ship all of the munitions from Colorado and Kentucky to disposal facilities that are already operating or scheduled to soon begin work. More than 3,000 tons of mustard, sarin and VX agents are stored at the two sites. They are contained in more than 880,000 weapons said Chemical Weapons Working Group director Craig Williams. Williams said a source “inside the government” told him that a study of moving materials from Colorado for destruction at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Utah is already under way. Mahall said he knew of no such study. Transporting the weapons by truck or train creates the possibility for accidents or terrorist acts that could endanger nearby populations, relocation opponents argue. Communities around recipient sites would also become “dumping grounds” for other areas’ armaments, they said. Williams said he believes the government favors relocation as a “cost-saving option” that would allow it to avoid building two additional disposal buildings.  A public law enacted under the fiscal 95 defense authorization act forbids transportation of any “part of the chemical weapons stockpile” from one state to another. Former Army Undersecretary James Ambrose in 1988 also ruled out relocation “because it posed greater public health and safety risks than on-site disposal.” “Any portion of the stockpile shipped to other sites would be much more vulnerable to sabotage or terrorism than that remaining at those installations where currently stored and protected by Army resources adequate to that task,” Ambrose wrote in his record of decision. Chemical Materials Agency director Michael Parker pledged in yesterday’s press release that safety “will be a cornerstone of any alternatives we consider.” The Jan. 10 Pentagon directive requires the Army to address the issue of security when studying relocation. It is unlikely that the law banning weapons transportation would be overturned, officials said. The other option would be for the president to declare a national security need to move the weapons, said Angela de Rocha, spokeswoman for Allard. Disposal sites at Tooele, Anniston, Ala., Pine Bluff, Ark., and Umatilla, Ore., are all potential recipients for weapons from the Kentucky and Colorado storage depots, Williams said. He said the soon-to-open Pine Bluff site is perhaps the most likely to receive weapons. Pine Bluff is already permitted to accept nonstockpile chemical weapons, and there has been less attention to chemical weapons issues in Arkansas, he said. “You have people united at other sites and we’ve been kind of passive,” said Evelyn Yates of Pine Bluff for Safe Disposal. She vowed to “go everywhere I can and tell people everywhere that if we don’t join together we’re going to become the dumping ground.” Williams and other speakers at yesterday’s press conference said they would work with, government officials, lawmakers and the courts to block weapons transportation if the Defense Department chooses that option. The only way to ensure the munitions stay in their present homes is for Congress to fully and immediately fund construction disposal sites at Colorado and Kentucky, Williams said. Lawmakers in potentially affected states have already expressed their displeasure with the slowdown and consideration of moving the weapons.  “Senator Allard fully expects that at the end of the day they will be destroying [chemical weapons] in Pueblo,” de Rocha said. Back to top       Canada to Help Fund Russian Chemical Arms Disposal Canada is set to provide $8.5 million to support construction of the Russian chemical weapons disposal plant at Shchuchye, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 19). The funds will be provided through a British-sponsored arrangement signed yesterday in Moscow. Canada in 2003 agreed to pay a total of more than $28 million for Russian chemical weapons disposal (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Jan. 19). Back to top       Mayors Seek Hazardous Train Cargo Alert The mayors of nearly 50 U.S. cities asked the federal government yesterday to give notice to local officials when railroad companies plan to haul hazardous materials through their communities, The (Columbia, S.C.) State reported (see GSN, Jan. 19). In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, the U.S. Conference of Mayors asked “that you take immediate action with the freight railroads” to improve the level of information provided to mayors when hazardous materials are being transported. “We need to know what is coming, where it is going and when it is coming,” said Augusta, Ga. Mayor Bob Young. “These trains run right through our neighborhoods and business districts.” Advance notice on the types of chemicals moving by train would allow emergency responders to improve their reaction to an accident such as the Jan. 6 South Carolina train wreck which released chlorine gas that killed nine people (see GSN, Jan. 10). Young said Ridge promised to put the issue on the Homeland Security Department’s agenda (Sammy Fretwell, The State, Jan. 20). Back to top       Leaking Mustard Projectiles Detected at Deseret Workers at the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah on Tuesday detected mustard agent vapor leaking from three 155 mm projectiles in a storage igloo, the U.S. Army announced in a statement (see GSN, Jan. 6). Workers placed the munitions in larger airtight containers for continued storage. No vapor escaped into the environment and there was no danger to surrounding communities, according to the Army (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Jan. 18). Back to top

Accused Smuggler Says Prosecutors Have Exaggerated His Ties to Iranian Missile Program An Iranian-born U.S. businessman suspected of aiding Tehran’s missile program yesterday accused U.S. federal prosecutors of exaggerating charges against him, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Jan. 12). Mohammad Farahbakhsh is being held while awaiting trial on charges of illegally shipping temperature and pressure sensors to Iran through the United Arab Emirates. Prosecutors also plan to charge Farahbakhsh next month with illegally doing business with a company suspected of ties to Iran’s nuclear program, AP reported. In documents filed yesterday, defense attorney Kristan Peters accused prosecutors of mischaracterizing the charges against her client. “After three months of investigation, the government was forced to resort to speculation and inflammatory name-calling in its effort to garner press and unfairly label Mr. Farahbakhsh as a supporter of the Iranian nuclear or military program,” Peters wrote in a bail motion. U.S. Attorney Kevin O’Conner dismissed Peters’ complaints, AP reported. “We stand by the statements we made in court,” he said. “We’re not going to engage in an extrajudicial tit for tat” (Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press, Jan. 20). Back to top

U.S. Officials in Australia for Missile Defense Talks U.S. defense officials are in Australia today to discuss the U.S. missile defense program, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 29, 2004). “The talks are exploring possible areas of cooperation on missile defense concentrating on research and development,” an Australian Defense Department spokeswoman said. “The government will consider any proposal once they are fully developed,” she added. The two countries signed an agreement last July to cooperate on the endeavor (Rod McGuirk, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Jan. 19). Back to top

Authorities Search Boston for Possible Terrorists U.S. authorities are searching Boston for four Chinese nationals and two Iraqis who may have attempted to smuggle nuclear material into the country, the Boston Herald reported today (see GSN, Jan. 18). The search was prompted after an unidentified man called U.S. authorities from Mexico claiming to have helped bring the six people across the border, according to the Herald. “According to him, they stated soon to follow behind them would be some sort of (nuclear) material,” a law enforcement source said. “He refers to some sort of nuclear material that will follow them through New York up into Boston.” Sources have said, though, that investigators question the information, in part because the caller has refused to identify himself, the Herald reported. Some sources said the caller might be trying to take revenge against the six for a deal gone wrong, according to the Herald. “It’s very weird. Even if (the Iraqis and Chinese) were going to do something, why would they be blabbing to the yahoo smuggling them across the border?” one source said. “You have to wonder if they screwed him on a deal but you have to treat it seriously and the issue is how do you put it out to the public and not get everybody (in a panic)?” Boston Mayor Thomas Menino this week sought to reassure the public, telling them to continue with normal activity and noting that the report came from one unidentified source and has not been confirmed. “Public safety is our first priority,” he said (Farmer/McPhee, Boston Herald, Jan. 20). Meanwhile, U.S. Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said yesterday that the purported threat illustrates the need to improve the security of radiological materials. “Press reports have suggested that so-called ‘nuclear oxide’ may be an ingredient that terrorists planned to use to attack Boston.  If that is true, these reports are another reminder that we need to secure the many unguarded sources of radiological materials that are too readily available to a potential terrorist,” Markey said in a statement. “We also need to provide local and state officials the training and resources they will need should they ever face a dirty bomb attack,” he added. Markey also criticized the Bush administration for attempting “to eliminate the primary federal government program intended to provide funding to state and local first responders so that they can develop plans to coordinate their efforts in event of a terrorist attack using a dirty bomb” (U.S. Representative Edward Markey release, Jan. 19).   Back to top

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