Egypt’s Inshas nuclear research center (shown in a 1998 photo), located about 60 kilometers north of Cairo. The International Atomic Energy Agency has released a report identifying “a number of failures” by Egypt in reporting nuclear work to the U.N. nuclear watchdog (AFP photo/Mohamed al-Sehiti). Egypt Failed to Report “A Number” of Nuclear Materials, Activities, Facilities, IAEA Says By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The International Atomic Energy Agency today identified “a number of failures” by Egypt to report nuclear materials, activities and facilities, according to an official report prepared for the agency’s Board of Governors (see GSN, Jan. 26)...Full Story

Iran Rejects European Offer to Exchange Light-Water Reactor for Heavy-Water Facility Iran yesterday rejected a European offer to build a light-water nuclear power reactor in exchange for Tehran abandoning construction of a heavy-water reactor at Arak, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Feb. 11)...Full Story

“Pork Barrel” Spending Hurts Efforts to Prepare for WMD Terrorist Event, Rudman Says By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — “Pork barrel” spending of federal funds and inadequate concern about a potential attack are hampering many U.S. communities’ efforts to prepare for a terrorist event involving a weapon of mass destruction, former U.S. Senator Warren Rudman (R-N.H.) said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 2, 2004)...Full Story

	Monday, February 14, 2005

“Pork Barrel” Spending Hurts Efforts to Prepare for WMD Terrorist Event, Rudman Says By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — “Pork barrel” spending of federal funds and inadequate concern about a potential attack are hampering many U.S. communities’ efforts to prepare for a terrorist event involving a weapon of mass destruction, former U.S. Senator Warren Rudman (R-N.H.) said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 2, 2004). He spoke during an experts panel discussion following a showing at George Washington University of the movie Dirty War, which depicts the explosion of a “dirty bomb” that spreads radiation over a section of London. While they found fault with some of the details, panel members said the movie was a realistic representation of a bomb plot and its aftermath, and one that should be taken seriously in the United States. “Could it happen to us? Yes,” said New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. “We’ve done an awful lot, but certainly it could happen.” There is reason for concern that terrorists could obtain radioactive material, panelists said. Rudman noted North Korea’s recent announcement that it possesses nuclear weapons and the communist government’s historic willingness to sell weapons. He also expressed concern over loose radioactive material suspected to be left over from the former Soviet Union.  In addition, there are “ample quantities” of radioactive material in the United States and United Kingdom that terrorists could divert for a radiological weapon, said Richard Falkenrath, former deputy homeland security adviser to the Bush administration. The United States has come farther than any nation since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in increasing prevention and preparation efforts for a WMD attack, Falkenrath said. The federal government now distributes about $4 billion annually to state and local preparedness programs. Falkenrath and other panelists acknowledged, though, that more needs to be done. Rudman and Kelly said there still is not enough federal money for training and equipping local first responders. Local governments are too often misspending the funding they do receive, Rudman said, citing a boat, van and a SWAT team as improper uses made by local agencies of homeland security money. “If something like this happens, people will not have the foggiest notion of how to deal with it,” said Rudman, who with former Senator Gary Hart led a commission that warned of terrorist attacks on the United States before Sept. 11 (see GSN, June 4, 2004). Falkenrath said that federal officials have not always been pleased with how money is spent by state and local agencies. However, there are 18,000 police jurisdictions in the United States, and the administration must rely on governors’ offices to develop security plans and determine where money should be spent, he said. Congress should set standards for the use of homeland security funds, Rudman said. Funding must also be distributed based on threat analyses rather than simple population formulas, he added. While communities such as New York City and Arlington County, Va., — both at ground zero for the Sept. 11 attacks — have made great strides in improving security and response capabilities, other cities and towns of all sizes are not taking the threat seriously, Rudman said. They assume an attack will occur somewhere else, which actually makes them a more attractive target for terrorists, he said. Local officials have their own concerns about dealing with a WMD event, audience members said during the discussion. Arlington County Fire Chief James Schwartz said his department needs funding for personnel to increase planning and response capability to an attack. “We just aren’t going to be able to solve this situation by buying equipment,” he said. With existing budget constraints, the federal focus will remain on funding equipment and training, Falkenrath said. There are a number of gaps in prevention and response that need to be filled, including securing radioactive materials, improving detection and preparing health care systems for an attack, said panelist Margaret Hamburg, vice president for biological programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Dirty War showed Londoners fleeing the fallout area, some avoiding emergency decontamination sites and many mobbing a hospital in search of care. Hospitals are not prepared to deal with a dirty bomb or other WMD event, Hamburg said. Medical facilities now would expect decontamination to occur at the “point of exposure,” Hamburg said. What they need are clear strategies to ensure the wounded receive hospital care, while those only in need of decontamination are treated elsewhere, she said. Capacity at hospitals is another concern, Hamburg said. “We’ve seen even in a mild flu season hospitals getting overwhelmed on a regular basis,” she said. Two thousand people visited Inova Health System hospitals in Northern Virginia following the 2001 anthrax attacks, concerned they had been infected, said audience member Dan Hanfling, the system’s director emergency management and disaster medicine. Only two of those people were actually infected with anthrax, he said. Hospitals would be on the front line for providing care in an incident like that depicted in the movie, Hanfling said, “The health-care system … will truly be overwhelmed in a situation like this.” Hamburg and Kelly said their greatest fear is of terrorists obtaining an actual nuclear weapon, as opposed to a dirty bomb that uses conventional explosives to spread radioactive material. There is also the threat of biological terrorism, which would add contagion to the initial event, Hamburg said. All levels of institutions — from governments to hospitals to families — need to prepare plans for an attack, Hamburg said. She said it would probably take additional attacks to create a sustained realization of the seriousness of the threat. Intelligence gathering is crucial to prevent terrorism, Falkenrath said. He called for renewal of provisions of the controversial Patriot Act set to expire this year to maintain information-related capabilities such as obtaining wiretaps based on foreign intelligence. It is not realistic to believe that all terrorist acts can be stopped, but reasonable steps can at least prevent some from occurring, Rudman said. Dirty War, which has already aired on the BBC and HBO, will be shown at 9 p.m. Feb. 23 on PBS stations nationwide. The panel discussion was taped by Washington PBS station WETA and will be shown after the movie. [EDITOR’S NOTE: The Nuclear Threat Initiative is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.] Back to top

U.S. Lifts Travel Restrictions on Libyan Diplomats By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The United States last week lifted restrictions on U.S. travel by Libyan diplomats and their relatives (see GSN, Feb. 11). The restrictions, which were imposed in 1981, prevented personnel assigned to the Libyan U.N. mission in New York or the Libyan liaison office in Washington from traveling outside of a 25-mile radius. The decision to lift the restrictions was made “in the context of our improved bilateral relationship and … in terms of the growing cooperation we have with Libya on counterterrorism issues,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday. Libya has agreed to lift reciprocal restrictions imposed on U.S. diplomats. “These steps will ease our ability to conduct normal diplomatic functions in Libya and Libya’s ability to do the same here,” Boucher said. Last week’s move is the latest in a series of steps by the United States to improve relations with Libya following Tripoli’s decision in late 2003 to renounce weapons of mass destruction. As Libya has made progress in dismantling its WMD and ballistic missile efforts, the United States has lifted several types of economic sanctions and upgraded diplomatic representation in Tripoli, among other measures. Libya, however, remains under sanctions related to its continued inclusion on the State Department’s list of terrorism-sponsoring nations. During a two-day visit to Tripoli last week, a U.S. delegation headed by Assistant Secretary of State William Burns agreed to send a second education delegation to Libya to discuss the return of Libyan students to U.S. universities and to expand exchange and technical assistance programs, according to a State Department release. The United States also invited Libya to send a medical delegation to reciprocate for a February 2004 visit by a U.S. medical delegation, the department said. During his meetings with Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi and other officials, “Assistant Secretary Burns again emphasized the U.S. commitment to reciprocate Libyan steps to improve our relationship,” said the release. “We have made significant progress in recent years toward more normal relations, a goal that remains very much in our mutual interest,” it said. Back to top       U.N. Secretary General Seeks Support for New Measures Against Weapons of Mass Destruction, Terrorism U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday called for international support for new U.N. efforts against weapons of mass destruction and terrorism (see GSN, Dec. 17, 2004). Among the measures being considered are tougher inspection rules for nuclear facilities, improved public health efforts against biological agents and a trust fund to help poorer countries combat terrorism, the Associated Press reported. Annan also suggested the development of a common definition of terrorism and incentives for countries to cease uranium enrichment, according to AP. “We must strengthen our collective defenses,” Annan said during an international security conference in Munich. “If New York or London or Paris or Berlin were hit by a nuclear terrorist attack, it might not only kill hundreds of thousands in an instant,” he said. “It could also devastate the global economy, thereby plunging millions into poverty in developing nations” (Paul Ames, Associated Press/ABC News, Feb. 13). Without tightened controls on nuclear proliferation, the world could soon see more nations becoming nuclear powers, Annan said. “For decades, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty has helped prevent a cascade of nuclear proliferation,” he said. “But unless new steps are taken now, we might face such a cascade soon” (Reuters, Feb. 13). Back to top       Former ISG Scientist Claims Report Was Censored A former member of the U.S.-led Iraq Survey Group has claimed that the CIA censored his findings to suggest that prewar Iraq might have possessed weapons of mass destruction, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Jan. 26). In an interview with the Australian Broadcast Corp. set to be shown today, Australian microbiologist Rod Barton said he quit the survey group because of the censorship of the unit’s interim report, released in March 2004.  “We left the impression that, yes, maybe there were ... WMD out there,” Barton said. “So I thought it was dishonest.” Barton cited as censorship the lack of mention in the interim report of two trailers the CIA had previously believed were intended for use as mobile biological weapons facilities. “They were nothing to do with biology,” he said. “We believed that they were hydrogen generators.” The CIA allowed the inspectors to note their discovery of aluminum pipes, but not that they believed the pipes were probably not for use in centrifuges. Barton said he quit the survey group after the interim report was completed, adding that unit chief Charles Deulfer asked him to return last September. Barton said he returned to the unit and was pleased with its final report (Rod McGuirk, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 14). Back to top       North Carolina, New York Withdraw Uncertified Australian-Made Gas Masks From Service Thousands of gas masks bought for emergency responders are being withdrawn from service in North Carolina and New York because they have not been federally certified as effective protection against nerve gas, anthrax and other agents, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, June 17, 2004). North Carolina’s crime control department has removed 2,400 masks from service following two years of warnings by other state agencies that the devices manufactured by Safety Equipment Australia were not federally certified. The masks would be declared usable if certified, AP reported. New York also purchased 4,500 of the masks for its state police, according to AP.   The agency is buying replacement masks and passing the noncertified masks on to departments that would not work with toxic agents, said Sgt. Phil Bache. The Australian company said its masks are safe and that the certification issue is only a technicality. “It’s not like somebody’s going to die if they run around with one of these masks,” said Bengt Kjellberg, president of the company’s U.S. subsidiary (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 13). Back to top       Australia to Host Decontamination Conference Australia is scheduled this week to host an international conference on eliminating biological and chemical contamination, the Australian Defense Department announced today (see GSN, Jan. 26). “Decontamination and remediation are critical in the response and recovery phase of an incident involving chemical and biological hazards,” Ian Sare, director of the Platform Sciences Laboratory at Australia’s Defense Science and Technology Organization, said in a prepared statement. The Australian agency is co-hosting the conference with the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency. More than 150 delegates from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States are expected to attend the three-day meeting in Melbourne (Australian Defense Department release, Feb. 14). Back to top

Egypt Failed to Report “A Number” of Nuclear Materials, Activities, Facilities, IAEA Says By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The International Atomic Energy Agency today identified “a number of failures” by Egypt to report nuclear materials, activities and facilities, according to an official report prepared for the agency’s Board of Governors (see GSN, Jan. 26). “The repeated failures by Egypt to report nuclear material and facilities to the agency in a timely manner are a matter of concern,” the report says. Among the U.N. agency’s findings is that Egypt failed to report in an initial inventory of nuclear materials submitted in 1982 about 67 kilograms of imported uranium tetrafluoride, 3 kilograms of imported and domestically produced uranium metal, about 9.5 kilograms of imported thorium compounds and “small amounts” of domestically produced uranium oxides and uranium tetrafluoride. The agency also found that Egypt had not reported 16 experiments conducted between 1990 and 2003 involving the irradiation of small amounts of natural uranium and the subsequent dissolution of the material, the report says. Egypt has said the experiments were intended to test the production of medical isotopes, according to the report. Egypt also failed to report the importation of fuel rods containing uranium enriched to 10 percent U-235, some of which was used in experiments testing fuel dissolution prior to the development of a reprocessing laboratory, the report states. Egypt further failed to report about 2 kilograms of uranyl nitrate and scrap uranium dioxide pellets and their use in acceptance tests conducted in 1987 at a hydrometallurgy pilot plant, according to the report. The plant, which was never completed, was intended to conducted small-scale experiments involving plutonium and uranium separation. Egypt did not include the laboratory in its 1982 initial declaration of nuclear facilities, the report says, adding that Cairo’s explanation was that the facility “was being constructed only to carry out bench scale radiochemistry experiments.” “In the view of the agency, however, given its intended purpose and design capabilities, the Hydrometallurgy Pilot Plant was a nuclear facility … and, as required … Egypt should have declared the pilot plant to the agency as early as possible prior to the introduction of nuclear material into the facility,” the report says. In addition, Egypt did not provide the agency with initial design information for a radioisotope production facility under construction at the Inshas Nuclear Center, the report says. The report is set to be discussed at a meeting later this month of the 35-member board. The U.N. nuclear watchdog began its investigation into past Egyptian nuclear activities in late September following the publication of open source documents by the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority “that had given rise to concerns that Egypt may have carried out some nuclear activities that it had not declared to the agency,” according to the report. The agency conducted several rounds of inspections and meetings with Egyptian officials from October 2004 to last week. In late January, Egypt acknowledged that it had not informed the agency about past nuclear experiments, but reiterated the peaceful nature of its atomic program. Egypt attributed its reporting failures “to a lack of clarity about its obligations” and has agreed to report material and activities in the future, the report says. In addition, Egypt agreed to a number of “corrective measures,” according to the report, including providing modified design information on its two research reactors and new design information for the hydrometallurgy pilot plant and the radioisotope production site. Egypt has also agreed to “recategorize” the Nuclear Fuel Research Laboratory at the Inshas center as a declared facility for IAEA purposes and has submitted design information for the site, the report says. The agency called Egypt’s cooperation with its investigation “welcome,” and noted that work had been “complicated” because some of the activities were conducted years ago. “The agency has requested Egypt to continue to provide such cooperation,” the report says. The agency’s verification of the “correctness and completeness” of Egypt’s declaration is continuing pending “further results of environmental and destructive sampling analyses” and the analysis of additional information provided by Cairo, the report says.  Back to top       Iran Rejects European Offer to Exchange Light-Water Reactor for Heavy-Water Facility Iran yesterday rejected a European offer to build a light-water nuclear power reactor in exchange for Tehran abandoning construction of a heavy-water reactor at Arak, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Feb. 11). “We welcome such proposals but we will not under any circumstances replace our heavy-water research reactor,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi. “We will continue working on our heavy-water reactor.” Given that much of Iran’s nuclear program consists of uranium enrichment facilities, European officials have said they cannot understand why Iran would want a plutonium-producing heavy-water reactor, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Feb. 13). The U.S. intelligence community is scheduled in the coming weeks to complete two reports on Iran — an update of the expansive National Intelligence Estimate on the country and a document focusing solely on Iran’s WMD capabilities to be circulated only among the most senior officials, the Washington Post reported Saturday. “It will reassess the timeline for getting nuclear weapons, reassess Iran’s motivations and what it would take to make them give up fissile material capability,” said one official. The last published U.S. intelligence report on Iran, from November, said “Iran continued to vigorously pursue indigenous programs to produce nuclear, chemical and biological weapons,” according to the Post (Linzer/Pincus, Washington Post, Feb. 12). Meanwhile, pilotless U.S. surveillance drones have been flying over Iran for nearly a year using radar, video, still photography and air filters to pick up traces of nuclear activity, U.S. officials told the Post. Iran has formally protested the flights, according to Iranian, European and U.S. officials. The United States replied with a denial that manned U.S. aircraft had crossed Iran’s borders, a U.S. official said.  Iranian civilians first sighted the drones in late December, fueling speculation within the population that Iran was being visited by UFOs, according to the Post. “By coaxing the Iranians to turn on their radar, we can learn all about their defense systems, including the frequencies they are operating on, the range of their radar and, of course, where their weaknesses lie,” said Thomas Keaney, of the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins University. Iran’s national security officials ordered their forces three weeks ago not to turn on their radar or make contact with the drones. “The United States must have forgotten that they trained half our guys,” an Iranian official said (Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, Feb. 13). Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) yesterday urged the Bush administration to join Germany, France and the United Kingdom in negotiating with Iran, the Los Angeles Times reported. “This is a case where we’re … on the sidelines,” Biden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told Fox News. “The three European countries that are negotiating with the Iranians are saying, ‘Look, we’ve got to get in the deal with them. We can’t just sit on the sidelines.’” “Nothing [the Europeans are] going to be able to do is going to be involved with us unless we’re willing to get into some kind of an agreement that results in a verifiable arms control agreement,” Biden said. He said if talks failed, Iran could be referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. If both those moves failed, however, he said the United States would only have two unappealing options. “You accept them as a nuclear power, which I’m disinclined to do, or you invade, which we are not really particularly capable of doing right now,” Biden said (Ken Silverstein, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 14). Elsewhere, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer warned yesterday that Iran would be referred to the Security Council if it resumed uranium enrichment, AFP reported. “If Iran behaves in an unreasonable way, if for example it restarts enrichment ... then that would lead to the Security Council,” he said. Fischer is scheduled to meet his Iranian counterpart, Kamal Kharazi, Wednesday in Berlin, said the German Foreign Ministry (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Feb. 14). Back to top       U.S. Developing Plans to Pressure Pyongyang; Seoul Says North Korea Not Necessarily a Weapons State The Bush administration has over the past few months been developing strategies to block North Korean sources of income, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Feb. 11). The tactics, based on those already being used against al-Qaeda, would intensify efforts to freeze financial transactions that enable Pyongyang to profit from counterfeiting, drug trafficking and weapons sales, officials have said. “We think they are desperate to put more money into the nuclear program and we’re trying to cut that off,” said one U.S. senior official. Some officials said the program could also serve to undermine the regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. “That wasn’t the intent in drafting it,” said one senior official. “Whether it could be one of the results is anyone’s guess.” One example of a new pressure tactic cited by U.S. officials is a Japanese law, set to take effect March 1, requiring all vessels entering the country’s ports to carry liability insurance. Almost no North Korean ships now carry the insurance, according to the Times (David Sanger, New York Times, Feb. 13). U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday told visiting South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon that Washington remained committed to the six-party negotiating framework and gave no indication that the United States was considering military action or an economic quarantine of the North, the New York Times reported. Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi maintained that his nation’s tighter shipping rules were not sanctions against North Korea. The rules, prompted by a North Korean shipwreck and oil spill that cost one Japanese city $6.4 in cleanup costs last year, require all ships over 100 tons calling at Japanese ports to carry property and indemnity insurance.  Of the five members of stalled international talks with North Korea — Japan, Russia, South Korea, China and the United States — only Japan is presently taking action to punish North Korea economically, according to the Times (Brooke/Sanger, New York Times, Feb. 12). North Korea has not been confirmed to be a nuclear weapons state, despite its declaration last week that it has such armaments, a South Korean official said today. “We see it as a claim to own nuclear weapons, not an official statement of being a nuclear weapons state,” said Unification Minister Chung Dong-young. “There is no doubt that North Korea has 10 to 14 kg of plutonium, but there is no evidence that the North has turned it into plutonium bombs” (Jack Kim, Reuters, Feb. 13). China pledged to press for the revival of the six-nation talks following the North Korean statement that it would not return to the negotiations, the Associated Press reported. “China will stay in touch with all relevant parties ... so that the six-party talks could be resumed as soon as possible,” Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement. Beijing continues to support a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, statement adds (Stephanie Hoo, Associated Press/Alabama Times Daily, Feb. 12). Pulling out of the negotiations would be “the wrong choice” for North Korea, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Saturday. “If the information in question proves accurate, I would say that North Korea has made the wrong choice,” Ivanov said, according to Agence France-Presse. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday that informal negotiations were continuing. “The consultations over North Korea never stopped, and are continuing on a normal basis,” Lavrov said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Feb. 12). Elsewhere, North Korean U.N. Ambassador Han Song Ryol on Friday appeared to deny that Pyongyang had demanded bilateral talks with the United States. “No, we do not ask for bilateral talks,” Han said. “The formality of the dialogue is not essential one. The essential one is the U.S. policy — whether it try to attack us or not. That is the problem, but not the bilateral or multilateral one. We do not care about the formality.” He noted that the six-party talks were “no more.” Maurice Strong, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special adviser on North Korea, called for “engagement” with Pyongyang and ruled out immediate referral of the communist nation to the U.N. Security Council. Such a move would be interpreted as a “hostile act” by North Korea, he said (Nick Moore, Associated Press/Picayune Item, Feb. 12). Back to top       No Evidence Terrorists Acquired Technology Through Khan Network, Pakistani Ambassador Says There are no signs that terrorists were able to obtain nuclear technology through the international smuggling network formerly headed by top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistani Ambassador to the United States Jehangir Karamat said Friday (see GSN, Feb. 8). “I know for a fact that there is no evidence whatsoever for his ever having done business with al-Qaeda or with any other terrorist organization,” Karamat said in an interview with Reuters. Karamat also said that the network “is gone now” and that Pakistan has provided the United States with all of its information on the network so that it “doesn’t spring up again.” “I’m positive that the network has ceased to operate. There may be people internationally who are underground and who in fact may be getting away with something while the focus remains on something which has been closed down,” he said (Drees/Giacomo, Reuters, Feb. 11). Back to top       Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty Essential for Nuclear Disarmament, U.N. Official Says A senior U.N. disarmament official said Friday that the creation of a fissile material cutoff treaty would be an “essential step” toward full nuclear disarmament (see GSN, Nov. 5, 2004). “It’s the analogy of a bath overflowing: The first thing you’ve got to do is turn off the tap, and then you can worry about mopping up the water and pulling up the plug. So the FMCT is the equivalent of turning off the tap for fissile materials to make nuclear weapons,” U.N. Institute for Disarmament Research Director Patricia Lewis told the Washington Times. One potential issue hindering the treaty’s development is whether its verification system would cover existing stockpiles of fissile materials, according to Lewis. “The U.S. is one of the countries that are on record as saying it doesn’t want past production and its stockpiles to be included in any treaty. It would only want a cutoff of production, if you like, from Day Zero of the treaty on future production. It might be one of the technical reasons it feels that a verification regime would not be so feasible,” she said. Lewis said, though, that she believes a fissile material cutoff treaty could be effectively verified. “A lot of the technology already exists. And you have inspections.  And fissile material has a very clear signal. It’s made only in certain places; it can be detected far more easily than chemical or biological weapons,” she said. “Tiny, tiny materials of nuclear weapons can be detected. That’s how the activities of Iran that had not been declared were picked up” (John Zaracostas, Washington Times, Feb. 14). Back to top       Russia Develops “Unique” Nuclear Weapons Russia is working to develop a “unique” type of nuclear weapons, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 10, 2004). “We have every reason to believe it will be a unique system, not possessed by any country in the world,” Ivanov said during a press conference at the Munich Security Conference. “Even these systems, which I hope will quite soon come to the inventories of the armed forces, will not be aimed against any individual country,” he said. “They will simply allow us to guarantee our security and sovereignty against any threat, absolutely any threat that exists ... or could arise in the future.” Ivanov refused to say how the new weapons would be unique (Mark Trevelyan, Reuters, Feb. 13). Back to top

Proposed Fiscal 2006 Federal Budget Would Increase Funding for Emergency Drug Stockpile The Bush administration’s proposed fiscal 2006 budget would increase funding for the Strategic National Stockpile of drugs and medical supplies by 51 percent, the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy reported Friday (see GSN, Feb. 8). “We’re requesting $600 million to buy additional medicines, replace old ones, provide specialized storage, and get any needed medicine and supplies to any location in the United States within 12 hours,” Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said on Feb. 7. The increase includes $50 million for portable hospital units for use in the event of a bioterrorist attack, according to the department. Funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for local preparedness, however, is expected to drop in fiscal 2006, and the budget calls for federal hospital preparedness money to drop from $498 million to $483 million, CIDRAP reported. “No question, we have made some tough choices,” Leavitt said. “If we had an unlimited budget, we would spend more on many programs; since we don’t, we have focused money on the most urgent priorities that will make the biggest difference in the health and well-being of all Americans.” Several health advocacy groups, however, criticized the proposed funding reductions. The cuts “would weaken the ability of state and local public health agencies to respond to bioterrorism, emerging infectious diseases, or other public health threats and emergencies,” said the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Overall proposed CDC funding for bioterrorism in fiscal 2006 would amount to $1.616 billion, an increase of $56 million from this year, according to Health and Human Services. The increase is due largely to the hike in stockpile funding, CIDRAP reported. “The FY 2006 budget retargets some preparedness resources, making modest reductions in awards to states, and concentrating efforts in directed investments that will benefit the nation as a whole,” says the Health and Human Services budget report. Total funding would include $600 million for the Strategic National Stockpile, $797 million for state and local preparedness, $140 million for upgrading CDC capacity and anthrax research, and $79 million for “biosurveillance,” including BioSense, a program to monitor electronic health data (CIDRAP News, Feb. 11). Back to top

Missile Defense Intercept Test Fails A test of the U.S. missile defense system failed today when the interceptor failed to launch, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Feb. 8). The test was set to involve a missile interceptor hitting a mock ICBM launched from Alaska, AP reported. While the target ICBM successfully launched, the interceptor did not leave its silo on the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. There are early indications that the failed interceptor launch resulted from problems with ground support equipment, and not the interceptor itself, U.S. Missile Defense Agency spokesman Rick Lehner said. No date for the next test has been announced, AP reported. A system test also failed in December when the interceptor did not launch (John Lumpkin, Associated Press/Kansas City Star, Feb. 14).   Back to top

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