CIA Director Porter Goss (left) and FBI Director Robert Mueller (right) were among the senior intelligence officials who testified yesterday before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (AFP photo/Leslie Kossoff). Missing Russian Nuclear Material Could be Used to Produce Weapon, CIA Chief Warns By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Enough Russian nuclear material is unaccounted for that “those with know-how” could construct a nuclear weapon if they were to obtain it, CIA Director Porter Goss said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 11)...Full Story

Republicans Push for New Nuke Requirement By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers this week pressed U.S. defense officials to explain why the military would need a new earth-penetrating nuclear weapon, which has been under evaluation in a program favored by the Bush administration (see GSN, Feb. 4)...Full Story

Bush Nominates National Intelligence Director By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W. Bush today nominated U.S. Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte to serve as the first director of national intelligence (see GSN, Jan. 31)...Full Story

	Thursday, February 17, 2005

Bush Nominates National Intelligence Director By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W. Bush today nominated U.S. Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte to serve as the first director of national intelligence (see GSN, Jan. 31). The position was created in December when Bush signed into law a sweeping intelligence reform bill that established the director to oversee the U.S. intelligence community. “The director’s responsibility is straightforward and demanding. John will make sure that those whose duty it is to defend America have the information they need to make the right decisions,” Bush said. “I appreciate your confidence in choosing me for what will no doubt be the most challenging assignment I have undertaken in more than 40 years of government service,” Negroponte told Bush during a press conference this morning announcing his nomination. Prior to becoming U.S. ambassador to Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein, Negroponte served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Honduras, Mexico and the Philippines. His confirmation as national intelligence director is subject to Senate approval. Bush said that one of the factors in his selection was Negroponte’s diplomatic background, which should help him work with the various heads of the U.S. intelligence agencies. “He understands the power centers in Washington. He’s been a consumer of intelligence in the past. And so he's got a good feel for how to move this process forward in a way that addresses the different interests,” Bush said, referring to budgetary issues. Bush also nominated Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden to serve as deputy national intelligence director. Hayden now leads the National Security Agency. “Mike has already demonstrated an ability to adapt our intelligence services to meet the new threats of a new century,” Bush said. One of the chief architects of the intelligence reform law, Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine), today praised the nominations. “Ambassador Negroponte and Lieutenant General Hayden will bring a wealth of experience to the positions for which they are nominated. I hope that Congress acts quickly on these nominations,” Collins, chairwoman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said in a prepared statement. John Pike, director of the GlobalSecurity.org think tank, said today that Negroponte was a person with “considerable experience.” Even so, Pike said it would have been “better for the country” to have Negroponte remain as U.S. ambassador to Iraq, where he has had “six months of on-the-job training.” Pike also said that the Senate was likely to confirm Negroponte, though one issue could be whether Democrats choose to use his confirmation hearings to attack the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq. Senator Jay Rockefeller (W.Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, criticized the White House yesterday for the delay in nominating a national intelligence director. Citing recent visits to various intelligence agencies, Rockefeller said the delay has hindered other reform efforts. “The message I heard over and over — through words or body language — [from] senior leadership at these agencies was that acting on how best to carry out some key provisions on the intelligence reform bill was being held up, pending the arrival of the new director of national intelligence,” Rockefeller said during his opening remarks before the committee’s annual hearing on worldwide threats (see related GSN story, today). “The delay in appointing a DNI has kept implementation of the reform bill therefore, in my judgment, in idle,” he said. The delay will also make it difficult for the director, once confirmed, to have a team of deputies in place within the six-month schedule mandated by the intelligence reform law, Rockefeller said. He also claimed that the “practical consequences” of the delay have included a lack of progress in creating a National Counterterrorism Center and the lack of a decision by the administration on whether to move forward with a National Counterproliferation Center — both of which were set out in the intelligence reform law.  “We need a person in charge. We need an organization in place that can coordinate counterterrorist operations across agencies against this multiplying terrorist threat,” Rockefeller said. Back to top

Missing Russian Nuclear Material Could be Used to Produce Weapon, CIA Chief Warns By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Enough Russian nuclear material is unaccounted for that “those with know-how” could construct a nuclear weapon if they were to obtain it, CIA Director Porter Goss said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 11). Goss told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence during its annual worldwide threat hearing that he could not be confident that the material had not fallen into the hands of terrorists. “I can’t make that assurance. I can’t account for some of the material, so I can’t make the assurance about its whereabouts,” he said. Senior Russian officials have repeatedly denied allegations of lost Russian nuclear weapons or materials. Many nonproliferation experts, however, have questioned such denials. Vladimir Rybachenkov of the Russian Embassy in Washington said of Goss’ claim, “I don’t believe it’s true.” In the past 20 years, Rybachenkov said, there have been no reported thefts or disappearances of Russian weapon-grade nuclear material. “This is a fact,” he told Global Security Newswire. Goss said yesterday that the risk of theft or diversion of Russian WMD materials and technologies “is a continuing concern.” Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said he hoped additional funding would be provided for efforts to secure Russian weapons of mass destruction.  Russia also remains “an important source” of weapons technology and materials for other nations, Goss said. During yesterday’s hearing, Goss and other senior U.S. intelligence officials outlined for lawmakers potential threats to the United States in a number of countries of concern, including Iran, North Korea and Pakistan. The officials also described the continued threat posed by terrorist groups to the United States. The officials sought to reassure lawmakers’ concerns about the credibility of their assessments of various threats, noting the intelligence improvements that have occurred following failed efforts to assess prewar Iraq’s alleged WMD efforts. For example, the CIA has increased its number of intelligence “collectors” and analysts and has sought to encourage “contrarian analysis,” Goss said. Iran, North Korea Defense Intelligence Agency Director Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby warned that Iran was likely to develop a nuclear weapon “early in the next decade” barring constraints imposed through a nonproliferation agreement (see related GSN story, today). “Iran is likely continuing nuclear weapons-related endeavors in an effort to become the dominant regional power and deter what it perceives as the potential for U.S. or Israeli attacks. We judge that Iran is devoting significant resources to its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs,” Jacoby said in his prepared testimony. Iran has long claimed, however, that its nuclear program is intended for peaceful, civilian purposes. While agreeing that Tehran would be “right” in developing the capability to produce fuel for nuclear power reactors, Goss said the CIA was concerned about the “dual-use nature” of much of Iran’s nuclear technology. “We do not have transparency,” he said. One factor that complicates intelligence efforts on Iran’s nuclear program is the “advantage of ambiguity,” said Carol Rodley, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for intelligence and research. “The Iranians don’t necessarily have to have a successful nuclear program in order to have the deterrent value. They merely have to convince us, others and their neighbors that they do. This is a lesson that hasn’t been lost on them, and it merely complicates both the collection and the analysis on this issue,” she said. The Defense Intelligence Agency has also determined that Iran is likely to have the “technical capability” to develop an ICBM by 2015, Jacoby said in his prepared testimony, adding that “it is not clear” whether Tehran has decided to do so. Iran is also likely to continue efforts to improve its short-range ballistic missile arsenal, and is expected to “develop or import” land-attack cruise missiles, he said. North Korea has probably progressed beyond a 2002 CIA assessment that it possessed enough plutonium to produce one or two nuclear weapons, Goss told lawmakers. “It has increased since then,” he said of Pyongyang’s weapons-production capability. The CIA also believes that North Korea is continuing to seek a uranium enrichment capability drawing on assistance provided by top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, Goss said.  Last week, Pyongyang announced publicly that it possessed nuclear weapons and that it would no longer participate in multilateral talks seeking to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Such talks, known as the six-party talks, involve China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States. In his prepared testimony, Jacoby said that while North Korean leader Kim Jong Il may agree at some point to a partial removal of his nuclear weapons arsenal and program, “we judge Kim is not likely to surrender all of his nuclear weapons capabilities.” Both Goss and Jacoby also suggested the possibility that Pyongyang might seek to sell its nuclear weapons or materials abroad for hard currency. The officials also said that North Korea could begin flight-testing its Taepodong 2 ICBM, which is believed to be capable of reaching targets with a nuclear weapon-sized payload. Jacoby also said in his prepared remarks that Pyongyang is continuing efforts to develop new short-range and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. North Korea is also believed to have active programs to develop biological and chemical weapons, Goss said, adding that Pyongyang “probably” has chemical weapons available for use, and “possibly” biological weapons. Pakistan There is a continued “significant threat” that terrorists could seek to destabilize Pakistan through the assassination of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and other high-level officials, according to Jacoby. Were Musharraf to be assassinated, extremist Islamic politicians could gain greater influence, including over Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, according to the officials (see GSN, Jan. 21). During her Senate confirmation hearings last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said plans were in place to address the possible capture of Pakistani nuclear weapons by Islamic extremists. During yesterday’s hearing, Goss briefly addressed another key U.S. proliferation concern regarding Pakistan — the Khan network, which was used to transfer nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Some have claimed that the investigation into the network, which was revealed through Khan’s confession, has been hampered due to Pakistan’s refusal to allow direct access to the scientist (see GSN, Feb. 15).  In response to questions from lawmakers, Goss praised Pakistan’s cooperation with the U.S. investigation of the network, but declined to provide detail in an open committee hearing. “There is an understanding that A.Q. Khan enjoyed a certain amount of celebrity status in his country because he was the man who brought them the bomb, which was very critical to that culture and their national pride, and so forth,” Goss said. “It has been a difficult prospect, and understanding the problem they are having to deal with is useful in negotiating our interests, which are to get all the information possible. I think that those discussions are understood, and appropriate steps by the right people are being taken place,” he added. The U.S. investigation into the network is continuing, Goss said. “We have found that from a variety of sources following the leads of what we’ve known already that we’ve uncovered many new things, and we have found that in covering those things that we have not got to the end of the trail. Getting to the end of that trail is extremely important for us,” he said. Another concern is that Pakistan and its regional rival India may both develop “boosted” nuclear weapons with increased yields, according to Jacoby. China Goss told the Senate intelligence panel that China’s military modernization efforts “could tilt the balance of power in the Taiwan strait” and could jeopardize U.S. troops in the region. Such modernization efforts include efforts to improve both the capabilities and survivability of China’s ballistic missile forces, officials said. A Taiwanese push for independence could result in China responding with “varying levels of force,” Goss said. In his prepared testimony, though, Jacoby said that Beijing was believed more likely to use economic and diplomatic pressures to ward off Taiwan’s separation, as least through the 2008 Olympics. Terrorism In addition to the threats posed by several countries of concerns, the senior intelligence officials during yesterday’s Senate hearing also stressed the continued danger posed by al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, including their interests in obtaining weapons of mass destruction. “We are … extremely concerned with a growing body of sensitive reporting that continues to show al-Qaeda’s clear intention to obtain and to ultimately use some form of chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear material in its attacks against the United States. We still assess that a mass-casualty attack using relatively low-tech methods will be their most likely approach,” FBI Director Robert Mueller said.  Terrorists are believed to be more likely to use industrial chemical or biological agents, rather than nuclear or radiological weapons, “because they are easier to employ” in attacks, Jacoby said in his prepared remarks. Such attacks would be intended to “cause casualties and attack the psyche of the targeted populations.” While noting the risk of possible WMD attacks by terrorists, Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Adm. James Loy said “we are most likely to be attacked with a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, because that’s the weapon of choice around the world.” While “the most serious” terrorist threat to the United States is posed by al-Qaeda operatives abroad, there are also concerns that other terrorists groups with a presence in the United States, or domestic Islamic militants, may assist a future attack, Mueller said. Such groups include Hamas, Palestine Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, he said. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, may choose to conduct retaliatory attacks against the United States in the event of U.S. military action against Tehran, Goss said. “I would certainly recommend that any policy-maker considering that take that calculation,” he said. Back to top       Plasma Filter Could Provide Breathable Environment During Biological, Chemical Attacks U.S. researchers have developed a plasma-based filtration system to destroy biological and chemical agents while at the same time pumping purified air into a structure, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory announced this month (see GSN, Feb. 14). The Hybrid Plasma Filtration System was developed for the U.S. Defense Department, but could be enlarged for commercial use to protect spaces such as buildings and aircraft (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory release, Feb. 1). Back to top

Republicans Push for New Nuke Requirement By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers this week pressed U.S. defense officials to explain why the military would need a new earth-penetrating nuclear weapon, which has been under evaluation in a program favored by the Bush administration (see GSN, Feb. 4). The administration has requested $8.5 million in fiscal 2006 funding for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator program to continue a study of whether an upgraded, existing nuclear weapon might be capable of plowing more deeply through rock prior to a nuclear explosion.  The money would enable a first drop test by the Air Force next year of the hardened weapon, without a nuclear explosion. Bipartisan opposition to the program was sufficient to eliminate funding for the program for the current fiscal year. A key Republican lawmaker questioned whether the senior military leadership believes there is a military need — reflected in a formally stated military requirement — for whatever new capability the weapon might offer. No one at the Defense or Energy departments has “ever articulated to me a specific military requirement for a nuclear earth penetrator,” Representative Dave Hobson (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, said in a speech this month. No Formal Requirement So far, military leaders have not publicly indicated a formal military requirement for a modified weapon. “A formal military requirement for the nuclear bunker buster would give the program additional forward momentum. It brings the bomb closer to reality,” said Council for a Livable World President John Isaacs. A Republican legislator yesterday asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to detail such a requirement. “Could you please tell me directly if there’s a military need for this robust nuclear earth penetrator?” asked Representative Terry Everett (R-Ala.) at a Defense Department budget hearing before the House Armed Services Committee. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers responded that the combatant commander responsible for worrying about deeply buried targets “certainly thinks there’s a need for this study,” and also endorsed that view. “It’s not a commitment to go forward with a system, it’s just to see if it’s feasible,” he said. Rumsfeld said “there is a need for the study — which is what we’re talking about here, and not a weapon.” He offered, though, the administration’s rationale for pursuing such a capability, though, saying new commercial technology has enabled other countries to bury facilities by “digging underground, in rock, twice the height of a basketball net and the full length of a basketball court every day in rock.” Countries “all across the globe are putting things underground, and we have no capability, conventional or nuclear, to deal with the issue of deep penetrat[ion],” Rumsfeld said. Rumsfeld in January reportedly sent a letter to then Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham urging funding for continuing the earth-penetrator study (see GSN, Feb. 1). Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.) at a hearing on Tuesday asked Abraham’s replacement, Samuel Bodman, to provide the committee the administration’s justification for the program (see GSN, Feb. 16). Administration Seeks Weapon The administration first signaled an interest in a new earth-penetrating capability in its 2002 Nuclear Posture Review. A deeper digging nuclear weapon, Pentagon officials have argued, could provide the United States a better capability to strike deeply buried, hardened underground bunkers and potentially create less surface destruction by using a small nuclear yield. Congressional opponents and independent critics of the effort have argued that no weapon is likely to plow deep enough to significantly contain a blast; that such a weapon would be unlikely to be used because it would create massive surface destruction and fallout on populated areas; and that the program undermines efforts to strengthen international nonproliferation cooperation. The administration last year projected a five-year, $485 million budget for the earth-penetrator program if Congress authorizes moving past the study phase into full research and development. U.S. Representative Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) suggested that North Korean officials during his recent visit to Pyongyang expressed concern about the United States obtaining a more capable nuclear earth penetrator. “The North Koreans were very intrigued by the notion that we were looking to pursue a deep-earth penetrator to get at their underground complexes,” he said during yesterday’s briefing. Back to top       Iran, Russia to Sign Nuclear Fuel Deal Next Week for Bushehr Reactor, Iranian Official Says Russia and Iran are expected to sign an agreement next week allowing nuclear fuel shipments to Iran, Reuters reported (see GSN, Feb. 16). “A fuel deal for the Bushehr nuclear power plant will be signed on Feb. 26,” Assadollah Sabouri, deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told state television (Reuters, Feb. 17). Initial shipments of nuclear fuel could follow less than two months after the signing, Nikolai Shingarov, a spokesman for Moscow nuclear chief Alexander Rumyantsev, told the Associated Press. Diplomats in Vienna familiar with the deal were skeptical of the report. They said Russia remains reluctant to send fuel to Iran while questions remain over Tehran’s nuclear program. “They’ve said they were close to a deal many times before, and nothing’s happened,” said one diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Russia has required that any deal include an agreement for Iran to return spent fuel to ensure it is not used for weapons purposes. However, spent fuel would have to be stored in Iran for up to a year while it cooled, another diplomat said. “That’s plenty of time to extract plutonium if they choose to ignore the IAEA,” said the diplomat (George Jahn, Associated Press/WINK TV, Feb. 16). Reports of a construction blast about 90 miles from Bushehr yesterday prompted Tehran to issue a warning today that it would respond immediately to any attack, Agence France-Presse reported. The blast was initially reported by local Arabic-language television as a missile attack. “An attack, whatever it is, against any site, whether it be nuclear or not, would produce a very rapid response,” Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani told the Iranian state news agency (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Feb. 17). Iran also said yesterday it would shoot down any U.S. pilotless spy planes if they came within range, the New York Times reported. “If any of the bright objects come close, they will definitely meet our fire and will be shot down,” Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi told state television (Nazila Fathi, New York Times, Feb. 16). The U.N. nuclear watchdog, meanwhile, continues to probe how Iran obtained components and technology from abroad for its nuclear program, diplomats said yesterday, the Washington Post reported. Pakistan has agreed to allow the agency to test equipment from its nuclear weapons program that could help clarify why traces of enriched uranium have turned up on Iranian equipment, the Post reported. The agency is also studying dual-use equipment Iran purchased for a facility in Lavizan and experiments Tehran conducted with designs obtained from Pakistan years ago, according to the Post. CIA Director Porter Goss yesterday told Congress the Iranian nuclear program could be used for weapons development. “We are more concerned about the dual-use nature of the technology,” he said (see related GSN story, today). One diplomat said IAEA Director General Mohammed ElBaradei is expected to use his briefing at the next agency Board of Governors meeting to discuss Iran’s uranium enrichment suspension and its cooperation with inspectors. Pierre Goldschmidt, one of ElBaradei’s deputies, is expected to follow with a technical briefing on a tunnel being built at the Isfahan site to store nuclear materials in case of an attack and Iran’s recently reported maintenance work and quality control tests on nuclear equipment. Those activities do not violate an agreement Iran reached in November with France, Germany and the United Kingdom to suspend certain nuclear work while talks continue. Iran complied with an agency request that it stop the activities, diplomats said. The briefings are also expected to report that Iran converted 37 tons of raw uranium under IAEA supervision, a process that was allowed under the November deal, according to the Post (Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, Feb. 17). Elsewhere, senior German and Iranian officials expressed optimism on striking an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program after meeting yesterday, AP reported. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said he and Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi “were of the opinion that this process should move forward in our common interests,” adding that “the solution must consist of an objective guarantee for the exclusively peaceful use of nuclear power in Iran.” “I believe there are possibilities ... to remove the concerns of the European side,” Kharazi said (David Rising, Associated Press/Santa Fe New Mexican, Feb. 16). Back to top       U.S., South Korea, China Make Diplomatic Push to Resume North Korea Nuclear Talks U.S., South Korean and Chinese officials gathered in Beijing today as part of a diplomatic push to persuade North Korea to return to the six-party talks on its nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Feb. 16). U.S. envoy to the negotiations Christopher Hill and South Korean lead negotiator Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-Soon both arrived from Seoul. Wang Jiarui, the head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department, is expected to visit Pyongyang on Saturday, AFP reported. The Russian and North Korean foreign ministers had a phone exchange yesterday in which both “spoke out in favor of a rapid resumption of the six-way negotiating process,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Feb. 17). China said yesterday it was still analyzing North Korea’s announcement last week that it has nuclear weapons, AFP reported. “What I want to stress is that the Chinese side adheres to the principle of a nuclear weapons-free Korean Peninsula and our position in this regard is consistent,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan. “Regarding the nuclear issue and the D.P.R.K.’s legitimate security concerns, we believe that we should properly address the issue with the efforts of all parties and within the current six-party talk framework,” he said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Feb. 17). Meanwhile, South Korea said it has prepared for a potential nuclear attack by Pyongyang, Reuters reported. “Our military’s defense posture has taken into account the North’s nuclear weapons for several years,” said Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung. “It is part of our operational plan,” a ministry official quoted Yoon as saying. Yoon added that Pyongyang was unlikely to launch a nuclear attack against the South because that could cause “mutual destruction.” While South Korea is not a nuclear weapons state, the United States has promised to defend it, Reuters reported (Reuters, Feb. 17). Back to top       U.K. Facility Cannot Account for 30 Kg of Plutonium A British nuclear fuel reprocessing plant reportedly cannot account for about 30 kilograms of plutonium, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, Jan. 22, 2002). According to the London Times, the material from the Sellafield facility was designated last year as “unaccounted for,” AFP reported. A Sellafield spokeswoman said that there is no indication that the missing plutonium, enough to produce as many as eight nuclear weapons, left the facility. “This is material that is unaccounted for, and there is always a discrepancy between the physical inventory and the book inventory,” the spokeswoman was quoted as saying. “I wouldn’t say we would be alarmed by it, because we are only talking about a book figure here.” Independent experts expressed concern about the news, according to the Times. “They make this claim of an auditing problem but I would expect them to be overzealous in the current climate of fears about terrorism,” said independent nuclear consultant John Large (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Feb. 17). Back to top

U.S. Judge Warns Rumsfeld Could Face Contempt for Ignoring Anthrax Program Injunction A federal judge has warned that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld could be held in contempt for pressing forward with mandatory military anthrax vaccinations despite a 1999 order by then President Bill Clinton requiring “informed consent” for inoculations, United Press International reported Tuesday (see GSN, Feb. 2). U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered Rumsfeld to “show cause by Feb. 28” why “he/or the government should not be held in contempt” for failing to follow the injunction. The judge in October barred mandatory vaccinations. The Pentagon this month invoked emergency provisions in the Project Bioshield Act to restart the program. Sullivan also told service members and Defense Department employees fighting the vaccine program to respond to an emergency motion by the Pentagon requesting modification of his earlier ruling (United Press International/Washington Times, Feb. 15). Back to top

CSX Sues D.C. Over Law Barring Hazmat Freight A freight railroad company yesterday sued the District of Columbia in an effort to undo emergency legislation barring rail shipments of chlorine and other toxic materials within two miles of the U.S. Capitol, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 16). CSX Corp. asked in U.S. District Court that the law be declared unconstitutional on the grounds that it impedes interstate commerce. The law only stands for 90 days, but council members have said they plan to seek a permanent ban. CSX has taken security matters seriously since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the company said. Company spokesman Robert Sullivan added that security should be coordinated with federal agencies. “What you’re going to end up with otherwise is this sort of patchwork quilt where you have different communities setting different standards,” he said. The company also plans to seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to defeat the law, Sullivan said (Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, Feb. 17). Back to top       U.S. Army to Brief Pentagon on Chemical Weapons Destruction, Potential Relocation of Munitions The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency is preparing to brief Defense Department officials on its assessment of the U.S. chemical weapons stockpile destruction program, including potential relocation of some munitions, the Army announced today (see GSN, Feb. 16). In a briefing scheduled for Feb. 22, the Army is expected to address the possibility of relocating stockpiles, redistributing chemical weapons among sites, relocating demilitarization equipment and replicating proven designs and processes at other sites, the Army said. Assessors are also looking at “revised technical approaches,” potentially including removing explosives from munitions, and revising secondary treatment processes and destruction approaches, according to a CMA press release. Also under consideration are streamlining and updating policies and procedures, which could include “working with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to interpret provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention Treaty to more accurately and precisely define the actual point of chemical agent destruction,” the press release states. The Army also announced that the United States has destroyed 35 percent of its declared chemical weapons stockpile. The milestone is the result of incineration operations in Utah, Maryland, Alabama, Oregon and on Johnston Island. Additional chemical disposal operations are expected to begin this year in Arkansas and Indiana (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Feb. 17). Back to top       Arrests Continue in Suspected Paris Chemical Plot Three men were arrested last month as part of the continuing investigation of a terrorist network that planned a chemical weapons attack and other strikes in Paris, French police and judicial officials said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 27, 2003). Three Algerian nationals were detained Jan. 11, officials said. More than 20 people have been arrested since December 2002 as part of the investigation of suspected Islamic militants supporting Chechen rebels, according to the Associated Press. The suspects reportedly planned a chemical attack and attacks on the Russian Embassy in Paris and the Eiffel Tower, officials said. They also allegedly planned strikes in the United Kingdom and had links to Islamic radicals in Spain, the daily Le Parisien reported. Other targets in Paris included a clothing store in the high-traffic central Paris district of Les Halles, police stations and Israeli interests, the suspects said, according to judicial officials. In raids leading to the initial arrests, investigators discovered chemical formulas for explosives, a toxic gas delivery device, lists of chemicals and their price and a protective suit, judicial officials said (Pierre-Antoine Souchard, Associated Press/Canada.com, Feb. 16). Back to top

U.S. Businessman Pleads Not Guilty to Illegally Shipping Computer Equipment to Iran U.S. businessman Mohammad Farahbakhsh pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of illegally shipping computer equipment to an Iranian company believed to be linked to Tehran’s missile efforts, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Feb. 3). Farahbakhsh asked to be released on bond, while prosecutors argued the Iranian national was a flight risk. No decision was made, AP reported. Farahbakhsh’s lawyer, Kristan Peters, said that the items her client allegedly shipped posed no threat and could be obtained online. “This is a licensing case, not a case involving weapons and nuclear technology as the government insists,” Peters said. “I don’t think we should be prejudiced here, just because he has a funny-sounding last name” (John Christoffersen, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 17).       Back to top

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