During a July 2004 visit to Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S. President George W. Bush examined containers of nuclear materials that had been transferred from Libya to the United States. An Energy Department assessment of the material has shown that Libya acquired some uranium enrichment feedstock from North Korea (AFP photo/Tim Sloan). Scientific Tests Indicate North Korea Sold Processed Uranium to Libya, U.S. Officials Say Tests of former Libyan nuclear equipment have largely convinced U.S. scientists and intelligence agencies that North Korea sold processed uranium to Libya, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Feb. 1). International inspectors discovered the first hints nine months ago that Pyongyang may have been the source of nearly 2 tons of uranium hexafluoride turned over to the United States by Libya last year (see GSN, May 24)...Full Story

Other Countries Must Help to Ensure Compliance With Nonproliferation Regimes, U.S. Official Says By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. State Department official Friday called on other countries to play a greater role in ensuring compliance with international nonproliferation regimes (see GSN, Feb. 1)...Full Story

City Council Passes Washington Chlorine-Train Ban By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia Council yesterday approved emergency legislation to ban rail and truck shipments of large amounts of chlorine and other toxic materials through the city (see GSN, Jan. 31)...Full Story

	Wednesday, February 2, 2005

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary-Designate Chertoff Seeks Improvement in Spending Priorities By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Federal appeals court judge Michael Chertoff told a U.S. Senate committee today that he planned to improve border and transportation security if confirmed as the new secretary of the Homeland Security Department (see GSN, Jan. 11). Questioned by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee about the young department’s allegedly haphazard spending habits, Chertoff said port-security grant-making in particular could benefit from assessing the “reality of vulnerabilities and risks, to ensure that we’re making a fair allocation.” In his first confirmation hearing, Chertoff also told the panel he planned to enhance technology and management generally at the fledgling department. “If I am confirmed as secretary, we will work as a department to improve our technology, strengthen our management practices, secure our borders and transportation systems and, most importantly, focus each and every day on keeping America safe from attacks,” he said. President George W. Bush nominated Chertoff earlier this month to replace outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who has headed the department since its inception in January 2003. In describing his experience to the panel, Chertoff highlighted his 2001-2003 tenure as head of the Justice Department Criminal Division, where he said he worked on disaster-response planning and information-sharing, and his earlier experience as a prosecutor working with state and local governments. “I have had the rare experience of managing a critical government organization under the stress of a national emergency,” Chertoff said. “My duties made me fully familiar with many of the central elements of the war against terrorism.” Experts including Homeland Security’s own acting inspector general told the Senate committee last week that the department is plagued by disorganization and a lack of overall priorities (see GSN, Jan. 26). Committee members and invited guests today raised related points, often questioning the department’s strategy — or, as some indicated, its apparent lack thereof — for funding the state and local governments that are likely to be the first institutions to respond to any terrorist or WMD attack. “We really need to make sure that we’re allocating those scarce resources … based on … threat and vulnerability,” said Senator John Corzine (D-N.J.), who is not a member of the panel but appeared to introduce longtime New Jersey resident Chertoff. Committee member Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) described the “distressing” effect of “what appears to be the very arbitrary and nonsensical elimination of funds” for some localities’ emergency responders at the expense of others’, while fellow panelist Robert Bennett (R-Utah) said Homeland Security finds itself in “a situation that can only be described as dysfunctional.” “Secretary Ridge has handled the first two years with great distinction, but the challenge is just as great,” Bennett said. Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) cautioned colleagues against pre-empting Chertoff’s eventual assessment of the department’s needs by calling now for more funds for Homeland Security. He also warned Chertoff against seeking to respond to too many perceived threats rather than adhering to a consistent set of overall priorities. “You can’t distribute the first-responder money the way all the senators want it distributed,” Domenici said. “Every first-responder request is not answering a risk that’s worth fighting — no question about it.” The committee planned to reconvene this afternoon to continue questioning Chertoff. No further committee hearings are scheduled so far on the nomination. The office of committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) would not project the date of the full Senate’s vote on the nomination. Back to top       Homeland Security Infighting Led to Failures in Securing Key Infrastructure, Officials Say Bureaucratic troubles and infighting have led to failures by the U.S. Homeland Security Department to protect chemical plants and other potential terrorism targets, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Jan. 26). Two sections of the department stalled in efforts to secure hazardous chemicals on trains, one of Congress’ top terrorism-related fears. Efforts to protect vital infrastructure have also seen little progress since the department was created nearly two years ago, officials said. “I’m sorry to say, since 9/11 we have essentially done nothing” to secure chemical plants and trains carrying chemicals, Richard Falkenrath, former deputy homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush, told Congress last week (see related GSN story, today). “This [issue] stands out as an enormous vulnerability we had the authority to address.” Meanwhile, development of tamper-proof shipping containers was among the initiatives stalled due to delays in deciding which DHS agency would take the lead in tracking people and cargo at U.S. ports, the Post reported. Many of the failures can be attributed to inexperienced officials who are not aggressive enough, Falkenrath said. “The department has accomplished a great deal in immensely difficult circumstances, but it could have accomplished even more if it had had more aggressive and experienced staff,” said Falkenrath, now a fellow at the Brookings Institution. “It would have done better if it had been less timid, less insular and less worried about facing down internal and external opposition.” Several current and former officials said the department remains underfunded and inadequately staffed, and needs stronger leadership. “DHS is still a compilation of 22 agencies that aren’t integrated into a cohesive whole,” said its recently departed inspector general, Clark Kent Ervin.  When asked for examples of ineffectiveness, Clark replied: “I don’t know where to start. … I’ve never seen anything like it” (John Mintz, Washington Post, Feb. 2). Back to top

Other Countries Must Help to Ensure Compliance With Nonproliferation Regimes, U.S. Official Says By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. State Department official Friday called on other countries to play a greater role in ensuring compliance with international nonproliferation regimes (see GSN, Feb. 1). There are “certain countries” where U.S. criticism alone “is not going to be the most effective set of talking points in trying to being someone into compliance,” Assistant Secretary of State for Compliance and Verification Paula DeSutter told the Congressional Defense Foreign Policy Forum. “It may be that other countries are going to be at least as persuasive as we are in bringing pressure to bear, especially if we can get them to act in a coherent fashion together toward the same purpose, which is bringing people back into compliance,” she said. The State Department is working to explain to other countries how the United States comes to the conclusion that a nation is violating its nonproliferation obligations, DeSutter said, adding that such conclusions are not merely “political judgments.” “They would then come to understand that they also have, as a state party to a lot of these obligations, a responsibility to understand whether or not their fellow state parties are also complying,” she said. DeSutter also said that participation in multilateral agencies such as the International Atomic Energy Agency or the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons does not absolve other countries from their responsibility to assess compliance with nonproliferation regimes. “They are implementing bodies, they’re monitoring bodies, but they are not there to make compliance judgments. Compliance judgments are to be made by states parties,” she said. One frequent Bush administration critic yesterday agreed with DeSutter, saying that all nuclear weapons states have a “special responsibility” to monitor compliance with nonproliferation regimes. “You can’t just turn a blind eye to these enforcement problems,” said Joseph Cirincione, director of the Nonproliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He noted that the Bush administration, which has questioned the role of multilateral institutions, has nevertheless called for increasing the funding and authority of the International Atomic Energy Agency. There has been a mistaken belief that “cooperative measures” such as on-site inspections and data exchanges, “are verification,” DeSutter said Friday. “The problem is that on-site inspection can only tell you what’s happening at the time and the place of the inspection,” she said. “It’s not going to tell you what’s happening elsewhere. If significant prohibited activities can take place outside the declared location and the declared times, then that on-site inspection isn’t going to be a tremendous contribution to overall verification of what’s being governed,” she added. Arms control experts yesterday, though, reiterated the value of on-site inspections. “You have to have feet on the ground” to monitor compliance, Cirincione said, adding that one of the “lessons” from the Iraq war was the effectiveness of on-site inspections. In addition, other countries are only likely to approve punitive measures against those countries that may be in violation of their nonproliferation obligations based on the results of international monitoring and verification, said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. “Especially after the Iraq war, the U.S. national intelligence system is far less credible,” he said. Back to top       CIA Revising Assessments of Iraqi WMD Programs The CIA plans to prepare a series of classified reports revising its past assessments of prewar Iraq’s alleged WMD efforts, an intelligence official said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 1). Two reports released this month have addressed the agency’s assessments of prewar Iraq’s chemical and missile programs. Additional reports are expected to include new assessments of prewar Iraq’s alleged nuclear and biological capabilities, according to Reuters.  “The CIA has finally admitted that its WMD estimates were wrong,” Representative Jane Harman (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel, said in a statement (Reuters, Feb. 1). Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday that there was “no doubt” former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had possessed weapons of mass destruction. “He’s the only leader in history who has used chemical weapons or any other sort of weapons of mass destruction against his own people,” Downer said (Associated Press, Feb. 1). Back to top

Scientific Tests Indicate North Korea Sold Processed Uranium to Libya, U.S. Officials Say Tests of former Libyan nuclear equipment have largely convinced U.S. scientists and intelligence agencies that North Korea sold processed uranium to Libya, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Feb. 1). International inspectors discovered the first hints nine months ago that Pyongyang may have been the source of nearly 2 tons of uranium hexafluoride turned over to the United States by Libya last year (see GSN, May 24). Testing performed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee over the last several months has ruled out other potential suppliers such as Pakistan, officials told the Times. “With a certainty of 90 percent or better, this stuff's from North Korea,” one official said. The new evidence is “huge, because it changes the whole equation with the North,” according to one recently retired Defense Department official. “It suggests we don’t have time to sit around and wait for the outcome of negotiations,” he said. “It’s a scary conclusion because you don’t know who else they may have sold to.” “This pushes along our understanding of the North Korean program,” said Leonard Spector of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute. “It means the North Koreans have built a facility to process uranium. And it raises the disturbing prospect that they’ve now made enough of it to feel comfortable selling some” (Sanger/Broad, New York Times, Feb. 2). A trip this week by National Security Council officials Michael Green and William Tobey was scheduled solely to inform Japan, South Korea and China about intelligence on North Korea’s nuclear program, the Washington Post reported (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Feb. 2). Back to top       ElBaradei Proposes Measures to Strengthen NPT International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei has proposed seven measures to strengthen the 35-year-old Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the agency announced today in a press statement (see GSN, Jan. 28). “It is clear that recent events have placed the NPT and the regime supporting it under unprecedented stress, exposing some of its inherent limitations and pointing to areas that need to be adjusted,” ElBaradei said in the statement. ElBaradei proposed: — A five-year moratorium on building new facilities for uranium enrichment and plutonium separation; — Accelerated efforts to convert research reactors operating with highly enriched uranium to use low-enriched uranium; — Establishment of the Additional Protocol as the norm for verifying treaty compliance; — Calling on the U.N. Security Council to act swiftly and decisively on the case of any country that withdraws from the treaty; — Calling on states to act on the Security Council’s Resolution 1540, to prosecute illicit trading in nuclear materials and technology; — Calling on all five declared nuclear weapon states party to the NPT to accelerate nuclear disarmament; amd — Recognition of existing security tensions that promote proliferation – in regions like the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula – by providing security assurances where necssary. This year’s treaty review conference is scheduled for May 2-27 in New York, according to the statement. “Some of the needed fixes can be made in May, but only if governments are ready to act,” said ElBaradei (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Feb. 2). Back to top       Iran Indicates Impatience With Pace of EU Talks A top Iranian official urged the European Union yesterday to make more progress in talks with Tehran on its nuclear program, trade and security, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 1). “We have to take the negotiations seriously and accelerate them,” said Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran’s atomic energy organization (Associated Press/USA Today, Feb. 2). European officials, however, said negotiations were moving at a reasonable pace, Reuters reported. “The issue is not pace but substance,” said Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. “We say that this is the right pace. On our side, we say the process is on track,” she added (Reuters, Feb. 1). U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to say tonight in his State of the Union address that he seeks to solve peacefully the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, a senior aide said yesterday, Agence France-Presse reported. “I’ve noticed that many people don’t pay attention to the words the president has used, in which he has demonstrated time, after time, after time that he believes that diplomacy, working with our European allies, is the most effective way,” said the official. Bush “will continue to make that clear, not only in the State of the Union,” but in future remarks, said the aide (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Feb. 1). U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States “greatly appreciates” the efforts by the European powers to negotiate a solution to the standoff, AFP reported. “What we need with Iran is unity of purpose and unity of message to Iran about what is expected of Iran,” she said. “And I frankly think we are getting that.” “Iranians are being told across the board that they cannot be responsible members of the international community and seek nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear program. That is not acceptable” (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Feb. 2). Iran, meanwhile, plans to become a “player” among international suppliers of nuclear fuel, a senior Iranian official said yesterday, Reuters reported. A five-year moratorium on creation of new nuclear fuel production centers proposed by International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei would give the world’s existing suppliers a monopoly, said Sirus Naseri, a senior member of Iran’s IAEA delegation. “The five-year moratorium proposed by ElBaradei is equal to exclusivity of supply,” Naseri said (see related GSN story, today). As the second biggest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Iran wants to remain a supplier of energy to the world, Naseri added. “With diminishing exports of oil, Iran has to be a supplier. Iran is used to being a net supplier of energy rather than a sole receiver,” he said. “We are definitely going to be a player,” he added (Reuters, Feb. 1). Elsewhere, Namibian government records indicate that a mine in that country has not sold uranium to Iran, Reuters reported. The general manager of the Rossing mine claimed last week that Iran has held 15-percent ownership of the mine since 1975. “When the mine is going to export uranium it must get authorization from the ministry, signed by the minister, specifying how many tons the mine is selling,” said Namibia’s Director of Mines Asser Mudhika. “As far as Iran buying Namibian uranium, our data indicate not a single ounce of uranium bought by Iran,” Mudhika said. The ministry has tracked uranium exports and their destinations since 1990, when Namibia became independent and the current government took power, he added (Reuters, Feb. 2). Back to top

Russia No Longer Funding Bioterrorism Countermeasures Research, Scientist Says The head of a Russian scientific research center said Moscow has ceased to fund research into biological terrorism countermeasures, Interfax reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 18, 2004). “Russia has effectively wound up its program to develop protection against pathogens. From 2005 onwards this program is not being funded,” said Lev Sandakhchiyev, director general of the Vektor State Science Center of Virology and Biotechnology in Novosibirsk. Sandakhchiyev also said there are no “real, constructive programs” among Russia, the United States and Europe for cooperating to counter the threat of biological terrorism (Interfax/BBC Worldwide Monitoring, Feb. 1). Back to top       Researchers Uncover Potential New Smallpox Treatment By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Researchers may have found a new route for blocking smallpox infection by targeting the cellular pathways the virus uses to replicate in a body, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced this week (see GSN, Jan. 18). Existing antiviral drugs are used to block the growth of the virus itself. Tests found, however, that an experimental anticancer drug was able to inhibit the process by which the smallpox growth factor protein attaches to cells and prepares them to produce new virus particles, according to a research article published in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The smallpox vaccine can take weeks to provide immunity. There is one antiviral drug known to affect the virus, but it carries a potential side effect of kidney damage and could be overcome by a purposely engineered virus or the infection’s natural increase in resistance to the treatment, Mark Challberg, emerging viral diseases team leader at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview. “It wouldn’t be the greatest drug in an emergency situation,” said Challberg, who co-authored a JCI commentary on the research. “For that reason there’s a need for drugs that would be easier to use.” The smallpox virus is unlikely to have time to develop resistance to a short-term drug treatment on unchanging cell chemical pathways. The drugs by necessity would be given for a limited time to ensure they do not damage cells, Challberg said. However, they could slow the infection while the body’s immune system — either naturally or through vaccinations — prepares to deal with the virus. The research was conducted with NIAID funding by scientists from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The threat of smallpox virus being used as a bioterror weapon makes it imperative that we pursue not only improved vaccines, but also novel therapeutic strategies such as this that could be employed quickly in the event of a deliberate release of the virus,” National Institutes of Health Director Elias Zerhouni said in the press release. Senior research author Ellis Reinherz of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute began studying smallpox treatments following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks, Challberg said. Reinherz could not be reached for comment. Scientists in this project tested the experimental drug against smallpox that had been introduced into monkey kidney cells and in live mice. Virus spread in the lab-grown kidney cells was “significantly impaired” when the experimental drug was used, the NIH press release states. The same drug, when used with a single dose of an anti-infection antibody, eliminated the virus from mice’s lungs within eight days of infection. Challberg estimated that it would take three to five years before this type of smallpox treatment could be ready for use. The drug used in this project could not fully inhibit the smallpox when high doses were given to mice. Researchers will look for similar medication that could provide stronger protection, Challberg said. Additional testing will also be necessary, he said. Back to top       U.S. Defense Department Uses Bioshield Provisions to Revive Military Anthrax Vaccinations The U.S. Defense Department has invoked emergency provisions of the Project Bioshield Act allowing for use of unapproved drugs and vaccines in order to revive its anthrax vaccination program for military personnel, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Jan. 18). Acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Lester Crawford authorized the use of the vaccine, following a determination by former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson that U.S. troops face a potential anthrax emergency in some nations (see GSN, Dec. 17). The FDA order, posted online Monday, requires that troops be educated about the vaccine and be given the opportunity to refuse the inoculation. The Pentagon said it was reviving the program due to intelligence indicating a heightened risk of anthrax attacks in certain potential theaters of operation, particularly Iran, Afghanistan and North Korea, the Post reported. “The department’s current intelligence community assessments establish that there is a heightened risk for U.S. military forces of attack with anthrax,” a Pentagon official said. Vaccinations would begin only after consideration again in U.S. District Court, where a judge has ruled mandatory inoculations illegal, said another Defense Department official. The process, he said, “could take some time.” The emergency authorization is good for only six months unless the extended by the Food and Drug Administration. (Marc Kaufman, Washington Post, Feb. 2). Back to top

City Council Passes Washington Chlorine-Train Ban By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia Council yesterday approved emergency legislation to ban rail and truck shipments of large amounts of chlorine and other toxic materials through the city (see GSN, Jan. 31). The bill is “the first in the nation to prohibit the transport of ultrahazardous substances by rail or truck through a city or state for security reasons,” according to a Greenpeace statement issued yesterday. It applies to gases in the U.S. Transportation Department’s top two categories of toxicity, when transported in quantities of at least 500 kilograms. The measure’s passage follows more than a year of intense debate on the council about whether to formally prohibit shipments that rail operator CSX last year told council members it was already diverting voluntarily (see GSN, Jan. 12). Central to the panel’s deliberations was the possibility of a terrorist attack on a chlorine-filled rail tanker passing through central Washington, which experts have said could create a toxic cloud capable of killing thousands of people within minutes. “The action taken today by this council vastly reduces the most serious threat to the residents of the District of Columbia and surrounding jurisdictions,” bill sponsor Kathy Patterson said in a statement after yesterday’s voice vote. “We are one of the two top target cities for terrorist attacks and have to do everything in our power to prevent terrorist attacks.” The emergency plan would become law for a period of 90 days if signed by Mayor Anthony Williams, who has promised to approve the measure. Patterson and co-sponsor Phil Mendelson also plan a permanent version of the bill. Such legislation could face hurdles in the council’s Environment and Public Works Committee, headed by ban opponent Carol Schwartz, and in a federal review that would take place after passage by the council. The council yesterday granted initial approval to a temporary version of the permanent bill that, unless scuttled by the U.S. Congress during a mandatory review period, would add 225 days to the 90-day ban enacted under the emergency bill. The temporary version must undergo a second reading by the council, probably next month, before it is passed on to the mayor and the congressional review period begins. In an interview yesterday after the vote, Patterson expressed confidence that the shipments would be legally banned for the 315 days provided for under the emergency and temporary bills, during which time she vowed to work toward a permanent measure that Schwartz would support. If no such solution was reached, Patterson said, a simple majority of the council could move to bypass Schwartz. With 12 of the council’s 13 members present yesterday, only Schwartz — who has consistently opposed a legislated ban but has worked with CSX and the federal Homeland Security Department to secure voluntary rerouting — voted against the measure. Councilman David Catania recused himself because of ties to a law firm that works for CSX. Schwartz has repeatedly expressed concern, providing little elaboration of her fears, that passing a formal ban could ultimately backfire. She has linked her wariness to the federal government’s power to override the capital city’s laws and to the possibility that the ban could be deemed an unconstitutional hindrance of interstate commerce. “In this case, I believe that we are better served by cooperating with the feds, rather than confronting them,” Schwartz told council members just before the vote. “Trains carrying hazardous materials described … are [already] being rerouted away from the District of Columbia.” The Homeland Security Department took a similar position. “The spirit of today’s legislation,” spokeswoman Michelle Petrovich said in an interview after yesterday’s vote, “is already being met through our long-term partnership with CSX and our other private-sector partners.” Petrovich would not comment on whether the federal government would seek to challenge the legislation. Bill supporters have also evoked the possibility that CSX could take legal action seeking to prevent or delay the bill’s implementation. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they file for a temporary restraining order,” Patterson said yesterday. Company spokesman Bob Sullivan said “CSX is actively reviewing the council measure and will take all appropriate steps when that review is complete.”  Asked what such steps might include, he said possibilities included legal action against the city, as well as other options he would not identify. “Today’s action by the District of Columbia does not increase safety or security at all.  In fact, it compromises it,” Sullivan said today in an interview. “The unfortunate end result of today’s actions by the District of Columbia Council would be to drive more of these materials to trucks by frustrating the efforts of railroads to move materials in ways that are safe, secure and efficient.  Railroads are 16 times safer than trucks for moving these materials,” Sullivan said. Ban supporters have expressed doubts in recent days about whether CSX has continued to reroute the chemical shipments around the city. Patterson said last week that when CSX revealed its voluntary measures to council members at a closed-door November 2004 briefing, the company described the operation as “temporary.” She said there is no way to know whether the rerouting has continued since the briefing. That uncertainty, Mendelson said yesterday in introducing the bill, makes legislative action necessary. “With this legislation, we are assured, because it will be the law — because there will be the ability to enforce. There will be a law to enforce,” he said. Back to top

Ukraine Exported Nuclear-Capable Cruise Missiles to China, Iran, Lawmaker Alleges A senior Ukrainian lawmaker has alleged that Ukraine sold nuclear-capable cruise missiles to China and Iran, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Dec. 1, 2004). In a letter to recently elected President Viktor Yushchenko, lawmaker Hrihory Omelchenko said that an investigation launched last summer “proved that some 20 air-launched Kh-55 and Kh-55M cruise missiles with nuclear capability were exported to third countries,” according to AP. The exports, which included 12 missiles intended for Russia being shipped six each to Iran and China, occurred from 1999 to 2001, the letter said. The Kh-55 cruise missile has a range of up to 3,000 kilometers, is capable of carrying a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead, and was developed for use on Russian Tupolev long-range bombers, according to AP. The Ukrainian Prosecutor-General’s office began investigating the alleged transfers last summer and “this year we received new information,” spokesman Vyacheslav Astapov said (Aleksandar Vasovic, Associated Press/Yahoo!News,, Feb. 2).   Back to top

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