U.S. ambassador Jackie Sanders appeared today before a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors. She accused Iran of “being willing … to cynically manipulate the nuclear nonproliferation regime in the pursuit of nuclear weapons” (AFP photo/Dieter Nagl). Battle Rages at IAEA Meeting Over Iranian Nuclear Transparency By Greg Webb Global Security Newswire VIENNA — Iranian diplomats today sought to deflect a withering salvo of international criticism over their cooperation with efforts to clarify the scope and intent of Tehran’s nuclear activities. Senior officials exchanged rhetorical blasts at a quarterly meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors (see GSN, March 1). The United States launched first, delivering a six-page statement accusing Iran of “being willing — and apparently able — to cynically manipulate the nuclear nonproliferation regime in the pursuit of nuclear weapons.” U.S. delegation head Jackie Sanders today read the statement that highlighted “a startling list of Iranian attempts to hide and mislead, and delay the work of IAEA inspectors. It is clear that Iran has continued to deny inspectors the transparency and cooperation they need to perform their duties.”..Full Story

Case Closed on Egyptian Nuclear Research By Greg Webb Global Security Newswire VIENNA — Egypt avoided a formal rebuke from the International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday, when the agency’s Board of Governor’s discussed recent disclosures that Cairo had conducted unreported nuclear research as recently as 2003. Board members issued statements regarding the matter but the group as a whole did not offer a formal message (see GSN, Feb. 14)...Full Story

Republican Senators Criticize Planned Budget Cuts to U.S. Chemical Weapons Disposal Program By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Two Republican senators yesterday criticized the Bush administration’s plan to cancel funding for chemical weapons destruction work at two U.S. Army depots through 2011 (see GSN, Feb. 15)...Full Story

	Wednesday, March 2, 2005

U.S. Homeland Security Department Announces Grants for Chemical, Nuclear Plant Security Federal grants totaling $91.3 million are available for security enhancements at critical infrastructure sites such as chemical and nuclear plants, the U.S. Homeland Security Department announced today (see GSN, Feb. 24). State officials are expected to submit Buffer Zone Plans and equipment purchasing strategies to the department for review by April, according to a department statement. After plans are approved, local agencies can use the grant funding to buy items included on the federal agency’s approved equipment list. Grant funding available to states and territories ranges from $50,000 for Wyoming to $12.95 million for California (Homeland Security Department release, March 2). Back to top

Terrorists Seek Chem, Bio Weapons, FBI Says Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations are plotting to use chemical and biological weapons, according to intelligence obtained by the FBI, ITAR-Tass reported today (see GSN, March 1). The bureau has no information on specific threats, FBI Counterterrorism Center head John Lewis said during a conference in the Russian city of Novosibirsk (ITAR-Tass, March 2). Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said yesterday that chemical rather than nuclear weapons pose the greatest terrorist threat, RIA Novosti reported. “Chechens with instructions [on] how to make weapons of mass destruction were caught in Paris and in London,” Ivanov said (RIA Novosti/BBC Monitoring, March 1). Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin yesterday called for security improvements at Biosafety Level 3 and 4 laboratories, Agence France-Presse reported. Speaking to a two-day Interpol conference on bioterrorism, Villepin also proposed a “European reaction plan against a biological attack” and updated figures on the European Union’s vaccine stockpile reserves, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, March 1). Back to top

Battle Rages at IAEA Meeting Over Iranian Nuclear Transparency By Greg Webb Global Security Newswire VIENNA — Iranian diplomats today sought to deflect a withering salvo of international criticism over their cooperation with efforts to clarify the scope and intent of Tehran’s nuclear activities. Senior officials exchanged rhetorical blasts at a quarterly meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors (see GSN, March 1). The United States launched first, delivering a six-page statement accusing Iran of “being willing — and apparently able — to cynically manipulate the nuclear nonproliferation regime in the pursuit of nuclear weapons.” U.S. delegation head Jackie Sanders today read the statement that highlighted “a startling list of Iranian attempts to hide and mislead, and delay the work of IAEA inspectors. It is clear that Iran has continued to deny inspectors the transparency and cooperation they need to perform their duties.” Transparency, in particular Iran’s willingness to voluntarily provide access to sites it says have no role in its nuclear program, has emerged as the key point of contention at the meeting. Yesterday, the agency revealed the Iran has refused a request for inspectors to revisit a military research site at Parchin, where the United States suspects Iran of developing the conventional high-explosive components of nuclear weapons. Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei today pressed Iran to allow inspectors to visit sites of their choosing. “This is a special case,” he told reporters. “This is a program that has been clandestine for almost two decades and it is difficult [for the agency to] come to a conclusion and provide assurance without full cooperation, full openness, full transparency on the part of Iran.”  “And that’s what we are asking Iran to do: To go out of their way, not just to play by the book, but to be more transparent, to allow us to do everything we want to do, frankly,” he said. “If I say there are three important things Iran needs to do, I would say ‘transparency, transparency and more transparency.’” Europe contributed to the fray as well. “While transparency visits have taken place, Iran seems to have been determined to limit their scope,” said a statement from France, Germany and the United Kingdom. The three nations are engaged in talks with Iran to find a long-term resolution to the nuclear crisis, with the next round is set to begin March 12 in Geneva. Iran gave no ground. Delegation leader Sirus Naseri defended Tehran’s hesitance to allow more transparency visits, saying he had two major concerns. First is the fear of setting a precedent. “It seems a process is being formed which can only be called an open-ended process,” he said. “Relying on entirely unreliable open-source information for continuing to insist on visiting military sites is not the norm that the agency would follow on any country amongst its members.” “There have been visits in the past to military sites based on open-source information; in a sense all of them have hit the dirt. And we just cannot have a situation where things carry on and carry on forever,” Naseri said. The precedent problem, however, takes a back stage to another concern, he said. “We have a serious problem about confidentiality. Whatever information that is passed to the agency, discussed with agency officials, raised with inspectors, almost immediately appears in the media,” Naseri said. “That could be a matter that could jeopardize the smooth working relationship between Iran and the agency.” “When sensitive areas are visited, the information that becomes available to the agency can be of high value to others, including those who may not have the best of intentions,” he continued. “Notions of threats of attacks against Iran’s safeguarded and other facilities by a major nuclear-weapon state are still there.” Naseri suggested that spies have infiltrated the agency, and criticized the reported U.S. eavesdropping of ElBaradei’s telephone (see GSN, Dec. 13, 2004). “We don’t know how many people, outsiders, are continuously monitoring the discussions that take place within the agency. We know about the eavesdropping and that could by itself be an indication that further and other activities are also being conducted,” he said. EU-Iran Talks Rigid differences also appear to be threatening progress in the Europe-Iran talks, where Iran has steadfastly insisted that it would never shut down its uranium enrichment program, a demand reportedly made by the European nations. “It is not on the table, it will not be on the table and it should not be on the table,” Naseri told reporters yesterday. This afternoon, he reiterated Iran’s plans to build an extensive fuel production complex capable of producing volumes of material far in excess of Iranian needs. “Nuclear fuel production is a part of a lucrative market in the near future. Within a decade or so, there will be a stronger demand for nuclear energy to all forecasts and therefore a much stronger demand for nuclear fuel. We have the technology, we have the facilities, and we will produce nuclear fuel for our own consumption first and hopefully one day for making it available in a competitive manner to others who would require it,” he said. “It would be entirely wrong and misguided to ask Iran to give this capability up.” The United States, for its part, expressed concerns over Iran retaining any enrichment capability. “Given Iran’s history of clandestine nuclear activities and its documented efforts to deceive the IAEA and the international community, only the full cessation and dismantling of Iran’s fissile material production can begin to give us any confidence that Iran is no longer pursuing nuclear weapons,” Sanders said in her statement to the board today. U.N. Security Council The United States also renewed its call for the agency board to refer the Iranian nuclear issue to the U.N. Security Council.  “The board has a statutory obligation to do so — but thus far, has failed to do so. The board cannot ignore forever its statutory responsibility to report this matter to the UNSC,” Sanders said. “The Security Council has the international legal and political authority that will be required to bring this issue to a successful and peaceful resolution,” including the ability to require and enforce a suspension of Iran’s uranium enrichment and plutonium processing activities, she said. The U.N. nuclear watchdog’s top safeguards official yesterday disclosed that Iran has informed the agency that it plans to continue production of a heavy water research reactor, the type of facility that many proliferation experts assert to be excellent for producing plutonium. Special Committee Proposed As the Board of Governors has not referred Iran to the Security Council, the United States sought to build pressure on Tehran by proposing a special board committee to consider the issue, according to a Western diplomat familiar with board activities. The initial U.S. proposal recommended filling the committee with a select group of board members and giving the group decision-making authority, the diplomat said. Opposition from a broad spectrum of board members, however, forced the U.S. delegation to reduce its stringent demands and to allow all board members to participate. In addition, the United States made a concession on the body’s authority, agreeing that the committee would only make recommendations to the board, which would in turn make formal decisions, the diplomat said. As diplomats ended today’s meeting, they had reached no final decision on creating the special committee. Back to top       Case Closed on Egyptian Nuclear Research By Greg Webb Global Security Newswire VIENNA — Egypt avoided a formal rebuke from the International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday, when the agency’s Board of Governor’s discussed recent disclosures that Cairo had conducted unreported nuclear research as recently as 2003. Board members issued statements regarding the matter but the group as a whole did not offer a formal message (see GSN, Feb. 14). The lack of action reflected the views of many diplomats here that Egypt’s transgressions were relatively minor, and did not merit the same response given to South Korea at the board’s last meeting in November. Two weeks ago, agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei circulated a report to the board finding “a number of failures by Egypt to report to the agency in accordance with its obligations.” Specifically, agency inspectors had uncovered nuclear research that had never been reported. The research involved irradiation of natural uranium and some plutonium reprocessing experiments. In addition, Egypt had not disclosed inventories of small amounts of enriched uranium and had produced 3 kilograms of uranium metal, the report says. The agency found that South Korea, on the other hand, had failed to report more expansive research. The experiments included the enrichment of a small amount of uranium to near weapon-grade levels, plutonium reprocessing research, and the production of about 150 kilograms of uranium metal, according to an agency report. At the November board meeting here, diplomats rejected a U.S. effort to refer South Korea to the U.N. Security Council for consideration, deciding instead to issue a written rebuke (see GSN, Nov. 26, 2004). Yesterday, however, the board elected simply to hear statements on Egypt from members. The United States praised Egypt’s assistance with agency efforts to understand its past nuclear activities. “In so cooperating, Egypt is demonstrating the appropriate means for resolving outstanding safeguards issues, specifically full cooperation with the IAEA on steps to address all concerns,” said the U.S. statement to the board. “This example is one that we believe all states should follow,” the statement added in an indirect prodding of Iran, whose nuclear program has dominated this week’s meeting (see related GSN story, today). Similarly, the Nonaligned Movement — which is sometimes at odds with the United States in this forum — agreed in its statement “that the issue in question is not a matter of proliferation concern.” Back to top       Iran Would Need At Least Two Years to Manufacture Nuclear Weapon, Western Diplomats Say It would take Iran a year to produce enough weapon-grade uranium for one bomb and another year to build the weapon, Western diplomats said yesterday (see GSN, March 1). “Iran would have to master the process of running centrifuges in cascades, which they probably haven’t, (and to) have built enough of them, which they probably haven’t. Of the more than 1,000 they have made, the IAEA assumes ... as many as 50 percent will not work,” said a diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran would need to end the uranium enrichment suspension it agreed to with France, Germany and the United Kingdom in order to develop the material for a weapon, the diplomat added, “or they would have to have a secret cascade somewhere.” There is no evidence of such hidden technology, the diplomat added (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters, March 1). European officials said yesterday they expected a U.S. decision soon on possible incentives for Iran to relinquish its nuclear program, Reuters reported. French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said he expected a decision “in the coming weeks ... the coming days.” U.S. Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) said he “got the sense [President George W. Bush] was prepared to put some more carrots on the table,” but that the administration is pressing the European nations to prepare to take action if the incentives fail. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, however, said there was no set schedule for a decision. “I think we still need to explore, we need to discuss and see how we can come further together, perhaps even on support for the EU discussions with the Iranians,” she said (Reuters, March 1). Asked about possible military action against Iran, Rice said Washington “never categorically rules out anything but we are in a state in which diplomacy has time to work, in which we have many other diplomatic arrows in our quiver” (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, March 1). Iran’s refusal to allow IAEA inspectors to revisit the Parchin facility is not surprising, a State Department official said yesterday (see GSN, March 1). “This adds to our concern that Iran is trying to hide something,” the official said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, March 2). Back to top       New Weapons Will be Impervious to Missile Defense Systems, Russian Defense Minister Says Russian nuclear-capable missiles now being developed will be able to counter any missile defense system, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 31). “There is not and will not be any defense against these missiles,” he was quoted as saying by Interfax. Ivanov reportedly indicated that the planned missiles would be based on the Topol-M ICBM and the new sea-based Bulava ICBM, according to the Associated Press. The new missiles would be for defensive purposes only, he said. “Russia will ... remain a major nuclear power,” Ivanov said. “But we will not bake missiles like pies. Their quantity should be such that it allows for the provision of our own security in any potential development of the international situation” (Steve Gutterman, Associated Press/Billings Gazette, March 1). Back to top       China, South Korea Urge North Korea to Resume Nuclear Talks as Beijing Envoy Arrives in Seoul Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei today began a three-day visit to South Korea as Seoul again called on North Korea to return to stalled six-party talks on its nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 1). “The government has urged and now urges again North Korea to return to six-way talks without any delay,” Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said. Wu met with Ban, Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-sik and Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon. The Chinese envoy told Ban he had been sent “to exchange opinions,” according to AFP. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to discuss the North Korea situation during stops in South Korea and other East Asian countries, Ban said. Song is scheduled to visit Russia next week for talks on North Korea, Ban added (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, March 2). Back to top

U.S. Postal Service Better Prepared for Any Future Anthrax Attacks, Senior Official Says The U.S. Postal Service has increased its ability to protect people against a future possible anthrax attack conducted through the mail, such as was done in 2001, a senior agency official said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 23). A new biohazard detection system has been installed in about 100 out of 283 mail-processing facilities nationwide, with the rest set to be installed by November, said Zane Hill, who leads the Postal Service’s dangerous mail and homeland security division.  “All the employees there would be protected and nobody in the public would get sick,” he told the Associated Press in an interview conducted on the sidelines of an Interpol-hosted bioterrorism conference in France. Hill also said that the Postal Service could have responded better to the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed five people if a system had been in place to allow for immediate coordination with experts. “We didn’t know about the science or a lot about the health risk,” he said. “We learned that as we went” (Jocelyn Gecker, Associated Press/North County Times, March 1). Back to top

Republican Senators Criticize Planned Budget Cuts to U.S. Chemical Weapons Disposal Program By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Two Republican senators yesterday criticized the Bush administration’s plan to cancel funding for chemical weapons destruction work at two U.S. Army depots through 2011 (see GSN, Feb. 15). The Defense Department in its 2006 budget eliminated hundreds of millions of dollars planned for the construction next year of chemical weapons destruction facilities at the Bluegrass Army Depot in Kentucky the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado, while adding $31 million for additional research of destruction technologies at the sites. The move, part of a five-year budget plan presented to Congress, initiates a freeze on construction at the sites through 2011 and suggests that the administration is not aiming for the United States to meet its Chemical Weapons Convention commitment of destroying its arsenal by 2012. “Do you know how long we’ve been researching the destruction of those weapons?” Senator Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) asked Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz at a Senate Budget Committee hearing on the Defense Department’s budget for fiscal 2006.  “We have a treaty to get rid of them by 2012. And even the money we appropriated in the last DOD budgets, over the last one, two, three years, you want to use it for other purposes now.” Factoring time for facility construction and weapons destruction, Paul Walker, director of Global Green USA’s Legacy Program, said the sites may not finish eliminating their stores until as late as 2018 or 2019. The Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader reported yesterday that a Defense Department document states that the two sites are set to go on “caretaker status” for five years, followed by two years of “redesign.” Construction would begin in 2012, and the Kentucky facility would not finish weapons disposal until 2018, it said. “How can we argue that [the other declared chemical weapons states] should meet their deadlines?” Walker said in an interview today. “For us to plan to miss our deadlines by a half a decade or so, that tends to have serious diplomatic implications, as well as for homeland security.” Program Costs Cited Wolfowitz cited growing costs for chemical weapons demilitarization as causing the delay in disposal. “We understand the priority that has to be put into getting rid of this stuff. But we also have a problem with costs that are just going through the roof,” he said (see GSN, Feb. 24). He said that despite the cuts the budget does contain $1.4 billion for chemical demilitarization at other sites in fiscal 2006 and $6.3 billion over the course of the program. Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) said the administration’s cuts add delays, confusion, and costs to the program and questioned whether they would prompt international doubts about the U.S. commitment to meeting the treaty’s deadline. “I would hope that you would sit down [with] Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,” Allard said. Rice has said “such a failure would damage our credibility overseas and hinder our efforts to hold other nations accountable when we don’t meet our deadlines,” Allard said. The United States now stores about 22,000 tons of chemical weapons at eight sites in the continental United States. Destruction facilities have been operating at, or as with the case of the Blue Grass and Pueblo facilities, are planned for each site to meet the U.S. commitment to the Chemical Weapons Convention. Construction of a chemical weapons neutralization facility was initially to begin in late 2003 at Pueblo, with work on a neutralization site at Blue Grass to follow in 2004. The facilities also each lost $100 million in anticipated funding for the current fiscal year. The Defense Department previously had planned to spend up to $388 million for construction at both sites in fiscal 2006. All of that money has been eliminated. Walker of Global Green USA suspects the cuts for Blue Grass and Pueblo are the product of efforts by the administration to reduce the overall federal budget, “given the president’s decision to cut the deficit in half and not raise taxes.” “I would think there has been a top-line given to the [Army] Chemical Materials Agency … [forcing] really difficult choices,” he said. The Army has said it is assessing options to meet the 2012 treaty deadline, including possibly shipping weapons from Pueblo and Blue Grass for disposal at operating incinerators (see GSN, Jan. 20). An interim progress report on the study is scheduled to be given Friday to the Defense Department, according to a Chemical Materials Agency press release. U.S. law, however, bans shipping the weapons, short of a presidential order and approval by the affected governors. The fact that the chemical weapons destruction program is a target of such budgetary pressure suggests a “curious disconnect” between the administration’s stated prioritization of nonproliferation and threat reduction and its actions, Walker said. The cuts may have been made “with the full knowledge that it would create a political firestorm on Capitol Hill and the funding would be restored,” he said. Back to top

Ukrainian Authorities Arrest Man Found With Uranium Ukrainian authorities have arrested a man found in possession of more than 500 grams of uranium 238, the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 11). Officers detained the man at Boryspil airport in Kiev. He was found with a case containing 582 grams of the radioactive material in his car, the ministry said. It did not say when the arrest occurred, according to Reuters (Reuters, March 2). Back to top       U.S. Attorney General Defends Padilla Detention Following a federal court ruling this week that detained “dirty bomb” suspect Jose Padilla must either be released or charged with a crime, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales yesterday defended the Bush administration’s decision to hold Padilla without criminal charges, according to the Washington Post (see GSN, March 1). Gonzales told lawmakers that the government has the right to hold alleged enemy combatants in the war on terrorism “for the duration of hostilities.” He also said, though, that the government “has no interest in holding someone indefinitely” and will seek to resolve the issue by filing criminal charges or other means. U.S. Representatives Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) told Gonzales during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing that Padilla has the right to a trial. “If I knew the war on terrorism were going to end next year, I would have no problem,” Wolf said. “But I don’t believe it’s going to end. … And so we cannot continue to keep an American citizen — this is not (Osama) bin Laden” (Dan Eggen, Washington Post, March 2).     Back to top

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