Iranian nuclear negotiator Sirus Naseri (shown in 2004) reiterated at the conclusion of today’s talks with the European Union that Tehran would not give up its uranium enrichment program (AFP photo/Robert Newald). No Breakthrough in Iran-EU Nuclear Negotiations Diplomats from France, Germany and the United Kingdom concluded another round of talks with their Iranian counterparts today without reaching an agreement on Tehran’s nuclear activities, Reuters reported (see GSN, March 22). Iran continues to reject European Union demands that it permanently end its uranium enrichment program, senior Iranian negotiator Sirus Naseri said after the meeting in Paris...Full Story

Plants, Fabric Involved in Anti-Anthrax Research By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The next breakthrough against an anthrax attack could be carried by tobacco plants or infused into soldiers’ clothing, scientists said this week during the 2005 Biodefense Research Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (see GSN, Jan. 28)...Full Story

U.S. Port Discussion Moves Beyond Containers By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Focus on shipping containers as potential Trojan horses for a WMD attack on the United States could be diverting needed attention from other seaborne threats, lawmakers and witnesses said at a field hearing yesterday on the subject (see GSN, Dec. 17, 2004)...Full Story

	Wednesday, March 23, 2005

U.S. Port Discussion Moves Beyond Containers By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Focus on shipping containers as potential Trojan horses for a WMD attack on the United States could be diverting needed attention from other seaborne threats, lawmakers and witnesses said at a field hearing yesterday on the subject (see GSN, Dec. 17, 2004). The United States has done a good job of addressing the shipping-container threat across the supply chain, but other potentially devastating scenarios — the sinking of a cruise vessel at a strategic location to paralyze river commerce, for example — have gone comparatively unnoticed, House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee Chairman Christopher Cox (R-Calif.) told reporters by telephone after a hearing of the panel in Vicksburg, Miss. “Everybody’s talking about security for containers,” Inland Rivers, Ports and Terminals Association Executive Director Deirdre McGowan said when interviewed separately by telephone after testifying at the hearing. “Of course, I was audacious enough to say that the Cole was not attacked by a container.” The U.S.S. Cole was attacked by an explosive-laden terrorist craft in October 2000 the port of Aden, Yemen. McGowan said inland ports do not get the attention that ocean ports receive even though the former can be more vulnerable, since they tend to be longer. “They just don’t have the visibility that the ocean ports do,” she said. About 4 percent of federal port security grant money goes for inland ports, McGowan said. She called for a renewed commitment to inland ports, including for use as test grounds for new technologies and new approaches to port security. Cox and McGowan both stressed the importance of basing port security funding on risk. “All of our terrorism preparedness grants should be risk-based,” Cox said. Although McGowan acknowledged that high-profile threats such as radiological weapons are not as applicable to inland ports as ocean ports, she called for a greater focus on conventional weapons that could have a serious economic effect on river commerce. She offered the example of the port of Pittsburgh — potentially vulnerable to a container carrying radiation, she said, “but how likely is that?” “Is this really where we should put our resources?” she asked. Back to top

No Breakthrough in Iran-EU Nuclear Negotiations Diplomats from France, Germany and the United Kingdom concluded another round of talks with their Iranian counterparts today without reaching an agreement on Tehran’s nuclear activities, Reuters reported (see GSN, March 22). Iran continues to reject European Union demands that it permanently end its uranium enrichment program, senior Iranian negotiator Sirus Naseri said after the meeting in Paris. “This is not something we are prepared to consider. However, as you know the Europeans have a view on that,” Naseri said. He added that a new round of discussions was likely to take place soon and that the Iranian side did not want the process to stall. “There will be a further discussion within the next few weeks,” he said. “Time is of the essence.” The Europeans would not compromise on the question of uranium enrichment after receiving U.S. backing of their effort, a European diplomat had said today prior to the talks. “We both have our entrenched positions,” the diplomat said. “With the Americans on board, the EU three couldn’t move if they wanted to” (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters, March 23). Prior to the meeting today, an Iranian official had said the talks must culminate in a compromise allowing Tehran to resume uranium enrichment, Agence France-Presse reported. “In today’s negotiations it is expected that we reach an understanding about those firm and objective guarantees and the issue of resuming enrichment for the fuel cycle,” Ali Agha Mohammadi, spokesman for the Supreme National Security Council, told state radio. “If this does not happen, naturally it will be the end of the negotiations and we will return to our ordinary state and resume enrichment,” he added (Agence France-Presse/Turkish Press, March 23). Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said no one is planning military action against Iran over its nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. “Let’s just pursue the diplomatic path for the moment. No one is talking about anything else at the moment,” Blair told the British monthly Muslim News in an interview to be published Friday (Agence France-Presse/IranMania.com, March 22). Back to top       United States Has Set June Deadline for North Korea Nuclear Talks, Diplomatic Source Says The United States has decided on a late June deadline for North Korea to resume stalled six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program, according to a diplomatic source in Tokyo (see GSN, March 22). “To sum up what Secretary of State [Condoleezza] Rice told the Chinese, the United States cannot wait for more than a year from the previous round of talks,” the diplomatic source told Reuters today. The last full negotiations occurred in June 2004. “Obviously, one of the options that the United States has in mind beyond that is to refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council,” the source added (Teruaki Ueno, Reuters, March 23). However, analysts have said Washington would not find international support for penalties the council might consider, Agence France-Presse reported today. U.N. Security Council members China and Russia have previously said they would block any U.S. effort to impose sanctions through that body, according to AFP. Some countries may be looking for more diplomatic efforts before even considering sanctions, said Park Kun Young of the Brookings Institution. “I don’t think it is possible for South Korea and other countries to join [the] U.S. if it wants to impose sanctions on North Korea because they view that the U.S. is not exhausting diplomatic means,” Park said (P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, March 23). Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi indicated today he would delay considering economic sanctions against North Korea in hopes that Pyongyang would resume six-party talks, AFP reported. “I don’t buy the idea that economic sanctions should come first,” Koizumi said. “I think North Korea will come back to the six-way talks because it is in North Korea’s best benefit to discuss the nuclear issue at the six-way talks,” he added (Agence France-Presse, March 23). North Korean Premier Pak Pong Ju yesterday said Pyongyang might be willing to resume talks, the Associated Press reported. “If conditions are right in the future, North Korea is willing at any time to participate at the six-party talks,” a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry quoted Pak as telling his Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao (Associated Press/Los Angeles Times, March 23). Pak met with Chinese President Hu Jintao today in Beijing, with Hu promoting a return to six-party talks that involve China, Japan, Russia, North Korea, South Korea and the United States, Reuters reported. “China will continue to urge peace and promote talks and is willing, together with the other relevant parties, to play a constructive role to recover the six-party talks,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as saying (Lindsay Beck, Reuters, March 23). Back to top       MOX-Laden Ships Depart France for Charleston, S.C. Two ships departed Cherbourg, France, early this morning carrying four rods of mixed-oxide nuclear fuel destined for South Carolina’s Catawba Nuclear Station, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 16). The Pacific Teal and the Pacific Pintail are outfitted with naval guns and protected by additional armed forces for the trip, according to the French company Areva, which fabricated the U.S. weapon-grade plutonium into the fuel. The fuel will be tested at the South Carolina nuclear plant. A MOX factory is planned for the Savannah River Site, near Aiken, S.C., to convert military plutonium the United States and Russia agreed to destroy under the terms of a September 2000 accord. Another MOX factory is envisioned for Russia, according to AP (Associated Press/MyrtleBeachOnline.com, March 23). Back to top       Ukraine Investigating Fate of Nuclear Missiles Following revelations that 18 nuclear-capable X-55 missiles had been shipped from Ukraine to China and Iran, the Ukrainian government has begun investigating the fate of its portion of the former Soviet Union’s nuclear arsenal, the Financial Times reported today (see GSN, March 18). The Defense Ministry and secret police have been ordered to investigate what became of the armaments, which were supposed to have been destroyed or transferred to Russia after the Soviet Union dissolved, said Petro Poroshenko, secretary of the Ukrainian National Security Council. Poroshenko also said an “objective, unprejudiced and transparent” investigation of the missile transfers would be conducted and that Ukraine would strengthen its export controls “in order to rule out any recurrence.” Poroshenko added that the missile sales were not official policy. “We’re not talking about a crime carried out by the state of Ukraine. There’s no evidence that this sale was sanctioned,” he said. Records indicate that 483 of the X-55 missiles were destroyed under the U.S.-funded Cooperative Threat Reduction program, according to a Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman. The spokesman declined to say, however, how many were initially in the Ukrainian arsenal or how many remained. Missiles that were reported as destroyed were actually turned over to the state arms export company, which sold them to smugglers, according to a member of the Ukrainian parliament who first publicized the case last month (Tom Warner, Financial Times, March 23). Back to top

Plants, Fabric Involved in Anti-Anthrax Research By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The next breakthrough against an anthrax attack could be carried by tobacco plants or infused into soldiers’ clothing, scientists said this week during the 2005 Biodefense Research Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (see GSN, Jan. 28). More than 200 research papers were presented at the four-day conference in Baltimore. While scientists continue to seek improved smallpox and anthrax vaccines, others are approaching the fight from different angles. Among the research subjects: detecting infection through use of light or breath checks, and a food preservative that neutralizes anthrax spores. “Were starting to see a lot of new technology at the very early stages,” said ASM spokesman Jim Sliwa. “It’s almost like we’re starting to see the fruits of the biodefense investment that was made several years ago” (see GSN, March 1). Scientists Les Baillie and Vidadi Yusibov have been working for two years to use tobacco plants to produce antibodies that could be used to protect humans from anthrax. The “plantibodies” are developed by collecting antibody-producing cells from people who have been vaccinated against the infection. Encoded genes are transferred into a plant, which begins producing antibodies in a matter of days. The entire process takes two to three months, said molecular biologist Yusibov, scientific director of the Fraunhofer USA Center for Molecular Biotechnology in Delaware. Tests on mice have shown the plantibodies produce full protection against anthrax spores, Yusibov said. “The antibodies we made in plants are just as good as the antibodies we made in humans,” he said. Tobacco plants were chosen for their large leaves, which able to carry higher numbers of antibodies, Yusibov said. Plants such as lettuce are also being considered for use. There are several benefits to using plants, the scientists said. Producing antibodies now requires large facilities that can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take years to build, Yusibov said. Large numbers of tobacco plants could essentially be grown in greenhouses, removing up to 90 percent of the capital cost. The risk of contamination by other diseases in growing antibodies in human or mammal cells is also eliminated; plant viruses are not known to affect humans, said Baillie, a microbiologist at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. Large numbers of antibodies could be extracted from the plants and stored for years in preparation for a possible attack. Unlike vaccines, which can take weeks to months to provide protection, the virus-disabling proteins go to work immediately. They can be used before exposure to block infection or as a treatment after infection. There is still an extensive amount of work to be done before the plant-produced antibodies could be ready for use, the scientists said. They are planning tests on rabbits and monkeys this year, which would be followed by safety testing on humans. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration must also approve use of the treatment. Questions on the antibody yield and efficacy from the plants also need to be answered, the scientists said. Baillie and Yusibov hope their research will assist efforts to defend both the U.S. military and civilian populations from an anthrax attack. Their work has received significant funding from the Defense Department, and has been championed by U.S. Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.). They aren’t stopping with one bioagent, either: plantibodies against plague and botulism are also being developed. “The hope is that it will produce the capability for the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security to respond to a biological attack,” Baillie said. “We’re very hopeful this will come to something.” Robert Engel, a chemistry and biochemistry professor at Queens College in New York, hopes he has developed a treated fabric that will kill anthrax spores before they can infect the wearer. Engel and collaborators JaimeLee Cohen and Karin Melkonian have been working for three years to perfect a process by which an antimicrobial detergent could be chemically attached to fabric, wood, paper and other surfaces. The idea is to kill bacteria on contact with the surface, Engel said. “It’s like stabbing the bacteria,” he said. While it has potential commercial antibacterial and antifungal uses, it is the possible military application that has caught the attention of the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center in Natick, Mass., which develops clothing, food, shelters and other requirements for soldiers. Microbiologist Jon Calomiris since last fall has been testing the feasibility of using treated fabric against anthrax. Tests at room temperature showed that 90 percent of dormant spores of a nonpathogenic strain of anthrax were killed within five hours of being applied directly to cloth samples treated with the detergent. The kill rate reached 99 percent within one hour at higher temperatures and humidity, while spores on nontreated control fabrics remained viable. Anthrax spores are hardest to kill during when dormant. Active spores would likely be easier to eliminate, as would other viruses or bacteria that might be used against soldiers, said Heidi Schreuder-Gibson, primary officer for the project at the Natick center. Testing indicates that using antimicrobial fabric is possible, said Calomiris, who works at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. Someday, the treatment might be used for clothing, tents or tarps to protect soldiers or “in any situation where there is a release of anthrax spores and there is concern about the spores settling on a fabric,” he said. Development is in the “very early” stages, Schreuder-Gibson said. Calomiris said he will spend several months performing tests using different treatments at different temperatures and humidity, and will test the fabric’s efficacy against aerosolized spores. Further research would be needed on the potential health effects of using the antimicrobial compound, and its potential application in the field. Schreuder-Gibson said she hopes to have prototype garments ready for testing under a range of conditions in 2007. “We’re only interested in compounds that would work under the toughest conditions,” she said. Back to top       Chertoff Orders Review of Anthrax Response Preliminary results are due Friday from a review ordered by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff of the federal government’s response to the anthrax scare last week in Northern Virginia, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, March 17). Governors Mark Warner of Virginia and Robert Ehrlich of Maryland and Washington Mayor Anthony Williams said their governments have also initiated an “after-action” study of the event. Local and state agencies have criticized the Defense Department for failing to notify them on March 14 after test results indicated a Pentagon mailroom had been contaminated by anthrax. There have also been questions on communication between federal agencies. Later tests indicated the mailroom was clean of anthrax. A separate biological agent alert on March 14 at a Defense Department mail facility in Fairfax County is not believed to be connected, the Post reported. “Before we can draw accurate conclusions about what went well and areas needing improvement, we need facts,” Warner said in a joint statement with Ehrlich and Williams. “This state and local review will be merged with federal findings to create a comprehensive picture of what transpired” (Washington Post, March 25). Meanwhile, the president and CEO of Commonwealth Biotechnologies Inc. rejected suspicions that his firm might had accidentally contaminated samples from the Pentagon mailroom while testing them for anthrax, United Press International reported. Robert Harris said two government laboratories also independently detected anthrax on the samples. Testing at Commonwealth Biotechnologies has never led to a false positive, he said “It is a fact that we had a presumptive positive test come up,” Harris said. “That presumptive positive test was confirmed by us and by at least two other labs as being a true positive.” A spokeswoman for U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Maryland confirmed the additional testing. “There is a component of the Homeland Security Department that has a laboratory that is located in our building,” spokeswoman Carlee Vander Linden said. “They have a presence here at Fort Detrick. The samples were basically parted out and there was analysis done by USAMRIID and by the forensics lab under DHS. I know that the negatives that we got were on the ones that came directly from the (mail) facility and did not pass through the contractor. The positives that we got were on samples that had been handled already by the people in Virginia.” “USAMRIID is not saying that, 'Gee, there probably was a contamination event,’” Vander Linden said.   “I think some people are surmising that. It certainly has been reported that way. I think that we'll just have to wait and see” (Dee Ann Divis, United Press International/New Kerala, March 21). Back to top

Incineration to Begin Next Week at Pine Bluff Chemical weapons incineration is set to begin Tuesday at the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Arkansas, the U.S. Army announced yesterday (see GSN, March 15). Work will begin with the disposal of two M55 rockets filled with the nerve agent sarin. “We have confirmed the readiness of our plant, processes and people to begin safe and environmentally sound operations,” site project manager Randy Long said in a press release. “Our plan is to start slowly, gradually increasing the rate of processing to ensure successful operations for the life cycle of the project.” Pine Bluff holds 3,850 tons of chemical agent, 12 percent of the original U.S. stockpile. Disposal of the M55 rockets will be followed in succession by elimination of rockets carrying VX nerve agent, VX landmines and bulk containers of mustard agent, the Army said (U.S. Army release, March 22). Work is expected to continue at least through 2008, the Associated Press reported (Associated Press, March 23). Meanwhile, a federal judge has ruled against activists who filed a lawsuit to shut down the chemical weapons incinerator at Anniston, Ala., the Associated Press reported yesterday. U.S. District Judge David Proctor ruled that the facility’s incineration and waste-disposal methods are in line with its 1997 operating permit, AP reported. “This has once again vindicated to the Army that incineration is a safe and proven technology,” said Greg Mahall, a spokesman for the Army Chemical Materials Agency. “We're very confident in the technology.” Eleven activist organizations that filed the lawsuit in 2002 are considering an appeal of the summary judgment, which was made without the case going to trial. They argue that the incinerator poses a risk to people and the environment in the Anniston area. The federal government has won most of the more than 20 lawsuits filed to stop chemical weapons incineration around the United States, AP reported. “It’s a David and Goliath exercise to begin with,” said Craig Williams, director of the anti-incineration Chemical Weapons Working Group. “But just because there have been repetitious decisions finding in their favor doesn’t mean what they’re doing is acceptable” (Associated Press/Tuscaloosa News, March 22.) Back to top       Large Sarin Containers Leaking at Umatilla Four large storage containers holding sarin are beginning to leak at the U.S. Army Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon, the Hermiston Herald reported yesterday (see GSN, March 8). “The contents have started to deteriorate the containers. This is a no-win situation,” said depot commander Lt. Col David “Doc” Holliday. Acids used in 1984 when the nerve agent was transferred from smaller tanks appears to have damaged plugs on each ton container, the Herald reported. The depot is using silicon around each plug to prevent leaking, and has placed absorbent “socks” around the containers in case any liquid does escape. Airtight tanks are being built at the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah that will be able to hold the leaking containers, Holliday said. They are expected to arrive in Oregon late this month or in early April (Karen Hutchinson-Talaski, Hermiston Herald, March 22). Chemical weapons incineration at Umatilla is moving faster following safety errors last year that required retraining of all 700 workers at the disposal facility, the East Oregonian reported Monday (see GSN, Dec. 16, 2004). Workers are eliminating hundreds of M55 rockets each week. They were only disposing of 24 weekly last fall, the Oregonian reported. Roughly 8,000 rockets have been eliminated, 9 percent of the stockpile at Umatilla (Amy Jo Brown, East Oregonian, March 21). Back to top

Waiver of U.S. Missile Proliferation Sanctions on China Extended, State Department Official Says The United States has extended a waiver of sanctions against China for missile proliferation activities, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 22, 2004). “On March 17, we extended for another six months the waiver of import penalties against certain Chinese government activities under the missile sanctions law,” a State Department official told AFP. “The waiver of the import ban under the missile sanctions law was extended because it was essential to the national security of the United States to do so,” the official added. Washington imposed sanctions against the state-run China North Industries Inc. (NORINCO) in September 2003 for sales of missile technology to an unnamed country, the official said. Previous penalties had been levied against the company for sales to Iran, according to AFP. The sanctions were first waived in September 2004 for six months (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, March 22).   Back to top

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