President George W. Bush (shown today in Washington) is expected to adopt many recommendations of a White House-ordered intelligence study to be released tomorrow (AFP photo/Chip Somodevilla). U.S. Intelligence Panel to Recommend Creating National WMD Nonproliferation Center A presidential commission that studied intelligence failures in the buildup to the Iraq war is expected to recommend establishing a national nonproliferation center to coordinate efforts to stem the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, March 28)...Full Story

Anthrax Vaccinations Expected to Resume By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department could soon resume anthrax vaccinations of U.S. military personnel pending a court decision expected this week or following a Food and Drug Administration decision sometime later, according to a lawyer for soldiers who sued to stop mandatory anthrax vaccinations (see GSN, Feb. 25)...Full Story

Journalists View Iranian Nuclear Facility Iran today allowed 30 foreign and local journalists to visit its underground uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, Reuters reported (see GSN, March 25)...Full Story

	Wednesday, March 30, 2005

U.S. Intelligence Panel to Recommend Creating National WMD Nonproliferation Center A presidential commission that studied intelligence failures in the buildup to the Iraq war is expected to recommend establishing a national nonproliferation center to coordinate efforts to stem the spread of weapons of mass destruction, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, March 28). The 700-page classified report, scheduled to be released tomorrow, will also propose heightened competitive analysis and information-sharing by U.S. intelligence agencies, creation of an intelligence ombudsman position to deal with analysts’ concerns and encouraging more dissenting views in formation of national intelligence estimates, officials said. White House press secretary Scott McClellan suggested that U.S. President George W. Bush would adopt many of the commission’s suggestions. “We will carefully consider the recommendations and act quickly on the recommendations, as well,” he said yesterday. “They build upon the steps we’ve already taken to improve our intelligence sharing and gathering” (Pincus/Baker, Washington Post, March 30). The report is expected to recommend that the FBI establish a semi-autonomous service to identify and halt nuclear, chemical and biological threats, the New York Times reported today. Incorporating the commission’s recommendations into reforms already initiated as the result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, however, will be complicated, officials told the Times yesterday The commission also found no evidence that faulty pre-Iraq war intelligence was the result of political pressure from the White House or the Defense Department, according to the Times (Sanger/Johnston, New York Times, March 29). Back to top

Journalists View Iranian Nuclear Facility Iran today allowed 30 foreign and local journalists to visit its underground uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, Reuters reported (see GSN, March 25). The journalists accompanying President Mohammad Khatami were taken to the sub-basement of a building and shown an empty space that could accommodate 50,000 centrifuges. The complex is fortified by at least 10 anti-aircraft batteries, according to Reuters. The enrichment facility itself is more than 54 feet underground, according to Iranian officials. “IAEA inspectors visit this facility at least once a month and also use a monitoring system to check the suspension [of uranium enrichment],” said Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. “We can start test enrichment at any time,” said Ehsan Monajemi, construction project manager at Natanz. “In the pilot section, centrifuges are installed and are ready for enrichment.” “The sealing of the facilities has affected the morale of our people. It would be sad if it continued,” he said (Amir Paivar, Reuters, March 30). Back to top       China Pressing North Korea for New Round of Six-Party Nuclear Talks, South Korea Says The Chinese “goodwill delegation” visiting North Korea this week could be a sign of new progress in efforts to persuade Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks on its nuclear program, Reuters reported today (see GSN, March 29). “China and North Korea will have quite a bit of talking to do, and the North takes time to analyze what it has,” said a South Korean official familiar with the talks, adding that progress was likely to come within two months. Meanwhile, South Korean Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung was expected to meet this week with Chinese defense officials to discuss the nuclear standoff, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said. North Korea’s extended refusal to return to the negotiations is not unexpected, one analyst told Reuters. Representatives from China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, North Korea and the United States last met for full talks in June 2004. “North Korean leaders do not follow the schedule of South Korean and U.S. leaders,” said Ahn Yinhay, professor of international studies at Korea University. “They need some kind of event or momentum to make a move,” she said (Jack Kim, Reuters, March 30). Back to top       Carter Knocks White House on Commitment to NPT The United States is the “major culprit” in the weakening of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, former President Jimmy Carter said in a commentary published yesterday in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (see GSN, March 8). “While claiming to be protecting the world from proliferation threats in Iraq, Libya, Iran and North Korea, American leaders not only have abandoned existing treaty restraints but also have asserted plans to test and develop new weapons, including antiballistic missiles, the earth-penetrating ‘bunker buster’ and perhaps some new ‘small’ bombs,” Carter wrote. “They also have abandoned past pledges and now threaten first use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states.” There is no agenda yet for the May treaty review conference in New York “because of the deep divisions between nuclear powers that refuse to meet their own disarmament commitments and the non-nuclear movement, whose demands include honoring these pledges and considering the Israeli arsenal,” according to Carter. He recommended several “corrective actions,” including: further work on reducing the U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals; consideration by NATO of ending the deployment of nuclear weapons in Western Europe; U.S. commitment to honor the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and support for a Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty; and reducing work on the “infeasible” U.S. missile defense system (Jimmy Carter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 29). Back to top       Lockheed Martin to Compete for Los Alamos Contract Lockheed Martin has reversed course and decided to bid for the contract to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Aug. 9, 2004). The U.S. defense contractor last summer decided against seeking the contract due to concerns over the lack of profitability in running the nuclear weapons research site.  Changes ordered by the U.S. Energy Department in the request for bid proposals to manage Los Alamos led Lockheed Martin to reconsider its decision, said company spokesman Don Carson. Changes include allowing the laboratory manager to offer a pension plan other than the expensive program used by current manager, the University of California, and requiring the contractor to set up a separate legal entity to operate the facility. Lockheed Martin already has the contract to manage the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico through September 2009. A bid proposal for Los Alamos should be ready within a few months, Carson said. “Lockheed Martin is fully committed to doing this,” he said (Peter Barnes, Associated Press, March 30). Back to top

Anthrax Vaccinations Expected to Resume By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department could soon resume anthrax vaccinations of U.S. military personnel pending a court decision expected this week or following a Food and Drug Administration decision sometime later, according to a lawyer for soldiers who sued to stop mandatory anthrax vaccinations (see GSN, Feb. 25). A federal judge suspended the required shots last October, after finding that the FDA had not properly reviewed the vaccine before declaring it safe and effective against inhalation anthrax. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, however, is expected to rule this week that his injunction does not bar vaccination using the unlicensed drug voluntarily, if authorized under a declared state of emergency. Following a request from Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, then-Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson declared such an emergency in January and issued an “emergency use authorization” for the voluntary vaccinations. Although the vaccinations would be voluntary, soldiers could still be pressured into taking vaccine, which is believed to have some rare but severe side effects, said attorney Mark Zaid, representing military and civilian personnel in a lawsuit that pushed for the suspension. Without the emergency authorization, the law requires service-members to be informed about an unlicensed drug’s possible side effects and to consent to be vaccinated, unless that requirement is waived by the president. Zaid said he expects Sullivan to allow the vaccinations to take place under the emergency authorization. The Defense Department has said it would provide vaccine recipients with a tri-fold brochure providing information on the vaccine and on options to accept or refuse the vaccine. Zaid said, though, that several nongovernmental organizations in an “amicus curiae” brief are pressing Sullivan to require the Pentagon to offer potential recipients more information than the brochure now offers about the vaccine’s risks, to give that information prior to vaccination, and to have recipients sign a form indicating their consent to the vaccination. “All I want is for them to be able to make an informed choice,” he said. The government has argued that consideration of the brief is outside the court’s jurisdiction regarding the case. FDA Ruling Pending In addition, a 90-day comment period preceding a FDA determination on whether to license the vaccine for inhalation anthrax — a type anticipated in warfare or from terrorism — ended yesterday.  FDA licensing of the vaccine would allow the resumption of mandatory vaccinations without informed consent. An FDA spokeswoman said yesterday there is no set date for the decision and that it would follow a review of the public comments. Zaid expects the FDA to license the vaccine. It previously attempted to do so without full public comment in December 2003 after determining the vaccine is effective against skin and inhalation anthrax. The plaintiffs contend there is insufficient research showing the drug is effective against inhalation anthrax, and so the drug should remain investigational and be administered either with the informed consent of the vaccine recipient or following a presidential order. “You need to have an expert panel consider all of the evidence and make a recommendation to the FDA,” Zaid said. Back to top       Boston University Should Improve Laboratory Safety Oversight, City Public Health Report Says Boston University should bolster safety oversight at its medical school laboratories in the wake of last year’s tularemia exposures, the Boston Public Health Commission said in a report released Monday (see GSN, March 21). Boston University researchers working with the tularemia bacteria violated safety procedures on multiple occasions, according to the report by Anita Barry, the city’s director of communicable disease control. The report also says that the university should have had a system to detect infection among laboratory workers, according to the Boston Globe. Three researchers became ill after exposure to tularemia. “Clearly, enough wasn’t done,” Barry said. “There certainly was room at BU for there to be monitoring so that any risk of illness would be minimized.” The Boston City Council met Monday to discuss the university’s plans for a Biosafety Level 4 laboratory and to review sanctions by water regulators against the university for dumping silver and mercury into sewer systems. “What’s going to happen when they’re dealing with substances that are much, much, much more dangerous than silver and mercury?” said Councilor Chuck Turner, an opponent of the school’s planned laboratory, which would conduct research on anthrax, plague and other deadly pathogens (see GSN, Feb. 25). The university will implement recommendations made in the report, administrators said in a statement released Monday. “Boston University Medical Center wholeheartedly endorses the recommendations of the Boston Public Health Commission that resulted from its investigation,” the statement says (Stephen Smith, Boston Globe, March 29). Back to top       Oak Ridge Faulted for Handling of Anthrax Spores Federal investigators this week criticized the handling of dead anthrax spores at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 28). “While not a safety hazard, dead anthrax spores can cause false positive results in biological detectors,” says a report released Monday by the Energy Department’s inspector general. “A false positive could cause public panic and unnecessary deployment of emergency response resources.” A former Oak Ridge employee who returned as a “guest researcher” in 2003 used a laboratory and equipment “without authorization to conduct research on the anthrax spores,” the report states. Laboratory officials also violated security protocols by failing to keep careful track of 20 vials of dead anthrax spores and to advise senior officials of the guest researcher’s project, according to AP. Oak Ridge Manager Gerald Boyd said contractors Battelle Memorial Institute and the University of Tennessee would work to “strengthen the program ... to assure that only authorized researchers are conducting work” (Duncan Mansfield, Associated Press, March 29). Back to top

Zarqawi Said Planning Chemical Attack in Europe Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is believed to be planning a chemical weapons strike in Europe, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, March 1). “We in Europe have been afraid that a big bang is coming sometime and that Zarqawi is planning it,” an official with Germany’s BND intelligence agency said in the April edition of the German magazine Cicero. The al-Qaeda affiliated operative and his associates have sought weapons components in the north Caucasus region of Russia and in Georgia, the source said. It remains unknown if their efforts succeeded, another BND official said. “We only know that he is working on it,” the official said. About 150 German security personnel have been looking for clues on a possible attack, focusing on Berlin and the southern states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg, according to Cicero (Agence France-Presse, March 30). Meanwhile, U.S. officials said that a former Iraqi solider being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba had helped plot chemical attacks in Pakistan against the U.S. and other embassies, the Associated Press reported today. The suspect was a “trusted agent” of Osama bin Laden in al-Qaeda and also worked with the Taliban in Afghanistan. He was arrested in 2002 in Pakistan, AP reported. A two-page summary of evidence against the 39-year-old man states that he went to Pakistan in 1998 with an Iraqi intelligence agent “for the purpose of” using chemical mortars against embassies. The Iraq Survey Group that searched for Iraq’s suspected weapons of mass destruction reported in September that an Iraq-based insurgent group in 2003 had produced nine chemical mortars containing the toxic pesticide malathion, AP reported. The mortars apparently went unused (Robert Burns, Associated Press/Miami Herald, March 30). Back to top       Incineration Begins at Pine Bluff The Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Arkansas destroyed its first two chemical munitions yesterday and plans to incinerate another 28 today, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 29). A leaking coolant hose and another minor technical glitch slowed the process yesterday. Disposal work began at 9:30 a.m.; the first sarin-filled M55 rocket was destroyed at 11:20 a.m., followed by the second munition at 4:15 p.m. “Things will now get very boring around here,” said Dale Ormond, deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Army. “There are another 90,000 (sarin) rockets here and things do happen when you’re new in the process. But hopefully the system is designed to surround the workers with an envelope so when something happens we can take a look at it and correct it.” Disposal of all chemical weapons at the facility is expected to take five years, AP reported (David Hammer, Associated Press, March 30). Back to top       Containers With VX Destroyed at Tooele Eighteen containers carrying VX nerve agent were removed from the Dugway Proving Ground and destroyed last month at the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Utah, The Tooele Transcript Bulletin reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 18, 2004). Each cylinder contained about two gallons of VX. They had been kept for years at Dugway in Tooele County to allow for testing of the nerve agent, the Transcript Bulletin reported (Tooele Transcript Bulletin, March 29). Back to top

India Plans to Test Long-Range Missile This Year India plans to test an improved version of its Agni 3 long-range ballistic missile this year, an official announced yesterday (see GSN, March 4).  The nuclear-capable missile is expected to receive additional upgrades in the next few months, said R.N. Agarwal, Agni program director. Agarwal said that the Agni 1 and Agni 2 intermediate-range ballistic missiles are expected to be inducted into use for the Indian army soon, according to The Hindu (The Hindu, March 30).       Back to top

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