International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei speaks at a press conference yesterday. ElBaradei today outlined challenges he will face in his third term as chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog (AFP photo/Joe Klamar). ElBaradei Pushes Iran, Others for Greater Cooperation By Greg Webb Global Security Newswire VIENNA — One day after securing his third term at the helm of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei outlined several challenges he faces in the next four years. He delivered his assessment this morning to a quarterly meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors (see GSN, June 13)...Full Story

Frist Expects Bolton Vote Within Days By David Francis Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said today he plans to schedule a vote to close Senate debate on John Bolton, paving the way for a decision on Bolton’s nomination as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (see GSN, June 10)...Full Story

U.S. Won’t Use Language Demanded by North Korea, State Department Official Says North Korea wants to resume six-nation talks on its nuclear program, a senior State Department official said yesterday, but Washington is unwilling to use specific language demanded by Pyongyang if it is to resume negotiations (see GSN, May 20)...Full Story

	Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Frist Expects Bolton Vote Within Days By David Francis Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said today he plans to schedule a vote to close Senate debate on John Bolton, paving the way for a decision on Bolton’s nomination as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (see GSN, June 10). Frist, who was joined by Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) at a press conference this morning, said the delay was preventing important changes from happening at the United Nations. “It is time to reform the U.N.,” Frist said. “It is time to bring Bolton to the floor for an up or down vote.” Frist said he hopes to have a cloture vote on debate over the appointment this week, with a vote on the appointment to follow soon after. McCain said the lack of a permanent representative detracts from the United States’ power within the U.N. General Assembly. He said Bolton had proven himself worthy of the post. “I believe that John Bolton has proven his credentials,” McCain said. “I also believe the president has the right to appoint his own team, particularly in as important a position as ambassador to the U.N. So I'm very hopeful that we can continue these negotiations, wrap them up as quickly as possible.” Frist said negotiations with Democrats over the nomination will continue for now, but added that the Bush administration has turned over all relevant information. “The information that is appropriate has been provided [by the White House] through appropriate channels,” Frist said. It was not clear yesterday whether Republicans had the 60 votes necessary to close Senate debate on Bolton, the Associated Press reported.   There are 55 Republican senators, and three Democrats have indicated they support cloture.  Democratic minority leader Harry Reid (Nev.) “is not aware that anyone is preparing to switch their votes,” spokesman Jim Manley told AP.   Democrats have stalled the nomination because the White House has refused to hand over the names of officials mentioned in communications Bolton requested from the National Security Agency as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. Democrats also want information on Bolton’s handing of intelligence on Syria, AP reported. Senate intelligence committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) yesterday told high-ranking Democrats that Bolton acted properly in asking for the names. “I have directed staff to examine Undersecretary Bolton’s use of intelligence and after careful review, the Senate intelligence committee continues to find no evidence of abuse. I am prepared to assist in any reasonable effort to examine the facts, but an examination of upwards of 40 names appears to be an effort to preserve the issue, not to resolve it,” Roberts wrote in a letter to Senators Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and Joseph Biden (D-Del.). Roberts also said his staff found no instances where Bolton “sought retribution” against analysts who disagreed with his intelligence assessments. Back to top       Lawmaker Criticizes U.S. Anti-WMD Initiative A U.S. lawmaker criticized a U.S.-sponsored initiative to interdict illicit shipments of WMD-related materials, saying South Korea and China should be included in the effort, United Press International reported last week (see GSN, June 1). “We need more cooperation from China,” Representative Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) said during a hearing of the International Terrorism and Nonproliferation Subcommittee Thursday, adding that he is “very disappointed” that South Korea is not a member of the Proliferation Security Initiative. He added that Chinese cooperation was “critical” in stopping WMD trafficking out of North Korea. “Sensitive goods could be sent across the Korean-Chinese border and then on to destinations around the world,” Center for Strategic and International Studies international security expert Robert Einhorn told UPI. “Even with Chinese cooperation, it would be hard to interdict a North Korean shipment if it is loaded on a North Korean vessel and if it doesn’t stop at a friendly port or pass through territorial seas of a PSI partner country.” Assistant Secretary of State Stephen Rademaker said at the hearing that the initiative is a “far greater success than expected.” “In only two years, 60 countries have joined,” he said. “In the last nine months alone, the United States and 10 of our PSI partners have quietly cooperated on 11 successful efforts.” The 2003 interdiction of a ship heading to Libya with uranium enrichment centrifuges led Tripoli to end its WMD efforts, “so it’s definitely a success worth bragging about,” Brookings Institution arms proliferation expert Michael O’Hanlon told UPI. “From what I can see, PSI is a very good tool,” he said (Stefan Nicola, United Press International/Washington Times, June 9). Back to top

ElBaradei Pushes Iran, Others for Greater Cooperation By Greg Webb Global Security Newswire VIENNA — One day after securing his third term at the helm of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei outlined several challenges he faces in the next four years. He delivered his assessment this morning to a quarterly meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors (see GSN, June 13). Topping ElBaradei’s responsibilities will be investigating Iran’s nuclear activities, and he pushed Tehran today to provide more access to agency inspectors. Since 2003, when it admitted to an extensive clandestine effort to enrich uranium, Iran has allowed agency personnel to document what it says is a peaceful program. ElBaradei has persistently asked for more disclosure. He has been pushed in part by senior U.S. officials who argue that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program. “Iran has provided some additional documentation and information, which are not yet sufficient to answer several remaining questions,” ElBaradei told the board today.  In particular, ElBaradei asked Iran to allow inspectors to return to two sites the United States has said are involved with nuclear weapon work, Lavizan and Parchin (see GSN, Feb. 7). Agency officials have conducted some limited-access visits to the military sites, but Iran has refused follow-up visits. U.S. officials have said they suspect the sites house programs to develop the high-explosive charges used to trigger nuclear weapons. ElBaradei also said he wants more information on how Iran acquired equipment for its uranium enrichment centrifuge program from an international smuggling network once headed by Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan. “We have continued to press for additional documentation regarding offers of equipment made to Iran, as well as for information on associated technical discussions between Iran and intermediaries in the procurement network,” he said. Special Committee For the first time, ElBaradei publicly endorsed a U.S. call to create a special Board of Governors committee “to consider ways and means to strengthen the safeguards system” of international inspections.  He urged the board “to act on this proposal” this week. The U.S. push for the committee began earlier this year and reflects official statements that the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty regime and the safeguards system that enforces it have failed to curb proliferators. At last month’s NPT review conference, the United States pushed for pact members to consider more rigorous treaty compliance mechanisms. ElBaradei echoed some of those themes today. “A new committee would usefully explore how the safeguards system could be further strengthened. Areas that could be addressed should, in my view, include more information sharing, the use of emerging technologies, enhancing the agency’s independent analytical capabilities and ensuring that the agency has an adequate and uniform legal authority to conduct credible verification,” he said. Reporting Lapses ElBaradei reported that the agency determined last year that four nations had failed to report past nuclear activities. Although ElBaradei’s statement did not identify them, agency officials here confirmed that they were South Korea (see GSN, Nov. 26, 2004); Egypt (see GSN, March 2), Taiwan (see GSN, Oct. 13, 2004) and Libya (see GSN, March 14). In the first three cases, the nations claimed the reporting failures were oversights. The disclosures followed more stringent requirements adopted by the agency following the 1991 Gulf War when inspectors discovered that Iraq had concealed a massive nuclear weapon effort. The flagship of those post-war measures is the Additional Protocol to the nuclear safeguards agreement nations sign with the agency. The protocol empowers the agency to conduct more intrusive monitoring of nations’ nuclear activities. ElBaradei again today called on more nations to adopt the protocol. “Additional Protocols are central to the agency’s ability to derive safeguards conclusions,” he said, pointing out that in every nation with Additional Protocol measures in place the agency was able to confirm last year that “all nuclear material had been placed under safeguards and remained in peaceful nuclear activities or was otherwise adequately accounted for.” Small Quantities Protocol ElBaradei also urged the board consider “possible remedies” to a nuclear inspections arrangement that he called “a weakness of the safeguards system” (see GSN, Apr. 27). The Small Quantities Protocol allows nations with minimal nuclear activities to accept a reduced level of agency monitoring. Most recently, Saudi Arabia has expressed interest in adopting the protocol, to the concern of many Middle East nations (see GSN, June 13). Saudi Arabia has been the subject of many rumors of nuclear ambitions and has a small arsenal of intermediate-range ballistic missiles (see GSN, Aug. 5, 2004). Back to top       U.S. Won’t Use Language Demanded by North Korea, State Department Official Says North Korea wants to resume six-nation talks on its nuclear program, a senior State Department official said yesterday, but Washington is unwilling to use specific language demanded by Pyongyang if it is to resume negotiations (see GSN, May 20). U.S. officials have declined to say they have no “hostile intent” for North Korea, or that they promise a “peaceful coexistence” with the communist nation, the Los Angeles Times reported. “We don’t want to be reduced to sort of a circus animal doing an act, being told to jump through various hoops at the behest of the North Koreans. We have told them really all they need to know” about U.S. policy, the official told the Times. In addition, Pyongyang announced in March that it would discuss only mutual nuclear disarmament with Washington. However, “we don’t have nuclear weapons on the [Korean] Peninsula, so it’s not clear, really, what they have in mind,” the official said (Sonni Efron, Los Angeles Times, June 14). Former Secretary of State Colin Powell today expressed optimism about an eventual negotiated settlement to the standoff, Reuters reported. “I believe the six-party talks will eventually bear fruit,” Powell said. “I am not concerned that North Korea will threaten or use their nuclear weapon. They’re not suicidal.  They’re clever. The only thing they have is their nuclear weapons program. They will use it to get more in return,” he said. “We want to help them make a better life,” Powell added. “But we will not be blackmailed.” Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday in response to a question on the MSNBC program Hardball with Chris Matthews about whether she believed North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to be sane: “I don’t know.  I’ve never met the man.” Analysts have noted that Pyongyang is sensitive to remarks about its leader (Reuters, June 14). China said today that another round of six-nation talks has still not been scheduled, the Associated Press reported. “We don’t have a specific time,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao. “But all parties are working toward a restart of the talks” (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, June 14). Elsewhere, Kim Suk, director general of the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s North American Affairs Bureau, said incentives for Pyongyang resuming negotiations — alluded to after a summit Friday in Washington between U.S. and South Korean leaders — includes normalized U.S.-North Korean relations, Chungang Ilbo reported today. “If the North Korean nuclear issue is resolved based on Washington’s proposal at the third round of the six-party talks, the two countries will move towards normal relations,” said Kim (Chungang Ilbo/MonstersandCritics.com, June 14). Back to top       Former U.S. Analyst Indicted Over Transfer of U.S. Intelligence on Iran to Israeli Official A former U.S. Defense Department analyst has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of giving classified information to an Israeli official, including intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, March 24). Lawrence Franklin met more than 12 times with an Israeli official identified by attorneys and officials in the case as Naor Gilon, a political officer at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. Sometime between December 2003 and June 2004, Franklin gave Gilon “classified information relating to a weapons test conducted by a Middle Eastern country,” the indictment says. After another meeting, Franklin drafted an “action memo” based on Gilon’s suggestions. The country that conducted the weapons test is not named in the indictment, according to the Times. It was Iran, according to lawyers and government officials. Franklin pleaded not guilty yesterday to four counts of communicating national military information to unauthorized recipients and two counts of conspiracy. He is scheduled for trial on Sept. 6, the Times reported. Franklin was previously charged with delivering classified information to personnel from a pro-Israel lobbying organization (David Johnston, New York Times, June 14). Back to top

U.S. Asks Researchers Not to Publish Bioterror Paper The U.S. Health and Human Services Department has asked a Stanford University professor and graduate student not to publish a paper that contains information on contaminating milk with botulism, United Press International reported last week (see GSN, Feb. 28) The paper, authored by professor Lawrence Wein and graduate student Yifan Liu, was posted briefly on the National Academy of Sciences’ Web site late last month. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Stewart Simonson asked that the paper not be published, according to CNN. Simonson, in a letter to the National Academy, said the paper “is a road map for terrorists and publication is not in the interests of the United States.” The paper contains “very detailed information on vulnerability nodes” in the milk supply and “includes … very precise information on the dosage of botulism toxin needed to contaminate the milk supply to kill or injure large numbers of people.” The National Academy of Sciences, a nonprofit organization of scientists, advises government on science and technology issues (United Press International/Washington Times, June 7).  Back to top       Researchers Find Plague Vaccine Effective in Mice Researchers at Wake Forest University in North Carolina announced recently that mice treated with a new combination vaccine have shown immunity to the plague (see GSN, April 18). Adding a protein called flagellin to a protein taken from plague bacteria created antibody levels 500,000 times higher than simply using the bacteria alone as a vaccine, researchers said. Immunized mice survived exposure in tests to plague bacterium, “but the control mice succumbed in three days,” said principal investigator Steven Mizel. “Flagellin can function as an effective adjuvant, making a vaccine that protects against the most dangerous form of the plague — pneumonic plague,” Mizel told the American Gastroenterological Association. Mizel said mice were protected for three months after receiving the vaccine. The work at the Wake Forest School of Medicine is funded by federal antibioterror dollars. “The development of a vaccine against the pneumonic or respiratory form of plague is a major goal of the biodefense initiative,” Mizel said (Wake Forest release/Medical News Today, May 22). Back to top       U.S. Gives Money for Smallpox Vaccine Development An Arizona State University researcher has received a $1 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for the development of a post-exposure smallpox vaccine, Arizona State said in a recent press release (see GSN, June 13). Bertram Jacobs, a virologist at the Arizona State and the Biodesign Institute, has discovered a gene that allows pox viruses to hide themselves from immune systems, a trait which allows the virus to spread. He is working on a vaccine that turns off the gene that allows the virus to remain hidden.  The vaccine is effective post-exposure because of the number of viruses in the body. The more viruses the immune system can identify, the more viruses it can eliminate. Jacobs said there is “anecdotal evidence” that vaccination is effective if taken within four days of exposure. He is currently testing the vaccine in mice. “We want to look at all of our mutants and see which ones work best in this post-exposure prophylaxis,” Jacobs said. These early results have indicated that the vaccine improve resistance to the disease as well as preventing it. “If you give them a million particles, they don’t even get sick – the animals stay healthy,” he said. “The animals stay healthy.  The body reacts and it fights off both the mutant, and also the normal virus that normally would hide itself. The more you put in, the more likely it is for the immune system to say ‘Hey, wait a minute. There is something going on here.  I need to start fighting a virus infection.’ and so it fights the mutant virus and a normal pathogenic virus as well.” Jacobs believes his method of turning the smallpox vaccine against itself can also help fight the HIV virus (Arizona State release, May 26). Back to top       Indiana Postal Facilities Receive Anthrax Detectors The mail-processing center in Lafayette, Ind., is one of nine U.S. Postal Service facilities in the state scheduled to receive anthrax detection equipment, the Journal and Courier reported today (see GSN, June 8).  Biohazard Detection Systems are being installed at large processing centers to ensure letters containing anthrax are not distributed to smaller facilities, said Kim Yates, customer relations coordinator for the Indianapolis post office. Yates said the system, while designed to catch anthrax, could be modified to detect other biological agents such as smallpox. She added that the system would not slow down mail processing (Dan Shaw, Journal and Courier, June 14).   Back to top

Former “Dirty Bomb” Suspect Denied Expedited Review on Detention by U.S. Supreme Court The U.S. Supreme Court indicated yesterday it would not consider the detention of former “dirty bomb” suspect Jose Padilla, who has been held for three years as an enemy combatant without facing charges, Reuters reported (see GSN, March 8). Justices made no statements in rejecting Padilla’s request for an immediate review of his status. Authorities last year dropped the claim that the U.S. citizen was planning to detonate a radiological device, alleging instead that Padilla had plotted with the al-Qaeda terrorist organization to blow up apartment buildings in the United States by using natural gas. A federal judge ruled in February that Padilla could not be held remain incarcerated without charges. An appeals court is scheduled to hear the case in July, but Padilla’s lawyers sought to take their case directly to the Supreme Court (Reuters/Yahoo!News, June 14).               Back to top

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

© Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.