British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw (left) and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer answer questions yesterday during a press conference in London. Straw and Fischer said allegations that Iranian President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad played a role in the 1979 hostage-taking of Americans would not affect EU negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images). Hostage-Taking Claims Will Not Affect Iranian Nuclear Negotiations, EU Officials Say Allegations that Iranian President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad played a role in the 1979 hostage-taking of Americans will not affect EU negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program, British and Germany officials said yesterday (see GSN, July 1)...Full Story

North Korea Demands Rewards Before Disarming North Korea today again rejected U.S. demands that it abandon its nuclear program before receiving rewards, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 1)...Full Story

Nations Look to Improve Nuclear Security Pact Delegates from member states to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material are in Vienna this week to begin work on strengthening the pact’s ability to prevent nuclear terrorism, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 29)...Full Story

	Tuesday, July 5, 2005

Los Alamos Prepares Terrorism Models Scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico are preparing elaborate computer models of potential terrorist attacks on the United States to help prepare strategies to counter and respond to such acts, the Washington Post reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 11, 2003). “We’re trying to be the best terrorists we can be,” said James Smith, who was preparing a simulated smallpox release in Portland, Ore. “Sometimes we finish and we’re like, ‘We’re glad we’re not terrorists.’” The Homeland Security Department has been looking to technology to strengthen its antiterrorism efforts, according to the Post. The Los Alamos work, initiated following the Sept. 11 attacks, has already led to security improvements at power plants and creation of biosensors used in large metropolitan areas that could detect the release of a biological agent. Smith concluded in his work on smallpox that a combination of targeted vaccinations and quarantine would be nearly as effective during an outbreak as large-scale inoculations. Each computer simulation runs 100 times faster than real time. Modelers make changes in the responses in hopes of improving planning for an actual attack. “It’s like the movie ‘Groundhog Day.’ You reach in and say what I did yesterday didn’t work so well and let’s see how something else works,” said Virginia Tech researcher Stephen Eubank, who worked with Smith on the smallpox model. While supporters say the project is helping secure the nation, critics question the cost — up to tens of millions of dollars per simulation — and whether the effort would prove useful during an incident.  Laboratory personnel acknowledge the importance of making sure that terrorists never get their hands on the simulations, the Post reported. “It would be a terrorist recipe for doing something terrible,” Smith said (Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post, July 4). Back to top

Negroponte to Review Changes at U.S. Army Agency U.S. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte plans to study changes made by the Army intelligence agency after it produced intelligence that boosted the claim that prewar Iraq had ongoing WMD programs, the Washington Post reported Saturday (see GSN, May 31). The National Ground Intelligence Center was “completely wrong” when it determine that aluminum tubes purchased by Iraq were probably not intended for use as rocket motor cases, according to the presidential commission on WMD intelligence. CIA officials suspected at the time that the tubes were to be used in nuclear centrifuges. The Army agency said the errors led the agency to institute “changes to training and procedures to improve analytic products” even before the commission began its work, the Post reported. Deputy intelligence chief Gen. Michael Hayden said Ground Intelligence Center and other intelligence services would be called to account for their errors on Iraq. “They are doing their own look, and we will do our own,” Hayden said. Congressional sources said that the House and Senate intelligence committees are also looking into the Army intelligence agency (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, July 2). Back to top

Hostage-Taking Claims Will Not Affect Iranian Nuclear Negotiations, EU Officials Say Allegations that Iranian President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad played a role in the 1979 hostage-taking of Americans will not affect EU negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program, British and Germany officials said yesterday (see GSN, July 1). “I'm aware of the reports. We have not been able to reach any conclusive view about this, and we may not be able to. The Iranian government has not validated the reports,” said British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw at a press conference with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. “Our negotiations have been with the government of Iran. We reached certain agreements in May and have undertaken to put proposals to the government of Iran by the end of July or the first week of August. That remains our intention.” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi on Sunday said the allegations against Ahmadinejad “are so evidently false that they don't deserve an answer. It's clear that it's mere lies” (Thomas Wagner, Associated Press/ABC News, July 4).  Asefi added that Iran would reject any proposal made by the European Union that does not recognize Tehran’s “right” to nuclear technology, Agence France-Presse reported Sunday. “We hope this [EU] proposal will have our right to use of nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,” said Asefi. “Otherwise we will not accept such a plan.” Iranian officials also denied that Hassan Rohani, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, had quit due to Ahmadinejad’s election (Agence France-Presse I/SpaceWar.com, July 3). Russia, France and Germany were expected to discuss Iran’s nuclear program at a meeting Sunday in Kaliningrad. “A discussion on the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, particularly as far as the Iranian nuclear program is concerned, is expected in Kaliningrad,” said a Kremlin official (Agence France-Presse II/SpaceDaily.com, July 3). Back to top       North Korea Demands Rewards Before Disarming North Korea today again rejected U.S. demands that it abandon its nuclear program before receiving rewards, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 1). Pyongyang’s government-controlled newspaper Rodong Sinmun said no progress in the talks could be made until the United States changes its “high-handed” position, according to AFP. “It is nonsensical for the U.S. to unilaterally demand the D.P.R.K. disarm itself though both have been in the hostile relationship and technically at war for more than a half century,” said Rodong, adding that North Korea “has neither opposed nor shunned the six-party talks.” “If the U.S. persists in demanding the D.P.R.K. dismantle its nuclear program first without honoring its commitments, this will get it nowhere,” the newspaper said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo News, July 5). North Korea also demanded that the United States retract its description of the country as an “outpost of tyranny,” the Associated Press reported Saturday. “We told them (the U.S.) to just withdraw the words ‘outpost of tyranny,” said Li Gun, North Korea’s director general of North American affairs Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, July 2).  Meanwhile, South Korea and the United States have agreed to join their proposals for North Korea to give up its nuclear program in an effort to make the plan more attractive, Reuters reported Saturday. “We agreed that the next six-party talks, when they open, will gain momentum if we combine the proposals from the previous talks and South Korea's 'important proposal,’” the Yonhap news agency quoted South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young as saying following a meeting last week with U.S. officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney. Details of their discussions were not disclosed (Oh Jung-hwa, Reuters/Yahoo!News, July 2). However, other South Korean officials played down reports of a combined offer, AFP reported. “The U.S. position has not really changed,” one official said. “I  think it is still true that the United States wants an answer to its last offer before it makes another.” Seoul is optimistic that six-party talks will resume soon, according to AFP. “Hopeful prospects for the resumption of talks this month … are growing in the United States,” said South Korea’s North American affairs chief Kim Sook, who was in the United States for the talks (Charles Whelan, Agence France-Presse, July 4). South Korea’s optimism came as William Schneider, chairman of the Defense Science Board, told Japan’s Nihon Keizai newspaper that North Korea might have more nuclear weapons than originally thought, Arirang News reported today. Estimates that Pyongyang could have up to eight weapons leaves out some factors, Schneider said. Schneider said North Korea potentially obtained weapons or nuclear material from overseas and that nuclear tests are not necessary to indicate possession of a bomb. Pyongyang could use blueprints obtained on the nuclear black market to create a weapon without testing, according to Arirang (Arirang News/Chosun Ilbo, July 5). Elsewhere, a Japanese official warned yesterday that patience for North Korea’s return to six-party talks is running thin. “In some quarters there is a very optimistic view and they probably have their basis for that, but the Japanese government is neither extremely optimistic nor extremely pessimistic,” said Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura. “Soon, we will reach the limits of our patience. The passage of time helps North Korea's nuclear development, so time is running out for the option of waiting. We need to deal with this with a sense of urgency,” he added (Reuters/Yahoo!News, July 4). Back to top       Nations Look to Improve Nuclear Security Pact Delegates from member states to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material are in Vienna this week to begin work on strengthening the pact’s ability to prevent nuclear terrorism, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 29). “We intend to tear it down, because it’s inadapted, and build it up again, keeping the roof and the walls, and put it up to the current level of the threats posed by nuclear terrorism,” meeting Chairman Alec Baer of Switzerland said yesterday. Amendments planned for the 111-nation treaty would tighten access to plutonium and uranium, boost security during transportation of the materials and limit nuclear reactors’ vulnerability to computer attacks, AFP reported (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 4). The revised document would also call on member states to retrieve diverted plutonium or uranium and to fight future thefts of such materials, the Associated Press reported. Changes to the convention, if approved by experts at the meeting, would still have to be ratified by the member nations. That “will be no cakewalk,” said Rose Gottemoeller, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Treaty making is always a long, slow process,” said Mark Gwozdecky, spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency. “This is a milestone on the way there” (Danica Kirka, Associated Press/ABC News, July 4). Back to top       Pakistan, India Set Nuclear Talks for August Pakistan and India expect to sign an agreement calling for advance notification of missile tests during a round of nuclear talks scheduled for early August in New Delhi, the Qatar Gulf Times reported today (see GSN, Feb. 18). “Pakistan and India already have an informal arrangement on advance warning of missile tests but it was the finalization of formal agreement on the matter that the both sides are striving for,” a Pakistani official said. The confidence-building talks are likely to be held Aug. 2-3. Officials also expect to see progress in developing a nuclear hot line between the foreign ministries of each nation, the Gulf Times reported (Gulf Times, July 5). Back to top       X-Ray to Aid Warhead Reliability Scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico have used the world’s most powerful X-ray machine to successfully complete experiments aimed at ensuring the reliability of W-76 nuclear warheads, the Associated Press reported Friday (see GSN, April 6). The experiments took place Wednesday at the Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test Facility. Researchers took an X-ray image of the explosion of non-nuclear warhead components. That image and other data are expected to be used to create computer models of explosions.  Researchers at Los Alamo over the coming months plan to compare existing models with the data to better reflect how a weapon would behave, AP reported (Associated Press/Albuquerque Journal, July 1). Production designs are expected to be created for new W-76 components, based partly on the collected data, according to a Los Alamos press release. Acting Deputy Associate Director Mike Burns said a second round of tests is set to follow the manufacture of the new components to ensure they function properly. Production of the new parts is scheduled to begin late next year, Burns said (Los Alamos release, June 30). The United States has 2,700 W-76 warheads, which are used on ballistic missiles carried by Trident submarines (Associated Press, July 1). Back to top       Pentagon Largely Complying With Threat Reduction Reporting Requirements, Say Federal Auditors By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department is mostly in compliance with requirements for reporting on its efforts to secure and destroy nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union, the Government Accountability Office said in an analysis released Friday (see GSN, July 1). The Pentagon’s fiscal 2006 report on the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, submitted to Congress in February, complied with all legislative requirements regarding the five-year plan for the program and with three of four requirements regarding funding accountability, the government auditors said. “The five-year plan addressed the legislative requirements by setting forth funding information for the term of the plan and stating the purpose of those funds,” and data the Defense Department provided were confirmed as accurate, GAO International Affairs and Trade Director Joseph Christoff wrote in a letter accompanying the analysis, which was provided in May to members of Congress. “The accountability section addressed three of the four legislative requirements,” Christoff continued. “It (1) discussed the status of contracts and services and the methods used to ensure that CTR aid is used for the purposes intended, (2) determined whether the assistance provided has been used effectively and efficiently and (3) described the audits and examinations planned for the next year.” The Pentagon did not, however, “provide a description of the condition and location of CTR-furnished equipment,” Christoff wrote, adding that that information has instead been made available upon request in a new Defense Threat Reduction Agency database. “When we asked to review the database, DTRA provided it to us in a timely manner,” he wrote. The new database, he added, “draws information from a wider variety of sources” and “because of its voluminous nature” was not included by the Defense Department in the actual Cooperative Threat Reduction report. Christoff told members of Congress in related testimony last week that, since beginning reforms of Cooperative Threat Reduction management in 2003 following several project failures, the Pentagon “has improved its management and internal controls over the CTR program” but “cannot fully mitigate the risks involved in cooperating with CTR recipient governments.” “Reaching agreement on project issues and obtaining necessary access can involve lengthy negotiations” with recipient countries, he said. “For example, after more than 10 years of discussion, Russia and DOD have yet to negotiate an agreement that would allow U.S. personnel access to monitor the loading of the CTR-funded fissile material storage facility at Mayak. Such an agreement would assure DOD that the facility is being used as intended.” Christoff added in the testimony that the department “lacks internal controls that would provide a system for monitoring projects upon their completion and applying lessons learned to future projects. … By conducting final reviews of completed CTR projects and addressing the findings of such reviews, DOD can further improve its current and future management of the program.” Back to top

Panel Experts Urge Caution in Biological Research By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A U.S. panel of experts meeting for the first time last week said there is a danger that biological research would be misused to make biological weapons, but mostly urged that scientific openness and communication not be significantly constrained in the interest of increasing security (see GSN, March 5, 2004). The board’s most important role is to encourage a “culture of responsibility” that others could choose to adopt nationally and internationally, ex officio board member Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during the two-day session. Speaking Thursday, Fauci said the U.S. government ultimately can control only research funded or conducted by federal agencies. “We are not going to be the policemen against the bad guys. We are going to try to set up … a culture of responsibility,” he said. Failure to prevent misuse could prompt restrictions on government-supported research, said Anne Vidaver, head of the Plant Pathology Department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Bush administration founded the 25-member National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity to advise the health and human services secretary, the National Institutes of Health director, and the heads of all federal departments and agencies that conduct or support life sciences research. The board, created following the recommendation of a National Academy of Sciences experts panel (see GSN, Oct. 20, 2003), is composed of nongovernmental subject matter experts and ex officio representatives from relevant federal departments.  The board during most of last week’s meeting heard presentations from members and other experts. It plans ultimately to recommend strategies for government agencies, publishers and research institutions overseeing biological research, such as criteria for identifying dual-use research and policies governing the publication of research methodologies and results that could be used for biological weapons. It also aims to encourage national and international norms to prevent misuse of science, for instance, by recommending a code of conduct for scientists and laboratory workers that could be adopted by professional organizations and institutions. Barry J. Erlick, president of the scientific and technical consulting firm BJE Associates, said research could intentionally or inadvertently create to a biological weapons threat, and warned there are people in the world scrutinizing published dual-use research for benefits in developing biological weapons. Strong U.S. scientific progress is “easy to damage” with restrictions, said Dr. David Relman, associate professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The board should seek first to “do no harm” to research, he said. Preventing biological weapon threats is a “very complex problem,” for which technical solutions alone are insufficient, said David Franz, vice president and chief biological scientist of the Midwest Research Institute. He urged a “balance” between protecting freedom and security. Back to top       ‘Anti-Anthrax’ Product Under Fire Experts say they doubt the potential efficacy of a product that is being promoted as a possible treatment for anthrax exposure, the Dallas Morning News reported Sunday (see GSN, June 21). A U.S. lawmaker and a Texas police chief appeared on a video advertising the Bio-Germ Protection kit, which includes skin lotion, a nasal spray to be used against inhalational anthrax and a decontamination aerosol. University of Texas microbiologist John Heggers wrote in a scientific journal that the protection kit would offer protection against an anthrax attack. He later indicated it could also work against smallpox and the plague, according to the Morning News. The newspaper’s investigation led the University of Texas to review Heggers’ work. “Dr. Heggers has committed significant scientific misconduct by making excessive and false claims based on his research,” university officials wrote. “His misconduct is all the more egregious because his false claims involve nationally important public policy.” Two scientists listed as co-authors in the study published in a journal article on Bio-Germ said they had never seen the piece. The Journal of Burns and Wounds subsequently retracted the article. Heggers tested Bio-Germ on a form of anthrax that could be eliminated by rubbing alcohol, rather than the more infectious spore form used in the 2001 anthrax mailings, experts told the Morning News. Heggers acknowledged exaggerating the potential benefits of the product marketed by Bio-Germ. “Scientists must stay close to the facts they discover and not let hopes and expectations get ahead of them,” he stated in an e-mail message to the newspaper. “I failed in that regard, and for that I apologize; but I assure you my intentions were honorable and not mercenary.” U.S. Representative Ralph Hall (R-Texas) said in the promotion video that Bio-Germ “certainly appears to be a breakthrough and the answer to the anthrax problem.” He said he did not believe he was endorsing the kit. Members of Congress are barred from endorsing products in their capacity as lawmakers. Bio-Germ continues to sell its product online. The company could face federal penalties if found to have made false claims about the kit, according to the Morning News (Michael Grabell, Dallas Morning News, July 3). Back to top       Louisiana Post Office Gets Anthrax Detector A postal facility in Lafayette, La., is the latest site to receive a system for detecting anthrax, KATC reported today (see GSN, June 29).  A Biohazard Detection System has arrived at the Lafayette Central Post Office, which processes 300,000 pieces of mail a day. The system is capable of detecting anthrax in just two hours, according to Postmaster Troy Southerland. The system is positioned in a secure location in the facility and uses sterile water and dust to detect anthrax (KATC, July 5). Back to top

South Korea to Purchase Patriot Missiles The South Korean Defense Ministry said today it plans beginning next year to replace air-to-ground Nike missiles with U.S.-made Patriot missiles, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, June 29). It is not yet known whether South Korea would purchase older missiles from Germany or new ones from the United States, according to AFP. “We may buy U.S.-made Patriot missiles from Germany,” a Defense Ministry official said. The missiles would be used to intercept a North Korean missile or aircraft attack. South Korea originally planned to purchase Patriots from the United States in 2000, but cost disputes caused the plan to be scrapped (Agence France-Presse/DefenseNews.com, July 5). 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.