Iranian nuclear negotiator Sirus Naseri addresses reporters today at a special session of the IAEA Board of Governors in Vienna. Naseri said Tehran remains interested in nuclear negotiations with Europe (Getty Images/Joe Klamar). Iran Wants to Continue Nuclear Negotiations with EU Iran wants nuclear negotiations with the European Union to continue, the country’s chief delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency said today (see GSN, Aug. 8). “We are prepared to continue negotiations with the EU-3 [France, Germany and the United Kingdom] and the EU,” said Sirus Naseri after an emergency meeting of the agency’s governing board adjourned for the day without reaching any decisions...Full Story

Bilateral Meetings Anticipated During North Korea Nuclear Talks Recess, South Korea Says South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon expects to meet separately with Chinese and U.S. officials in the coming days to further discuss the standoff over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, Reuters reported today (see GSN, Aug. 8)...Full Story

Smallpox Vaccinations Prevented Monkeypox Sickness Smallpox vaccinations given to three Wisconsin residents years or decades in the past protected them from becoming sick after they were exposed to monkeypox, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, April 28, 2004)...Full Story

	Tuesday, August 9, 2005

Homeland Security Chief Questions Pentagon Plan for Response to Terrorist Attack in United States U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff yesterday challenged a Defense Department plan for military deployment in case of a large-scale terrorist incident on U.S. soil, saying his department would maintain management responsibility during any troop deployment, the Los Angeles Times reported today (see GSN, Aug. 8). “The Department of Homeland Security has the responsibility under the president’s directives to coordinate the entirety of the response to a terrorist act here in the United States,” Chertoff told CNN. The newly created National Response Plan designates different agencies as having primary responsibility during a crisis, depending on the particular circumstances, according to the Times. Chertoff acknowledged, however, that the military would play a critical role in the aftermath of any large-scale attack on U.S. soil. “Obviously the Department of Defense has certain capabilities, including the ability to put a lot of hospitals and a lot personnel in the field, which would be critical if we had a truly mass event,” he said (Nicole Gaouette, Los Angeles Times, Aug. 9). Back to top       GAO Recommends U.S. Postal Service Improve Training for Handling Suspicious Mail The U.S. Postal Service should improve worker training for handling of suspicious mail, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released yesterday (see GSN, July 19). The report arose from an October 2003 incident in which a letter containing a vial of ricin was discovered at the Greenville, S.C., post office. A label on the letter stated “Caution: Ricin Poison,” according to the Associated Press. Postal workers found the letter around midnight, wrapped it and moved it to an isolated area. However, they did not contact postal inspectors until the next day. Inspectors in turn contacted emergency agencies. Differing rules on handling suspicious packages and mail carrying a specific hazard label caused confusion during the incident, according to the GAO report.  The report recommends that the Postal Service develop guidelines on packages that appear to be both suspicious and carrying a hazard label, increase training for supervisors and managers, and offer detailed direction on communication with workers and unions on suspicious mail events, AP reported. Postal Service Vice President Thomas Day said the agency basically supports the recommendations and has been making improvements. He argued, though, that locked-in rules cannot be developed for each of the many varieties of potential terrorist attacks. The Postal Service looks to offer more general guidance that could be used in different events, he said (Randolph Schmid, Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 8). Back to top       Raytheon Gets Cooperative Threat Reduction Contract A Raytheon Co. subsidiary has received a contract of up to $82.1 million to support U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction efforts to eliminate WMD stockpiles and infrastructure in former Soviet states, the company announced yesterday (see GSN, July 22). The contract from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency is locked in for one year, with up to five one-year extensions possible. Raytheon Technical Services Co. will “provide comprehensive logistics integration support, including equipment support and services, program support services, infrastructure services, an enterprise information management system, and program management,” according to a company press release. Work is primarily set to be done in Russia (Raytheon Co. release, Aug. 8). Back to top

Iran Wants to Continue Nuclear Negotiations with EU Iran wants nuclear negotiations with the European Union to continue, the country’s chief delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency said today (see GSN, Aug. 8). “We are prepared to continue negotiations with the EU-3 [France, Germany and the United Kingdom] and the EU,” said Sirus Naseri after an emergency meeting of the agency’s governing board adjourned for the day without reaching any decisions. He added that an Iranian proposal to end the nuclear standoff was “still on the table.” “We can negotiate with the Europeans on the basis of that proposal,” said Naseri (Reuters/Yahoo!News, Aug. 9). IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei confirmed today that Iran has resumed feeding uranium ore into the first part of the process line at its Isfahan facility.  “I have reported to the board that yesterday Iran started to introduce feed material into the conversion plant, essentially, unraveling the suspension with respect to the Isfahan nuclear facility. I will deliberate with the board and see how the board would react to that,” ElBaradei said before the meeting. Monitoring cameras were installed at the input stage, but conversion work began before inspectors were able to test the cameras, which normally takes 24 hours, according to an agency press statement (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Aug. 9). Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today he had new ideas to present in nuclear negotiations with the European Union. “I will put forward initiatives in this respect after forming my Cabinet,” Ahmadinejad told U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan by telephone. Ahmadinejad called the EU proposal presented Friday “an insult to the Iranian nation.” “They have talked to us ... as if the Iranian nation was suffering from backwardness and the time was 100 years ago and our country was their colony,” he said. He reiterated Tehran’s stance that it was entitled to resume its nuclear work. “It is our national right to have such technology and nothing unlawful or unilateral has taken place,” he said (Paul Hughes, Reuters, Aug. 9). Tehran will not be deterred by international pressure over its nuclear program, a senior Iranian official said yesterday. “Should we accept humiliation, the sanctions, see ourselves be punished, or should we resist? I think that we should resist,” said Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani. “What are they going to do at the [U.N.] Security Council, impose sanctions on us? Sanctions have already been imposed on us,” Shamkhani said. He added that Security Council referral was unlikely to occur soon. “It is not as though they are going to send us tomorrow to the Security Council,” he said. Shamkhani argued that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful, but added that “if one day our nuclear installations are attacked we will put aside all our nuclear engagements” (Agence France-Presse/Interactive Investor, Aug. 9). Washington announced yesterday it remained hopeful that the European Union’s diplomatic effort would continue, Agence France-Presse reported. “We’ll continue to work with the EU-3 in support of efforts to get this process back on track,” said State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli. A senior U.S. official confirmed that Washington preferred the diplomatic process continue rather than sending the matter to the Security Council. “We’re not ready to give up yet,” said the official. “Let’s see if we can’t put this genie back in the bottle. We’re going to be looking at ways with the Europeans, I think, to see if we can’t walk that back a little bit from the Iranians,” he said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Aug. 8). Tehran has built about 4,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges without disclosing the move to international inspectors, an exiled Iranian dissident said today. The centrifuges are ready to be installed at the Natanz facility, Alireza Jafarzadeh of Strategic Policy Consulting told the Associated Press. Jafarzadeh said he acquired the information from sources within the Iranian government who have provided accurate intelligence in the past. The International Atomic Energy Agency previously said it knew of only 164 centrifuges at Natanz, according to AP. “These 4,000 centrifuge machines have not been declared to the IAEA, and the regime has kept the production of these machines hidden from the inspectors while the negotiations with the European Union have been going on over the past 21 months,” Jafarzadeh said. He added that structural work in preparation for the centrifuge installation has continued in recent months at the Natanz facility. He said Iran was using front companies such as Pars Tarash, Kala Electric and Energy Novin to produce and test centrifuge parts. He said the companies maintained offices in the same downtown Tehran building that houses Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (William Kole, Associated Press/ABCNews.com, Aug. 9). Back to top       Bilateral Meetings Anticipated During North Korea Nuclear Talks Recess, South Korea Says South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon expects to meet separately with Chinese and U.S. officials in the coming days to further discuss the standoff over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, Reuters reported today (see GSN, Aug. 8). Chinese and North Korean officials are also likely to meet before the next round of negotiations, scheduled to begin the week of Aug. 29, Ban said. “We’ll put our diplomatic efforts into making the best use of the three-week recess period to make significant progress when negotiations resume,” he said. “This meeting was very meaningful and productive as North Korea and the United States managed to significantly narrow their differences, as did North and South Korea,” Ban said, referring to the 13-day negotiating session that went into recess on Sunday. He added that, because of its withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and expulsion of International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors, North Korea would have a difficult time persuading other participants in the six-nation talks that it should be allowed to maintain a nuclear energy program — the central dispute during last week’s round of talks. “North Korea needs to build trust,” Ban said (Miyoung/Herskovitz, Reuters, Aug. 9). The U.S. State Department announced yesterday that “good progress was made” during the Beijing talks, Agence France-Presse reported. Negotiations were characterized by “sustained and substantive engagement on issues,” said State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli. He said the parties were “moving the ball forward” by going through four drafts of a statement of principles. “(We) couldn’t get it over the goal line, but came darn close, and have, I think, maybe a good basis to think we can get there in a couple more weeks,” he said (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Aug. 8). Back to top       Dutch Twice Abandoned Plans to Prosecute A.Q. Khan at CIA Insistence, Former PM Says The CIA asked the Netherlands to forgo prosecution of former top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan in the 1970s and 1980s for allegedly making illegal nuclear transfers from a Dutch company he worked for, former Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers said today (see GSN, Jan. 20, 2004). “The American intelligence applied one of their common tactics. They said, ‘Give us all the information and don’t arrest him, let the man go. We’ll follow him and uncover more details,’” Lubbers told Dutch radio. “I doubted it was the right course to let him go to get more information.” Lubbers was prime minister of the Netherlands from 1982-1994 (Associated Press, Aug. 9). Back to top

Smallpox Vaccinations Prevented Monkeypox Sickness Smallpox vaccinations given to three Wisconsin residents years or decades in the past protected them from becoming sick after they were exposed to monkeypox, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, April 28, 2004). The finding could indicate whether the vaccination still provides immunity years after application, and aid authorities as they plan for a possible bioterror attack using smallpox. The United States stopped smallpox vaccinations for civilians in 1972 and for the military in 1990. Roughly half of U.S. adults have received the shot, which studies have shown can provide immunity for up to 75 years. An estimated 39 people were infected in Wisconsin during a 2003 monkeypox outbreak, researchers wrote in the journal Nature Medicine (see GSN, June 12, 2003). Three people displayed no symptoms despite strong indications in their blood that they had been exposed. One person had been vaccinated for smallpox 13 years ago, another 29 years ago and the last 48 years ago, Reuters reported. Researchers also found that victims did not have to come into direct contact with infected animals to contract monkeypox. It appears the virus could be transmitted through the air or in droplets from animal sneezes. That could be important in the event of a smallpox incident, according to Reuters (Reuters/Yahoo!News, Aug. 8). Back to top       Millions in Bioterrorism Grants Not Tracked in D.C. About $3.6 million in federal bioterrorism grants awarded to the District of Columbia since 2002 have not been properly tracked, with nearly half that sum remaining unused, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, April 1). Local officials have failed to upgrade accounting systems to track the grant money, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department inspector general’s office. Eighteen D.C. Hospital Association facilities have each received $15,000 to $150,000, according to the organization. The funds were designated for 15 purposes, with the bulk of the money earmarked for “surge capacity,” or extra hospital beds in case of mass casualties.  The region has, however, purchased only 444 beds toward a goal of 3,000, the Post reported. The audit was part of a national bioterrorism preparedness spending review, Health and Human Services officials said, and it remains unknown how the D.C. numbers will compare to national statistics. D.C. Health Director Gregg Pane conceded there were troubles in handling the bioterror grants. “I am committed to getting us back on track next year,” Pane said. “The criticisms were legitimate.  I think we’ve made progress and I’m optimistic about the future, catching up and moving responsibly to take the steps we need to.” D.C. Hospital Association President Robert Malson defended his organization’s record. Given that the grants were for relatively small sums, D.C. hospitals “are well along our way and to the extent the money has been released, we’ve been spending it appropriately” (Spencer Hsu, Washington Post, Aug. 9). Back to top       Iraq Biological Weapons Effort Traced to British Cow Iraq’s one-time biological weapons program originated in an anthrax-infected cow that died in 1937 in the United Kingdom, the London Times reported today (see GSN, Jan. 30). British scientists discovered anthrax spores after receiving one of the cow’s ears, and a culture was later sent to the United States. Washington exported samples to Iraq in the 1980s during its war against Iran. “Iraq declared researching different strains of B. anthracis, but settled on the American Type Culture Collection strain 14578 as the exclusive strain for use as a BW,” said former U.S. chief weapons inspector Charles Duelfer in a report issued last year (Dominic Kennedy, The Times, Aug. 9). Back to top

Anniston CW Disposal Still Down After Power Outage The Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Alabama halted operations following a July 28 power outage, the Anniston Star reported Sunday (see GSN, July 25). The facility was apparently hit by lightning. The power went out for 30 minutes, during which backup generators failed to operate. Anniston workers fixed the generator problem and spent several days working on an air leak in the site’s weapons deactivation furnace, the Star reported. Munitions disposal is expected to resume this weekend. To date, Anniston has eliminated 68,490 weapons and 78,161 gallons of nerve agent — 16 percent of its stockpile. The Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Arkansas has destroyed 13,874 rockets and 124,279 pounds of chemical agent. The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Oregon has incinerated 25,610 rockets and 267,454 pounds of chemical agent (Brian Lyman, Anniston Star, Aug. 7). Back to top       U.S. Army Lacks Funds to Clean CW Training Site The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers does not have the funding to meet a demand by the state of Alabama to clean up a World War II-era chemical weapons training base, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Jan. 24). There are an estimated 8,000 pieces of metal left on the site of the former Camp Sibert. The metal could range from harmless scrap to unexploded chemical weapons munitions, according to AP. The Alabama Environmental Management Department has ordered the Army to clear the 38,000-acre site of all unexploded ordnance. The land is now mostly privately owned. A shell containing the choking agent phosgene was found near a home in 2002, AP reported. It would cost millions of dollars to identify each piece of metal. Cost for cleaning the entire site would be $49 million. The Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t have the money for either effort, said spokesman Pat Robbins. “We’ve done the ground survey. What we need to do now is go in and investigate each of the anomalies that showed up,” Robbins said (Associated Press/Tuscaloosa News, Aug. 8).   Back to top

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