International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei speaks to reporters in Vienna earlier this week. ElBaradei said that the agency could not with certainty account for all nuclear materials and activities in Iran (Getty Images/Dieter Nagl). EU Recrafts Effort to Resolve Iranian Crisis, but Hurdles Remain By Greg Webb Global Security Newswire VIENNA — European diplomats attempted a new tactic today while trying to build greater pressure on Iran to cooperate fully with international nuclear inspectors, but the move faces significant hurdles that may prevent it receiving any more diplomatic support than prior efforts (see GSN, Sept. 21)...Full Story

Senators Unimpressed by New Transit Security Plan By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Senators yesterday expressed continued concern about U.S. mass transit security after the release this month of the administration's national plan for protecting the sector (see GSN, Aug. 24)...Full Story

United Nations Diplomats Lament Summit Failure on Nuclear Nonproliferation, Disarmament By Jim Wurst Global Security Newswire UNITED NATIONS — Diplomats at this week’s U.N. General Assembly meeting expressed their disappointment that the body’s preceding summit failed to address nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation. However, they offered few ideas for breaking the deadlock (see GSN, Sept. 14)...Full Story

	Thursday, September 22, 2005

Senators Unimpressed by New Transit Security Plan By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Senators yesterday expressed continued concern about U.S. mass transit security after the release this month of the administration's national plan for protecting the sector (see GSN, Aug. 24). The plan was initially issued as a classified document and subsequently released to security officials in the transit industry, but not to the public. Without addressing specifics of the plan, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee top Democrat Joe Lieberman (Conn.) said land-based mass transit systems could continue to see funding levels well below those accorded to the aviation sector. “I remain concerned that within it [the plan], there is not an adequate sense of priorities about ... which ... vulnerabilities are most significant,” Lieberman said at a committee hearing on transit security in the wake of the London subway and bus bombings. Lieberman said aviation has received more than $15 billion in federal security grants since the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks, while mass transit has received about $300 million. Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Edmund Hawley, who heads the Transportation Security Administration, did not endorse those specific figures but agreed that funds earmarked for mass transit security have been only a fraction of those directed to aviation security. Without directly comparing the two sectors, Hawley said the dearth of funds specifically budgeted for mass transit defense is a result of a “person-based” approach in which the Homeland Security Department directs funding according to terrorist threats, not modes of transportation. “If the predominance of our defenses are only to prevent the final endpoint of an attack,” — as opposed to intercepting threats before an actual attack — “then that's not a very good system,” Hawley said. The assistant secretary added that decision-making about mass transit security often falls to local authorities, meaning that some federal antiterrorism funds not specifically earmarked for mass transit may still be used for that purpose. Washington does not prescribe what local jurisdictions should do with the funds, he said, because of “the nature of the overlapping jurisdictions and operations in a region. “With so many players involved, there needs to be some kind of [a local] overview for the area,” Hawley said. Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) challenged Hawley on his optimistic assessment of the state of U.S. transit security, pressing the security official in particular about the schedule for a national assessment of security risks in the sector. “The American mass transit system is among the softest of targets,” Collins said in her opening statement. Later in the hearing, Collins asked Hawley on what basis he arrived at his generally positive view of security around the country. Hawley replied that recent assessments of the country's largest transit systems demonstrate that improvements have been made since Homeland Security was created. “The work that has consistently been done over a three-year period has led to a measurable result,” he said. “I don't know how you could make that judgment,” Collins said, “when TSA has not finished its risk assessments.” Back to top

Bolton Nomination for U.N. Ambassador Resubmitted By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The White House on Monday resubmitted U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton’s name to the Senate, though apparently not in the interest of again seeking a confirmation vote anytime soon (see GSN, Aug. 2). The notification is intended to satisfy a legal technicality, according to Senate Foreign Relations Committee spokesman Andy Fisher. “The White House is required to resubmit nominees that are recessed appointed so they get paid,” he wrote in an e-mail. President George W. Bush appointed Bolton as ambassador during the Senate’s August recess, after a divided Senate Foreign Relations Committee failed to endorse the nomination and bipartisan Senate opposition threatened to block the appointment. As Bolton was appointed without Senate confirmation, he can only hold the position until the end of the current session of Congress in late 2006. “He has the job for more than a year so there won’t be a consideration now” of his confirmation, Fisher said.    In the position, Bolton represents the United States at the U.N. Security Council and at sessions of the U.N. General Assembly. Critics had charged Bolton was unsuitable for the job, citing evidence suggesting he sought to publicly overstate U.S. intelligence assessments of suspected WMD proliferation and punish personnel who opposed him, public comments he made in the 1990s suggesting hostility toward the United Nations, and allegations he had undermined U.S. negotiations to persuade countries including North Korea and Libya to give up suspected weapons programs. Supporters said Bush should be entitled to choose who would represent him at the international body and that Bolton’s “blunt” style would make him effective there. Soon after taking the position last month, Bolton generated controversy by submitting hundreds of changes to a draft U.N. General Assembly summit document, which critics said contributed to the removal of nonproliferation and disarmament language throughout (see GSN, Sept. 14). Bolton argued that the United Nations should focus on preventing WMD proliferation. He proposed purging the document of references to disarmament and to maintaining a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing. In a letter accompanying the proposed changes, Bolton wrote, “the true threat to international security stems from proliferation.” Back to top       Israeli Parliament to Review WMD Vulnerabilities The Israeli parliament building and facilities are expected to be reviewed for potential vulnerabilities to chemical or biological weapons, Israeli National News reported today (see GSN, June 17, 2004). The review is expected to cost more than $100,000. A team of experts is being formed to conduct the inspection, according to the News. Air conditioning and other ducts are expected to be examined to determine any entry point for a chemical or biological agent (Israeli National News, Sept. 22). Back to top

EU Recrafts Effort to Resolve Iranian Crisis, but Hurdles Remain By Greg Webb Global Security Newswire VIENNA — European diplomats attempted a new tactic today while trying to build greater pressure on Iran to cooperate fully with international nuclear inspectors, but the move faces significant hurdles that may prevent it receiving any more diplomatic support than prior efforts (see GSN, Sept. 21). Earlier this week the European Union — led by France, Germany and the United Kingdom — spearheaded a push here for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s governing board to report Iran to the U.N. Security Council. The move, strongly supported by the United States, is intended to push Tehran to offer more nuclear information to the agency, whose top official has complained of inadequate Iranian cooperation. The three EU nations had been promoting a draft board resolution that would report Iran immediately to the council. However, officials here said the draft faced rigid opposition from Russia and China — both with Security Council veto powers — and from the so-called Nonaligned Movement, represented by a loose bloc of 14 board members from developing nations. With a goal of passing that resolution by consensus seemingly out of reach, the EU nations late yesterday tried a new draft resolution that does not immediately send the matter to the council. Rather, it “finds that Iran’s many failures and breaches of obligations to comply with its [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty] safeguards agreement … constitute noncompliance in the context of … the agency’s statute.” Only once before, in the case of North Korea, has the agency board found a nation in “noncompliance” during a dispute. In the case of Iran, the board last year found Iran guilty only of “many breaches” of its nuclear disclosure obligations. The new term is significant because the agency statute says, “The board shall report the noncompliance to all members and to the Security Council and General Assembly of the United Nations.” Diplomats said the new draft would therefore still appear to cause Iran to be reported to the Security Council, but the question of when and what to say in that report would remain at the board’s discretion. Prospects Speeches made to the board this morning suggest that this new approach would not find consensus support either because of the apparent inevitability of Security Council involvement. “Any remaining problems pertaining to the issue of Iran’s nuclear program should be resolved only within the framework of the IAEA,” said Malaysian Ambassador Rajmah Hussein, who spoke on behalf of the Nonaligned Movement. Russia and China, the primary targets of the new EU draft, are also unlikely to support the new resolution. “I don’t think it’s even close,” said one Western diplomat. Another official who heard today’s speeches quoted Russia’s ambassador as saying that Moscow “believes in keeping the consensus, as a common approach,” and was “against any heightening of the issue, including referral to the Security Council. That would be counterproductive both towards Iran’s nuclear program and on the NPT.” China also opposed Security Council referral, although its board statement “was a little bit more mild,” said the Western diplomat. With apparently little prospect for consensus, the EU nations could revert to their earlier draft and seek its passage by a majority vote of the 35 board members. A slim majority supports the earlier draft, several officials said, but a nonconsensus decision would be considerably weaker than one with the full support of parties. The board has never made a decision on nuclear safeguards without consensus, according to a diplomat closely familiar with the agency’s history. That prospect now appears real. The EU nations “thought that the second draft would enable some countries who were against [the first draft] to come on board [the second]. I suspect that if they find that none of the countries come on board the second draft, or not a significant type [Russia and China], then they might just go for the first one,” said the Western diplomat. Other officials concurred. Iran, meanwhile, complained that IAEA criticisms were unfounded and delivered a spirited defense today of its cooperation with the agency and of its peaceful nuclear aims. Ambassador Mohamed Mahdi Akhondzadeh delivered a six-page account of the many areas in which Iran has provided information to the agency in an effort to rebut charges that it must provide more. On Monday, agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters, “The material that has been declared to us in Iran is accounted for and is under safeguards, but we are not yet in a position to say that all nuclear material and activity in Iran has been declared to us.” In response today, Akhondzadeh issued an invitation to ElBaradei to visit Tehran to “discuss … the remaining outstanding issues and how to enhance cooperation with the IAEA.” “Haste here can make terrible waste,” Akhondzadeh said. “Let us put the threat back in the drawers, return to negotiations and give ourselves time to resolve this matter in peace.” What Next Neither of the two EU draft resolutions has been formally presented, and the board recessed today after its morning session to let delegations continue their negotiations. It is theoretically possible that the meeting could end tomorrow with no decisions at all, but most officials here said there was considerable pressure to reach some decision by the end of the week. Back to top       United Nations Diplomats Lament Summit Failure on Nuclear Nonproliferation, Disarmament By Jim Wurst Global Security Newswire UNITED NATIONS — Diplomats at this week’s U.N. General Assembly meeting expressed their disappointment that the body’s preceding summit failed to address nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation. However, they offered few ideas for breaking the deadlock (see GSN, Sept. 14). The assembly began the general debate of its 60th session on Saturday, immediately after the close of the summit. Secretary General Kofi Annan repeated his lament from last week about the failure of negotiators to include any language on disarmament and nonproliferation in the summit’s “outcome document.”  “Months of negotiations yielded silence. States could not even agree to reaffirm their existing commitments, or find a way forward, even at the level of principles. They have been content to point fingers at each other, rather than work for solutions,” Annan said Saturday in opening the debate. Other leaders and diplomats echoed Annan’s recriminations. “None of us can justly claim that our failure as the United Nations to take specific decisions on these matters served to enhance global security from the threat of weapons of mass destruction,” South African President Thabo Mbeki said Saturday. “The summit was a lost opportunity on disarmament and nonproliferation. Multilateral nonproliferation regimes are being tested now by a small minority of governments that flout the norms and standards observed by the rest of the international community,” Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday before the General Assembly. Downer endorsed many of the initiatives that have broad support in the international community, but where consensus has not been possible. “We will continue to take a leading role in the universalizing the Additional Protocol on strengthened nuclear safeguards, making it a precondition for the supply of uranium to non-nuclear weapon states,” he said. “It is not acceptable in the current global climate that we have not started negotiations on a fissile materials cutoff treaty, a treaty which would reduce the risk of leakage of fissile material to proliferators or terrorists and buttress nuclear disarmament gains made to date.” Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds said that the nuclear threat is not being taken seriously enough. “It should have been made clear, at the summit, that disarmament commitments are to be implemented, and that nonproliferation undertakings are to be complied with,” she said Saturday. “The countries in possession of nuclear weapons have a special responsibility to disarm. At the summit, there should have been decisions to strengthen verification,” Freivalds said. “There should have been commitments to make the [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty] and other arms conventions universal. Negotiation processes should have been given a boost by the summit. Nothing of all this actually happened.” When the first draft of the summit outcome document was circulated in June, the section on disarmament and nonproliferation included specific language calling on states to fulfill their arms control commitments and endorsing numerous existing commitments, such as bringing the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty into force and beginning negotiations on a fissile materials cutoff treaty. At the beginning of August, Norway led six other nations in submitting alternative language to this section that would have sharpened governments’ commitments to disarmament and nonproliferation. In mid-August, however, the United States submitted hundreds of proposed changes to the entire draft, giving other countries the opening to introduce their own amendments. This meant that countries opposing references to disarmament, notably the United States, were matched by Pakistan and other countries that wanted to delete references to nonproliferation, in particular the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The result of the stalemate was that the entire disarmament and nonproliferation section was deleted. Annan last week called this outcome “a real disgrace.” In his speech Saturday, Annan encouraged Norway and the other nations — Australia, Chile, Indonesia, Romania, South Africa and the United Kingdom — “to continue their efforts to find a way forward” on disarmament and nonproliferation. Speaking on Saturday shortly after Annan, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice addressed nonproliferation issues only in the context of Iran’s nuclear program. Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri yesterday called the summit’s “failure … dangerous for peace and stability.” “It is time for the international community, for the entire U.N. membership, not just some self-selected states, to promote a new consensus on disarmament and nonproliferation through the Conference on Disarmament or a special session of the U.N. Disarmament Commission,” Kasuri said. Back to top       Top U.S. Nuclear Negotiator Proposes Pyongyang Visit Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the top U.S. envoy to North Korean disarmament talks, has proposed a visit to Pyongyang next month for direct discussions with the communist nation’s leadership, a South Korean official said today (see GSN, Sept. 21). Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said he relayed Hill’s proposal last week to North Korean officials during inter-Korean talks in Pyongyang. “Should Hill’s visit to the North be realized, it would serve an opportunity to further solidify the outcome of the six-party talks,” Chung said. The South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo reported today that some U.S. officials opposed a Hill visit. State Department spokeswoman Darla Jordan responded to the report by saying that “nothing has changed,” the Associated Press reported today (Jae-Soon Chang, Associated Press/San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 22). Hill warned North Korea not to play “hide and seek” with nuclear inspectors once they return to the country and demanded that Pyongyang reveal its suspected uranium enrichment program, the Financial Times reported today. “We need a system that works. We don’t want to play hide and seek. We don’t want to be running around the North Korean countryside,” Hill said. “We need much more clarity on [the alleged uranium program] than we have now,” he said. Hill added that North Korea’s latest demands this week for a light-water nuclear reactor before disarming were “unhelpful.” He said the United States and its negotiating partners remained opposed to discussing the provision of a reactor for energy production until Pyongyang dismantles its atomic weapons installations. Hill acknowledged that dismantling North Korea’s Yongbyon reactor could take years and that Seoul would need three years to provide a promised 2,000 megawatts of electricity to the North (Dinmore/Fifield, Financial Times, Sept. 22). Provision of a light-water reactor can only be considered once North Korea has completed dismantling its indigenous nuclear program, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said yesterday. Lavrov said he and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice agreed in a recent meeting that the six parties would follow the sequence of steps elaborated in last week’s Beijing agreement (RIA Novosti, Sept. 21). Back to top       Lead Official in Bush Administration Sept. 11 Response Plays Down Al-Qaeda Nuclear Threat By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A key figure in the White House response to the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks today scoffed at the idea that the global terrorist network could carry off a nuclear strike (see GSN, Sept. 21). A radiological attack by the terrorist group is a concern, but not a nuclear bomb, said former National Security Council Transnational Threats Director Roger Cressey. “I’m not as worried about [al-Qaeda head Osama] bin Laden with a nuke, per se,” Cressey said at a Brookings Institution terrorism conference. “I’m worried about an RDD.” “The big mushroom cloud threat? I don’t buy it,” said Cressey, now the president of Good Harbor Consulting and an analyst for NBC News. However, former Deputy Homeland Security Adviser Richard Falkenrath, called the prospect of al-Qaeda with a nuclear weapon “a long-standing and very serious concern.” During the panel discussion on the state of al-Qaeda, experts agreed that the terrorist organization has changed dramatically since the 2001 attacks, becoming less centralized. “Al-Qaeda as we knew it pre-9/11 doesn’t exist any more,” Falkenrath said. Falkenrath praised the government for preventing any subsequent attacks on U.S. soil but called the failure to apprehend bin Laden “simply an outrage.” The balance sheet on post-9/11 antiterrorism efforts is basically unsatisfactory, he said. “I’m worried that …it’s slipping and it’s becoming a sort of B-list issue,” Falkenrath said. Cressey said the United States must do more to understand the operational potential of what remains of al-Qaeda following the post-9/11 captures and killings of many in the group’s leadership. “We’ve got a really good idea of what this adversary’s intent is,” Cressey said. “What we don’t know is what the capability is.” Cressey added that Italy, because it has supported the United States and has done comparatively little to suppress terrorists within its borders, is likely to be the next target for the anti-Western forces. “I think there’s a pretty good belief that Italy is next on the al-Qaeda-inspired/al-Qaeda-directed hit list,” he said. Back to top       U.S.-Russian “Megatons to Megawatts” Program Has Eliminated Equivalent of 10,000 Warheads The U.S.-Russian “Megatons to Megawatts” program has eliminated the equivalent of 10,000 nuclear warheads, marking the halfway point in the 20-year program, the U.S. Enrichment Corp. announced in a press statement yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 6, 2004). The organization’s mission is to purchase low-enriched uranium that has been converted in Russia from highly enriched uranium once contained in Soviet nuclear warheads. The low-enriched uranium is then sold for use in commercial U.S. nuclear power plants. Since 1995, the program has converted 250 metric tons of highly enriched uranium into LEU fuel. A total of 500 metric tons is scheduled to be converted by 2013 (U.S. Enrichment Corp. release, Sept. 21). Back to top       United States Should Maintain Current Nuclear Missile Level, Senators Tell Defense Department The United States should not reduce its 500-strong nuclear missile arsenal, a group of senators wrote in a letter sent yesterday to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (see GSN, Sept. 20). A Defense Department review of future military strategy is expected to be released by early next year, and senators expressed concern that the assessment would recommend scaling back the stockpile. “We know there are discussions going into” a potential missile reduction, said Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.). “Once you start reducing, where do you stop?” The eight Democratic and Republican senators said the U.S. nuclear deterrent remains vital to the country’s security. “The strategic nuclear forces that deterred Soviet aggression and kept the limited conflicts of the Cold War era from escalating to global annihilation continue to play a critical role,” the letter says. Pentagon officials have stressed that the missiles are an essential component of Washington’s nuclear strategy, according to AP, but they have not commented on the details of the review (Mary Clare Jalonick, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 21). Back to top       U.N. Leaders Urge Nations to Ratify CTBT While the Bush administration is boycotting this week’s Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty conference, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday urged the United States and 10 other nations to ratify the pact and bring it into force, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 21). “The longer entry into force of the treaty is delayed, the greater the risk that someone, somewhere, will test nuclear weapons,” Annan said yesterday as the three-day conference opened. “That would be a major setback for the cause of nonproliferation and disarmament.” The treaty has 33 of the 44 signatures from “Annex A” nations needed to bring the pact into force. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also pressed for ratification. “Sixty years after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki this conference is an opportunity to reaffirm our common commitment to the CTBT,” Straw said. The United States has signed the treaty, but the Bush administration opposes it, AP reported. Pakistan “does not give priority” to the treaty, said Dutch Ambassador Jaap Ramaker, the special representative charged with promoting ratification. He said Indian officials would not meet with him. Ramaker added that ratification by Israel, Egypt, Iran and North Korea “is in one way or the other tied to wider regional security issues which complicate matters.” China and Vietnam seem to favor eventual ratification, he said, adding that he hopes to meet with Indonesian and Colombian officials to discuss the issue (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 22). Back to top       Canada to Increase Nuclear Cooperation with India Canada’s trade minister yesterday said his country expects to support India’s nuclear energy program, the Canadian Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 20). Trade Minister Jim Peterson is scheduled to meet today in New Delhi with Indian Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar. “We will certainly be looking at a number of issues, including nuclear (energy),” Peterson said. “Our framework is one of safety.  We have offered India to collaborate in term of the safety aspect of its (nuclear) system, which was originally based on the Canadian concept.” Peterson also said the countries plan to conduct more collaborative research into biotechnology and nanotechnology (Canadian Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 22). Back to top

Idaho Postal Facility to Receive Anthrax Detector A Biohazard Detection System for detecting anthrax in mail is expected to be installed Saturday at the U.S. Postal Service’s Pocatello Annex in Idaho, according to KPVI (KPVI, Sept. 21). Back to top

U.S. Judge Demands to See Rail Safety Plan A U.S. federal judge yesterday demanded that government lawyers submit to him a copy of the plan to protect railways in Washington, D.C. from attacks on trains carrying toxic chemicals, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, Aug. 10). A U.S. Justice Department lawyer told District Judge Emmet Sullivan that the government would probably not provide a copy of the plan. An irate Sullivan demanded that it be delivered by 10 a.m. today, according to the Post. “The government doesn't want me to see the plan, says they don't have to give it to me, which I quite frankly find offensive,” Sullivan said. “I want to see the plan with my own eyes, and I'm not going to rely upon the assertions of government lawyers.” Rail operator CSX reportedly submitted the plan to the federal government, which is considering which sections can be made public. However, Sullivan said he needs to see that the plan actually exists.  “Who's scrutinizing these plans to determine if they are plans or illusions?” Sullivan asked. “It seems bizarre.” The District of Columbia Council early this year approved a ban on rail shipments of certain chemicals that could cause death and injury if released during a terrorist attack. CSX sued to overturn the prohibition.  Sullivan in April rejected requests for an emergency order to block the ban, saying that the added costs CSX incurred by rerouting trains while awaiting a ruling on its suit did not outweigh the city’s responsibility to protect residents, according to the Post.  An appeals court overturned Sullivan’s decision, determining that CSX and the federal government would successfully make the case that the city had exceeded its authority, and ordered that the ban be suspended until the lawsuit was resolved. With the case back before him, Sullivan questioned federal oversight of rail security and whether the plan submitted by CSX was sensitive enough to warrant withholding from the public, according to the Post (Carol Leonnig, Washington Post, Sept. 22). Back to top       Vanuatu Joins Chemical Weapons Convention The Republic of Vanuatu has joined the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 7). Vanuatu deposited its instrument of accession with the United Nations on Sept. 16, and will become a state party to the treaty on Oct. 16. It is the 174th nation to join the treaty, according to an OPCW release. With Vanuatu’s accession, all Pacific Islands Forum nations have joined the convention, the release says (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons release, Sept. 21). Back to top       Former Deseret Depot Research and Development Facility to Begin New Work, Close in Three Years The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency has devised a three-year plan for closure of the Chemical Agent Munitions Disposal System at the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah, the agency announced in a press release yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 9). The facility since 1970 has developed protective gear, monitors and other equipment and procedures for use in U.S. chemical weapons disposal plants. Depot commander Col. Raymond Van Pelt said CAMDS workers would now compile secondary waste from chemical weapons storage and destruction — personal protective equipment, insulation, cleaning materials, tools, steel containers, munition casings and similar items. The materials will be packaged for eventual disposal.  Personnel will also prepare the facility for closing in three years (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Sept. 21). Back to top

Seventh Missile Interceptor Installed in Alaska A seventh U.S. Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system missile interceptor was installed Sunday at Fort Greely in Alaska, Boeing said in a press release (see GSN, Nov. 15, 2004). “The continued emplacement of interceptors at Fort Greely expands our missile defense capability and further expands the protection of the nation against the ballistic missile threat,” said Pat Shanahan, Boeing Missile Defense Systems vice president. “GMD is one of the most complex programs this country has ever undertaken and our steady progress increases the flexibility and reach of this true system-of-systems,” he added (Boeing release, Sept. 22). Back to top       Japan to Design Missile Defense Nosecone Japan is expected to design an interceptor missile nosecone for a ballistic missile defense system it is developing with the United States, the Kyodo news agency reported today (see GSN, Aug. 25). The nosecone protects sensors and other devices, and detaches during the final stage of a missile intercept, according to Kyodo. Tokyo has developed “clamshell” technology, in which the nosecone splits into two pieces before detaching, Japanese sources said. The nosecone would be used on a new version of the Standard Missile 3 interceptor, which would be fired from Aegis vessels, Kyodo reported. Tokyo and Washington are expected by the end of the year to complete a joint development agreement outlining the research and development responsibilities of each side, the sources said (Kyodo/Yahoo!News, Sept. 22).   Back to top

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