A Chinese soldier walks past a medium-range ballistic missile on display at Beijing's Military Museum in 2001. A report released yesterday found that China is not effectively implementing or enforcing export controls on WMD-related materials (Getty Images/Stephen Shaver). Report Criticizes China’s Lax WMD Export Controls By David Francis Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — China has not effectively implemented and enforced export controls on materials that could be used to produce weapons of mass destruction, according to a report released yesterday by the RAND Corp. (see GSN, May 3). The report, Chasing the Dragon: Assessing China’s System of Export Controls for WMD-Related Good and Technologies, says that Beijing must devote more resources to bolstering export controls. Without increased efforts, China is failing to meet its goal of behaving like a “responsible major power” in world affairs, the report says. China’s system of export controls was weak until the late 1980s and early 1990s, when international pressure mounted to improve restrictions on technologies that could be used to create a weapon of mass destruction. Being recognized as a supplier of these materials tarnished China’s international image, says the report, written by RAND Associate Evan Medeiros...Full Story

Earth Penetrator Plan Hits Another Snag By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate’s Defense Appropriations Subcommittee yesterday provided no funding for the controversial Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator feasibility study, another setback in the Bush administration’s uncertain effort to resume the program (see GSN, July 22)...Full Story

U.S. Offers Reactor Fuel as Nonproliferation Measure The United States has pledged to donate 10 reactor cores worth of nuclear fuel to countries that agree not to develop uranium enrichment or plutonium reprocessing programs in an effort to prevent such materials from being used for nuclear weapons, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, March 22)...Full Story

	Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Report Criticizes China’s Lax WMD Export Controls By David Francis Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — China has not effectively implemented and enforced export controls on materials that could be used to produce weapons of mass destruction, according to a report released yesterday by the RAND Corp. (see GSN, May 3). The report, Chasing the Dragon: Assessing China’s System of Export Controls for WMD-Related Good and Technologies, says that Beijing must devote more resources to bolstering export controls. Without increased efforts, China is failing to meet its goal of behaving like a “responsible major power” in world affairs, the report says. China’s system of export controls was weak until the late 1980s and early 1990s, when international pressure mounted to improve restrictions on technologies that could be used to create a weapon of mass destruction. Being recognized as a supplier of these materials tarnished China’s international image, says the report, written by RAND Associate Evan Medeiros. Starting in the mid-1990s, China implemented a set of export controls. “The government began promulgating laws, regulations, and measures that outlined government procedures for internally vetting pending exports of sensitive nuclear, chemical, missile, and conventional military goods and related technologies,” according to the report. The evolution of the Chinese export control system is attributed to several factors. Specificity of international treaties has led to Chinese responsiveness in adopting strict control measures. Second, the strengthening of Chinese bureaucracy has made it easier to develop these controls. Finally, international pressure and China’s changing views on how much it wants to contribute to international nonproliferation efforts has bolstered Chinese efforts, the report finds. These reform efforts have led to a law-based export control system, which includes issuing new regulations and notices to make up China’s nonproliferation position.  “In the past five years, China has promulgated regulations and measures covering exports of nuclear and nuclear dual-use goods, chemical-weapon and related dual-use items, conventional military products, dual-use biological goods and related technologies, and dual-use missile items,” the report says. “Detailed control lists of sensitive goods and technologies are part of each of these regulations; for example, the nuclear regulations incorporate international control lists developed by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).” However, RAND found that China needs to improve the implementation and enforcement of these controls and the nonproliferation policy it has established. For example, China must to a better job of educating businesses and government officials of their obligations under the export regulations.  The Chinese government also faces implementation challenges from a lack of resources and properly trained personnel. China also has no electronic tracking of past and current export licenses or where materials are being shipped. “These limitations suggest a lack of political will by the leadership to seriously implement nonproliferation export controls,” the report says. RAND identifies limited enforcement as the weakest aspect of China’s export control system. “The government’s ability to detect, catch, investigate, and penalize export control violators is significantly underdeveloped,” the report says. Critical gaps exist in many aspects of export control enforcement, especially monitoring, interdiction, and penalization.” “It is not clear the extent to which this weakness results from a lack of political will to conduct hard-hitting investigations, a lack of resources, or both,” according to the report. China also is relying largely on foreign intelligence to notify it of WMD-related exports, the report says. This stems from its inability to investigate possible violations internally, forcing Beijing to react to suspect shipments instead of seeking them out.  As of April of this year, the Chinese government has only issued two public violations of export control regulations, but officials anticipate more in the future.  Despite these assertions, the report finds China’s export control system lacking.  “China is still several costly and time-consuming steps away from possessing a fully functioning export control system that can regularly monitor and police the activities of exporters involved in selling WMD-related goods and technologies,” according to the report. “More resources need to be devoted to institutional development and defeating entrenched interests.” RAND says that implementation of and improved enforcement existing export control laws will continue to cause difficulties. Incentives for increased compliance and eventual self-regulation are needed. Also problematic is the entrance of China into the World Trade Organization and subsequent concerns about Chinese exports.  China today called the report “irresponsible,” according to Agence France-Presse. “The organization concerned should adopt a sincere and objective attitude in viewing the Chinese government's efforts and commitment to nonproliferation,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang. “Those reports, disregarding facts, are irresponsible.” “China is a responsible country and our government opposes the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery,” he added. Back to top       Homeland Security Department Review Warned of Inadequate Planning for WMD Attack The United States is unprepared to implement an appropriate medical response to a large-scale disaster with mass casualties, according to an internal Homeland Security Department review completed in January (see GSN, Sept. 7). “The nation’s medical leadership works in isolation, its medical response capability is fragmented and ill-prepared to deal with a mass casualty event and ... DHS lacks an adequate medical support capability for its field operating units,” says the report. The report, “Medical Readiness Responsibilities and Capabilities: A Strategy for Realigning and Strengthening the Federal Medical Response,” warns that there has been insufficient planning for a surge of patients from a disaster like a biological or nuclear attack, the Associated Press reported yesterday. The document calls for formation of a uniformed medical reserve corps modeled on the National Guard, according to AP. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was reorganizing his agency in response to the report when hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit, agency officials said.   Chertoff created the position of chief medical officer to spearhead preparedness, they added. “I thought it (the report) was a great place to start,” said Jeffrey Runge, the new chief medical officer. However, the report’s author, surgeon Jeffrey Lowell, said the agency has not made adequate changes. Lowell added that the current system of volunteer medical teams was “pretty much shot” when called upon to respond to more than one disaster at a time (Cheryl Wittenauer, Associated Press/SuburbanChicagoNews.com, Sept. 26). Back to top       Czech Republic to House NATO WMD Center NATO has selected the town of Vyskov in the Czech Republic as the new home for its strategic center against weapons of mass destruction, the Czech News Agency reported yesterday (see GSN, June 28). The facility is expected to draft strategies and concepts for sea, air and ground forces. The project has been in the works since a NATO summit in 2002 and should be completed within three years, according to Czech Deputy Defense Minister Martin Belcik. “At present the works on the concept of the center where several dozen of Czech and foreign experts should operate are culminating,” Belcik said. So far, the project has costs hundred of thousands of dollars. By 2010, more than $40 million is expected to be spent on the project, according to the Czech News Agency (Czech News Agency/CzechHappenings.com, Sept. 26). Back to top

Earth Penetrator Plan Hits Another Snag By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate’s Defense Appropriations Subcommittee yesterday provided no funding for the controversial Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator feasibility study, another setback in the Bush administration’s uncertain effort to resume the program (see GSN, July 22). The full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider the $440 billion fiscal 2006 defense appropriations bill on Wednesday. The Senate could vote on the bill next week. The House did not fund the study in its version of the defense bill. It instead approved $4 million for studying a conventional penetrator option. The Senate Appropriations Committee and the full Senate did approve this year the $4 million the administration requested in an Energy Department appropriations bill for study of the nuclear penetrator. The corresponding House bill, though, does not include the funding and differences in the two versions await resolution. “I think the issue is still in the balance for the nuclear bunker buster.  The final outcome probably depends on the Energy appropriations bill,” said John Isaacs, president of the Council of a Livable World arms control organization. The appropriations bills are expected to be completed and voted on in the next few weeks. Opposition led by House appropriators last year denied funding for the program for fiscal 2005, which ends Sept. 30. That froze work toward conducting a major field test of the modified nuclear weapon shell, and a dummy warhead, to see if it could ram a warhead deeper into the ground before successful ignition than is possible with an existing penetrator. Were funding to resume, the test could occur in fiscal 2006 and the study could be completed by the end of fiscal 2007, according to an Energy Department statement quoted in a Congressional Research Service analysis published in August. After that, defense officials might decide whether to try to fully develop and build the new weapon. If Congress approves funding only for a conventional bunker buster study in fiscal 2006, that still could lead to the planned field test with the same modified shell and provide information about a potential nuclear penetrator. The House Armed Services Committee in a report this year said the results of the test would be applicable to various types of penetrators, the Congressional Research Service analysis noted. The Senate defense appropriations bill does contain the full $7.8 billion requested by the administration for the Missile Defense Agency. It also adds $200 million for “testing and enhancements of the Ground-Based Midcourse [Defense] program,” according to a committee press release. The House, in its fiscal 2006 defense authorization bill, approved an extra $100 million to conduct an operationally realistic intercept test of the system “as soon as practicable.” The Missile Defense Agency recently indicated it would not conduct such a test at least until summer 2006 (see GSN, Sept. 8). Back to top       U.S. Offers Reactor Fuel as Nonproliferation Measure The United States has pledged to donate 10 reactor cores worth of nuclear fuel to countries that agree not to develop uranium enrichment or plutonium reprocessing programs in an effort to prevent such materials from being used for nuclear weapons, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, March 22). “We are working with major suppliers and the [International Atomic Energy Agency] on a backup supply mechanism for states that forgo investment in indigenous enrichment or (plutonium) reprocessing capability,” U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said in a statement yesterday to the U.N. nuclear watchdog. “The United States Department of Energy will reserve up to 17 metric tons of highly enriched uranium for an IAEA verifiable assured fuel supply arrangement,” he said. The offer is envisioned as a first phase in developing a “neutral bank” of reactor fuel, said one senior U.S. Energy Department official. “The United States felt it was important to show leadership and begin the process of converting some of the discussions ... into actual implementation,” the official said. Washington estimates the fuel donation would be available by 2009, Reuters reported (Francois Murphy, Reuters, Sept. 26). Back to top       U.S. Nuclear Negotiator Hopes to Meet With North Korean Officials Before Next Round of Talks U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said yesterday he plans to meet with North Korean officials before the six-nation talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear program resume in November, the Yonhap news agency reported (see GSN, Sept. 26). “I look forward to meeting all the parties and I look forward at some point to meeting the North Koreans before we get going again in November,” Agence France-Presse quoted Hill as saying. “I am obviously going to be very focused in the coming weeks of consulting with other partners and that could well include North Korea but I haven’t made any travel plans yet,” Hill said (Yonhap, Sept. 27). Japan will not discuss North Korea’s demand for a nuclear energy reactor until Pyongyang completely dismantles its nuclear weapons program, a Japanese Embassy official in Washington told the Associated Press yesterday. The official, who participated in the last round of multilateral negotiations in Beijing, said North Korea must also return to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and install nuclear safeguards before Tokyo would commence any discussion of the light-water reactor issue (Foster Klug, Associated Press/Santa Fe New Mexican, Sept. 26). South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon today expressed hope for the next round of talks, Yonhap reported. “There is a lot of talk about a specific implementation plan,” Ban said. “When we look at the negotiating process, however, we don’t have to worry.” “I think we can draw up a specific implementation plan through the six-party talks,” he said (Associated Press, Sept. 27). The next round of talks is likely to be the beginning of a long process, one analyst told AP. “This is really just the beginning of the negotiations, if we’re lucky,” said former U.S. diplomat Robert Galucci. “But we have to start someplace.” For the negotiations to succeed, the United States must offer Pyongyang more incentives, such as lifting economic sanctions, removing the country from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism and resuming oil shipments, said Selig Harrison, Asia program director at the Center for International Policy. “If the U.S. is willing to offer sufficiently attractive inducements ... I don’t think that North Korea will hold up future progress in order to get a commitment for a reactor right away,” he said (Burt Herman, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 27). Back to top       Iran Threatens to Rescind Additional Protocol Iran warned today that it could halt application in the country of the Additional Protocol, which allows for more intrusive inspections of its nuclear facilities, if it continues to be threatened with U.N. Security Council referral over its nuclear program (see GSN, Sept. 14). Tehran “will be forced to go back on all of its voluntary concessions, particularly the application of the Additional Protocol,” the Foreign Ministry told the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose Board of Governors on Saturday rebuked Iran for failing to adequately disclose its nuclear activities. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Tehran could also resume uranium enrichment or imitate North Korea’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, according to Agence France-Presse. “If the agency and Europe show harsh behavior, they will push us towards the direction of taking proportional and harsher steps,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Sept. 27). Iranian parliament Deputy Speaker Mohammad-Reza Bahonar said today he expects overwhelming passage of a bill curtailing IAEA inspectors’ access to the country’s nuclear installations, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported. Lawmakers are scheduled to discuss the bill in a closed-door session today, according to DPA. Bahonar said that the bill would oblige Tehran to end the implementation of the Additional Protocol if the country’s nuclear dossier were brought before the U.N. Security Council (Deutsche Presse-Agentur/Khaleej Times, Sept. 27). As of yesterday, however, Iran had not carried out its threat to resume uranium enrichment or to reduce agency access to nuclear installations, diplomats close to the agency told the Associated Press (George Jahn, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 26). Meanwhile, the Bush administration yesterday warned Tehran it has one chance left to avoid Security Council referral, AP reported. “The world has put Iran on notice,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack urged Iran to end its “defiant actions.” “There is a growing majority of nations that recognize Iran’s noncompliance must be addressed,” McCormack said (Jennifer Loven, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 26). Back to top       Canada to Supply India With Nuclear Material Canada is resuming nuclear cooperation with India after a suspension of more than three decades, the Canadian Press reported today (see GSN, Sept. 22). Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew and Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh yesterday agreed on terms for nuclear safety cooperation, scientific and technical contacts, and transfer of dual-use items for India’s civilian nuclear program. They agreed to “pursue further opportunities for the development of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy,” the Toronto Star reported today. Canada first placed economic sanctions on India when New Delhi used a Canadian-made reactor in its nuclear weapons program in the early 1970s. Sanctions were reinforced when India and neighboring Pakistan conducted nuclear test explosions in 1998, according to the Canadian Press. Ottawa remains hopeful that India will sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Pettigrew said (Canadian Press, Sept. 27). Back to top

Medical Residents Misdiagnose Bioterror Illnesses A study released yesterday found that doctors in training had difficulties diagnosing diseases associated with bioterrorism, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 7, 2003). The study of 631 doctors — mostly residents — published yesterday in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that: half of the doctors surveyed misdiagnosed botulism; 84 percent misdiagnosed plague; and chickenpox was misdiagnosed as smallpox 42 percent of the time, according to AP. These miscues could lead to the spread of infection to others, said study co-author Stephen Sisson of the John Hopkins School of Medicine. “The risk of spread goes up logarithmically,” he said. Residents in the study took an online training program following the test. In testing after the course, their correct diagnoses averaged nearly 80 percent, AP reported. The average prior to the Web program was 47 percent. Sisson said that problems uncovered by the 2001 anthrax attacks, when four victims were discharged without being diagnosed properly, continue to trouble the medical field. He called for bioterrorism response training in medical residency programs. Better planning for bioterrorism response is needed, said Shelley Hearne, executive director of the Trust for America’s Health. “We've got a dangerous gap here and we need a much clearer strategic game plan,” she said.  This year, Congress allocated $252 million for “health professions training activities.” However, President George W. Bush’s fiscal 2006 budget does not include the funding, according to AP (Carla Johnson, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 26). Back to top

French Company Denies Chemical Weapon Charges A French company yesterday denied selling chemical weapons to Iraq during the regime of ousted President Saddam Hussein, the Associated Press reported (See GSN, Dec. 7, 2004). Michel Josserand, former chief executive of Thales Engineering and Consulting, said that the company “sidestepped the (U.N.) Oil for Food Program and delivered chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein's government.” Josserand, who was fired in May, told authorities that Thales helped Iraq to build a chemical weapon facility disguised as a milk powder factory. Thales “categorically and totally” denies the allegations, said spokesman Christophe Robin. “We never broke the embargo,” Robin said. “Thales does not produce chemical weapons. Thales completely denies these unfounded and dishonest allegations” (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 26). Back to top

U.S. Successfully Tests Missile Defense Radar The U.S. Missile Defense Agency yesterday said that it had tested an upgraded surveillance radar that is part of the missile defense system in Alaska, the Xinhua news agency reported (see GSN, Sept. 22). The Cobra Dane radar “successfully tracked” a long-range ballistic missile fired from a C-17 transport plane over the Pacific Ocean, the agency said.  The radar fed information to command centers in Colorado Springs, Colo. and Fort Greely, Alaska. This data was used to aim interceptor missiles in California and Alaska, though no interceptors were actually fired, according to Xinhua (Xinhua/People’s Daily Online, Sept. 27).   Back to top

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