U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill talks to reporters in Beijing last week. Hill said today that North Korea knows it must disarm before discussions begin on providing the country with a light-water reactor (Getty Images/Peter Parks). No Misunderstanding on Six-Party Text, U.S. Official Says By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The North Korean government understands that the six-nation statement agreed to this month on its nuclear program allows for discussions on providing the country a light-water reactor only after it has disarmed, the top U.S. negotiator said here today (see GSN, Sept. 19)...Full Story

IAEA Reports Increase in Nuclear Incidents By David Francis Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The number of illicit trafficking and other unauthorized activities involving nuclear and radioactive materials in 2004 increased significantly compared to prior years, according to a report released yesterday by the International Atomic Energy Agency (see GSN, June 16). ..Full Story

U.S. Puts “10-4” Back in Police Lexicon By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has abandoned its plan to require police departments around the country to stop using traditional “10-codes” for communication or risk losing federal antiterrorism funding, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 26)...Full Story

	Wednesday, September 28, 2005

U.S. Puts “10-4” Back in Police Lexicon By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has abandoned its plan to require police departments around the country to stop using traditional “10-codes” for communication or risk losing federal antiterrorism funding, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 26). Under the new National Incident Management System, a post-9/11 project designed to establish consistent practices among police departments and other emergency response agencies, codes such as “10-4” for “message received” are to be replaced with “plain English.” Police had disagreed with Homeland Security over whether that requirement applied to everyday work or only to interagency collaboration during emergencies. Chertoff said yesterday that his agency was adopting the latter interpretation. “Under the implementation of the National Incident Management System, there has been discussion of requiring the elimination of the 10-code in everyday law-enforcement communications. However, there was a strong response from the law-enforcement community against this proposal, and we listened to your concerns,” the secretary said at an International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Miami. “As a result, I have decided that NIMS compliance will not include the abolition of 10-codes in everyday law-enforcement communications, but we will work to ensure that we have a common-language system for multijurisdiction and multiagency events,” he said. Police had said using plain language in radio communications heard by suspects could compromise officers’ security. Since compliance with the new system is to be a requirement for receiving federal antiterrorism grants, officials worried they could be faced with a choice between safety and vital funding. The federal NIMS Integration Center issued two bulletins last month warning emergency responders to use the new system, including plain English instead of codes, “every day.” The center said “continued resistance” to doing so could mean the loss of federal grants. “Those who do not train for, exercise and use NIMS … in their day-to-day operations will not be able to integrate their activities into a system they do not know, haven’t practiced and don’t use,” the center said in one of the bulletins. In explaining the approach, Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Don Jacks said at the time that emergency responders “have to practice like they play.” Both Chertoff and the emergency agency have backed off this week from that position. Echoing the secretary’s remarks yesterday, FEMA spokeswoman Mary Margaret Walker said today that there had been only “discussion” of requiring plain language for everyday use. “The NIMS Integration Center believes and FEMA believes that speaking in plain English is a very important component of any emergency-response situation,” Walker said. “We encourage people to move in that direction, but we do not require it.” The police chiefs’ association expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the dispute. “We think it’s great, and we’re really pleased that the secretary was very open and listened to our concerns and made a decision,” said the association’s legislative counsel, Gene Voegtlin. “This has been a very nonconfrontational process,” Voegtlin said. “It really is almost, hopefully, a harbinger of how things will continue to be. … This wasn’t a yelling and screaming kind of situation.” Back to top

Australia Plans Labs to Counter WMD Attack Fears of a WMD attack in Australia are prompting the formation of antiterrorism laboratories in capital cities, the Australian reported today (see GSN, Sept. 21). The laboratories are being developed alongside a new $17.3 million facility in Canberra that will research techniques to detect and counter attacks involving chemical, biological or radioactive agents, according to the Australian. The Canberra facility will be modeled after the Australian Federal Police bomb data center, an Australian government source said.  “It's going to be proactive, provide technical advice and intelligence, and it will try and raise awareness of the threat posed,” said the source. The laboratories are expected to supplement existing hospital capabilities for analyzing suspicious substances. Australian Homeland Security Research Center Director Athol Yates said the laboratories are evidence that the government is taking the WMD threat seriously. “It's recognition that radiological, chemical and biological weapons are a realistic threat, compared to in the past, where they were more a fanciful threat,” he said. The Australian National Counterterrorism Committee plans to develop a strategy for dealing with the WMD threat, according to Prime Minister John Howard (Simon Kearney, The Australian, Sept. 28). Back to top

No Misunderstanding on Six-Party Text, U.S. Official Says By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The North Korean government understands that the six-nation statement agreed to this month on its nuclear program allows for discussions on providing the country a light-water reactor only after it has disarmed, the top U.S. negotiator said here today (see GSN, Sept. 19). “Let me be clear, there is no ambiguity about what their undertakings are in that text. They know full well, I mean, we didn’t spend 20 days and nights talking about the Major League pennant races,” said Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill, speaking at the United States Institute for Peace. The day after the multiparty statement of negotiating goals was signed on Sept. 19, a North Korean official said his country would expect to receive a light-water reactor from the United States before dismantling its suspected nuclear weapons and programs (see GSN, Sept. 20). North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Su Hon also said this month that Pyongyang is looking to dismantle a partially built graphite-moderated reactor concurrent with construction of a light-water reactor, Hill said. U.S. officials have said that negotiators did not include either effort in the statement and have portrayed the North Korean position as a negotiating bid ahead of the next round of talks scheduled for November in Beijing (see GSN, Sept. 21). Statement Language Ambiguous The statement text does not say North Korea should receive a nuclear reactor, only that the parties “agreed to discuss” providing a light-water reactor to Pyongyang. It also does not specify a schedule for those discussions, saying only they would occur “at an appropriate time.” An opinion piece Sunday in the Washington Post by a recently retired State Department Korean interpreter argued that the statement’s ambiguity has left it open to interpretation. The document is a “linguistic minefield,” according to Tong Kim. Hill said U.S. negotiators during the talks “took the occasion to define what ‘appropriate time’ is and the other parties did so as well and we agreed that once they are denuclearized, once they are back in the NPT [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty], once they have IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] safeguards, that we would agree to have a discussion about the subject of the provision of a light-water reactor.” Hill said it is “hard to say” where North Korea was coming from with its Sept. 20 statement, but suggested it might have been intended to assuage internal political pressures.  “Certainly internal considerations must be there. Certainly they have a rather substantial nuclear industry, industry in a sense of a lot of people engaged on these nuclear programs,” he said. Hill cautioned that the six-nation statement on potential North Korean disarmament was not a “deal,” as it has been described by commentators and in the press. “Right now we have what I think is a very important first step, but we don’t have a deal. … We’ve got a long way to go before anyone can proclaim that we have a deal. What we have is an agreement on principles that if anyone is going to walk away from them, they have to walk away from five other parties,” he said. Back to top       IAEA Reports Increase in Nuclear Incidents By David Francis Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The number of illicit trafficking and other unauthorized activities involving nuclear and radioactive materials in 2004 increased significantly compared to prior years, according to a report released yesterday by the International Atomic Energy Agency (see GSN, June 16).  Countries reported 121 incidents to the agency, according to the Illicit Trafficking Database report covering the theft of nuclear and radioactive materials from 1993 to 2004. Approximately 77 incidents were reported in 2003, the report states, and approximately 57 were reported in 2002. The agency attributed the rise in reported trafficking, theft and other incidents to better reporting by the 81 countries involved. The increase in 2004 is the first since 2000. The agency said, however, that since 1993 incidents have been trending downward. “Improved reporting may in part account for it,” the report says of last year’s increase.  There has been only one reported incident involving trafficking of weapon-grade material since 2003, according to the report. An individual was caught attempting to smuggle 170 grams of highly enriched uranium across the border of the former Soviet republic Georgia. While 170 grams is not enough nuclear material for a weapon, the incident illustrates the vulnerabilities of nuclear materials, said Anthony Wier, a research associate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.   “The theft and potential smuggling of nuclear material … that can be used in a nuclear weapon isn’t a hypothetical risk,” he told Global Security Newswire. Terrorists “don’t steal enough for a bomb in one fell swoop,” Wier said, adding that recent U.S. Homeland Security Department emergency planning scenarios involved terrorists gathering nuclear material for a weapon from different sources. The U.N. nuclear watchdog noted the attempted trafficking of the 170 grams in its 2004 annual report. However, this is the first mention of an incident involving such a large amount of highly enriched uranium in a trafficking report Wier said.  Few Incidents of Weapon-Usable Materials Since 1993, the agency has tracked 196 incidents including plutonium, uranium, and thorium.   Only 18 of the incidents involved highly enriched uranium or plutonium, and just a few of these involved kilogram quantities of weapon-usable materials. However, the agency warned that small quantities of weapon-usable materials seized were likely samples of larger supplies that may not be secure. Two hundred and twenty incidents of theft of low-grade nuclear materials in the form of natural and depleted uranium, reactor fuel pellets and thorium were reported between 1993 and 2004. The agency said these incidents indicate gaps in nuclear material security. “The majority of confirmed incidents with nuclear materials recorded during 1993 to 2004 involved criminal activity, such as theft, illegal possession, illegal transfer or transaction,” the agency said in a release accompanying the report. “Some of these incidents indicate that there is a perceived demand for such materials on the ‘black market.’ Where information on motives is available, it indicates that profit seeking is the principal motive behind such events.” Finally, the agency reported 424 incidents from 1993 to 2004 of radioactive sources that could be used by terrorists.   “In the hands of terrorists or other criminals, some radioactive sources could be used for malicious purposes, for example in a radiological dispersal device or ‘dirty bomb,’” the report says.  Back to top       Russia Retrieves HEU Fuel From Czech Republic Nearly 14 kilograms of highly enriched uranium was transferred yesterday from a research reactor in the Czech Republic to Russia for converting into a non-weapon-usable form, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 26). The transfer was the eighth sponsored by a U.S-Russian initiative to repatriate Soviet-produced highly enriched uranium from research reactors around the world. Russia has pledged to retrieve the material from civilian research facilities in 17 countries in order to prevent the uranium from falling into the hands of terrorists, according to AP (Associated Press, Sept. 28). Back to top       Technical Hurdles Could Stall Iranian Uranium Enrichment for Several Months, Experts Say Iran may need several months to correct technical difficulties at its Isfahan uranium conversion facility before being able to generate uranium hexafluoride pure enough for enrichment, the next step in producing reactor or bomb fuel, Platts Nuclear Fuel reported last month (see GSN, Sept. 7). Iran was able to generate initial amounts of UF6 “within a few hours” of resuming operations at Isfahan on Aug. 10 (see GSN, Aug. 16), an official at the Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency told Platts (Mark Hibbs, Platts Nuclear Fuel, Aug. 15). The quality of UF6, however, was so poor that it could not be used as feedstock for enrichment, Reuters reported yesterday. “The UF6 is crap,” said a Western diplomat in Vienna. “I wouldn’t say it’s garbage,” said another Western diplomat. “But the UF6 produced at Isfahan is of such poor quality that if it were fed into centrifuges it could damage them.” “It makes one wonder why they’re so insistent about running (Isfahan) at this point,” another diplomat said. Several EU officials said Iran would maintain continuous work at Isfahan rather than showing weakness in the face of Western pressure by halting activity. “It’s a question of dignity,” said one diplomat. China, India, Russia and South Africa all unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Iran last week to suspend conversion for a few weeks in order to avoid a U.N. Security Council showdown, according to diplomats (Reuters, Sept. 27). To obtain pure UF6, Iran must operate the plant initially at very low levels in order to control the process and minimize contamination, a learning process that could take “several months,” officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency told Platts. Mastering the technology could take even longer if components and processes introduced in the last year by Iran require further modification, the experts added. Iran’s hurried efforts could indicate it is attempting to create an impression of a far greater mastery of the technology than it in fact has, said Gary Samore, vice president for global security and sustainability at the MacArthur Foundation in Chicago. “Iran took steps which seemed to imply to the outside world that it was on the verge of making a dramatic breakthrough in its enrichment program. They haven’t apparently wanted us to know that things haven’t been problem-free,” said Samore (Hibbs, Platts Nuclear Fuel, Aug. 15). Back to top       Iran Parliament to Consider Bill to Restrict International Nuclear Inspectors’ Access The Iranian parliament today gave priority to a bill halting application of the country’s Additional Protocol to its International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards agreement, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 27).). Bringing the legislation up for a vote could take several weeks because it must first go through a specialized commission, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse I/SpaceWar.com, Sept. 28). Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency head Alexander Rumyantsev said Iran does not have the ability to fulfill its threats of resuming enrichment, the Associated Press reported today. “Currently Iran has no enrichment capacity — there is no possible way Iranians can enrich uranium,” Rumyantsev said.   He said Iran’s pilot enrichment project at Natanz would not be ready for more than a year. IAEA diplomats confirmed Rumyantsev’s statements, adding that the several tons of uranium hexafluoride Iran managed to produce since resuming conversion last month were contaminated and could not be used as feedstock for enrichment (see related GSN story, today). “It would need purification before it would be suitable,” said one diplomat. “They need to work on their ... production, but they’re getting expertise,” the diplomat added (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 28). Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today that it is “inconceivable” that a military strike would be launched against Iran over its nuclear program, AFP reported. “All United States presidents always say all options are open, but it is not on the table, it is not on the agenda. I happen to think it is inconceivable,” Straw told BBC radio (Agence France-Presse II/SpaceWar.com, Sept. 28).). The United States perceives Iran’s nuclear ambitions as a greater threat than even North Korea’s avowed nuclear weapons program, analysts said yesterday. “In terms of threats — at this point — the Bush administration sees the Iranian regime as more threatening than the North Korean regime,” said Robert Einhorn, an adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Washington fears that Iranian nuclear technology could be transferred to terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, which Iran a history of supporting, Einhorn said. “The question exists what kinds of ties Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have with militant groups and would they be prepared to provide assistance in some very nasty weapons,” he said. North Korea, an impoverished, isolated, resource-poor nation is seen as inherently less threatening than Iran, which has world’s second-largest oil and gas reserves, said Joseph Cirincione, nonproliferation director at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “So while there is no evidence at all that Iran has any significant quantity of nuclear material or any nuclear weapons, Iran is a much more difficult nuclear issue to resolve for the United States,” said Cirincione (Agence France-Presse III/SpaceWar.com, Sept. 28). Back to top       Negotiating Partners Begin Formulating Proposed Steps for North Korea Nuclear Disarmament Work has begun to determine the specific steps by which North Korea would dismantle its nuclear programs and the reciprocal measures to be granted by the five countries negotiating with Pyongyang, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said today (see GSN, Sept. 27). “We have launched preparations to set up specific steps and their sequence, focusing on nuclear dismantlement and corresponding measures,” Ban said. China, Japan, North Korea, Russia, South Korea and the United States are expected to resume multilateral negotiations in November, Reuters reported (Jack Kim, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Sept. 28). Finalizing the terms for North Korea’s disarmament could take years, an analyst said yesterday. The agreement reached last week in Beijing “is an expressed destination but not a roadmap how to get there,” said Center for Strategic and International Studies adviser and former Assistant Secretary of State Robert Einhorn (see GSN, Sept. 19). “It is easy to overstate what happened,” Einhorn said. “It could take years.” North Korea is skilled at pitting its negotiating partners against one another, said Derek Mitchell, a former Defense Department official and a senior fellow at the center. Pyongyang is aware of the desire by China and South Korea for stability in the region “at all cost,” Mitchell said. The two countries forced acknowledgement of North Korea’s right to a nuclear energy program into the agreement, the analysts said. “The question is whether China and South Korea will apply real leverage on North Korea,” Mitchell said (Barry Schweid, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 27). Back to top       Russia Pledges to Join U.S. Nuclear Fuel Initiative Russia said yesterday it wants to join a U.S. plan to establish a supply of uranium fuel for nuclear power reactors in countries that agree to forgo developing their own fuel capabilities, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 27). “We support this American initiative,” said Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency head Alexander Rumyantsev, referring to a proposal U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman announced Monday at the International Atomic Energy Agency. The agency should oversee the fuel bank, Rumyantsev said. “The IAEA is the organization that will have to develop the regulations and rules for such a mechanism,” he said. IAEA officials said yesterday that they had not yet studied the U.S. proposal. The initial U.S. offer of 17.4 metric tons of nuclear fuel is an effort to “kick-start” development of a multinational fuel bank, said one senior U.S. diplomat. Washington did not, however, offer a proposal for the bank’s management or any other details of its potential structure. Brazil, China, France, Japan, Russia, the United States and the Urenco consortium —Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom — are the world’s only producers of enriched uranium for commercial use (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Sept. 27). Back to top       Russian Army to get Hypersonic Strategic Missiles Russia plans to develop hypersonic strategic missile systems, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 18, 2004). “We are developing and will provide the army with new, high-precision strategic complexes that are unique and unlikely to appear earlier in any other country,” Putin said. The missiles would use hypersonic sound to change course and altitude and “will be virtually invulnerable, even to the missile defense systems being developed in some of our partner countries,” Putin said (Associated Press, Sept. 27). Meanwhile, the Russian navy said it successfully tested a new submarine-launched ballistic missile yesterday, the Associated Press reported. The Bulava solid-fuel missile was fired from a nuclear submarine in the White Sea and struck a target on the Kamchatka Peninsula, navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said in a statement. Yesterday’s test was the first live fire of the missile, which has a range of 5,000 miles, according to AP. “The successful test launch demonstrated the high level of readiness of the naval strategic nuclear forces and effectiveness of the navy’s military command,” Dygalo said.  The Russian navy expects to get two newly equipped nuclear submarines in 2006 armed with the missiles, Dygalo said. Interfax reported that each of the submarines would carry 12 missiles (Associated Press, Sept. 27). Back to top

Possible Chemical Weapon Injures Russian Police A controlled explosion Saturday of a suspected chemical weapon in Russia left seven police officers in the hospital with phosphorous poisoning, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 26). “Seven police officers are in [the] hospital with signs of poisoning by phosphorous-organic substances. … They are in stable condition,” said Natalya Pletneva of the Saratov region’s emergency situations ministry. “I’ve heard it was a chemical bomb.” Pletneva said that the bomb was discovered by a farmer near the village of Ivanovko and detonated by local law enforcement officials. Laboratory tests showed no signs of toxic substances at the detonation site, the ministry said. Two Russian dailies reported that the bomb could be a World War II-era weapon containing phosgene or mustard gas, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse, Sept. 27). Back to top       Umatilla CW Depot Begins Destroying Bombs Workers at Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon successfully drained their first sarin-filled bombs yesterday, the Associated Press reported (See GSN, Sept. 26). The facility has worked on destroying rockets containing nerve gas for the last several months. The GB-Agent Bomb is the second type of weapon to be processed at the facility, according to AP. Workers yesterday drained two bombs yesterday. Roughly 2,400 bombs must be destroyed, AP reported (Associated Press/KWG, Sept. 27). Back to top       International Inspectors Visit U.S. CW Depot An inspection team from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons last week visited the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama to examine weapons stored at the facility, according to a U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release (see GSN, Aug. 16). The inspectors were there to verify that the chemical weapons stockpiles at the facility are properly stored and that control over the stockpile is maintained, the release said. “All indications are the inspection was very successful,” Lt. Col. Darryl Briggs, heads of Anniston Chemical Activity, said in the release. “The inspection team leader did not report any discrepancies. In addition, the team appreciated our Southern hospitality and the professional manner in which ‘Team Anniston’ conducted itself during the inspection” (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Sept. 26). Meanwhile, a low-level mustard gas leak was detected in a storage igloo at the facility, according to a Chemical Materials Agency release. Workers at the facility plan to seal the leaking 105-mm artillery projectile in a steel container this week (Chemical Materials Agency release, Sept. 27). Back to top

Radiation Countermeasure Development Stalls in U.S. U.S. lawmakers and Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals are criticizing the U.S. Health and Human Services Department for its handling of a radiation countermeasure the company has been developing for the five years, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, July 15). The drug, developed with support from the U.S. Defense Department, is the only anticipated option for treating radiation sickness over the next few years, the company said. Health and Human Services, however, has not moved to procure the drug quickly, despite tests that indicate the product’s effectiveness, the Post reported. Hollis-Eden CEO Richard Hollis told the House Government Reform Committee in July that Project Bioshield — the federal effort to boost development of WMD countermeasures by offering an assured market for the products — suffers from a “a lack of leadership, a lack of implementation and sense of urgency, and a huge sense of bureaucracy, that has basically killed the capital markets and ability to raise money to develop these drugs.” Hollis said that few companies are interested in developing Bioshield drugs because of doubts that they would be profitable or even break even. HHS Assistant Secretary Stewart Simonson told the committee that the department was not satisfied with the drug and would draft a request for proposals for another radiation drug by the end of July. The department has yet to release the proposal, according to the Post. The proposal is now set for release this month. The delay was necessary to “insure that the most appropriate immediate targets … can be more fully defined to protect the American public,” said agency spokesman Marc Wolfson. He added that the delay allows the agency to give guidance to the drug industry. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci told the committee that “we have to almost start from square one” on producing a radiation sickness drug. He said that the change in threat from a large nuclear attack to a smaller, single detonation or dirty bomb necessitated a different countermeasure. “It was either you blow up the city or not,” Fauci said. “It's a totally different picture now, which is the reason why the research is taking time.” Radiation sickness is caused by changes to bone marrow, which leads to loss of clotting factors that stop bleeding and cells that fight infections. Hollis-Eden claims its self-injected drug can protect bone marrow. The drug is only effective if taken within four hours of exposure, according to the Post (Marc Kaufman, Washington Post, Sept. 28).   Back to top

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