House Democrat Seeks New Information-Sharing Unit

By Joe Fiorill
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — In the latest of a series of proposals for easing exchanges of terrorism information among U.S. federal, state and local agencies, the top Democratic representative on antiterrorism matters is calling for a new office to facilitate “vertical” information-sharing (see GSN, July 15, 2005).

The new unit would convert classified intelligence into forms usable by state and local officials and would provide a channel by which terrorism information from state and local officials could reach federal authorities.

“We must keep state, local and tribal law enforcement in the loop and engaged in law-enforcement intelligence,” said the House Homeland Security Committee’s top Democrat, Bennie Thompson (Miss.). “As it is now, they are not being given the information they need when they need it to identify potential terrorists or their methods.”

Thompson proposed the new unit last week in a report criticizing information-sharing efforts by the Bush administration since the September 2001 attacks.

The administration, according to the report, has failed to respond adequately to “numerous directives, exhortations and invitations … to develop uniform standards for converting classified information into an unclassified or ‘less classified’ format” and “to create effective mechanisms … where [state and local] information assets can be shared with the intelligence community.”

Last year brought several milestones in the federal effort, among them President George W. Bush’s April appointment of John Russack as federal program manager for information-sharing.

Russack in November held the first meeting of his council. In House testimony the same month, he acknowledged shortcomings in sharing between federal and nonfederal agencies and vowed to improve the environment.

“We must work together more seamlessly at the federal level in order to better leverage the capabilities that the state, local and tribal entities bring to the counterterrorism effort,” he told a Homeland Security Committee subcommittee.

“State, local, tribal and private-sector authorities need more unclassified information and intelligence,” Russack added, “and the traditional federal emphasis on producing and disseminating classified information impedes the effective use of that information to support multidisciplinary prevention, response and recovery efforts.”

Another development arose last month, when Bush issued a memorandum instructing federal agencies to “leverag[e] ongoing information-sharing efforts” and “promot[e] a culture of information-sharing.” The president told the agencies to agree on common standards for sharing information among themselves and a common framework for sharing with state and local agencies.

According to Thompson’s report, Russack “has made little progress in harmonizing the disparate approaches to declassification within the” intelligence community, and the guidelines in Bush’s memorandum “simply restate the undisputed need” for common information-sharing standards and procedures, “rehashing … obvious challenges” without offering anything “substantive.”

To jump-start progress, the Democrat called for creating a Vertical Intelligence Terrorism Analysis Link, modeled after the United Kingdom’s Police International Counterterrorism Unit and Joint Terrorism Analysis Center. Those two units, according to the Democratic report, circumvent many obstacles to information-sharing by allowing police and intelligence analysts to work side-by-side with a common mission.

The year-old U.S. National Counterterrorism Center is similar to the Joint Terrorism Analysis Center, according to the report, in that the U.S. center “leverages the intelligence capabilities of the CIA, the FBI, the [Homeland Security] Department and other agencies.”

“Unlike the JTAC in the U.K., however, the NCTC serves only federal customers and is not in the business of sanitizing intelligence documents for dissemination to state, local or tribal law-enforcement,” indicates the report.

The proposed new unit, the report indicates, “would establish law enforcement itself as a main driver of the intelligence products being shared with state, local and tribal authorities by looping front-line officers directly into the intelligence identification, analysis and dissemination process.”

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Iran Vows to Restart Nuclear Operations

Iran yesterday said its decision to resume nuclear research was non-negotiable, the New York Times reported (see GSN, Jan. 4).

Top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Tehran’s plans would not violate a moratorium on uranium enrichment-related activities Iran struck with the European Union more than a year ago.

“Research has its own definition. It is not related to industrial production. Hence, it was never part of the negotiations,” he said (Elaine Sciolino, New York Times, Jan. 5).

Iran’s delegation to the International Atomic Energy Agency was due to meet with agency officials today in Vienna to explain Tehran’s nuclear plans, Agence France-Presse reported.

“The purpose of the meeting is to have details on the research and development the Iranians intend to do,” said a Western diplomat.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog hopes to learn whether Tehran wants IAEA seals removed from Iranian nuclear sites (Agence France-Presse/Channel NewsAsia, Jan. 4).

Meanwhile, Washington yesterday placed new financial restrictions on two Iranian firms, the Associated Press reported.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control ordered U.S. banks to freeze any U.S.-based financial assets held by Novin Energy Co. and Mesbah Energy Co. Bush administration officials suspect the companies are controlled by or acting on behalf of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, which the Washington last year designated as a WMD proliferator.

Novin is suspected of transferring millions of dollars “to entities associated with Iran’s nuclear program,” and even shares the nuclear agency’s address, according to Treasury officials.

Mesbah “has been used to procure products for Iran’s heavy-water project,” the department said. “Heavy water is essential for Iran’s heavy-water-moderated reactor project, which will provide Iran a potential source of plutonium well-suited for nuclear weapons.”

“Heavy water is believed to have no credible use in Iran’s civilian nuclear power programs,” Treasury added (Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Jan. 4).

Elsewhere, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad again blasted Israel today, AFP reported.

“Why would you impose such a bold and corrupt regime on the nations of the region unless it (the Holocaust) is a big historical lie,” said Ahmadinejad, addressing Western countries and referring to Israel.

“Be sure that not only the Palestinian people, but also all Islamic nations will not even for a moment tolerate this occupying regime and corrupt government empowered by you,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Middle East Online, Jan. 5).

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Sudan Involvement in Nuclear Black Market Alleged

Some $35 million worth of dual-use equipment that could be used in nuclear weapons efforts was imported into Sudan between 1999 and 2001 and has since gone missing, the London Guardian reported today (see GSN, April 28, 2005).

A European Union intelligence report obtained by the Guardian says Khartoum has been using front companies to import machine tools, gauges and high-tech processing equipment from Western Europe. Much of that equipment is too sophisticated for use in Sudan, which is known to have only a small civilian nuclear program related to health and medical techniques.

“The suspicion arises that at least some of the machinery was not destined for or not only destined for Sudan,” says the report (see GSN, Jan. 4). “Among the equipment purchased by Sudan there are dual-use goods whose use in Sudan appears implausible because of their high technological standard.”

Western intelligence agencies believe the equipment may have made its way into the nuclear black market once operated by former top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. He is known to have visited Sudan at least once between 1998 and 2002, according to the Guardian. A “failing state” such as Sudan is suitable for such illicit activities, according to analysts.

Investigators said the equipment has not been found in Sudan or in Libya, which ended its WMD programs in 2003 (see GSN, April 1, 2005).

Imports of the dual-use material into Sudan ended in 2001.

“No one now seems to be buying to that extent,” said one investigator. “Perhaps the activity stopped because they got all that they needed.”

Investigators suspect Iran may also be involved in the acquisitions (see GSN, Jan. 4).

“There is the Khan network and then there is a much bigger network in this, and that is the Iranian network,” the investigator said.

A state-owned company in Khartoum is being called a “pivotal organization” in the scheme. The firm has offices in Tehran, Moscow, Sofia, Istanbul and Beijing and “is cooperating intensively with Iran,” according to the document.

“It is striking that (the company’s) partners are enterprises subordinate to Iran’s Defense Industries Organization,” the report says. “Technology transfer between these two states and links between their programs cannot be ruled out” (Traynor/Cobain, The Guardian, Jan. 5).

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India, Japan to Begin Nuclear Talks

India and Japan yesterday agreed to conduct annual talks on nuclear matters, Asia Pulse reported (see GSN, Jan. 3).

Indian External Affairs Minister E. Ahamed and visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso announced the two countries’ intention to begin an annual high-level dialogue on nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation.

A senior Japanese official also said Tokyo would discuss lifting restrictions on nuclear trade with New Delhi, according to Asia Pulse (Asia Pulse/Yahoo!News, Jan. 5).

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U.S. Special Envoy to North Korea Shifts Jobs

Joseph DeTrani has left his position as U.S. special envoy to the stalled nuclear disarmament negotiations with North Korea, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 4).

DeTrani left the State Department job he held since January 2004 in order to become a senior adviser to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, according to AFP.

DeTrani, a former CIA officer, “made an enormous contribution to our policies concerning North Korea,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack (Agence France-Presse/Hindustan Times, Jan. 4).

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Blue Grass Whistleblower Investigation Continues

The United States continues to investigate charges of retaliation against a Blue Grass Army Depot employee who claimed that faulty air monitors in chemical weapons storage igloos were putting facility employees at risk, the Richmond (Ky.) Register reported Tuesday (see GSN, Aug. 26, 2005).

Air-monitoring unit operator Donald Van Winkle filed a whistleblower complaint in September under the Clean Air Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

By that time he had already been reassigned for raising the issue of safety at the Kentucky facility, according to an affidavit released the previous month.

“The investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor into the retaliation Mr. Van Winkle has suffered and continues to suffer is ongoing,” said Richard Condit, general counsel for the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. “The Army inspector general has completed an investigation of some of the technical issues Mr. Van Winkle has raised and we are awaiting a copy of the report, which was due Dec. 16.”

The Army has refused to return Van Winkle to his previous job, Condit said. While the investigations continue and the Army considers his status, Van Winkle will not have access to chemical weapons storage areas, the Register reported (Ronica Brandenburg, Richmond Register, Jan. 3).

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Radioactive Material Again Stolen in Venezuela

More radioactive material was stolen last week in Venezuela, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2005).

Oil prospecting equipment containing cesium 137 went missing in eastern Anzoategui State, according to Angel Diaz, head of the Venezuelan energy ministry’s nuclear affairs department.

Authorities arrested three police officers last month in connection with the theft of a truck carrying a device containing iridium 192, Reuters reported. Two other capsules with iridium 192 disappeared in March, though both have since been recovered (Reuters, Jan. 4).

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Supreme Court Allows Padilla Move to Civilian Jail

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday that one-time “dirty bomb” suspect Jose Padilla can be moved from military custody to a civilian jail in Miami, the Los Angeles Times reported (see GSN, Dec. 22).

“The government’s application presented to the chief justice and referred by him to the court is granted,” the court said, overruling a decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals barring Padilla’s transfer.

Padilla spent 3 1/2 years in military custody without facing charges as an “enemy combatant.”

The Supreme Court decision opens the door for Padilla to be tried on charges of supplying funding and recruits for terrorism, according to the Times. No charges have been filed related to his once-alleged intent to detonate a radiological weapon in the United States.

Justices are still scheduled on Jan. 13 to hear an appeal of the 4th Circuit decision upholding the government’s right to hold Padilla as an enemy combatant. However, yesterday’s decision may lead the court to dismiss the appeal (David Savage, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 5).

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