Terrorist Sought Dirty Bomb, Say British Prosecutors

Prosecutors said yesterday that one of several men accused of plotting terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom and having ties to al-Qaeda had asked about buying a radiological weapon from Russian mobsters, the New York Times reported (see GSN, Jan. 12).

Prosecutor David Waters said that defendant Salahuddin Amin had been asked to contact a man identified as Abu Annis about a “radioisotope bomb.” 

Waters said Annis told Amin that “they had made contact with the Russian mafia in Belgium and from the mafia they were trying to buy this bomb.” Amin subsequently told authorities that he thought it unlikely that “you can go and pick an atomic bomb up and use it.”

However, Waters said the incident was “an indication as to Amin's position in, and his usefulness to, the organization.”

Amin and six other defendants are charged with plotting an explosion “likely to endanger life” and other crimes related to possessing bomb-making materials. The suspects were arrested before detonating any bombs and before the attacks on the London transit system last summer (Sarah Lyall, New York Times, March 23).

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Former Iraqi Official Denies Being CIA Mole

Former Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri yesterday denied supplying the CIA with information on his country’s WMD efforts prior to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 21).

“The information carried by the American channel NBC are lies, totally fabricated and unfounded,” Sabri told AFP. 

“After the lies about the weapons of mass destruction which do not exist and the alleged links with al-Qaeda, it seems that this new lie is aimed at giving a new fake pretext to justify the crime of the century: the invasion of Iraq,” he added.

NBC reported that Sabri received $100,000 to provide information through a French intermediary on the state of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. He allegedly said that Iraq had chemical weapons but no biological arms, and that then-President Saddam Hussein hoped to develop a nuclear bomb.

Sabri said NBC fabricated the story after he refused an interview with the network.

“A few weeks ago, the American channel asked me, in a way that resembled blackmail, for an interview. I apologized, said I couldn't and refused to receive their correspondent,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, March 22).

CIA officials conducted informal meetings with Sabri before the war, but used a third-party to obtain information about WMD programs, the Washington Post reported today.

“It was never clear what he wanted, but we never paid him,” said one former intelligence official.

The White House had hoped Sabri would defect to bolster its effort to pass a congressional resolution authorizing force in Iraq, an official said. 

“They wanted a big public defection, which would have been good for the policy,” said one official. However, another official said defection was not expected because Sabri was from a prominent Iraqi family.

Another intelligence official said that the Bush administration was more interested in Sabri’s defection than any information he provided, as intelligence agencies did not trust him (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, March 23).

Meanwhile, President George W. Bush yesterday continued his campaign to convince the U.S. public that the war in Iraq was justifiable despite faulty prewar WMD intelligence, the Post reported.

“Obviously, the intelligence broke down,” Bush said. “But [Hussein] had that capacity to make weapons of mass destruction, as well. He had not only murdered his own people, but he had used weapons of mass destruction on his own people. That's what we knew prior to the decision I made.”

The president added that Hussein “also was firing at our aircraft. … He had taken shots at British and U.S. pilots. … This guy was a threat. … The world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power” (Bill Brubaker, Washington Post, March 22).

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Biden Calls for Improved Port Security

U.S. Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) said yesterday that the Bush administration has not done enough to secure U.S. ports, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 13).

“The thing we have ignored for five years, port security, has to stop,” he said.

While the administration is vigorously pursuing a missile defense system, Biden said a missile attack “is the least likely threat the United States faces — not according to Joe Biden, but according to our Defense Department.”

He said the more pressing threat is a crude nuclear weapon, a radiological “dirty bomb” or a “vial of sarin gas or biological weapon in a backpack crossing from Vancouver to Seattle.”

Biden said cargo containers should be scanned with both gamma rays and X-rays before departing international ports for the United States (Bruce Smith, Associated Press/Myrtle Beach Sun News, March 22).

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U.S. Officials Tout Indian Nuclear Deal to Suppliers Group

A senior U.S. official said yesterday that the U.S.-Indian nuclear technology sharing agreement would bring India “into the nonproliferation mainstream” and that New Delhi has pledged to adopt export controls similar to those of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 22).

“They have a good record on nonproliferation, and they are improving on that,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher in Vienna, where he and acting Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Arms Control Stephen Rademaker are attending a meeting of the group. While the agreement is “not a perfect solution,” he said it would place international safeguards on 90 percent of Indian nuclear reactors, compared with only 18 percent being monitored now.

Rademaker praised India’s commitment to adopting export controls, saying “countries that today are seeking nuclear technology or missile technology and today have trouble getting that technology ... would have gone to India.”

Boucher said the deal does not reward India for remaining outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and dismissed the assertion that Iran and North Korea could use the agreement to argue for nuclear rights.

Iran and North Korea are both NPT member states. North Korea has admitted to operating a nuclear weapons program, while Iran maintains that its nuclear program exists for civilian purposes.

“'At a time when certain parties to the (nonproliferation) treaty are tearing up their obligations, breaking seals and throwing out (nuclear) inspectors ... India is taking on new obligations to align itself with ... those who respect the treaty,” Rademaker said (George Jahn, Association Press/OhmyNews.com, March 23).

Meanwhile, President George W. Bush yesterday continued his push for the deal, the Associated Press reported.

“It's in our interest that India use nuclear power to power their economic growth because ... there’s a global connection between demand for fossil fuels elsewhere and price here,” he said.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns added that “India can be trusted.”

In response to concerns expressed by former Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) that the deal could lead to a regional arms race involving India, China and Pakistan, and make it harder to deal with countries such as Iran and North Korea, Burns said, “we take his views very seriously.”

He added, however, that “we’re far better off” with having India monitored rather than isolated.

“India is a country that does not proliferate,” Burns said. “We are going to make a convincing case.”

Burns said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would testify in support of legislation introduced in Congress that would amend U.S. law to allow the deal (Barry Schweid, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, March 23).

Burns added that he was hopeful the Nuclear Suppliers Group would support the deal, Agence France-Presse reported.

“My very strong sense is that what we're going to hear tomorrow is a lot of countries are going to wait and see if the United States government is able to convince the U.S. Congress to pass the necessary legislation to allow this deal to go forward,” he said.

“I think that there'll be a very strong tide of support in the NSG in favor of this, but that's probably a few months away,” he added (Agence France-Presse, March 22).

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Sam Nunn is chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and Richard Lugar serves on the NTI board.  NTI is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.]

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U.N. Powers Continue Iran Discussions

Envoys from the U.N. Security Council’s five permanent member nations held inconclusive informal meetings yesterday on Iran’s nuclear activities, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 22).

“No agreement,” Russian Ambassador Andrei Denisov said after a 90-minute meeting with ambassadors from China, France, the United Kingdom and the United States at the U.S. mission.

“We truly tried to keep unity of our small group. ... We still need time to consult,” Denisov said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, traveling in China, restated Moscow’s opposition to any “ultimatum” that involves sanctions.

“This draft [U.N. Security Council statement] includes formulae that will practically prepare the ground for introducing sanctions against Iran, so it is unlikely that we will be able to support this draft as it is,” Lavrov said of the text drafted by France and the United Kingdom.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, however, expressed optimism that the council would eventually agree on an approach.

“We will come up with a vehicle (for addressing the Iranians), I am quite certain of it,” she said. “If it takes a little longer, I’m really not concerned about that” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, March 22).

U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday warned that Iran would look for the “weakest link” among the council powers, the Financial Times reported.

“Our job is to make sure that this kind of international will remains strong and united, so that we can solve this issue diplomatically,” Bush said.

However, the United Nations has remained fractured for more than a week.

“We got our asses whipped last night,” a U.N. diplomat said after Monday evening’s meeting of the council’s five permanent members plus Germany. “The Russians and the Chinese came out blazing and our political directors backed down. We’ve got to start all over.”

John Sawers, the British Foreign Office political director, on Friday encouraged his French, German and U.S. counterparts to offer Iran new incentives — including talks with all six countries — if Tehran suspends its uranium enrichment activities, the Times reported.

Diplomats said France and Germany were open to the plan but that the Bush administration immediately rejected the idea of any new incentives, particularly U.S. talks with Iran, according to the Times.

Diplomats said they believed U.S. officials leaked Sawers’ plan on Friday in an effort to undermine the proposal. Since then, London has seemingly backtracked, the Times reported.

“One thing we agree on — the U.K., U.S. and EU — is that we are not in the business of backsliding and rewarding Iranians for bad behavior,” a British official said (Dinmore/Khalafin/Turnerat, Financial Times, March 22).

Chinese President Hu Jintao and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin today agreed that the issue should be resolved diplomatically, Reuters reported today.

 “China supports Russia’s active efforts to appropriately resolve the Iran nuclear issue,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang (Reuters, March 23).

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Seoul Sees North Korea Willing to Resume Talks

A top South Korean official said today that North Korea would be willing to resume stalled multilateral nuclear disarmament talks once a dispute with the United States over alleged financial misconduct was resolved, Reuters reported (see GSN, March 22).

“We hope that North Koreans have realized all the serious implications of all these illicit activities,” Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told Reuters. “It seems to us the North Koreans are also very much interested in making a breakthrough in this stalled, deadlocked situation.”

“I am not in a position at this time to give you any positive dates or timeline but we are trying to do our best,” he said.

Pyongyang recently said it was open to adopting international financial regulations, joining a financial task force with the United States and punishing citizens found to be involved in the illegal drug trade, Ban said.

“These kinds of announcements and measures taken by North Korea seem to suggest they are trying to send out some messages to us, particularly the United States,” he said.

Ban said he hoped U.S. authorities would soon complete their investigation of Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, which Washington suspects of having helped launder North Korean funds.

Ban added that a visit next month by Chinese President Hu Jintao to the United States could help restart the talks (Nesirky/Herskovitz, Reuters/Yahoo!News, March 23).

Meanwhile in Beijing, Hu and visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a joint statement calling for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue, the Korea Herald reported.

The two leaders endorsed the six-nation talks as the “practical and effective” approach to resolving the standoff (Korea Herald, March 23).

China’s ambassador to Seoul said Tuesday that Beijing would not exert economic pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear programs, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

“Sanctions cannot help solve problems. Depending on the political situation, the six parties should work together to find a mutually beneficial solution,” Ning Fukui said (Yonhap News Agency, March 22).

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Canada Approved Shipment of Tritium to Iran

Canada’s Nuclear Safety Commission last year allowed a company to ship to Iran 70,000 glow-in-the-dark lights containing tritium, a radioactive gas that can be used in nuclear weapons, the Globe and Mail reported (see GSN, July 26, 2005).

The government allowed export of roughly 10 percent of the amount of tritium needed to make one weapon. The company that sold the lights, SRB Technologies, said it had sent less than permitted.

The Nuclear Safety Commission confirmed the sale after the Globe and Mail obtained agency e-mail messages that addressed the shipment. Another message indicated that the commission did not want sales that would benefit the nuclear programs of Iran or North Korea.

“We must be particularly vigilant to ensure that Canada does nothing that could assist, directly or indirectly, the nuclear programs or WMD capabilities of either country,” said Marc Vidricaire, then a senior disarmament official at the Canadian Foreign Affairs Department, in an e-mail to his commission counterpart.

Vidricaire, now the chief spokesman at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, would not comment on the message, but senior commission official Jim Casterton confirmed that the agency approved the export of the lights in 2005.

The commission said the shipment was permitted to contain no more than .4 grams of the substance, but did not say how difficult it would be to convert the tritium sent to Tehran for use in a bomb.

SRB President Stephane Levesqu said the amount shipped to Tehran was acceptable under the company’s license and that it was used to make glow-in-the-dark compasses. 

“We make lights that glow in the dark, to illuminate various products for life safety, nothing else,” he said (Martin Mittelstaedt, Globe and Mail, March 23).

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Experts Visit Site of Planned Russian CW Processor

Experts from Canada and the United Kingdom arrived yesterday at Kizner in Russia yesterday to inspect the site of the planned third Russian chemical weapons disposal plant, ITAR-Tass reported (see GSN, March 22).

The experts are expected to visit the site where the plant is to be built as well as a public relations center, constructed with help from Russia’s partners in the program to destroy its chemical weapons.

“More than 5,700 tons of lewisite are in storage in Kizner's storage facilities, which is 14.2 percent of the overall reserves of poisonous substances on Russia's territory,” said sources with Green Cross.

“The construction of the facility to destroy poisonous substances is planned for the beginning of 2007 while a feasibility study and all project documentation should be prepared by December 2006,” the sources said.

The plant is expected to be commissioned in 2008, with work set to begin in 2009 and conclude by 2012 (ITAR-Tass, March 22).

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Work Resumes at Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Site

The U.S. Army’s Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Indiana has resumed disposing of VX nerve agent after a wastewater spill stopped work last week, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 16).

Facility spokeswoman Terry Arthur said one of the two agent neutralization reactors was restarted Friday. 

The second reactor was undergoing repairs yesterday. The March 14 spill of 300 gallons of wastewater occurred when a plug on that reactor became dislodged.

The second reactor was expected to come back online today, Arthur said.

The spill last week was the fourth since contractor Parsons Technology started processing the nerve agent in May 2005, according to AP.

As of Tuesday, the facility had eliminated 35,012 gallons of VX, roughly 14 percent of the 250,000 gallons stored at the Newport Chemical Depot, according to the Army. Weapons processing is expected to create between 2 and 4 million gallons of waste (Associated Press/PhillyBurbs.com, March 22).

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Nuclear Pact Could Aid Indian ICBM Work, Expert Says

By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — Potential U.S.-Indian cooperation on space efforts could help India develop an ICBM for deterrence against the United States, a former Defense Department official who is a missile proliferation expert said here yesterday (see GSN, March 8).

Space exploration is included in a multifaceted deal announced in July 2005 that also calls for the United States to open comprehensive nuclear energy cooperation with India, despite New Delhi’s nuclear weapons program.

U.S. President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this month committed to the nuclear components of an agreement — which requires support from the U.S. Congress and multinational Nuclear Suppliers Group to be implemented — and other facets of cooperation. However, a deal on space cooperation is still being negotiated.

Space cooperation under consideration, according to White House fact sheets, includes launches of U.S. satellites on Indian rockets and assisting India with “satellite navigation.”

A deal for Indian launch services could help “subsidize their big rocket launch program” and provide U.S. assistance to help ensure the reliability of the Indian launchers, according to Richard Speier, an independent consultant on nonproliferation and counterproliferation, speaking at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

Cooperating with India’s space launch industry, he said, would inevitably aid its ballistic missile program, as “space launchers and ballistic missiles are interchangeable.”

“An Indian space launch vehicle is like a peaceful nuclear explosive. Why are we cooperating?” he said.

Assistance with satellite navigation, he added, could benefit a suspected Indian effort to deploy missiles carrying multiple warheads.

“Much of the technology that you use for satellites, orienting objects in space, is the technology you use for MIRVs [multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles],” he said.

“We should not cooperate in any manner shape or form on space launch with India,” Speier said.

Speier, who also presented his argument in the March 2006 issue of Arms Control Today, said there have been news accounts of a long-range Indian ICBM development program since the early 1980s, with accounts growing more frequent and specific.

Speier noted a 2001 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate report that said India could convert its Polar Space Launch Vehicle into an ICBM “within a year or two of a decision to do so.”

He cited an August 2005 Deccan Herald report in which Defense Ministry sources said that India is developing a three-stage, multiple-warhead ICBM with a range between 9,000 and 12,000 kilometers (see GSN, Aug. 25, 2005).

“Six weeks after the Bush-Singh tentative agreement of last July, an Indian newspaper quoted an Indian Ministry of Defense source as saying the PSLV would be adapted into a Surya ICBM, which could deliver 2-3 warheads, with an explosive yield of 15 to 20 kilotons,” he said.

Such a range would be more than needed for striking regional rival China, or European targets, but would enable an Indian missile to reach Washington, Speier said.

He cited a 1997 Indian news article, which he said was “based on information from officials in India’s Defense Research and Development Organization or higher levels of India’s defense establishment,” that said, “Surya’s targets will be Europe and the U.S.”

“Because there is no obvious reason for India to want a military capability against Europe, there is one target that stands out as a bull’s-eye for an Indian ICBM: the United States,” he wrote in Arms Control Today.

Indian geostrategic analysts, Speier said, have written that such a capability is needed to deter a “high-tech enemy.”

Speier was asked why India would want to target the United States, particularly in light of warming relations through the Bush administration.

“Regimes change. … A new regime, with the U.S. working more closely with Pakistan, I don’t know,” he said. “The problem with nonproliferation based on intentions is that intentions can change. That’s why we focus on capabilities,” he said.

He added, “There’s a bureaucratic dynamic to developing long-range missiles.”

India’s decades-long ballistic missile development effort was boosted in the 1960s with U.S. technology, according to Speier.  

After Indian engineer A.P J. Abdul Kalam returned to India from work at a U.S. space launch facility, India requested and received from NASA unclassified reports on the U.S. space launcher Scout, an adaptation of the Minuteman ICBM solid-fuel rocket, he said. 

Kalam would become head of India’s space launch effort, and by 1982, of its defense effort to adapt space launch technology to ballistic missiles.

In 1980, India launched its first satellite with the SLV-3 rocket, a close copy of the Scout, and which “essentially” became the first stage of India’s Agni category of ballistic missiles, Speier wrote in his article.

Scout solid-fuel rocket technology also aided India’s development of its Polar Space Launch Vehicle, which India is believed to be modifying into an ICBM, he said.

Re-entry vehicle technology from the Agni 2 missiles “can be integrated with the [Polar Space Launch Vehicle] program to create an ICBM,” an Indian Defense Ministry official said, according to a February 1999 Asian Age report quoted by Speier.

A “hero” in his country, Kalam was “India’s A.Q. Khan,” Speier said, referring to the Pakistani scientist who helped his country acquire Western technology for its nuclear weapons program, and has since 2004 been detained by the Pakistani government after revelations of involvement in clandestine nuclear trade.

Kalam became Indian president in July 2002 and in July 2003 was joined by then-Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to watch Agni missiles and other military hardware roll by on an Indian Republic Day parade, Speier wrote.

He noted Kalam was quoted by India Today in April 1999, as saying “if the government approves” he would like to “neutralize” the Missile Technology Control Regime, through which he said countries tried but failed to “throttle” India’s missile development.

“We have never supported proliferation. But other nations have used their capability … to threaten us. I would like to devalue missiles by selling the technology to many nations and break their stranglehold,” Kalam said, according to the article.

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Pentagon to Revamp Missile Defense Testing Methods

The head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said Monday that the program has “turned a major corner,” Reuters reported (see GSN, March 15).

Lt. Gen. Henry Obering said the agency revamped testing procedures after interceptors failed to launch in 2004 and 2005.

“We will always be continually assessing our capabilities and if we need to make adjustments we’ll do so,” Obering said. “I am confident that if we had to use the system, the system would work.”

He added, however, that he favors avoiding inflated expectations of the system’s capability while officials consider when to declare it fully operational. The system was initially expected to be declared operational in 2004.

Obering said the agency has plans for three operationally realistic tests of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system this year, Reuters reported.

He added that the agency is likely to choose a European interceptor site by the fall. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland are in talks with the United States about the issue, Reuters reported.

The Bush administration is seeking $9.3 billion for the Missile Defense Agency in fiscal 2007, which begins in October (see GSN, Feb. 10).   That would include an extra $1.6 billion for deploying additional missile interceptors in Alaska and California, according to Reuters (Reuters/Arizona Daily Star, March 21).

Meanwhile, the Pentagon has several tests planned this year for the Airborne Laser designed to shoot down missiles from aircraft, according to the program’s director.

The Missile Defense Agency has requested $631 million for the effort in fiscal 2007, during which the refurbished chemical laser hardware is to be installed on the 747 aircraft. An intercept demonstration is scheduled for 2008, said Air Force Col. John Daniels.

Obering has indicated that the success of the demonstration would likely be a factor in whether the agency maintains the program. Agency officials have said that either the laser or the rival Kinetic Energy Interceptor would receive long-term funding.

If the demonstration is successful, attempts to shoot down longer-range missiles would be expected to follow, Daniels said.

Ultimately, lasers could be placed on seven airplanes, Daniels said (Jeremy Singer, Space.com/Yahoo!News, March 22).

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Japan, U.S. Hold Missile Defense Talks

Japanese and U.S. officials today discussed plans for a joint ballistic missile defense system, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 16).

U.S. Army Secretary Francis Harvey met with officials in Tokyo to discuss missile defense and antiterrorism efforts, said a Japanese Defense Agency spokesman.

The two countries have been cooperating on missile defense research since 1999.

Japan was the first country to purchase U.S. missile defense system components when it upgraded Aegis radars on its naval destroyers in 2003. Tokyo also bought U.S. Standard Missile 3 interceptors.

The Defense Agency also plans to purchase 124 Patriot Advanced Capability 3 batteries by 2010, AP reported (Chisaki Watanabe, Associated Press, March 23).

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