Interpol Sponsors Bioterrorism Workshop

Asian police and government officials are scheduled to meet next week in Singapore to discuss ways to improve bioterrorism defenses, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 22, 2005).

Representatives from 37 countries are expected at the three-day, closed-door meeting sponsored by Interpol.

“In addition to discussion on issues including bioincident investigation, laboratory security and effective legislation, those attending the workshop will also take part in a simulation of a major bioterror event which will highlight the need for a well coordinated national, regional and international response,” Interpol said in a statement.

Also participating are health and scientific experts. This is the second in a series of three Interpol workshops dealing with bioterrorism, with the next scheduled for July in Chile (Agence France-Presse, March 24).

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Libya to Remain on U.S. Terrorism List

The United States will not remove Libya from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, despite Tripoli’s recent cooperation on a range of security issues, a senior U.S. official told Reuters yesterday (see GSN, March 16).

The State Department’s annual Patterns of Global Terrorism report would include Libya when it is released next month, said Henry Crumpton, the department’s counterterrorism coordinator.

“However, Libya has made enormous progress in the last couple of years and we are hopeful that at some point we can address that question,” Crumpton said.

“It’s a question of confidence and time,” he said. “I must stress, though, that in terms of intelligence cooperation, in terms of operational impact on the enemy, Libya is a good partner.”

Crumpton said Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria would also remain on the list and that no new countries would be added.

States on the list are barred from purchasing U.S. arms, are limited in the types of U.S. aid they can receive and do not receive U.S. support for loan applications at international financial institutions (Hugh Bronstein, Reuters, March 24).

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Nuclear Exporters Delay Review of U.S.-Indian Deal

The Nuclear Suppliers Group yesterday refused to schedule consideration of the proposed U.S.-Indian nuclear deal at an upcoming meeting despite lobbying by the United States, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 23).

Diplomats meeting in Vienna said the nuclear materials export control group decided not to place the issue on the agenda for its May plenary session in Rio de Janeiro.

The group will consider the matter at a meeting before the session but “it is unlikely to get on the agenda,” a diplomat said.

Group members including Sweden, Norway, Ireland and Australia were worried that the deal could hurt international nonproliferation efforts, diplomats said.

The United States was “not seeking a decision” from the meeting in Vienna but was working to “explain our vision of civil nuclear cooperation with India, to answer questions that other delegations had about our vision,” said acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Stephen Rademaker in Vienna.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher said talks at the meeting have been “very balanced.”

“Those who raised a lot of questions also recognized the nonproliferation benefits of bringing India closer to the system and some of the steps that India was taking,” he said.

However, Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said the suppliers group’s decision to put off the matter is a blow to the United States.

“A change in the NSG rules is now highly unlikely for many more months to come,” he said.

A U.S. official said Washington would follow NSG rules. “We abide by our international obligations. We have obligations to the NSG,” the official said (Agence France-Presse/ChannelNewsAsia.com, March 23).

Meanwhile, Pakistani Ambassador to the United States Jehangir Karamat said nuclear technology agreements should not favor one country. He said the U.S.-Indian deal was “leaning so heavily on one side.”

Karamat said in a prepared statement that Pakistan should receive a similar deal to keep the balance of power in the region. 

“Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said our security policy is no longer India-centric. He has also emphasized minimum deterrence as a pillar of our policy, and has said that we do not want an arms race with India,” he said (The Electricity Daily, March 24).

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U.S. Concerned by Pace of Iran Nuclear Work

Indications are growing that Iran’s uranium enrichment efforts have progressed further than previously thought, Knight Ridder reported yesterday (see GSN, March 23).

International Atomic Energy Agency experts recently announced that Iran was close to launching a cascade of 164 centrifuges. Should the plan come to fruition, industrial-scale enrichment that could produce weaponizable uranium could commence much sooner than anticipated, U.S. officials and one non-U.S. diplomat said.

U.S. experts believe “Iran could be as little as two to three years away from having nuclear weapons, with all the necessary caveats and assumptions and extrapolations about them overcoming technical hurdles,” said one U.S. official. “Admittedly, those are significant assumptions.”

Previous U.S. estimates have placed Iran’s potential acquisition of weapons capability at five years.

“They are moving much quicker than everyone thought,” said the diplomat.

David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, said he was skeptical that Tehran could produce the requisite 25 kilograms of highly enriched uranium for a warhead by 2008. Albright said the “worst-case scenario” is 2009.

Iran has informed the agency that it has fed uranium hexafluoride gas into cascades of 10 and 20 centrifuges, and that it plans to begin installing the first 3,000 of a 50,000-machine plant at Natanz during the last quarter of this year, Knight Ridder reported.

However, if operation of the 164-machine cascade is mastered quickly Tehran could start on the Natanz plant within the next “few months,” said a U.S. official. In that case, he said, the plant could be operational in 2007 and produce enough highly enriched uranium for a nuclear warhead within a year.

“The anxiety level has risen significantly,” the official said (Landay/Strobel, Knight Ridder/San Jose Mercury News, March 23).

Meanwhile, a Western diplomat said yesterday that the U.N. Security Council is unlikely to finish debate this week on a statement urging Iran to suspend sensitive nuclear activities, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.

The diplomat had no estimate on when the council might agree on a text.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said yesterday that ambassadors from the five powers were waiting for results of talks at ministerial level.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw talked yesterday by telephone, according to Russian officials.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had spoken to Straw several times in recent days.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Wednesday that U.S. efforts to penalize Iran for its nuclear activities were “irrational.”

“I predict that the irrational American view will not prevail in the Security Council,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Middle East Times, March 23).

Rice yesterday encouraged faster council action, the Associated Press reported.

“There can’t be any stalling,” she said.

Rice said she planned to speak with Lavrov today about the situation and indicated that Washington could soon shift gears in its strategy on Iran.

“People are looking to the international community to show that this can, indeed, be dealt with diplomatically,” she said. “We are committed to a diplomatic solution, but it has to be dealt with.”

Russia’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Konstantin Dolgov, said the council was still working toward a presidential statement rather than a resolution.

“We are continuing negotiations in good faith and we hope that all our partners are doing likewise,” Dolgov told AP.

“We think there is still an opportunity to get a compromise but a compromise that would send the right signal — endorse the IAEA, and help in the negotiation process which is going on and should go on,” he said (Anne Gearan, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, March 24).

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch yesterday expressed optimism about a potential compromise, Kyodo News reported.

“We are making progress so we are not there yet on a presidential statement, but we anticipate with a bit further work and some good will on all sides we will be able to reach consensus on this important statement, reflecting the rising concern of the international community about Iran’s nuclear misbehavior,” he said (Kyodo News/Yahoo!News, March 24).

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Energy Department Formally Ends Effort to Develop New Type of Earth-Penetrating Nuclear Warhead

By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Energy Department’s Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator program was recently declared “closed out,” according to a February U.S. Congressional Research Service report posted on the Internet (see GSN, Jan. 27).

Congress rejected the Energy Department’s request for $4 million in the present fiscal year to continue a feasibility study of the weapon and an Air Force request for $4.5 million to study integrating it onto the B-2 bomber. Lawmakers instead directed $4 million toward Air Force research on an earth-penetrating weapon.

The Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator study, led by the Air Force but funded and implemented by the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration, was intended to assess whether a more reliable nuclear weapon could be developed for use against facilities deeply buried under hard earth.

The National Nuclear Security Administration made no explicit requests for RNEP funding in its proposed fiscal 2007 budget, and the agency “stated in February 2006 it has closed out the project,” the Feb. 21 report says.

With the NNSA side of the earth-penetrator project shut down, it says, “this report will not be updated further.”

Reflecting that Congress had blocked funding for the program in fiscal 2005, “NNSA stated in January 2006 that it disbanded the RNEP teams in March 2005,” it says.

There have, nevertheless, been indications the administration may try to revive the program in the future.

An Air Force official suggested in December that the study of an ostensibly conventional penetrator by the service would provide information for an RNEP feasibility decision in the future, according to a news report (see GSN, Jan. 3).

Further, while the National Nuclear Security Administration has said a planned key “sled test” of the penetrator’s shell would not be allowed at its previously planned location of Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, the Defense Department could use the facility’s equipment and “expertise” to conduct the test elsewhere if it chooses to do so.

The Congressional Research Service report concludes by “clarifying several points that were at issue in earlier [congressional] debates on RNEP,” which it says, “may help focus any future debate.”

Those points are:

— There is no formal military requirement for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator;

— There is considerable interest by the Defense Department and the armed services in learning, through the proposed penetrator study, whether the weapon is feasible;

— The possible conversion of a B83 nuclear bomb to an earth penetrator would not involve changing the yield of the weapon;

— The Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator — and probably any other nuclear earth penetrator — would not penetrate the ground deeply enough to contain fallout. Use of the weapon would therefore cause a “huge” amount of fallout and destruction; and

— As the penetrator, if it is deployed, would be a nuclear weapon, a presidential decision to use it would be very difficult.

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Report Finds Brain Drain in U.S. Missile Science

A report released this week warns that the United States is at risk running out of specialists to maintain and develop the nation’s ICBM arsenal, USA Today reported today.

As veteran missile scientists retire, the Defense Department would be unable to deal with system failures or develop new weapons, according to the Defense Science Board report.

Some 20,000 research and development scientists work in the aerospace industry, compared to more than 140,000 in the mid-1980s, according to the report.

The report recommends that specialists be offered higher salaries and other incentives in order to attract more people to the field.

The Pentagon is trying to improve recruiting and retention of missile experts, Lt. Gen. Frank Klotz, acting head of the Air Force Space Command, told a Senate panel earlier this month.

However, John Steinbruner, head of the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, said fewer scientists are drawn to the field due to the shift in U.S. defense priorities toward fighting terrorism and “low-intensity conflicts,” USA Today reported.

The report might be biased toward Cold War-era missile systems, said Steinbruner, with some insiders “just trying to keep the money flowing.”

The document also criticizes a plan to replace nuclear warheads on some submarine-launched Trident missiles with conventional warheads (see GSN, March 8). According to the report, the Pentagon lacks the necessary engineering skills to make the switch (Matt Kelley, USA Today, March 24).

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Russia to Scrap Railway-Based Missile Launcher

Russia is expected to finish destroying an SS-24 rail-based missile launcher today, Interfax reported (see GSN, Nov. 15, 2005).

This is the second launcher to be destroyed this year, according to a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry. The Strategic Missile Forces central repair plant in Bryansk did the work.

“The repair plant has been scrapping the launcher throughout this week. All operations are expected to be over today,” the spokesman said.

He added that a U.S. inspection team monitored the destruction effort.

Russia last year destroyed nine launchers. Launchers previously were stationed near Krasnoyarsk, Perm and Kostroma, with the last removed from combat service in August 2005. By that point, all launchers were past their service lives.

The SS-24 ICBMs designed for the launchers are expected to be destroyed in Perm (Interfax, March 24).

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South Korean Official Expresses Doubt on North Korea Nuclear Talks After U.S. Meeting

South Korea’s top envoy to multilateral negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear program said yesterday that there was not much hope for restarting the stalled talks, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, March 23).

“I don’t think there is much optimism now,” South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chun Young-woo said, following a meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill in Washington.

North Korea has demanded that the United States end sanctions on several of its entities accused of financial misconduct. Washington has maintained that this is a law enforcement matter unrelated to the nuclear issue.

“We exchanged views on where the whole situations stand and what it takes (to break) the deadlock and to make progress,” Chun said.

“We have no idea when North Korea will come back. All depends on North Korea’s decision,” he said (Kyodo News/Yahoo!News, March 24).

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Both Reactors Online at Newport

The U.S. Army’s Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Indiana yesterday resumed processing of VX nerve agent in both chemical neutralization reactors (see GSN, March 23).

A wastewater spill last week briefly shut down operations. One reactor reopened March 17, while the reactor from which the waste leaked was brought back online yesterday.

“Workers now have replaced the plug and thoroughly tested the reactor before resuming operations this morning in neutralization Reactor No. 2,” said site project manager Jeff Brubaker in a prepared statement (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agence press release, March 23).

Meanwhile, the Indiana Environmental Management Department is expected to modify the permit for the Newport Chemical Depot to allow for expanded on-site wastewater storage, the Terre Haute Tribune-Star reported. The amended permit also allows the Army depot to store solid waste exposed to VX nerve agent in a modified building.

Brubaker said the wastewater, called hydrolysate, is stored in one area of the facility in special containers. 

“We currently have 177,428 gallons of neutralized VX waste water stored in 49 intermodal containers,” he said.

The waste is expected to stay at Newport until plans for its disposal are finalized, Brubaker added.

Neither of the modifications mentions time limits, according to the Tribune-Star.

Draft modifications for the permits are scheduled to be issued Monday, followed by a public comment period that continues to May 11, according to Environmental Management Department official Victor Windle.

“About one month after the public comment period, we will issue the permit modifications,” he said. “I don’t expect to receive many public comments” (Patricia Pastore, The Tribune-Star, March 22).

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Tokyo Sarin Attack Mastermind to Seek Belated Appeal

The founder of the doomsday cult responsible for the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack that left 12 dead in the Tokyo subway system will seek an appeal trial, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, March 16).

Attorneys for Aum Shinrikyo cult founder Shoko Asahara missed the August 2005 to file an explanation for their appeal of his death sentence. At the time they argued he was not mentally fit to stand trial.

A court-ordered psychiatric review last month concluded that Asahara was faking illness and could stand trial (see GSN, Feb. 21).

Defense lawyers plan to submit the explanation document required by the Tokyo High Court next week, Japanese media reported.

If the appeal is rejected, Asahara’s death sentence would stand, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse, March 24).

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U.S. Considers Deploying Missile Interceptors in U.K.

The United Kingdom is one of three countries in Europe being considered to host U.S. missile defense interceptors, the London Daily Telegraph reported today (see GSN, March 23).

U.S. Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Henry Obering identified the Czech Republic, Poland and the United Kingdom as the three candidates on the U.S. shortlist at a military conference earlier this week. Hungary had been mentioned as a candidate but was not on Obering’s list, the Telegraph reported.

British officials expressed surprise at the disclosure. Former British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon had told Parliament in 2004 that such a decision would be “open to scrutiny and debate in the normal way.” The United Kingdom has never been formally identified as a possible interceptor host, according to the Telegraph.

“No one asked us the question (whether Britain was now ready to be a formal candidate),” a British Embassy spokesman told the Telegraph.

British and U.S. defense officials said there had not been formal talks on the issue.

“There has been no planning, no approach, no request and no invitation,” said a U.S. Defense Department spokesman.

“America has not yet decided to place interceptors in Europe, has not yet asked for further British participation and the government has not yet decided whether or not to pursue missile defense for the U.K.,” a British Defense Ministry spokesman said (Alec Russell, Daily Telegraph, March 24).

Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Moscow would wait to learn about the capabilities of the potential Europe-based U.S. interceptor system before formulating a response, United Press International reported today.

“What we need to understand is not which countries will host the U.S. interceptor missile base, but rather the nature of the base and how many and what type of missiles it will have,” the Interfax news agency quoted Ivanov as saying yesterday (United Press International, March 24).

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Hong Kong Company to Scan U.S. Cargo

The United States has contracted Hong Kong company Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. to operate radiation detection equipment to screen cargo at a port in the Bahamas, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, March 10).

This is the first time a foreign company would have a hand in running U.S.-supplied radiation detectors without U.S. customs agents present, according to AP.

The White House is also negotiating with a Philippine company to install radiation detectors in that country. 

While the Bush administration has assured Congress that foreign companies would not control U.S. ports, the White House is relying on foreign companies to help secure cargo being shipped to the United States.

Hutchison is the largest port operator in the world and is well respected in the shipping community, AP reported. While it has adopted U.S. counterterrorism measures, company Chairman Li Ka-Shing has close ties to the Chinese government.

“One can conceive legitimate security concerns and would hope either the Homeland Security Department or the intelligence services of the United States work very hard to satisfy those concerns,” said Larry Wortzel, head of a U.S. government commission that studies China security and economic matters. Wortzel said, though, that Li is a “very legitimate international businessman” who works independently of China.

The Bush administration three years ago invoked national security in blocking a Hutchison subsidiary from buying part of a U.S. telecommunications company. A 1999 U.S. military intelligence report said the company posed a risk for smuggling weapons from the Bahamas to the United States.

No concerns about the company currently exist within the CIA, and officials said the White House considers the deal safe.

Bahamian customs officials would supervise Hutchison personnel operating the moving radiation scanner. Positive readings would alert U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in Northern Virginia. Officials said multilayered security prevents tampering.

“The equipment operates itself,” said Bryan Wilkes, spokesman for the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration. “It's not going to be someone standing at the controls pressing buttons and flipping switches.”

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y), who opposed the deal to have a United Arab Emirates company take control of several U.S. ports, said the Hutchison deal was troubling.

“Giving a no-bid contract to a foreign company to carry out the most sensitive security screening for radioactive materials at ports abroad raises many questions,” he said.

Retired U.S. Customs investigator Robert Sheridan said company employees could undermine security efforts.

“Money buys a lot of things,” he said. “The fact that foreign workers would have access to how the United States screens various containers for nuclear material and how this technology scrutinizes the containers — all those things allow someone with a nefarious intention to thwart the screening.”

The nuclear security agency is charged with negotiating the contract as part of a $121 million “second line of defense” program. Wilkes said the Bahamian government mandated the contract be given to Hutchison.

“It's their country, their port. The driver of the mobile carrier is the contractor selected by their government. We had no say or no choice,” he said. “We are fortunate to have allies who are signing these agreements with us” (Bridis/Solomon, Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, March 24).

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U.S., Australia Join to Combat Radiological Threats

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency earlier this month signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to counter radiological threats (see GSN, March 8).

“Australia is a key ally in the Southeast Asia region. We are already working together to reduce the threat posed by radiological material in the hands of terrorists, but this agreement solidifies that relationship and will allow us to cooperate even more,” NNSA Principal Deputy Administrator Jerry Paul said in a press release.

The memorandum builds on cooperation between the two countries to improve radiological security in Southeast Asia and to block terrorist acquisition of nuclear materials. The two agencies plan to exchange knowledge and technical expertise to improve emergency response and detect radioactive materials.

“Australia stands as a model for leaders in other regions to implement such multilateral, cooperative programs. We look forward to working even further with Australia to keep dirty bomb material out of terrorism’s reach,” Paul said (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration release, March 10).

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