United States, Former Soviet Union Scientists Partner to Develop New Technologies

The U.S. program to find new employment for one-time Soviet weapons scientists has led to the development of a variety of technologies, including a diode laser that could detect nuclear material, the Albuquerque Journal reported Friday (see GSN, Jan. 13, 2003).

More than 2,800 weapons research and development personnel from the former Soviet Union are working with U.S. partners, said National Nuclear Security Agency spokesman Jim Noble.

Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) said the U.S. Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention enables the scientists to work on peaceful projects, as opposed to being employed by rogue nations to produce weapons of mass destruction.

The program “has put the brain power and innovativeness of both … former Soviet Union scientists and American scientists together to create great things,” Domenici said.

The project has produced a number of products. Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico created a heat-proof, palm-size battery. The battery could be used in equipment that collects data and direct drilling at 480 degrees, said Sandia engineer Randy Normann.

Canberra Aquila Inc., also in Albuquerque, is producing diode laser technology that could detect trace chemicals, such as explosives, and nuclear agents.

Volius Inc., based in Los Alamos, N.M., is developing optical fiber and fiber lasers that could aid in marking, cutting, welding and drilling (Charles Brunt, Albuquerque Journal, July 7).

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U.S. Backs Informal North Korea Nuclear Negotiations

The United States has backed China’s call for an informal session of the six-nation talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, the Associated Press reported Saturday (see GSN, July 7).

“As many of you know, the Chinese have talked about putting together a six-party informal, and we both support that and we think that all countries are prepared to come to that informal meeting,” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters after meeting with Chun Young-woo, south Korea’s lead nuclear negotiator.

Hill said U.S. officials could be willing to meet directly with their North Korean counterparts on the sidelines of the multilateral negotiations, if they were to resume. “I just can’t do it when they are boycotting the six-party talks,” he said (Jae-Soon Chang, Associated Press/Cape Cod Times, July 8).

Hill was visiting South Korea and other nations in the region in the wake of Pyongyang’s test-launching last week of seven missiles.

“North Korea has a choice of whether to go for continued isolation or to join the international community. I hope they will make the right choice,” Hill said. “We have a process, an agreement in principle — the Beijing agreement last September” (Kyoko Hasegawa, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 10).

China, which would again host the talks, is reportedly averse to meeting in the absence of North Korean representatives, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

“We think there ought to be six-party talks — six is better than five but five is better than none” Hill said yesterday. “We need the six-party process regardless of whether we get all six parties to come to it.”

The United States is “counting on” Russia and China to use their relationship with North Korea to start up negotiations, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told CNN (Fifield/Kirschgaessner, Financial Times, July 9).

Han Song Ryol, North Korea’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said it would participate in the talks if his country was offered a “minimal gesture to restore trust” — release by the United States of $24 million in frozen funds held in a Macao bank .

He added that Hill is still welcome to visit Pyongyang, which would be “advantageous for us to correctly understand the U.S. position and to precisely express our own position.”

A U.S. official said some of the frozen funds could be discharged if it could be proved that it was not connected illegal activity. The official said Treasury Department investigators were trying to determine where the money originated (Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times, July 8).

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Bush Calls for Unified International Diplomatic Effort on Iran, North Korea Nuclear Crises

U.S. President George W. Bush said Friday that while diplomacy can be “slow and cumbersome,” the world should make an effort to send a unified message to Iran and North Korea over their nuclear and missile programs, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 29).

“It’s kind of painful in a way for some to watch, because it takes a while to get people on the same page,” he said. “Not everybody thinks the exact same way we think. Different words mean different things to different people. And the diplomatic processes can be slow and cumbersome.”

China and Russia have resisted penalizing either country for its controversial nuclear and missile efforts. Bush, however, said he was “realistic about how things move in the world” and that he preferred diplomacy to military options.

“What matters most of all is for [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Il to see the world speak with one voice,” he said. “That’s the purpose, really.”

Bush said Kim’s decision to test missiles last week went against the wishes of China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States — the countries that have been negotiating with Pyongyang over its nuclear weapons effort.

“All of us said, ‘Don’t fire that rocket.’ He not only fired one, he fired seven.  Now that he made that defiance, it’s best for all of us to go to the U.N. Security Council and say, loud and clear, ‘Here’s some red lines.’  And that’s what we’re in the process of doing,” Bush said.

He continued to rule out direct talks with North Korea.

“My judgment is you can’t be successful if the United States is sitting at the table alone with North Korea. You run out of options very quickly if that’s the case,” Bush said. “In order to be successful diplomatically it’s best to have other partners at the table” (Associated Press/USA Today, July 7).

Bush also Friday disputed intelligence reports about the increase in Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal during his administration, the Los Angeles Times reported.

“We don’t know — maybe you know more than I do — about increasing the number of nuclear weapons,” Bush said in addressing a reporter who cited the estimates.

However, several administration officials have publicly discussed intelligence indicating that the size of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal has grown during Bush’s time in office. Former CIA Director Porter Goss testified to Congress last year that Pyongyang’s nuclear capability had increased since 2002, when it was estimated to possess one or two nuclear weapons (Wallsten/Farley, Los Angeles Times, July 8).

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EU Expresses Optimism After Iran Nuclear Meeting

The European Union on Friday described an initial nuclear meeting between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and top Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani as constructive, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 7).

“It’s a good start for what we expect will be a positive meeting on July 11,” Solana spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said of the Thursday dinner meeting.

“We expect on Tuesday that they will be able to give us a substantial response,” she said, alluding to an incentives package presented by world powers that aims to persuade Tehran to halt uranium enrichment (Mark John, Reuters I/Washington Post, July 7).

Iran reiterated that it planned to respond to the offer by late next month, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.

“They need to respond to the ambiguities we have identified,” said Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

“These questions must be answered by the decision-makers.   It is not Mr. Solana who can answer,” he said.

Mottaki warned world leaders, who are gathering this week in St. Petersburg for the Group of Eight top industrialized nations summit, not to rush their next move.

“We won’t be attending the G-8 meeting, so any decision taken without us being present, if half-baked, could hurt the positive atmosphere that has been created,” he said (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, June 9).

Diplomats said that while Tehran is taking its time to respond to the offer, it does find many of the inducements tempting, AFP reported Friday.

“Iranian leaders see this offer as fundamentally different from that of the EU-3,” said an EU official, referring to an offer presented in August 2005. “They see it as an opportunity.”

China, the European Union, Russia and the United States have offered to help build light-water reactors in Iran and guarantee access to nuclear fuel, as well as give Iran access to international capital markets. The United States has also said it would lift an embargo on commercial aircraft sales to Tehran (Agence France-Presse II/IranMania.com, June 7).

Meanwhile, Western countries are concerned that missile tests conducted by North Korea last week could prove a distraction and undermine the diplomatic effort with Iran, the Associated Press reported yesterday.

Diplomats in Europe said the North Korea crisis could displace talks with Iran on the international agenda. 

The United States, however, tried to play down that notion.

“I don’t agree that one issue distracts from the other,” John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told AP. “I think we are very focused on both of them and fully capable of dealing with both of them” (George Jahn, Associated Press/Washington Post, July 9).

Elsewhere, Tehran has barred a top U.N. weapons inspector from entering the country, Reuters reported yesterday.

A diplomat said Iranian officials have prevented International Atomic Energy Agency Iran section head Chris Charlier of Belgium from conducting inspections since April.

“I haven’t been allowed to travel to Iran since April,” Charlier was quoted as saying. “Since April, I have had no more contact with the Iranian nuclear file.”

Charlier also said he believed Iran was probably not being fully transparent about its nuclear activities.

“It is very probable that Tehran is doing things in the nuclear field that to this day we have no clue about,” he said.

A senior diplomat at the agency said Charlier remained chief of the Iran section (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters II/Washington Post, July 9).

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India, IAEA Begin Safeguards Talks

Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency visited India on Saturday to begin negotiations on monitoring of New Delhi’s civilian nuclear installations, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 7).

Placing a many of its reactors under an international inspections regime is a precondition for India’s entrance into a pending civilian nuclear technology sharing agreement with the United States.

“A team of senior IAEA officials ... met an Indian delegation today (Saturday) comprising officials from the Department of Atomic Energy and Ministry of External Affairs,” a Foreign Ministry statement announced.

“They held useful and productive technical discussions,” the statement says (Agence France-Presse/Khaleej Times, July 8).

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Pakistani Military Distances Itself From Khan

The Pakistani military has claimed that former top nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan ran his illicit proliferation network without the approval of Islamabad and that the only officials he implicated during interrogation were two aides to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the Press Trust of India reported Saturday (see GSN, June 8).

Khan’s nuclear black market operation was the “sole act of an individual,” Lt. Gen. Khalid Kidwai, the director general of Pakistan’s Strategic Planning Division, said in the government’s first-ever briefing to lawmakers on the country’s nuclear program.

“A disclosure was made that Khan did not name any state functionary in 10 debriefing sessions, except two dead individuals — Maj. Gen. Imtiaz Ahmed, military secretary to executed Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and defense adviser to [his] daughter exiled Premier Benazir Bhutto, and Bhutto family friend dentist Dr. Zafar Niazi — in this regard,” officials said, according to The News.

Kidwai said Khan has remained in good health but had to “undergo some restraints” for safety reasons.

Kidwai also said Pakistan’s nuclear and missile programs were in “safe hands and there is no chance of any leakages” (Press Trust of India/New Kerala, June 12).

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Dominican Republic Joins U.S. Antismuggling Efforts

The Dominican Republic joined two efforts Friday to block the smuggling of nuclear and radioactive material into the United States, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration said (see GSN, June 23).

The Caribbean nation is the latest country to sign on to the Megaports Initiative and the Container Security Initiative — programs that install detection equipment and U.S. personnel at foreign seaports to prevent shipment of “high-risk” shipments to the United States.

“Today’s agreement with the Dominican Republic is critical to international security and the stability of the global shipping network. It is a concrete example of each country’s commitment to preventing nuclear terrorism,” NNSA chief Linton Brooks said in a press release.

The Megaports program currently operates in six countries, with installation being implemented or negotiated in 30 other nations. The Container Security Initiative operates in 44 ports in North, South and Central America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East (National Nuclear Security Administration release, July 7).

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U.S. Submits Five-Year CW Disposal Extension Request

The United States has formally submitted its request for an additional five years to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile, a U.S. official said Tuesday (see GSN, April 18).

While Washington indicated in April that it would request an extension under the Chemical Weapons Convention, it delayed submission in order to receive feedback from other treaty members, according to Ambassador Eric Javits, head of the U.S. delegation to the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

“We have appreciated your thoughtful and constructive comments, and recognize the concerns that have been raised,” Javits told the council, according to the State Department.

The request would extend the deadline for the destruction of the entire U.S. chemical weapons stockpile from April 2007 to April 2012. Javits said he hopes the council will support the request when it meets again in November (U.S. State Department release, July 7).

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Iraq Moves Toward CWC Membership

Iraq is pressing forward with efforts to join the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Arms Control Association reported Saturday (see GSN, June 30).

The U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission in May submitted to Iraq information about the country’s former chemical weapons programs. Nations that join the Chemical Weapons Convention must submit records of any previous chemical arms efforts within 30 days of bringing the treaty into force.

Iraq had an active chemical weapons effort prior to the 1991 Gulf War. However, Baghdad subsequently ended the program.

Iraq said in 2004 it would sign the convention once a permanent government was in place, but it has yet to do so. It has in the past year participated in two implementation training workshops operated by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, as part of its work with the treaty monitoring body.

Iraq is also pressing the U.N. Security Council to end the role of UNMOVIC in Iraq. The council does not seem to close to making its decision on the future of the agency designated to verify the end of Iraq’s WMD programs, Arms Control Today reported. Some council members continue to debate what role — if any — UNMOVIC would play in the future.

The May 30 UNMOVIC report describes Iraq’s former chemical weapons program and reports that “a number of issues … remain unresolved.” While “there is a high degree of confidence” that Iraq’s chemical weapons were eliminated, it is feasible that some still exist, the report states.

Inspectors stopped the program but they could not account for the chemical weapons agents and munitions that Iraq claimed to develop.   The ambiguity was due to the Iraqi regime’s insufficient records, the regime’s decision to destroy some of its weapons away from U.N. inspectors, and the Iraqi military’s unintentional mixing of chemical munitions with conventional munitions during the war with Iran.

A U.S. National Ground Intelligence Center report released June 21 stated that coalition forces recovered about 500 potential lethal munitions with degraded chemical weapons agents following the March 2003 invasion (Paul Kerr, Arms Control Today, July 8).

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Japan Offers Tough U.N. Resolution on North Korea

Japan introduced a revised draft resolution to the U.N. Security Council Friday condemning North Korea’s missile tests, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, July 7).

The resolution would forbid trade that could assist Pyongyang’s ballistic missile or nuclear weapons program. The United States and other Western countries support the resolution, according to the Post, while China and Russia have expressed concern that it could inflame regional tensions.

The text also demands that North Korea reinstate a 1998 moratorium on ballistic missile tests and return to multilateral negotiations over its nuclear weapons program.

“We are very pleased with this draft,” said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton. “It provides for very strong restraints on the D.P.R.K. missile programs, very strong constraints on giving any assistance to their missile or WMD programs.”

U.S. and European officials have said they do not believe Beijing or Moscow would veto the resolution, the Post reported.

However, Chinese officials have said any action at the Security Council should wait until a senior Chinese envoy, Vice Premier Hui Liangyu, meets with officials in Pyongyang (Colum Lynch, Washington Post, July 8).

U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns yesterday predicted that the resolution would be passed, the New York Daily News reported.

“We think we’ve got the votes to pass that,” Burns said.

“When we get the results of this Chinese delegation to Pyongyang, I think you will then see us move ahead in New York at the Security Council,” he added (Michael McAuliff, New York Daily News, July 10).

One Western diplomat said the schedule for the vote would be announced today, Agence France-Presse reported.

French Ambassador to the United Nations Jean-Marc de la Sabliere expressed hope that China would not veto the resolution.

Bolton said “the sentiment in the council has really been overwhelming to have a [binding] resolution.”

However, China’s ambassador, Wang Guangya, said a nonbinding presidential statement would better guarantee a “unanimous, firm response.”

“If this resolution is put to vote, there will [be] no unity in the Security Council,” Wang said (Agence France-Presse, July 7).

Meanwhile, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the U.S. point man on the North Korea nuclear issue, met Saturday in Seoul with top South Korean nuclear negotiator Chun Young-woo, the Associated Press reported.

“We will be much more effective if we can speak with one voice,” Hill said (Jae-Soon Chang, Associated Press I/China Post, July 8).

Tokyo announced today that it might consider a pre-emptive strike on North Korea’s missile bases, AP reported.

“If we accept that there is no other option to prevent an attack ... there is the view that attacking the launch base of the guided missiles is within the constitutional right of self-defense. We need to deepen discussion,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe (Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press II/Yahoo!News, July 10).

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Indian Missile Fails First Test Launch

An Indian missile designed to carry nuclear warheads failed in its first test-firing Sunday, the country’s defense minister said (see GSN, June 6).

The Agni 3 missile fell into the Bay of Bengal, missing its target, the Associated Press reported.

Technical matters and concerns over an international backlash had deterred India from testing the missile for two years. U.S. Gen. Peter Pace indicated in a meeting last month that Washington did not object to a test, according to the Hindu newspaper.

Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India would continue with the Agni 3 program. While he offered no details of the test failure, Indian media reported that the missile failed to separate in its second stage after being launched from Wheeler Island. 

The Agni 3, developed to fly up to 1,900 miles, is predicted to be India’s longest-range missile. It could reach China’s major cities and the Middle East, and is believed to be able to carry a 200-300 kiloton nuclear warhead.

“This is going to help in establishing the credibility of India’s deterrent profile,” said Indian defense analyst Uday Bhaskar. “Any strategic capability is not aimed at any particular nation. To say it is China-specific is misleading” (Gavin Rabinowitz, Associated Press/Washington Post, July 10).

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Bush Says U.S. Antimissile System Might Have Been Effective Against North Korean Launch

U.S. President George W. Bush said he believed the fledgling U.S. missile defense system might have been able to intercept a North Korean long-range Taepodong 2 missile had it approached U.S. territory last week, the New York Times reported Saturday (see GSN, July 6).

“I think we had a reasonable chance of shooting it down; at least that’s what the military commander has told me,” Bush said.

He said the North Korean launch emphasized the importance of the antiballistic missile system. Bush added, however, that the system’s capabilities remain “modest” and that it was “hard for me to give you a probability of success” (David Sanger, New York Times, July 8).

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Japan to Speed Missile Defense Deployment

Japan on Friday announced that it would move up the projected deployment date for three Patriot Advanced Capability 3 surface-to-air antimissile batteries to late next year, The Daily Yomiuri reported (see GSN, July 5).

Tokyo had planned to deploy the defenses by the end of March 2008, but missile launches by North Korea last week caused Japanese officials to revise that schedule, sources said.

The Defense Agency plans to deploy the first battery by the end of this fiscal year, the Yomiuri reported (The Daily Yomiuri, July 8).

Meanwhile, the USS Mustin, a U.S. Navy destroyer equipped with Aegis missile-tracking radar, arrived Saturday at a base near Tokyo, United Press International reported.

Seven other vessels equipped with the system have been redeployed to the base in Yokosuka, Kyodo News reported.

The cruiser USS Shiloh is expected to arrive next month, according to UPI (United Press International/Taiwan Sun, July 8).

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Russia, U.S. Reach Civilian Nuclear Deal

U.S. President George W. Bush has approved exporting U.S. nuclear reactor fuel to Russia for storage, a lucrative opportunity for Moscow previously disallowed for decades by Washington, the Washington Post reported Saturday (see GSN, Feb. 10).

In the past, Bush had said civilian nuclear cooperation would only be possible if Russia halted construction of the Bushehr nuclear reactor in Iran. Ultimately, administration officials determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin has become an important partner in trying to curtail Tehran’s nuclear activities.

“Such an agreement would benefit both the United States and Russia and indeed the world by enabling advances in and greater use of nuclear energy,” said White House spokesman Peter Watkins (Reuters, July 8).

Bush is scheduled to officially unveil the initiative Saturday alongside Putin in St. Petersburg during the annual summit of the Group of Eight industrial powers. The statement would agree to begin negotiations required under U.S. law before the United States can begin civilian nuclear cooperation, the Post reported.

The agreement would allow Russia to import and store thousands of tons of used nuclear fuel from U.S.-supplied reactors globally, potentially earning billions of dollars. The White House believes it could also motivate Russia to support the United States in dealings with Iran.

“The Russians could make a lot of money importing foreign spent fuel, some of our allies would desperately like to be able to send their fuel to Russia, and maybe we could use the leverage to get other things done,” such as “getting the Russian to be more forward-leaning on Iran,” said Matthew Bunn, a nuclear specialist at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Critics say the deal would reward Russia despite Moscow’s refusal to support sanctions against Iran. Others see it as a move that could endanger the environment, considering Russia’s history of handling nuclear material.

“You will have all the anti-Russian right against it, you will have all the anti-nuclear left against it, and you will have the Russian democracy center concerned about it too,” Bunn said.

Watkins, however, says the agreement would not change the U.S. stance on Iran.

“Our policy on assistance to Iran’s nuclear program has not changed,” he said. “We’ve made clear to Russia that for agreement on peaceful cooperation to go forward we will need Russia’s active cooperation in blocking Iran’s attempts to obtain nuclear weapons” (Reuters, July 8).

Bush’s move “signals that there’s a sea change in the attitude toward Russia, that they’re someone we can try to work with on Iran,” said Rose Gottemoeller, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center. “It bespeaks a certain level of confidence in the Russians by this administration that hasn’t been there before.”

Bush had not previously considered the prospect because Russia was helping Iran with its nuclear program, the Post reported.   In a 2002 letter to Putin, Bush said an agreement could be made only if “the central problem of assistance to Iran’s missile, nuclear and advanced conventional weapons programs” was resolved, Bunn said.

Russia agreed to supply fuel to the Iranian reactor under construction in Bushehr and to reclaim the spent fuel so it could not be used to make nuclear bombs. U.S. officials realized that Tehran received weapons assistance from a Pakistani scientist, rather than Russian officials.

Negotiations for an official nuclear cooperation agreement could be used to move Putin further. Talks are expected to take months and review by Congress is anticipated to draw the process out even longer. Analysts said during that time if Putin does not take stronger measures against Iran, the agreement could become void, and that Washington critics could try to have it killed.   Additional cooperation by Putin could improve its chances for approval.

“This was one of the few areas where there was big money involved that you could hold over the Russians,” said George Perkovich, an arms control specialist and vice president of the Carnegie Endowment. “It’s a handy stick, a handy thing to hold over the Russians.”

Bush’s new Global Nuclear Energy Partnership is slated to promote civilian nuclear power globally. The project is expected to find a way to reprocess spent fuel without leaving behind material that could used to make nuclear weapons. Since that technology has yet to be developed, Russia is the only place to store the spent fuel overseas (Peter Baker, Washington Post, July 8).

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