U.S. Biodefense Bill to Be Reintroduced Today

U.S. Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.) is expected today to reintroduce a revised biodefense bill without components that had faced opposition from the Bush administration and activists, congressional sources told the Drug Industry Daily (see GSN, June 7).

The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act would make the U.S. Health and Human Services Department the lead agency dealing with bioterrorism and pandemic flu threats.  The bill calls for the executive branch to deliver a national health security strategy to Congress in 2009 and every four years afterward. It also calls for improving medical surge capacity, or the ability to assist large numbers of patients at hospitals during a crisis.

Burr’s legislation does not now call for creating the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency to oversee development of bioterrorism countermeasures. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt had argued that the new agency would hurt his department’s bioterror response capabilities, the Daily reported (see GSN, Oct. 26, 2005). The bill also no longer includes extended market exclusivity for drugs that could be used following an act of bioterrorism (Drug Industry Daily, July 17).

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Smallpox Drug Passes First Human Safety Tests

An experimental smallpox drug successfully passed the first round of human safety testing, The Oregonian reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 27).

Volunteers given different doses of the drug suffered no significant side effects.

Siga Technologies Inc. is seeking federal approval for a three-week trial of daily dosing, said Chief Financial Officer Thomas Konatich

The publicly owned company has conducted animal studies in two species. One study proved that the smallpox drug protects ground squirrels from lethal does of monkeypox (Joe Rojas-Burke, The Oregonian, July 15).

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G-8 Global Nonproliferation Partnership Has Future Challenges, Opportunities, Expert Says

By Chris Schneidmiller
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The end of a $20 billion Group of Eight nonproliferation project should not be seen as the end of work to safeguard unconventional weapons from the former Soviet Union, nor must it be the final word on such multilateral partnerships, one expert said recently (see GSN, July 5).

A system is needed to maintain security improvements produced through the Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction. Meanwhile, similar work might someday be called for in Iran and North Korea, said Rose Gottemoeller, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center.

The G-8 industrial powers began the 10-year initiative in 2002 with four primary goals: increasing security of nuclear and radiological materials, securing alternative employment for former weapons scientists, chemical weapons disposal and dismantling nuclear powered-submarines. Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to WMD nonproliferation this weekend during a summit in St. Petersburg (see related GSN story, today).

To date, $17.5 billion has been pledged and $3.5 billion spent by 21 nations and the European Union, according to a July update on the project. Russia is the primary recipient of support, while Ukraine has been designated as a program nation and Kazakhstan is expected to be added to the list, a State Department official said.

The Strengthening the Global Partnership research consortium in its report detailed progress in various sectors of the initiative, including international assistance in dismantling 15 nuclear-powered submarines since 2002 and operations at two chemical weapons disposal facilities. It also noted the slow rate at which pledges are becoming projects, and tensions over access to work sites and Russia’s refusal to consider biological security within the program.

Gottemoeller argued that, “despite all the frustrations,” that the G-8 program has reduced the threat posed by Russian WMD materials. The Global Partnership has also had a “transformatory influence” on international collaboration, she said, making Moscow an initiative partner rather than simply the recipient of financial aid.

“We have accomplished something of such value here for the international nonproliferation regime, that we should not simply turn out the lights and close and lock the doors in 2012, 2013,” Gottemoeller said July 4 during an energy and nonproliferation conference in Moscow organized by Green Cross International and the Russian government. “We should be preparing now to transition the types of multilateral, international capabilities we have acquired for strengthening the nonproliferation regime and developing new and innovative ways of handling our key nonproliferation problems.”

An important order of business beyond 2012 would be ensuring that the improvements in Russia are not allowed to deteriorate, Gottemoeller said.

“All the partners have an interest in sustainability, we all have a common interest in these programs here in the Russian Federation,” she said. “It has been a major worry of the U.S. side that its major investments will somehow not be in the future continued in its current, valuable state.”

Nuclear security and elimination of weapon-usable material are likely to be the two sectors that require continued attention, said Kenneth Luongo, executive director of the Russian American Nuclear Security Advisory Council.

The United States has led nuclear security efforts, paying hundreds of millions of dollars for technology, infrastructure improvements and training for Russian nuclear warhead and materials sites, Luongo said. Washington expects to finish securing around 100 locations in 2008. “We’ve definitely tried to take the position that thereafter it’s [the Russians’] program,” the State Department official said.

Luongo said, though, he believes Washington would continue paying tens of millions of dollars on security sustainment. A joint working group is already considering the matter, he said.

“I think we need to keep a hand in sustainability,” Luongo said. “It’s too important to let nuclear security lapse after putting it together for 15 years.”

Washington and Moscow also recently renewed their commitment to disposing of nearly 70 metric tons of plutonium (see GSN, July 14).

The U.S. funds would not cover the full cost in Russia, Luongo said. There are several potential sources of revenue available to Moscow, according to Gottemoeller.

An endowment fund could be created to supply consistent support for sustainment. Ongoing security efforts could also be linked to a large project such as a Russian facility for the storage of spent fuel from reactors around the world. Not only would such a project provide funding for sustainment work, but Russia would have to prove it was maintaining security at nuclear sites in order to attract customers, Gottemoeller said.

Nations in the Group of Eight and beyond should also be prepared for future opportunities to reduce the likelihood of terrorists acquiring WMD materials, Gottemoeller said.

“In a fairly short time period, we may have the opportunity for some enhanced cooperative transparency measures with the Iranians,” she said. “It’s worth thinking about now what we have learned in our years of working with Russia that can be applied to that case. It has been my view that we should also begin planning now for [work] with North Korea.”   

It is too early for the G-8 nations to decide what would happen after 2012, said Kim Girtel, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Foreign Affairs Department. “The program and the security threats that led to its establishment will be evaluated in 2012,” she said. “The results of the evaluation will determine if he program is allowed to sunset or if authorities will be sought to renew it in a similar or revised form.”

Multilateral threat reduction need not be limited to working with specific countries, Luongo said. A permanent entity arising from the Global Partnership could also address issues such as biosecurity, which he said receives inadequate attention and funding.

“It’s a good concept and we ought not to let it die,” Luongo said.

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G-8 Summit Issues Nonproliferation Resolution

The Group of Eight economic powers yesterday released a resolution reaffirming their commitment to preventing WMD proliferation and keeping such weapons out of terrorists’ hands (see GSN, June 27).

“We are determined to fulfill arms control, disarmament and nonproliferation obligations and commitments under relevant international treaties, conventions and multilaterally agreed arrangements,” states the resolution issued during the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg. “We call on all other states to meet their obligations and commitments in full in this regard.”

The G-8 nations called on states that remain outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Chemical Weapons Convention, Biological Weapons Convention, Geneva Protocol and Hague Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation to join those multilateral pacts.

The resolution was divided into numerous categories and subcategories, including nuclear enrichment and processing, the Proliferation Security Initiative, the Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, and various nations known to possess or suspected of developing weapons of mass destruction.

It included extensive comments on North Korea’s test missile firings earlier this month and nuclear negotiations with Iran. 

The launches of seven missiles by Pyongyang “violated the D.P.R.K.’s pledge to maintain a moratorium on missile launches and is inconsistent with the purposes of the Six-Party Talks Joint Statement … in which all parties — including the D.P.R.K. — committed to joint efforts to lasting peace and stability in Northeast Asia. … We urge the D.P.R.K. to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs,” the resolution says. “We urge the D.P.R.K. to expeditiously return to these talks without precondition.”

The G-8 nations expressed serious concern regarding Iran’s nuclear program, and pledged to remain united on the standoff. 

“We stand fully behind the far reaching proposals presented to Iran on June 6, 2006, on behalf of China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States with the support of the High Representative of the European Union for along-term comprehensive agreement with Iran based on cooperation and mutual respect.”

Leaders said they would recommit to three pillars of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty — nonproliferation, disarmament, and the peaceful use of nuclear technology.

“In accordance with approaches agreed upon at the G-8 summits at Sea Island and in Gleneagles, we support the development of measures to prevent transfers of sensitive nuclear equipment, materials and technologies to states that may seek to use them for weapons purposes, or allow them to fall into terrorists’ hands” the resolution says regarding enrichment and reprocessing.

“We continue to support full implementation of the [Chemical Weapons Convention]. We note the ongoing destruction of chemical weapons by the possessor states and are encouraged by the fact that the stockpiles of these deadly weapons are gradually decreasing,” the group stated. “We acknowledge their obligation to destroy chemical weapons and to destroy or convert chemical weapons production facilities within the time limits provided for by the Chemical Weapons Convention.”

Summit participants said they look forward to a “successful” sixth Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention review conference. “We will facilitate adoption by the review conference of decisions aimed at strengthening and enhancing the implementation of the BTWC. We call upon all states parties to take necessary measures, including as appropriate the adoption of and implementation of national legislation, including penal legislation, in the framework of the BTWC, in order to prohibit and prevent the proliferation of biological and toxin weapons and to ensure control over pathogenic micro-organisms and toxins” (G-8 release, July 16).

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NATO Soldiers Train in 13-Day WMD Response Program

European and Canadian soldiers yesterday began a 13-day training program in Alberta for dealing with weapons of mass destruction, the CanWest News Service reported (see GSN, May 16).

The program at the Defense Research and Development Canada training area at Suffield involves 150 troops from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

“One never knows when something might happen,” said Bob Millar of the Canadian Defense and Foreign Affairs Institute. “It could be just as much a chemical spill as a chemical attack. Police, fire are always first responders, but the military is the last resort for a nation to call upon when there is a challenge.”

Soldiers are scheduled to learn how to recognize biological weapons, decontaminate radioactive areas and detect nuclear devices. Exercise Precise Response is in “a completely controlled environment — it will be safe,” said Lt. Col. Bob Thompson, who heads up force protection in the directorate joint capability production. “There will be absolutely no threat to any of the participants, the local population, and there’s no threat to the environment.”

Following the training scheduled to end July 28, the countries involved will be qualified to participate in NATO biological and chemical warfare response activities (Sarah McGinnis, CanWest News Service/The Gazette, July 16).

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Russia, U.S. Announce Nuclear Counterterrorism Effort

U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday unveiled a program to prevent terrorists from acquiring materials that could be used in a nuclear or radiological weapon, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 14).

“It reaffirms the shared desire of Russia and the United States to counter this dangerous threat and opens new horizons for our joint efforts,” Putin said at a meeting of the Group of Eight world economic powers.

The Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism seeks greater accounting, control and security by nations of nuclear and radiological materials (Tom Raum, Associated Press/Houston Chronicle, July 15).

The program calls for cooperation in development of equipment for deterring nuclear terrorism, conducting law enforcement operations and strengthening national legal frameworks to ensure prosecution of terrorists, according to a G-8 press statement (Group of Eight release, July 17).

“Nation states face the threat of terrorism, and we want to work together to deal with this threat,” Bush said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has been invited to act as a program observer, according to AP.

“We do know that al-Qaeda but also other terrorists groups have expressed the intent to acquire nuclear materials or other weapons of mass destruction capabilities, and we have no doubt that they would be willing to use these weapons, really as weapons of choice, to kill as many civilians, innocent civilians, as they can,” said Undersecretary of State Robert Joseph.

“If I were a terrorist, I would think that my task would be much more difficult in terms of acquiring and using a nuclear weapon or a dirty (radioactive) bomb,” he said (Raum, Associated Press, July 15).

Moscow and Washington also encouraged countries to implement two U.N. Security Council resolutions — 1540 and 1373 — which respectively call on member nations to prevent WMD proliferation and encourage information-sharing among countries to prevent nuclear terrorism (U.S. State Department release, July 15).

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer announced that Canberra would participate in the antiterrorism program (Australian Foreign Affairs and Trade Department release, July 15).

Former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn hailed the initiative as a “significant breakthrough in global efforts to keep nuclear weapons and materials out of terrorist hands.”

Nunn praised Bush and Putin for their “strong commitment to preventing nuclear terrorism — the greatest threat we face” (Nuclear Threat Initiative release, July 15).

[EDITOR’S NOTE: The Nuclear Threat Initiative is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.]

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Iran Calls Nuclear Incentives “Acceptable”

Iran announced yesterday that an incentives package from the world powers was an “acceptable basis” for detailed negotiations over its nuclear program, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 14).

“We consider this package an appropriate basis, an acceptable basis (for talks),” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi.

“Now is an appropriate opportunity for Iran and Europe to enter detailed negotiations,” he said. 

Asefi called on the world powers to negotiate with Tehran, warning that sending the country’s nuclear crisis to the U.N. Security Council “means blocking and rejecting talks” (Ali Akbar Dareini, Associated Press I/Yahoo!News, July 16).

Asefi added that Tehran believed China and Russia would support Iran’s right to continue its nuclear work.

“We expect Russia and China to defend our legitimate stances. Defending the rights of the Islamic republic means backing up international treaties and the Nonproliferation Treaty,” he said (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, July 16).

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iranian officials should contact European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who presented the offer late last month.

“If the Iranians want to respond positively, I would hope that they would do so through the channel that is established between the six [nations that offered the deal] and the government of Iran, and that is Mr. Solana,” Rice said. “There is, indeed, a very good proposal on the table that could be a basis for negotiations ... There is also a path ahead to the Security Council on which we are now launched.”

Russian lawmaker Konstantin Kosachev was circumspect about Iran’s apparent embrace of the offer.

“On the one hand we must hail any readiness by Tehran at least to discuss the proposals of the six nations,” he told AP. “Unfortunately, we have already witnessed such signals in the past, which then were not followed up.”

“Iran is playing with fire,” he added. “The international community may one day run out of patience and unfortunately, the point of view of those who call for maybe a tougher stance on Iran may prevail. Iran must clearly understand that” (Dareini, Associated Press, July 16).

Iran again rejected demands that it place a moratorium on all uranium enrichment-related work on Friday, Agence France-Presse reported.

“In the West’s proposal, two preconditions are raised: suspending nuclear activities and responding to questions” raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

“The leadership has reached the conclusion that it will not accept the precondition set by the Europeans,” he said (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, July 15).

Diplomats said that a U.N. Security Council resolution approved Saturday condemning North Korea’s missile tests sets a significant precedent as the world body prepares to address Iran’s nuclear dossier again, AP reported yesterday.

“We need unity of the council on these nonproliferation issues,” said French Ambassador to the United Nations Jean-Marc de la Sabliere. “So the fact that we have — my view — we have reached unity on the North Korean issue in the council I think will help us on Iran” (Nick Wadhams, Associated Press II/Washington Post, July 16).

U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday accused Tehran of Middle Eastern fomenting “chaos” as a diversion from diplomatic efforts to curtail its controversial nuclear activities, the New York Post reported.

“There’s a lot of people who believe that the Iranians are trying to exert more and more influence over the entire region and the use of Hezbollah is to create more and more chaos to advance their strategy,” Bush told Newsweek magazine.

He said it was “a theory that’s got some legs to it as far as I’m concerned” (Geoff Earle, New York Post, July 17).

Russian atomic energy chief Sergei Kiriyenko on Saturday denied reports Moscow would harden its policy on Iran in exchange for a civilian nuclear deal with the United States, RIA Novosti reported.

“This is absolute nonsense. This issue has never been raised or discussed during talks,” he said (RIA Novosti, July 15).

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U.N. Resolution Will Force Resumption of North Korea Nuclear Negotiations, U.S. Says

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that a U.N. Security Council resolution sanctioning North Korea for its recent missile tests (see related GSN story, today) would force Pyongyang to resume nuclear disarmament negotiations, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 12).

“If they do not want to face some of the additional pressures that can be brought to bear on them, then I think that they will eventually realize that they’ve got to come back to the six-party talks,” Rice said. “That’s really the only game in town” (Terence Hunt, Associated Press/ABCNews.com, July 16).

Chinese President Hu Jintao said he and U.S. President George W. Bush both want the six-nation talks to resume, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.

“Both sides agreed to continue their efforts to move forward the six-party talks, so that at the end of the day, the entire Korean Peninsula could be denuclearized in peaceful way through dialogue and in negotiations,” Hu said after meeting with Bush in St. Petersburg (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 16).

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Russia to End Megatons to Megawatts Program in 2013

Russia does not plan to extend the “Megatons to Megawatts” program with the United States past its expiration point in 2013, Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency chief Sergei Kiriyenko said Saturday (see GSN, June 29).

The agreement signed in 1993 calls for Russia to convert 500 tons of highly enriched uranium — enough for 20,000 nuclear bombs — into a proliferation-resistant low-enriched form. It then sells the material to the United States for use as nuclear reactor fuel.

Russia has converted more than 250 tons of highly enriched uranium. Kiriyenko said the country would fulfill the current agreement (Interfax, July 15).

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Neoconservatives Accuse Bush of Appeasement

Some U.S. conservative commentators have accused President George W. Bush of abandoning nonproliferation goals and the promotion of democracy while dealing with the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea, the Financial Times reported Saturday (see GSN, July 11).

Critics cited Washington’s newfound willingness to engage in diplomacy over the two issues due to pressure from China and Russia.

“It is appeasement,” said Danielle Pletka, vice president of the American Enterprise Institute. “Certainly they feel appeased,” she said, referring to Tehran and Pyongyang, as well as their supporters in China and Russia.

“Iran thinks we are on the retreat. What your opponents perceive is very important,” she said.

“For those of us who said [President Bill] Clinton was leading us to perdition in the 1990s, there is a sense of deja vu,” she added.

Former Defense Department adviser Richard Perle agreed.

“How is it that Bush, who vowed that on his watch ‘the worst weapons will not fall into the worst hands,’ has chosen to beat such an ignominious retreat?” Perle wrote recently in a newspaper commentary.

Perle in part blamed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for cultivating a diplomatic establishment “driven to accommodate its allies.”

However, Michael Lind, a political scientist at the New America Foundation, said the policy shift should not be seen as a strategic change. He said Rice differs with some neoconservatives only in her belief that the United States should act as a “cautious, benign” hegemony.

“They all take U.S. hegemony for granted as the bone structure of the international system,” he said (Guy Dinmore, Financial Times, July 15).

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U.S., Indian Leaders Discuss Nuclear Deal

U.S. President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today in St. Petersburg discussed the pending civilian nuclear cooperation deal between their countries, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 14).

“It’s an important piece of legislation. I’m optimistic we’ll get that passed,” Bush said, referring to a law that the U.S. Congress must approve for implementation of the agreement.

“I deeply appreciate your involvement,” Singh said. “There are some concerns which worry us ... (but) I sincerely believe we can find constructive solutions to all these problems” (Associated Press I/China Post, July 17).

Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday pledged to provide New Delhi with nuclear fuel, AP reported.

“We welcome the important nonproliferation commitments India has made, and India’s closer alignment with the nonproliferation regime mainstream,” Bush and Putin said in a statement released just before a meeting of the Group of Eight world economic powers.

“We look forward to working with India on civil nuclear cooperation to address its energy requirements, and on further enhancing the global nonproliferation regime,” they said (Associated Press II/Moscow Times, July 15).

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Feds Could Reduce Oversight at Los Alamos

The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration is prepared to hand off some oversight of the Los Alamos National Laboratory to the contractor at the New Mexico facility, a decision that has raised safety and security concerns, the Albuquerque Journal reported yesterday (see GSN, May 2).

Supporters say the move would reduce needless paperwork and bureaucracy in operating the nuclear weapons research site, and help alleviate problems in balancing oversight and micromanagement.

“The pendulum has swung to a lot more intrusive oversight that really gets in the way of being able to carry out the work,” Los Alamos chief Michael Anastasio said last month after Los Alamos National Security assumed management of the laboratory.

Los Alamos National Security is a consortium consisting of the University of California, Bechtel, BWX Technologies and Washington Group International.

The NNSA plan calls for the consortium and its governing board to take a greater role in finding and fixing problems in operations at Los Alamos, the Journal reported. The government would determine expectations and goals for the laboratory to be met by the contractor.

 “Of course, if we don’t, then (NNSA will) be more intrusive,” Anastasio said. “But if we do, then the goal is for (NNSA) to be less intrusive, so that we can use our expertise to figure out the best way to accomplish the goal of being safe and getting mission work done on time.”

Opponents said the change might enable Los Alamos National Security to hide safety and security problems to ensure it does not lose the contract.

“It will be looked back on as a disaster,” said Greg Mello, executive director of the Los Alamos Study Group, a laboratory watchdog organization. “Why would you give to the contractor not only the responsibility for conducting the inspection but to write the criteria by which it’s all evaluated?”

An independent federal safety board has also expressed concerns about oversight. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board representative C.H. Keilers wrote in a June 9 report that the NNSA Los Alamos office “continues to struggle with ensuring adequate oversight of nuclear operations.”

An oversight program ensuring safe facilities at Los Alamos, including ventilation systems, fire walls, and flood retention structures “appears defunct,” the report said (John Arnold, Albuquerque Journal, July 16).

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U.N. Condemns North Korean Missile Tests

The U.N. Security Council on Saturday unanimously approved a resolution placing sanctions on North Korea for its missile tests earlier this month (see GSN, July 14).

The limited measure demands that Pyongyang “suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program,” resume its moratorium on missile tests and return to the six-nation nuclear talks. It also prohibits all U.N. member states from trading missile or WMD-related technologies with North Korea.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton warned that if Pyongyang failed to comply with the resolution, the council could take additional action.

North Korean Ambassador to the United Nations Pak Gil Yon called the council vote “unjustifiable and gangster-like.”

“The delegation of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea resolutely condemns the attempt of some countries to misuse the Security Council for the despicable political aim to isolate and put pressure on the D.P.R.K., and totally rejects the resolution,” he said.

The Korean People’s Army “will go on with missile launch exercises as part of its efforts to bolster deterrent for self-defense in the future, too,” he said.

Bolton said the Security Council “sends an unequivocal, unambiguous and unanimous message to Pyongyang: suspend your ballistic missile program, stop your procurement of materials related to weapons of mass destruction, and implement your September 2005 commitment to verifiably dismantle your nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs”

“The council has acted swiftly and robustly in response to the reckless and condemnable act of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” said Japan’s vice minister for foreign affairs, Shintaro Ito (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Buffalo News, July 15).

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U.S. Plans New Nuclear Detectors at Ports

By Jon Fox
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Homeland Security Department announced Friday a $1.2 billion plan to deploy more-advanced radiological screening devices at the nation’s ports, hoping to increase detection capabilities and reduce the number of nuisance alarms caused by existing systems (see GSN, June 30).

By 2011, the department expects to have 1,400 of the next-generation screeners deployed at both ports and border crossings. The first 80 machines are scheduled to be installed this fall at the New York Container Terminal in Staten Island, N.Y. 

Current radiological detection machines were installed after Sept. 11, 2001, as a shield against nuclear terrorism, a threat at the top of the nation’s concerns, said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.

The machines have screened 80 million cargo shipments entering the country since 2002, registering more than 300,000 false alarms.

“One of the problems that we have is the rate of false positives,” Chertoff said.

Low levels of background radiation in harmless items often trigger the current machines. Kitty litter, granite and bananas have set the machines off.

The new detectors will range in cost from $350,000 to about $500,000 each, compared to the $180,000 for those currently employed. Officials, however, expect that the more-expensive systems will reduce the number of containers flagged for more-complete inspections each year from 821,000 to 15,000.

Using advanced computer software, the new devices will be able to better discriminate between different types of radioactive emissions, said Vayl Oxford, director of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office.

The new technology is also to be deployed to ports abroad as part of the Energy Department’s Megaports Initiative to secure shipping before it enters U.S. waters (seen GSN, July 10).

The Homeland Security Department also announced a plan to deploy the new devices in and around U.S. cities, and Oxford said work on a $3 million pilot deployment program has begun in New York City.

Officials are concerned not only about a devastating nuclear weapon, but also radiological “dirty bombs” that would use conventional explosives to disperse radioactive material. Such a weapon could render whole city blocks uninhabitable until the area could be decontaminated.

Radioactive material, such as isotopes used in medical applications, could be obtained within the country, incorporated into a dirty bomb and smuggled into a city without crossing a border.

“How do we protect cities, major urban areas in this country, from a nuclear or radiological bomb that was fabricated inside the country?” Chertoff asked.

In an urban context, the challenge is balancing the need for security with the need to keep traffic flowing, he said. “We don’t want to set the red flags up every time someone sends a shipment of very respectable granite into the city.”

The New York pilot program will allow officials to determine the range of the detection machines in the complicated context of an urban area with at least 150 points of entry. The success of the experiment in New York could shape the way the detection machines might be employed elsewhere.

“I think we need to take the lessons learned from a difficult and complex environment like New York and extrapolate them to other cities,” Chertoff said.

Even with the next generation of machines, the detection capabilities to sniff out highly enriched uranium clad in certain kinds of radiation shields are not complete.

With the new technology, inspectors would only be able to detect “lightly shielded” uranium, Oxford said. His agency has received proposals for additional machines that would enhance the ability to detect shielded uranium, and Oxford said he expects to awards those contracts this fall.

Even with enhanced detection capabilities at certain U.S. points of entry, some experts have argued that securing long U.S. borders is exceedingly difficult. They point to preventing terrorists from getting their hands on nuclear material as a more pressing concern.

Trying to stop a terrorist with a nuclear weapon at the border is nearly impossible, Robert Gallucci said last month at a Russian American Nuclear Security Advisory Council discussion.

“Game over. There are just too many ways,” said Gallucci, a former U.N. weapons inspector and now dean of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University,

Detectors are just one element in a larger architecture of defense, said arms control expert Michael Levi, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“This is one of a large number of small elements that will add up to something significant,” Levi told Global Security Newswire. “No one should think of this as a substitute for security at the source.”

Keeping terrorists from nuclear material is “the most important and the most powerful defensive measure,” he said.

Initial one-year contracts for the new detectors have been awards to Raytheon Corp., Thermo Electron Corp. and Canberra Industries.

“We think this is fulfilling a major capabilities gap we have in today in reducing the risk of nuclear and radiological threats,” Oxford said.

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