U.S. Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) has urged the State Department to release an overdue report on nonproliferation before Congress completes its consideration of the U.S.-Indian nuclear trade deal (Mark Wilson/Getty Images). Lawmakers Seek Nonproliferation Report Before India Vote By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Three U.S. lawmakers are calling for the release of an overdue State Department report on weapons proliferators they say could have bearing on the pending U.S.-Indian nuclear agreement (see GSN, July 21). In a letter sent yesterday to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Representatives Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) requested the latest report due under the Iran-Syria Nonproliferation Act. The act requires the State Department to present Congress with a report every six months on foreign individuals and entities believed to have transferred banned technology or items to Iran or Syria. ..Full Story

Gallucci Warns of North Korea Nuclear Transfers By Marina Malenic Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The greatest danger posed by North Korea is the possibility that the isolated and cash-strapped state could sell fissile material to a third party hostile to the United States, a former senior State Department official said yesterday (see GSN, July 24)...Full Story

Bush Administration Knew of Pakistan Nuclear Expansion Plans, Did Not Inform Congress The Bush administration was aware that Pakistan was building a large new heavy-water nuclear reactor but failed to inform Congress of the activity, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, July 24)...Full Story

	Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Terror Suspect Admits Preparing Ricin A terror suspect on trial in London admitted during a videotaped interview with police that he prepared ricin, but said he never used the toxin, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, March 23). Salahuddin Amin, 31, is one of seven men being tried in connection with an alleged plot to detonate a fertilizer bomb in London. Amin said he and a co-defendant were taught to manufacture a bomb using ammonium nitrate fertilizer during a 2003 trip to Pakistan. They actually set off one explosive in a river. He also acknowledged receiving instruction on the preparation of ricin, according to the tape played by prosecutors. Amin said he had been “brainwashed” by Islamist extremists before leaving the United Kingdom for Pakistan. “I would say I did get mixed up with terrorists and I really regret that,” he told police. He denied, though, being a terrorist himself or having plans to detonate explosives at any location, AP reported. The trial began in March and could continue for months (Tariq Panja, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, July 24). Back to top

Lawmakers Seek Nonproliferation Report Before India Vote By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Three U.S. lawmakers are calling for the release of an overdue State Department report on weapons proliferators they say could have bearing on the pending U.S.-Indian nuclear agreement (see GSN, July 21). In a letter sent yesterday to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Representatives Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) requested the latest report due under the Iran-Syria Nonproliferation Act. The act requires the State Department to present Congress with a report every six months on foreign individuals and entities believed to have transferred banned technology or items to Iran or Syria.  Past reports have included information on groups in India, and as recently as 2005 the United States filed nonproliferation sanctions against two Indian firms. The latest report was due in June but has not yet been submitted as the House of Representatives moves toward action tomorrow on the proposed U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear agreement. There are “persistent rumors” that the State Department is withholding the report to hide its contents before final passage of the agreement, according to a release from Markey’s office. “It would be absolutely unacceptable if the State Department purposefully withheld information relating to Indian entities engaged in proliferation of weapons of mass destruction until after the Congress considers the U.S.-India nuclear agreement,” Markey said in a written statement. Responding to a question yesterday at a daily briefing, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said delays in reports to Congress are not unusual and that the late delivery of this report is unrelated to the pending agreement. “We always endeavor to get all reports to Congress in a timely fashion,” he said. “I think looking at the history of this report, this wouldn’t be the first time that there’s been some delays in getting it to the Hill.” Casey said the report is expected soon and that “there are no political considerations delaying its release.” He did not offer an explanation for the delay. The letter signed by the three representatives calls for the report to be submitted before lawmakers vote on the pending nuclear agreement that has been pushed strongly by the Bush administration. House and Senate foreign affairs committees last month approved legislation that would enable the deal to go through, but required that Congress later have a say on actual approval of the agreement. The proposal would allow India access to U.S. nuclear technology and material, with New Delhi in turn placing its civilian nuclear sites under international monitoring. Action in the House is expected tomorrow, and a vote in the Senate is likely to occur after the summer recess, which begins at the end of next week.  Critics have called the agreement a blow to the international nuclear nonproliferation regime. They argue that carving out a deal for India, a nuclear-armed state that is not party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, degrades the U.S. position in dealing with Iran, a nation Washington suspects is developing nuclear weapons. Unlike India, Iran signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty long ago and after concealing extensive nuclear activities for nearly two decades it now permits international inspectors into its nuclear sites. Opponents of the deal have also contended that a secure stream of nuclear fuel granted under the pending deal would allow New Delhi to direct its domestic uranium supplies toward nuclear weapons. Representative Howard Berman (D-Calif.), at a House International Relations subcommittee hearing last week, also pressed a State Department official on rumors of an intentional delay of the nonproliferation report. “Some skeptics have expressed the view that the reason for the delay is you don’t want to tell Congress the sources of proliferation to Iran that could undercut some of your current efforts,” Berman said. Frank Record, the acting head of the State Department’s nonproliferation bureau, said the delay has been frustrating and insisted it was not by design. “There is no ulterior motive, waiting or trying to hold that information back,” he said. Berman asked specifically if Indian entities are listed the report, which is presented to Congress in a classified form. “I don’t recall,” Record said. Back to top       Gallucci Warns of North Korea Nuclear Transfers By Marina Malenic Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The greatest danger posed by North Korea is the possibility that the isolated and cash-strapped state could sell fissile material to a third party hostile to the United States, a former senior State Department official said yesterday (see GSN, July 24). North Korea’s delegation to multilateral nuclear disarmament talks in Beijing in April 2003 threatened to transfer nuclear material, but Pyongyang has since renounced that statement (see GSN, April 25, 2003). Still, the threat should still be taken seriously, said Robert Gallucci, who led the U.S. delegation to talks that resulted in the 1994 Agreed Framework agreement that temporarily capped North Korea’s plutonium production program. “The same way that Iran is now the biggest supplier of conventional weapons to terrorists on the planet, the North Koreans have indicated that they are willing to do some creative things with unconventional weapons,” Gallucci said in a speech at Georgetown University. He said U.S. intelligence indicated that uranium enrichment centrifuge components were shipped from Pakistan to North Korea beginning “around ’97 or ’98.”  “Therefore, there is likely an accumulation of both [weapon-grade] plutonium and uranium” in North Korea, said Gallucci, dean of the Georgetown School of Foreign Service. Gallucci faulted the Bush administration for refusing to conduct bilateral negotiations with Pyongyang and for continuing to emphasize regime change as a major prong of its North Korea policy. “I believe there are many people in this administration who would like negotiations to fail,” he said. He said some U.S. officials continue to conflate the nuclear standoff with human rights issues, to the detriment of any serious negotiation. “The president’s job is to protect the security of the American people, not the North Korean people,” he said. “The human rights problem is part of what this regime is,” he added. “It’s very hard.  The alternative, though, may be no deal.” Instead, Gallucci said Washington should emphasize “payoffs and transparency” to resolve the nuclear standoff and then wait for the regime to collapse on its own. While administration officials have argued that the six-party talks forum — stalled since September — guarantees the involvement of other regional powers, Gallucci said bilateral U.S.-North Korea negotiations in 1994 included “twice-daily consultations with Japan and South Korea,” as well as weekly talks with Chinese and Russian officials. “We should walk away from the six-party talks,” he said. “We are not negotiating.” Gallucci added that Pyongyang probably used this month’s missile tests to draw international attention back from Iran’s nuclear program (see GSN, July 5). “They were no longer on the front page,” he said. “They were no longer even in Section A.” A nuclear compromise offer by world powers to Iran of security guarantees, economic assistance and light-water nuclear energy reactors “looked suspiciously like the Agreed Framework,” he added, even though “the Iranians do not yet have nuclear weapons, and the North Koreans have a bunch.” Gallucci said both the missile tests and the accumulation of fissile material in North Korea “must be viewed as a threat.” “We have to solve this issue before the next president ... has to decide whether to go to war to resolve it,” he said. Meanwhile, South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, in Malaysia for the regional forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, indicated that North Korea had not expressed interest in discussing resumption of the six-party talks, Agence France-Presse reported. “I would stress that North Korea’s return to six-way talks is crucial to settling the issue of missile tests,” Ban said. “I have proposed the meeting to my North Korean counterpart, but I have not yet had confirmation from him.” The North Korean Embassy in Malaysia yesterday confirmed that Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun would attend the summit Thursday and Friday but that he would only meet bilaterally with South Korean officials, the Associated Press reported. Back to top       Bush Administration Knew of Pakistan Nuclear Expansion Plans, Did Not Inform Congress The Bush administration was aware that Pakistan was building a large new heavy-water nuclear reactor but failed to inform Congress of the activity, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, July 24). Critics said the administration should have disclosed intelligence on the facility while Congress is in the middle of a debate over a bilateral nuclear deal with India, Pakistan’s neighbor and nuclear rival. “If either India or Pakistan starts increasing its nuclear arsenal, the other side will respond in kind,” said Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.), co-chairman of a House task force on nonproliferation. “The Bush administration’s proposed nuclear deal with India is making that much more likely.” Henry Sokolski, director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, said he was surprised that the Bush administration did not inform Congress. “What is baffling is that this information — which was surely information that our own intelligence agencies had — was kept from Congress,” he said.  White House spokesman Tony Snow said yesterday that the administration discourages “military use of the facility” (Joby Warrick, Washington Post, July 25). However, asked if the administration had pressed Islamabad to guarantee it would not use the reactor to produce plutonium for atomic bombs, Snow said, “Not that I’m aware of,” the Associated Press reported yesterday (Paul Garwood, Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, July 24). Pakistan did not deny reports about the new reactor, which when finished could produce 200 kilograms or more of weapon-grade plutonium each year. “This ought to be no revelation to anyone, because Pakistan is a nuclear-weapons state,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said yesterday. She added that Pakistani officials “do not want an arms race in this region.” Weapons experts, however, said yesterday that a Pakistani nuclear expansion would push other countries in the region to make similar efforts. “There are makings of a vigorous competition in fissile material production in South Asia — between India and Pakistan in the first instance but also China as well,” said Robert Einhorn, a senior adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It would be one thing if we were talking just about well-secured nuclear bombs. A larger concern is the greater amounts of fissile material, which create more opportunities for terrorists to get their hands on it.” “We lack imagination if we think that this is no big deal,” Sokolski said (Warrick, Washington Post, July 25). Back to top       U.S. Lawmakers Make Final Efforts to Alter Legislation on Nuclear Pact with India Some U.S. lawmakers critical of a pending U.S.-Indian nuclear technology sharing deal are trying to attach last-minute conditions to legislation needed to implement the agreement, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, July 21). One proposal demands that New Delhi halt weapon-grade fissile material production, while calls for U.S. President George W. Bush to guarantee that India is participating in efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring an atomic bomb. Such conditions are likely to undermine the deal should they be added to the legislation, according to AP. Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee pledged yesterday that New Delhi “will not resort to (a) first strike and never use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states.”  “India’s nuclear doctrine has a purely defensive orientation,” he said (Foster Klug, Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, July 25). A group of U.S. nuclear experts yesterday sent a letter encouraging members of Congress to alter pending legislation necessary for implementation of the U.S.-Indian deal, according to the Arms Control Association. The letter says the agreement should not go forward until there are guarantees that India has stopped weapon-grade fissile material production; there are guarantees and annual certification that U.S. civil nuclear technology would not be used in New Delhi’s military nuclear program; there are assurances that the United States would not continue nuclear assistance if India breaks its nonproliferation commitments; and there is a determination that India does not engage in illicit procurement of WMD-related technologies (Arms Control Association release, July 24). A dozen nuclear experts have also sent a letter to International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei criticizing his support for the deal, the Indo-Asian News Service reported today. ElBaradei’s position is “surprising and disappointing” because it conflicts with U.S. and international atomic trade rules and undermines efforts to halt nuclear proliferation, according to another release from the Arms Control Association. “ElBaradei has been a long-time champion for nuclear disarmament and an outspoken critic of nuclear double standards, which is why his endorsement of the U.S.-Indian deal is so puzzling and upsetting,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association and a signatory. Several former U.S. nuclear officials, including John Holum, former undersecretary of state for arms control and international security in the Clinton administration, and Norm Wulf, who was the White House special representative for nuclear nonproliferation from 1999 to 2002, also signed the letter (Indo-Asian News Service/New Kerala, July 25). India has signed the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, the Press Trust of India reported today (see GSN, Sept. 15, 2005). The convention requires member states to punish perpetrators of nuclear terrorism and to cooperate with other parties to the treaty in prevention, investigation and prosecution of such offenses. Indian Ambassador to the United Nations Nirupam Sen signed the requisite documents yesterday (Press Trust of India/New Kerala, July 25). Back to top       Middle East Tensions Could Harden Positions in Iran Nuclear Diplomacy, Experts Say Iran experts have said that hostilities in Lebanon could harden the positions of those concerned that Tehran is developing nuclear weapons, as well as hard-liners within the Iranian leadership, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, July 24). “Any tension in the region does not have a positive effect on Iran’s negotiating position on the nuclear issues. It will have a negative effect,” said former Iranian Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi. There are concerns that Iran might spark a regional arms race, or someday transfer fissile material to a group such as Hezbollah, which has received military support from Tehran and is embroiled in the confrontation with Israel. “This will certainly be on the Western mind,” said Ahmad Bakhshaiesh, a political affairs researcher at Azadi University in Tehran. “No one is saying this is possible or could even happen, but just the thought will likely increase the pressure on Iran.” Meanwhile, hard-liners in Iran are likely to use hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah as a justification for maintaining a nuclear option, said Nasser Hadian, a political analyst at Tehran University. “In their minds, the region is so volatile that the only safety is to have the ability to produce a nuclear deterrent,” Hadian said. “These voices have been getting louder in recent days” (Brian Murphy, Associated Press/Washington Post, July 25). Back to top       Qadhafi Claims Libya Came Close to Building Nuke Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi said Sunday that his country was on the verge of manufacturing a nuclear weapon before abandoning all its WMD efforts in 2003, Reuters reported (see GSN, May 16). “It is true that Libya came close to building a nuclear bomb,” Qadhafi said. “This is no longer a secret, as everything was laid bare by the” International Atomic Energy Agency. Qadhafi’s remarks were the first public confirmation by Libyan authorities that Tripoli had been developing atomic weapons, according to Reuters (Reuters/New York Times, July 24). Back to top

Scientists Warn Against Mass Smallpox Vaccinations Two scientists have concluded that quarantine and targeted vaccinations would be safer than a program of mass inoculations in effectively controlling a bioterrorism-related outbreak of smallpox in the United Kingdom, the London Times reported today (see GSN, Dec. 7, 2005). Roughly one in every 35,000 people who received the vaccination would suffer fatal side effects, Neil Ferguson of Imperial College in London and Steven Riley of the University of Hong Kong wrote in an article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. That means mass vaccinations could kill more people than they save. The British government has been stockpiling the smallpox vaccine. The researchers noted only one situation in which a wide-scale vaccination program might be necessary in the United Kingdom. A smallpox pandemic in the United States or another country could lead to a slow but steady influx of infected travelers into the country. Finding and quarantining individuals in such cases would be difficult, as would determining which specific populations might be exposed to the visitors, the Times reported (Mark Henderson, The Times, July 25). Back to top

VX Disposal Begins at Anniston Depot The Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Alabama on Sunday began eliminating M55 rockets filled with VX nerve agent, according to the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (see GSN, July 21). This stage of work follows the final disposal of sarin-filled munitions at the Anniston Chemical Depot and a conversion period to prepare the plant to eliminate the VX weapons. “We have been looking forward to the resumption of chemical munition disposal operations. Now we are ready to begin safely destroying the M55 VX rockets while protecting the community, the environment and the work force,” Timothy Garrett, government site project manager, said in a press release. The rockets are 6 feet and 6 inches in length and hold roughly five quarts of liquid agent. Each rocket is to be drained of VX and then sliced into eight parts and incinerated in the deactivation furnace. The nerve agent is stored in holding tanks until a sufficient amount has accumulated to be eliminated within the liquid incinerator, the Army said. Disposal of the rockets is scheduled to be followed by destruction of 155 mm VX projectiles and VX land mines. Elimination of weapons containing mustard agent is expected to begin in about two years (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, July 23). Back to top       Umatilla CW Disposal Site Logs 15th Fire A small fire ignited yesterday during disposal of a M55 rocket that had been drained of the nerve agent sarin at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Oregon, the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency said (see GSN, June 21). This was the 15th fire to occur during destruction of the rockets at Umatilla. The fire occurred at 7:45 a.m. during the fifth of seven cuts into the rocket. That cut goes through the part of the rocket that contains propellant, and has been the point at which previous blazes began. Flames were contained within Explosive Containment Room A and doused by a fire suppression system. There appears to be little damage to the room, the Army said in a press release. Following repairs, processing was hoped to resume yesterday in one of the two containment rooms. The disposal facility has less than 4,400 sarin M55 rockets left to destroy (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, July 24). Back to top

Missile Sanctions Harm North Korea, U.N. Says A top U.N. official said yesterday that international sanctions implemented to punish North Korea for launching seven missiles earlier this month are likely to cause more severe food shortages in that country, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 21). The special U.N. human rights envoy to North Korea, Vitit Muntarbhorn, called the missile tests “irresponsible.” “The acts, particularly the missile launch(es), have ultimately impacted upon on human rights, because they have led to a certain reaction from neighbors in terms of cutback on food and fertilizer aid,” Muntarbhorn said. The U.N. World Food Program was already sending a reduced amount of food aid to North Korea this year, he said (see GSN, Jan. 17). “But that has now been affected by the missile tests, because the food aid not only pertains to multilateral aid coming through the World Food Program, but also food aid pertains to bilateral aid, particularly coming from the neighbors,” Muntarbhorn said. Japan has halted a ferry link, diplomatic visits and charter flights to and from the North, while South Korea has suspended rice and fertilizer shipments, according to AFP. “Generally speaking, we would say that humanitarian aid should not be conditional, so food aid should not be conditional. But today of course we see the impact of the missile tests in terms of having an impact on the goodwill which has imposed constraints upon, particularly, bilateral food aid,” Muntarbhorn said (Agence France-Presse, July 24). North Korea said yesterday that the tests were “completely safe,” Reuters reported. Pyongyang warned South Korean ships to avoid waters east of the Korean Peninsula a few days before testing, South Korean officials said. “The D.P.R.K. launched missiles only after airspace, land and waters of the sea had been confirmed to be completely safe. Their launches, therefore, hurt neither ships nor civilian planes, nor anyone,” the North’s official news agency announced. Pyongyang did not, however, issue advanced international notice of the tests because the United States and Japan might tried to destroy the missiles in flight, KCNA said. “The United States, now technically still at war with the D.P.R.K., had been kicking up a war atmosphere for a month in collusion with Japan, threatening to intercept any missile to be launched,” it said (Reuters/Yahoo!News, July 24).   Back to top

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