Technicians maneuver a plutonium storage container at the Energy Department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina (Energy Department photo). South Carolina Lawmakers Push for MOX Funding By Jon Fox, Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers from South Carolina in recent weeks have cranked up their rhetoric in hopes of saving a jeopardized project in their state that would convert weapon-grade plutonium into nuclear power reactor fuel (see GSN, July 7). Speaking Wednesday near Aiken, S.C., the location for the planned Savannah River Site plant to produce the mixed-oxide fuel, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R) called for a continued commitment to the program...Full Story

Iran Accuses U.S. of Condescension on Nuclear Effort Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the Bush administration of condescending to Iran over its nuclear development effort, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 10)...Full Story

Airline Plot Demonstrates Al-Qaeda’s Tenacity A plan to destroy up to 10 airliners, foiled this week by British authorities, indicates that the al-Qaeda terrorist network has managed to adapt and survive through the five-year U.S.-led crackdown begun after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to U.S. intelligence officials (see GSN, Aug. 10)...Full Story

	Friday, August 11, 2006

Airline Plot Demonstrates Al-Qaeda’s Tenacity A plan to destroy up to 10 airliners, foiled this week by British authorities, indicates that the al-Qaeda terrorist network has managed to adapt and survive through the five-year U.S.-led crackdown begun after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to U.S. intelligence officials (see GSN, Aug. 10). The nature of the plot — including visits to Pakistan by the suspected would-be bombers and plans to attack multiple targets simultaneously — is similar to earlier al-Qaeda operations, the Washington Post reported. Also, the plan echoes a similar plot abandoned by al-Qaeda in 1995 to blow up 11 airliners over the Pacific Ocean, according to the Post (Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, Aug. 11). British authorities arrested 24 individuals Wednesday night suspected of plotting to use liquid explosives to fashion bombs they would detonate on airliners flying between the United Kingdom and the United States. Five individuals remain at large, according to a senior U.S. official, prompting airport security officials to ban passengers from carrying any liquids or gels onto their aircraft (Bennett/Waller, TIME, Aug. 10). In addition, Pakistani officials have arrested seven people, including two British citizens last week and five Pakistanis, suspected as serving as local “facilitators” for the British suspects, according to a senior Pakistani official (Associated Press/USA Today, Aug. 11). The bombing plot had reached an advanced stage that triggered action by British officials, who had been monitoring the suspects with U.S. help for several months, according to TIME.  The plot was “very near execution,” but not imminent, said U.S. Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson. “We didn’t pull people off of airplanes” (TIME). Details of the disrupted plan demonstrate that al-Qaeda methods have evolved to operate in the current security situation, said one official. “The enemy, as the military is fond of saying, is both thinking and adaptable,” the official said. “They’ve gone through a thorough process, given the increase of security that we’ve done on flying planes, of thinking, ‘Is there a way we can still get on board and take airplanes down?’ … This is an extremely talented, thinking group.” While al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, may no longer direct operational control over terrorist operations, they continue to provide vision and motivation, the Post reported. U.S. and other intelligence agencies have said bin Laden gives “inspiration” to “radicalized” Muslim youth who are spurred by Islamic conflict in the Middle East. The war in Iraq has served as the best tool to recruit Islamic militants, according to U.S. intelligence officials (DeYoung, Washington Post). Back to top

South Carolina Lawmakers Push for MOX Funding By Jon Fox, Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers from South Carolina in recent weeks have cranked up their rhetoric in hopes of saving a jeopardized project in their state that would convert weapon-grade plutonium into nuclear power reactor fuel (see GSN, July 7). Speaking Wednesday near Aiken, S.C., the location for the planned Savannah River Site plant to produce the mixed-oxide fuel, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R) called for a continued commitment to the program. “The need for MOX is greater today than the day we awarded the project,” Graham said, according to the Associated Press. “MOX is the best form of disposition for the American taxpayer,” Representative Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) said at the end of July. “Building this facility sends a clear signal to the international community that we are serious about maintaining our agreement to dispose of excess plutonium.” The United States and Russia in 2000 each committed to eliminating 34 metric tons of bomb-quality plutonium. Washington and Moscow were to construct parallel plants to convert the surplus weapons material to reactor fuel. Progress on the plan, however, suffered significant delays as the two nations walked through torturous negotiations on liability issues regarding the construction of the Russian facilities. More recently, Moscow has said it would only contribute financially to the project if it is permitted to burn the excess plutonium in an existing fast-neutron reactor and build an additional fast-neutron reactor. Critics of the Russian demand say that using fast-neutron reactors could actually lead to production of additional weapon-grade plutonium, eliminating any nonproliferation gains of the original agreement. Holdups with the MOX program and frustrations with Moscow have led to a significant funding question mark looming over the program for the coming fiscal year. A House version of the fiscal 2007 energy appropriations bill strips the program’s entire $368 million budget. The Senate version of the same legislation pulls U.S. financing for the Russian component but remains committed to full funding for the plant in South Carolina (see GSN, June 28). The differences between the two bills are due to be hashed out when Congress returns from its August recess. “We will get a number, I hope, that will keep the MOX program moving forward and viable,” Graham said.   He said he hopes construction on the plant would begin before the end of the year, AP reported. The House Armed Services Committee, which also has a hand in MOX funding, cut support for the bilateral program by more than $100 million. The Senate Armed Services Committee supported full funding, while setting conditions on delivery of the money. In the western part of the state, there is a real concern that dried up MOX funding could spell the end of the Savannah River Site, which has conducted nuclear materials and weapons management since the 1950s, said Jim Hodges, former governor of South Carolina.  The potential loss of jobs translates into local pressure on the state’s lawmakers in Washington.   “I think the delegation realizes that if the feds don’t follow through on their commitment it will be a huge political liability for them,” Hodges said. There is also the concern that the site would become a long term plutonium storage facility — something it was never designed to be — if the MOX program ultimately falls through. “Without a MOX fuel fabrication plant, South Carolina is going to be stuck with tons, up to 34 metric tons, of weapons-grade plutonium with no clear pathway for disposal,” said Representative John Spratt (D-S.C.) late last month, at a hearing of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee on MOX funding. “When South Carolina agreed to take the nation’s plutonium, we did not agree to become the final burial place for that plutonium,” he said. Proceeding with the MOX program is worthwhile only if the 34 tons of plutonium eliminated is a first step in disposal of weapons material, said Matthew Bunn, senior researcher at Harvard University’s Project on Managing the Atom. “If we believe that we’re not going to go beyond 34 tons, I believe it’s not worth the effort to move forward,” Bunn said at the hearing. Linton Brooks, director of the National Nuclear Security Administration, bluntly told the subcommittee the administration remains committed to the MOX program. “Everything else is elaboration,” he said. “We will always spend money to guard plutonium until we transform it into a form where it doesn’t need to be guarded,” Brooks said. “And for us, burning it in reactors is the most effective way.” The design for the South Carolina facility is 85 percent completed and full costs, including design, construction and startup, are expected to total $4.7 billion, he said. Of that, about $800 million has already been spent. “We are ready to move,” Brooks said. “Site preparations are under way.” Back to top       Iran Accuses U.S. of Condescension on Nuclear Effort Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the Bush administration of condescending to Iran over its nuclear development effort, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 10). “Well, please look at the makeup of the American administration, the behavior of the American administration.  See how they talk down to my nation.  And this recent [U.N. Security Council] resolution passed about the nuclear issue, look at the wording,” Ahmadinejad told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview to be aired Sunday. Western powers “presented us with [an incentives] package which we are studying right now,” he said. “We even gave them a date for our response.  Ignoring that, they passed a resolution” (see GSN, Aug. 4; Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Aug. 10). Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki yesterday reiterated Tehran’s rejection of Security Council demands that Iran suspend uranium enrichment by the end of the month, AFP reported. “We will continue our nuclear activities and do not accept illegal international obligations,” he said. “We will not retreat from the nation's rights under any circumstances and our diplomacy is based on protecting national interests” (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, Aug. 10). Mottaki on Wednesday accused the United States of violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the Xinhua News Agency reported. “At the time of the former Iranian regime, the United States encouraged the king to find access to the uranium enrichment cycle and build nuclear power plants in Iran, but today it is acting in violation of all the international rules and regulations, including the rules of the NPT,” he said. “One such attitude could be seen very clearly in the way the United States acted with regard to the recent United Nations Security Council resolution against Iran, they acted restlessly to reach a resolution against us before we could present our response to the six-nation package,” he said (Xinhua News Agency, Aug. 10). Iran’s ambassador to Russia said in an interview published today that hostilities in Lebanon are not connected to Iran’s nuclear program, Interfax reported. “In my view, there is no direct link.  Nuclear politics is an absolutely separate, independent and transparent policy of Iran,” Gholamreza Ansari told Nezavisimaya Gazeta. “Undoubtedly, the Israelis were preparing an attack on Lebanon in advance, they were looking for an excuse.  Israel may have specially chosen the time for the attack in order to influence the developments regarding the Iranian nuclear dossier,” Ansari added (Interfax, Aug. 11). Back to top       U.S. Lawmakers Ask China to Pressure North Korea A U.S. Senate delegation in Beijing today urged China to do more to bring North Korea back to stalled nuclear disarmament talks, Reuters reported (see GSN, Aug. 10). Senator Mark Dayton (D-Minn.) lauded China’s support for a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Pyongyang’s missile launches last month as “a historic and very significant step.” Others, however, were more critical. “I did express the view that China could do more, having had such a long-standing relationship with North Korea, to help the negotiations,” said Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). Specter said the group also asked about a missile China allegedly sold to Iran that might have been transferred to Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. The weapon was fired at an Israeli ship. “The reply came from one of the [Chinese] representatives that sales were made to a sovereign country and it was under an arrangement … that there would not be a resale or a transfer,” Specter said (Reuters/Washington Post, Aug. 11). Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi departed for Mongolia yesterday to discuss the North Korea nuclear and missile standoff, Agence France-Presse reported. “It is natural for the two leaders to exchange views on the North Korean nuclear and missile issue for this occasion,” said a Japanese Foreign Ministry official. “While the two countries have shared a common stance on the issue, we would like to reiterate calls for Mongolian support in finding a solution to this issue,” he said. Mongolia is one of few countries that maintain diplomatic relations with North Korea (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Aug. 10). Back to top

Umatilla Destroys Final Sarin Rockets The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility on Wednesday destroyed the last of 91,442 sarin-filled M55 rockets and warheads stored at an Oregon weapons depot, the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency said (see GSN, Aug. 8). Rocket disposal began in September 2004. Workers processed the final weapon at 1:17 p.m. Wednesday. Nearly 62,000 8-inch and 155 mm sarin-filled projectiles stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot remain to be destroyed. That work is expected to be finished next year, and would be followed by elimination of munitions and storage tanks containing VX nerve agent (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Aug. 9). Back to top       U.S. Army Wants Changes to Anniston VX Disposal Plan Officials at the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Alabama are seeking state approval for several proposed changes to a disposal plan for munitions filled with VX nerve agent, The Anniston Star reported Wednesday (see GSN, July 25). One change would allow decontaminated protective suits and equipment to be incinerated off site “just like any other hazardous waste,” said Tim Garrett, site project manager for the disposal facility. Destroying such items at the facility is “an extra burden on the plant besides processing agents,” Garrett said.  “Processing agent is job No. 1.” The U.S. Army also wants approval to destroy the facility’s brine reduction area and a pollution abatement system. Corrosive gases would be treated using a more cost-effective, off-site sodium hydroxide system, Garrett said. Other pending changes include allowing waste removal from the incinerator’s metal parts furnace after a loss of furnace capabilities, and reducing the frequency of carbon-canister replacement in the agent collection system, according to the Star (Matt Kasper, The Anniston Star, Aug. 9). Back to top       Guinea Creates Chemical Weapons Treaty Authority The Republic of Guinea met its obligation under the Chemical Weapons Convention to create a national authority to implement its obligations under the pact, according to a release issued yesterday (see GSN, July 27). Duties of the National Commission against Chemical Weapons include cooperating with other treaty member states, communicating with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and facilitating inspections by OPCW officials, according to the OPCW release (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons release, Aug. 10). Back to top

Polish Residents Oppose U.S. Missile Defenses A study has found that more than 60 percent of respondents in Poland oppose stationing components of a U.S. ballistic missile defense system on their territory, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, July 20). A survey conducted from Aug. 4-6 by the GfK Polonia polling agency found 23 percent of 983 Poles polled favored hosting the weaponry and 63 percent were opposed, Rzeczpospolita daily reported. The remaining 14 percent expressed no opinion. Some Polish officials have expressed doubts about participation in the program. “We're not absolutely forced to accept this offer if we judge that it's not advantageous for us,” Polish Deputy Defense Minister Stanislaw Koziej told the Dziennik daily in June. “We don’t have to have this installation on our territory if it doesn’t clearly serve to increase our security,” Koziej added (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Aug. 10). Back to top       Republicans Say Democrats Soft on Missile Defense Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman yesterday attacked Democrats for votes against the national missile defense system, United Press International reported (see GSN, Aug. 9). “During the Bush administration, Democrats have voted against missile defense at least nine times,” Mehlman said in a statement. “When Democrats were in control of Congress they cut billions from missile defense.” “Democrats would have (left) us helpless against North Korea’s missiles,” the paper says, referring to last month’s tests of seven missiles by Pyongyang. Critics say the system, while placed on alert during the launches, was not operational. “Ken Mehlman is complaining about money spent on a system that did not work when the North Koreans tested a missile and has demonstrated no capacity for a reliable defense of the United States,” said John Isaacs, president of the Council for a Livable World (United Press International, Aug. 11). Back to top       Russia to Deploy Improved Missile Interceptors A top Russian military commander said today that he expects upgraded missiles to be deployed this year as part of the nation’s S-400 Triumph air defense system, ITAR-Tass reported (see GSN, Jan. 31, 2005). “The missile is now undergoing trials; there are no doubts that they will be successful,” said Air Force Commander in Chief Gen. Vladimir Mikhailov. “The regiment will be deployed near Moscow,” he said. “There are no doubts that the first regiment will be equipped with S-400 units on time.  We are training personnel and actively preparing the necessary material and technical basis.” The system is capable of bringing down cruise missiles and ballistic missiles at a distance of up to 400 kilometers, according to ITAR-Tass (ITAR-Tass, Aug. 11).   Back to top

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