White House officials yesterday dismissed reports that U.S. President George W. Bush has ordered plans for military action against Iran (Getty Images). White House Denies Plans for Military Strikes on Iran The White House said yesterday that President George W. Bush hopes to resolve the nuclear standoff with Iran peacefully, following a report this week that preparations are under way for possible military strikes against the Middle Eastern nation, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 1). “The president has said that he believes there is a diplomatic solution that we can use to solve the Iranian problem.  And that's why we're working with our allies to get there,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino...Full Story

North Korea Might Withhold Nuclear Information North Korea indicated during the recent round of six-party talks that the declaration of its nuclear program might not include details on its weapons holdings, the South Korean Dong-A Ilbo newspaper reported today (see GSN, Oct. 1)...Full Story

More Than 100 Laboratory Mishaps Reported Since 2003 There have been more than 100 mishaps since 2003 at U.S. laboratories conducting research on highly dangerous disease agents, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Sept. 24)...Full Story

	Tuesday, October 2, 2007

White House Denies Plans for Military Strikes on Iran The White House said yesterday that President George W. Bush hopes to resolve the nuclear standoff with Iran peacefully, following a report this week that preparations are under way for possible military strikes against the Middle Eastern nation, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 1). “The president has said that he believes there is a diplomatic solution that we can use to solve the Iranian problem.  And that's why we're working with our allies to get there,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. This week’s issue of the New Yorker reported that the White House has requested revisions of U.S. plans for strikes on Iran.  Citing anonymous sources, the magazine said Bush said he was considering targeted attacks on Iranian locations and that he had the United Kingdom’s support (Agence France-Presse/Google News, Oct. 1). While the article said that “the bombing plan has had its most positive reception from … [British Prime Minister] Gordon Brown,” the London Independent reported that several officials with close U.S. military connections contested the claim. “It is quite the opposite,” said former CIA counterterrorism officer Phillip Giraldi.  “In fact [U.S. Defense Secretary] Robert Gates was rebuffed during his recent visit to London when the idea was floated. “Because British minesweepers based in the Gulf of Hormuz will be essential to any U.S. action against Iran, U.S. war planners need to have Britain on board.  So far that is not forthcoming,” he added. “The British perception is that the Iranians are not making the progress they want to see in their nuclear enrichment processing,” one senior EU official said, suggesting that the United Kingdom believes that time remains to deal with Iran. The New Yorker reported that the Bush administration has determined Tehran to be a major source of current problems in Iraq, however, and that war planners have opted for limited air strikes to defend U.S. troops in Iraq instead of a possibly unpopular large-scale attack on the Iran’s nuclear facilities (Leonard Doyle, London Independent, Oct. 2). White House spokeswoman Perino did not comment on the New Yorker report except to criticize its use of anonymous sources and to express frustration that other news organizations were reporting what the article said, AFP reported. “We don't discuss such things.  What we have said and what we are working toward is a diplomatic solution in Iran,” she said (Agence France-Presse). Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni yesterday called for immediate U.N. action against Iran in response to its disputed nuclear activities, the Associated Press reported. Livni criticized countries that have opposed action against Iran “in the name of consensus and engagement.”  He was apparently referring to China and Russia, which have opposed instituting a third round of sanctions against Tehran. “What is the value, we have to ask, of an organization which is unable to take effective action in the face of a direct assault on the very principles it was founded to effect?”  Livni said in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly.  “It is time for the United Nations, and the states of the world, to live up to their promise of ‘never again.’” An Iranian delegate to the assembly later dismissed Livni’s speech as “absurd distortions and baseless allegations” and asked the international community to take “urgent and decisive action” regarding Israel’s presumed nuclear weapons arsenal (Alexandra Olson, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Oct. 2). French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner today called on western powers to continue pressing forward with a draft sanctions resolution against Iran, Reuters reported. Kouchner said that a nuclear-armed Iran would complicate the already dangerous situation in the Middle East. “While the European dialogue continues … we have to work on sanctions so as to be taken seriously,” Kouchner said. "Is that the right solution?  It's part of the solution.  Should we go further one day?  It's possible," he said without giving further detail (Reuters/Washington Post, Oct. 2). Elsewhere, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said today that when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Tehran’s nuclear dispute with the international community a “closed” matter last week, he meant that the nuclear program had entered a “technical” phase only requiring the involvement of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Press TV reported. “President Ahmadinejad meant that considering the recent cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, the political issues have ended and the case has entered a technical phase. “Of course the files of all countries are open at the IAEA and the cooperation between these countries and the IAEA continues,” he said (Press TV, Oct. 2, 2007). Back to top       North Korea Might Withhold Nuclear Information North Korea indicated during the recent round of six-party talks that the declaration of its nuclear program might not include details on its weapons holdings, the South Korean Dong-A Ilbo newspaper reported today (see GSN, Oct. 1). Pyongyang is considering withholding the number of nuclear weapons in its arsenal and the amount of plutonium it holds from the nuclear declaration set to be submitted this year. “If we report such information while disabling our weapons, that will reveal the technological level of our nuclear weapons.  Therefore, it is hard to report information related to nuclear weapons now,” top North Korean nuclear negotiator Kim Kye Gwan reportedly said. Pyongyang agreed in a February denuclearization deal to fully declare and disable its nuclear program.  It pledged last week to follow through on that agreement by the end of this year. North Korean negotiators during the four days of talks in Beijing that ended Sunday agreed to address the country’s suspected uranium enrichment efforts.  They agreed that the United States in an upcoming statement on the talks would not promise to remove the Stalinist state from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, Dong-A Ilbo reported. A trip to North Korea is planned by a disablement technology team involving personnel from the other six-party talks nations — China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States.  The team is expected to finish up a plan for disabling nuclear facilities and by November to begin work on three sites at the Yongbyon complex — a five megawatt reactor, a retreatment plant and a nuclear fuel rod production site.  Roughly 10 core components from the facilities would be sealed in North Korea under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (Dong-A Ilbo, Oct. 1). Kim said before leaving Beijing that the planned talks statement would address the terrorism list issue, Agence France-Presse reported.  “The timeline [for removal] was specified in the join statement,” he said (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Oct. 2). Meanwhile, the heads of North and South Korea met today for the second-ever leadership summit between the two nations, the Associated Press reported.  A potential peace declaration is expected to be at the top of the agenda for South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, whose nations established a cease-fire in 1953 to the Korean War. “I certainly am not looking for those inter-Korean discussions to change the basic facts on the ground or the six-party talks,” U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said yesterday (Burt Herman, Associated Press/Globe and Mail, Oct. 2). “We think that it will hopefully contribute to peace and security.  Ultimately it needs to lead to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said today (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Oct. 2). Back to top       France Seeks Role in Indian Nuclear Trade Indian officials hope to acquire nuclear fuel reprocessing technology from France if international guidelines are relaxed to allow a U.S.-Indian nuclear trade deal, the Press Trust of India reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 1). For the U.S. deal to take effect, the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group must first amend its trade rules, which currently prohibit nuclear sales to countries that have not signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and do not allow international supervision of all their nuclear facilities. Group member France has vowed to seek an exemption from the rules for India, with an eye toward nuclear trade between the two nations. “We feel that there is a necessity to introduce a change in the international system to allow India to play its due role in it,” said a senior French Atomic Energy Commission official. The United States has already granted India an exemption from U.S. nuclear nonproliferation laws, but has maintained hurdles toward selling reprocessing technology as part of the deal.  Such technology removes plutonium from spent nuclear reactor fuel which can then be manufactured into new reactor fuel, or potentially into nuclear weapon materials (Press Trust of India, Oct. 1). Meanwhile, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency is scheduled to visit India next week, the Times of India reported yesterday. Mohamed ElBaradei is expected to meet with top Indian political and nuclear officials to discuss the outlines of an agreement to enable the agency to monitor India’s civilian nuclear activities.  Like amending the trade guidelines, completing an international oversight agreement is required for the U.S. deal to proceed (Times of India, Oct. 1). Back to top       Obama to Advocate Global Nuclear Disarmament U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is expected today to advocate major reductions to the U.S. nuclear arsenal with the eventual goal of achieving worldwide nuclear disarmament, the New York Times reported (see GSN, June 21). The presidential contender is expected to announce the initiative, which would aim to reduce the risk of terrorists gaining access to nuclear weapons, during a speech at DePaul University in Chicago. The speech would address a plan that won endorsement earlier this year from a bipartisan group of former U.S. officials who served in government during the Cold War (see GSN, Jan. 4).  The plan urges the United States to press for a global agreement on rejecting weapons that are “increasingly hazardous and decreasingly effective.” Obama is also expected to call for a diplomatic offensive aimed at achieving a worldwide ban on developing, manufacturing and deploying midrange missiles. “In 2009, we will have a window of opportunity to renew our global leadership and bring our nation together,” Obama is expected to say, according to draft remarks provided by staffers.  “If we don’t seize that moment, we may not get another.” The speech would follow a Bush administration statement yesterday that it had tripled the rate of nuclear weapons dismantlement over the last fiscal year, paving the way for the United States to cut its nuclear arsenal to half its current size by 2012. Such a reduction would reduce the U.S. nuclear stockpile to its lowest level since the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower, although the exact number of nuclear warheads that would be dismantled remains a secret. Obama is expected to pledge to lead a worldwide initiative to secure nuclear weapons and materials at high-risk sites within four years if he is elected president.  He also intends to vow that he would halt production of weapon-grade nuclear material, promise not to build new nuclear weapons and halt the U.S. placement of nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert status, the Times reported. Obama is expected to urge U.S. officials to use both sanctions and diplomacy to end North Korea’s nuclear program and to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.  His aides did not say, though, how Obama plans to respond if such methods are ineffective (Jeff Zeleny, New York Times, Oct. 2). Back to top       Russia Boosts Bomber Drills Near North America The U.S. military said yesterday that the United States or Canada scrambled fighter jets to intercept Russian bombers conducting drills outside U.S. airspace near Alaska on at least seven occasions this summer, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 14). Most recently, Canadian fighters with the North American Aerospace Defense Command on Sept. 19 flew to meet two Russian aircraft flying off of Canada’s coast, said Maj. Allen Herritage, a NORAD spokesman for the Alaska region. Russian Tu-95 heavy bombers have carried out at least five exercises near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and the former Cold War outposts of Cape Lisburne and St. Lawrence Island, NORAD records indicated. Each incident involved between two and six Russian planes and took place outside U.S. airspace.  In each case, Russia warned the United States about the drills through Russian news agency reports, according to Herritage. “The recent exercises appear to be routine training activities," he said.  “They are nowhere near U.S. airspace.” The bombers have been met by F-15s or other fighter jets, he said. “They used to have [bomber drills] from time to time, but not nearly in this frequency,” Herritage said.  “These exercises used to be more common during the Cold War” (Jeannette Lee, Associated Press/Google News, Oct. 1). Back to top       Israeli Strike Hit “Unused” Building, Syria Says Syrian President Bashar Assad said yesterday that a Sept. 6 Israeli air strike on his nation only hit an “unused military building,” the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 27). Assad’s interview with the BBC left it unclear whether he directly refuted reports that the attack was directed at a nuclear or missile plant being operated with support from North Korea.  Video posted on the British news organization’s Web site only included Assad’s statement that Israel had attacked a vacant site. Lower-ranking Syrian officials have said that the nation has no targets like those alleged by some current and former U.S. officials.  North Korea has also denied the claims. Questioned during the interview whether Syria was building up its missile armaments, Assad said, “This is very normal and self-evident that we’re going to prepare ourselves for that,” he said. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said during a U.N. meeting of top foreign officials that “sources in the United States” were planting rumors about nuclear collaboration between Syria and North Korea in service to Israel. Al-Moallem said that the U.N. Security Council’s unwillingness to denounce “this act of aggression would encourage Israel to persist in this hostile pursuit, and lead to an exacerbation of tensions in the region” (Sam Ghattas, Associated Press/Google News, Oct. 1). Back to top       Canada to Continue Aiding Russian Submarine Disposal Canada has signed an agreement to support the removal of nuclear reactors from four Russian submarines and the dismantlement of the vessels themselves, Interfax reported yesterday (see GSN, July 14, 2006). Ottawa pledged to provide roughly $29 million for the work at the Severodvinsk Zvyozdochka facility, along with an additional $24 million for disposal of a Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine. “We are satisfied with the results of our cooperation.  Severodvinsk has most intricate scrapping technologies, and only professionals work here,” said Canadian Ambassador to Russia Ralf Lisishin. Canada agreed to fund dismantlement of 12 nuclear-powered Russian submarines under the Group of Eight Global Partnership to secure unconventional weapons and materials, Interfax reported (Interfax, Oct. 1). Back to top       U.S. Issues Contracts for Radiation Border Controls Three U.S. firms stand to receive up to $700 million to install radiation detectors and related equipment in more than 30 nations, the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration announced yesterday (see GSN, May 22). Ahtna Government Services Corp. of California and Randolph Construction Services and SES-TECH Global Solutions, both of Washington state, received contracts of up to seven years under the agency’s Second Line of Defense program. The contracts call for the firms to install portal and hand-held radiation detectors, along with associated communications systems, at as many as 270 border crossings, seaports and airports in more than 30 countries. The Second Line of Defense program provides foreign allies with radiation detection technology and with training so that personnel in those nations can operate the equipment.  More than 160 sites have been equipped to date (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration release, Oct. 1). Back to top

More Than 100 Laboratory Mishaps Reported Since 2003 There have been more than 100 mishaps since 2003 at U.S. laboratories conducting research on highly dangerous disease agents, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Sept. 24). The risks have been highlighted by reports of incidents in which laboratory personnel were exposed to infectious diseases at Texas A&M University, which is now at least temporarily barred from conducting research on certain agents (see GSN, Sept. 25). An AP review of confidential federal reports found more than 100 instances of laboratory accidents or missing shipments.  Forty-four facilities in 24 states experienced incidents involving anthrax, plague bacteria, the avian influenza virus and monkeypox.  Investigators are still looking into more than 24 cases. The increase in the number of incidents in recent years has corresponded to the growing number of laboratories allowed to work with potentially lethal biological materials, AP reported.  These developments have been spurred by concerns over potential acts of biological terrorism (see related GSN story, today). The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has increased its biodefense laboratory funding from roughly $41 million in 2001 to $1.6 billion in 2006.  There are now 409 laboratories authorized to work with the most lethal biological materials, twice the number found in 2004. The 36 accidents or lost shipments reported so far this year is also almost double the total number of reports from 2004. None of the incidents have caused deaths or endangered the public, regulators say. “It may be only a matter of time before our nation has a public health incident with potentially catastrophic results,” said Representative Bart Stupak (D-Mich.).  Stupak heads the House Energy and Commerce investigations subcommittee, which has scheduled a hearing Thursday on the matter. Previously unknown incidents include the following: —A technician at Bioqual Inc. in Rockville, Md., was bitten in July by a ferret that had received a bird flu virus inoculation; —A monkey infected with the plague bacteria in September 2006 bit the hand of a worker at the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in Albuquerque, N.M.  Another plague-infected monkey in April of this year scratched a laboratory employee; and —A worker at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site in Fort Collins, Colo., wore only a laboratory coat and gloves in January 2004 while cleaning up glass from three broken vials that held the Russian spring-summer encephalitis virus.  The virus is a potential bioterrorism agent.  In November 2006, a researcher at the site dropped two containers, one of which contained plague bacteria (Larry Margasak, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Oct. 2). Back to top       Expert Calls for U.N. Oversight of Biological Agents The United Nations needs to create biological agent oversight agencies to prevent a potential biological weapons attack that could be far more devastating than a nuclear strike, a U.S professor says in a new book (see GSN, Sept. 24). A biological attack “has the capacity of producing millions of casualties,” said Barry Kellman, director of the International Weapons Control Center at the DePaul University College of Law.  As bad as a nuclear explosion might be, its effects would at least remain somewhat localized, unlike an incident using a contagious disease which could easily spread from the point of first exposure, says Kelman’s book, “Bioviolence:  Preventing Biological Terror and Crime.” To address the risk, Kelman recommended creating an international institution to identify the location of biological materials and to monitor their movement. “We don’t know were the biological agents are nor how to ensure the pathogens don’t disappear,” he said (Claude Salhani, United Press International/Spacewar.com, Oct. 1). Back to top

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