U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday requested that Congress restore full funding for the “prompt global strike” missile development program (Alex Wong/Getty Images). Gates Appeals Cuts to Strike Weapons, New Warhead By Elaine M. Grossman Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — In a laundry list of budget “appeals,” U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday asked a conference panel of House and Senate defense appropriators to fully fund the development of conventionally armed, long-range missiles (see GSN, Oct. 10)...Full Story

Iranian President Rushes Home Before Nuclear Talks Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad abruptly headed home today to address “strong criticism” that Western diplomats are expected to direct at Iranian negotiators during nuclear talks in Rome this week, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 23)...Full Story

European Missile Defense Deals Could be Delayed The United States might not be able to reach agreement this year with Poland and the Czech Republic on installation of missile defense systems in the European nations, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 22)...Full Story

	Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Gates Appeals Cuts to Strike Weapons, New Warhead By Elaine M. Grossman Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — In a laundry list of budget “appeals,” U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday asked a conference panel of House and Senate defense appropriators to fully fund the development of conventionally armed, long-range missiles (see GSN, Oct. 10). Neither chamber has voted to fund the entire fiscal 2008 Defense Department request for the development of so-called “prompt global strike” weapons, which would be capable of attacking a small number of targets anywhere around the world within 60 minutes of a launch order. The Pentagon had requested a total $208.2 million for the development of such weapons, spread across a number of specific budget line items.  Of that total, the Pentagon sought the lion’s share of funding — $175 million — for a controversial Navy effort to convert a small number of nuclear-armed Trident D-5 missiles for conventional missions. The Senate zeroed the $175 million for the so-called Conventional Trident Modification program, and shifted $125 million into a new defense-wide account solely for alternatives to the submarine-based weapon.  The House similarly eliminated funding for the Trident modification, and shifted a smaller amount — $100 million — into a multiservice prompt global strike account.  However, the House allows the defense secretary more leeway in how the pan-service funds are spent, to include potentially allocating some of the monies to the Navy missile. Still, the Pentagon is seeking more. “The [Defense] Department opposes both House and Senate restrictions on the [Conventional Trident Modification] program as they would delay filling a critical gap in the nation’s conventional [prompt global strike] capability,” according to the 166-page appeals document, submitted yesterday to Capitol Hill. The appeals page on prompt global strike indicates the Pentagon might accept the concept for a multiservice funding pot for these weapon systems, to be managed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense.  “The [Defense] Department understands the intent of congressional action to combine global capabilities through a new defense-wide [research, development, test and evaluation] program element, and is prepared to implement that plan,” the Pentagon document states. At the same time, defense officials would like to see their multiservice efforts fully funded.  The appeals document recommends that the House-Senate conference committee go well beyond either chamber’s position on the cumulative funding level for prompt global strike, requesting instead that the account be financed at $208.2 million for the new fiscal year. The appeals text also strongly rejects a House move to eliminate $30 million in requested defense appropriations for the Reliable Replacement Warhead, a Bush administration effort to develop a safer, affordable and more reliable nuclear weapon (see GSN, Oct. 1). For its part, the Senate provided half the funding sought — $15 million — aimed at beginning development of the initial variant of the new warhead. The first Reliable Replacement Warhead would be placed on submarine-launched Trident missiles. “If this Navy RRW effort is not initiated in [fiscal] 2008, the technical information required to support sound decisions regarding the future size and composition of the stockpile will be delayed by at least one to two years and will not be available to the congressionally proposed U.S. Strategic Posture Commission that would begin its work in 2008,” according to the document. The Senate and House have directed the creation of the bipartisan commission that would evaluate plans for U.S. nuclear forces (see GSN, June 29). Back to top       Iranian President Rushes Home Before Nuclear Talks Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad abruptly headed home today to address “strong criticism” that Western diplomats are expected to direct at Iranian negotiators during nuclear talks in Rome this week, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 23). Ahmadinejad cut a visit to Armenia short because of concerns about what an Iranian diplomat called Iran’s “internal political situation” as well as talks expected to begin over Tehran’s controversial nuclear activities. “Today we are expecting strong criticism addressed to Iran,” the diplomat said, following the resignation of top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani. The talks in Rome with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana this week “will certainly be a chance to understand the Iranian position, especially after the doubts raised by the resignation of Larijani and his replacement [Saeed Jalili],” Italian Foreign Minister Massime D’Alema said late yesterday (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Oct. 23). The Associated Press reported yesterday that Larijani’s resignation over the weekend might have distanced Ahmadinejad from Iranian conservatives who had been his allies. Opponents of the Iranian president have contended that his defiant tone over Iran’s uranium enrichment program, which Western powers have suspected could be aimed at nuclear weapons development, has unnecessarily isolated the country. Ahmadinejad could continue to suffer politically for the departure of Larijani, who was widely considered a more moderate voice in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, AP reported. A group of 183 mostly conservative Iranian lawmakers approved a statement yesterday praising Larijani’s track record as Iran’s top nuclear diplomat in an apparent expression of disapproval that he was replaced, according to AP. Some analysts have suggested that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader who has final authority in all Iranian governmental decisions, might have approved Larijani’s ouster in order to foist more responsibility for the outcome of nuclear negotiations on Ahmadinejad,.  That could give the supreme leader greater pretext to change the course of Ahmadinejad’s policies if the U.N. Security Council approves new sanctions on Iran. “Larijani's replacement leaves no pretext for Ahmadinejad to justify his failures in the future.  His failures, despite being given a free hand, will only facilitate his humiliating exit from Iranian politics,” said political analyst Hamid Reza Shokouhi (Ali Dareini, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Oct. 22). Ali Akbar Velayati, Khamenei’s senior foreign policy adviser, has expressed regret over Larijani’s resignation, AFP reported. “In the very important and sensitive situation where the nuclear issue is at the moment it would be better if this (the resignation) did not happen or at least it was prevented,” Velayati said (AFP I, Oct. 23). Meanwhile, U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei argued yesterday for allowing time to continue nuclear negotiations with Tehran, saying that Iran would need between three and eight more years to develop a nuclear weapon, Reuters reported. “I cannot judge their intentions, but supposing that Iran does intend to acquire a nuclear bomb, it would need between another three and eight years to succeed," ElBaradei said in an interview.  "All the intelligence services agree on that.” "I want to get people away from the idea that Iran will be a threat from tomorrow, and that we are faced right now with the issue of whether Iran should be bombed or allowed to have the bomb," he said. "We are not at all in that situation.  Iraq is a glaring example of how, in many cases, the use of force exacerbates the problem rather than solving it." Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said after meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy that ElBaradei should see Iran as a greater potential threat. “If Baradei thinks Iran can have a bomb in three years and it doesn't bother him, well it bothers me," Olmert said. "The Iranians are not as close to a bomb as they would lead people to believe but they are not as far away as I would like them to be," he added (Jon Boyle, Reuters I/Washington Post, Oct. 22). Olmert said yesterday that French and Israeli leaders have “identical” opinions of the magnitude of the potential threat of Iran’s nuclear program, AFP reported. "I couldn't have heard on the Iranian issue things that could more fall in line with my expectations," he said following a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The talks were "excellent and extremely frank and show an impressive level of similar views, even identical views, on parts of the issues on the agenda," Olmert said (Ron Bousso, Agence France-Presse II/Google News, Oct. 22). In Tehran, Iran’s foreign minister said in a letter to his French counterpart that the threat of new sanctions would not pressure Iran to give up its pursuit of nuclear technology, Reuters reported. "Iran will not let its right to nuclear technology be suppressed … Using tools like the Security Council, economic sanctions and other threats cannot deprive our nation and our government for a moment of their decision," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said (Edmund Blair, Reuters II/Washington Post, Oct. 22). In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush encouraged Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone call yesterday to maintain pressure on Iran to halt its uranium enrichment after Putin said that Russia has “no evidence” suggesting that Iran is developing a nuclear bomb, Reuters reported. "President Bush reiterated the importance of continuing to apply pressure through the United Nations to insist on verifiable Iranian suspension of its nuclear enrichment activities," said Gordon Johndroe, a White House spokesman (Matt Spetalnick, Reuters III/Washington Post, Oct. 22). White House spokesman Tony Fratto said yesterday that the Bush administration remained committed to pursuing diplomacy with Iran in spite of recent confrontational remarks by Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, AFP reported. "I wouldn't call it stepping up the rhetoric," he said in reference to Bush’s comment that a nuclear-armed Iran could trigger World War III and Cheney’s statement that Iran would face “serious consequences” for its suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons. “In fact what the vice president said was a very clear review of the situation in the Middle East,” Fratto said. Fratto said members of the administration “have all been incredibly clear and consistent in our message on Iran." “And that is that we first seek a diplomatic solution, we are committed to a diplomatic solution, we are committed to working with our international partners in a unified way to put pressure on Iran to stop its activities" (Agence France-Presse III/Google News, Oct. 22). Back to top       U.S., North Korean Officials Meet Officials from North Korea and the United States conducted a one-day meeting yesterday on Pyongyang’s pledge to eliminate its nuclear program, the Yonhap News Agency reported (see GSN, Oct. 22). Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Alexander Arvizu met with North Korean officials for discussions on “bilateral matters referred to in the Oct. 3 agreement,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. Pyongyang agreed on Oct. 3 to fully declare and disable its nuclear program by the end of 2007.  In return it would receive fuel aid, along with diplomatic and security benefits (Yonhap News Agency, Oct. 23). The Bush administration is seeking $106 million from Congress to supply fuel oil aid to North Korea, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Most of the nations in the six-party talks have agreed to provide a total of 1 million tons of oil or equivalent assistance to the Stalinist state.  Japan has been the only holdout (Associated Press, Oct. 22). Back to top

White House Issues Public Health Directive The Bush administration released a directive last week ordering U.S. agencies to improve their measures against potential health disasters in the nation, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy reported (see GSN, Oct. 10). Homeland Security Presidential Directive 21 “will transform our national approach to protecting the health of the American people against all disasters,” including terrorist WMD attacks. The directive outlines four areas to guide the U.S. effort: — Biosurveillance.  The directive ordered the Health and Human Services Department to improve a nationwide disease surveillance system (see GSN, Aug. 10); — Countermeasures.  The White House directed HHS and Homeland Security Department officials to develop better plans to distribute medical supplies following an emergency (see GSN, April 19); — Mass casualty care.  The directive ordered federal, state, and local agencies to examine ways to expand capacity of the nation’s medical facilities to absorb the surge of patients that could result from a major epidemic (see GSN, July 25); and — Community resilience.  Federal agencies were instructed to make plans to promote local preparedness through better risk assessments and training (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy release, Oct. 22). Back to top       TB Rules Could Allow Outbreak, Expert Says A biological warfare and terrorism specialist at Harvard University has challenged U.S. assertions that a Mexican businessman took several airplane flights inside the United States while infected with a highly contagious tuberculosis strain without posing a serious public health hazard, the Washington Times reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 10). Internal Homeland Security Department documents state that Amado Armendariz has entered the United States at least 76 times and taken a number of flights inside the country since November 2006 while carrying a contagious form of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis, the Times reported last week. The Homeland Security Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not alert any passengers they had been exposed to the “dangerous and highly contagious” tuberculosis strain.  The agencies follow World Health Organization guidelines that only require notifications for passengers on flights with a tuberculosis carrier lasting more than eight hours. “This policy is ill-founded, poorly researched, and puts the population at risk,” said Greg Ciottone, director of Harvard’s Operational Medicine Institute and editor in chief of Disaster Medicine. “If the powers that be, who directly impact the health and well-being of this country, are going to stand by this theory that if you spend up to 7 hours, 59 minutes next to someone with active TB you don't need to be tested, then people will become ill,” he said. Ciottone called on government agencies to take greater precautions with passengers who unwittingly travel with tuberculosis patients. “They should be tested, and if positive should undergo treatment as anyone who converts a skin test would,” Ciottone said.  “They can also yield important data that will help us better understand transmission of this disease.  We simply don't know enough about the transmission of tuberculosis on planes based on the current data.” The case echoes that of Atlanta attorney Andrew Speaker, who was able in May to return from Europe to the United States via Canada while infected with the same strain of tuberculosis, despite U.S. attempts to ban him from entering the country.  Speaker’s unchallenged trip sparked a round of congressional examinations of U.S. security vulnerabilities to biological threats (Sara Carter, Washington Times, Oct. 22). Back to top       GAO Urges U.S. Agencies to Combine Vaccine Systems A new Government Accountability Office report says the United States stands to lose $100 million annually in wasted anthrax vaccine supplies if two agencies do not coordinate their separate stockpiles of the drug, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 27). The Strategic National Stockpile maintained by the Health and Human Services Department stores the vaccine BioThrax for use during an anthrax outbreak.  More than 520,000 doses have already expired and another 10 million are set to do the same if they remain unused. The Defense Department maintains its own stores of BioThrax to administer to personnel preparing to deploy to Iraq, Afghanistan or the Korean Peninsula. The report urges the departments to create a single system to manage the vaccines to prevent them from being wasted, but the agencies argue that legal issues prevent them from coordinating their stockpiles. A Health and Human Services official said the auditors overestimated the amount of money at stake, suggesting that a combined inventory system for the vaccines would only save $25 million per year. David Jarrett, a Defense Department medical director, said the amount of anthrax vaccine used by Pentagon personnel does not approach the amount purchased for the national stockpile. “It should also be noted that [the Defense Department] cannot distribute expiring stocks at the last minute,” Jarrett said in a written response to the GAO report. Emergent BioSolutions, the manufacturer of BioThrax, says the vaccine has a three-year shelf life.  The firm signed a contract with the Health and Human Services Department last month to produce 18.75 million new vaccine doses for the national stockpile over three years. The department has planned to administer the expired vaccines in violation of Food and Drug Administration guidelines, according to the GAO report.  In a response to the report, however, the department said it planned to dispose of expired vaccine doses. “HHS must learn the lessons from past failures so that we can improve our preparedness for a possible terrorist attack using biological weapons,” Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in a statement Monday (Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press/Google News, Oct. 22). Back to top

European Missile Defense Deals Could be Delayed The United States might not be able to reach agreement this year with Poland and the Czech Republic on installation of missile defense systems in the European nations, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 22). The Bush administration hoped to sign deals before the end of 2007.  That would allow lawmakers in Prague and Warsaw to consider the deal in spring 2008, paving the way for construction to begin and for the sites to have initial operational status by 2011. However, the recent Polish parliamentary election throws a potential wrench into the works.  The victorious Civic Platform party is likely to seek additional concessions from the United States for supporting installation of 10 missile interceptors in Poland. “We clearly are hopeful that the kind of cooperation we’ve enjoyed recently — both in Iraq and Afghanistan on the one hand, and in moving toward negotiating an agreement on missile defense — will continue as before,” said U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Gates today is scheduled to discuss missile defense with Czech government officials and lawmakers in Prague, AP reported (Robert Burns, Associated Press I/Washington Post, Oct. 22). A senior Czech official said today that the government continues to support the U.S. plan for a radar base in the country, but that negotiations are not likely to conclude this year, AP reported. “I think it’s going to take a few more months” than the U.S. schedule, said Deputy Foreign Minister Tomas Pojar. The Czech public has opposed the plan, and Pojar said parliament is also expected to question the deal (Robert Burns, Associated Press II/Yahoo!News, Oct. 23). A U.S. inspection of the planned radar base site began yesterday, AP reported.  Five experts are studying water resources, air quality and other environmental issues over four days in the Brdy area (Associated Press III/Kiev Post, Oct. 22). Gates today reaffirmed the U.S. offer to delay activation of the European missile defense installations until there was “definitive proof” of an Iranian missile threat. “We would consider tying together activation of the sites in Poland and the Czech Republic with definitive proof of the threat — in other words, Iranian missile testing and so on,” he said during a press conference with Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek. The offer is one component of a reported package aimed at overcoming Russian opposition to the U.S. plan (Robert Burns, Associated Press IV/Yahoo!News, Oct. 23). Back to top       DOD Asks Congress to Restore Missile Shield Funds Congressional cuts to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s fiscal 2008 budget request could delay the completion of the Bush administration’s missile shield plans for Eastern Europe, the U.S. Defense Department said in an appeal to Congress to restore the funds (see GSN, Sept. 28). The House and Senate approved respective reductions of $160 million and $85 million to the Pentagon’s original $310.4-million request for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense budget, Inside the Army reported yesterday.  Lawmakers noted that the governments of Poland and the Czech Republic had not yet agreed to host missile interceptors and a radar base (see related GSN story, today). The Pentagon said in a budget appeal document that it “strongly” opposes the reductions. “These reductions will significantly delay the department’s ability to extend ballistic missile defense coverage of the United States homeland and protection to our allies and deployed forces in Europe, and to counter a growing Iranian missile threat, by slowing the planning and preparatory measures that will take place while the requisite international agreements are secured,” the document says. “Given the advancing threat and the value of the capabilities, the department believes the European site initiative should proceed as requested,” it said. The Defense Department also contested language in Section 231 of the version of the fiscal 2008 National Defense Authorization Act passed by the Senate that bars the Pentagon from acquiring or deploying operational missiles for the system before successfully conducting “operationally realistic” flight tests of the missile interceptor. “The Missile Defense Agency is conducting an operationally realistic testing program of the ground-based interceptors, with each successive test increasingly more challenging, more operationally realistic, and more reflective of near-term threats,” the Pentagon appeal states (see GSN, Oct. 1). The Defense Department challenged $50 million in cuts approved by both the House and Senate to the Ballistic Missile Defense System “core” programs, which support engineering efforts to integrate the missile defense system’s various components. The Pentagon said the cuts “will significantly delay BMDS system engineering necessary to integrate system elements and components” and “modeling and simulation necessary to validate BMDS and (testing) assessments.”  It added that the reductions would “directly interfere with MDA’s ability to comply with congressional direction to conduct end-to-end system level testing” (Marina Malenic, Inside the Army, Oct. 22). Back to top       Japan Rejects Russian Complaints on Missile Defense A senior Japanese official today dismissed Russian complaints about Tokyo’s ongoing missile defense cooperation with the United States, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 15). During a trip to Tokyo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Japanese missile defense efforts are aimed at “securing military superiority.” Appearing at a press conference with Lavrov, Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura said the system is intended only for defense.  Serious missile shield development began after a 1998 North Korean ballistic missile test. “Japan’s missile defenses are aimed only at protecting the country with a shield.  It’s not meant to attack other countries,” Komura said.  “Japan will continue this policy in cooperation with the United States” (see GSN, Oct. 12). “And I would like to add that this policy is not in the least assuming a possible future attack from Russia,” he added (Harumi Ozawa, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Oct. 23). Back to top

White House Reconsiders Antiradiation Pills The Bush administration is reassessing a program to distribute a treatment for radiation exposure to people living near U.S. nuclear power plants, USA Today reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 21, 2006). Lawmakers promoted the effort to make potassium iodide pills widely available as a way to protect people during possible terrorist attacks against U.S. nuclear sites.  Lawmakers approved a measure to purchase enough of the drug to treat all people residing within 20 miles of a nuclear plant.  That group encompasses 21.9 million people in 33 states, according to USA Today. Potassium iodide works to prevent the thyroid from absorbing radioactive iodine that people might ingest or inhale following a release from a nuclear plant. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has complained that the program promotes a treatment that might not be the most effective way to prevent thyroid cancer and that the program creates the impression that nuclear plants are unsafe. “It's always a concern that if you expand the distribution (of the pills), you don't have confidence in the plants," said Patricia Milligan, the commission’s senior adviser for preparedness.  "We have studies that show the safety of our plants." President George W. Bush has ordered his chief science adviser John Marburger to study whether the pill program is the best way to defeat thyroid cancer.  If Marburger finds that other solutions are better, the pill program could be downsized, USA Today reported. The American Thyroid Association has determined that potassium iodide treatments are the best method, and at least one U.S. lawmaker agreed. The drug “is a simple, cheap, proven drug that can save countless lives, especially children, in the event of a nuclear release,” said Representative Ed Markey (D-Mass.).  Without it, "millions of Americans are being left needlessly at risk." Another proponent accused the regulatory commission of having an excessive role in the process. “[The Health and Human Services Department] and its health experts tried to do the right thing by America's children and were punished by having the issue taken away and given to the NRC," said Peter Crane, a former commission lawyer.  “If you entrust our kids' health to nuclear engineers instead of doctors … you are inviting disaster” (Mimi Hall, USA Today, Oct. 22). Back to top

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