Pentagon advisers have suggested a new effort to study replacing the U.S. fleet of nuclear missile submarines, such as the Trident-class USS Alaska (U.S. Defense Department photo). R&D Funds Needed For New Nuclear Weapons Submarine, U.S. Panel Advises By Elaine M. Grossman Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Advisers to U.S. Strategic Command this month urged the Defense Department to begin research and development soon for a new nuclear-weapons submarine, according to the Navy (see GSN, Sept. 14). If a future craft is developed, it might replace today’s fleet of 14 Ohio-class submarines — dubbed SSBNs — and possibly the Trident D-5 nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles they carry. At the Navy’s request, the command asked its Strategic Advisory Group to compile a list of desired capabilities for the new submarine.  The advisory group’s “Next SSBN Task Force” reported its findings during a two-day session in Omaha, Neb., that concluded Nov. 15...Full Story

Three Busted for Selling Weapon-Grade Uranium European authorities have seized about 1 pound of weapon-grade uranium that two Hungarians and one Ukrainian allegedly attempted to sell for $1 million, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Oct. 29)...Full Story

Pakistan Screens Nuclear Workers for Extremism Pakistan has implemented a rigorous screening and monitoring program in the past two years to curb the risk of religious extremists infiltrating the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, the Wall Street Journal reported today (see GSN, Nov. 26)...Full Story

	Thursday, November 29, 2007

U.S. Antiterrorism Centers Address Other Threats All but two of 43 U.S. antiterrorism “fusion centers” are spending at least part of their time addressing issues such as crime and natural disasters, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, July 27, 2006). The centers were intended to be sites that would allow intelligence agencies to coordinate assets, know-how and information in order to prevent terrorist strikes.  They received $130 million in federal startup funding following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Government Accountability Office found, though, that only centers in Kansas and Rhode Island have focused solely on terrorism.  The other facilities address a wide array of crimes and other threats, according to a GAO survey obtained by AP.  The congressional auditing agency noted that the Washington state center takes an “all-hazards” approach encompassing terrorism, natural disasters and disease epidemics. The centers are largely operated by state law enforcement agencies, with involvement by other state and federal agencies such as fire departments, the FBI and the Homeland Security Department.  Until last month there were no guidelines on organizing and operating the centers, AP reported.  This led to differences in the sharing and use of information. “States are at different levels because there wasn’t the preconceived game plan on how to do this,” said former Homeland Security Undersecretary George Foresman. One top Homeland Security intelligence official backed the wider approach. “In many cases, there’s also a nexus between criminality and terrorism,” said Jack Tomarchio.  “Terrorists, like anybody else, need money to do their deeds” (Eileen Sullivan, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Nov. 28). Back to top

Illinois Man Pleads Guilty to “WMD” Grenade Plot An Illinois man pleaded guilty yesterday to planning to use a weapon of mass destruction against persons and property for his stated intention to set off hand grenades at a shopping mall during last year’s Christmas shopping season, the Associated Press reported. Federal authorities arrested Derrick Shareef, 23, of Rockford, in December 2006 after recording a series of conversations in which Shareef told an FBI informant that he wanted to detonate hand grenades inside garbage cans at the local shopping center. Prosecutors believe Shareef wanted the explosions to send deadly metal garbage-can shards through the air to kill shoppers. The informant later put Shareef in contact with an undercover agent playing the role of a weapons dealer, said federal prosecutor Sergio Acosta.  Shareef was arrested after he offered stereo speakers to the agent in hopes of receiving four hand grenades and a gun in return. Despite his plea, Shareef said he meant no harm and had been “coerced into doing things and trapped into doing things.” Authorities said there was no reason to believe that Shareef was mentally disturbed and posed no serious threat.  Prosecutors did not claim he had been affiliated with any major terrorist group. “I think a reasonable person can conclude that if you throw a hand grenade into a crowded mall at Christmas time you’re going to cause serious injuries,” said Greg Fowler, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI office in Chicago. Shareef is scheduled to be sentenced March 14 in federal court.  He faces a sentence of 30 years to life (Mike Robinson, Associated Press/Belleville News-Democrat). Back to top

R&D Funds Needed For New Nuclear Weapons Submarine, U.S. Panel Advises By Elaine M. Grossman Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Advisers to U.S. Strategic Command this month urged the Defense Department to begin research and development soon for a new nuclear-weapons submarine, according to the Navy (see GSN, Sept. 14). If a future craft is developed, it might replace today’s fleet of 14 Ohio-class submarines — dubbed SSBNs — and possibly the Trident D-5 nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles they carry. At the Navy’s request, the command asked its Strategic Advisory Group to compile a list of desired capabilities for the new submarine.  The advisory group’s “Next SSBN Task Force” reported its findings during a two-day session in Omaha, Neb., that concluded Nov. 15. The task force — drawn from a nearly 30-year-old organization of more than 45 experts from the government, private sector and academia — stopped short of offering specific recommendations for follow-on submarine or missile capabilities, according to the service.  But it did counsel that the Navy begin investing research and development dollars to explore the prospects. “Although it is far too early to make decisions regarding capabilities which might be needed in the future, it is prudent now to initiate thoughtful research and development efforts to review a range of capabilities which should be incorporated in a follow-on deterrent platform,” Lt. Karen Eifert, a Navy spokeswoman, told Global Security Newswire this week. She added that the task force found it “justifiable to provide an early investment in research and development studies so that any dividends could be incorporated into a future design.” The panel had been expected to draft initial recommendations for technology development and prototyping that might be funded beginning in fiscal 2009 or 2010, according to advisory group sources. However, it remained unclear this week how soon the Pentagon might request funds to explore a new nuclear-weapons submarine.  Eifert said she could provide no further information. The Pentagon carried out a Nuclear Posture Review in 2002 stating that a Trident submarine replacement would likely be needed around 2029, assuming the nation still requires a sea-based strategic nuclear force (see GSN, Jan. 7, 2002). The posture review laid out two potential options:  a dedicated nuclear weapons-bearing submarine, like today’s Ohio-class boats; or a variant of the Virginia-class attack submarine, which might be modified to take on the SSBN mission.  A replacement for the Ohio-class submarine could be an all-new design or derived from current Trident specifications, according to the posture review.  The review anticipated that a new program would have to begin around 2016 for the first submarine to be fielded in 2029.  However, defense sources have told GSN that it now appears initial funding would be sought by 2010. Further details of the Strategic Advisory Group meeting are being closely held.  The sessions “are closed to the public for security reasons,” according to disclosure information the panel has posted to the Web as an official federal advisory committee.  Back to top       Pakistan Screens Nuclear Workers for Extremism Pakistan has implemented a rigorous screening and monitoring program in the past two years to curb the risk of religious extremists infiltrating the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, the Wall Street Journal reported today (see GSN, Nov. 26). The new measures have been taken to reduce the risk of weapon theft from within the nuclear community, as more traditional security steps have were established previously to prevent outsiders from stealing nuclear bombs or materials. “You can improve physical security by building high walls and establishing a well-guarded perimeter,” said Robert Einhorn, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  “It's much harder to defend against insiders.” To address that threat, Pakistan has created a Personnel Reliability Program, modeled after measures to track workers involved with U.S. nuclear weapons, according to a top security official with Pakistan’s nuclear program. Concerns about the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal increased after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, and more recently as a result of rising domestic political unrest. The new security program aims to uncover personal characteristics — such as lust, greed or depression — that could create a situation in which a worker would consider stealing nuclear secrets or materials, the Journal reported. In particular, the Pakistani program seeks to ferret out religious extremists who might answer to a different calling than national authority.  The task is made more difficult in Pakistan, an officially Muslim nation with 160 million citizens, many of whom have turned toward fundamentalism in recent years, according to the Journal. “We don’t mind people being religious,” said the security official.  “But we don’t want people with extreme thoughts.” “The system knows how to distinguish who is a ‘fundo’ (fundamentalist) and who is simply pious,” said another official. Candidates for Pakistan’s nuclear facilities are now subject to background checks that last up to one year, and new employees are watched for months before they are allowed to take on more sensitive work, the Journal reported.  Career nuclear scientists and officials can expect a lifetime of surveillance, including tapped phone calls and movement tracking, according to the Journal (Peter Wonacott, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 29). Back to top       U.N. Powers to Discuss Iran Sanctions in Paris Representatives from Germany and the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations plan to meet Saturday to discuss a new sanctions resolution against Iran over its disputed uranium enrichment program, Agence-France Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 29). “In Paris on Dec. 1, Undersecretary (Nicholas) Burns will participate in a P-5+1 political directors meeting to discuss the text of the next United Nations Security Council Chapter 7 sanctions resolution on Iran,” the State Department said yesterday in a statement. The meeting was postponed from its originally scheduled Nov. 19 date when China said it would not participate. U.S. officials hope their Chinese counterparts will work to pass the new sanctions, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Monday. “Over the past several weeks we have been encouraging them to be more constructive both in scheduling a political directors meeting as well as really agreeing to the elements of a resolution,” he said. “I think we will be able to come to some agreement.  We will see if we can get that accomplished in the coming weeks,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Nov. 28). EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and top Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili are unlikely to reach a breakthrough over Iran’s nuclear work in last-ditch talks planned for tomorrow because Tehran believes the U.N. powers remain split over the timing and severity of potential new sanctions, Reuters reported. Iran’s government said earlier this week that that Jalili would offer “new initiatives” to Solana at the meeting.  However, Tehran has also said it would not discuss halting its uranium enrichment program as demanded by the U.N. powers. “It is hard to imagine that Iran will really offer anything new and of value,” said Mark Fitzpatrick, a senior nonproliferation studies fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. "It might be conceivable if they thought that Russia and China would otherwise join in pushing through a strong sanctions resolution.  But more likely Iran is just posturing in order to keep Russia and China from losing patience," he said. One EU official said Solana did not have authorization to make offers to Iran other than a “double freeze” of uranium enrichment and sanctions against the country, suggesting the talks would probably not break new ground. Following the meeting, Solana is expected to report by teleconference on progress in the talks to the world powers ahead of their gathering Saturday in Paris (Sophie Walker, Reuters I/Washington Post, Nov. 29). The United States and the other world powers have no plans to take military action against Iran’s nuclear program even though current sanctions are too weak to stifle its atomic work, a senior British official said last week. British Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells told lawmakers that the United Kingdom is pushing for stronger action against the Islamic republic by the U.N. and EU member states, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Existing U.N. sanctions are “pretty weak in reality, I don't think the U.N. is going out of its way to cripple Iran in any way,” Howells said (David Stringer, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Nov. 28). Meanwhile, a Russian nuclear official said that International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors today expect to have fully sealed uranium fuel bound for Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, Reuters reported.  Once the nuclear fuel is sealed, Russia could move it quickly to the Iranian site. “The IAEA team is concluding its work at the plant today,” the official said regarding the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrate Plant that holds the fuel. Russian officials have not said when they would send the fuel to the Iranian plant, but said the facility could not begin operations until six months after the fuel arrived. After repeated delays in the Bushehr facility’s completion, Russian officials expect that the site’s reactor could be started next year (Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters II, Nov. 29). Back to top       Indian Lawmakers Attack U.S. Nuclear Deal India’s top political leaders yesterday faced criticism from lawmakers for supporting a U.S. nuclear trade agreement that critics have argued would undermine India’s sovereignty, Reuters reported (see GSN, Nov. 27). The parliamentary debate on the agreement followed a weeks-long standoff in which Indian communists opposed to the deal threatened to withdraw support from the coalition government, forcing early elections and possibly cutting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s term in office short after 3 1/2 years. “Please take the sense of the house, don't proceed further, because a majority of this sovereign house is against this,” said Indian parliament member Rupchand Pal, a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). “The prime minister's assurances with regard to all the reservations we have made … most have been trampled … our apprehensions have been proved true repeatedly,” he said. Supporters of the nuclear deal have argued it would help India meet its growing power demands and promote New Delhi’s strategic partnership with the United States. “This agreement will provide us a passport to enter into agreements on nuclear trade with a host of other countries,” said Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Hindu nationalists in the Bharatiya Janata Party, India’s primary opposition party, opposed the nuclear deal over concerns it would compromise Indian nuclear weapons development by permitting Washington to terminate the energy agreement if New Delhi conducts a nuclear test (see GSN, Nov. 8; Y.P. Rajesh, Reuters/Washington Post, Nov. 28). “Our objection to this deal is principally because it prohibits India from conducting another test,” BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani said during the debate, according to Agence France-Presse. Singh countered that India would still be able to carry out nuclear tests if necessary. “If a necessity for carrying out a nuclear test arises in future, there is nothing in the agreement which prevents us from carrying out tests,” he said. Lawmakers were scheduled to continue their debate today but would not be allowed to vote on the agreement (Agence France-Presse/Google News, Nov. 28). Back to top       North Korean Nuclear Declaration Expected Soon U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said today that North Korea is completing a declaration of its nuclear operations, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Nov. 28). The declaration is required this year as part of the ongoing North Korean denuclearization program, under which the regime would receive a host of incentives for completely closing its atomic sector. Officials in Pyongyang “have begun to put together their list, I think it’s pretty close to being ready,” Hill, top U.S. negotiator at the six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, said in Seoul (Burt Herman, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Nov. 29). Hill said that North Korea should submit the document to China “in the next few days and certainly within the next week,” Bloomberg reported.  He expects the declaration to be a single document and said it must address Pyongyang’s holdings of nuclear warheads and processed plutonium (Heejin Koo, Bloomberg, Nov. 29). Washington also expects the declaration to address North Korea’s suspected uranium enrichment program, AP reported.  The two countries have had “very detailed conversations” on the matter, according to Hill. “While we do not yet have a solution as I stand here today, I’m confident that based on the direction of these conversations, we can have a verifiable solution by the end of the year,” he said. Hill is scheduled to travel to North Korea on Monday to review the denuclearization process and to join his fellow negotiators in Beijing later next week for another full round of negotiations. “I fear if we don’t make progress in this next month … there will be a tendency of some people to pull back from the process,” he said.  “It behooves all of us — certainly my government but also the (North Korean) government — to make sure we have the courage to move forward.” A senior State Department official said that North Korea appears able to meet its pledge made in October to close down primary facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex before the end of 2007. “We saw a lot of disablement activity going on,” Korea expert Sung Kim said following a visit to North Korea.  “I think that all of the steps that can be completed this year, will be completed by Dec. 31” (AP, Nov. 29). Meanwhile, the Yi Cheng Enterprise trading firm in Taiwan is suspected of exporting to North Korea a “filtering device” that could be used in production of nuclear weapons, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. “Such a deal has violated the government regulation which bars sales of certain high-tech items to North Korea that can be used in manufacturing nuclear and biochemical weapons,” said Taiwanese Investigation Bureau spokesman Lin Chin-chih. Prosecutors are now considering the case.  “The evidence against the company is clear,” Lin said (Agence France-Presse/Interactive Investor, Nov. 28). Back to top       GAO Finds “Persistent” Safety Problems at U.S. Nuclear Laboratories, Urges Better Management U.S. nuclear weapon laboratories have suffered a string of serious safety lapses since 2000, and Energy Department managers have made few steps to avoid future problems, the Government Accountability Office reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 25). The report found that about 60 “accidents or near misses” have occurred since 2000, causing serious harm to workers or damage to facilities, although no deaths. “The nuclear weapons laboratories have experienced persistent safety problems, stemming largely from long-standing management weaknesses,” the report’s summary says. These weaknesses have come in the form of “lax laboratory attitudes” toward safety, poor identification of potential safety risks and “inadequate oversight” exercised by the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration. NNSA officials reviewed a draft of the GAO report and generally agreed with the auditors’ description of the incidents and their recommendations, but disputed the overall assessment of a poor safety culture at the laboratories. “The existence of the reported deficiencies and penalties demonstrates that NNSA and the rest of the department’s safety infrastructure are doing their job,” says a letter from NNSA Associate Administrator Michael Kane.  “The absence of reports would actually be cause for concern” (Government Accountability Office release, Nov. 28). Back to top       Experts Find “Holes” in Russian Nuclear Security Swedish and Russian investigators have uncovered “gaping holes” in measures to secure plutonium and weapon-grade uranium at sites on the Kola Peninsula in northwestern Russia, New Scientist reported this week (see GSN, Oct. 31). An expert at the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate confirmed the existence of a report produced by the experts but refused to further discuss the document, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. The Swedish agency and Atombesopastnost, a division of Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency, said in the report that many of the Kola Peninsula’s 35 nuclear holding sites had “insufficient” security against diversion of nuclear material, according to New Scientist. “The illicit trafficking problem is for real,” New Scientist quoted the report as saying.  The article added that the peninsula is believed to contain the highest volume of radioactive waste of any region on earth. The report issued this year was presented in summary to a recent conference on nuclear smuggling in Edinburgh, Scotland (see GSN, Nov. 27; Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Nov. 28). Back to top       Texas Researchers Win $2M Nuclear Monitoring Grant Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin received a federal grant of nearly $2 million Tuesday to update a computer system used by the Los Alamos National Laboratory to track nuclear smuggling efforts in the former Soviet Union, the Daily Texan reported (see GSN, Jan. 18). Mechanical engineering professor David Morton and colleagues received the money through the Homeland Security Department to upgrade and expand the design for a system of nuclear sensors stretching across former Soviet states unable to sufficiently secure their nuclear materials. Morton co-developed the system in 2003.  He said that since then it has aided authorities in deploying new nuclear material detection monitors. Using the funds, faculty members in Morton’s department plan to expand the system over a five-year period, improving the model’s ability to extrapolate paths and behaviors smugglers could take on when transferring nuclear weapons or dangerous radioactive material (Katy Justice, Daily Texan, Nov. 28). Back to top

U.S. Finishes Off Binary Chemicals Disposal The U.S. Army announced yesterday that it has finished its project to eliminate binary precursor chemicals developed for use in weapons (see GSN, Oct. 13, 2006). The chemicals QL and DF were developed in the 1980s, designed to mix with nonlethal chemicals to form nerve agents inside a munition heading toward a target. QL would have been combined with another chemical to form VX nerve agent.  DF would have formed sarin nerve agent when mixed with another chemical. The Chemical Weapons Convention required states parties to eliminate all stores of binary precursors.  The Army’s Nonstockpile Chemical Materiel Project finished neutralizing the chemicals last year at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas. The private Texas Molecular facility in Deer Park, Texas, on Tuesday completed treatment of wastewater produced by the neutralization process, according to an Army press release. “The U.S. binary chemical materiel is history,” said Laurence Gottschalk, head of the Nonstockpile Chemical Materiel Project, in the release (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Nov. 28). Back to top

Japan Deploys Additional Patriot Launchers Japan announced today that it had installed a second set of Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missile launchers near Tokyo, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 30). A Defense Ministry official would not say whether the two launchers deployed at the Narashino air base carried missiles. Japan deployed two launchers to its Iruma air base in March.  Another nine bases are expected to receive PAC-3 systems by 2011 in the face of a continued North Korean missile threat. Missile defense drills are scheduled to begin next month in Tokyo.  The Defense Ministry intends to place PAC-3 systems at 10 sites to test for potential communications problems and study prime deployment locations, according to the Yomiuri newspaper. Patriot missiles have ranges of up to 12 miles, meaning launchers deployed at the Iruma base 25 miles from Tokyo would have to be relocated in order to defend the city. Subsequent drills are planned for other areas of the nation (Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Nov. 29). Back to top       Funding Boost to Help Navy Deploy Missile Defenses By Megan Scully CongressDaily WASHINGTON — A senior Navy official said yesterday that a significant congressional add-on to the fiscal 2008 defense budget for the sea-based missile defense program would allow the military to install defensive systems on all 18 planned ships by the end of calendar year 2008, six months earlier than planned (see GSN, Nov. 8). The addition “helps us to attain that,” Rear Adm. Alan Hicks, program director for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System, said during a briefing sponsored by the George C. Marshall Institute at the National Press Club. The military has installed the sea-based missile defense system on 10 warships, and plans to install the system on eight ships over the next 13 months.  Hicks said training and certification on some of the last eight ships could extend until February 2009. Unlike more controversial missile defense efforts, the new Aegis system, which was declared operational last year, has significant bipartisan support on Capitol Hill.  The recently enacted fiscal 2008 Defense Appropriations Bill added $75 million to the Bush administration's $1.1 billion request to pay for upgrades and other development efforts for the program. The add-on reflects a Senate-passed amendment to the spending bill sponsored by Senate Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairman Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and ranking member Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).  Other areas of the missile defense budget did not fair as well, with appropriators trimming $200 million from the $8.9 billion request.  Those cuts include $85 million slashed from the Bush administration's efforts to erect a launch site in Poland for missile interceptors.  Congress also stripped all funding from the Space Test Bed, a key element of the program to develop space-based missile defenses. During a test this month, the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System succeeded in intercepting multiple ballistic missiles, marking the first time the system has simultaneously thwarted multiple threats. Hicks observed that the military will have 153 short and mid-term missile interceptors in the inventory by the end of 2009, but added that he believes the Navy needs to expand the program beyond current plans. “Is it enough?  No,” Hicks said.  “[The] inventory's inadequate to meet our needs.” Back to top

Three Busted for Selling Weapon-Grade Uranium European authorities have seized about 1 pound of weapon-grade uranium that two Hungarians and one Ukrainian allegedly attempted to sell for $1 million, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Oct. 29). Investigators are continuing to search for the intended recipient of the powdered uranium, which Slovakian First Police Vice President Michal Kopcik said could have been used in a radiological “dirty bomb.” Authorities determined the uranium recovered in unlabeled containers to contain 98.6 percent uranium 235.  Uranium containing a minimum of 85 percent uranium 235 is considered weapon grade. “It was possible to use it in various ways for terrorist attacks,” Kopcik said.  “According to initial findings, the material originated in the former Soviet republics,” he added. Investigators believe the suspects planned to complete the sale between Monday and Wednesday this week, but police detained the three when the transfer was not completed as expected, Kopcik said. Three people were detained last month in the Czech Republic for allegedly attempting to sell fake radiological material, but it remains unclear whether they were involved in the botched uranium deal (Janicek/Kole, Associated Press I/Google News, Nov. 29). Two of the suspects were arrested in eastern Slovakia and the third suspect was detained in Hungary, Slovak police spokesman Martin Korch said yesterday. Korch said the arrests followed months of investigation by police from the two nations, but declined to discuss details of the case, such as the intended recipient of the radioactive material. Slovakia’s border with Ukraine has been seen as a possible entryway into the European Union of WMD materials.  Governments have spent millions of dollars on security upgrades in the area over the past several years (William Kole, Associated Press II/Google News, Nov. 28).   Back to top

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