Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) said yesterday that the Energy and Defense departments have accepted limitations on development of a new generation of low-maintenance nuclear warheads (Hassan Ammar/Getty Images). Pentagon OK With Congressional RRW Demands, Tauscher says By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The chairwoman of the House committee that sets funding for the nation’s nuclear weapons complex said yesterday that the Defense and Energy departments have accepted boundaries set by Congress on development of a new U.S. nuclear warhead (see GSN, March 5)...Full Story

Pakistan Defends its Nuclear Security The Pakistani government yesterday defended its ability to maintain security of its nuclear arsenal amidst its growing domestic crisis, the Financial Times reported (see GSN, Nov. 8)...Full Story

U.S. Holds Up-To-Date Blueprint for Attack on Iran The U.S. military has plans and forces available for an attack against Iranian nuclear facilities although defense officials remain reserved about military intervention in this situation, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Nov. 8)...Full Story

	Friday, November 9, 2007

Interpol Requests Counterterrorism Funding Boost Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble yesterday called on the police organization’s 186 member nations to increase funding for its efforts to combat international terrorism, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, June 15). “The case we are working for is that of a suspected terrorist carrying a biological or nuclear weapon intending to kill hundreds of thousands if not millions of us,” Noble said. "In order to prepare against that possibility we need a billion-dollar-a-year organization, not a million-dollar-a-year organization,” he said. Interpol exceeded its $66 million budget in fiscal 2007 by about $2.3 million. Noble said Interpol requires more money because the organization has been called on more often to assist in counterterrorism efforts in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Following the attacks, the number of individuals in Interpol’s database of suspected terrorists increased from about 2,000 to roughly 12,000, Noble said.  Member states can now communicate through a single communications system introduced by Interpol, but more needs to be done, Noble said. “Significant progress ahs been made but we have just finished a 100-meter sprint in a marathon and we have to run as fast,” he said. The organization’s member countries provide funding calculated using agreed-upon guidelines (Daniel Silva, Agence France-Presse/NASDAQ.com, Nov. 8). Back to top

Pentagon OK With Congressional RRW Demands, Tauscher says By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The chairwoman of the House committee that sets funding for the nation’s nuclear weapons complex said yesterday that the Defense and Energy departments have accepted boundaries set by Congress on development of a new U.S. nuclear warhead (see GSN, March 5). The Reliable Replacement Warhead, as administration officials have dubbed it, is a bid to replace Cold War-era warheads with a new design that would be easier to maintain, more reliable and cheaper to produce. The U.S. military during the Cold War designed and built warheads that packed the maximum explosive force into the smallest space, all the better to fit more warheads onto the tip of a single missile. With the fall of the Soviet Union, needs changed and officials began to pursue a warhead more like a pickup truck than a Formula One racer, a weapon that would be more robust and require less maintenance. Lawmakers required that the Defense and Energy departments respect a number of important “fences” while developing the new warhead, Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), head of the House Armed Forces Strategic Forces Subcommittee, said yesterday during a breakfast meeting with reporters. The weapon must have the same yield as the old warheads it is slated to replace; it must be able to be certified without explosive nuclear testing; it must enable a drawn down of the U.S. stockpile of surplus warheads held as a hedge against a failure of any one weapon system; and it must make “the client, the military feel confident,” Tauscher said. “Those fences have not only worked but they’ve held,” she said yesterday. The RRW program remains in its early design and engineering phase, but Tauscher said over the past three years of discussions about the new warhead “the foes have diminished and the fans have increased.” Still, as Congress worked on a number of authorization and appropriation bills that control funding for the program in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, lawmakers expressed some significant misgivings with U.S. nuclear policy, calling for a re-evaluation of the nation’s strategy. The House has called for a “blue-ribbon panel,” as Tauscher put it, to evaluate how many nuclear warheads the nation needs for its strategic ends, while the Senate pressed for an accelerated Nuclear Posture Review to be conducted by the next presidential administration in 2009 (see GSN, Aug. 2). “We’ve married those two together.  We think that they are very congruent.  We think they complement each other,” Tauscher said. Describing a comfortable understanding with the current administration representatives regarding RRW project restrictions, she said, “I not only have a handshake with DOD I have a handshake with [the National Nuclear Security Administration].” The National Nuclear Security Administration is a semiautonomous body within the Energy Department that is helming the development of the Reliable Replacement Warhead. Still, the congressional approach is one of caution, Tauscher said.  “We’ve said let’s walk before we run.  Let’s really understand this.” The House and the Senate have proposed differing levels of budget cuts to the president’s $88.8 RRW fiscal 2008 request.  The proposed Senate budget bill trims funding while a House version cuts it entirely (see GSN, May 24). “Part of the strategic pause is to get the language right.  Part of it is to get the commitment right.  Part of it is also that we have a new secretary of defense, Bob Gates, who I’m happy to say is very cooperative, very easy to deal with very accessible,” she said.  “I’m much happier to have him talking about these issues than I was Secretary [Donald] Rumsfeld and some of the other people who were in the administration who would have put nuclear tips on ice cream cones I think if we had let them.” Ultimately, it is critical that the program allows the United States to back off its Stockpile Stewardship program, a costly effort to maintain the current stockpile of older warheads, she said.  “There’s no reason to expend the money that we are spending on RRW if it doesn’t achieve for us the end game, which is to effectively take our foot off the life extension programs.” Back to top       Pakistan Defends its Nuclear Security The Pakistani government yesterday defended its ability to maintain security of its nuclear arsenal amidst its growing domestic crisis, the Financial Times reported (see GSN, Nov. 8). “Pakistan has come a long way since the A.Q. Khan episode,” said one senior official, referring to the former top Pakistani nuclear scientist and proliferator (see GSN, Sept. 27).  “The problem is the West doesn’t believe us.  No matter how much we clarify, they will still suspect our intentions.” Citing the threat posed by religious extremists, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency Saturday and suspended the constitution.  Musharraf’s move preceded the anticipated invalidation of his recent election and sparked widespread protests within the country and diplomatic pressure from other nations. Observers have expressed concern that chaos in Pakistan, the only Muslim nation with an atomic arsenal, could open the door for diversion of nuclear weapons, materials or expertise. “If we head towards growing confrontation on the streets, there is bound to be growing global pressure on Pakistan on the nuclear front,” said defense analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi. “This is a country of 150 million people, which happens to have nuclear weapons.  This is very important for us that one day we shouldn’t wake up with a government, an administration in Pakistan which is in the hands of the extremists,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said during a trip to the United States. A 2007 Harvard University study reported that al-Qaeda or other extremist organizations posed “huge threats” to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, which is estimated at 50 or more warheads (see GSN, Sept. 27; Johnson/Bokhari, Financial Times, Nov. 9). U.S. President George W. Bush has assured British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that the Pakistani military can safeguard the nuclear stockpile, the London Independent reported today. “The military is the most functional part of the regime,” said one top-level British official.  “No one is suggesting there is any particular concern.” Washington has a secret “contingency” plan for ensuring the safety of Pakistan’s weapons, the newspaper reported (Colin Brown, London Independent, Nov. 9). “From the [U.S] Army’s standpoint, from the military’s standpoint, the confidence remains high,” a U.S. officer told Reuters yesterday, one day after a senior defense official said Washington was closely monitoring the situation. “There has been no break” in the Pakistani military’s control of the nuclear weapons, the officer said. Others appeared less confident. “We need a lot more visibility on what’s going on in Pakistan.  Who does have that football?  Who is next in line?” said Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) (Kristin Roberts, Reuters/Washington Post, Nov. 8). “It is hard to imagine a greater nightmare for America than the world’s second-largest Muslim nation becoming a failed state in fundamentalists’ hands, with an arsenal of nuclear weapons and a population larger than Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea combined,” Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) said yesterday during a presidential campaign stop in New Hampshire (Philip Elliott, Associated Press/Boston Globe, Nov. 8). Back to top       U.S. Holds Up-To-Date Blueprint for Attack on Iran The U.S. military has plans and forces available for an attack against Iranian nuclear facilities although defense officials remain reserved about military intervention in this situation, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Nov. 8). Potential targets in Iran include its Natanz uranium enrichment facility, various ballistic missile installations and military bases as well as naval resources that Iran could use to cut off the Straits of Hormuz, an important route for Gulf oil shipments. The U.S. Navy has stationed an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf carrying about 60 fighter jets as well as other aircraft that could be used in an attack against Iran.  U.S. fighters and bombers have also been placed at air bases in Iraq, a regional air operations center in Qatar and elsewhere in the region. Roughly 2,200 U.S. Marines have been deployed to the Middle East on ships led by the amphibious assault vessel USS Kearsarge. The United States could also deploy Delta Force soldiers or other special operations commandos to Iran to carry out a stealth attack against its nuclear facilities. U.S. Army and Marine forces remain overstretched from years-long ground wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Little evidence exists that senior military officials have advocated action against Iran.  Defense Secretary Robert Gates has repeatedly refused to rule out an attack even as he said the United States was pursuing diplomacy and new economic sanctions to pressure Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program. He said on Oct. 25 that recently announced U.S. unilateral sanctions against Iran were intended as an alternative to war rather than an escalation toward conflict. When asked late last month if planning for an attack on Iran was being stepped up or only going through regular updates, Gates said he “would characterize it as routine.” Conventional military forces in Iran are considered to be more limited than the forces of other Middle Eastern countries, but Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said the Iranian military possesses considerable defensive capabilities. “Its strengths in overt conflict are more defensive than offensive, but Iran has already shown it has great capability to resist outside pressure and any form of invasion and done so under far more adverse and divisive conditions than exist in Iran today,” Cordesman wrote this year. Cordesman estimated that Iran maintains an army of about 350,000 troops (Robert Burns, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Nov. 9). Meanwhile, former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix on Wednesday described Iran as a potentially greater threat than prewar Iraq, the Melbourne, Australia, Age reported. Blix said that Iran’s is not “practically prostrate” as Iraq was in 2003. “They had had sanctions since 1991 and were in miserable shape and everyone knew that,” he said. “In the case of Iran, this is very different.  Iran is a country that has a big military apparatus,” he said “They have also a large nuclear sector with two nuclear power reactors that are ready to go into operation, research reactors going on, a lot of people and a lot of money. “Therefore the suspicions and concerns about Iran and enriched uranium are far more substantial than they were in the case of Iraq,” Blix said (Daniel Flitton, The Age, Nov. 8). In remarks published yesterday, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called on Iran not to heighten tensions with Western powers over its nuclear program and urged Tehran to reach an international compromise enabling it to pursue a peaceful nuclear energy program, Reuters reported. “The world fears that Iran's nuclear program will lead to developing nuclear weapons.  Iran has announced its nuclear program is intended for peaceful use,” Abdullah said.  “If this is the case, then we don't see any justification for escalation, confrontation and challenge, which only makes issues more complicated” (Reuters I, Nov. 8). A high-level Russian diplomat said Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not deliver a secret message to Iran about its nuclear program while attending a summit in Tehran last month, Reuters reported (see GSN, Oct. 19). On Oct. 17, Iranian state media quoted Ali Larijani, then Iran’s top nuclear envoy, as saying Putin had delivered a “special message” to Iran’s government.  The report provided no further details. “There were no secret messages,” Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said when asked about Putin’s visit. Some media reports indicated that Putin’s message might have been that the United States would open direct negotiations with Tehran if it abandoned its uranium enrichment efforts (Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters II, Nov. 7). Back to top       Group Calls for U.S. Nuclear Stockpile Reductions The independent Arms Control Association said in a report released yesterday that the United States should reduce its nuclear stockpile to 1,000 warheads by 2012 to help rein in nuclear proliferation and ease tensions with Russia (see GSN, Oct. 30). The United States currently expects to maintain a stockpile of between 5,000 and 6,000 nuclear warheads in 2012, but Stanford University physicist Sidney Drell and former U.S. Ambassador James Goodby said in the report that a much smaller nuclear arsenal would not compromise U.S. security interests. The authors added that all internationally accepted and “rogue” nuclear weapons powers must join in an effort to reduce the importance of nuclear weapons in international relations. Drell and Goodby also called on the United States to pursue legally binding agreements with Russia on additional reductions to the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads and delivery systems. The report, “What Are Nuclear Weapons For? Recommendations for Restructuring U.S. Strategic and Nuclear Forces,” is an updated and revised edition of a 2005 report by Drell and Goodby.  Tensions between Moscow and Washington have grown since then as the Bush administration presses its European missile defense plan, according to the association (Arms Control Association release, Nov. 8). Back to top       Top EU Diplomat Discusses Shared Enrichment Center The top EU diplomat proposed establishing an “international enrichment center” to help defuse tensions over national uranium enrichment programs, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 30). “The only way to resolve these problems in a lasting way is via a multilateral solution, via the creation of an international enrichment center under multilateral supervision,” EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said yesterday during an address in Brussels. Proponents of such a strategy said it would ensure nations’ access to uranium for energy programs while deterring them from operating the nuclear fuel cycle that could produce weapons material. “All states would have access to enriched fuel under fair conditions and at competitive prices,” said Solana, who has led EU efforts to negotiate a halt to Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. He said the current nuclear regulatory scheme — involving a “subtle balance” of international nonproliferation measures, disarmament initiatives and transfers of nuclear technology — is in danger. “The problem comes from the perception of many countries that there is an imbalance between these three elements,” Solana said. He said such countries believe that nuclear weapons powers “do not respect their promises not to transfer nuclear technology or on giving up at least part of their arsenal” (Agence France Presse/Google News, Nov. 8). Back to top       U.S. Pressures Asian Nations on Security Japan and nearby countries must give increased attention to security threats in Asia, which is among the “last places on earth with the potential for a nuclear confrontation,” U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today (see GSN, Nov. 8). Gates said in a speech in Tokyo that facing the threats posed by North Korea and nuclear proliferation is not just the work of one or two nations, the Associated Press reported. “Japan has the opportunity — and an obligation — to take on a role that reflects its political, economic and military capacity,” he said.  “We hope and expect Japan to accept more global security responsibilities in the years ahead.” Gates and Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura restated their government’s support for the ongoing North Korean denuclearization process, Komura said yesterday.  “In the meantime, Japan and the U.S. will steadily continue our joint missile defense programs,” Komura said (see GSN, Oct. 23). Tokyo has urged Washington not to move too quickly to remove North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, hoping that Pyongyang would first more fully address the issue of abducted Japanese citizens.  Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba said yesterday he did not make a formal request on the matter during his meeting with Gates (Lolita Baldor, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Nov. 9). A Japanese newspaper friendly to the North Korean regime said Pyongyang is following through on its pledge to disable its nuclear program and should be taken off the terrorism list, Agence France-Presse reported. “What was agreed at six-party talks is that the U.S. would remove the D.P.R.K. from the list of terrorism-sponsoring states and end its application of the Trading with the Enemy Act in return for the D.P.R.K.’s disablement of nuclear facilities by the end of this year,” according to the Choson Sinbo.  “On the part of North Korea, there is no reason to delay its action.” Once off the list, North Korea could regain access to U.S. economic aid and loans from organizations such as the World Bank (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Nov. 9). Back to top       Israel Warns of “Apocalyptic” Nuclear Middle East An Israeli Cabinet minister warned in comments published today that Egypt and Saudi Arabia could create an “apocalyptic scenario” in the Middle East if they are allowed to pursue their nuclear ambitions along with Iran, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Nov. 1). “If Egypt and Saudi Arabia begin nuclear programs, this can bring an apocalyptic scenario upon us,” Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman told the Jerusalem Post. "Their intentions should be taken seriously and the declarations being made now are to prepare the world for when they decide to actually do it," said Lieberman, a hard-line nationalist who coordinates Israeli measures against Iran’s nuclear program. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Oct. 29 that his government planned to build several nuclear power plants.  The country abandoned its original nuclear energy program following the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe. Algeria, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Yemen are among the other Middle Eastern nations that have said they would pursue nuclear energy programs (Agence France-Presse/Google News, Nov. 9). Back to top

Teenagers Plead Guilty to Chlorine Bomb Attacks Two California teenagers pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that they threw homemade chlorine gas bombs into a high school dance and a girl’s birthday party last month, the San Jose Mercury News reported (see GSN, Oct. 16). The boys, ages 16 and 17, pleaded guilty to three felonies and two misdemeanors related to the bombings, which injured a 16-year-old girl during her birthday party and two guests. The defendants offered the plea following negotiations between defense and prosecution attorneys in Santa Clara County.  The prosecutor agreed to revise a charge of possessing a chemical device and causing an explosion by chemical reaction “with the intent to hurt a person or personal property” to a lesser charge, “with the intent to terrify.” “They are kids playing a prank who violated the law,” said Guerin Provini, a lawyer for one of the boys.  “Good kids did something stupid.” The defendants and the victims “are friends,” Provini said.  “I'm expecting they’ll be released in the near future,” he said. Deputy District Attorney David Soares countered the defense attorney’s opinion.  “I have a different view on that,” he said. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 16 in juvenile court (Linda Goldston, San Jose Mercury News, Nov. 8). Back to top

House Approves $8.7B for Missile Defense The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday approved a fiscal 2008 defense spending bill that includes $8.7 billion for missile defense programs, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Nov. 8). The amount is roughly 2 percent below the funding level sought by the Bush administration. The $471 billion bill, approved by a vote of 400-15, also includes $3.1 billion for a new Virginia-class attack submarine and $6.3 billion for the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (Andrew Taylor, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Nov. 8). U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday also allocated $155 million for development of an Israeli advanced missile interceptor, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Oct. 22). “David’s Sling” could provide defense from a variety of weapons, from basic rockets deployed by militants in Gaza to Iranian long-range missiles (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Nov. 8). Back to top       Russia, U.S. Plan Additional Missile Defense Talks Russian officials are scheduled to travel to Washington this month for further talks on U.S. plans to deploy missile defense installations in Europe, RIA Novosti reported (see GSN, Nov. 1). Russia has said that its strategic security would be impaired if the Bush administration places 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic. Moscow is still waiting for formal proposals from the United States on resolving the standoff, said Igor Neverov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s North America office. “We hope the United States will provide the proposals so that they can be discussed prior to the meeting,” he said.  Neverov did not give the dates of the planned session. Senior U.S. officials have outlined a package of concessions aimed at overcoming Russian objections to the plan, including delaying activation of the European system until an Iranian missile threat is proven (RIA Novosti, Nov. 8).   Back to top

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