Iranian nuclear energy chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh, shown in September, announced progress in Iran’s nuclear program today (Dieter Nagl/Getty Images). Iran Produces More Uranium Gas for Enrichment Effort Iran has produced more uranium gas for its enrichment program, a top nuclear official announced today (see GSN, Jan. 3). “We have produced more than 250 tons of [uranium hexafluoride], kept in tunnels that are almost unique in the world,” said Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. Uranium hexafluoride gas can be spun in high-speed centrifuges to produce fuel for nuclear power plants or nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency disclosed in November that Iran had produced 165 tons of the gas, Reuters reported...Full Story

U.S. Intel Chief Moving to State Department U.S. Intelligence Director John Negroponte is expected to announce soon that he will leave his position after less than two years to become deputy secretary of state, the New York Times reported (see GSN, July 28, 2006)...Full Story

Former U.S. Officials Urge World Powers to Reaffirm Move Toward Nuclear Disarmament World nuclear powers need to reinvigorate efforts to reduce weapon stockpiles which have lost much of their deterrent value since the end of the Cold War, a bipartisan group of four former U.S. foreign policy officials wrote in a Wall Street Journal commentary published today (see GSN, Nov. 28, 2006)...Full Story

	Thursday, January 4, 2007

U.S. Intel Chief Moving to State Department U.S. Intelligence Director John Negroponte is expected to announce soon that he will leave his position after less than two years to become deputy secretary of state, the New York Times reported (see GSN, July 28, 2006). The former U.N. ambassador in April 2005 became the first person to hold the new job, charged with overseeing all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.  His job was to improve their operations and reputations following the Sept. 11 attacks and incorrect assessments of prewar Iraq’s WMD programs. Negroponte has also served as the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, and the deepening troubles there would be one of his priorities as the No. 2 to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, according to the Times. The position at the State Department has been vacant since Robert Zoellick resigned in July in favor of a job on Wall Street, the Associated Press reported.  Several other potential candidates have declined to take the job (Katherine Shrader, Associated Press/ABC News, Jan. 4). It was not yet clear whether Negroponte was switching jobs because he was needed at the State Department, of because of White House dissatisfaction with his work as intelligence chief, or both, the Times reported. The national intelligence director technically is a more senior position that deputy secretary of state. “The director of national intelligence is an absolutely critical position.  I’m disappointed that Negroponte would leave this critical position when it’s still in its infancy,” said Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine).  “There are a number of people who could ably serve as deputy secretary of state, but few who can handle the challenge of chief of intelligence.” “I’m worrying that our deficit in intelligence will not be corrected.  I’m sorry Negroponte isn’t completing his term because he at least understood intelligence,” said Representative Jane Harman (D-Calif.). Retired Vice Adm. Michael McConnell, head of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996, has been identified as a likely successor to Negroponte.  Both men would need Senate confirmation to take their new posts (Mark Mazzetti, New York Times, Jan. 4). Back to top

Yamaha Execs Could Be Charged for Helicopter Export Executives with Yamaha Motor Co. in Japan are expected to face charges for attempting to illegally export to China an unmanned helicopter that could be used to disperse biological or chemical agents, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 4, 2006). The company did not receive the permission required by Japanese law for shipping the remote-controlled helicopter, which is designed to spray crops with pesticides.  Approval from Japan’s economy, trade and industry minister is necessary to export unmanned helicopters capable of spraying pesticides or carrying more than 20 liters of liquid. Company chiefs knew the helicopter could be put to military use and that they were exporting it illegally, police said. The helicopter was supposed to be shipped in December 2005 to an aerial photography company in Beijing.  It never left Japan, due to flaws in documentation discovered at the Nagoya Customhouse, Yomiuri reported (Yomiuri Shimbun, Jan. 3). Back to top       Contractor to Broaden Access to WMD Attack Models A U.S. defense contractor plans to enable more defense agencies and emergency first responders to access computer models of WMD incidents, the Washington Post reported Monday (see GSN, Nov. 27, 2002). Science Applications International Corp. has received a $54 million contract from the U.S. Defense Department to create a Web site that could be used by emergency personnel to predict the effects of nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological attacks, according to the Post. “So anybody that has a Web browser, a laptop, connectivity and permission would be able to access these tools to do their job,” said SAIC Senior Vice President Michael Chagnon.  “Those types of users would include war fighters or could include civil first responders as well.” In part, the Integrated Weapons of Mass Destruction Toolset predicts how lethal materials would disperse following an attack. “First responders could use that information to determine exactly what type of medical response would be required and the number of people that might be affected,” Chagnon said (Doug Beizer, Washington Post, Jan. 1). Back to top       NYC Hospital Opens Decontamination Unit New York Downtown Hospital recently opened what it says is the city’s largest unit for decontaminating people exposed to biological, chemical or nuclear agents, The New York Sun reported yesterday (see GSN, May 25, 2006). The “decon unit” is a component of a new $25 million emergency room that opened in September at the lower Manhattan hospital.  It can treat between 500 and 1,000 people per hour, a massive increase from the 20 that the hospital’s former decontamination ward could handle. The facility’s design is based on the decontamination unit at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.  The idea is to keep things simple. “You have to attend to large numbers of patients quickly,” said Dr. Antonio Dajer, Downtown Hospital’s interim emergency medicine chief.  “You don’t want a lot of bells and whistles.” The $1 million open-air unit has 25 high-powered showerheads for cleansing patients with heated water.  Keeping the semi-enclosed facility outside ensures that patients do not contaminate the hospital itself, according to the Sun. Outlets would also ensure that medical personnel wearing full-body protective gear while caring for victims had a steady supply of “medical air.” “It’s arguably the most technologically advanced decontamination unit in the world,” Dajer said (Christopher Faherty, The New York Sun, Jan. 3). Back to top

Iran Produces More Uranium Gas for Enrichment Effort Iran has produced more uranium gas for its enrichment program, a top nuclear official announced today (see GSN, Jan. 3). “We have produced more than 250 tons of [uranium hexafluoride], kept in tunnels that are almost unique in the world,” said Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. Uranium hexafluoride gas can be spun in high-speed centrifuges to produce fuel for nuclear power plants or nuclear weapons. The International Atomic Energy Agency disclosed in November that Iran had produced 165 tons of the gas, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, Iran’s president vowed yesterday to defy U.N. Security Council pressure to freeze the nation’s nuclear program, but a former nuclear negotiator urged Iranian leaders not to simply ignore a Dec. 23 council resolution, the New York Times reported. “Iran has the fuel cycle, and very soon we will push the button on nuclear fuel production for industrial uses,” said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a speech.  “The Iranian people have made their decision to continue this path wisely and will not pay attention to empty cries of the materialists and the bullying of decadent powers.” The Security Council approved economic sanctions against Iran’s nuclear and missile programs last month, banning trade in those technologies and freezing the assets of some Iranian individuals and companies. Also yesterday, former nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian pressed Iranian leaders to thoughtfully consider the council’s actions. “We can say inside this country that this resolution is illegal,” he said.  “But we have to have a correct understanding of the international community’s considerations” (Nazila Fathi, New York Times, Jan. 4). “The Security Council is the highest authority on international peace and security, and there is no other authority to which we can appeal,” he added (Bozorgmehr/Smyth, Financial Times, Jan. 4). Back to top       Former U.S. Officials Urge World Powers to Reaffirm Move Toward Nuclear Disarmament World nuclear powers need to reinvigorate efforts to reduce weapon stockpiles which have lost much of their deterrent value since the end of the Cold War, a bipartisan group of four former U.S. foreign policy officials wrote in a Wall Street Journal commentary published today (see GSN, Nov. 28, 2006). While nations continue to need to deter potential enemies, “reliance on nuclear weapons for this purpose is becoming increasingly hazardous and decreasingly effective,” says the commentary by former secretaries of state George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, former Defense Secretary William Perry and former Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sam Nunn. The emergence of North Korea as a nuclear-armed nation, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the risk of terrorists acquiring nuclear weapons could all lead to “a new nuclear era that will be more precarious, psychologically disorienting and economically even more costly than was Cold War deterrence,” the authors wrote. Of particular concern are nuclear-armed terrorists. “Nonstate terrorist groups with nuclear weapons are conceptually outside the bounds of a deterrent strategy and present difficult new security challenges,” the commentary says. The four call for a series of steps to “lay the groundwork for a world free of the nuclear threat,” including: — reducing the alert status of deployed nuclear weapons to lower the chances of accidental or unauthorized launches (see GSN, April 5, 2005); — cutting nuclear forces “substantially” (see GSN, Dec. 7, 2006); — eliminating short-range nuclear weapons (see GSN, Feb. 9, 2005); — encouraging key states to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (see GSN, Nov. 17, 2006); — securing weapon-usable nuclear materials worldwide (see GSN, Dec. 18, 2006); — controlling the production of enriched uranium, while ensuring access to nuclear fuel (see GSN, Sept. 19, 2006); and — ending the production of fissile materials for weapons (see GSN, May 18, 2006; Wall Street Journal, Jan. 4). [EDITOR’S NOTE: Sam Nunn is co-chairman and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative.  NTI is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.] Back to top       Japan Conducts Nuclear Weapons Study Japan recently examined the costs and schedule of producing nuclear weapons, the Sankei newspaper reported last month (see GSN, Dec. 1, 2006). A study by several government agencies concluded that fielding a prototype warhead would take at least three to five years, cost $1.7 billion to $2.5 billion dollars and require employing several hundred engineers. The study did not address the question of whether Japan should become a nuclear power, according to Sankei (Associated Press/Kansas City Star, Dec. 25, 2006). Back to top       Divine Strake Explosion Plans Move Forward The U.S. Energy Department last month advanced plans for testing a massive bunker-busting explosion later this year in the Nevada desert by releasing a revised draft environmental assessment that found little risk from the experiment, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Nov. 20, 2006). The plans call for exploding up to 700 tons of conventional explosives above a tunnel at the Nevada Test Site, home to hundreds of U.S. nuclear tests.  The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency originally said the explosion, called Divine Strake, was intended to simulate a small nuclear weapon, but later retracted that assertion (see GSN, April 7, 2006). Plans to conduct the test last year were delayed after Nevada and Utah residents expressed concern that the explosion could disperse radioactive material from past nuclear tests (see GSN, May 10, 2006). However, the draft environmental assessment released Dec. 20 says it is “extremely unlikely” that any dispersed radioactivity would cause harm. “Because the nearest member of the public resides approximately 12 miles from the (test site) boundary, this individual would receive only a fraction of the modeled dose,” the assessment says.  Three public hearings have been scheduled for next week (Jennifer Talhelm, Associated Press, Dec. 22). The test is intended to study the effects of the explosion on hardened and deeply buried targets, according to the draft assessment, and it supports a U.S. goal to be able to “quickly respond to threats anywhere in the world with conventional tactics and munitions.” The blast would take place above a tunnel that “is in a geological setting that simulates the characteristics of important potential global adversarial targets,” the assessment says (Energy Department environmental assessment, Dec. 20, 2006). Back to top       Pressure Must Be Kept on North Korea, Japan Says Nations participating in the six-party talks must maintain pressure on North Korea to resolve the nuclear crisis, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso told Bloomberg last month (see GSN, Jan. 3). His comments came several days after the most recent round of meetings in Beijing ended without signs of progress in disarming Pyongyang. “We’re dealing with a game of chicken here.  As they begin to show signs of fatigue, we’ll eventually have to talk,” Aso said.  “That’s what diplomacy is all about.” “China believed that progress could be made,” he added.  “The talks didn’t yield much.  People are now telling China:  ‘This isn’t what we expected.’  We shouldn’t be holding talks that aren’t yielding results.” An official in Beijing disputed Aso opinion on the value of the negotiations. “We don’t believe the last round of talks was a failure,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.  “Everyone knows the North Korean issue is very complex.  Progress can only be made when major partners work together to make progress.  That said, China will continue to work hard to help push for progress.  We will not give up.” Trade and economic sanctions against North Korea are “delivering results,” Aso said.  Pyongyang used the talks last month to press for lifting of U.S. actions that led a bank to freeze $24 million of the regime’s assets. “The fact that the North is so adamant about those sanctions show they’ve been effective,” Aso said. Japan and the United Nations also set sanctions on North Korea following its Oct. 9 nuclear test (Brinsley/Yamamura, Bloomberg, Jan. 4). No date or place has been set for further talks between Pyongyang and Washington on the U.S. sanctions, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. Officials from the two capitals met last month on the sidelines of the six-party talks, and expected to gather again Jan. 22 in New York.  North Korea has since ruled out the city as the location for the meeting. “There hasn’t been a firm date and place nailed down yet,” said U.S. Treasury Department spokeswoman Molly Millerwise. It will take time to resolve the matter, Millerwise said, giving no hint that Washington means to lift the sanctions (P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Jan. 3). Implementation of the U.N. sanctions against North Korea has begun in Singapore, AFP reported.  Singapore is now blocking shipments to the Stalinist state of missiles, nuclear technology and heavy military equipment, along with luxury items such as cigars, fur coats, wine and spirits (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Jan. 4). Meanwhile, the recent death of North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun is not expected to alter the regime’s stand in the nuclear negotiations, the Yonhap News Agency reported today. Command of Pyongyang’s foreign affairs began with leader Kim Jong Il and continued directly to Vice Foreign Minister Kang Suk Ju and then on to top nuclear negotiator Kim Kye Gwan, according to one expert. “Usually the top posts of government organizations in North Korea are filled by senior veterans, and the next in line of power are usually the ones with actual power,” said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea studies professor at Dongguk University in Seoul. “This line will remain unchanged regardless of who becomes the next foreign minister,” he said.  “There will not be any major changes to the course of basis of the North’s foreign policy” (Yonhap News Agency/Yahoo!News, Jan. 4). Back to top

Umatilla Destroys Last 8-Inch Sarin Shell The final 8-inch sarin-filled projectile stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon was destroyed yesterday, the U.S. Army said (see GSN, Jan. 3). The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility finished incinerating 14,246 shells just after 8 a.m.  Following a six-week preparation period, the site plans to move on to destroying its stockpile of 155 mm projectiles carrying the nerve agent.  That is scheduled to be followed by elimination of weapons filled with VX nerve agent and of bulk containers of mustard agent (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Jan. 3). Back to top

Lockheed Martin to Begin THAAD Production The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has awarded defense contractor Lockheed Martin $619 million to begin production of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense System, the company announced yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 14, 2006). The system is being developed for use against short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles in the upper atmosphere. Lockheed is contracted to produce the first two THAAD fire units, which include 48 interceptors, six launchers, and two fire control and communications units, according to a press release.  Deployment of the system is scheduled for fiscal 2009. “This is a major milestone for the THAAD program,” Tom McGrath, Lockheed Martin vice president and THAAD program manager, said in the release.  “Once fielded, THAAD will network with other systems and sensors to provide the layered missile defense capability required for the future” (Lockheed Martin release, Jan. 3). Japan in coming years also could spend hundreds of millions of dollars to improve its missile defense capabilities, the head of Lockheed Martin’s missile defense division said yesterday.  That could cover command and control systems specific to Japan along with U.S. solutions, according to Ed Butt. North Korea’s missile tests in July showed that it could exploit the “seams” of the two countries’ developing missile shield, he said. “So for example, if all the systems in the Sea of Japan were focused on shots that may be heading for say South Korea … you may miss intermediate launches going to Hawaii, or possibly something going into Japan,” Butt said, according to Reuters. Japanese and U.S. officials are expected to resume talks this month on eliminating “barriers” that could undermine their joint missile defense efforts, he said.  One issue is both countries’ concerns over sharing command and control systems, Butt said.  “Those barriers are being toppled fairly quickly,” Butt said (Jim Wolf, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Jan. 3). Japan is expected to soon order additional Patriot Advanced Capability 3 air-defense missiles from Lockheed, Bloomberg reported yesterday. South Korea and Taiwan are also considering submitting orders in the next three years, according to Lockheed Vice President Mike Trotsky. U.S. allies in Asia and the Middle East with aging equipment are looking at new technology in the wake of 2006 missile tests by Iran and North Korea, Trotsky said. “I expect, in the end, all of the people that currently own the Patriot system and haven’t upgraded to PAC-3 will do so in the next five to 10 years,” he said.  “Countries like Greece, who have a PAC-2 system, someday will upgrade to PAC-3” (Edmond Lococo, Bloomberg, Jan. 3). Back to top

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