South Korean stock prices dropped nearly 1 percent today on news that North Korea could be planning a second nuclear test (Jung Yeon-je/Getty Images). North Korea Said Preparing Second Nuclear Test U.S. Defense Department officials believe that North Korea is making preparations for a second nuclear test blast, ABC News reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 4). “We think they’ve put everything in place to conduct a test without any notice or warning,” a senior Pentagon official said...Full Story

Democrats Seek More Money to Secure Nuclear Material By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINTON — As part of their agenda for the first 100 hours as the majority party, House Democrats plan to bring to the floor next week a bill implementing Sept. 11 commission recommendations, including increased funding to secure nuclear material in the former Soviet Union (see GSN, Dec. 6, 2006)...Full Story

Group Warns of Security Risk to Plutonium Shipments Global shipments of weapon-usable plutonium for commercial nuclear reactors face a serious risk of theft by terrorists and therefore “require extraordinary physical protection,” according to a report released this week by the Institute for Science and International Security (see GSN, March 16, 2005)...Full Story

	Friday, January 5, 2007

Bush Names New Intelligence Chief President George W. Bush today named a former head of the National Security Agency as the new U.S. national intelligence director, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Jan. 4). Retired Vice Adm. Michael McConnell would replace John Negroponte, who is slated to become deputy secretary of state.  Both men must be approved by the Senate before they can take their new jobs. “Each of them will do good work in their new positions and it is vital that they take up their new responsibilities promptly,” Bush said.  He said he believed McConnell would “give me the best information and analysis that America’s intelligence community can provide. Negroponte has been national intelligence director for less than two years.  His departure appears to be part of a shakeup of the Bush administration’s intelligence and national security leadership, AP reported. Robert Gates replaced Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary last month, and reportedly plans to name retired Lt. Gen. James Clapper as undersecretary of defense for intelligence. McConnell served as director of the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996.  In total, he worked for more than 25 years in intelligence operations and security before going to work in the private sector (Katherine Shrader, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Jan. 5). Back to top

Democrats Seek More Money to Secure Nuclear Material By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINTON — As part of their agenda for the first 100 hours as the majority party, House Democrats plan to bring to the floor next week a bill implementing Sept. 11 commission recommendations, including increased funding to secure nuclear material in the former Soviet Union (see GSN, Dec. 6, 2006). The bill also would require radiation scanning of all cargo containers leaving overseas ports for the United States and calls for a crackdown on the international black market in nuclear technology, according to a congressional summary of the bill. A calendar posted on the Web site of Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) indicates a vote to enact a number of the commission’s recommendations is scheduled for Tuesday. The drafted legislation would remove the cap on funding to secure weapons of mass destruction and related materials in countries outside the former Soviet Union.  Oversight of such funding would also be strengthened. Also included are additional funds for fiscal 2007 to support both the Cooperative Threat Reduction program and the Global Threat Reduction Initiative.  After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Congress initiated Cooperative Threat Reduction programs to help former Soviet states eliminate and secure nuclear weapons and strategic missiles. During the 1990s funding for the CTR programs, which were expanded to include concerns about chemical and biological weapons, hovered around $400 million.  The most recent appropriation bill provides $372 million for fiscal 2007. The United States in 2004 launched the Global Threat Reduction Initiative in conjunction with the International Atomic Energy Agency to further tighten security surrounding nuclear material.  Fiscal 2007 GTRI funding for is set just below $120 million in both House and Senate versions of an appropriation bill that was left unpassed in the closing days of 2006. Two of the main focuses of the CTR program include destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles and increasing warhead security in Russia.  The program also includes the decommissioning of nuclear weapons and the blending down of weapon-grade uranium.  One of the main thrusts of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative is converting nuclear reactors running on highly enriched uranium and repatriating fuel from foreign research reactors. Removing limits on funding for CTR projects outside the boundaries of the former Soviet Union would certainly strengthen the program, said Raphael Della Ratta, a WMD expert with the Partnership for Global Security. Citing the example of a small stockpile of chemical weapons in Albania revealed to the United States and the United Nations in 2004, Della Ratta said, “The threat isn’t just Russia anymore.  We need the flexibility and resources to address these problems when they arise” (see GSN, Jan. 10, 2005). “The Cooperative Threat Reduction program needs to be pushed to more global threats,” Della Ratta said.  “Cooperative Threat Reduction programs when the 9/11 commission report came out did not get a good grade.” The commission doled out a “D” for U.S. nonproliferation efforts to secure weapons of mass destruction. CTR programs are “in need of expansion, improvement and resources,” the commission wrote.  “The U.S. government has recently redoubled its international commitments to support this program, and we recommend the United States do all it can, if Russia and other countries will do their part.” While acknowledging that additional funding could enhance the threat reduction programs, Jon Wolfsthal, a nuclear nonproliferation expert with the Center of Strategic and International Studies, said funding issues have not been the main impediment. “More money is always better; you can always do more with more funding,” he said.  However, “the main constraints on effective CTR, especially in Russia, have not been financial, they have been political.” The priorities of the current administration have not always been in line with the programs and there have been a number of difficulties working with the Russian bureaucracy on projects, Wolfsthal said. In one example, construction of the U.S.-funded Shchuchye chemical weapons destruction complex in Russia’s far east is more than a year behind schedule due to problems working with the Russian government and what Washington says are inflated construction bids from Russian contractors. “I think the 9/11 commission got it absolutely right when they said we need to do more,” Wolfsthal said.  Still, “if I had to pick one way to address CTR, funding would not be the absolute top.” The bill would also repeal certain conditions on CTR assistance to Russia.  In order for the funding to be released, the president must annually certify to Congress that Russia has satisfied a number of conditions, including abiding by all human rights agreements, following all arms control agreements and not using any of the funds for offensive military programs. “It’s a variety of very general sort of do-good arms-control conditions,” said Paul Walker, an arms control expert with Global Green USA. Bush has refused to certify that the conditions have been met each year, requiring Congress to insert language into the defense authorization bill to allow the conditions to be waived, Walker said.  Repealing the “political” conditions would simplify appropriations and streamline what has been “a very bureaucratic process in the past,” he said. The conditions are so “broad-brush” that virtually no nation could pass, according to Walker.  “You couldn’t certify the United States let alone Russia,” he said.  Removing them could ease relations with Russia and represent a step forward in bilateral relations, he said.  “They’ve been a real thorn in the side of the Russians, who have stated again and again that their problem with the Americans is that they put all these political conditions on everything.  It has really created bad blood.” The bill also includes steps to strengthen the Proliferation Security Initiative, which aims to interdict the clandestine shipment of weapons of mass destruction or related equipment between nations.  The creation of a separate budget for PSI activities is included as well allowing for financial assistance to countries participating in the initiative.  Congress must also be notified in advance of the shipment of a U.S.-made military ship or aircraft to any country not participating in the interdiction program. Not a formal organization, the Proliferation Security Initiative has been described by the State Department “interdiction partnership among participating states” and does not have its own budget. A provision also provides for the creation of a “presidential coordinator” to improve the effectiveness of U.S. nonproliferation programs and expresses Congress’s desire that the president urge Russia to create a similar position.  In addition, the bill would establish a “congressional-executive commission” to study international nonproliferation activities. Under the section addressing the inspection of cargo containers being shipped to the United States from abroad, the bill requires that all containers leaving the largest overseas ports be scanned for radiation and that those scans be reviewed by U.S. security officials before the containers are loaded. Smaller ports would have five years to meet the same requirement. According to the House bill, the Homeland Security Department would have one year to implement this requirement after issuing a report on a pilot scanning program at three overseas ports mandated in the SAFE Ports Act passed last year.  The department has one year to implement the pilot program and must submit a report within six months of its completion. Late last year before a House committee, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff shrugged off Democratic calls for all U.S.-bound cargo to be scanned for radiation, saying that such a requirement would reduce trade by 75 percent and is beyond current capabilities. Calling it a “wonderful aspiration” but an unrealistic mandate, he likened such a requirement to Congress passing a law demanding cancer be cured in three years (see GSN, Sept. 27). While the Sept. 11 commission’s recommendations highlighted security risks related to cargo containers the Democratic bill goes beyond the commission’s suggestions in requiring all overseas ports to conduct radiation scanning. To address the emergence of a black market for nuclear technology and materials, the Democrats’ bill provides for sanctions against individuals believed to be involved in illegal nuclear trade.  It would also make U.S. assistance to countries contingent on cooperation in the investigation of nuclear black market networks. Back to top       U.S. Freezes Assets of Three Syrian Entities The Bush administration yesterday ordered a freeze on U.S.-held assets of three Syrian institutions believed to be developing WMD and missile technologies (see GSN, May 9, 2006). “Syria is using official government organizations to develop nonconventional weapons and the missiles to deliver them,” Stuart Levey, treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a press release.  “We will continue to take action to prevent such state-sponsored WMD proliferators from using the international financial system.” The three entities are “subordinates” of the Scientific Studies and Research Center, an official Syrian agency that focuses “substantively on the development of biological and chemical weapons,” according to the Treasury Department release. The sanctioned entities are the Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology, the Electronics Institute, and the National Standards and Calibration Laboratory (U.S. Treasury Department release, Jan. 4). Back to top

North Korea Said Preparing Second Nuclear Test U.S. Defense Department officials believe that North Korea is making preparations for a second nuclear test blast, ABC News reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 4). “We think they’ve put everything in place to conduct a test without any notice or warning,” a senior Pentagon official said. It is not clear yet whether Pyongyang actually plans a follow-up to its last test, however intelligence indicates that preparations being made now are similar to those seen before the Oct. 9 explosion, the official said. The intelligence was confirmed by two additional senior defense officials.  However, the intelligence community is divided on whether North Korea actually plans to detonate another bomb, ABC News reported. “That would surprise me,” one intelligence official said. Another expected a test within the next two to three months (Jonathan Karl, ABC News, Jan. 4). Officials in Japan and South Korea today said they had seen no new indications of an imminent test, the Associated Press reported. “Some unidentified activities have been detected around a suspected test site but so far there are no particular indications directly linked to an additional nuclear test,” said Cho Hee-yong, spokesman for the South Korean Foreign Ministry. A spokeswoman at the Japanese Defense Agency and a Western diplomat concurred. Frequent vehicle and personnel movement at the suspected site is standard, and cannot yet be taken as an indication of a coming test, a South Korean military intelligence official told the Yonhap News Agency.  There have been no signs seen of power outlets or communication cables at the site, the official said (Kwang tae-Kim, Associated Press I/Gulfnews.com, Jan. 5). Tokyo warned Pyongyang against carrying out another test, AP reported. “We think it is essential that North Korea should stop further nuclear testing and they should abandon all their nuclear programs,” said Nori Shikata, a spokeswoman for the Japanese Foreign Ministry.  “If they conduct another nuclear test, then the international community, including Japan, will take additional measures.” The U.N. Security Council approved economic sanctions against North Korea following the first nuclear test (Hans Greimel, Associated Press II/Yahoo!News, Jan. 5). Meanwhile, South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon met yesterday in Washington with U.S. officials to discuss the North Korea nuclear standoff and plans for future multilateral negotiations, Yonhap reported. “They talked about reopening the negotiations at an early time and making substantive progress on North Korea’s denuclearization,” a South Korean aide said following a meeting between Song and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill. Song and outgoing U.S. national intelligence chief John Negroponte (see related GSN story, today) discussed North Korea’s nuclear capability, Yonhap reported.  North Korea is not to be acknowledged as a nuclear power, the two officials agreed (Yonhap News Agency, Jan. 5). Back to top       Group Warns of Security Risk to Plutonium Shipments Global shipments of weapon-usable plutonium for commercial nuclear reactors face a serious risk of theft by terrorists and therefore “require extraordinary physical protection,” according to a report released this week by the Institute for Science and International Security (see GSN, March 16, 2005). The report estimates that over the next 15 years about 1,500 shipments of mixed-oxide reactor fuel will be shipped by truck, rail and sea to and from reactors, reprocessing facilities and fuel fabrication sites.  Those shipments will contain enough plutonium for more than 60,000 nuclear weapons, the report says. “Even the theft of a single shipment could provide enough plutonium for tens of nuclear weapons,” it adds. To reduce the risk of terrorist threat, the report urges nations to abandon the use of plutonium fuel in reactors, but “that day appears to be at least two decades away.” In the meantime, the report recommends reducing the security risk by cutting the number of shipments.  That could be achieved by placing reprocessing, fuel fabrication and reactor facilities in one location whenever possible, or by moving larger amounts of fuel in fewer shipments. Above all, “maximum effort should be made to ensure that terrorists cannot steal unirradiated plutonium and that additional nations do not acquire the underlying technologies and use them to obtain nuclear weapons” (Institute for Science and International Security report, Jan. 3). Back to top       NNSA Chief Linton Brooks Dismissed U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman yesterday announced the firing of Linton Brooks, head of the department’s National Nuclear Security Administration.  Bodman said unresolved security issues at U.S. nuclear laboratories have forced him to shake up the agency’s top management (see GSN, Nov. 29, 2006). “These management and security issues can have serious implications for the security of the United States,” Bodman said in a release.  “While I believe that the current NNSA management has done its best to address these concerns, I do not believe that progress in correcting these issues has been adequate” (U.S. Energy Department release, Jan. 4). Most recently, a former contract worker at Los Alamos National Laboratory was discovered to have copied and removed classified nuclear weapons documents from the facility (see GSN, Nov. 6, 2006). In November the department’s inspector general issued a scathing report on security conditions on the laboratory, calling many planned security measures “nonexistent, applied inconsistently or not followed” (Matthew Wald, New York Times, Jan. 5). Calling his dismissal “not a decision that I would have preferred,” Brooks told NNSA workers yesterday that he would depart within two to three weeks. “One reason for forming NNSA was to prevent such management problems from occurring,” Brooks said in statement.  “We have not yet done so in over five years.  For much of that time I was in charge of NNSA.  Therefore the secretary believes that new leadership is needed” (National Nuclear Security Administration release, Jan. 4). An watchdog group praised Brooks’ dismissal. “We applaud Secretary Bodman’s decision to force accountability at NNSA, especially since it has been failing in its mission for years,” said Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, in a press release (Project on Government Oversight release, Jan. 4). A former Brooks associate, however, said the move was unfortunate. “I thought he was trying to what he could to keep a declining operation functioning as well as he could,” said physicist Gerald Marsh, who recently retired from the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. Prior to his NNSA job, Brooks had a long career in U.S. nuclear foreign policy, including leading the U.S. delegation that completed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (Wald, New York Times). Back to top       Iran Vows to Meet NPT Principles A senior Iranian official pledged yesterday that his nation would follow the “principles” of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Agence France-Presse reported.  Top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani visited Beijing this week in the wake of last month’s decision by the U.N. Security Council to impose economic sanctions against Iran (see GSN, Jan. 4). “Iran will still honor the principles of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and continue to seek a just and reasonable solution to the Iranian nuclear issue through talks,” he said during a meeting with Chinese State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan. Larijani’s remarks followed an ominous statement earlier in the week from an Iranian spokesman. “If we are put under pressure and deprived of our rights, we can use our capacity to decide whether to stay within the treaty or to quit it,” said government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Jan. 5). For its part, China today urged Iran to heed the Security Council’s decision, which calls for sanctions to be suspended if Iran freezes its uranium enrichment program. The resolution “reflects the shared concerns of the international community over the Iranian nuclear issue, and we hope Iran could make a serious response to the resolution,” said Chinese President Hu Jintao during a meeting with Larijani (Associated Press I/Yahoo!News, Jan. 5). Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency is reviewing whether any of its technical cooperation programs with Iran must be stopped to abide by council resolution, AFP reported today. The question could force an emergency meeting of the agency’s governing board later this month or in early February, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse II/SpaceWar.com, Jan. 5). Back to top       Australia Readies Uranium Exports to China Ratification of crucial nuclear safeguards agreements has cleared the way for Australia to export uranium to China, possibly beginning in February, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, April 4, 2006). Beijing and Canberra on Thursday exchanged diplomatic notes ratifying the two agreements signed in April 2006, according to Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer. “The agreements will enter into force 30 days after ratification,” he said.  “Accordingly, the legal framework for Australian uranium producers to commence exports to China is expected to be in place early in 2007.” Australian uranium is intended solely to help China meet its growing energy needs.  The agreements ban China from using the material for military purposes, from sending the uranium to another nation, and from reprocessing the material without approval from Australia. Any violation of the agreements would allow Australia to halt uranium exports, AP reported (Associated Press/USA Today, Jan. 4). Back to top

Bush Asserts Mail-Opening Authority President George W. Bush has staked out the right of the U.S. government to open citizens’ mail without first obtaining a warrant, the New York Daily News reported yesterday (see GSN, March 7, 2005). Bush on Dec. 20 signed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which specifically strengthened the rights of Americans not to have first-class mail searched without approval from a judge. However, in a signing statement Bush said he would “construe” an exception “which provides for opening of an item of a class of mail otherwise sealed against inspection in a manner consistent … with the need to conduct searches in exigent circumstances.” The need to “protect human life and safety against hazardous materials and the need for physical searches specifically authorized by law for foreign intelligence collection” must come first, the president said. The president was not claiming any new authority, the White House said. “In certain circumstances — such as with the proverbial ‘ticking bomb’ — the Constitution does not require warrants for reasonable searches,” said White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore. Others disputed Bush’s argument, the Daily News reported. “Despite the president’s statement that he may be able to circumvent a basic privacy protection, the new postal law continues to prohibit the government from snooping into people’s mail without a warrant,” said the bill’s co-sponsor, House Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). Critics argued that the mail-opening authority could lend itself to abuse.  Warrants to search mail are easily obtained and the Postal Service could halt delivery of suspect parcels in the meantime, they said. “You have to be concerned.  It takes the Executive Branch authority beyond anything we’ve ever known,” said a career senior U.S. official. “It’s something we’re going to look into,” said a high-level Senate Intelligence Committee aide (James Gordon Meek, New York Daily News, Jan. 4). The government is only likely to open mail without a warrant during an actual emergency, such as the placement of anthrax or another biological agent in a parcel, Heritage Foundation lawyer Brian Walsh told USA Today. Without such authority, mail delivery could become “a courier service for drug dealers or terrorists,” he said (Hall/Jackson, USA Today, Jan. 5). Back to top       Biotech Firm Finishing Work on Anthrax Treatment A New Jersey biotechnology company could begin selling a new anthrax treatment to U.S. agencies before the end of 2007, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 21, 2006). Elusys Therapeutics Inc. has received almost $20 million over a period of years from the Defense Department and National Institutes of Health, according to company president and chief executive officer Elizabeth Posillico.  It has used the funding to develop Anthim, a treatment for anthrax infection that binds antibodies to toxins, which are then consumed and eliminated from the body. More than half of test rabbits and monkeys have survived after being exposed to anthrax and then treated within two days with Anthim, AP reported. The compound has also proven safe in testing on healthy humans. Further animal testing is needed before the drug can be marketed, Posillico said (Linda Johnson, Associated Press/NorthJersey.com, Jan. 4). Back to top

U.S. Chemical Weapons Disposal Chief to Retire The director of the U.S. Army’s chemical weapons disposal effort is expected to retire early this year, The Pueblo Chieftain reported today (see GSN, Feb. 24, 2003). Michael Parker has led the Army Chemical Materials Agency since its inception in 2003.  He also last year took over leadership of the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, the office dedicated to preparing alternatives to incineration technology for disposal sites in Colorado and Kentucky. “We expect him to continue as the program manager for Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives for approximately two more months or so,” program spokeswoman Kathy DeWeese said.  “We don’t have a definite retirement date as yet, nor has a replacement program manager been identified for ACWA.” Leadership of the two programs is not expected to be given to one person following Parker’s retirement, John Klomp, chairman of the Colorado Demilitarization Citizens Advisory Commission, told the Chieftain.  The Defense Department felt that one manager could not handle both jobs. Klomp said that Parker in a conversation yesterday indicated that the change in leadership would not affect plans to use neutralization technology to eliminate materials stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot.  “There’s been enough money spent and enough progress that it would not change at this point,” Parker said, according to Klomp (John Norton, The Pueblo Chieftain, Jan. 5). Back to top

U.S. Sanctions Weapons Suppliers to Iran, Syria The United States imposed economic sanctions this week on companies in China, North Korea and Russia for selling missiles and other weapons-related items to Syria and Iran, the Washington Times reported (see GSN, June 14, 2006). The sanctions ban the U.S. government and U.S. companies from conducting certain types of business with three Chinese companies, three Russian firms and a North Korean firm.  Given the limited existing U.S. trade with the Chinese and North Korean entities, the sanctions would probably only have an effect on the Russian companies, according to the Times. The Chinese companies are the Zibo Chemical Equipment Plant (see GSN, Jan. 3, 2006), the China National Aerotechnology Import Export Corp. and the China National Electrical Import and Export Co. The North Korean firm is the Korean Mining and Industrial Development Corp., which has played a role in North Korean missile exports in the past, according to one official (Bill Gertz, Washington Times, Jan. 5). Back to top

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