Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, shown earlier this month, vowed today to press forward with Iran’s nuclear program (Behrouz Mehri/Getty Images). U.N. Powers Plan Next Steps on Iran Nuclear Standoff Diplomats from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany plan to meet Monday to discuss crafting a new resolution to persuade Iran to step back from its nuclear activities, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Feb. 22). The meeting was spurred by Iran’s refusal to freeze its program as demanded by a December council resolution which gave Tehran until Wednesday to comply.  ..Full Story

Massive Nevada Test Explosion Scrubbed By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Defense Department announced yesterday that it was canceling a massive conventional test explosion in Nevada that some feared was designed to emulate a small-yield, “bunker buster” nuclear weapon (see GSN, Feb. 7)...Full Story

North Korea Wanted Uranium, South Says A top South Korean official said today that North Korea has sought material for a nuclear program involving highly enriched uranium, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Feb. 23)...Full Story

	Friday, February 23, 2007

Putin Seeks Ratification for CTR Umbrella Agreement Russian President Vladimir Putin has formally submitted to Russia’s parliament a protocol to a U.S.-Russian agreement overseeing cooperative threat reduction activities, RIA Novosti reported yesterday (see GSN, June 20, 2006). Completed last year, the agreement provides the operating rules for U.S.-funded projects to secure and dismantle weapons of mass destruction and related materials in Russia (see GSN, Feb. 14). Putin submitted the protocol to the lower house of parliament Wednesday for its ratification (RIA Novosti, Feb. 22). Back to top

U.N. Powers Plan Next Steps on Iran Nuclear Standoff Diplomats from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany plan to meet Monday to discuss crafting a new resolution to persuade Iran to step back from its nuclear activities, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Feb. 22). The meeting was spurred by Iran’s refusal to freeze its program as demanded by a December council resolution which gave Tehran until Wednesday to comply.  The International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday issued a formal finding that Iran has continued, even accelerated, the construction of its uranium enrichment facility. The continuing activity at the site indicated that Iran was “effectively thumbing its nose at the international community,” said U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, who added that another Security Council resolution was needed to “see Iran repudiated again.” Iranian leaders vowed to press forward today. “The Iranian nation has resisted all bullies and corrupt powers and it will fully defend its rights,” said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The December Security Council resolution required months of negotiation before the six lead nations could agree on a set of economic sanctions that included banning the trade of nuclear- and missile-related technologies and freezing the assets of nearly two dozen Iranian firms and individuals (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/The Guardian, Feb. 23). Adding more stringent measures in a new resolution could require significant haggling between the Western nations — France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States — and China and Russia, which worked to ease the current batch of sanctions. “We want to do it as soon as possible and to avoid the wrangling of last time,” a senior European official told the Washington Post.  “But we've got to get tougher sanctions than we have at the moment if we want real impact, and we're very realistic about how difficult that may be.” The United States could be willing to resist pushing for aggressive measures in exchange for a rapid agreement on the resolution, said one senior U.S. official (Lynch/Linzer, Washington Post, Feb. 23). Diplomats said sanctions that could be discussed include banning certain Iranian officials from traveling, adding new companies and individuals to the current list of sanctions targets, prohibiting export guarantees to Iran, and expanding the current trade ban to include conventional arms (Lederer, Associated Press). Back to top       Massive Nevada Test Explosion Scrubbed By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Defense Department announced yesterday that it was canceling a massive conventional test explosion in Nevada that some feared was designed to emulate a small-yield, “bunker buster” nuclear weapon (see GSN, Feb. 7). The “Divine Strake” blast was slated to take place at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles north of Las Vegas.  It was “designed to significantly advance the nation’s ability to defeat underground facilities that produce and store nuclear weapons,” according to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Past budget documents indicated the test was meant to simulate a nuclear blast, though the Pentagon has now disowned that language. In its fiscal 2006 submission to Congress, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency portrayed the test as an experiment to provide data on how the shock from a small nuclear weapon would damage hardened, underground facilities (see GSN, April 7, 2006).  The government subsequently backed away from that language. Seven hundred tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil were to be detonated over an underground tunnel.  The blast, much larger than any existing conventional bomb, would have sent dust billowing thousands of feet into the air. Radioactive particles from more than hundreds of nuclear tests conducted decades ago remain at the sprawling test site, but a recent government environmental study found the soil at the planned Divine Strake site had radiation levels no higher than normal background levels. The closest area where above-ground nuclear testing occurred is more than a mile away, and any danger to the public was “extremely unlikely,” the report found (see GSN, Jan. 4). Lawmakers and residents from Nevada and Utah vehemently opposed the test, concerned that it would kick up that radioactive material.  Defense officials said the decision to scrap the test had nothing to do with safety concerns. Abandoning the test was “not based on any technical information that indicates the test would produce harm to workers, the general public or the environment,” according to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The announcement, however, does not mention precisely why Divine Strake was canceled.  “I have become convinced that it’s time to look at alternative methods that obviate the need for this type of large-scale test,” DTRA Director James Tegnelia said in a statement.  An agency spokeswoman declined to elaborate on the reasoning for calling off the test. The agency will look for other scientific methods to replicate the data this test would have provided.  It “remains committed to help develop non-nuclear means to defeat underground targets.  I am optimistic that we will succeed,” Tegnelia said. On Capitol Hill, Senator Orin Hatch (R-Utah) and Representative Jim Matheson (D-Utah) had led opposition to the test.  They represent communities that are downwind of the test site. Both applauded Thursday’s announcement.  “I couldn’t be more relieved,” Hatch said in a statement.  “Everybody in Utah can rest easier tonight knowing that the government listened.” Still, Hatch’s office could not say what exactly motivated the cancellation.  “We don’t have any insight into why they did it,” spokesman Peter Carr said. Matheson said the prospect of “even a non-nuclear mushroom cloud” over the test site would have brought back “bitter memories of how the government lied when it said that there was no danger.” Thousands of residents downwind of the site were exposed to cancer-causing radiation when dust and ash from nuclear tests fell on their communities. “If this announcement truly signals the end of Divine Strake, my hope is that DTRA would instead spend time and money on developing a conventional weapon that would actually be useful to our military in destroying deeply buried terrorist targets,” Matheson said in a statement. Back to top       North Korea Wanted Uranium, South Says A top South Korean official said today that North Korea has sought material for a nuclear program involving highly enriched uranium, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Feb. 23). “What North Korea has been procuring for the HEU program is already well known (to the Nuclear Suppliers Group) but we do not have full information where the program itself stands now,” said Chun Young-woo, lead South Korean negotiator at the six-party talks.  “Nobody seems to believe that they have an enrichment plant up and running, but I cannot tell you how far North Korea’s enrichment program has evolved.” Pyongyang to date has only publicly acknowledged operating a plutonium-based nuclear program.  It is required under the agreement reached at the last round of talks this month to resolve questions regarding all of its nuclear efforts, Chun said. Critics have argued that the deal fails to specifically address North Korea’s suspected uranium program or its existing collection of plutonium and weapons carrying the material, AFP reported (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Feb. 23). The United States in 2002 said that North Korea had acknowledged having a secret uranium enrichment program.  Pyongyang has denied making such an admission. Washington’s lead envoy to the nuclear negotiations acknowledged yesterday that the United States does not have full information about the program, Reuters reported. Pyongyang would need “a lot more equipment than we know that they have actually purchased” to operate a uranium program, said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, along with “some considerable production techniques that we’re not sure whether they have mastered.” Aluminum tubes that North Korea intended to use for an enrichment effort might have ended up “somewhere else,” Hill said at the Brookings Institution. Nonetheless, Hill said “the North Koreans made certain purchases of equipment which is entirely consistent with a highly enriched uranium program.” This could be the first public acknowledgement of holes in information that have been known since 2002, a former U.S. official told Reuters (Carol Giacomo, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Feb. 22). “We will face the problem — in fact, the very serious problem — of the highly enriched uranium program,” Hill said, according to AFP. He said there is a “long way to go” in seeing this month’s deal through to becoming reality, Hill said.  North Korea would receive a first installment of energy support and other aid after suspending work at its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and readmitting international inspectors, and a much larger aid package once its nuclear weapons program was fully eliminated. “I think there is a real sense among all the parties that we have a process going.  We are mindful of the fact that we have a long way to go,” Hill said. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to meet in April in Beijing with foreign ministers from the other nations in the six-party talks — China, Japan, Russia, and North and South Korea. “We go into this deal with our eyes open,” Vice President Dick Cheney said in Australia.  “In light of North Korea’s missile tests last July, its nuclear test in October and its record of proliferation and human rights abuses, the regime in Pyongyang has much to prove.” “Yet this agreement represents the first hopeful step towards a better future for the North Korean people,” he said (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, Feb. 23). Chun said North Korea seems open to halt production of plutonium that could be used in weapons, Reuters reported. “They made the decision to give up at least the existing nuclear programs and even facilities — that means to forgo any additional production of plutonium,” he said. He echoed Hill’s statement regarding the hard work ahead in closing down Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.  “We have a long way to go and a steep road ahead,” Chun said (Reuters II/New York Times, Feb. 23). North Korea has invited International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei to travel to Pyongyang in coming weeks for talks on shuttering the nuclear program, the Associated Press reported today. Talks are to address strategies to “implement the freeze of (nuclear) facilities” and “eventual dismantlement of these facilities,” ElBaradei said. The trip is likely to occur during the second week of March, following the next IAEA Board of Governors meeting (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 23). Back to top       House Lawmakers Explore Possibility of Pulling Classified Work From Los Alamos National Laboratory U.S. lawmakers last week placed additional pressure on Los Alamos National Laboratory managers to improve security procedures, the Santa Fe (N.M.) New Mexican reported Wednesday (see GSN, Feb. 14). Members of the House energy committee asked the Government Accountability Office to explore “whether it is feasible to move classified activities to other weapons labs where there is a better track record with respect to security,” according to the letter making the request. The letter follows an embarrassing string of laboratory lapses that resulted in the leakage or loss of classified nuclear weapon information.  Spurred by the security situation, the Energy Department last year turned the laboratory’s management over to a private contractor for the first time (see GSN, June 1, 2006). “The repeated failures to protect national security assets have cast doubt on whether Los Alamos National Security, LLC ... and the National Nuclear Security Administration are capable of assuring adequate safety, security and sound business management practices,” says the letter, signed by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) and three other panel members.  “More dramatic steps are necessary, and we intend to develop and implement a range of options to solve the problems at LANL.” New Mexico’s senators said Dingell’s request was unneeded. The letter was “a dubious response to an issue that deserves productive responses,” said Senator Pete Domenici (R).  “This newest House push against LANL amounts to unnecessary and counterproductive piling-on” (Andy Lenderman, The New Mexican, Feb. 21). “The lab by definition is focused on projects which in many cases require classification,” said Senator Jeff Bingaman (D). Laboratory watchdog groups, however, praised the Dingell letter. “It’s wonderful that somebody in Congress is finally beginning to take oversight of the nuclear weapons laboratories, or at least of Los Alamos, more seriously,” said Greg Mello, head of the Los Alamos Study Group (John Arnold, Albuquerque Journal, Feb. 22). Back to top       U.S. to Fund Academic Study of Nuclear Detection The U.S. Homeland Security Department has announced a five-year collaborative effort with academia to develop new nuclear material detection technologies, the agency said last week (see GSN, Feb. 9). Under the plan, the department’s Domestic Nuclear Detection Office would work with the National Science Foundation to issue up to $58 million in grants to colleges and universities.  The research would focus on developing sensors to detect nuclear weapons, fissile material or radiological weapons. “This Academic Research Initiative is a critical element in building the nation’s intellectual capital in nuclear detection capability,” said DNDO Director Vayl Oxford in a press release.  “Continued advances in science and technology are a key element in the long-term effort to protect the nation against nuclear attacks” (U.S. Homeland Security Department release, Feb. 16). Back to top

U.S. Cancels Bid Process on New Anthrax Vaccine The U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has shut down the bid process for development of a third-generation anthrax vaccine, one of the bidders announced yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 13). The decision was based on “programmatic considerations,” according to Emergent BioSolutions. The agency issued the request for proposals in June 2006. “Emergent BioSolutions remains committed to developing biodefense countermeasures, including anthrax vaccines and immune globulins,” said company chairman and chief executive officer Fuad El-Hibri in a press release.  “This cancellation from NIAID does not diminish that commitment.  We expect to continue to pursue one or more of the enhancements sought under the RFP, such as room temperature storage, extended shelf life, novel adjuvants and novel delivery systems” (Emergent BioSolutions release I, Feb. 22). Emergent also yesterday delivered nearly 1 million doses of its Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed to the Health and Human Services Department, the company said. The vaccine will be placed in the U.S. strategic national stockpile.  It is the only anthrax vaccine to be licensed to date by the Food and Drug Administration (Emergent BioSolutions release II, Feb. 23). Back to top       Anthrax-Tainted Building Reopens in Florida A Florida office building contaminated by the 2001 anthrax mail attacks reopened yesterday, but the owner has yet to find tenants, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 8). The Boca Raton building was once home to American Media Inc., publisher of the National Enquirer and other publications, but was shuttered after anthrax-laden mail killed one staffer and sickened others. At a ceremony yesterday, Boca Raton Mayor Steve Abrams said the reopening demonstrated American resolve. “We will not be intimidated by terrorism in Boca Raton or anywhere else as Americans,” he said. American Media sold the still-contaminated building to developer David Rustine in 2003 for $40,000. He plans to house his own offices in the building and is seeking additional tenants, AP reported. Rustine’s wife declared the building safe for her and her two poodles. “I would invite my family here,” she said.  “I have my pets in here” (Associated Press/The Ledger, Feb. 22). Back to top

Yamaha Employees Arrested for Helicopter Export Japanese authorities have arrested three Yamaha Motor Co. employees on suspicion of attempting to illegally export to China a remote-controlled helicopter that could be used to disperse chemical agents, Deutsche Press-Agentur reported today (see GSN, Jan. 4). The company failed to obtain government approval for exporting the helicopter to Beijing BVE Technology, which is believed to be connected to the People’s Liberation Army, Kyodo News reported. The export in question did not go through.  However, Yamaha has acknowledged previously shipping nine of the helicopters to Beijing.  It denied violating Japanese export rules, and said the helicopters were intended solely for agricultural use (Deutsche Press-Agentur, Feb. 23). Back to top

Pakistan Tests Nuclear-Capable Missile Pakistan today conducted a successful test launch of its nuclear-capable Hatf 6 ballistic missile, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Dec. 11, 2006). The missile, also known as the Shaheen 2, has a range of 1,280 miles (Agence France-Presse/New York Times, Feb. 23). Back to top

U.K. Considers Hosting Missile Defense British officials have acknowledged conducting talks with the United States on hosting components of the U.S. missile defense system, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, Aug. 16, 2006). “We have certainly been engaged in conversations with the U.S. about this,” a Downing Street spokesman said.  “The objective of these conversations was to make sure that the U.K. is kept in consideration to be one of the locations for the system should the U.S. press ahead with the system.” British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been “discreetly waging a campaign” over a period of months to have his nation involved in the missile shield, the Economist magazine reported.  The spokesman said the magazine reported went “too far” in describing the talks, which he said are in the preliminary stage, AFP reported. The spokesman could not confirm a BBC report that Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush have discussed missile defense and that Blair’s lead foreign policy adviser and the U.S. National Security Council were working on the matter (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Feb. 23). The head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said yesterday that there are no plans to extend the system in Europe beyond proposed installations in Poland and the Czech Republic, AFP reported. “We do not have any further plan at this point to expand it to additional nations over there,” said Lt. Gen. Henry Obering. Washington has proposed to install 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic. Russia has objected strongly to the plan.  Obering said, though, that the missile interceptors would post no threat to Russian strategic forces. “You are not going to counter the hundreds of Russian ICBMs and the thousands of warheads that are represented in that fleet with 10 interceptors in the field in Europe,” he said. “The interceptors that we are placing in Europe are not fast enough to catch the Russian ICBMs,” Obering added (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, Feb. 22). “Russia is not the intended target of this system,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried.  “They know this.” He said recent remarks by President Vladimir Putin and other officials in Moscow regarding missile defense might be intended to promote Russia’s resumed place as an international power, the Associated Press reported. Fried labeled as “incomprehensible and negative” the recent statements by missile forces chief Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov that Russia might target the Polish and Czech installations with nuclear weapons. “In my experience it doesn’t usually pay to threaten Poles and Czechs,” Fried said.  “No country likes to be put in nuclear cross hairs” (Desmond Butler, Associated Press, Feb. 22). Back to top

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