U.S. National Intelligence Director John McConnell testifies yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee. He identified terrorism and WMD proliferaton as the main security threats facing the United States (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images). U.S. Lowers Confidence in North Korean HEU Program By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. confidence that North Korea was working toward a production-scale uranium enrichment program has slipped, a senior U.S. intelligence official said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 27). When the United States confronted Pyongyang in 2002 with evidence it believed showed North Korea was pursuing a large-scale enrichment facility, U.S. officials had “high confidence” in the assessment, according to Joseph DeTrani, North Korea mission manager for the national intelligence director...Full Story

North Korea Moving on Nuclear Agreement, U.S. Says North Korea has apparently begun to implement its pledges under a nuclear disarmament pact approved at the last round of six-nation negotiations, U.S. intelligence officials said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 27)...Full Story

Cuba Producing Biological Weapons, Defector Says Cuba is producing weaponized biological agents such as plague, botulism and yellow fever in a laboratory near Havana, a defector said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 14, 2006)...Full Story

	Wednesday, February 28, 2007

U.S. Security Bill Faces Labor Trouble Efforts to place 43,000 U.S. Transportation Security Administration airport security personnel under union protection could kill homeland security legislation being considered in Congress, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Feb. 14). The legislation is intended to enact antiterrorism recommendations from the Sept. 11 commission. While TSA officers can join a union, federal law would not allow that organization to contest job assignments, file grievances or represent employees during disciplinary proceedings.  Strengthening the rights of TSA personnel would not undermine security, according to supporters of the measure. “There’s no good reason to deny these rights to these people,” said Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.). However, President George W. Bush is likely to veto the legislation if it includes collective bargaining authority. “Existing authority permits TSA the flexibility to manage and deploy their work force,” said White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.  “We do think it is important that TSA maintain that flexibility for performing key homeland security roles.” Thirty-six Republican senators stated yesterday in a letter to the White House that they are ready to sustain the veto against a challenge in the Senate, the Times reported. The House version of the bill requires inspections of all U.S.-bound ship cargo.  Democrats are expected to push to add the measure to the Senate legislation.  It faces opposition from the White House and numerous Republicans. Rail and transit security measures are also expected to be included in the Senate bill (Eric Lipton, New York Times, Feb. 28). Back to top

Lawmaker Wants Hearings on National Guard Readiness A U.S. lawmaker has requested congressional hearings to examine the National Guard’s ability to respond to WMD attacks in the United States, the Washington Times reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 21). The call by Representative Tom Davis (R-Va.) follows two recent Government Accountability Office reports that criticized the guard’s readiness. “As we continue to ask more of the National Guard, it's our job to make sure they're adequately staffed, equipped and trained to perform their missions at home,” said Davis said in a letter to Representative Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “I'm asking for these hearings because it's abundantly clear they are not,” he said.  “First, we don't give them the training and equipment they need.  Then we subject them to uncaring and uncoordinated care when they're wounded.” The GAO reports found that domestic guard units lack adequate equipment, personnel and training to respond to a WMD incident (Jerry Seper, Washington Times, Feb. 27). Back to top

U.S. Lowers Confidence in North Korean HEU Program By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. confidence that North Korea was working toward a production-scale uranium enrichment program has slipped, a senior U.S. intelligence official said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 27). When the United States confronted Pyongyang in 2002 with evidence it believed showed North Korea was pursuing a large-scale enrichment facility, U.S. officials had “high confidence” in the assessment, according to Joseph DeTrani, North Korea mission manager for the national intelligence director. “We still see elements of that program,” he said during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, but described the U.S. belief now in the “mid-confidence level.” The U.S. assertion that North Korea was working toward uranium enrichment while its plutonium-based nuclear program was frozen led to a quick collapse of the Clinton-era Agreed Framework and the restart of plutonium production.  The United States claims Pyongyang acknowledged possessing an enrichment program during that confrontation, but North Korean officials have publicly denied making any such admission. During the negotiations that led to the Feb. 13 denuclearization plan, State Department officials have said North Korea did not acknowledge any work toward a uranium-based program. DeTrani, however, said the recent six-party agreement covers all nuclear programs (see GSN, Feb. 15).  “The North Koreans are very aware of when we speak on all nuclear programs, we are also including their acquisitions of materials for a production-scale uranium enrichment program,” he said. That mention of the uranium allegations has been largely absent from discussions of North Korea’s current program might indicate that the United States has altered its assessment, Joel Wit, a former State Department official involved in negotiating the Agreed Framework, wrote in a recent article. Wit and Institute for Science and International Security head David Albright, who both recently returned from Pyongyang, have suggested it might be time to reconsider the 2002 assertion (see GSN, Feb. 22).  The United States had initially believed that North Korea was going to be producing highly enriched uranium by the middle of this decade, Wit said recently, calling it a deeply flawed assessment. Since his return from North Korea, Albright has said he believes that international inspectors would eventually discover parts of a North Korean uranium program but that it would not be on the scale that the United States had originally suggested. During yesterday’s lengthy and wide-ranging hearing on threats to U.S. national security, new National Intelligence Director John McConnell and Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, both listed global terrorism as the main concern, followed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. “Increased availability of information together with technical advances have the potential to allow additional countries to develop nuclear, biological and chemical weapons,” Maples said.  “And this is an area of increasing concern.” Both McConnell and Maples expressed no doubt that Iran was pursuing a nuclear weapon.  Iran maintains that its research into the nuclear fuel cycle and enrichment technology is for peaceful energy-production purposes. When pressed by Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), McConnell said it is unlikely Iran could field a nuclear weapon before 2015 and that it could take even longer before it had a missile capable of delivering a nuclear payload. Maples said the Defense Intelligence Agency continues to believe Iran is developing an ICBM, suggesting 2015 as a completion date (see GSN, Feb. 26).  “They’re investing very heavily in ballistic missile capabilities that pose a regional threat,” he said.  “A capability to reach Israel is well within their means.” Strong economic sanctions levied on Iran “would have a dramatic impact,” McConnell said, but he suggested it remains unclear if such penalties would force the government in Tehran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. In responding to a series of quick-fire questions from Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), McConnell agreed that a nuclear-armed Iran would be “one of the most destabilizing events in modern times” and could spark an atomic arms race in the Middle East. Maples said he believes North Korea, which detonated a nuclear device in October (see GSN, Oct. 10, 2006), has the technical capability to send a ballistic missile as far as California.  It has not yet been successfully tested, he said. North Korea unsuccessfully tested its intercontinental Taepodong 2 missile in July 2006 (see GSN, July 5, 2006). It is unclear whether North Korea is capable of arming such a missile with a nuclear warhead, but some experts believe Pyongyang has the capability to marry a nuclear device to its shorter-range Nodong missiles. “I would probably estimate that it’s not a matter of years, that in fact they will have learned form the Taepodong launch of last summer and gone back to make corrections to whatever the failure was and apply that to the missile systems they already have,” Maples said. Back to top       North Korea Moving on Nuclear Agreement, U.S. Says North Korea has apparently begun to implement its pledges under a nuclear disarmament pact approved at the last round of six-nation negotiations, U.S. intelligence officials said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 27). Pyongyang said it would freeze work at its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and allow international nuclear inspectors back into the country.  It would receive fuel oil upon meeting those conditions, and a much larger supply when it fully dismantles its nuclear weapons program. North Korea has begun inspections of the reactor, Defense Intelligence Agency chief Lt. Gen. Michael Maples said yesterday during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. “There are parts of this nuclear program that we have to pay a lot of attention to, to see if we have the kind of disclosure and the inspection capabilities that we’re looking for,” he said. There are strong doubts in Washington on whether the deal would prove successful in disarming North Korea. There are “open questions” regarding Pyongyang’s intentions, said new National Intelligence Director John McConnell.  However, “so far, the indications are in a positive direction.” “Remember the old phrase:  trust but verify,” said Senator John Warner (R-Va.) (Foster Klug, Associated Press I/Yahoo!News, Feb. 27). The upcoming visit to the United States by lead North Korean nuclear negotiator Kim Kye Gwan is expected to include discussions on normalizing diplomatic relations between the two nations, the Washington Times reported. Also on the docket is for Washington to “begin the process of removing the designation of (North Korea) as a state sponsor of terrorism and advance the process of terminating the application of the Trading With the Enemy Act with respect to (North Korea),” a State Department official said. There is also movement within the U.S. Foreign Assets Control Office to remove financial sanctions from North Korea, a source told the Times. “Officials there are saying, ‘If you look at our documents, North Korea, Iran and Cuba were the enemies of the United States,” the source said.  “Going forward, we are looking at Iran and Cuba” (Andrew Salmon, Washington Times, Feb. 28). Kim and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill are scheduled to meet March 5 and 6 in New York, according to the State Department. “It’s not a meeting that will produce immediate results,” said department spokesman Sean McCormack (Associated Press II/Yahoo!News, Feb. 28). Officials from Japan and North Korea are scheduled to meet March 7 and 8 in Vietnam to discuss establishment of diplomatic relations and other issues, AP reported.  The diplomatic issue is another component of the deal made in Beijing. “Japan is ready to actively engage in negotiations on establishing diplomatic relations and to make further progress at the six-party talks,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki.  “We will work to attain substantial progress (Associated Press III/Yahoo!News, Feb. 28). South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, today during a trip to Pyongyang, pressed North Korea to meets its obligations under the Feb. 13 agreement in a “quick and smooth” fashion, Agence France-Presse reported. North Korea, in turn, called for Seoul to immediately resume humanitarian aid, apparently referring to food shipments and family reunions (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Feb. 28). Back to top       Nations Take Positions in Iranian Nuclear Dispute Iran’s refusal to suspend its nuclear program is “very worrying,” British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 27). Representatives from six leading nations met this week in London to discuss their strategy for dealing with the Iran, which has ignored a U.N. Security Council deadline to freeze its uranium enrichment program. “I think Iran is making a big miscalculation,” Blair said. The United States and other Western powers have made the freeze a precondition to resuming talks with Iran to find a long-term solution to the nuclear crisis. Blair reaffirmed that position yesterday, saying there was nothing to discuss unless Tehran acceded to the council’s demand. “The question is what is the conversation about?  Given that they are saying they are not going to suspend enrichment, they are still supporting extremism in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Palestine and they are not showing any signs they are prepared to stop doing that,” he said (David Stringer, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Feb. 27). In a departure from its past reluctance to speak with Tehran, however, the United States yesterday agreed to hold Iraq stabilization talks with Iran and Syria, the New York Times reported.  A planned first round would convene within two weeks in Baghdad and a later session, to involve U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, would meet in early April, according to the Times (Cooper/Semple, New York Times, Feb. 28). Meanwhile, the United States was likely to meet opposition to ratcheting up U.N. economic sanctions against Iran. “Our position has been consistent in that we advocate a solution to the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiation and peaceful means,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said following the London meeting.  “Sanctions are not our ultimate purpose” (Agence France-Presse I, Feb. 27). South Africa, newly seated on the U.N. Security Council, is also likely to resist more sanctions, the South African Star reported. South African President Thabo Mbeki met Sunday with lead Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and assured him that South Africa would oppose new economic penalties, according to sources.  South Africa would even oppose any council consideration of the issue, the Star reported (Peter Fabricius, Star, Feb. 27). In Moscow, Iran’s ambassador to Russia yesterday cautioned the United States against taking any military action. “If the Americans do something foolish and attack Iran, I am sure that the Iranian people will give a very instructive lesson,” said Gholamreza Ansari.  “We will be able to give a worthy, adequate response, and I don’t doubt that Iran would make such a response immediately after the attack.  We also do not limit the territory for such a response — it could be anywhere,” Ansari said (Agence France-Presse II/Khaleej Times, Feb. 27). Back to top       U.S. Finishes Producing First Tritium in 18 Years A new U.S. facility has finished producing its first batch of tritium and has transferred the nuclear-weapon boosting gas into storage, the Energy Department announced yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 5, 2006). After shutting down tritium production in 1988, the department replenished tritium in U.S. nuclear weapons with gas removed from retired weapons.  The gas has a radioactive half-life of about 12 years, leading the department to conclude that recycling the gas was “only a short-term solution,” according to a release. The new Tritium Extraction Facility at the department’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina has created the first fresh tritium since construction was completed in 2005 (see GSN, Sept. 12, 2005). “Now that tritium operations have begun at the Tritium Extraction Facility, we have restored an important capability to meet our future needs and continue to ensure the reliability and safety of the nuclear weapons stockpile,” said Thomas D’Agostino, acting administrator of the department’s National Nuclear Security Administration (U.S. Energy Department release, Feb. 27). Back to top       Southeast Asia Seeks Adherence to Nuclear-Free Zone Southeast Asian nations plan to review their regional nuclear weapon-free zone this summer to encourage nuclear powers to respect the zone, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 31, 2006). Foreign ministers from the 10-state Association of Southeast Asian Nations are scheduled to meet in July in Manila. Some nuclear-armed nations, such as the United States, have expressed concern that the zone could restrict the movement of naval vessels.  However, a Filipino official said the group would try to address those concerns with new treaty protocols. “This is very vital in securing the region from possible nuclear catastrophes,” said Filipino Foreign Undersecretary Erlinda Basilio (Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Feb. 27). Back to top

Cuba Producing Biological Weapons, Defector Says Cuba is producing weaponized biological agents such as plague, botulism and yellow fever in a laboratory near Havana, a defector said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 14, 2006). “They can develop viruses and bacteria and dangerous sicknesses that are currently unknown and difficult to diagnose,” Roberto Ortega, former head of Cuba’s military medical services, told The Miami Herald.  “They don’t need missiles or troops.  They need four agents, like the people from al-Qaeda or the Taliban, who contaminate water, air conditioning or heating systems.” The Castro regime would use biological agents “to blackmail the United States in case of an international incident,” Ortega said. Scientists at the laboratory reproduced and maintained stocks of germs and bacteria from Africa, he said.  Ortega said he visited the underground facility alongside a Russian delegation in 1992.  “I saw it.  I lived it,’ said Ortega, who defected to the United States in 2003. Ortega said that two years ago he informed the CIA about the facility, which he said operates underneath a civilian site, the Herald reported.   He went public with his claims after it did not appear the CIA was following up on his claim. There was no comment from the CIA or State Department. Cuba possesses an advanced biotechnology sector, which has produced and exported hepatitis and meningitis vaccines.  It has denied operating any bioweapons programs. Then-Undersecretary of State John Bolton said in 2002 that Cuba “has at least a limited offensive biological warfare research and development effort.”  State Department analysts are split on the question, according to a 2006 agency report. “If you ask whether the Cubans are capable, I’d say easily,” said former Russian biological weapons official Ken Alibek.  “Are they doing it?  I can tell you when I was involved in the late 80s, we suspected so” (Frances Robles, The Miami Herald, Feb. 28). Back to top       Powder at University Found to Be Sugar A white powder that an apparently distraught student at the University of Missouri-Rolla said was anthrax turned out to be powdered sugar, The Kansas City Star reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 27). The unidentified student, reported to be depressed over poor grades, said yesterday he was carrying anthrax and threatened to blow up the university’s civil engineering building yesterday.  Police used a stun gun to end the standoff. Authorities found no explosives in the building.  Tests of the white substance found in the building determined that it was sugar rather than anthrax. “We do not feel this is a terrorist threat of any type,” acting Rolla Police Chief Mark Kearse said.  “It’s one individual on a personal vendetta for his particular reasons. “We feel comfortable it’s not going to be a serious situation as far as what we’re going to find,” he added. Twenty-three people were quarantined temporarily following exposure to the material.  They showed no signs of sickness and were released yesterday. Charges were expected to be filed yesterday against the student (Kevin Murphy, The Kansas City Star, Feb. 27). Back to top

Polish Missile Defense Talks Could Last Years Negotiations on involving Poland in the U.S. missile shield could last years, Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga said Monday (see GSN, Feb. 27). “The United States has proposed building a missile defense base on our territory, but the negotiating process could last several years, because various technical, legislative and other issues are involved,” she said. “All I can say with certainly is that during the discussions, we will prioritize Poland’s security, and then the security of Europe and the world,” Fotyga added. The United States hopes to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland, along with a radar system in the Czech Republic. President Lech Kaczynski is expected to discuss the matter with Poland’s Security Council in early March, RIA Novosti reported (Martin Sieff, United Press International, Feb. 27). Back to top       Lockheed Receives Aegis Missile Defense Contract Defense contractor Lockheed Martin yesterday received a $979 million contract to continue development of the ship-based U.S. Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Weapon System, the Cherry Hill, N.J., Courier-Post reported (see GSN, Nov. 28, 2006). The Missile Defense Agency contract funds equipment and computer program development and incorporation of a signal processor into a radar system. The work is intended to increase visual discrimination in radar systems, allowing them to better differentiate “threats from trash,” said Lockheed Martin spokesman Kenneth Ross (Eileen Stilwell, Courier-Post, Feb. 28). The Aegis system has brought down targets in eight of 10 intercept tests, and has conducted more than 15 successful tracking tests since June 2005, Lockheed said in a press release. Plans call for preparing 15 U.S. Aegis destroyers and three cruisers to engage short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles.  Six Aegis warships can now fire on ballistic missiles, and 10 have tracking capabilities for long-range missiles. Eighty-one ships from Australia, Japan, Norway, South Korea, Spain and the United States now carry the Aegis weapon system (Lockheed Martin release, Feb. 27). Back to top

U.S. Allocates Funds for Local Emergency Responders The U.S. Homeland Security Department announced yesterday it has made available $194 million in grant money for state and local first responders to improve their emergency management (see GSN, Feb. 6). Recipients would use the funds to plan and conduct training exercises, among other programs. “The department remains steadfast in its commitment to providing this critical assistance to the nation's emergency management community,” said Undersecretary George Foresman in a press release.  “These resources will help state and local officials to sustain or strengthen the effectiveness of emergency management programs nationwide” (U.S. Homeland Security Department release, Feb. 27). Back to top

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