U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, shown last month in Seoul, said he expects “hard bargaining” at six-party talks scheduled to resume tomorrow on North Korea’s nuclear program. Diplomats have played down the likelihood of a breakthrough at the negotiations, while experts have questioned Pyongyang's willingness to disarm (Kim Jae-hwan/Getty Images). Negotiators Prepare for North Korea Nuclear Talks Negotiators from six nations have begun gathering in Beijing ahead of the resumption tomorrow of talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 6). While the last set of meetings in December ended without signs of progress in disarming Pyongyang, hopes were raised by subsequent bilateral talks between U.S. and North Korean negotiators. “The big question is whether the North Koreans are really ready to make some progress,” said the lead U.S. envoy to the talks, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill.  “We did have some good signs in Berlin, but I think we also know that there is going to be some rather hard bargaining, so we’ll see how we do.”..Full Story

IAEA Reports 149 Nuclear Materials Incidents in 2006 The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed 149 incidents of unauthorized activities involving nuclear material in 2006.  It also confirmed reports last year of 103 incidents that occurred in previous years (see GSN, Jan. 26).  ..Full Story

Russia to Boost ICBM Deployment Russia plans to deploy 17 new ICBMs in 2007, more than four times the average annual missile deployment in recent years, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 5)...Full Story

	Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Terror Trial Begins in Paris Over Australian Plot The trial of a French Muslim convert who is suspected of planning a strike on an Australian nuclear power plant began today in Paris, Reuters reported (see GSN, Feb. 5). Willy Brigitte, 38, could receive a 10-year prison sentence if convicted of associating with criminals involve in terrorist activities.  He has been in French custody since October 2003, following his arrest and extradition from Australia. Prosecutors have built their case on documents found at Brigitte’s home in Sydney as well as an Australian investigation into suspects linked to Brigitte.  The case also includes comments made to French police by an Islamic militant who later recanted his statement, according to the Reuters report. Prosecutors today said Australian police found Brigitte carrying a sheet of paper printed from the Internet regarding Australian nuclear and military sites. The Frenchman denies wrongdoing and said he believes the case against him is biased.  “I have no confidence in French justice,” he said.  “I have lost all hope of being understood.” Brigitte denied being a terrorist or being “involved in any terrorist activity whatsoever” (Reuters/New York Times, Feb. 7). Back to top

Negotiators Prepare for North Korea Nuclear Talks Negotiators from six nations have begun gathering in Beijing ahead of the resumption tomorrow of talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 6). While the last set of meetings in December ended without signs of progress in disarming Pyongyang, hopes were raised by subsequent bilateral talks between U.S. and North Korean negotiators. “The big question is whether the North Koreans are really ready to make some progress,” said the lead U.S. envoy to the talks, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill.  “We did have some good signs in Berlin, but I think we also know that there is going to be some rather hard bargaining, so we’ll see how we do.” Diplomats from China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States today conducted separate bilateral meetings.  The North Korean negotiator is expected in Beijing tomorrow. The talks are expected to last several days, though there is not set date for them to close.  Review is expected to begin Friday of a draft agreement moving Pyongyang toward denuclearization, AP reported. “The real success will be when we complete the full September ’05 agreement, not just when we start,” Hill said, referring to North Korea’s pledge to eliminate its nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic and energy support and security guarantees.  “We’re not going to finish that this week.  We’ll just maybe take a good first step.” Pyongyang has issued a set of demands for taking initial disarmament measures, including at least 500,000 tons of oil, normalization of relations with the United States and elimination of U.S. financial sanctions.  The Stalinist state reportedly indicated it would reciprocate by freezing work at its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and allow international nuclear inspectors back into the country. “This is another moment of truth for the six-party talks,” said South Korean negotiator Chun Young-woo.  “This round of talks should create some sort of turning point that shows North Korea’s desire to denuclearize” (Charles Hutzler, Associated Press I/RedOrbit.com, Feb. 7). “The North Koreans have to suspend nuclear enrichment and reprocessing activities, and furthermore, they have to back off the nuclear program,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said yesterday (Reuters/Yahoo!News, Feb. 6). South Korea is also looking for a full shutdown of North Korean nuclear efforts, the Yonhap News Agency reported. “The present goal is to make North Korea shut down its nuclear facilities, and ultimately the North will be prevented from producing extra plutonium,” a senior official in Seoul said (Yonhap News Agency, Feb. 7). North Korean officials indicated in a recent meeting with U.S. visitors that they would take no action until Washington pledged to provide light-water reactors for supplying energy, AP reported. Reactors were part of the 1994 Agreed Framework between Pyongyang and Washington.  The deal dissolved in 2002 before work was finished. Officials in Pyongyang “acted as if it was going to be settled.  They were pretty optimistic,” said David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, who visited Pyongyang last week with former State Department official Joel Wit. “My sense is they’re willing to go for disarmament, but that it’s going to be a very slow process because of the lack of trust of the United States,” Albright said (Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Feb. 6). Back to top       IAEA Reports 149 Nuclear Materials Incidents in 2006 The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed 149 incidents of unauthorized activities involving nuclear material in 2006.  It also confirmed reports last year of 103 incidents that occurred in previous years (see GSN, Jan. 26).  Fifteen of the 2006 incidents involved the seizure of nuclear and radioactive materials from people possessing them illegally, including those who were attempting to smuggle the material across borders or sell it. Six of those cases involved nuclear material, while five involved natural uranium, depleted uranium, thorium or other material.  Only one involved highly enriched uranium. In that case, the Republic of Georgia reported in February 2006 that nearly 80 grams of 89 percent enriched uranium had been seized from criminals in Tbilisi (see GSN, Jan. 31; International Atomic Energy Agency release, Feb. 1). Back to top       Russia to Boost ICBM Deployment Russia plans to deploy 17 new ICBMs in 2007, more than four times the average annual missile deployment in recent years, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 5). Moscow expects to spend $189 billion between 2007 and 2015 to modernize its weapons program.  That includes deployment of 34 new silo-based Topol-M missiles and another 50 Topol-M missiles on mobile launchers, according to Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. Russia has on average annually deployed four ballistic missiles in recent years, AP reported (Associated Press/New York Times, Feb. 7). Back to top       Israel PM Says Sanctions Can Affect Iran Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday said Iran’s nuclear program is not as advanced as officials in Tehran have claimed and that sanctions are still a valid tool to resolve the standoff (see GSN, Feb. 6). “I think there is a way to stop the Iranians from moving forward on their nuclear program without violent actions,” Olmert told a gathering of U.S. Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, according to Reuters. “They are not as close to the threshold as they pretend to be, and therefore there is still time to fight in a responsible, comprehensive and powerful manner,” he said. The steps taken by the international community, including U.N. sanctions imposed on Iran in December, are “more effective than some think they are,” he said. However, “They are not enough, it’s not sufficient, there must be more,” Olmert said (Reuters/New York Times, Feb. 6). Israel is in the midst of a campaign to muster international political and economic pressures against a country that has become increasingly troubling to Israeli leaders, the Los Angeles Times reported. Israel’s war with Iran-supported Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon last summer and increasingly strident anti-Israeli rhetoric from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have heightened concerns. Israeli leaders are concerned that time is running out for powerful action from U.S. President George W. Bush, the Times reported.  Since last summer, Olmert has raised concerns about Iran with leaders of a number of European nations as well as China, Egypt and Jordan.  He has twice met with Bush. A senior Israeli defense official suggested that a nuclear-armed Iran could consolidate opposition to Israel in the region. “The Iranians could create a belief that they can beat us, and under their umbrella create and axis that will destabilize the Middle East,” Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad said. In Qatar last week, Vice Premier Shimon Peres said that Israel’s problem was not with Iran in general but Ahmadinejad in particular.  He added that Israel did not “intend to use military action.” Uri Lubrani, a former Israeli ambassador to Iran who will advises the government, said that if the Iranian president were to lose power “someone else would come to power, someone less hostile, and the question of whether they have the nuclear capability will be less important” (Ricard Boudreaux/Los Angeles Times, Feb. 7). In Kuwait City yesterday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the possibility remains for negotiations between Iran and the international community regarding Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, Agence France-Presse reported. “Even if the United Nations has decided on sanction, the door for negotiations remains open,” Merkel, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.  “I hope that reason will prevail and that we will be able to hold talks again” (Agence France-Presse/IranMania, Feb. 6) There are no plans for military strikes on Iran, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday. “You can’t take any option off the table, but nobody is talking or planning military intervention.  That’s now what the international community wants.  It’s not what we want,” he said (Thomas Wagner, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 6). Back to top       Public Comment on “Divine Strake” Draws to a Close Today is the final day the federal government will receive public comments on the proposed “Divine Strake” test explosion in Nevada.  More than 3,000 comments have already been submitted, The Salt Lake Tribune reported (see GSN, Jan. 12). The planned detonation of 700 tons of conventional explosives has sparked opposition from those who live downwind of the Nevada Test Site, concerned that the massive explosion could shoot a plume of radioactive dust from previous nuclear blasts into the air. The Defense and Energy departments say the test is designed to provide more information about how to destroy deeply buried bunkers.  Critics say they believe it is related to the nation’s nuclear program.  Past budget documents indicated that the test was meant to simulate a nuclear blast, though the government has now disowned that language. “There’s no such thing as a 700-ton conventional weapon,” Representative Jim Matheson (D-Utah) told The Washington Post.  “Make no mistake about it, there’s an effort to move into creating new nuclear weapons.” The government detonated more than 950 nuclear weapons at the Nevada site over 40 years.  Ash from those explosions drifted across state lines, settling on the city of St. George, Utah.  Residents were assured the drifting plumes were safe, but the town of 50,000 now has its own cancer treatment center. “People here have been exposed to radiation already.  We don’t need any little extra push,” St. George native Michelle Thomas told the Post.  The 54-year-old has had cancer twice and has been active in opposing the test. “Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me,” she said (Sonya Geis/Washington Post, Feb. 7). The public comment period was opened to receive comments about the possible environmental impact of the test, but many have used it as a platform to oppose the blast itself. Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. has conducted two independent public hearings and told attendees that he would forward a transcript of their comments to the federal government along with the state’s official response “He is hopeful a unified voice from Utah and surrounding states can help stop Divine Strake,” Huntsman spokesman Mike Mower told the Tribune (Judy Fahys/The Salt Lake Tribune, Feb. 7). Back to top

Lugar Seeks $100M More for Biodefense U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) plans to seek another $100 million in the fiscal 2008 federal budget for biodefense efforts in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 23, 2006). The money would supplement $144.5 million included in the White House’s proposed budget for biological threat programs in a number of countries. The extra funding is “a small price to pay compared to the economic costs and deaths that could result from a biological weapons attack, pathogen outbreak or disease pandemic,” Lugar said in a press release. “It is in U.S. national security interests to improve the security around these deadly diseases, but it is also in our interests to assist these governments in becoming a more effective partner in stopping the spread of pandemics, detecting their sources and identifying a response,” he said. Nations such as Georgia and Azerbaijan have received U.S. funding to secure pathogen samples and prepare early warning and containment systems against acts of bioterrorism, Lugar said.  However, “insufficient funding has prevented the timely expansion of this program to other important countries like Armenia and Ukraine,” Lugar added. Additional funding would allow construction to begin two years ahead of schedule in Ukraine and Azerbaijan of Central Reference Laboratories that would consolidate and secure disease strains now stored at various sites around those countries, Lugar said.  It would enable operations to begin three years ahead of schedule in Kazakhstan and fund the beginning of security improvements and scientific engagement programs in Armenia and Moldova. The White House spending plan includes a total of $348 million in fiscal 2008 for Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction efforts to prevent WMD proliferation, the Journal-Gazette reported.  That is down by 7 percent from the $372 million allocated in fiscal 2007 (Sylvia Smith, Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Feb. 6). Back to top       Scientist Looks to Bugs for Biosecurity A Virginia Commonwealth University scientist has received $1 million from the U.S. Defense Department to study whether cockroaches and houseflies could be used as living sensors for biological weapons agents, Popular Science reported in its March edition (see GSN, Jan. 11). “Cockroaches can detect all kinds of things, from anthrax spores to DNA,” said entomologist Karen Kester. Bugs could have greater range and sensitivity than mechanical detectors placed in subway stations and buildings. Bluegill fish are being used to test the New York City water supply for contamination (see GSN, Sept. 19, 2006), and a British biotechnology company is using the olfactory system of bees to detect explosives (Abby Seiff, Popular Science, March 2007). Back to top

U.S. CW Disposal Agency Budgeted at $351M in FY08 The U.S. Defense Department budget for fiscal 2008 would provide $351 million for the agency developing chemical weapons disposal plants in Colorado and Kentucky, U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday (see GSN, Feb. 1). The Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program had been budgeted at $297 million for the fiscal year that begins in October.  That was “significantly below last year’s level,” according to a press release. McConnell said he successfully pressed the Defense Department to increase the proposed funding figure. The Pentagon agency is preparing chemical weapons neutralization facilities at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado.  Construction of the actual plants has yet to begin (U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell release, Feb. 5). Back to top

Iran Begins Missile Drills Iran today began two days of war games involving missile firings and testing of equipment to track enemy missiles, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Jan. 30). The exercise involves Revolutionary Guards’ navy and air force missile units in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, according to Iranian state television. The naval drill is intended to strengthen “the defensive capabilities” and to ensure the preparedness of the navy’s missile unit, the IRNA news agency reported. The air force drill is intended to “consolidate the defensive and operational capabilities” of the service’s missile unit, according to IRNA. There was no immediate word on the missiles to be used in the exercise (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Feb. 7). Back to top

Russia Seeks Security Deal With U.S. Looking to lower concerns in Moscow about U.S. intentions in placing missile defense installations in Eastern Europe, Russia is proposing a pact in which the two countries agree that their militaries would not target one another, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 6). Officials in Moscow have consistently argued that placement of U.S. missile interceptors and a radar system in nearby countries is aimed at undermining Russian security.  U.S. officials say the systems are intended to provide protection against Iranian and North Korean missiles. Russia and the United States should sign “legally binding agreements guaranteeing that their military potentials will not be targeted against each other,” said Alexander Kramarenko, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s political forecasting department, Interfax reported (Associated Press, Feb. 6). Meanwhile, defense ministers from NATO countries plan this week to discuss deployment of the U.S. missile defense radar system in the Czech Republic, Agence France-Presse reported. Washington also hopes to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland. “We will not ensure liberty and security by burying our heads in the sand or by wanting to get rid of all the positions of U.S. military presence in Europe, that is not the way to world peace,” said Czech Defense Minister Vlasta Parkanova (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Feb. 6). Opposition parties and civic groups in the Czech Republic have sought a referendum on the radar system.  However, former Czech President Vaclav Havel said a vote by the people is not necessary, United Press International reported yesterday.  The radar system would help protect Western and Central Europe against a missile strike, Havel wrote in an article in the Pravo daily (United Press International/Washington Times, Feb. 6). Back to top

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