Artist’s conception of the chemical weapons destruction plant at Shchuchye, Russia (U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency photo). U.S. Eliminates New Funding for Russian CW Disposal By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The next two budgets for the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction program now include no funding to finish constructing a chemical weapons disposal facility in Russia (see GSN, Nov. 2, 2006)...Full Story

House Panel Expresses Concern Over N.K. Nuclear Deal By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday expressed reservations about the recent denuclearization plan outlined for North Korea (see GSN, Feb. 28)...Full Story

Washington to Seek Information on North Korean HEU The United States plans to continue seeking information regarding the status of North Korea’s suspected uranium enrichment program, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 28)...Full Story

	Thursday, March 1, 2007

House Panel Expresses Concern Over N.K. Nuclear Deal By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday expressed reservations about the recent denuclearization plan outlined for North Korea (see GSN, Feb. 28). While representatives congratulated lead U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill on the Feb. 13 agreement, a number highlighted several outstanding issues that must be addressed. The deal is by no means comprehensive, said committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.).  Moving forward in the process, attention must be paid to North Korea’s destabilizing missile program, proliferation of missile technology and human rights abuses, he said. “As I have made crystal clear in all my discussions with the North Koreans, the U.S. and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea can never have a fully normal relationship absent progress on these important fronts,” Lantos said. As part of the first phase of the denuclearization process, North Korean and U.S. officials plan to meet Monday and Tuesday in New York to discuss normalizing relations between the two nations.  The meeting is part of discussions to take place within five “working groups” outlined in the recent agreement. “We do have some real differences with North Korea that do go beyond denuclearization,” Hill told the committee.  “We have problems in the area of human rights.  We have many different problems.” Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, stressed that the Feb. 13 plan is “only a first step toward what we are seeking to accomplish.” North Korea pledged to within 60 day shut down and seal its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to return to the country. Officials in Pyongyang have already made contact with the U.N. nuclear monitoring arm to begin the process of returning inspectors to North Korea, Hill said. In return for cooperation during the first phase of the process, Pyongyang would receive 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil.  That could be followed later by 950,000 additional tons, an energy supply that would likely last less than a year, according to Hill. Uranium Questions Following the first 60 days, North Korea must submit a complete declaration of its nuclear activities, a document that Hill made clear must answer standing questions about steps toward any uranium enrichment program. The Agreed Framework, a Clinton-era pact that froze activity at Yongbyon in return for fuel oil — a deal many have said resembles the most recent agreement — collapsed in 2002 when the Bush administration confronted North Korea with what it believed was evidence of a production scale enrichment program. Experts have publicly questioned the quality of that intelligence and the extent of any North Korean enrichment work. The administration this week appeared to distance itself slightly from that assertion when an intelligence official said belief in such a program had fallen from a high-confidence level to a “mid-confidence level.” While Hill said North Korea maintains that it has no uranium enrichment program, leaders there understand that this remains an important issue for the United States.  The declaration must be comprehensive, Hill said. “All means all, and this means the highly enriched uranium program as well,” he said. “They have not acknowledged the existence of it, but they’ve told me they understand the importance we attach to resolving the issue, and therefore they are prepared to have a discussion between our experts and their experts that would lead to a mutually satisfactory result,” Hill told the committee. It remains unclear how officials would verify that North Korea’s declaration is complete or that all vestiges of a HEU program have been dismantled, Hill said. Lantos called the agreement an “all too rare victory for diplomacy,” adding that “all too often the wise words and sound council of America’s top diplomats have been drowned out by the strong unilateralist voices echoing through the hallways of the White House.” Still, the success of the still very young agreement depends on the “good intentions of the North Korean leadership,” he said, “something in remarkably short supply in Pyongyang.” Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) criticized the recent accord for its similarities to the Clinton administration deal, which she painted as a failure.  She described the sealing of the Yongbyon reactor, conditions and limitations on the return of monitoring personal and the provision of fuel oil as “echoes of the 1994 agreement.” “What has changed that has convinced you and the administration that the North Korean regime will abide by its commitments in the Feb. 13 agreement?” she asked. Hill, Lantos said, has been “beaten bloody by some in this town” over the deal’s similarities to the Agreed Framework, but “if the deal you have negotiated in Beijing has a similar impact you, Mr. Ambassador, should be extremely proud of it.” During the span of the Agreed Framework North Korean production of plutonium remained frozen.  The United States now believes North Korea has as much as 50 kilograms, sufficient material for roughly eight nuclear weapons, according to Hill. Back to top       Washington to Seek Information on North Korean HEU The United States plans to continue seeking information regarding the status of North Korea’s suspected uranium enrichment program, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 28). North Korea has purchased equipment that can only be used for uranium enrichment, said Hill, lead U.S. envoy to the six-party talks.  However, he said there were some questions about the program’s status, the Associated Press reported. “How far they’ve gotten; whether they’ve actually been able to produce highly enriched uranium at this time, I mean these are issues that intelligence analysts grapple with,” Hill said during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.  “But what we do know is they have made the purchases, and we need to have complete clarity on this program.” A senior U.S. intelligence official acknowledged this week a drop in Washington’s confidence that Pyongyang is developing a production-scale enrichment program. The United States now has “mid-confidence” that North Korea is seeking to enrich uranium, according to Joseph DeTrani, North Korea mission manager for the national intelligence director. “Moderate confidence” largely indicates differing views among intelligence analysts, or a lack of corroboration for credible information, according to AP (Foster Klug, Associated Press I/ABC15, March 1). “A large centrifuge plant likely does not exist; perhaps it never did,” according to a recent report by David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security.  Implementation of the disarmament deal reached last month at six-nation negotiations should not involve possibly questionable intelligence, he said (Burt Herman, Associated Press II/Yahoo!News, March 1). The United States confronted North Korea in 2002 over the uranium program, which led Pyongyang to withdraw from the 1994 Agreed Framework and to resume plutonium production. “The administration appears to have made a very costly decision that has resulted in a fourfold increase in the nuclear weapons of North Korea,” Senator Jack Reed (D-R.I.) told the New York Times.  “If that was based in part on mixing up North Korea’s ambitions with their accomplishments, it’s important.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2004 pressed intelligence agencies to reconsider their timeline for North Korean production of weaponized uranium, one former official said (Sanger/Broad, New York Times I, March 1). Meanwhile, North Korea today reaffirmed its pledge of nuclear disarmament, AP reported. “The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the dying wish” of former leader Kim Il Sung, said Kim Yong Nam, the No. 2 leader in Pyongyang.  The North “will make efforts to realize it” (Kwang-Tae Kim, Associated Press III/Yahoo!News, March 1). Hill is scheduled to meet next week in New York with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Kye Gwan. “Don’t expect anybody anybody to come out the front door on March 6 waving a piece of paper with breakthrough agreements,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack (Klug, Associated Press, March 1). The United States is also close to reaching agreement on the release of some North Korean funds at the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, the New York Times reported.  Pyongyang had used the frozen funds as justification for remaining outside of the six-party talks. U.S. and Chinese officials met this week in China. Officials from Washington have examined more than 300,000 bank documents in order to determine which North Korean funds are clean and which are linked to illicit financial activity.  More than $12 million might be released, the Times reported. “All of this work that we’ve done has put us in a position where we can begin to take steps to resolve the Banco Delta Asia matter,” Deputy Treasury Undersecretary Daniel Glaser said Monday (Steven Weisman, New York Times II, March 1). Back to top       Russia Urges Washington, Tehran to Compromise A top Russian official urged Iran and the United States to retreat from uncompromising positions, warning them that failure to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis through negotiation could lead to more serious problems, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 28). “It would be unforgivable to miss a chance to use every opportunity to start such talks because of a false notion of prestige, because of the unyielding stance taken by both parties,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Lavrov focused on U.S. policy in particular. “We are concerned about the possibility of a military scenario,” he told the Rossiyskaya Gazeta government daily.  “We are observing a U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf.  Such a buildup of forces always threatens to trigger a military conflict, even by accident.” Russia, he said, was ready to lead diplomacy. “There are those who cannot say ‘no’ to the United States.  But we can allow ourselves to tell the truth, and not just reject unilateral calls for support but offer concrete constructive alternatives” (Vladimir Isachenkov, Associated Press I/Washington Post, Feb. 28). Iran is also under scrutiny by Russian officials, AP reported. A Russian lawmaker who visited Iran recently came away without full answers to questions he had about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. “I did not get any answers to direct questions,” said Mikhail Margelov, head of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian parliament’s upper house.  “I only had an impression they were evading answering questions.  It looked as if the Iranians were … giving an understanding that they do not exclude any possible variant for the development of their country’s nuclear program” (Associated Press II, March 1). Meanwhile, U.N. powers are considering sanctioning a leading Iranian bank as part of a new package of punitive measures to respond to Tehran’s refusal to freeze its nuclear program, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The United States has already banned U.S. banks from dealing with Bank Sepah, but expanding the prohibition to other nations could have a greater effect on the institution (see GSN, Jan. 9).  Bank Sepah has claimed to do business in 45 nations, and Washington has charged the bank with aiding Iran’s missile program (Daniel Dombey, Financial Times, Feb. 28). Back to top       Vietnam Receives Nuclear Detection Equipment The United States today gave Vietnam 18 radiation pagers to be used to detect smuggled nuclear materials, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Feb. 14). “It is our hope that this equipment … will assist your agencies in the more effective performance of a task that is a vital link to the overall effort to block the illegal transit of controlled materials,” said U.S. Ambassador Michael Marine (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, March 1). Back to top       Blair Backers Urge Delay on Trident Decision British Prime Minister Tony Blair has lost support in his own party for a decision to replace the country’s Trident nuclear missile system, the Financial Times reported today (see GSN, Jan. 26). Some moderate Labor Party members have called for additional time to review and debate the decision, which Blair had hoped would come to a House of Commons vote March 14. “It feels as is we’re being made to make a decision rapidly, under whips’ pressure, and on the basis of inadequate information,” said Labor lawmaker Jon Trickett, who has tabled a motion to delay the decision. Another Labor parliamentarian questioned whether Blair’s policy was correct. “I haven’t been convinced,” said Jon Cruddas, a contender to become the party’s deputy leader.  “My old man was in the navy for 27 years, he actually worked with this sort of weaponry, so it’s not out a base camp of hostility, a unilateralist base camp.” “But it seems to me pretty self-evident we should have quite a mature discussion about whether this is the contemporary weaponry to deal with the contemporary threat or whether this is a hangover from a previous epoch,” he added (Christopher Adams, Financial Times, March 1). Back to top       Australian Lawmakers Advance Nuclear Security Bill Australia’s Senate has approved new legislation to strengthen the nation’s nuclear security measures, the Australian Associated Press reported today (see GSN, June 12, 2006). The Nonproliferation Legislation Amendment Bill would tighten security over Australian nuclear facilities and nuclear materials in transit. Australia has just one nuclear reactor but is considering developing a nuclear power industry, according to AAP. The Australian House of Representatives must now consider the bill (Australian Associated Press/Sydney Morning Herald, March 1). Back to top

Missouri Student Faces Terrorism Threats Charge Local authorities in Missouri yesterday filed several charges, including making terrorist threats, against a university student who claimed to have brought anthrax and a bomb to campus, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 28). Sujithkumar Venkatramolla, 22, faces individual counts of armed criminal action, resisting arrest, false report of a bomb threat, making terrorist threats and first-degree assault on a law enforcement officer. Apparently upset over poor grades, Venkatramolla early Tuesday entered the civil engineering building at the University of Missouri-Rolla with a knife, a substance he said was anthrax and a bag he claimed contained a bomb. Police used a stun gun to subdue the student from Nazambad, India.  They found no bomb on Venkatramolla or in the building, and the white powder turned out to be powdered sugar (Jim Salter, Associated Press/USA Today, Feb. 28). Back to top

U.S. Eliminates New Funding for Russian CW Disposal By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The next two budgets for the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction program now include no funding to finish constructing a chemical weapons disposal facility in Russia (see GSN, Nov. 2, 2006). Washington agreed more than a decade ago to finance construction of the plant at Shchuchye, and has allocated more than $1 billion for the project.  However, the estimated cost of the project has risen from roughly $750 million to up to $1.5 billion, said Paul Walker, Legacy Program director at Global Green USA. There is no indication that the Bush administration plans further funding for the plant, with nothing budgeted in the proposed fiscal 2008 and 2009 spending plans.  That leaves somewhere around $275 million appropriated from previous years, which is not enough to make the facility ready to begin eliminating  5,400 tons of nerve agent stored in Siberia, Walker said. A spokesman for Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), one of the fathers of the CTR program to eliminate former Soviet weapons of mass destruction, said “funding is absent because the construction is complete.” Walker disagreed. “Construction isn’t finished.  Construction at Shchuchye is about 50 percent done, maybe a little bit more, depending on how you count,” he said. Delays to the project further undermine Russia’s ability to eliminate its chemical arsenal by April 2012, as required by the Chemical Weapons Convention, Walker said.  Experts have already questioned Moscow’s claims that it can destroy 40,000 tons of weapons agents by the deadline (see GSN, Dec. 11, 2006). Russia to date has finished weapons disposal at its Gorny facility and is operating plants at Kambarka and Maradykovsky. A significant amount of construction has been completed at Shchuchye, Walker said.  Since 2003, contractors have built a perimeter fence and several buildings, including a warehouse and fire station.  The superstructure for the two main destruction buildings is largely completed, and weapons disassembly equipment has been designed and tested. Much of the mechanical equipment for the disposal plant has been awaiting installation for up to two years, left sitting amidst a dispute between Moscow and Washington over bids submitted by Russian subcontractors for the work.  The United States estimated that installation would cost around $60 million, and has refused to accept bids that came in around $100 million, Walker said. “The Shchuchye project has sat there for a couple years without the main task getting done, getting the main destruction building finalized and systematized and operating,” he said.  “This has caused frustration all around.” The replacement three years ago of CTR personnel who had developed continuity and trust with their Russian counterparts has also impaired the project, Walker said. The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which oversees CTR programs, has not responded to questions submitted several weeks ago regarding the Shchuchye project. Walker said that CTR chief Rear Adm. John Byrd, tired of dealing with the difficult Russian bureaucracy,  might be looking to turn over the remaining $275 million to the Russians and let them finish the project. “They can use that money for whatever they want.  They’re probably going to have to pony up some of their own funds to finish it, but the United States would not provide any more funding for chemical weapons destruction,” Walker said.  “It’s very clear that the CTR program just wants to get rid of this program, get it off the books and move on.” He countered that Washington should instead be looking to increase its involvement in Russian chemical weapons disposal:  finish work at Shchuchye, support construction of a sister plant at the Kizner chemical depot, and press nations such as Italy to meet their obligations to aid demilitarization projects. Walker said he was optimistic that U.S. lawmakers would add funding for Russian chemical weapons disposal as they consider the next federal budget.  Fiscal 2008 begins in October. “I think Congress will do something,” he said.  “It’s important that we move forward.” Back to top       U.S. Hopes to Smooth New CW Destruction Efforts The U.S. Defense Department plans to use financial incentives to encourage a contractor to stay on schedule for destroying chemical weapons at the Army’s Pueblo, Colo., depot, The Pueblo Chieftain reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 20). A recent Army review of weapons destruction activities at other U.S. sites found that contracts were poorly structured and could result in firms earning more money if they slowed the process. The Pentagon planned to apply lessons learned from those errors to new contracts for the Pueblo site, according to the Chieftain.  Contractor Bechtel could earn incentives for finishing work ahead of schedule or working more efficiently. The disposal plant at Pueblo has yet to be built. “These approaches will be implemented in the Pueblo project’s future phases,” said a spokeswoman for the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives agency (John Norton, The Pueblo Chieftain, Feb. 28). Back to top       Emergency Drill Tests Pine Bluff CW Site Emergency officials at and around the U.S. chemical weapons depot in Pine Bluff, Ark., conducted an annual exercise yesterday to test their response to an accident at the site, the Pine Bluff Commercial reported (see GSN, Nov. 30, 2006). The drill centered on a simulated plane crash that struck some sarin-filled rockets at the depot. Authorities at the base sounded alarms, notified emergency personnel, set up decontamination stations for “victims,” and transported others to area hospitals. Officials from local, state and federal agencies participated in the drill (Rick Joslin, Pine Bluff Commercial, Feb. 28). Back to top

Czech Response Expected Soon on Missile Defense The Czech Republic by the end of March is expected to respond to the U.S. request that it house a missile defense radar, the Czech News Agency reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 26). U.S. and Czech officials are clarifying parts of a draft message, Deputy Foreign Minister Tomas Pojar told lawmakers.  The agreement would be made public only after being submitted to Washington. “It is not in diplomatic habits for such notes to be publicly debated,” Pojar said. It would take a number of months to finalize an agreement.  Lawmakers could then consider the matter in winter or spring 2008, Pojar said. Defense Minister Vlasta Parkanova said negotiations on the radar base are in the early stages.  She acknowledged widespread opposition to the plan. “I have never received so many negative reactions from voters and citizens,” Parkanova said. Reports indicate the radar base would be set up at the Brdy training grounds, roughly 70 kilometers southwest of Prague (Czech News Agency I/Prague Daily Monitor, Feb. 28). Czech lawmakers today are expected to discuss the radar base with officials from NATO and the United States, CTK reported. Participants at the meeting are expected to include U.S. Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, head of the Missile Defense Agency, and Peter Froly, an assistant to the NATO general secretary for defense investment. Obering will answer questions about the U.S. plan, which also includes deploying 10 missile interceptors in Poland. Social Democrat lawmaker Antonin Seda said he would ask U.S. Ambassador Richard Graber whether the missile shield components in Europe would be designed primarily to protect U.S. military sites on the continent or would provide protection for the Czech Republic (Czech News Agency II/Prague Daily Monitor, Feb. 28). U.S. officials are scheduled to visit Ukraine March 14 to discuss the planned European missile defense sites, RosBusinessConsulting reported.  Ukraine has expressed concerns over the plan.  The U.S. experts are to “clarify their position” on the matter, said acting Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko (RosBusinessConsulting, Feb. 28). Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday the United Kingdom is continuing negotiations with the United States about increasing participation in the missile shield, the Associated Press reported. The United Kingdom already hosts a U.S. early warning radar at its Fylingdales air station (see GSN, Jan. 18). Discussions on further involvement are “at a very preliminary stage,” Blair told British lawmakers.  He did not offer details of the talks. “But I think it is important that we have those discussions with the United States in order to see what options are available for this country and whether ballistic missile defense would be good for us or not,” Blair said. He pledged that the government would bring any concrete offers to lawmakers for consideration, AP reported (Associated Press/USA Today, Feb. 28). Back to top

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