The U.N. Security Council listens to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Saturday after the council voted to impose new sanctions against Iran (Don Emmert/Getty Images). Iran Faces New Sanctions, Vows to Limit Nuclear Cooperation Iran has vowed to reduce its cooperation with international nuclear inspectors after the U.N. Security on Saturday unanimously approved a new batch of economic sanctions against Tehran, the New York Times reported (see GSN, March 23)...Full Story

DHS Wants Experts to Probe Nuclear Detection Gaps By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. Homeland Security Department plans to enlist experts both inside and outside the government to launch a program probing the vulnerabilities of the nation’s nuclear detection network (see GSN, March 6)...Full Story

Iraq Chlorine Strike Foiled Iraqi police detained a man Friday who was trying to detonate explosives on a truck laden with chlorine outside their station, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 20)...Full Story

	Monday, March 26, 2007

Iran Faces New Sanctions, Vows to Limit Nuclear Cooperation Iran has vowed to reduce its cooperation with international nuclear inspectors after the U.N. Security on Saturday unanimously approved a new batch of economic sanctions against Tehran, the New York Times reported (see GSN, March 23). “After this illegal resolution was passed against Iran last night, it forced the government to act based on parliament’s decision regarding the cooperation level with the agency and suspend parts of its activities with the [International Atomic Energy] Agency, said government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham (see GSN, Jan. 3). Iranian leaders have decided not to provide the agency with information about uranium enrichment facilities as early as they have in the past, according to the Times. The move could enable Iran to develop a covert plant to house uranium enrichment centrifuges, said one nonproliferation expert. “To me, it’s a serious retreat,” said David Albright, head of the Institute for Science and International Security.  “They could build a backup centrifuge facility and not tell the IAEA. It creates a situation where Iran could build a centrifuge facility in secret” (Shanker/Broad, New York Times, March 26). The Saturday resolution was the second set of sanctions the Security Council has approved since late last year, when it sought new means to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear program. “It’s a significant international rebuke to Iran and it’s a significant tightening of international pressure on Iran,” said U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns.  “We do believe it’s going to leave Iran even more isolated than it has been.” “This resolution sends an unambiguous signal to the government and people of Iran ... that the path of nuclear proliferation by Iran is not one that the international community can accept,” said British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry (Alexandra Olson, Associated Press I/The Spokesman-Review, March 24). The new resolution expands an earlier list of Iranian individuals and firms that are to have their foreign-held assets frozen.  The current list includes 15 people affiliated with nuclear and missile activities or the Revolutionary Guard and 13 institutions. In addition, the new sanctions bar Iran from selling weapons and urges restraint among U.N. nations in selling heavy weapons to Iran. The resolution asks Iran to freeze its sensitive nuclear activities within 60 days and asks the International Atomic Energy Agency to assess Iran’s compliance with that demand. If the agency finds that Iran has not frozen its nuclear program, the resolution says the council “will adopt further appropriate measures” (U.N. Security Council resolution, March 24). Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not appear before the council as he said he would, and he asserted that the United States had failed to issue him a visa in time, AP reported.  Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was able to acquire a visa, however, and spoke to the 15-nation council. “The world must know —and it does — that even the harshest political and economic sanctions or other threats are far too weak to coerce the Iranian nation to retreat from their legal and legitimate demands,” he said after the vote. “Suspension is neither an option nor a solution” (Olson, Associated Press I). Meanwhile, the United States has successfully pursued a unilateral effort to encourage international financial institutions to curtail their relations with Iran, U.S. officials said. The financial press has resulted in more than 40 banks and other firms cutting off or reducing their dealings with Iran, said officials from the U.S. State and Treasury departments. “All the banks we’ve talked to are reducing significantly their exposure to Iranian business,” said Stuart Levey, Treasury’s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. “It’s been a universal response.  They all recognize the risks — some because of what we’ve told them and some on their own.  You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to see the dangers” (Robin Wright, Washington Post, March 26). British Troops Detained Adding to tensions in the nuclear crisis was the Iranian detention Friday of 15 British sailors and marines, captured in a waterway that borders Iran and Iraq, AP reported. The 15 had been conducting searches of shipping in the area and were seized in Iranian waters, according to Iranian officials.  British officials have disputed that claim and have demanded their release, according to AP. “It should become clear whether their entry (into Iran) was intentional or unintentional,” said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mehzi Mostafavi.  “After that is clarified, the necessary decision will be made” on their release, he added (Nasser Karimi, Associated Press II/Houston Chronicle, March 26). Bushehr Resolution? Russian officials reported today that Iran has resumed making payments for nuclear power reactor Russia has been building at Bushehr, Agence France-Presse reported.  Moscow last month announced a delay to the project and blamed a financial dispute, but some officials indicated that the reactor’s construction would not resume until the larger nuclear crisis was resolved (see GSN, March 20). Russia had “received the first payment for building of the Bushehr nuclear power station since the cut in financing,” according to a Russian statement released today. “Our Iranian partners have overcome the difficulties they had.  This is positive but still far from compensates for the period of nonpayment for the needs of the site,” the statement added (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, March 26). Back to top       DHS Wants Experts to Probe Nuclear Detection Gaps By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. Homeland Security Department plans to enlist experts both inside and outside the government to launch a program probing the vulnerabilities of the nation’s nuclear detection network (see GSN, March 6). The assessment would take place even as the United States continues to develop its radiation detection systems and looks to invest more than $1 billion in next-generation detectors. The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, a division within the Homeland Security Department, is hoping that by employing independent experts it can garner a glimpse of the current nuclear and radiological detection approach from a terrorist’s perspective, according to a description of the plan posted to a government Web site last week.  These “Red Teaming Assessments” would be based solely on publicly available information in order to identify vulnerabilities a terrorist group might be able to locate with the same data. The government’s concern, which has grown astronomically since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is that a group or individual could smuggle either radiological or nuclear material into the United States for use in a “dirty bomb” or an improvised atomic weapon.  The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, just more than 2 years old, was launched to specifically counter this threat. “The goal is to identify vulnerabilities in the technology and operational procedures and to identify sensitive open-source information that, while unclassified, would prove useful to anyone attempting to circumvent the global nuclear detection architecture,” according to the program description. The Homeland Security Department is currently scanning 90 percent of inbound sea cargo at U.S. ports for radiation.  The department expects that number to reach 98 percent for cargo at major domestic ports by the end of 2007.  By 2008, nearly all containers at U.S. ports are set to be scanned for radiation, DHS officials have said.  Radiation detectors are also being deployed at major land border crossings into the United States. Industry, academic and government experts would study existing gaps in nuclear detection and those that could arise as the system develops, according to the detection office’s request for input.  They would be able to supplement data gleaned from open-source documents with “surveillance, site penetration” and any other information they might be able to independently elicit. The efforts would result in both annual assessments and shorter-term studies that would gauge potential vulnerabilities and suggest fixes on a quarterly basis. The nuclear detection office is asking experts over the next month provide suggestions on the structure of such a study group and the technological backgrounds of its members. The Homeland Security Department is also asking for input on ways the experts in the group could collect information, conduct surveillance and probe the security at sites legally and safely.  Such activities could include simulated smuggling or actual transport of radiological or nuclear material, according to the DHS description of the planned program. Unofficial tests of the system have shown weaknesses in the past.  In 2002 and again in 2003, ABC News packed 15 pounds of depleted uranium into a lead pipe and shipped it via sea container into the United States to test U.S. detection capabilities (see GSN, Sept. 11, 2003). In effect, study group members might be asked to play terrorist, probing for information and physically testing the U.S. detection web.  Homeland Security officials are looking for an “accurate emulation of potential threat actors, their likely source materials and courses of action,” according to the DHS posting. Red teaming, or employing government outsiders to play the role of adversaries, is a fairly regular exercise employed by U.S. agencies, said nuclear security expert Charles Ferguson, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Several years ago, Ferguson was part of a red team that was called to consider how a terrorist group might launch a dirty bomb attack.  During that exercise the government also tapped the imagination of author Brad Meltzer, a writer of popular thrillers set in Washington. “I think it’s a valuable exercise,” Ferguson said.  “It’s a way to bring in outside experts and just poke holes in what the government is trying to do.” Jeffrey Lewis, director of the New America Foundation’s Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative, disagrees, suggesting they are likely an ineffective way to predict real adversary responses. “I just don’t see any reason to assume that terrorists laboring under real operational constraints would reach the same conclusions as a predominantly white, male, sixty-something, upper-middle class panel dominated by Ivy League graduates chatting over pastries and coffee,” said Lewis via e-mail. “Many of these individuals are brilliant, but none of them are terrorists.” The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office is testing three versions of a next-generation radiation detector that it hopes would be able to detect radiation and to identify the emitting isotope as harmless and naturally occurring or a material of concern such as highly enriched uranium. Present detectors do not distinguish between radiation-emitting materials, requiring Customs and Border Protection officials to conduct secondary screenings with a handheld scanner to determine the source of the alert. Lawmakers have questioned whether the new machines, which carry a total price tag of $1.2 billion, would serve to better protect the nation’s borders.  Funding has been put on hold until the detector’s increased efficacy can be certified by the Homeland Security Department (see GSN, Oct. 3, 2006). DHS officials say the next-generation technology would still be unable to detect shielded highly enriched uranium, what experts say would likely be the nuclear material of choice for a terror group trying to assemble a simple nuclear device.  Highly enriched uranium emits a relatively weak nuclear signature. Back to top       North Korea Slams Military Exercise North Korea said yesterday that a U.S.-South Korean military exercise could undermine the six-nation process intended to eliminate its nuclear weapons program, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 23). The Foal Eagle and Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration drills began yesterday. “This may entail such serious consequences as escalating the tension between the D.P.R.K. and the U.S. and scuttling the six-party talks for the settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, arranged with so much effort,” the official Minju Joson newspaper said in a commentary. Pyongyang also made its standard threat to increase its “self-defensive deterrent” — its nuclear weapons arsenal — in the face of the danger posed by Seoul and Washington. The drill is intended only for defense, according to South Korea and the United States (Agence France-Presse I/Channel News Asia, March 26). Meanwhile, a U.S. official was in Beijing today to address another obstacle to North Korea’s February denuclearization agreement, AFP reported. North Korean officials last week refused to participate in the latest round of six-party talks because the nation had not yet received $25 million set to be released from Banco Delta Asia in Macau.  The bank froze the funds after being linked by Washington to illicit North Korean financial activities.  U.S. officials recently finished their investigation, opening the door for the money to be returned to the Stalinist state. The state-owned Bank of China reportedly would not accept the fund transfer, due to its potential effect on the institution’s credit rating. Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser and other administration personnel today met with Chinese Foreign Ministry officials. “The talks focused on solutions to the implementation matters and our common interest in addressing this issue as quickly as possible,” said Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise. North Korea has until mid-April under the agreement to halt work at its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and allow international inspectors back into the country (Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, March 26). Another bank might have to accept the funds, AFP reported Friday. “It seemed possible that the money will go to a bank in a third country by way of the BDA.  That way, a solution is being worked out,” said lead South Korean nuclear negotiator Chun Young-woo (Agence France-Presse III/Spacewar.com, March 23). Back to top       U.S.-Indian Nuclear Talks Set to Resume U.S.-Indian talks were set to begin today in New Delhi to negotiate the next stage of a bilateral nuclear trade agreement, IBN reported.   The meeting is the first formal session since President George W. Bush signed a law late last year exempting India from U.S. nuclear nonproliferation rules (see GSN, March 21). The two sides are due to hammer out the details of future nuclear trade, including some contentious issues, such as whether India would have the right to separate plutonium from reactor fuel provided by the United States and how an Indian nuclear test would affect the deal, according to IBN. Richard Stratford, the U.S. State Department’s nuclear energy, safety and security director, is set to lead the U.S. delegation.  India’s team is to be headed by Raminder Jassal, deputy chief of mission in Washington, IBN reported (IBNLive.com, March 25). Back to top

Smallpox Hoax Forces Airliner Quarantine Health officials quarantined an airliner Friday when a passenger claimed he had smallpox shortly after the plane landed in Charlotte, N.C.  The plane taxied to its gate, but passengers were not fully cleared to leave the area for more than three hours, CBS News reported (see GSN, Jan. 18, 2005). The US Airways flight from New Orleans, La., had 112 passengers and four crew members aboard (CBS News/WBBM radio, March 24). “He basically said, ‘I’ve been exposed, you’ve all been exposed,’” US Airways spokeswoman Michelle Mohr said of the passenger claiming to be infected with smallpox. Police removed him from the plane shortly after landing, and doctors at Carolinas Medical Center later said he showed no signs of the lethal virus, the Charlotte Observer reported. One passenger said there were no signs of trouble until the plane neared its gate. “The first thing we noticed was just a hesitating a little bit” when the plane stopped at the gate, said Brian Hilgers   “As soon as the bell rings, it’s Pavlovian, you stand up.  Then the pilot came on and said there was a security threat.” “We thought it was going to be terrorists or something, and you could almost feel an ease in the tension when they said that it was smallpox,” he added (Clive Wootson, Charlotte Observer, March 24). The FBI is investigating the incident, United Press International reported (United Press International, March 24). Back to top       Drug Maker Looks to Upgrade Anthrax Vaccine Maryland biopharmaceutical firm Emergent BioSolutions is seeking to revamp its anthrax vaccine to make it a stronger candidate for inclusion in the U.S. national drug stockpile, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, March 22). Emergent presently makes the only anthrax vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration.  Over the past two years it has supplied 10 million doses for the stockpile for use if necessary by U.S. citizens. Following the collapse of the deal with VaxGen Inc. of California (see GSN, March 16), the government is looking for another vendor to produce 75 million doses of anthrax vaccine for the stockpile.  However, it is looking for a next-generation drug that would require fewer doses than the up to six that Emergent’s vaccine needs to ensure immunity. Emergent hopes it can meet the government’s requirements by combining its vaccine with an additive able to strengthen the treatment and increase the pace at which it produces an immune response, the Post reported. “We think we can position this as a true next-generation product,” said Emergent chief executive Fuad El-Hibri. The Defense Advance Research Projects Agency funded a study of the combined treatment by Emergent and additive maker Coley Pharmaceutical Group of Massachusetts.  Concentrations of critical antibodies in test subjects peaked three weeks earlier than subjects who received the standard vaccine, and were 6.3 times higher. There are roadblocks to the company’s plan.  It would not be eligible for the contract first awarded to VaxGen under the Project Bioshield program for development of WMD countermeasures (see GSN, Jan. 17).  Another contract would be needed, or the government could boost its vaccine order under its existing contract with Emergent. The vaccine’s safety continues to be a concern.  There have been complaints about side effects among military personnel, six of whom filed a lawsuit that led to the temporary suspension of mandatory vaccinations (see GSN, Dec. 13, 2006). “The vaccine does not have a good reputation in the medical science community,” said Michael Greenberger, director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland. Senior company officials, some of whom have used the vaccine, said the drug has been proven in a number of studies to have no more side effects than other treatments. “That buzz isn’t coming from people who know vaccinology,” said Tom Waytes, Emergent medical affairs chief in Michigan (Michael Rosenwald, Washington Post, March 26). Back to top       Plague Bacterium Displays Antibiotic Resistance The bacterium that causes plague has been found in one case to display resistance to antibiotics used to counter the disease, researchers said in a study published last week (see GSN, Aug. 3, 2005). No vaccine exists to treat plague, which is considered a potential bioterrorism agent and continues to occur naturally after killing 200 million people worldwide throughout history.  However, antibiotics have proven effective in treating the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Plague bacteria collected in Madagascar were found to carry DNA segments known as plasmids that contain the “genetic ability to disable antibiotics, including multidrug resistance (MDR) sequences,” according to the Institute for Genomic Research in Maryland. Those plasmids can be transferred from one type of bacteria to another, and have been found in the United States in salmonella and E.coli on beef, chicken, port and turkey.  The findings indicate the antibiotic resistance could spread to additional bacteria for plague or other pathogens. “Our data imply that high levels of MDR in the causative agent of plague may rapidly evolve naturally, and present a vital biomedical, public health and biodefense threat,” researchers from France, Madagascar and the United States said in the study (Institute for Genomic Research release, March 20). Back to top

Iraq Chlorine Strike Foiled Iraqi police detained a man Friday who was trying to detonate explosives on a truck laden with chlorine outside their station, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 20). The unsuccessful attack targeted the Jezeera police station in Ramadi, according to the U.S. military. Officers took the man into custody after seeing that the cargo truck was carrying large amounts of explosives, which the driver had not been able to detonate. “The truck contained a number of 55 gallon drums, which were used to camouflage five 1,000-gallon barrels filled with chlorine and more than 2 tons of explosives,” according to a U.S. statement. This would have been the eighth strike since January in Iraq involving chlorine, which can sicken people at low levels of exposure or cause death at greater concentrations (Agence France-Presse, March 25). Back to top       Yamaha Export Case Dropped Authorities in Japan have dropped their case against three Yamaha Motor Co. officials suspected of signing off on the attempted export to China of a remote-controlled helicopter that could release dangerous chemical agents, the Associated Press reported Friday (see GSN, March 23). The export did not go through, and no proof exists that the three sought to “proactively violate a law,” according to Kyodo News. The men were arrested in February, and could have received a sentence of five years in prison and a $16,500 fine if convicted. Yamaha last week was fined $8,500 for violating Japan’s export law in connection with the failed sale of the pesticide-spraying RMAX 181 helicopter (Kozo Mizoguchi, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, March 23). Back to top

Japan Gets New Rules on Using Missile Defense The Japanese Cabinet approved new rules Friday to allow its defense minister to order the use of missile interceptors without the prime minister’s approval during an emergency, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, June 15, 2005). The new Self-Defense Forces law would require the prime minister’s approval for cases in which time allowed, such as if an enemy was detected fueling ballistic missiles.  In shorter time scenarios, however, such as after a missile launch has been detected, the prime minister would not need to be consulted, Kyodo reported. The new authority came as Japan prepares to deploy Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missile interceptors this week at a base (see GSN, Oct. 12, 2006; Kyodo News/The Japan Times, March 24). Back to top

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