South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Young-woo, shown earlier this month, expressed frustration yesterday with the pace of progress in resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis (Getty Images). South Korean Official Frustrated by Disarmament Delay Lack of movement by North Korea on meeting its nuclear disarmament commitments is creating frustration in Seoul and Washington, top South Korean negotiator Chun Young-woo said yesterday (see GSN, April 23). “We shared some frustration that we are stuck.  But we look forward to some progress,” Chun said following a meeting in Washington with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill...Full Story

Homeland Security Warns of Chlorine Strikes in U.S. In the wake of several insurgent attacks involving chlorine in Iraq, the Homeland Security Department is warning that the toxic chemical could be used in acts of terrorism in the United States, USA Today reported today (see GSN, April 11)...Full Story

U.S. Defense Chief Presses Missile Defense in Russia Despite a seemingly chilly reception from Russian officials, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday expressed optimism about Washington’s efforts to decrease Moscow’s concerns on planned U.S. missile defense installations in Europe, the New York Times reported (see GSN, April 23)...Full Story

	Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Terror Insurance Group Sets Reauthorization Goals By Bill Swindell CongressDaily WASHINGTON — The U.S. insurance industry and major policy-holders have agreed on an outline for legislation reauthorizing the federal government's terrorism risk insurance backstop, recommending the inclusion of a provision that would provide coverage for nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological attacks (see GSN, Oct. 3, 2006). The Coalition to Insure Against Terrorism, representing the American Insurance Association and companies such as Hilton Hotels Corp. and Marriott International, released its proposal yesterday for reauthorizing the federal backstop for terrorism risk insurance, which expires at year's end. The two groups argue that the program should cover losses from a nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological attack above an insurer's retention level. Insurance groups contend there is no market to write such policies because of the potential liabilities from those attacks.  The group also called for eliminating insurer deductibles and co-payments for such nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological attacks as well. The coalition paper also calls for a permanent extension of the program, the inclusion of acts of domestic terrorism and a trigger no higher than the current $100 million level for federal reimbursement.  The outline will serve as the business community's main stance as Congress gears up to tackle reauthorization. The House Financial Services Capital Markets Subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the program today. “We believe that consensus between two major stakeholders in the debate over how to structure renewal of [the program] represents an important step forward, which will hopefully inform the discussion among policymakers,” said Martin DePoy, coordinator of CIAT's steering committee. Some lawmakers and consumer groups, however, argue that the insurance industry should take a greater responsibility, noting property-and-casualty insurers realized a record profit of almost $60 billion in 2006.  The Consumer Federation of America contends the reauthorization should cover only catastrophic attacks such as nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological attacks but should raise the trigger to cover claims that are more than $100 billion. Back to top       U.S. Sanctions Foreign Entities Fourteen individuals, companies and government agencies in several countries have been sanctioned by the United States for doing business in missile or WMD material with Iran and Syria, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 5). There is “credible evidence” that the 14 entities have violated the U.S. Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act, according to State Department officials.  They would not provide details of the reported violations. The United States now cannot provide aid, government contracts or export licenses for two years to those on the renewable sanctions list.  A number of entities are already under sanctions for earlier deals, AP reported. The 14 sanctioned entities are:  the Syrian air force and navy, the Syrian Army Supply Bureau, the Syrian Industrial Establishment of Defense, Hezbollah, the China National Precision Machinery Import/Export Corp., the Shanghai Nonferrous Metals Pudong Development Trade Co. of China, the Zibo Chemet Equipment Co. of China, the Defense Industries Organization in Iran, the Sokkia firm in Singapore, the Challenger Corp. of Malaysia, Target Airfreight in Malaysia, Aerospace Logistics Services in Mexico, and Arif Durrani of Pakistan (Matthew Lee, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, April 23). Back to top

South Korean Official Frustrated by Disarmament Delay Lack of movement by North Korea on meeting its nuclear disarmament commitments is creating frustration in Seoul and Washington, top South Korean negotiator Chun Young-woo said yesterday (see GSN, April 23). “We shared some frustration that we are stuck.  But we look forward to some progress,” Chun said following a meeting in Washington with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill. Chun could not say how long the two governments would wait for North Korea to begin taking action under a Feb. 13 agreement reached during six-party talks, the Associated Press reported. The deal obligated Pyongyang by April 14 to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor and to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors back into the country to confirm the closing.  None of that has occurred, as North Korea has demanded first that it receive $25 million in frozen funds from Banco Delta Asia in Macau. U.S. officials say the money is available, but North Korea has yet to collect the funds. “There’s not an infinite amount of time,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.  “But it’s clear that the North Koreans are working with their bankers to conclude this particular episode.” “We are willing to give it some time in order for these things to work themselves out,” he added (Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, April 23). “Technical issues” are holding up withdrawal of the money, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said today.  “The question is how and by what way can the D.P.R.K. get the money and realize the normal transfer of the funds,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, April 24). Back to top       EU Official Readies for Iran Nuclear Talks A senior European Union official expressed hope yesterday that talks with Iran tomorrow could help unblock the impasse over the country’s nuclear program, Reuters reported (see GSN, April 23). EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and lead Iranian nuclear diplomat Ali Larijani are scheduled to meet tomorrow in Ankara, Turkey, for the first time since the U.N. Security Council imposed a new batch of economic sanctions against Tehran last month. “I don't have any guarantee that it's going to be a success, but I don't have a guarantee that it's going to be a failure,” Solana told reporters in Luxembourg yesterday.  “I thought the situation has sufficiently matured to try again,” he said (Reuters/New York Times, April 23). A former Iranian diplomat also held out some hope for progress, saying that Larijani had been received “authority for compromise” from Iran’s top leaders, the Financial Times reported yesterday. Sadegh Kharrazi, who served as Iran’s ambassador to France before being pulled by current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, suggested that Larijani had the backing of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to the Financial Times (Gareth Smyth, Financial Times, April 23). Ahmadinejad, however, yesterday reaffirmed Iran’s refusal to suspend its nuclear activities as demanded by the Security Council. “Iran has entered the nuclear club and (the West) should accept it,” he told Reuters.  He said Iran would reject any offer to freeze its uranium enrichment program in exchange for a suspension of U.N. sanctions. “Iran will not accept it because the sanctions are not legal, so you cannot ask a country to suspend its legal activities in return for a suspension of an illegal move.” Meanwhile, the European acted to bolster Solana’s bargaining hand by formally approving the new Security Council sanctions.  EU ministers expanded an earlier list of Iranian individuals and firms subject to having their assets frozen and they imposed a total arms embargo against Iran, Reuters reported (Reuters/New York Times). Back to top       U.S. Warns of Consequences of Weak NPT The world faces new regional nuclear arms races unless nations adhere to their obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, a senior U.S. official said last week (see GSN, Oct. 4, 2006). Christopher Ford, special U.S. representative for nuclear nonproliferation, urged treaty parties to remain active in thwarting new ways proliferators might seek nuclear technology and materials. Ford spoke to a NATO-sponsored seminar in Lithuania just two weeks before NPT parties meet in Vienna for an annual session to prepare for the treaty’s next review conference. “The world faced enormous danger and uncertainty during the nuclear arms race of the Cold War.  A radically proliferated world would be much more dangerous still, with each new participant and each new regional arms competition introducing vastly greater risks of miscalculation, mistake, or reckless over-reaching,” he told the seminar. Ford summarized several nonproliferation strategies pursued by the United States, including the U.S. role in multilateral efforts to curb Iranian and North Korean nuclear ambitions, the U.S.-backed Proliferation Security Initiative (see GSN, April 18) and the development of missile defenses (see GSN, April 23). “Missile defenses deter proliferation by making it clear to would-be proliferators that they may not be able to deliver their weapons by means of ballistic missiles — and that they should therefore reconsider the pursuit of such capabilities,” he said.  “Seen in this light, missile defenses are an important component of the world's nonproliferation tool kit” (U.S. State Department release, April 18). Back to top       U.S. Nuclear Lab Joins Private Firm to Upgrade Sensors A New Mexico firm has reached an agreement with the Los Alamos National Laboratory to develop and manufacture two tools for monitoring and detecting nuclear weapon materials, the New Mexico Business Weekly reported yesterday (see GSN, March 19). The International Atomic Energy Agency asked the laboratory to develop faster, more reliable radiation detectors, including a hand-held measurement tool and a remote monitoring tool, said laboratory spokesman Matt Newell. The laboratory signed a deal with Canberra Albuquerque Inc. to coordinate the development of the new tools and Canberra plans to then market and mass produce them.  The firm is a subsidiary of Connecticut-based Canberra Industries (see GSN, June 24, 2004). “The new devices will work at least 10 times faster than the old ones,” Newell said.  “In addition, monitors often go to places with unfriendly hosts who won’t provide the AC power supply or other things needed to operate the old devices.  Monitors need hand-held instruments to just walk up and rapidly take a measurement.” The tools can detect changes in neutron activity, potentially alerting agency inspectors that nuclear material has been moved from a storage site. The devices “make sure it’s all there, that nobody has stolen any of it,” Newell said. Canberra plans to spend up to $1 million to develop a prototype hand-held detector, said company vice president Markku Koskelo. “LANL pioneered this measurement technology, so it makes sense for us to work with them on this as a joint effort,” he said.  “We’ll look at the industrial side of things.  They’ll give us ideas on how to make the old instruments better, then we’ll make sure the new designs match up with current monitoring systems and that we can mass produce them.” Koskelo said the company expects to produce hundreds of devices, but “it’s not a mass market” (Kevin Robinson-Avila, New Mexico Business Weekly, April 23). Back to top

Homeland Security Warns of Chlorine Strikes in U.S. In the wake of several insurgent attacks involving chlorine in Iraq, the Homeland Security Department is warning that the toxic chemical could be used in acts of terrorism in the United States, USA Today reported today (see GSN, April 11). “This is now being used as a tactic against us in another part of the world,” said Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Robert Stephan.  “We’ve got to be prepared for it.” Homeland Security is providing information to bomb squads, pressing for heightened security on chlorine stocks, and distributing photographs to police chiefs of unexploded vehicle explosives, Stephan said. There have been several thefts or attempted thefts of 150-pound chlorine tanks from California water treatment facilities, according to the Chlorine Institute trade organization.  The incidents have not been linked to any potential acts of terrorism. Nonetheless, four U.S. lawmakers yesterday expressed “deep concern” about the thefts in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, USA Today reported. Use of chlorine in Iraq illustrates “the reality that the terrorist risk associated with these deadly chemicals is by no means theoretical,” according to the letter from Representatives. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) and Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) (Mimi Hall, USA Today, April 24). The lawmakers urged facilities that use chlorine gas to convert their sites to use less dangerous liquid chlorine or to use other methods of water treatment, the Associated Press reported. Antiterrorism regulations put in place this month for U.S. chemical plants do not require them to convert to safer materials. “We want to set down standards and requirements but we do not want to necessarily prescribe the exact way in which a plant is going to meet these standards,” Chertoff said.  “We want to unleash the ingenuity of the private sector to figure out what is the best way to skin this cat, just as long as the cat gets skinned.” The threat comes not just from chemical production facilities, but also plants that use potentially dangerous materials in industrial processes.  Hydrogen fluoride is used at petroleum refineries, while anhydrous ammonia might be found at power plants, AP reported. More than 284 U.S. sites in 47 states have undergone chemical safety conversions, freeing 30 million or more people from the threat of a significant chemical disaster (Beverley Lumpkin, Associated Press/RedOrbit, April 24). Back to top       Company Addresses Concerns on VX Waste Incineration The Texas company chosen to incinerate wastewater from the chemical neutralization of VX nerve agent sought to allay concerns yesterday by opening its facility to the public, The Beaumont Enterprise reported (see GSN, April 20). “We understand that because of the nature of the material and how it’s linked to its parent material, there are going to be concerns,” said Daniel Duncan, health and safety manager for Veolia Environmental Services in Port Arthur.  “We appreciate those concerns, but we want to underscore the fact that there is no risk to the public from us managing this material.” The U.S. Army is due to pay Veolia $49 million to burn off nearly 2 million gallons of hydrolysate wastewater produced by weapons disposal at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana. Activists in Indiana, Texas and other states have opposed what they say is an unnecessary and dangerous plan to transport the caustic waste.  A protest is planned for tomorrow. “We’re going to talk about the dangers of this VX nerve gas byproduct and why we don’t want it here,” said Hilton Kelley, head of the Community In-Power Development Association (Paul Martinez, The Beaumont Enterprise, April 22). A number of local residents toured the Veolia plant yesterday and received information about the project, The Port Arthur News reported.  Concerns were voiced about the speed and seeming secrecy under which the project was initiated. “I’m just as concerned as before,” said resident Jessie Day after touring the facility.  “It seems like the Army has done the contract fast and I just wonder about it.” Facility personnel described in detail the process by which the waste is eliminated and the safety measures intended to prevent harm to people or the environment. “Everything is waste to us and we approach it all in the safest manner,” said process engineer Ron Constance.  “Everything we do here is predicated on safety and we want to make sure everyone goes home at the end of the day” (Amy Moore, The Port Arthur News, April 23). Back to top

U.S. Defense Chief Presses Missile Defense in Russia Despite a seemingly chilly reception from Russian officials, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates yesterday expressed optimism about Washington’s efforts to decrease Moscow’s concerns on planned U.S. missile defense installations in Europe, the New York Times reported (see GSN, April 23). Gates is the first of several administration officials set to make overtures to Russian leaders in coming months.  He met yesterday in Moscow with new Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, who afterward criticized plans to place 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic. Serdyukov’s statement was probably prepared prior to the meeting, Gates said. “We made some real headway in clearing up some misunderstanding about the technical characteristics of the system that are of concern to the Russians,” he said during an evening press conference. “The key to this is cooperation,” Gates added.  “We would like to have the Russians as partners in this process.  We would like to share information with them.  We are prepared to co-locate radars with them.” Gates said a team of Russian and U.S. government and military experts would be formed to answer questions raised by leaders in Moscow.  Russian officials are welcome to travel to the missile interceptor site at Fort Greely, Alaska, and a radar system in California, he said. The United States is also willing to allow Russian officials to inspect any missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, Gates said. Bush administration officials have argued that missile defense installations in Europe would counter potential missile threats from countries such as Iran and North Korea.  Russian officials question whether Iran is likely to produce an ICBM that could reach all of Europe anytime soon, Gates acknowledged (Thom Shanker, New York Times, April 24). U.S., Czech and Polish officials yesterday discussed missile defense plans with representatives of other NATO nations, Space & Missile Defense Report reported. There is a need to protect all NATO nations from missile threats, officials said. “There is a shared desire that any U.S. system should be complementary to any NATO missile defense system,” said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.  “The unanimous view was that the principle of the indivisibility of security should apply.” There was discussion of whether NATO theater missile defense efforts could be “bolted on” the U.S. system, which as planned would not cover all of Europe. Officials hope to have the U.S. sites finished by 2013.  Work has been conducted to ensure the U.S. system is compatible with the NATO system, said Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (Space & Missile Defense Report, April 23). Obering said Washington hopes to know by the end of this year whether the Czech Republic will accept the radar system.  Other sites in Europe could be considered if Prague declines to house the radar system, the Czech News Agency reported yesterday.  Obering did not elaborate on potential alternative locations (Czech News Agency/Prague Daily Monitor, April 23). U.S. officials also believe that Poland is open to negotiations on a site for installation of missile interceptors, Reuters reported.  “We believe they’re going to agree to begin a discussion, a negotiation about the site,” an official said as Gates headed to Poland (Kristin Roberts, Reuters/Washington Post, April 24). Back to top

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