North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (second from left) views a parade last month in Pyongyang with top military and political officials (Getty Images). U.S. Optimistic That North Korea Will Implement Nuclear Pact Prospects for North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons are better than many observers believe, a U.S. intelligence official said yesterday (see GSN, May 17)...Full Story

Budget Cuts to Delay Missile Defense Laser, Agency Says By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Progress on the U.S. Airborne Laser missile defense program will be pushed back three years if funding cuts passed by the U.S. House yesterday remain in the final defense authorization bill, a senior Missile Defense Agency official said (see GSN, May 10)...Full Story

British Officials to Chart WMD Dispersal Patterns British scientists plan to release a harmless gas in London to help officials predict the course of a chemical or radiological weapons attack, the BBC reported today (see GSN, March 15)...Full Story

	Friday, May 18, 2007

British Officials to Chart WMD Dispersal Patterns British scientists plan to release a harmless gas in London to help officials predict the course of a chemical or radiological weapons attack, the BBC reported today (see GSN, March 15). Researchers have conducted similar tests in London’s underground subway system, according to the BBC. The new tests would be used to build a computer model that could guide emergency responders and direct evacuation plans, said one official. The gas, containing invisible and odorless perflourocarbons, would be released in 50 batches over four to six weeks in varying weather conditions, BBC reported (BBC News, May 18). Air collection stations would be deployed in about 20 locations to measure how the gas dispersed, the Birmingham Post reported. Once analyzed, the data could be included in security preparations for the 2012 London Olympics, according to the Post (Birmingham Post, May 18). Early results are expected in mid-autumn, the London Guardian reported (London Guardian, May 18). Back to top

U.S. Optimistic That North Korea Will Implement Nuclear Pact Prospects for North Korea abandoning its nuclear weapons are better than many observers believe, a U.S. intelligence official said yesterday (see GSN, May 17). In a February agreement, North Korea agreed to suspend its current nuclear activities as a first step toward nuclear disarmament.  Pyongyang has missed a deadline to begin the process, however, as a dispute over frozen North Korean assets lingers. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has more sophisticated aims than simply acquiring nuclear weapons, said John Merrill, the Northeast Asia chief of the State Department’s Intelligence and Research bureau. “I don't think the nuclear weapons are the be all and end all of Kim Jong Il's national security strategy. I think it is much broader than that,” he said. Rather, Kim is also seeking to strengthen the nation’s economy, improve its international diplomatic relationships, build domestic backing for the regime and prepare his succession, Merrill said. “The bottom line is that I think it means that we probably have [a] greater chance of making progress than many think,” he said. Indeed, Kim may have determined that nuclear weapons have become “more of an obstacle to some of the things he wants to achieve,” Merrill added (Agence France-Presse/ChannelNewsAsia.com, May 18). One outspoken critic of the efforts to negotiate for North Korean nuclear disarmament disagreed with Merrill’s views today. “No serious observer contends there is any sign of a strategic decision by North Korea to give up its nuclear program, which means, therefore, there is no more reason to believe the North will comply with the Feb. 13 deal than it has complied with” earlier nuclear agreements, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton wrote in a Wall Street Journal commentary. North Korea’s refusal to suspend its nuclear program by the agreement’s deadline, and the failure to resolve the issue of the $25 million in frozen assets, have exposed an “embarrassing U.S. weakness,” he added (John Bolton, Wall Street Journal/American Enterprise Institute, May 18). Back to top       Japan Implements U.N. Sanctions Against Iran Japan imposed economic sanctions today against 28 Iranian individuals and institutions, implementing U.N. Security Council measures designed to pressure Tehran to suspend its nuclear activities, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, May 17). “There is a need to take a resolute response on the Iranian nuclear issue from the standpoint of ensuring the nonproliferation regime, of its relationship with the North Korean nuclear issue and its impact on Middle East security,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told reporters (Kyodo News/Yahoo!News, May 18). One sanctioned institution, Iran’s Bank Sepah, would be particularly affected. “The bank now cannot operate new deals with Japanese companies,” said one Foreign Ministry official.  Japan had already banned arms trading with Iran, the official said, but the new measures would also ban Japanese firms from importing lower-level military equipment, such as body armor (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, May 18). Meanwhile, U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday warned that Iran would face a new round of sanctions if it misses the May 23 Security Council deadline to freeze its uranium enrichment program. “If we're unable to make progress with the Iranians, we want to work together to implement new sanctions through the United Nations,” Bush said during a Washington press conference with outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair. U.S. officials have begun drafting the text of a follow-on resolution, according to an aide to Vice President Dick Cheney. “We've got another Security Council resolution that I think is being worked right now at a level by our bureaucracy,” the aide told reporters earlier this month (Olivier Knox, Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, May 17). Back to top       U.S. Monitors Russian Missile Destruction U.S. officials have begun an inspection to verify that Russia is destroying nine strategic missiles according to the rules of the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, ITAR-Tass reported today (see GSN, June 20, 2006). The “U.S. mission has begun the work to observe the process of liquidating the second batch of the mobile missile system Topol,” said a Russian Defense Ministry official. Russia was destroying the missiles at the Pibanshur base in Udmurtia, according to ITAR-Tass (ITAR-Tass, May 18). Back to top       EU Backs Jordanian Nuclear Program The European Union has agreed to help Jordan pursue its nuclear energy ambitions, the Jordan Times reported today (see GSN, May 7). The Middle Eastern nation announced plans earlier this year to build two nuclear reactors, one for power and one for research, and to develop its domestic uranium reserves (see GSN, April 4). “The EU is ready to help Jordan in this regard,” said EU energy official Faouzi Bensarsa, following a Wednesday meeting with Jordanian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khalid Touqan. The European assistance would include advice on establishing a nuclear regulatory and legal system, the Times reported. The nation also plans to contract a Swedish company to help establish a state-owned firm to survey and mine Jordanian uranium reserves, Touqan said. Those stocks are estimated to total 140,000 metric tons of ore, the Times reported. Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency would visit Jordan later this month, Touqan said (Khalid Neimat, Jordan Times, May 18). Back to top

Boy Recovers From Smallpox Vaccine Exposure An Indiana boy has recovered from a nearly fatal viral infection he suffered after his military father received a smallpox vaccination, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, April 9). Both the boy and his father suffered from eczema prior to the vaccination, a condition that should have triggered military doctors to refrain from vaccinating the father, health experts said.  Eczema patients are more susceptible to side effects from the vaccine. Admitted March 3 to a Chicago hospital, the 2-year-old spent seven weeks in the hospital, where he was quarantined with his mother who also developed less severe symptoms. The boy’s dire condition alarmed physicians. He was covered with “mounds of pox,” said Madelyn Kahana, chief of pediatric intensive care medicine at University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital.  “I’m a veteran of 25 years of practice in the ICUs, and I thought I’d seen it all,” she said. “But this was stunning to the eye.” As a result of the illness, diagnosed as eczema vaccinatum, the boy lost most of skin but has recovered to show few signs of his earlier condition, Kahana said. His recovery came thanks to “a lot of good, diligent care and lot of luck — and maybe divine intervention,” she said. Doctors received permission from the Food and Drug Administration to use an experimental drug for smallpox, the Times reported. The boy “doesn’t remember a thing,” Kahana added.  “His mom remembers it all” (John Schwartz, New York Times, May 18). The boy’s disease was the first reported case of eczema vaccinatum since 1988, according to a summary of the incident released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 18). Back to top

Budget Cuts to Delay Missile Defense Laser, Agency Says By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Progress on the U.S. Airborne Laser missile defense program will be pushed back three years if funding cuts passed by the U.S. House yesterday remain in the final defense authorization bill, a senior Missile Defense Agency official said (see GSN, May 10). An earlier version of the defense authorization bill slashed $400 million from the president’s proposed $549 million budget for the antimissile program, but as the draft bill moved to the full Armed Services Committee the cuts were trimmed to $250. That was the version the full House approved yesterday despite last minute efforts by Republicans to restore an additional $100 million to the program. A $400 million cut to the research initiative aimed at designing planes that could fly around the clock near a potential launch site and blast missiles out of sky shortly after they are launched would have effectively killed the program, agency Executive Director Patricia Sanders said yesterday at a presentation. As it stands now, the $250 million reduction could seriously affect the program and push the schedule back three years. “The proposed cut to the Airborne Laser program will set that back at a very critical time,” Sanders said.  “We are hopeful that that cut would not be sustained throughout the congressional season, but that would be a very devastating impact.” The laser remains the agency’s top hope for a way to destroy missiles during their launch phase.  A rival program, the Kinetic Energy Interceptor, is a less attractive prospect given that it is only effective against long-range missiles, Sanders said. Work to field the powerful chemical laser is expected to cost slightly more than $5.1 billion through 2009, when the weapon is slated for a shoot-down test.  The system underwent full-power ground testing in 2005 and is undergoing aiming and beam control testing this year In making the cuts, the House Strategic Forces Subcommittee shifted funding to programs that are more likely to provide near-term benefits, said subcommittee Chairwoman Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.). Sanders said the president’s budget request would have put the laser on the “verge of completing the test program that would prove out that this technology works” and said the testing was on track. The Airborne Laser, however, has had a history of delays and development schedule push backs that have not failed to register on Congress’s radar. “I think it’s safe to say the program as constituted has failed to overwhelm anyone with its level of success,” Tauscher told Global Security Newswire yesterday.  “It has continued to miss its projected demonstration dates” Sanders stressed the value of the high-energy laser research in applications both within the Missile Defense Agency and without. “It’s very important to the missile defense agency and also the department’s only high-energy laser program at this point in time,” she said. “There are a number of potential other missions riding on the success of this.”  She offered no additional detail on what those other missions are. The argument about the value of the laser research is not lost on lawmakers and is the reason Tauscher softened the cuts as the authorization bill moved through the drafting process. “I am really very interested in the ‘L’ piece of ABL,” she said, noting that the final version of the bill was intended to keep the science moving forward. Still, she hopes the cut spurs the Missile Defense Agency toward projects that can be deployed sooner rather than later. “We want to start to have deliverables,” she said. “We’d like MDA to step back, take a deep breath and absorb what were saying.” Across the board the defense authorization bill cuts $764 million from the $8.9 billion Missile Defense Agency budget request.  The Senate has yet to complete its version of the funding legislation (see related GSN story, today).  “We want to get a lot more results and a lot more credibility to the deterrent factor of missile defense,” Tauscher said. Back to top       U.S. House Affirms Missile Defense Cuts Megan Scully Congress Daily WASHINGTON — The U.S. House approved the fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill yesterday day by a 397-27 vote after rejecting Republican efforts to restore $764 million in cuts to the missile defense program (see GSN, May 17). An amendment to put back the money, sponsored by Representative Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) was defeated in a 226-199 vote that broke mostly along party lines. The House also defeated a competing amendment to slash $1.1 billion from the $8.1 billion that the bill authorizes for missile defense, the most expensive program on the Pentagon books and a favorite target of Democrats seeking military budget cuts. That amendment was rejected 299-127, an indication that many Democrats were concerned about dipping further into missile defense accounts to pay for other needs. Despite wide bipartisan support for the bill as reported by the House Armed Services Committee, its missile defense cuts sharply divided Republicans and Democrats over two days of floor debate. Republicans argued repeatedly that taking $764 million from the program would delay needed capabilities, including the Bush administration’s planned missile defense site in Eastern Europe. Democrats countered that they trimmed long-term, high-risk programs so money could be used instead to cover the military’s more urgent needs (see related GSN story, today). Republicans did succeed today on a motion to recommit, winning a 394-30 vote to ensure the bill would require the United States to work more closely with Israel on missile defense matters. House Armed Services Chairman Skelton said he would accept the language on Israel as an amendment, but criticized Republicans for bringing it to his attention at the last minute. Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee Chairwoman Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., called the GOP motion a “me too,” stating that the issue had largely been addressed in the underlying bill. “This is not new, this is just more,” Tauscher said. The defense authorization measure, which the Senate Armed Services Committee plans to mark up at a closed session next week, includes $503.8 billion for the Defense Department and nuclear weapons activities that fall under the Energy Department. The legislation also authorizes $141.6 billion in supplemental spending for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in fiscal 2008. Skelton has said that rectifying the military’s looming readiness crisis is the cornerstone of his bill. “We ask so much of our forces,” he told reporters after passage of the bill. “We have an obligation to give them the training and the equipment they need to complete their missions and keep our country safe.” Back to top

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