Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon (left) and U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns shake hands last month in New Delhi. They settled on the terms of a nuclear trade deal last week (Raveendran/Getty Images). U.S., India Finalize Nuclear Deal The United States and India agreed to terms Friday for their nuclear trade deal, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 20). “The agreement has been finalized but it awaits review by both governments,” said Rahul Chhabra, a spokesman for the Indian Embassy in Washington, said following high-level talks here last week on the implementation agreement for the deal.  The talks were extended into Friday as officials made headway through disputes that had stalled the agreement over the past several months...Full Story

Government Oversight Sought for Gene Synthesis By Neil Munro National Journal WASHINGTON — Some scientists and entrepreneurs have begun an informal campaign to persuade the federal government to regulate their little-recognized but vital corner of the biotechnology industry.  Without supervision, “gene-synthesis” providers could supply terrorists with deadly bioweapons, say these advocates, most of whom own, or head, gene-synthesis companies (see GSN, July 31, 2006)...Full Story

North Korea Raises Stakes With Reactor Request North Korea on Saturday restated its demand for nuclear power reactors as part of a bargain to shutter its nuclear weapons program, potentially complicating the six-party negotiations, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 20)...Full Story

	Monday, July 23, 2007

U.S. Not Safe from Terrorists, Experts Warn Counterterrorism and intelligence experts recently said the United States remains at significant risk of terrorist attack and criticized U.S. policy for hastening the spread of militant Islam, the New York Daily News reported yesterday (see GSN, July 12). The group of four experts questioned by the Daily News gave the Bush administration’s overall counterterrorism effort a grade of “C.”  It issued a grade of “F” to one sector of the war on terror, for helping to strengthen Islamic radicalism around the world. Journalist James Bamford said President George W. Bush has made little effort to understand nations where Islam is a predominant cultural force.  “It’s a Clint Eastwood-style, ‘Make-my-day’ foreign policy,” Bamford said.  “We’re doing badly,” said former senior CIA official Robert Grenier, now the managing director at risk-assessment firm Kroll.  Foreign fighters returning from Iraq to their home countries will create new dangers “like hot embers flying out of a fire,” he said. Representative Peter King (R-N.Y.) defended the decision to invade Iraq.  “When you hit the hornet’s nest, you’re going to have a severe reaction,” he said. The experts offered mixed opinions on U.S. border security, raising concerns about the 3,000-mile border the United States shares with Canada.  King said the border “isn’t well protected” in spite of good cooperation between the two nations.  Karen Greenberg, director of New York University’s Center on Law and Security, noted that a border patrol officer allowed listed tuberculosis carrier Andrew Speaker to cross into the United States from Canada. The experts said U.S. transportation systems remain a major point of vulnerability.  Many of the deadliest attacks in Europe since Sept. 11, 2001 have been based on trains and buses, but “we seem to have decided this is too hard to think about, so we aren’t going to do much,” said John Pike, a defense analyst at GlobalSecurity.org.  There has been insufficient focus in port security regarding smaller ships, Greenberg said. An al-Qaeda member in a video last year urged Muslims to “try hard” to acquire nuclear and biological weapons.  That does not appear to be close to occurring, intelligence officials said last week. “Something we’re doing is making this too hard for the evildoers to think about,” Pike said.  While concurring, Grenier added that weapons such as anthrax and loose nuclear devices are difficult to track. The panel also noted progress in intelligence collection and aviation security.  The aviation sector is a “very controlled environment,” which makes it easier to boost security, King said.  Greenberg suggested that airport security officials should rely more on human judgment than on new technologies in assessing security risks (James Gordon Meek, New York Daily News, July 22). Back to top

Australian Defense Academy Drops WMD Course An Australian university canceled a course covering the science of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons after Australian officials deemed the course to be a possible security risk, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported today (see GSN, July 2) The University of New South Wales dropped the course on weapons of mass destruction after the Australian Defense Department indicated that lecturers might violate the country’s antiterrorism laws by teaching its content.  The class was part of an Australian Defense Force Academy program intended to help national security officials and emergency health and response personnel prepare for a potential WMD incident. The course reportedly had no confidential content, but the Australian government had expressed concern that students were not properly vetted before being enrolled (Australian Broadcasting Corp. I, July 23). Defense Force Academy campus chief John Baird said he postponed the class after hearing concerns from lecturers and a defense official.  He said he expects the course to resume in the near future.  “This concern that was raised was just something I hadn’t thought of,” he said.  “I just thought it prudent to check it before we ran the course” (Australian Broadcasting Corp. II, July 23). Back to top

U.S., India Finalize Nuclear Deal The United States and India agreed to terms Friday for their nuclear trade deal, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 20). “The agreement has been finalized but it awaits review by both governments,” said Rahul Chhabra, a spokesman for the Indian Embassy in Washington, said following high-level talks here last week on the implementation agreement for the deal.  The talks were extended into Friday as officials made headway through disputes that had stalled the agreement over the past several months. “The discussions were constructive and positive, and both Undersecretary [of State] Nicholas Burns and Foreign Secretary [Shiv Shankar] Menon are pleased with the substantial progress made on the outstanding issues in the 123 agreement,” said a joint statement. “We will now refer the issue to our governments for final review.” India under the pact would have access to U.S. nuclear fuel and technology, in exchange for opening its civilian nuclear sites to international monitoring. The deal would have to be approved by lawmakers in both countries, along with the international Nuclear Suppliers Group.  Members of the U.S. Congress have promised to review it carefully (P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 21). Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) warned that congressional approval would be at “serious risk” if it violates the law that enabled the deal, the Press Trust of India reported Friday. The 2006 Hyde Act created an exception to U.S. law to allow for nuclear trade with India, but legal boundaries governing nuclear exports have been debated. “President [George W.] Bush made a huge mistake when he decided to eviscerate our nonproliferation laws in order to restart nuclear trade with India,” Markey said in a statement.  “The idea that the incredibly generous 2006 Hyde Act is too restrictive is absurd, and if President Bush negotiates an agreement with India that violates the letter or spirit of the Hyde Act, he will be putting congressional approval at serious risk” (Press Trust of India/India Times, July 20). Back to top       North Korea Raises Stakes With Reactor Request North Korea on Saturday restated its demand for nuclear power reactors as part of a bargain to shutter its nuclear weapons program, potentially complicating the six-party negotiations, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, July 20). “In order to ultimately dismantle (the nuclear programs), light-water reactors should be given,” to Pyongyang, said chief North Korean chief nuclear envoy Kim Kye Gwan.  The United States promised two light-water reactors to North Korea as part of a 1994 denuclearization deal that collapsed in 2002 amidst charges that Pyongyang was covertly enriching uranium.  Light-water reactors are good power producers but difficult to apply to military purposes, AP reported. The latest round of six-party denuclearization talks ended Friday with mixed results.  The North halted work at its Yongbyon nuclear complex but no deadline was set for Pyongyang to permanently shut down its nuclear facilities and declare its nuclear weapons programs. Envoys from China, Japan, Russia, the United States and North and South Korea are scheduled to reconvene in early September to discuss the next steps. Kim praised the recent talks, but said the lack of a firm timeline resulted from time constraints at last week’s session, AP reported. “In order to set a deadline, we have to clearly define the obligations of each side and sequence corresponding actions,” he said.  “Time was not enough and preparations were not enough this time” (Jae-Soon Chang, Associated Press/Globe and Mail, July 21). Kim also hinted that North Korea might resist disclosing and discussing its existing nuclear weapons as part of the six-party talks, The Korea Herald reported today.  “What do you think?” Kim said when asked whether the talks would cover Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons. “We are currently discussing the nuclear programs that exist now.  So in terms of specifics, we are (negotiating) a shutdown of the Yongbyon nuclear facilities, its disablement, and fundamentally, its dismantlement.  And for that we must have a light-water reactor,” he said.  A reactor exchange could go far in building the trust necessary to uncloak the North’s weapons, Kim added according to the Herald. “We’re going to have to wait and see until confidence is established,” Kim said (Lee Joo-hee, The Korea Herald, July 23). Back to top       West Rules Out Iran Sanctions Until September The U.N. Security Council is not expected to consider tougher sanctions on Iran before September in hopes that Tehran will increase cooperation with International Atomic Energy Agency officials investigating its nuclear program, Reuters reported Friday (see GSN, July 16). Tehran this month told the U.N. nuclear watchdog that it wanted to resolve issues regarding its nuclear ambitions, but Iran continues to add centrifuges to an underground uranium enrichment facility and has refused U.N. demands that it stop enrichment activities. Iranian officials have said they would allow inspectors to return to the construction site of a heavy-water reactor before the end of July.  Tehran blocked agency access to the site four months ago to protest the council’s sanctions (see GSN, March 26). “This is not to be sniffed at, though it does not meet our core demand for full [nuclear] suspension,” said a European diplomat.  “But I do not think our core demands are achievable under present circumstances.” European Union negotiators have continued to hold official contact with Iranian officials, and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana could meet with Iranian national security chief Ali Larijani this month if Tehran makes progress with agency inspectors, European diplomats said (see GSN, July 6). U.S. financial sanctions on Iran and pressure on European nations have had more effect than U.N. sanctions in limiting Iran’s access to the international economy, diplomats said. One European Union diplomat reported a 20 percent reduction over the last year in trade between Iran and Germany.  “Financial sanctions are biting, but they hurt the business community and not directly the nuclear decision-makers, who are mainly the clergy and the military,” the official said. When asked if recent steps along with a slowdown in Iran’s expansion of its enrichment capacity would eliminate the option of a new round of U.N. sanctions, a European Union diplomat in Vienna said, “We are coming to a situation where five out of the six (powers) would support further talks, and only one would insist on a complete suspension before talking.  In that case, the U.S. would play into Iranian hands” (Paul Taylor, Reuters, July 20). Meanwhile, Iran has denied recent reports that it agreed to give Syria $1 billion in weapons procurement funds in exchange for Syria’s promise that it would not conduct peace talks with Israel, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, April 16).  “This is a media game,” Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters at his weekly press briefing.  “It is not confirmed.” According to a report Saturday in the Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, Iran had agreed to assist Damascus with nuclear research and chemical weapons development.  The report alleged that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had signed the deal Thursday while in Syria (Associated Press/Forbes, July 22). Back to top       U.S. to Screen Most Cargo by 2008, Chertoff Says Nearly all shipping containers entering the United States by land and sea are expected to be screened for radiation by the end of the year, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday (see GSN, July 20). To this end the authorities have deployed more than 1,000 radiation screening machines at ports and border crossings around the country, Chertoff said while visiting the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in California. Cargo-carrying trucks drive through portal detectors as they leave seaport facilities.  Should radiation be found, the containers are checked again.  Hand-held radiation gauges provide a third, more detailed level of detection. Chertoff also announced draft guidelines for resuming trade in the event of a terrorist attack on a U.S. port, AP reported. “What [the report] has to do with is making sure that we spend as little time as possible paralyzed by an attack,” Chertoff said. Resuming normal trade is central to any security strategy, said Representative Jane Harman (D-Calif.).  She pointed out that a 2002 shutdown of West Coast ports cost the U.S. economy an estimated $1 to $2 billion a day (Alex Veiga, Associated Press/ San Jose Mercury News, July 21). The Homeland Security report seeks to streamline the resumption of international commerce immediately after a terrorist incident at a U.S. port, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday. U.S. ports would not shut down automatically after an attack, says the draft Strategy to Enhance International Supply Chain Security.  Depending on available intelligence, some less threatened trade hubs could remain open. The report determines a recovery chain of command, seeks to outline alternate methods of transportation should an attack disrupt normal routes and prioritizes what types of trade would first be revived.  Medical supplies, crude oil and other vital goods top the list. Experts said that a “dirty bomb” explosion in a U.S. port was more likely than a full-blown nuclear detonation, AP reported.  Such a device spreads radioactive material using conventional explosives (see GSN, June 13). “Our research suggests a dirty bomb could create cancer in tens or hundreds of people,” said Detlof von Winterfeldt of the University of Southern California.  “But the economic impact of radioactive contamination could be devastating.” It would take weeks, maybe months, to decontaminate and reopen a port after a dirty bomb detonation, he added (Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times, July 21). Back to top       EU Grants to Bolster Nonproliferation in Africa International nuclear nonproliferation efforts in Africa are set to receive a $9.7 million boost from the European Union, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday (see GSN, March 21). The grant “allows the agency to continue to work with its African member states to improve nuclear security in the region and beyond.  Nuclear science and technology offers great benefits but must be guarded against misuse,” said IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei in a press release. Nonproliferation programs in 27 African and eight non-African nations stand to benefit from the EU-backed grants.  The recently approved funding increase buttresses the agency’s Nuclear Security Fund, which spearheads IAEA efforts to better secure nuclear facilities and to combat illegal commerce in radiological material and nuclear know-how.  The funding infusion starts the third phase of an EU-backed nonproliferation program which first targeted Eastern Europe and then focused on North African and Mediterranean nations. ElBaradei applauded the European grants but cautioned that “the IAEA’s nuclear security program remained 90 percent funded through unpredictable and heavily conditioned voluntary contributions.” The grants are intended to target country-specific nuclear safety weaknesses. Ghana, South Africa, Morocco and Nigeria are set to receive support in securing vulnerable nuclear sites.  South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia plan to develop and bolster antitrafficking programs.  Azerbaijan, Cape Verde, Comoros, Croatia, Swaziland, and Macedonia are slated to improve their legal nonproliferation frameworks (International Atomic Energy Agency release, July 20). Back to top       Russia Calls for Simpler START The United States and Russia should not permit the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty to lapse without first drafting a less complex successor pact, a senior Russian official said last week (see GSN, July 3). “In our opinion, we should not allow a vacuum in the sphere of strategic arms control,” said Lt. Gen. Yevgeny Buzhinsky of the Russian Defense Ministry.  “So far, the United States has not responded.” The 1991 treaty — which commits the United States, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine to curb their strategic arsenals — is set to expire in December 2009. Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine have eliminated all their strategic armaments.  Only the United States and Russia maintain weapons covered by the treaty, which limits them each to no more than 1,600 strategic delivery vehicles and 6,000 warheads. “The new treaty should envision restrictions on the deployment of strategic offensive forces only on the state’s national territory,” Buzhinsky said.  The new treaty must include verification procedures, he said. Russian and U.S. officials earlier this month affirmed a mutual commitment to drawing down their strategic arsenals and to framing a new arms limitation treaty (RIA Novosti/Spacewar.com, July 23). “You have Russia and the United States, and both have to reduce their nuclear capabilities,” said Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, chief of staff of the Russian armed forces. “What you want is to be able to deliver a first strike while minimizing your potential enemy’s ability to do so,” Baluyevsky said last week, according to RIA Novosti. “To achieve that, you need to encircle the enemy’s territory with offensive and missile defense bases. … This is normal military logic.  The only problem is that this is the logic of a past era — the Cold War, and standoffs between blocs in Europe,” he added (United Press International, July 20). Back to top

Government Oversight Sought for Gene Synthesis By Neil Munro National Journal WASHINGTON — Some scientists and entrepreneurs have begun an informal campaign to persuade the federal government to regulate their little-recognized but vital corner of the biotechnology industry.  Without supervision, “gene-synthesis” providers could supply terrorists with deadly bioweapons, say these advocates, most of whom own, or head, gene-synthesis companies (see GSN, July 31, 2006). That threat is quite plausible, according to other scientists who recommend an alternative course — the repeal of some existing regulation until more is known about the technology.  “It is increasingly easy to produce synthetic genomes ... with pathogenic properties equivalent to, or possibly more harmful than,” disease agents that are now federally regulated, according to the government-appointed National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity.  But the board's December report recommended rolling back regulation of the smallpox virus so that scientists can study it more easily. Synthetic genomics is a commodity industry:  Buyers can e-mail orders for customized genetic material and receive it back by mail.  Gene-synthesis machines (freely sold in the international market) construct the long or short sequences of DNA from exotic chemical soups.  Purchasers of the synthetic material add it to viruses, germs, plants, and animals to give them novel traits, such as the ability to culture medicines.  Researchers use these products to test drugs. The technology's downside, however, is its power to synthesize pathogens or substances that render pathogens resistant to medical treatment.  In 2002, for example, scientists at New York's Stony Brook University synthesized the polio virus, and in 2001, Australian scientists described a way to greatly increase the lethality of a virus similar to the one that causes smallpox. Terrorists haven't yet used this business to beget plagues, partly because the technology is limited and intricate, and the DNA components are difficult to combine and animate.  But the gene-synthesis providers are based in many countries, they advertise on Google, their prices are falling rapidly, and the sophistication of their machines and expertise is growing. A variety of laws and rules restrict the possession of dangerous genetic sequences for diseases including plague, Ebola, and variola, the agent that causes smallpox. The call for increased regulation appeared in the June issue of the journal Nature Biotechnology.  Several U.S. and foreign scientists and executives, who have formed the International Consortium for Polynucleotide Synthesis, as well as four FBI officials, signed the article.  The business may give terrorists the ability to produce superlethal, vaccine-proof, drug-resistant diseases, so “we should do everything we can to survey everything,” said one of the appeal's leading authors, George Church, a Harvard University researcher whose discoveries helped to launch the industry. By means of computerized tracking, Church said, “we should monitor the machines, the users and buyers of machines, the [machines’] chemicals (which have no other use)” and the “individuals who have the necessary skill sets,” including himself and his team of 50 scientists. "This is not regulating science — this is surveilling scientists,” he said.  The supervision won't slow research, and “any scientist who orders up smallpox and innocently says, “I don't deserve to go to jail,’ is not so innocent,” asserted Church, who in 2004 co-founded the biotechnology firm Codon Devices in Cambridge, Mass. The FBI officials signed the appeal as individuals, not as government officials, Church said.  Federal agencies so far have declined to regulate the business, other than to enforce the current rules, because they don't want to retard the development of medical defenses against new plagues, he said.  His group’s proposal should reassure regulators, he contended, because most gene-synthesis companies support it. In the long run, nations should adopt the surveillance program and it should become international law, Church said. The advisory board's report offers a more cautious set of recommendations, which include increased efforts by the Health and Human Services Department to educate companies about the rules, clarify the list of restricted genetic material, and help gene-synthesis providers screen orders for hazardous requests.  The board recommended repealing the smallpox restrictions while scientists work on the “profoundly difficult, unsolved scientific challenge” of understanding the virus. Federal officials are reviewing the NSABB's report, according to Marc Wolfson, an HHS spokesman.  “It's going to be a while,” he said, until the government decides how to respond. Back to top

Russia, NATO Schedule Fall Talks Russia and NATO are scheduled this fall to discuss plans for U.S. missile defense sites in Europe and the conventional arms treaty recently suspended by Moscow, the Xinhua News Agency reported Friday (see GSN, July 12). A group of experts from the United States and Russia are set to hold preliminary discussions this month on the missile defense dispute, said Igor Neverov of the Russian Foreign Ministry. “We expect that the whole range of problems in the missile defense field will be discussed, including cooperation proposals of both sides,” Neverov said, according to ITAR-Tass (Xinhua News Agency I/China View, July 20). Russian lawmakers have received the draft law withdrawing their nation from the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, Xinhua reported (see GSN, July 16). President Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s suspension of the treaty on July 14 but the move must receive parliamentary approval to take effect (Xinhua News Agency II/China View, July 23). Back to top

“Dirty Bomb” Planner Returns to Prison After Attack A man convicted of planning to detonate a radiological “dirty bomb” as part of a string of attacks in the United Kingdom and the United States was returned to his British prison cell Saturday after being hospitalized for injuries he received from fellow prisoners, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, July 17). Dhiren Barot, 35, was hospitalized July 16 after being doused with boiling oil and water. Barot was sent back to Frankland Prison in Durham after being treated at Royal Victoria Infirmary in northeast England, police officials said.  He “lost all hair on his head and he’s got scarring all over his face up to his neck,” according to his lawyer, Mudassar Arani. Barot is serving at least 30 years in prison for plotting attacks against Heathrow Airport, the New York Stock Exchange and other sites in the two countries.  He could also face trial in the United States (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 21). Back to top

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