Pentagon official James Clapper warned yesterday that al-Qaeda continues to want weapons of mass destruction (Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images). Terrorist WMD Threat Persists By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. Defense Department official renewed the intelligence community’s assessment yesterday that al-Qaeda will continue to seek chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials for use in attacks (see GSN, July 17)...Full Story

India Nuclear Pact Legal in U.S., Says Burns U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said yesterday that an agreed draft nuclear trade agreement with India would not require any changes to U.S. nonproliferation laws, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 25)...Full Story

France Agrees to Aid Libyan Nuclear Plans France has agreed to help Libya build a nuclear reactor, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, July 13)...Full Story

	Thursday, July 26, 2007

U.S. Shipping Security Bill Rankles Importers Commercial importers have objected to security requirements in a new U.S. national security bill, the Financial Times reported today (see GSN, July 20). The legislation, which has yet to pass Congress, would require foreign seaports within five years to conduct radiation screening of all cargo heading toward the United States.  Screening of air cargo would be required within three years. The bill was drafted to improve upon previous legislation that some lawmakers saw as too weak on the threat posed by container-borne terrorist attacks.  However, importers argued that the bill’s provisions would weigh down an already congested cargo pipeline, the Times reported. Shipping industry opposition views the requirements as too stringent and technically unfeasible.  Former Homeland Security official Stewart Verdery said the technology does not even exist to scan cargo in the volume proposed.  National Retail Federation vice president Erik Autor was also skeptical about Homeland Security’s ability to quickly review the millions of inspections images the plan could generate each year. The bill is just “political theater” and antagonistic to U.S. trade partners, said James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation (Sevastopulo/Wright, Financial Times, July 25). Back to top

Terrorist WMD Threat Persists By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. Defense Department official renewed the intelligence community’s assessment yesterday that al-Qaeda will continue to seek chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials for use in attacks (see GSN, July 17). Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence James Clapper repeated the warning contained in the unclassified summary of the recent National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism but did not indicate how close al-Qaeda might be to acquiring such material. Al-Qaeda is pursuing unconventional weapons and would certainly use any it acquires, he said.  “We must be prepared for the unthinkable even if such an event would be unacceptable.” “Al-Qaeda has and will continue to attempt visually dramatic mass casualty attacks here at home,” Clapper told a joint session of the House armed services and intelligence committees. While the intelligence estimate indicated al-Qaeda would intensify efforts to place operatives inside the United States, officials yesterday clarified that the group has as yet been unable to establish terror cells within the country. Edward Gistaro, an officer in the office of the director of national intelligence, told lawmakers the “FBI does not see al-Qaeda figures here inside the United States with links back to the senior leadership at this time.” “What the NIE talks about is our concern that we see increased efforts on the part of al-Qaeda to try and find, train and deploy people who could get into this country,” he said. Clapper and Gistaro gave brief opening statements and fielded a number of questions about al-Qaeda’s presence in tribally controlled regions of Pakistan and the operations of al-Qaeda affiliates in Iraq. While the subject of weapons of mass destruction was not addressed in the oral portion of the hearing, one-third of Clapper’s prepared testimony entered into the record focused on U.S. defenses against and response to an unconventional weapon attack. Repeating that the “most likely” scenario is an al-Qaeda attack with conventional explosives, “the interest they have shown in weapons of mass destruction is real and needs to be taken seriously,” Clapper wrote.  The rest of his testimony outlined the Defense Department’s WMD consequence management capabilities such as National Guard civil support teams and National Guard Chemical, Biological, Radiological and High-Yield Explosive Enhanced Response Force Packages. These CERFP units, as they are called in the military’s acronym-heavy jargon, are designed to “fill the 6-72 hour gap” between the initial response to a WMD incident and the point at which the federal response would arrive. Back to top

India Nuclear Pact Legal in U.S., Says Burns U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said yesterday that an agreed draft nuclear trade agreement with India would not require any changes to U.S. nonproliferation laws, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 25). “We’re very satisfied because we know the agreement is well within the bounds of the Hyde Act,” Burns said, referring to the December legislation that exempted India from most U.S. nuclear nonproliferation laws.  He spoke to reporters after testifying to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  The law allows the United States to sell nuclear material and technology to India despite New Delhi’s refusal to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.  Indian leaders have objected to some of the terms of the law, including a prohibition on Indian nuclear testing and blocking access to U.S. nuclear technology and materials should the deal be violated. The draft “123 agreement” meets many long-standing demands of Indian officials and would extend nuclear rights to India that are now limited to Japan and the European Union, according to experts and congressional sources.  The Bush administration is expected tomorrow to release details of the agreement, which addresses technical details of nuclear cooperation and must be approved by Congress. Some observers have questioned Burns’ assertion that the deal met the Hyde Act standards. “The administration is going to call this a success even though from policy and legal perspectives, there are major problems,” said an anonymous congressional source.  While Washington might demand the return of its nuclear fuel and technology following an Indian nuclear test, it might continue to help New Delhi acquire fuel elsewhere, a congressional source indicated.  Extended talks with India would also be necessary for the United States to cut off nuclear trade. Congress is not likely to decide on the matter this year, preferring to wait for India to agree to an International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards plan over the nation’s civilian nuclear sites.  Congress would also wait for the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group to modify its trade guidelines that currently bar nuclear sales to non-NPT nations that do not allow IAEA oversight at all their nuclear sites, a congressional source said. Twenty-two U.S. lawmakers, some who backed the deal, said in a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush that a 123 agreement failing to comply with the Hyde Act would place “congressional approval deeply into doubt.” “These conditions and restrictions are not optional nor are they advisory.  They were passed by Congress and signed by the president,” said Representative Edward Markey (D.-Mass.), who organized the letter.  “If the 123 agreement has been intentionally negotiated to sidestep or bypass the law and the will of Congress, final approval of the deal will be jeopardized” (Reuters/New York Times, July 26). U.S. negotiators gave a major concession to Indian officials in meetings last week when they agreed to help New Delhi secure nuclear fuel from suppliers such as the United Kingdom and Russia if the United States cuts off its own supply, the Washington Times reported today. The draft deal last year “intended that the United States should not provide India with a multiyear fuel supply that could be used to carry it through the suspension of international supplies due to resumption of nuclear testing,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. “In other words,” he said, “the administration is saying that if the U.S. felt compelled to cut off cooperation because India violated the agreement, we'll help others circumvent our policies to supply India with fuel” (Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times, July 26). The State Department said yesterday that the Bush administration would consider the draft agreement by the end of this week. “I think the Indian government, based on discussions we had last week, are taking some positive steps,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters (P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 25). Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his government would consider selling uranium to India for energy purposes if New Delhi agrees to IAEA inspections, the Australian Associated Press reported today. “In these circumstances it is a possibility that we would begin negotiations with India over supplying uranium to power stations which were subject to United Nations inspections and to the regime of the international atomic agency,” Downer told reporters. “But we haven’t made any final decision about this,” he said. “It is still something that we are considering and we certainly will have to wait and see what the conclusion is of negotiations between India and America” (Australian Associated Press/News.com.au, July 26). Back to top       France Agrees to Aid Libyan Nuclear Plans France has agreed to help Libya build a nuclear reactor, Reuters reported yesterday (see GSN, July 13). “The objective is to cooperate so as to work on the installation in Libya of a nuclear reactor to supply drinking water from desalinated sea water,” said Claude Gueant, an aide to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Sarkozy met with Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi yesterday in Tripoli.   The nuclear plant would be built by the French company Areva, which under a February agreement is authorized to seek and mine Libyan uranium “for peaceful purposes,” according to Reuters.  Libya began renewing ties with the West in 2003 after renouncing its WMD programs and taking responsibility for airplane bombings over Scotland and Niger in the late 1980s (Reuters, July 25). Back to top       Iran Says Nuclear Program Here to Stay Iran’s president said yesterday that international pressure cannot force his nation to abandon its nuclear program, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 24) “Iran will never abandon its peaceful (nuclear) work,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on state television.  “Our nuclear work is legal and why should we stop it?” Ahmadinejad said that Iran had “some thousand centrifuges which are spinning every day.” Iran had about 2,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges in operation in early June, according to diplomats, who said they expected Tehran to have about 3,000 centrifuges installed by late July. Tehran has stepped up negotiations in recent weeks with the International Atomic Energy Agency, but Ahmadinejad said further U.N. sanctions would not impede its nuclear program. “Let's say they issue resolution number 300,” he said. “What will happen?  It should be remembered that Iran is obtaining nuclear technology.  They have to eventually accept that.” IAEA inspectors are expected to arrive in Tehran today to visit the Isfahan uranium conversion facility, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.  Next week, inspectors plan to visit the Arak heavy-water reactor (Hafezi/Hosseinian, Reuters/Washington Post, July 25). Meanwhile, Russian and Iranian officials met yesterday to resolve a dispute on payment for the Bushehr nuclear power plant that Russia’s state nuclear contractor is building for Iran, Agence France-Presse reported. “We are now in a crisis situation, and the current stage of talks is aimed at finding a way out of it,” said Irina Yesipova, spokeswoman for the Russian nuclear plant construction firm Atomstroiexport.  “It is obvious that Iran has broken the trust of our subcontractors” by missing payments, she said (Stephen Boykewich, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, July 25). Back to top       IAEA to Rotate Inspectors in North Korea The International Atomic Energy Agency is set to send a second group of inspectors to North Korea this weekend to supervise the shutdown of the nation’s plutonium-production reactor, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, July 24). The fresh contingent is to replace agency inspectors who have been monitoring the halt of operations at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear reactor since July 12.  The shutdown, confirmed by the U.N. nuclear watchdog last week, was Pyongyang’s first step in implementing the six-party denuclearization agreement (Associated Press/New York Times, July 26). Back to top

DHS Targeting Chlorine Security “Gap” The U.S. Homeland Security Department is considering additional options to prevent terrorists from accessing chlorine stored at water treatment facilities, a senior agency official said Tuesday (see GSN, June 13). Congress in 2006 did not include drinking water and wastewater treatment facilities in legislation calling for new chemical plant security rules, but the department issued a set of regulations in April. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff “recognizes that the exemption has caused a gap in regulatory authority,” DHS Assistant Secretary Michael Stephan told a House Homeland Security Committee panel.  The agency is considering the matter, Stephan said.  However, he declined to specify if the department favored mandatory regulation of water plant security.  “We are going to partner with Congress to find the right answer,” he said.  Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said during the hearing that he favors requiring facilities using hazardous chemicals to employ “inherently safer” chemicals when possible — a measure Stephan said the Homeland Security Department is not now considering — and expressed skepticism that the department would address the issue on its own.  “If the secretary does want this law to change, does want this power, we are ready, willing and able to do it.”  Markey said. Chlorine has been used repeatedly by insurgents in Iraq (see GSN, June 4), while tanks of the chemical have been reported stolen several times this year in the United States (see GSN, May 17). Lawmakers should include measures for water facility security in new chemical security legislation that would replace the requirements set to end in October 2009, the Washington-based Center for American Progress said Tuesday. “In this legislation, besides making chemical security regulation permanent, Congress should close a gaping hole that exists now and broaden DHS’s authority, in concert with the [Environmental Protection Agency], to regulate drinking water and water treatment facilities, which are now exempted,” said Philip Crowley, the liberal think tank’s homeland security program chief. According to the group, 1,700 drinking water facilities and 1,150 wastewater treatment plants report their stocks of chlorine gas and other “extremely hazardous substances” to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Risk Management Planning program (Ben Geman, Environment and Energy Daily, July 25). Back to top       Mustard Agent Leak Found at Deseret Chemical Depot Nearly two cups of mustard agent leaked from a 155 mm projectile at the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah, contaminating nearby munitions before workers found the leak Tuesday, the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency said (see GSN, May 9). Workers wearing protective gear cleaned up the spill, sealed the leaking munition and a second projectile in airtight containers and decontaminated adjacent projectiles. No mustard vapor escaped from the filtered storage unit, said an Army press release (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, July 24). Back to top

Pakistan Launches Nuclear-Ready Cruise Missile A nuclear-capable Pakistani cruise missile test-launched today could reach the capital of India, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 10). The test was the second this year of the Babur missile, which has a range of 435 miles. Pakistan tested a nuclear-capable ballistic missile, the Hatf 6, in February.  The larger missile, also known as the Shaheen 2, has an estimated range of more than 1,200 miles (Associated Press/Washington Post, July 26). Back to top

House Slashes Funds for Polish Interceptors President George W. Bush’s planned European missile defense system met a setback yesterday as the U.S. House Appropriations Committee slashed the system’s proposed budget, United Press International reported (see GSN, July 25). The cuts, $298 million over the next three years, would undermine Bush administration efforts to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland.  The committee did preserve a planned missile detection and interceptor guidance system to be built in the Czech Republic. Bush, who might veto the cuts if they survive the full House and the Senate, has said the missile defense system would defend Western Europe against a potential Iranian nuclear missile launch.  Russian officials, however, have expressed concerns over the intentions and have sought ways to persuade the Bush administration to retreat from its plans (see GSN, July 12). Despite the committee action, the Polish interceptors are not completely doomed, UPI reported.  The Senate will most likely develop different legislation than the House and the missile defense funds could be restored as the two bills are reconciled (Martin Sieff, United Press International, July 25). Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Department today awarded Boeing Corp. an $80 million contract to begin construction plans for the Polish missile defense site and for the Czech radar installation, the Associated Press reported. Under the contract, Boeing would build one mobile radar system for the Czech Republic and would move one large radar array from the Marshall Islands to Czech territory, said Rick Lehner, spokesman for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The defense contractor would also construct and deliver the 10 missile interceptors to Poland, he added. If the project advances according to Pentagon plans, the work would be completed by 2013 and the total contract would be valued at roughly $3.5 billion (Donna Borak, Associated Press/Houston Chronicle, July 25). British Site The United Kingdom announced yesterday that it would allow the United States to use a Yorkshire air force base as part of the European missile defense array, underscoring that the system would increase British security, Reuters reported. “Missile defense systems are just that — defensive,” said British Defense Secretary Des Browne in a release. “They are not for offensive use and by supporting American efforts in this area, both through scientific cooperation and by allowing the use of facilities in the U.K., we are helping to build future protection for our citizens,” he added.  The statement did not specify exactly how the United States could use the North Yorkshire base at Menwith Hill, but it did indicate the base could “enable satellite data to be passed into the new U.S. missile defense system” (Reuters/Washington Post, July 25). In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday sounded his most defiant and determined note of opposition to the U.S.-backed interceptor system, calling for a rapid buildup of Russian military and intelligence capabilities, the Financial Times reported.  “One of our absolute priorities is an all-around strengthening of the armed forces,” said Putin to an audience of military officers.  “Both the situation in the world and internal political interests demand that Russia’s foreign intelligence service constantly increase its resources.” The United Kingdom and the United States have both noted increased Russian espionage, the Times reported. Putin described both the U.S. military and terrorism as “global threats” while castigating NATO members for failing to ratify the Treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe, the pace from which Russia recently announced suspended. Putin’s remarks demonstrated his tenacious opposition to the missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic, even after he offered to cooperatively build radar sites on Azeri territory as an alternative (see GSN, July 3). “There has so far been no response to our proposed alternative plans for defense against these hypothetical — I want to underline, hypothetical — missile threats,” Putin said (Buckley/Wagstyl, Financial Times, July 25).   Back to top

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