IAEA safeguards head Olli Heinonen listens to remarks at the agency’s board meeting today in Vienna. He is scheduled to visit Tehran tomorrow (Samuel Kubani/Getty Images). Iran Slows Centrifuge Work, Starts New Tunnels Iran has eased the pace at which it is installing uranium enrichment centrifuges at the nuclear facility at Natanz, Reuters reported today (see GSN, July 6). The slowdown has come as Tehran has taken up more active discussions with EU diplomats on restoring talks to resolve international concerns over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.  In addition, Iran has offered more cooperation to international nuclear inspectors charged with documenting Iran’s nuclear activities (see GSN, June 26)...Full Story

IAEA Board OKs North Korea Monitoring The International Atomic Energy Agency today received approval from its Board of Governors to have inspectors monitor the planned shutdown of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 6)...Full Story

Canada Unsure of Missing Radioactive Devices Several different numbers have been given recently in Canada for the number of missing devices containing radiological material that could potentially be used in a terrorist attack, the Associated Press reported on Friday (see GSN, July 3)...Full Story

	Monday, July 9, 2007

Ex-MI5 Chief Calls WMD Attack a Continued Threat Former British spy chief Eliza Manningham-Buller has warned again that terrorists could acquire and detonate a weapon of mass destruction in the United Kingdom, the London Telegraph reported yesterday (see GSN, July 6). “It remains a very real possibility that (terrorists) may, sometime, somewhere attempt a chemical, biological, radiological or even nuclear attack,” wrote Manningham-Buller, who retired as head of MI5 in April, in an article published last week. About 1,700 terrorists scattered in 200 networks across the United Kingdom are preparing up to 30 attacks at any given time, she stated. “In addition to these 200-plus networks and groupings now identified, there are sure to be others at large, which we have yet to uncover,” she wrote. British courts are waiting to hear more than 40 terror cases involving more than 100 suspects, including the alleged plot to detonate liquid explosives on passenger airliners flying to the United States (see GSN, Nov. 2, 2006). There a “pressing demand” for British authorities to organize a network of Muslim informers who could help provide intelligence on suspect activities, Manningham-Buller stated (Sean Rayment/The Telegraph, July 8). The former head of the British navy warned yesterday that the fight against Muslim extremists could take as long as 15 years, Agence France Presse reported. “This is not a quick thing.  I believe it will take 10 to 15 years.  But I think it can be done as long as we as a nation apply ourselves to it and it's done across the board,” said Alan West, new security and counterterrorism minister under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.  His statement came in the wake of foiled car bombings in London and the use of a burning car against the Glasgow airport (Agence France-Presse/IOL, July 8). Back to top       Homeland Security Vacancies Worrisome, Report Says Nearly one-fourth of the senior leadership positions at the U.S. Homeland Security Department are vacant, potentially hindering its work to secure the United States against terrorist attacks, says a congressional report released today (see GSN, Feb. 21). The House Homeland Security Committee majority staff report criticized the Bush administration for failing to fill top spots in the agency’s policy, intelligence and legal divisions, along with the Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency and immigration services, according to the Washington Post. A total of 138 of the top 575 DHS jobs were vacant on May 1, the report states. “One of the continuing problems appears to be the over politicization of the top rank of department management,” the report says.  “This could lead to heightened vulnerability to terrorist attack.” Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said the high number of vacancies resulted from a recent increase of management jobs.  Before the spring, only 12 percent of the spots were open, he said. The department has faced problems since its 2003 birth.  The current secretary, Michael Chertoff, reorganized the agency in 2005 but the inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina illustrated many enduring problems. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said the numerous vacancies hurt DHS morale and showed the department leans too hard on private contractors, the Post reported. Homeland Security gave no explanation for 70 of the 138 openings, according to the House report.  Seven appointments were pending approval and recruitment was under way for 60. Knocke said that recruitment is occurring for 92 of the 130 present senior-level vacancies (Spencer Hsu, Washington Post, July 9). Back to top

Medical Mobile Command Center Debuts in New Jersey New Jersey last week rolled out a souped-up vehicle capable of pinpointing sites of catastrophe from overhead satellites and directing medical resources and personnel to those who need them, the Asbury Park Press reported (see GSN, June 28). The Joint Mobile Command and Training Truck, designed by Monmouth University and Homeland Intelligence Technologies, is intended as a central command point for gathering information on a biological attack or other unfolding disaster.  It comes with computer stations, a strategy table, camera feeds and sizable video screens. “This will be available 24-by-7 for training and 24-by-7 when a disaster happens," said Barbara Reagor, director of the university’s Center for Rapid Response Database Systems.  "From soup to nuts, to drive it out of here (costs) under $500,000." Systems in the vehicle can track fluctuations in the symptoms of emergency room patients, pharmacy drug purchases, and how veterinarians are diagnosing animals that might be carrying a disease that could infect humans.  It could find the building in which a chemical agent was released and held find available hospital beds for those stricken in a terrorist attack. “The idea of having a rapid response institute is very important,” said Representative Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) (Carol Gorga/Asbury Park Press, July 7). Back to top

Iran Slows Centrifuge Work, Starts New Tunnels Iran has eased the pace at which it is installing uranium enrichment centrifuges at the nuclear facility at Natanz, Reuters reported today (see GSN, July 6). The slowdown has come as Tehran has taken up more active discussions with EU diplomats on restoring talks to resolve international concerns over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.  In addition, Iran has offered more cooperation to international nuclear inspectors charged with documenting Iran’s nuclear activities (see GSN, June 26). “We were there last week and we saw a slowing in the process of commissioning new cascades," or groups of centrifuges, said Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.  “Without going into detail you could say that there is a fairly marked slowdown.  It is not a full-size freeze, but it is a marked slowdown," he told reporters at an agency board meeting today in Vienna. Top IAEA safeguards official Olli Heinonen is scheduled to visit Tehran tomorrow to discuss a “plan of action” to help the agency clear up longstanding questions about Iran’s nuclear program.  Iran concealed an extensive nuclear program for nearly 20 years before publicly acknowledging its activities more than four years ago.  Iranian officials have asserted the nation is only seeking nuclear energy, but Western nations, led by the United States, have expressed concern that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability (Heinrich/Strohecker, Reuters/Washington Post, July 9). U.S. Treasury Department officials plan to meet with European counterparts next week to discuss financial measures to pressure Tehran into complying with a two U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding a freeze to Iran’s sensitive nuclear activities, the Associated Press reported Friday. Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey is scheduled to visit France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Recently imposed economic sanctions have “dramatically constrained” Iran’s ability to conduct international business, Levey said Friday, but he added that he would urge European allies to craft more stringent measures (Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press/The Guardian, July 6). New British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has signaled his nation’s support for a third round of Security Council sanctions. “We are ready to work with our partners on a third resolution.  We think it's very, very important that the international community remains clear and united on this issue,” he said in an interview described in today’s Financial Times. Iran “doesn't have the right to set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East,” he said, while encouraging Tehran to accept an EU incentives package offered in exchange for Iran forgoing a uranium enrichment program.  Iran "has every right to be a secure rich country” that can have access to nuclear energy, he said. Miliband also held a tough line regarding the possible use of military force to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis. Two years ago, then-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called such a possibility “inconceivable,” but Miliband did not rule out the option in his Times interview (see GSN, Sept. 28, 2005). “I think that the whole of the international community wants a nonmilitary, diplomatic solution to this problem," he said. "I don't think it does any good to speculate any wider than that” (Financial Times, July 9). Iran Digs New Tunnels Meanwhile, Iran has begun to excavate a tunnel facility within a mountain next to its Natanz centrifuge facility, according to an analysis of recent satellite images released today by the Institute for Science and International Security (see GSN, Feb. 1, 2006). Photographs of the area taken in January showed no activity in the mountains, but images taken June 11 show new roads leading to possible tunnel entrances, the ISIS analysis says. The site is probably intended to secure important nuclear equipment from a cruise missile or aircraft attack, the analysis says. “Such a tunnel facility would be ideal for safely storing nuclear items, including centrifuge manufacturing and assembly equipment, centrifuge components, natural uranium and low-enriched uranium,” the analysis says.  The site could also possibly house an operating centrifuge facility, but that prospect is less likely than the equipment storage scenario (Institute for Science and International Security release, July 9). IAEA officials are aware of the tunneling activity, the Washington Post reported. “We have been in contact with the Iranian authorities about this, and we have received clarifications," agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said Friday (Joby Warrick, Washington Post, July 9). Back to top       IAEA Board OKs North Korea Monitoring The International Atomic Energy Agency today received approval from its Board of Governors to have inspectors monitor the planned shutdown of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, Reuters reported (see GSN, July 6). Representatives from the 35 nations on the board approved the decision by consensus. “The shutdown of North Korea’s nuclear facilities at Yongbyon … together with IAEA monitoring and verification, will be an important step toward achieving the common goal of a Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons,” said Gregory Schulte, U.S. ambassador to the agency. Pyongyang ejected IAEA personnel in 2002 and has only allowed agency officials back into the country this year as it seemingly moves toward carrying out its February disarmament pledge. North Korea this week could authorize the inspectors to enter the country, after it receives the first shipment of 50,000 tons of fuel oil promised by the other nations in the six-party talks.   South Korea is supplying the fuel; the tanker ship is expected to depart Thursday and arrive two days later in North Korea. “The monitors are ready to go in.  Exactly when depends on when North Korea says the fuel oil has arrived and (their) inviting in the IAEA team,” one diplomat told Reuters. The work of the nine inspectors is expected to include placing security cameras at the plutonium-producing Yongbyon site and sealing infrastructure, diplomats said.  They plan to remain in North Korea for roughly two weeks, and at least two inspectors would continue monitoring operations there while the six-nation negotiations resume. An announcement from China on the date for resumption of talks could come this week, according to South Korea. Significant challenges remain ahead in persuading Pyongyang to fully shutter its nuclear program and give up its plutonium stocks.  North Korea stands to receive another 950,000 tons of oil and equivalent aid for full nuclear disarmament (Heinrich/Strohecker, Reuters/Washington Post, July 9). July 14 and 17 have been identified as possible dates of return for the IAEA inspectors, the Associated Press reported.  “They need to be confirmed by the North Koreans,” said one diplomat (Associated Press/USA Today, July 8). Meanwhile, the United States is considering options for officially ending the Korean War, more than 50 years after fighting ceased, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The two countries have never signed a peace agreement for the war that lasted from 1950 to 1953.  Instead, there has been a truce on the Korean Peninsula. “It’s an anachronism we’re dealing with,” said a senior U.S. official.  “We need to make the place more normal.” Talks on a peace treaty could begin this year if North Korea moves ahead with nuclear disarmament, according to Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, lead U.S. negotiator at the six-party talks. There is also consideration of creating a permanent security body to deal with disputes in the region, the Journal reported (Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, July 9). Back to top       Pact to Fight Nuclear Terrorism Enters Into Force The U.N. treaty aimed at preventing acts of nuclear terrorism entered into force Saturday, the Press Trust of India reported (see GSN, June 19). The International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism was framed in 2005 to increase cooperation among member states in protecting vulnerable nuclear sites and material, according to the PTI. Treaty signatories promised to extradite or bring charges against suspected nuclear terrorists and to enhance security around nuclear reactors and power plants or other potential targets.  Member states also vowed to guard radioactive material. The convention has been signed by 115 nations and ratified by 22, the number set by the treaty to trigger the pact’s entry into force (Press Trust of India/The Times of India, July 7). Back to top       IAEA Board Approves Agency Budget The International Atomic Energy Agency governing board approved the organization’s 2008 budget today amidst warnings that the measure might not fully fund critical agency initiatives, Reuters reported (see GSN, June 22). The board approved the $402 million budget after agency analysts reduced a planned 2 percent increase to 1.4 percent above the inflation rate, diplomats familiar with the negotiations said.  Japan, a major contributor, led the belt-tightening charge (Reuters/Canada.com, July 9). IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei was not happy with the compromised increase, Agence France-Presse reported.  He had asked for an increase of $22 million over the 2007 budget but only received $16 million. ElBaradei told the board last month that the agency’s “safeguards function is being eroded over time” due to lack of funding. The agency executes a host of nuclear-related missions, from helping nations to safely produce nuclear power to spearheading international nuclear nonproliferation efforts.  The new budget highlights the tension between contributing countries’ desire to control costs and the agency’s area of nonproliferation responsibility. Currently, the U.N. agency is enmeshed in talks with Iran and North Korea over their burgeoning nuclear programs (see GSN, July 5; Michael Adler, Agence France-Presse/France 24, July 7). Back to top       Gorbachev Urges Cooperation on Nuclear Disarmament Additional efforts are needed to achieve nuclear disarmament, Mikhail Gorbachev said in a statement Saturday to the international nuclear conference in Pugwash, Nova Scotia (see GSN, July 7). The last head of the Soviet Union submitted a statement to the conference but did not attend, the Associated Press reported.  Working with U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1987, Gorbachev helped to organize an arms reduction treaty between the two superpowers. “(We need to) build an intellectual foundation for agreements that would dramatically cut the arsenals of nuclear weapons on their way to their elimination and prevent an arms race in space," Gorbachev’s statement said.  “We need your brainpower not just to analyze the problem, but to find solutions.” Two dozen delegates attended the conference, including the mayor of Hiroshima, Japan, one of only two cities in which a nuclear weapon has been detonated during a conflict (Associated Press I/International Herald Tribune, July 7). Other speakers at the conference echoed Gorbachev’s call, according to AP. “We want now for the nuclear weapon states to live up to their promises, to get rid of their nuclear weapons,” said Jayantha Dhanapala, former U.N. undersecretary general for disarmament affairs.  “If we do not do that, there will be more countries who want to acquire nuclear weapons and there will be more terrorist groups who will want to acquire this weapon.” Russia and the United States, which possess the largest arsenals, must lead the disarmament effort, Dhanapala said. Canadian Senator Romeo Dallaire urged his country to begin using its influence to press other nations to dismantle their nuclear arsenals (Associated Press II/The News, July 6). Back to top

South African Anthrax Scare Hospitalizes 11 Possible exposure to anthrax led to the hospitalization Friday of 11 people in South Africa, Agence France-Press reported (see GSN, March 1). A post office in Alberton, south of Johannesburg, notified police of a “suspicious” envelope containing an unknown powder, Inspector Juanita Kilian said on South African public radio. “The envelope was filled with powder. … At this stage we cannot confirm that the contents were anthrax,” Kilian said. Authorities decontaminated the site and sent those exposed to the powder to a hospital.  Forensic testing is being conducted at a police laboratory in Pretoria (Agence France-Presse/IC Publications, July 6). Back to top

Bangladesh Readies CW Treaty Law Bangladesh is set to pass internal measures required by the Chemical Weapons Convention, which it signed more than a decade ago, the Press Trust of India reported yesterday (see GSN, July 6). Bangladesh signed the treaty in 1993 and ratified it in 1997, even though it was not known to possess weapons banned under the pact.  The treaty requires signatories to implement its provisions through domestic legislation, PTI reported.  A final draft of that legislation, the Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act of 2004, is being prepared.  It outlines Dhaka’s policy regarding chemical weapons proliferation, sets out rules intended to prevent proliferation, and requires industrial importers and users of certain chemicals to register with the government Attorney Moudud Ahmed convened a committee to write the Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act in 2001.  The group produced a draft in March 2003 that was not approved (Press Trust of India, July 8). Back to top

North Korea to Deploy New Missile, U.S. Says An exiting U.S. defense official warned Friday that North Korea could soon deploy an advanced short-range missile, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, June 28). The new missile has greater agility and accuracy than the Scud missiles already in place behind North Korea’s borders, said Richard Lawless, the Defense Department’s lead Asia policy official for the last five years. He said the missile represents a new threat to South Korea, and that Pyongyang might try to sell the weapon on the international market. North Korea successfully tested three of its short-range KN-02 missiles in June.  A version of the former Soviet Union’s SS-21 missile design, the KN-02 or Toksa missile has a range of 75 to 85 miles. “As this system, this particular system, approaches operational status and is deployed in large numbers, you have for the first time in the North Korean inventory" a highly accurate missile “whose only purpose, given its range, is to strike [South Korea],” Lawless said. The missiles are not designed as nuclear-capable weapons.  However, concerns persist that North Korea could develop a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, Gen. Burwell Bell, the top U.S. commander in South Korea, said last week (Robert Burns, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, July 6). Back to top       India Developing New Generation of Missiles India is developing a new generation of long-range missiles following its successes with its Agni and Prithvi missiles, Asian News International reported yesterday (see GSN, June 19). The weapons in development include a three-stage Agni variant with an expected range between 5,000 and 5,500 kilometers; a hypersonic version of its Brahmos cruise missile; and a nuclear-capable, submarine-launched missile dubbed Sagarika (see GSN, Jan. 7, 2003). India plans to test the 3,000-kilometer-range Agni 3 missile twice in the next 18 months before preparing to test the new model. "Suggestions have come and we are reviewing it," said M. Natrajan, scientific adviser to India’s defense minister.  “It (a 5,000-kilometer-range Agni missile) looks feasible from the onset" (see GSN, April 16). The Indian Defense Research and Development Organization announced on Saturday that it has already tested the Sagarika missile, which has a range of 1,000 kilometers (Sudhakar Jagdish, Asian News International/Daily India). Back to top

Canada Unsure of Missing Radioactive Devices Several different numbers have been given recently in Canada for the number of missing devices containing radiological material that could potentially be used in a terrorist attack, the Associated Press reported on Friday (see GSN, July 3). The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission first reported only one device that has gone missing over the last few years.  In a matter of days that figured rose to 27 since 2002, then to 40, and then back to 32 as of Friday, according to the AP. “I received a revised report of what’s confirmed is still missing and my count is 32,” said commission spokesman Max London.  “They’ve been taking a real hard look at the list.” The radioactive material was contained in gauges, medical tools and other equipment.  They were most often taken from parked vehicles or stolen along with vehicles in which they were stored, he added. “We see no pattern that thefts are targeting the gauges,” London said. The revised numbers came about as the agency contacted companies and found that some of the missing devices had been recovered. Ten of the 32 missing items were classified as a moderate safety risk with the remaining 22 classed as low risks.  Even material in low-risk gauges could be used by a terrorist in a “dirty bomb,” which would use conventional explosives to spread radioactive material. “The fact that these devices are going missing in these quantities just underscores what I think people in the business know: we haven’t yet arrived at a way to fully lock down material,” said Wesley Wark, a security expert at the University of Toronto (Rob Gillies, the Associated Press, July 6). Back to top

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