North Korean official Ri Gun leads his delegation at working-level denuclearization talks in China today. The session is expected to focus on details of the declaration and disablement of Pyongyang's nuclear complex (Teh Eng-koon/Getty Images). Diplomats Open Working-Level North Korea Denuclearization Talks Diplomats met today in China to begin a two-day session of working-level talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Aug. 15). The talks in the northeastern city of Shenyang are intended to work out technical details of Pyongyang’s full declaration and ultimate disablement of its nuclear complex. “In this working group we will focus our energy on discussing how to move forward the process of Korean Peninsula denuclearization,” said lead Chinese negotiator Wu Dawei. North Korea to date has received 50,000 tons of fuel oil for halting operations at its Yongbyon nuclear site under international supervision.  ..Full Story

NYPD Warns of Internal U.S. Terror Threats Bookstores and butcher shops are among the possible breeding grounds for terrorism conducted by people living within the United States, the New York Police Department said in a report issued yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 9)...Full Story

Nuclear Deal Critics Disrupt Indian Parliament India’s parliament closed early today due to noisy protests by lawmakers opposed to the country’s pending civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States, Reuters reported (see GSN, Aug 15)...Full Story

	Thursday, August 16, 2007

NYPD Warns of Internal U.S. Terror Threats Bookstores and butcher shops are among the possible breeding grounds for terrorism conducted by people living within the United States, the New York Police Department said in a report issued yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 9). Radicalization of citizens inside the country could pose a greater threat than external groups such as al-Qaeda, according to the report. The report is meant to offer insight into the process of radicalization, and urges increased intelligence efforts and involvement by local law enforcement agencies in tracking potential terrorists, the Associated Press reported. “Hopefully, the better we’re informed about this process, the more likely we’ll be to detect and disrupt it,” said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Police analysts studied several internal plots that have been foiled since the Sept. 11 attacks, including planned attacks in New York, Oregon and Virginia.  They also talked to officials in Hamburg, Madrid and other foreign locations about their experiences with terrorism in recent years. Citizens often undergo indoctrination within their home country in “radicalization incubators” that are “rife with extremist rhetoric,” the NYPD report states. Among these possible incubators are “cafes, cab driver hangouts, flop houses, prisons, student associations, nongovernmental organizations, hookah bars, butcher shops and bookstores,” it states. The Internet can also give “the wandering mind of the conflicted young Muslim or potential convert … direct access to unfiltered radical and extremist ideology,” according to the report. Additional collection of intelligence is crucial as most possible terrorists within a county “have never been arrested or involved in any kind of legal trouble,” it says. An official with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said the report could serve to do exactly what it seeks to prevent, AP reported. The findings “paint such a broad brush,” said legal adviser Kareem Shora.  “It plays right into the extremists’ plans because it’s going to end up angering the community” (Tom Hays, Associated Press/ABC News, Aug. 15). The NYPD document identified more than 20 terrorism “clusters” in the northeastern United States that might one day conduct an act of terrorism, United Press International reported. “Any one of those clusters may be capable of carrying out a terrorist action that will result in fatalities,” said RAND Corp. terrorism expert Brian Jenkins.  “The threat is real; this is not some bogey man we are creating here.  There are individuals who are proselytizing, inciting angry young men to go down this path” (United Press International, Aug. 15). Meanwhile, the U.S. Homeland Security Department is looking into a system that would use thermal imaging, infrared cameras and other technology to detect behavioral and physiological clues that a person is planning an act of terrorism, Newsday reported Tuesday.  Such indicators could include heartbeat, breathing and facial expressions. Another effort, Project Hostile Intent, would scan video for facial and spoken indicators that would identify people “involved in possible malicious or deceitful acts” before the act could be carried out. This research is in its early stages and would only be one component of greater security systems at airports, seaports or border stops, Homeland Security officials said. “This is not envisioned as the Holy Grail,” one told Newsday.  “This is simply another tool to augment the decision-making of someone who’s making these judgments.” Such mass monitoring is a concern as the subjects are not likely to have given their explicit approval to be scanned, according to civil libertarians. Some Transportation Security Administration officers have already been trained to detect facial expressions that could indicate ill intent.  This work has led to 273 arrests since June 2004 (Carol Eisenberg, Newsday, Aug. 16). Elsewhere, several U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services workers have been investigated on suspicion of aiding efforts by extremists to enter the United States, the Washington Times reported yesterday. “Two district adjudication officers are allegedly involved with known … Islam terrorist members,” according to an agency document obtained by the Times.  The group “was responsible for numerous robberies and used the heist money to fund terrorist activities,” the document said. An agency officer in Texas received $10,000 to sell immigration documents to up to 20 people, while an immigration officer received airline tickets for providing a Lebanese national with visa benefits, according to the report. Some of the cases were 3 years old, a source said.  The agency declined to comment (Sara Carter, Washington Times, Aug. 15). Back to top       U.S. Confronts Iran With Terror Listing Analysts have warned that U.S. plans to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist entity would increase tensions between the countries and could precipitate future confrontations with Iran, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 15). U.S. officials have alleged that Iran is aiming to develop nuclear weapons, a charge that Tehran has denied, and that the Guard is providing support for insurgents in Iraq, the Taliban in Afghanistan and Hezbollah in Lebanon.  Diplomatic efforts have failed to resolve the issues. “The move reflects that there is a lot of frustration that the diplomacy isn't yielding results," said Ray Takeyh, a Middle East specialist for the Council on Foreign Relations. Listing the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group would enable U.S. financial regulators to freeze assets associated with the group under U.S. jurisdiction, although those assets are expected to be few. The designation would also give the United States a pretext to pressure foreign companies to stop doing business with firms connected to the Revolutionary Guard on the grounds that such business supports terrorism. Some analysts said that designating the Guard as a terrorist group would show Iran that the United States is preparing to take tougher actions against the organization, AP reported. “Once they get classified as terrorist, American institutions will have the legitimacy they need to fight the Revolutionary Guards,” said Mustafa Alani, a terrorism expert at the Gulf Research Center think tank in the United Arab Emirates. “If this is a terrorist organization and it fires missiles in the (Persian) Gulf, then the U.S. would have an obligation to fight the Guards,” Alani said, adding he did not expect an imminent attack on Iran because the U.S. military is embroiled in fighting in Iraq (Katarina Kratovac, Associated Press/Bismarck Tribune, Aug. 15). Foreign policy analysts said yesterday that the United States has never before determined an independent country’s military force to be a terrorist organization, the CanWest News Service reported. “The United States has chosen to up the ante against Iran.  This is a warning, or an indicator, that a major policy shift is unfolding within the Bush administration,” said retired Air Force Col. Sam Gardiner, an Iran policy expert and former war games planner at the National War College in Washington, D.C. “From a policy perspective, it’s huge.  Never in the history of warfare has another country declared another’s armed forces to be a separate instrument from the state,” he said. The move could allow the Bush administration to take military action against Iran — an option advocated by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney — under the congressional authorization issued in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks permitting military action against terrorist groups. “If the U.S. had decided on the Cheney option, this is what we would do as a way of preparing for it,” Gardiner said.  “The new Cheney option includes air strikes against terrorist training camps inside Iran” (Sheldon Alberts, CanWest News Service, Aug. 16). The Bush administration said again yesterday that military action against Iran was not planned but not ruled out, the Xinhua News Agency reported. “Military action is not being contemplated,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. “No president should ever take that option off the table, but diplomacy is what we are aiming towards and what we are working on in terms of the U.N. Security Council," she said (Xinhua News Agency/China View, Aug. 16). A Revolutionary Guard spokesman dismissed the U.S. threat, Reuters reported today. “Not only would the Revolutionary Guards not be isolated but rather it would actively continue its trend of growth with strength,” the daily Jam-e Jam quoted the group’s political chief, referred to as Javani, as saying. “Americans have been fighting the Islamic system for 27 years and create plots against it.  But the Revolutionary Guards have made defending the Islamic system its duty and will increase its capabilities in this regard day by day,” he said (Reuters, Aug. 16). Back to top

Senior U.S. Envoy to Visit Libya Next Week The U.S. State Department’s Middle East chief is expected to visit Libya next week to pave the way for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to visit the long-isolated country later this year, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, July 13). In a two-day visit to Tripoli, Assistant Secretary of State David Welch plans to discuss improving Libya’s standing with the United States.  Relations between Tripoli and Western nations have grown in recent years after Tripoli gave up its WMD development programs and accepted responsibility for the 1988 passenger aircraft bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. Welch is expected to visit Libya in between trips to France and Oman, State Department officials said. Officials have previously indicated that Rice’s trip to Libya could occur in October (Matthew Lee, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Aug. 16). Back to top

Diplomats Open Working-Level North Korea Denuclearization Talks Diplomats met today in China to begin a two-day session of working-level talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Aug. 15). The talks in the northeastern city of Shenyang are intended to work out technical details of Pyongyang’s full declaration and ultimate disablement of its nuclear complex. “In this working group we will focus our energy on discussing how to move forward the process of Korean Peninsula denuclearization,” said lead Chinese negotiator Wu Dawei. North Korea to date has received 50,000 tons of fuel oil for halting operations at its Yongbyon nuclear site under international supervision.  It stands to receive another 950,000 tons or equivalent aid, along with security and diplomatic benefits, for carrying out the second phase of a February denuclearization deal. Chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill reaffirmed that the declaration must involve North Korea’s suspected uranium enrichment effort. “I think the uranium enrichment process needs to be addressed in the context of the declaration of programs and I think we have an ongoing effort to do that,” he said. Questions also remain about the amount of weapons material produced at the Yongbyon nuclear reactor before its closure, AFP reported (Peter Harmsen, Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Aug. 16). The meeting is not expected to close with a schedule for further North Korean denuclearization actions, the Associated Press reported. “What we are trying to do is make sure that we have a common understanding of technical tasks, so that when we sit down at the plenary (meeting in September) we won’t be talking about things for the first time,” Hill said (Anita Chang, Associated Press/NDTV.com, Aug. 16). Back to top       Nuclear Deal Critics Disrupt Indian Parliament India’s parliament closed early today due to noisy protests by lawmakers opposed to the country’s pending civilian nuclear cooperation deal with the United States, Reuters reported (see GSN, Aug 15). Legislators referred to a statement by a U.S. State Department spokesman on Tuesday that the agreement would be terminated if India conducts a new nuclear bomb test.   The deal’s opponents said a rule prohibiting bomb tests would impinge on Indian independence and nuclear security. Some lawmakers demanded the resignation of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for “misleading” parliament on the agreement. “Prime minister quit your job,” “Stop lying, stop selling out the country,” around two dozen lawmakers shouted from the center of the parliament’s upper and lower houses, which adjourned for the day due to the disruption. Indian communist lawmakers are expected to begin two days of talks tomorrow to agree on a political strategy for the nuclear deal.  The parliament’s communist contingent, which has so far rejected the deal, is a crucial component of the government’s ruling coalition. “The cooperation will not be the same as today,” said D. Raja, a senior communist leader in India’s parliament.  “This is a major issue that has strained relations and caused a major confrontation.” “We want to redefine our approach on policies of the government including the nuclear deal,” he said (Reuters/Washington Post, Aug. 16). Back to top       Australia Defends Nuclear Plans With India; Critics Charge Nuclear Trade Would Violate Treaty Australian Prime Minister John Howard today defended his decision to pursue uranium sales to India, reversing Australia’s policy of refusing nuclear trade with nations outside the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Aug. 14). With a pending U.S.-Indian deal now facing review by lawmakers in both countries, Australia’s federal Cabinet agreed Monday to follow suit.  The move follows a decision to sell uranium to China, a nuclear-weapon state that has joined the treaty (see GSN, Jan. 5). “I think it will strike many Australians as very strange that it’s acceptable to sell uranium to China but it’s not — no matter what arrangements you have — to sell uranium to India,” Howard said.  No sales would take place before the U.S.-Indian agreement is complete or before India has accepted international safeguards over its civilian nuclear sector, he said. India “has indicated that it does not intend to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, so we think it worthwhile finding practical ways to bring it into the nonproliferation mainstream,” Howard added, while praising India’s “very good nonproliferation track record” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Aug. 16). The decision has drawn fire from nuclear nonproliferation advocates who have raised legal questions about Australia’s nonproliferation obligations. “This move flagrantly contradicts Australia's long-standing international nuclear nonproliferation commitments and should be reconsidered and reversed,” Arms Control Association head Daryl Kimball said in a release. As a party to the South Pacific Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone Treaty, Australia agreed not to sell uranium “to any non-nuclear-weapon state unless subject to the safeguards required by Article 3.1 of the NPT,” according to the treaty’s terms. Article 3 requires nuclear trade recipients who are not recognized as nuclear-weapon states by the treaty to allow international monitoring of all their nuclear facilities. Under the U.S.-Indian deal, however, New Delhi has pledged to place its civilian nuclear program under international supervision, but it would keep its nuclear weapon activities out of sight. “Because India has refused to place all of its reactors, plutonium separation, and uranium enrichment plants under international safeguards, the safeguards on a few additional facilities will do nothing to slow or stop the continued production of fissile material for nuclear weapons by India,” Kimball said (Arms Control Association release, Aug. 15). Back to top       U.S. Lawmakers Urge Homeland Security Department to Allow Additional Study of Detection Plans U.S. lawmakers have urged the Homeland Security Department to allow congressional auditors to review the agency’s testing of radiation sensors designed to screen vehicles and cargo containers, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Aug. 2). The $1.2 billion program drew criticism from the Government Accountability Office this summer after investigators found that department had overstated the performance capabilities of the detectors.  Legislators have held back funds for the program, saying they would prefer to purchase the sensors only after they have greater confidence in the technology (see GSN, July 20). Department officials have said they would examine their detector plans, but would ask the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to conduct a review instead of asking for a GAO study. “There is ample reason to be concerned that the GAO lacks the critical experience and expertise necessary for a project of this magnitude," said department spokesman Russ Knocke.  “We want to involve the very best experts in the field. … That is why the department has asked the Defense Threat Reduction Agency for an independent review.” Two U.S. representatives criticized that decision in an Aug. 10 letter to department. “On its face, it would appear such efforts are nothing other than an attempt to lessen the impact of potentially bad news from the GAO report,” wrote House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Representative Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). They accused the department of conducting an “end run” to avoid scrutiny. On the Senate side, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) also supported a GAO study. The program “involves some highly technical issues.  Getting a second opinion from a panel of experts can only be helpful,” he said in a statement.  “We also need GAO to do what it does best:  ask the tough questions and provide Congress with the facts” (Robert O’Harrow, Washington Post, Aug. 16).   Back to top

Mustard Vapor Detected at Umatilla Chemical Depot Workers at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon detected minute levels of mustard vapor yesterday while inspecting a storage structure holding bulk containers, the U.S. Army announced (see GSN, July 27). Passive filter systems installed in the depot’s storage igloos prevent mustard gas from escaping into the environment.  Depot workers placed a powered filter system on the igloo, and planned to find, inspect and decontaminate the leaking container (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Aug. 15). Back to top

Fylingdales Radar Upgrades Complete The U.S. Missile Defense Agency has completed upgrades to its early warning radar at the British Fylingdales air station, Inside Missile Defense reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 18). The radar by this fall is expected to be completely meshed with the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System, boosting the precision of the system’s tracking capability. British Defense Secretary Des Browne informed lawmakers there of the project’s completion last month.  He also said that the Royal Air Force Base at Menwith Hill in Yorkshire would be involved in U.S. missile defense efforts. Communications equipment is to be installed alongside receiving antenna technology already in place at the base.  “There are no plans to site interceptor missiles in the U.K.,” according to a British Defense Ministry statement. “The work at RAF Menwith Hill will both support the existing joint U.K.-U.S. missile warning mission and also enable satellite data to be passed into the new U.S. missile defense system,” the ministry said. British leaders plan to cooperate with the United States and other NATO nations “to explore the possibilities of a NATO missile defense system that could build on U.S. efforts in this area,” according to the statement. “Missile defense systems are just that — defensive,” Browne said in the 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.” Radars at Fylingdales, Beale Air Force Base in California and Thule Air Base in Greenland are being improved under the Missile Defense Agency’s Upgraded Early Warning Radar program, Inside Missile Defense reported.  Upgrades are also planned for radars at Clear Air Station in Alaska and Otis Air Force Base in Cape Cod, Mass. (John Liang, Inside Missile Defense, Aug. 15). Back to top       Agency to Appeal $50M in Missile Defense Cuts The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is asking lawmakers to reinstate $50 million in fiscal 2008 funding cut from the Airborne Laser program, Inside Missile Defense reported yesterday (see GSN, July 31). U.S. President George W. Bush included $548.7 million for the program in his defense budget request, but the House Appropriations Committee passed a bill on July 25 setting aside $498 million for the program. The committee reported that it slashed $35 million to account for “program efficiencies identified by the [Missile Defense Agency],” and $15 million because of “excessive program support.” The Missile Defense Agency has argued that funding cuts “will significantly increase risk” and could affect a planned 2009 targeting demonstration of the aircraft-mounted laser intended to destroy enemy missiles. The Missile Defense Agency said in a statement that it “is in discussions with the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee about the contents and concerns expressed in the committee’s report and is preparing to appeal the funding reductions that were recommended by the [defense subcommittee], including those attributed to ‘program efficiencies’ and ‘excessive program support”” (Thomas Duffy, Inside Missile Defense, Aug. 15). Back to top

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