Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) examines a Russian chemical weapons shell at Shchuchye in 2000. He plans to visit the site next week to assess Russia’s CW destruction program. Nunn-Lugar Program Hits 15; Revises WMD Priorities By Elaine M. Grossman Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — As the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction initiative marks its 15th year in existence, it faces an evolving set of thorny challenges:  the specter of biological weapons, the potential for WMD smuggling and the rise in terrorist threats, according to U.S. officials (see GSN, Aug. 9). The Defense Department anticipates expanding its global efforts “to secure dangerous pathogens and carry out surveillance of disease outbreaks that might be intentional,” Navy Cmdr. Bob Mehal, a Pentagon spokesman, told Global Security Newswire this week.  ..Full Story

Pakistan to Add Nuclear Fuel Complex Pakistan plans to build a new uranium enrichment complex that would be dedicated to producing fuel for the nation’s domestic nuclear power program, the Press Trust of India reported yesterday (see GSN, April 11, 2006)...Full Story

North Korea Urged to Disable Three Nuclear Sites The United States pushed last week to have North Korea disable three facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported today (see GSN, Aug. 23)...Full Story

	Friday, August 24, 2007

Nunn-Lugar Program Hits 15; Revises WMD Priorities By Elaine M. Grossman Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — As the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction initiative marks its 15th year in existence, it faces an evolving set of thorny challenges:  the specter of biological weapons, the potential for WMD smuggling and the rise in terrorist threats, according to U.S. officials (see GSN, Aug. 9). The Defense Department anticipates expanding its global efforts “to secure dangerous pathogens and carry out surveillance of disease outbreaks that might be intentional,” Navy Cmdr. Bob Mehal, a Pentagon spokesman, told Global Security Newswire this week.  Defense officials also aim to strengthen “partner countries’ capabilities to police their borders against WMD trafficking,” he said by e-mail (see GSN, June 4). Mehal put both threats under the heading of “WMD on the move” and distinguished them from the Pentagon’s earlier threat reduction priorities, which primarily addressed WMD and related materials where they were stored. The program — administered by the Defense, Energy, Commerce and State departments — is already working on WMD transit issues in the former Soviet Union, Mehal noted.  U.S. officials “will seek opportunities to work with partners elsewhere, as well,” he said. To help secure Russian borders, “we are equipping over 100 sites with radiation detection equipment,” said Dave Huizenga, an official at the Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration. The United States and Russia recently completed a cost-sharing and workload agreement to upgrade security at 350 border crossings, and the two nations intend to complete the work by the end of 2011, he said this week (see GSN, June 1). The Cooperative Threat Reduction program is undertaking similar efforts to thwart nuclear smuggling in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said Huizenga, who serves as his agency’s assistant deputy administrator for international material protection and cooperation. The growing role of terrorists has complicated the picture by expanding a shadowy underworld that is largely immune to the diplomatic, military and economic tools available for dealing with traditional nation-states (see GSN, July 26). “In the past half-decade, we have become increasingly concerned about nonstate actors and the threat of WMD terrorism,” Huizenga said.  Heightened attention to these emerging threats comes as the Cooperative Threat Reduction initiative’s original legislative sponsors prepare to celebrate 15 years of U.S. assistance in safeguarding and dismantling former Soviet missile stockpiles and weapons of mass destruction. Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and former Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), now co-chairman and CEO of the nonprofit Nuclear Threat Initiative, are scheduled to travel to Russia and Albania next week for a series of events related to the collaborative security measures.  The two authored the so-called “Nunn-Lugar Act” in late 1991 that launched the Cooperative Threat Reduction program the following year.  Since then, the program has deactivated 6,982 strategic nuclear warheads and destroyed the following weapons platforms, among others: 653 ICBMs; 485 ICBM silos; 613 submarine-launched ballistic missiles; 436 SLBM launchers; 30 ballistic-missile-carrying nuclear submarines; 155 bomber aircraft; and 906 nuclear air-to-surface missiles, according to a statement Lugar’s office released last week.  Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan are now free of atomic weapons, after inheriting the world’s third, fourth and eighth largest nuclear arsenals following the Soviet collapse. Since the program began, Nunn-Lugar funding also has underwritten research projects for 72,000 former weapon scientists, providing them work on peaceful initiatives, according to Lugar’s office. The United States has spent $5.9 billion to date on Cooperative Threat Reduction, with the Bush administration eyeing a $348 million budget for fiscal 2008.  Program officials anticipate they will have spent a total $8.1 billion by fiscal 2013. In taking the trip, Nunn and Lugar hope to advance “the continuation of the [Cooperative Threat Reduction] program in a way that’s productive for our national security and the security of the world,” Andy Fisher, Lugar’s spokesman, told GSN this week. Huizenga, the National Nuclear Security Administration official, said ongoing work in Russia — the staple of Cooperative Threat Reduction initiatives — continues to pose some of the project’s greatest hurdles. The agency aims to help its Russian counterparts design and install “affordable, cost-effective indigenous equipment and technology to reduce the risk of nuclear material theft” at 125 storage and research facilities, he said.  Upgrades are now in place at 91 sites. “Our immediate challenge is to complete upgrades at all sites by the 2008 deadline set by Presidents [George W.] Bush and [Vladimir] Putin at the 2005 Bratislava Summit,” Huizenga said.  “Given that much of the work that is ongoing is located within Russia’s highly sensitive nuclear weapons complex, the amount of access and control over schedule is limited on the U.S. side.” An additional worry is that many Russian nuclear sites lack a steady funding stream or systems for monitoring performance, which might limit how well the upgrades could be sustained, he said.  The two sides are working together on a number of levels to address the sustainability problem, he said. Nunn and Lugar are expected to take part in a conference in Moscow next week addressing the future of arms control and cooperation on nuclear energy, according to Fisher.  A meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is slated for Aug. 28.  The two also plan to attend a number of celebrations, including one marking 200 years of U.S.-Russian relations and another saluting the Cooperative Threat Reduction’s 15-year anniversary, Fisher said. Continuing a tradition of annual site visits to monitor the program, Nunn and Lugar plan to tour Russian nuclear material storage sites and ICBM destruction facilities. On Aug. 30 the two are scheduled to see the Shchuchye chemical weapons disposal facility, which has been plagued by construction delays.  After investing more than $1 billion in the effort, Washington recently cut off construction funding, casting further doubt on the objective of eliminating Russia’s chemical weapons arsenal by April 2012 (see GSN, March 1). Nunn and Lugar anticipate an Aug. 31 visit to Ukraine to observe maritime and border security operations on the Black Sea and along the border with Moldova, Fisher said. The following day, the two former Senate colleagues are scheduled to travel to Albania, which this year became the first nation to eliminate its chemical weapons stockpile under the Chemicals Weapons Convention (see GSN, July 12). [EDITOR’S NOTE: The Nuclear Threat Initiative is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.] Back to top

Pakistan to Add Nuclear Fuel Complex Pakistan plans to build a new uranium enrichment complex that would be dedicated to producing fuel for the nation’s domestic nuclear power program, the Press Trust of India reported yesterday (see GSN, April 11, 2006). The Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission would allow international inspectors to monitor the centrifuge facility slated to be erected in Kundian.  The facility would enrich uranium to contain 3 percent of the uranium 235 isotope, a standard level for light-water reactor fuel, according to PTI. In addition to the enrichment plant, Pakistan plans to build a fuel fabrication facility, a uranium conversion plant and a zirconium tube production factory, PTI reported. The decision to pursue a larger enrichment capability was reinforced by U.S. plans to sell nuclear fuel to India, but not to Pakistan, according to PTI (see GSN, Aug. 23; Press Trust of India, Aug. 23). Back to top       North Korea Urged to Disable Three Nuclear Sites The United States pushed last week to have North Korea disable three facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported today (see GSN, Aug. 23). A high-level U.S. official said the request came during working-level talks held in China. Nations participating in the six-party talks are pressing Pyongyang to begin the second stage of denuclearization as laid out in a February agreement.  North Korea in that stage would fully declare and disable its nuclear program. The U.S. delegation said last week that the processes should occur concurrently, the official said. Washington wants Pyongyang to first disable a plutonium-producing graphite reactor, a nuclear fuel rod reprocessing plant, and a nuclear fuel processing facility, the Yomiuri reported.  That could be accomplished in a matter of months, the official said.  Two additional Yongbyon facilities would be addressed afterward. There was no decision from the North Korean delegation on the U.S. request (Takashi Sakamoto, Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 24). Back to top       Chinese Nuclear Smuggling Trial Begins A uranium mine owner and three other men have gone on trial in China for allegedly attempting to sell weaponizable uranium that now cannot be found, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, Oct. 24, 2006). According to prosecutors, between April 2005 and January 2007 the men sought out potential black-market buyers for 17.6 pounds of uranium 235 and 238.  A businessman told the suspects he would introduce them to a Hong Kong buyer willing to pay nearly $210,000 per kilogram of the material. The businessman instead tipped off Chinese authorities to the attempted sale, and the men were found in January while in possession of a sample of the uranium, China Daily reported. The men claimed they had lost the rest of the uranium as it was being passed between potential customers.  Chinese authorities have since been searching for the material, warning that exposure to the uranium is a health hazard. Illicit uranium trade in China is punishable by death, the report said (Agence France-Presse/Philippine Star, Aug. 24). The court said it would not close the case until the missing uranium is recovered, Reuters reported yesterday (Reuters/Washington Post, Aug. 23). Back to top       U.S. Expects Iran to Persist With Nuclear Program U.S. officials said yesterday that a draft National Intelligence Estimate indicates that Iran is not likely to be deterred from developing a nuclear program that the United States and other Western nations believe is aimed at weapons development, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 23). Iran has insisted its nuclear program is intended only for power production. Discontent over Iran’s economic troubles is also unlikely to produce regime change in the country, according to the report. Officials said the draft report, which would represent the long-term consensus of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, is expected to be ready for U.S. President George W. Bush to review within the next few weeks (Pauline Jelinek, Associated Press/London Guardian, Aug. 24). Back to top       Study Finds Lax Worker Safety Measures at Oak Ridge Workers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the nearby East Tennessee Technology Park have not received the proper radiation monitoring to ensure their safety, according to a U.S. Energy Department audit released Wednesday (see GSN, Dec. 19, 2005). The department’s inspector general found that more than 65 percent of the workers investigated at the Oak Ridge nuclear weapons facility were not tested as often as required or for all the radioactive materials to which they might have been exposed, says the report, which was acquired by the Knoxville News Sentinel. Laboratory officials, however, disagreed with those findings. “In this case, the report apparently confused a voluntary testing program with a much more stringent monitoring program that ORNL has had in place for years,” said spokesman Billy Stair.  “Extensive air monitoring and radiation surveys indicated that none of the staff involved was at risk for the exposure, and thus many felt no need for further individual testing.” At the technology park site, a former uranium enrichment plant, auditors found that 20 percent of workers lacked the proper radiation testing. “For example, four of these individuals were not scheduled in a timely manner and, as a result, over 25 percent of the required tests for uranium isotopes were at least three weeks delinquent,” says the report (Frank Munger, Knoxville News Sentinel, Aug. 23). Back to top

Plum Island Still in Running for Lab, DHS Says A senior U.S. Homeland Security Department official said yesterday that Plum Island had not been eliminated from the competition to house an expensive new biodefense laboratory, Newsday reported (see GSN, Aug. 22). The New York island is home to the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, which is due to be replaced around 2013 by the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility. While the island is not on the official finalists’ list of five locations for the $450 million center, DHS national laboratories director James Johnson said it is still in the running as more than a fallback site. “No decisions have been made,” he said during a community meeting in the Long Island town of Southold.  “We are at the beginning of the process.” The new site would be a Biosafety Level 4 facility, authorized to work with the highly dangerous pathogens that could be used in acts of terrorism.  The existing Plum Island laboratory is a Biosafety Level 3 facility.  Should Plum Island get the nod, it would be demolished and replaced by the new laboratory center. New York Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton and Representative Tim Bishop this week issued a statement of opposition to increasing the biosafety level at Plum Island.   Its relative closeness to New York City would make such a move too risky, they said. An accident at the facility could be disastrous for nearby Long Island, residents said yesterday at the meeting. “You would have 3 million people trying to get off the island.  I can’t think of anything closer to hell,” said Robin Imandt. Johnson noted some benefits of reusing Plum Island, including a staff of scientists already conducting relevant research, Newsday reported.  One hundred security cameras and a “full robust” evacuation strategy are in place, he said. Other sites in contention for the laboratory are in Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas.  A decision is expected in fall 2008 (Emerson Clarridge, Newsday, Aug. 24). Back to top       U.S. Biodefense Boom Produces Benefits, Worries The number of U.S. university laboratories conducting research on potential bioterrorism agents has exploded in a matter of years to possibly more than 400, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported yesterday (see GSN, July 11). The Bush administration has allocated more than $40 billion for biological defense since September 2001. Work that was once primarily conducted by the military has spread across the research sector over the last six years.  Among the agents being studied are ricin, anthrax, Ebola, Q fever and tularemia. “Everyone and their cousins are trying to get into it because it’s where the money is and it’s necessary,” said Ronald Blanck, former president of the University of North Texas Health Science Center. “The work being done is beginning to leverage against threats from naturally occurring diseases like avian flu,” he said.  “A lot of the infrastructure from biological weapons research is also preparing us to deal with things like a flu epidemic.” Some researchers, though, complain that they have been “drafted” into the biodefense effort.  Watchdog groups also warn that the rising number of research sites raises the likelihood of mishaps or security violations and produces obstacles to federal oversight of the work, the Star-Telegram reported. “Ultimately, we don’t need 400 institutions across the U.S. working on biological weapons agents,” said Edward Hammond, head of the Texas-based Sunshine Project.  “We’ve gone way overboard.  I request records from universities, and there are wildly divergent interpretations of what constitutes security.” “They’re all doing it by the seat of their pants,” added Hammond, whose organization has publicized a number of research accidents at universities (see GSN, July 5).  The danger has been highlighted by Texas A&M University’s failure to promptly report 2006 incidents in which laboratory workers were exposed to potential biological weapons agents (see GSN, Aug. 2). Scientists argued that research laboratories have taken on significant security upgrades to prevent the wrong people from obtaining disease material that could be used as weapons. Anyone trying to enter the laboratory of the Cancer Immunobiology Center at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas — which is conducting ricin research — must enter key codes and passwords.  Workers must undergo background checks and FBI fingerprinting.  The Centers for Disease Control performs site inspections. “The system, though, is only as good as the people who work in the labs.  We spend a lot of time with how things can be circumvented or sabotaged,” said center Chairwoman Ellen Vitetta.  “My life is consumed with compliance” (Pete Alfano, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Aug. 23). Back to top

Activists Urge Texas to Block VX Waste Shipments Texas Governor Rick Perry received a request yesterday from state lawmakers and environmentalists to help block U.S. Army shipments of VX hydrolysate being trucked to the state from Indiana, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 22). Transporting the chemical agent wastewater is illegal and poses a health hazard to residents of the working-class community in Port Arthur, Texas, said the activists.  The wastewater produced by VX neutralization at the Newport Chemical Depot is being incinerated in Port Arthur. The Environmental Defense Fund says Jefferson County, where the Gulf Coast city is located, is among the top 10 percent of dirtiest U.S. countries due to existing chemical facilities and refineries. “Port Arthur should not be a dumping ground for America's toxic waste,” said Hilton Kelley, a Port Arthur resident and community activist. Twenty-eight state legislators signed a letter asking the governor to step in on the issue, AP reported.  The Sierra Club and other environmental groups also backed the message. While the governor’s office does not intend to intervene in the dispute, the Texas Environmental Quality Commission is expected to monitor the waste shipments, said gubernatorial spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger. The commission has informed Perry that the waste disposal operation “is not endangering public health or the environment,” Cesinger said. Under a three-year waste disposal contract, Veolia Environmental Services plans to incinerate 2 million gallons of the VX hydrolysate, wastewater produced when the nerve agent is treated with sodium hydroxide and water.  Wastewater carried in 4,000-gallon containers travels nearly 1,000 miles and across eight states to the Port Arthur disposal facility.  To allay concerns about waste disposal, Veolia has stated it possesses the permits, training and facilities to complete the operation smoothly, and has issued reminders it is only transporting wastewater and not the VX agent.  To date, the incinerator has received about 350,000 gallons of the hydrolysate. “We're not posing any threat to the environment or the citizens around the plant,” said Veolia environmental health and safety manager Daniel Duncan.  “Everything is going fine” (Jim Vertuno, Associated Press/Martinsville, Ind. Reporter-Times, Aug. 23). Back to top

Czech Parliament Not to Issue Missile Defense Resolution in 2007, Defense Official Says A senior Czech defense official said lawmakers would not issue a resolution this year regarding the U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense radar in the country, ITAR-Tass reported Tuesday (see GSN, Aug. 21). “We have not made a final decision so far, and we shall not make it before the talks are over and before all aspects of the problem are evaluated.  Anyway, the decision will not be made before the end of the current year,” First Deputy Defense Minister Martin Bartak said following talks with Russian military chief of staff Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky. “We shall continue our discussions, and we shall follow most closely the talks between Russia and the United States,” he said (ITAR-Tass, Aug. 21). U.S. and Russian experts continue to study plans offered by the Russian leadership as an alternative to deploying the Czech radar and 10 missile interceptors in Poland, the Xinhua News Agency reported today.  President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials have strenuously objected to the U.S. plan, and have offered instead to share data from existing radars in Azerbaijan and Russia and have urged a delay to interceptor deployment.  U.S. officials say the Russian offerings could augment but not supplant their program, which they say is being developed to counter the threat of Iranian missiles. “The essence of these offers is cooperation of all interested states in assessing a missile threat in the world and collective monitoring of [the] strategic situation in missile dangerous regions with the use of information from radar stations covering these regions, in particular, the radar station in Galaba (Azerbaijan),” said Russian Foreign Ministry deputy spokesman Boris Malakhov. “A fundamental condition for the implementation of Russian proposals is abandonment of the U.S. plan to deploy a missile defense base in Europe and the deployment of strike antimissile elements in space,” he added, according to ITAR-Tass. U.S. and Azeri officials are expected to discuss the radar next month.  The top U.S. and Russian defense and foreign affairs officials are likely to consider the matter during their meeting in October, Xinhua reported (Xinhua News Agency/China Daily, Aug. 24). Back to top       Demand Grows for U.S. Patriot Missile Defenses More countries across Europe and Asia are considering purchases of U.S.-made Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missile defense systems, United Press International announced yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 20). Patriot owners Taiwan, Israel, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Germany and an unidentified European country are all discussing upgrading to the PAC-3 system.  Japan and the Netherlands have already started making purchases of the $3 million PAC-3 missiles, Lockheed announced. “All of those countries have been in discussions with both (the) U.S. government and with Lockheed Martin about paths forward to upgrade to this technology,” said Dennis Cavin, a vice president for the Lockheed Missile and Fire Control unit. New PAC-3 missile sales could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for Lockheed, which is already the Defense Department’s highest-selling supplier. The Patriot missile is designed to counter enemy aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles.  The PAC-3 launcher can hold 16 missiles at once, while the older PAC-2 launcher can only hold four missiles at a time. The PAC-3 missile uses “hit-to-kill” technology, destroying targets by directly crashing into them. “You just go look at what our adversaries are talking about,” Cavin said.  “You have to go to hit-to-kill technology” to counter missiles that could be carrying biological or chemical warheads. An official with the defense contractor Raytheon said the company has completed about half of Japan’s missile defense upgrades and was discussing possible Patriot systems with South Korea and Turkey “We are working with Taiwan and Saudi Arabia, and talking to Israel and Kuwait, about Patriot system upgrades,” said Joseph Garrett, Raytheon’s business vice president for integrated defense systems (Jim Wolf, Reuters, Aug. 23). Meanwhile, Russia has announced that it does not plan to export its S-400 Triumph air-defense system, United Press International reported. “A decision to export such systems may only be made by the country's top leadership,” a military industry expert said, after the defense minister of Belarus said his country planned to buy S-400 systems. It is believed that the S-400 missile system can pursue stealth aircraft, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles at a maximum of 3 miles per second for as far as 2,200 miles (United Press International, Aug 23).   Back to top

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