Addressing the United Nations yesterday, U.S. President George W. Bush called for new leadership in Iran (Timothy Clary/Getty Images). Iran, West Spar Over Nuclear Aims Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defiantly promised he would not halt his country’s uranium enrichment efforts in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly yesterday, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, Sept. 25). Before the Iranian leader’s address, U.S. President George W. Bush urged national leaders to undertake a “mission of liberation” against authoritarian regimes, referring specifically to Iran’s government...Full Story

Standardize Nuclear Site Security, Auditors Say By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A U.S. Government Accountability Office report released in an unclassified form yesterday recommends taking measures to improve the weapons carried by guards at commercial nuclear sites and to apply the same security standards to both government and commercial sites housing the most dangerous nuclear materials (see GSN, July 12)...Full Story

Negotiators Prepare to Resume North Korea Talks The U.S. chief nuclear negotiator to North Korea said today that denuclearization talks were entering a “very important phase” as officials prepare to resume six-party discussions tomorrow (see GSN, Sept. 25)..Full Story

	Wednesday, September 26, 2007

WMD Risk Could Rise, Counterterrorism Chief Warns The counterterrorism chief for a group of former Soviet states has warned that the threat of terrorists carrying out an attack using radiological, chemical or biological agents is likely to increase in the future, ITAR-Tass reported today. Andrei Novikov blamed the rising danger on the “liberalization of commerce and of export controls, lack of effective instruments to control the proliferation of component parts of mass destruction weapons, easy access to information on new developments in the manufacture of traditional and untraditional types of armaments … high level of the financing, technical equipment and intellect of their designers, and growing unity and internationalization of terrorist groupings and criminal organizations.” “All this is linked with the growing process of economic globalization,” he said. Novikov addressed his report to a meeting of counterterrorism heads for former Soviet nations held at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where a counterterrorism exercise at the facility’s oxygen-nitrogen plant began today.  Agents for Russia’s Federal Security Bureau are expected tomorrow to launch an operation to release hostages and remove mock terrorists from the facility. “Technology violations or subversive actions at such installations are fraught with huge numbers of human casualties, tremendous damage to the economic infrastructure, and with ecologic disaster,” Novikov said. “The scenario of such exercises is based on the principle of combining, as far as possible, the actual combat conditions with the specific features of the operational situation on the territory of each [former Soviet] nation, and with the presumed tactics of terrorists,” he said (ITAR-Tass, Sept. 26). Back to top       U.S. Plans Major Counterterrorism Drill The United States plans to conduct its largest-ever counterterrorism drill next month, involving more than 15,000 government personnel, private workers and international officials to rehearse responding to a series of simulated radiological “dirty bomb” attacks, the U.S. Homeland Security Department said (see GSN, July 23, 2006). The Top Officials 4 or “TOPOFF 4” exercise is expected to take place Oct. 15-19 in Arizona, Oregon and the U.S. territory of Guam.  Numerous agencies in the United States as well as Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom plan to participate in the drill. “The National Intelligence Estimate and recent activity overseas reinforce that we are in a period of increased risk,” Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in a statement.  “Exercises like TOPOFF help test response capabilities at all levels, strengthen national preparedness and deepen international coordination.” The drill aims to test the ability of government agencies to share intelligence to prevent a terrorist attack, coordinate intelligence following an attack, respond to an attack involving a weapon of mass destruction using existing incident management guidelines and communicate important information to the public through the media. The TOPOFF 4 exercise is planned to build on work from previous drills and actual emergencies, further emphasizing coordination between private firms and the Defense Department, preventing attacks, decontaminating large numbers of people, addressing recovery issues and working with international allies. “TOPOFF stresses our preparedness and response systems with situations that no single agency or jurisdiction could handle on its own,” said David Paulison, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  “The right response actually takes thousands of individuals working together” (U.S. Department of Homeland Security release, Sept. 24). Back to top

Iran, West Spar Over Nuclear Aims Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defiantly promised he would not halt his country’s uranium enrichment efforts in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly yesterday, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, Sept. 25). Before the Iranian leader’s address, U.S. President George W. Bush urged national leaders to undertake a “mission of liberation” against authoritarian regimes, referring specifically to Iran’s government. While Bush did not directly address Iran’s nuclear program, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other U.S. officials expressed support for crafting a new Security Council resolution to place a third round of sanctions on Iran for the country’s refusal to abandon its disputed nuclear activities (Baker/Wright, Washington Post, Sept. 26). Ahmadinejad maintained that Iran’s nuclear program is intended purely for civilian use and accused the United States and other powerful nations of using the U.N. Security Council to impose what he called a “master-servant relationship of the Medieval Age” (Warren Hoge, New York Times, Sept 25). “In the last two years, abusing the Security Council, the arrogant powers have repeatedly accused Iran and even made military threats and imposed illegal sanctions against it,” Ahmadinejad said. While he castigated the council sanctions, Ahmadinejad defended his country’s cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. “Fortunately, the IAEA has recently tried to regain its legal role as support of the rights of its members while supervising nuclear activities,” he said.  “We see this as a correct approach adopted by the agency.” “Previously, they illegally insisted on politicizing the Iranian nation's nuclear case, but today, because of the resistance of the Iranian nation, the issue is back to the agency, and I officially announce that in our opinion the nuclear issue of Iran is now closed and has turned into an ordinary agency matter,” he said. Iran now plans to “pursue the issue through its appropriate legal path, one that runs through the IAEA, and to disregard unlawful and political impositions by the arrogant powers,” he said. Although Iran has allowed agency inspectors to examine the country’s known nuclear sites, IAEA officials are now prevented from conducting short-notice inspections anywhere in the country as they had once been allowed to do (Edith Lederer, Associated Press I/London Guardian, Sept. 25). Later asked whether Iran was helping Syria to develop its nuclear program, Ahmadinejad said, “Next question.” French President Nicholas Sarkozy said yesterday that a balance of “firmness and dialogue” would be needed to resolve the Iranian nuclear dispute, AP reported. “There will not be peace in the world if the international community falters in the face of the proliferation of nuclear arms,” he said.  The nuclear standoff “will only be resolved if firmness and dialogue go hand-in-hand.” (Sarah DiLorenzo, Associated Press II/Live-PR.com, Sept. 25). “The decisions by the United States and France are not important,” Ahmadinejad later said in reply to Sarkozy during his address.  “What is important is that our nuclear program is within the rules of the IAEA and our program as such will continue” (Hoge, New York Times). German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would support a new round of sanctions against Iran if the country continues to defy international demands that it halt its uranium enrichment program, which could yield a nuclear weapon ingredient. Merkel said a nuclear-armed Iran would have a devastating effect not just on Israel and the Middle East, but on Europe and the rest of the world. “For this reason, the international community must not let itself become splintered” in dealing with Iran, Merkel said. “The world should not have to prove to Iran that it is building a (nuclear) bomb, but Iran must convince the world that it doesn't want to build a nuclear bomb,” she said (Associated Press II). Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation yesterday that would enact new sanctions against Iran’s energy industry and label the county’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist entity, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Aug. 1). The bill, passed by a 397-16 vote, would cut off energy revenue that Iran could divert to its nuclear program, sanctioning foreign firms with U.S. subsidiaries with business ties to Iran’s oil and gas sectors.  The bill would also prohibit U.S. civilian nuclear cooperation with countries that support Iran’s nuclear program. “I wish that we could take Ahmadinejad at his word, but we obviously cannot,” said House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Representative Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), who sponsored the legislation. “Too many foreign energy firms have become functional allies in Tehran's efforts to build a nuclear bomb,” said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl.), the committee’s ranking Republican (Stephen Collinson, Agence France-Presse, Sept. 25). “We want more banks, and now suppliers, to assess the risk” of doing business with Iran, U.S. national security advisor Stephen Hadley told the New York Times. The main concern is “at what point the regime, or elements of the regime, say ‘this [nuclear] policy is taking us into a ditch,’” he said (Hoge, New York Times). Back to top       Standardize Nuclear Site Security, Auditors Say By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A U.S. Government Accountability Office report released in an unclassified form yesterday recommends taking measures to improve the weapons carried by guards at commercial nuclear sites and to apply the same security standards to both government and commercial sites housing the most dangerous nuclear materials (see GSN, July 12). While the Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed that providing guards with automatic weapons and clarifying the shoot-to-kill protocols could make some facilities more secure, the regulatory body disagreed that government and commercial sites should prepare for the same threats. In the jargon of the security and defense realm, the set of hypothetical threats against which a facility is protected are called the “design basis threat” or DBT, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the ones they use right now are adequate. “We believe that our DBT is appropriate,” said Eliot Brenner, an NRC spokesman. The GAO report, which was submitted in February in response to a request from Representative Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), a member of the House national security oversight subcommittee, dealt only with sites containing Category I special nuclear materials, the materials of the highest proliferation concern, such as plutonium and highly enriched uranium. The measures taken at NRC-regulated sites should be the same as those taken at Energy Department sites, government auditors found. “A successful attack on a facility with Category I special nuclear material could have unacceptable human, economic and symbolic consequences,” they wrote in an unclassified version of the report.  “Consequently, we believe that, regardless of location, there should not be differences in … protection.” In addition to calling for the same measures at Energy Department and commercial power-related sites, the Government Accountability Office suggested the department and regulatory commission work together to develop computer models of attacks to better assess vulnerabilities. “The NRC does agree in part with the GAO conclusion,” said NRC spokeswoman Holly Harrington.  “We agree with GAO that Category 1 nuclear material should be rigorously protected.” A common design basis threat, however, is not necessary and defense measure should take into account the type, form, purpose and quantity of materials, she said. While some Energy Department sites hold plutonium, a material falling into the category of most serious concern, no civilian sites deal with separated plutonium, Harrington said, noting that the department deals with nuclear weapon facilities. Uranium enriched to greater than 20 percent U-235 in quantities greater than 5 kilograms would also qualify as Category I, but only two NRC-regulated sites have that amount of material, she said.  Those are nuclear fuel-production facilities near Erwin, Tenn., and Lynchburg, Va. “In our evaluation of the agency’s comments, we noted that all of the sites and licensees have one thing in common — they all possess significant quantities of Category I special nuclear material,” the Government Accountability Office wrote.  “As such, we believe there should not be differences in their level of protection.” Harrington said the commission is currently working with the Justice Department to provide guards at certain sites with the authority to carry automatic weapons and that cooperative work is ongoing with the Energy and Defense departments to enhance and use computer simulations to model mock attacks on sensitive sites. Betsy Hawkings, Shays’s chief of staff, said the representative’s request to the Government Accountability Office grew out of an ongoing look at nuclear security issues post Sept. 11 and an attempt to find the “right balance” between Energy Department and Nuclear Regulatory Commission security standards. “If the standards are different, that difference should be based on rational analysis of the threat, not a haphazard model based on merely all the security NRC licensees can afford today,” Shays said in a statement.  “That won't be much comfort if someone manages to steal material from an NRC facility with less security than a Department of Energy facility down the road." Back to top       Negotiators Prepare to Resume North Korea Talks The U.S. chief nuclear negotiator to North Korea said today that denuclearization talks were entering a “very important phase” as officials prepare to resume six-party discussions tomorrow (see GSN, Sept. 25) Undersecretary of State Christopher Hill said the discussions would take on a vital role as countries aim to have Pyongyang declare and dismantle its nuclear programs. “The last stage, of course, is the elimination of all these programs, but I think this will really set the stage for that,” he said.  “This is a very important phase” (Anita Chang, Associated Press I/Washington Post, September 26). U.S. and South Korean officials have expressed cautious optimism that North Korea could follow through on a nuclear disablement deal if it is given the right incentives, the Yonhap News Agency reported. A South Korean foreign ministry official said that talks this week would likely focus on a report by U.S., Russian and Chinese nuclear experts who visited the mothballed Yongbyon nuclear facility last week to examine how the site’s bomb-making capability could be permanently dismantled. “Basically, the countries will discuss what disablement is and how the nuclear facilities will be disabled, but a joint statement (if issued) could also include fundamental discussions on the dismantlement phase that should follow the disablement of the Yongbyon facilities,” the official said (Byun Duk-kun, Yonhap News Agency, Sept. 26). Meanwhile, Russia is expected to provide North Korea with 50,000 tons of fuel oil in November under an agreement reached during the six-party discussions, the Associated Press reported a high-level Russian diplomat saying yesterday. “We, like our other participants of the six-sided negotiations, will be taking steps for compensation.  This obligates to do this in November,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov (Associated Press II/Live-PR.com, Sept. 25). Meanwhile, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fl.) introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday that would require Pyongyang to cut suspected nuclear and missile exports from regimes such as Syria before it can be removed from the U.S. list of terrorism-sponsoring states, the Associated Press reported. “Our policy toward this regime cannot be based on the hope that it will actually honor its commitments but based instead on its actual performance,” she said. In February, North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear activities in exchange for discussions on normalizing relations with the United States and possible removal from the U.S. list of designated state sponsors of terror. Referring to reports that North Korea may have provided nuclear expertise to Syria, Ros-Lentinen criticized the “duplicity of the Pyongyang regime in pursuing proliferation ties with Syria even while continuing” the six-way denuclearization talks (Associated Press III/Live-PR.com, Sept. 25). Back to top       Israel Pushes for Nonproliferation Exemption Israel has been lobbying to be exempted from nonproliferation guidelines governing the international trade of nuclear material, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Sept. 21). Israel’s campaign with the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group has come on the heels of an agreement reached by the United States and India that would allow the United States to provide nuclear materials to India despite New Delhi’s refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty or to allow international monitoring of all of its nuclear activities. Last week, U.S. officials briefed the Nuclear Suppliers Group, urging it to waive its normal nonproliferation requirements for India (see GSN, Sept. 24) According to one diplomat, Israel last year asked the United States for its own exemption from the safeguards rules requiring all nuclear facilities in a participating country to be monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency.  The United States turned down the request. In March, however, Israel renewed its effort and presented two papers to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, making the case for its exemption from nonproliferation restrictions. The diplomat said that Israel’s papers were “acknowledged by definitely not embraced” by group members. U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns appeared to rule out the possibility of an exemption for Israel earlier this year when he said that the Nuclear Suppliers Group members should know that the U.S.-India deal “won’t be a precedent to bring in other countries under the same basis.” Still, Israel’s push for exemption would probably worry neighboring Arab nations in the Middle East concerned about the possible nuclear threat posed by Tel Aviv, AP reported.  Israel is generally considered to possess nuclear weapons, although the country has never officially acknowledged it. “There is a great deal of tensions between non-nuclear (Arab) weapons states and Israel, and the mere existence of this proposal would exacerbate … the Middle East situation," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. “Israel's proposal illustrates the danger of making exemptions for individual countries from nonproliferation rules and standards,” he said. Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s general conference passed a nonbinding resolution creating a “nuclear-free” zone in the Middle East.  The move was implicitly aimed at Israel for is refusal to allow international monitoring of its nuclear program (George Jahn, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 26). Back to top       New Mexico Nuclear Labs Funded at Current Levels in Stopgap Funding Resolution U.S. nuclear weapon laboratories in New Mexico could earn a short-term funding reprieve in Congress approves a continuing resolution on government spending before the fiscal year expires this month, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, July 19). Lawmakers have so far failed to pass any of the 12 annual spending bills that fund U.S. agencies and departments, creating the likelihood that current spending levels will be extended until mid-November, according to AP. Concern over security lapses at Los Alamos National Laboratory led House legislators earlier this year to cut $350 million from the laboratory’s existing $2.2 billion budget (see GSN, Aug. 13).  Senate lawmakers left the current funding levels, AP reported, and the difference still needs to be resolved (Associated Press/Las Cruces Sun-News, Sept. 26). Back to top

U.S., Russia Plan Missile Defense Talks for Oct. 12 The United States and Russia are expected to hold high-level missile defense talks next month in Moscow, the Russia & CIS Military Newswire reported today (see GSN, Sept. 24). “A Russian-American meeting in the 2-plus-2 format involving the two countries’ top foreign policy and defense officials will take place in Moscow on Oct. 12,” a Russian diplomat said yesterday. U.S. and Russian defense and foreign policy officials plan to meet after missile defense consultations between delegations led by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State John Rood and his Russian counterpart Sergei Kislyak. U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in early June to hold consultations between political and defense officials to review a proposed missile defense system that the United States plans to deploy in Poland and the Czech Republic.  The October talks would mark the third round of formal missile defense discussions between the United States and Russia, following earlier meetings in Paris in late July and in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11 (Russia and CIS Military Newswire, Sept. 26). Back to top

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