Harvard University researcher Matthew Bunn, shown in 2005, warned yesterday that nuclear terror prevention measures need continued attention from world governments (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images). Nuclear Terror Remains Global Threat, Harvard Study Reports By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Despite significant efforts to lock down nuclear material and weapons in the former Soviet Union, additional measures are still needed to reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism worldwide, according to a Harvard report released yesterday (see GSN, July 14, 2006). Securing the Bomb 2007, the sixth such annual report commissioned by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, highlights continued concerns regarding nuclear security in Russia as well as in Pakistan.  It notes that more than 140 research reactors around the world are still fueled by highly enriched uranium, many while kept under only light security...Full Story

Progress Reported at North Korea Negotiations Negotiators at the latest round of six-party talks have made progress on determining the measures North Korea would take to disable its nuclear program this year, lead U.S. envoy Christopher Hill said today (see GSN, Sept. 26)...Full Story

U.N. Powers Resume Iran Sanctions Talks The five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany began discussions yesterday over a possible third round of sanctions against Iran for its disputed nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 26)...Full Story

	Thursday, September 27, 2007

FBI Begins Counterterrorism Reforms The FBI’s counterterrorism division has begun a significant transformation to enable it to better track global connections between terrorists and the larger organizations they act in, the Washington Post reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 6, 2006). Using the United Kingdom’s MI5 domestic intelligence agency and its own organized crime operations as models, the FBI plans to merge its two international terrorism units which have concentrated separately on Osama Bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network and on other terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, said Joseph Billy Jr., the agency’s assistant director for counterterrorism. The new organization scheme would send unprocessed intelligence and threat information through “desk officers” with deep knowledge of specific world regions or terrorist entities.  The officers would find patterns in the information and formulate strategies for counterterrorism operations. The approach mirrors some characteristics of MI5 in the United Kingdom, which Sept. 11 commission members and FBI critics have pointed to as an ideal example of a domestic counterterrorism organization. “We want to place these people together so the intelligence is being shared across each way — left, right, up and down — and that, in turn, will help drive the tactical aspect of how we focus our resources,” Billy said. The FBI also plans to borrow from its experience battling organized crime in the 1980s, directing counterterrorism agents not to immediately arrest suspects when they do not pose an imminent danger.  This would allow agents to continue to survey them, identifying corroborators, confidants and supporters across many groups and countries, Billy said. “We want to be in a position where we have (threats in) not only one area of the country identified but have the entire picture that may be taking place throughout the United States identified and … strategically focus our resources in a way that would give us the better chance of dismantling a group, as opposed to only identifying one aspect of a much larger threat,” Billy said. The reforms were encouraged in part by the FBI’s discovery of independent U.S. terrorist cells that took inspiration from al-Qaeda but received aid and guidance from sympathizers around the world not necessarily linked by a single organizational structure. “You don't want to limit yourself to just assuming that one person who is a member of a certain terrorist group won't particularly try to recruit or bring into the fold others overseas,” Billy said. Former Justice Department attorney David Laufman agreed that terrorist networks have become less centralized. “The Internet has become the most significant recruiting device for multinational sources of Jihadist talent. It cuts across nationalities and ethnicities.” However, Laufman warned that the FBI’s restructuring effort must “overcome the agent culture of the bureau” by allowing the case officers direct agent investigations as MI5 directs Scotland Yard investigations in the United Kingdom. “The key to making this successful is to build a first-class analytical cadre, give counterterrorism analysts equivalent stature to agents in the FBI's counterterrorism culture, and create an environment where analysts and agents continuously and seamlessly work together to identify relationships, sources of funding and operational plotting,” he said. Experts said the FBI must also recruit more Arabic speakers and intelligence analysts and then retain them long enough to develop expertise in their subject areas (John Soloman, Washington Post, Sept. 26). Back to top

Nuclear Terror Remains Global Threat, Harvard Study Reports By Jon Fox Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Despite significant efforts to lock down nuclear material and weapons in the former Soviet Union, additional measures are still needed to reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism worldwide, according to a Harvard report released yesterday (see GSN, July 14, 2006). Securing the Bomb 2007, the sixth such annual report commissioned by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, highlights continued concerns regarding nuclear security in Russia as well as in Pakistan.  It notes that more than 140 research reactors around the world are still fueled by highly enriched uranium, many while kept under only light security. “In essence, Securing the Bomb 2007 makes clear that there remains a very real danger that terrorists could obtain a nuclear bomb or the materials to make one and turn an American city into a modern Hiroshima,” said Matthew Bunn, the report’s author and a senior researcher at Harvard University’s Project on Managing the Atom.  “The theft of the essential ingredients of nuclear weapons remains a very real global danger.” Bunn lauded U.S. efforts to prevent nuclear terrorism by deploying radiation detectors at U.S. ports, but he likened that approach to a football team setting up its defense on its own 1-yard line (see GSN, Sept. 19).   Such a detection network could play a vital role in preventing nuclear terrorism, but nonproliferation experts have long argued that securing fissile material at its source is the most effective measure. The egregious security gaps at Russian nuclear sites a decade ago have been largely closed, “but real risks remain,” Bunn writes, noting “persistent underfunding of nuclear security systems, weak nuclear security regulations, widespread corruption and conscript guard forces rife with hazing and suicide.” In Pakistan, the report states, “nuclear stockpiles are comparatively small, and are believed to be heavily guarded, but face huge threats from armed jihadi groups and nuclear insiders with a demonstrated willingness to sell sensitive nuclear technology” (see related GSN story, today). The report says that some HEU-fueled research reactors, where reactor fuel could be transformed to the heart of a bomb with “modest chemical processing,” are guarded with “no more than a night watchman and a chain-link fence.” Still, advances have been substantial. “Thanks to the good and sometimes heroic efforts of men and women around the world who are working every day to keep nuclear weapons and materials secure, we have made significant progress,” former Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and NTI co-chairman said in a statement. Citing work through the end of fiscal 2006 in September of last year, the report indicates that comprehensive U.S.-funded security upgrades had been finished at 55 percent of sites in the former Soviet Union holding weapon-usable material.  Upgrades at about half of Russian military nuclear warhead sites had been completed. While the current 2008 deadline to complete all the security upgrades “remains a major challenge,” Bunn wrote that it appears likely it would indeed be completed by then or lag behind by just a year or two. Funding for security enhancements “has in fact been going up and up and up,” Bunn said yesterday, adding that “the gap between the urgency of the threat and the urgency of and scope of our response has narrowed.” William Tobey, deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation at the National Nuclear Security Administration, said he was heartened by the report’s acknowledgement of the “significant amount of work that has been done” and the laudatory comment from Nunn. Still, he said, “I think we were looking for a more positive report because we know the positive results we have achieved.” By the end of fiscal 2007 his office within the Energy Department will have completed the conversion of nine additional HEU-burning research reactors around the world to use of low-enriched uranium, Tobey said. Only about one quarter of the world’s HEU-fuel reactors have undergone conversion, leaving a large security gap, according to Bunn’s report. Tobey also noted that to date roughly 75 percent of all Russian nuclear sites have received upgrades, work on the remaining locations is under way and will be completed by the end of next year. “We share a sense of urgency,” Tobey said. A Security Prescription Preventing nuclear terrorism by locking down and protecting poorly secured weapons or the material that could fuel an improvised nuclear device is a challenge that exists beyond the borders of the former Soviet Union. “The danger of nuclear theft and nuclear terrorism is a global problem requiring a global response,” Bunn wrote.  “While much has been accomplished, much more remains to be done to prevent a nuclear 9/11.” In the report Bunn called for a senior White House-level nonproliferation coordinator who could provide “sustained top-priority” leadership to overcome remaining nuclear security obstacles.  Outside the former Soviet Union nuclear security enhancements are in their early stages and gaps remain. “There needs to be someone who can keep that on the front burner at the White House every day,” Bunn said. He also called for a global campaign to reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism in which participants commit to locking down nuclear materials and weapons as quickly as possible.  Nuclear stockpiles in China and India could pose potential risks, he writes. Bunn urged the international community to commit to the goal of removing all nuclear material from the most vulnerable sites within four years.  He said nations should make presidential-level commitments to institute effective security rules as well as providing the cash and staff to maintain them. The United States and other countries should also establish a shared database with unclassified information on actual incidents at nuclear sites that highlight tactics and weaponry thieves and terrorists have used, the report says. Bunn said there is a real opportunity to see the risk of nuclear terrorism decrease substantially by the end of the next presidential term.  “Every presidential candidate should be asked a central question:  What is your plan to prevent terrorists from incinerating the heart of a U.S. city with a nuclear bomb?” Bunn said in the report. While there has been some dialogue about this issue in the current scrum of presidential aspirants, Bunn would like to see even more attention.  He noted that in 2004 both Republican and Democratic nominees said nuclear terrorism was the most pressing security issue facing the United States. The question then becomes who would better the threat and what is the best way to reduce the risk, Bunn said.  “I think that’s where the debate needs to be.” [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       Progress Reported at North Korea Negotiations Negotiators at the latest round of six-party talks have made progress on determining the measures North Korea would take to disable its nuclear program this year, lead U.S. envoy Christopher Hill said today (see GSN, Sept. 26). “Basically, we’ve agreed on most of the disablement measures,” Hill said following the first day of the planned four-day session in Beijing.  “We made some proposals for additional measures that we thought might be doable and we’ll see if is possible.” A February denuclearization deal calls for Pyongyang to receive a total of 1 million tons of fuel oil, along with security and diplomatic benefits, for fully shuttering its nuclear program. Hill said negotiators plan to work tomorrow on a declaration addressing details of the disablement plan, following a briefing from experts who visited North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear complex this month, Bloomberg reported. The document “would be a road map for the rest of this calendar year,” Hill said.  “The key for us would be the disablement steps that would be agreed to and the declaration” of North Korea’s entire nuclear operations. U.S. suspicions that North Korea is operating a highly enriched uranium program alongside its known plutonium weapons effort are expected to be discussed at this week’s meeting.  The matter could be included “in the first phase” of a potential two-part declaration, Hill said. “We’re going to have more discussion on whether we’re going to try to do this in one big declaration or there would be a second declaration, as was proposed by one party today,” he said (Heejin Koo, Bloomberg, Sept. 27). The top North Korean negotiator pledged yesterday that there would be notable progress at this week’s meeting, Agence France-Presse reported. “We have agreed not to disappoint you by producing a result out of the six-party talks,” Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan told reporters following a 90-minute meeting with Hill. “If we can be successful by the end of this year in getting this disabling and full declaration, we can then move on to what I hope to be the final phase next year, which is the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Hill said (Jun Kwanwoo, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Sept. 27). South Korean negotiator Chun Young-woo said success at this week’s talks could serve to reduce fears that Pyongyang is aiding other countries’ nuclear programs, the Associated Press reported (see related GSN story, today). “The surest and most fundamental solution” to the reports is to “achieve denuclearization through the six-party talks as soon as possible,” he said yesterday (Anita Chang, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 26). Meanwhile, Russia said this week that it intends in November to send 50,000 tons of fuel to North Korea as part of the denuclearization deal, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.  Pyongyang has already received 50,000 tons from South Korea, while China is shipping fuel this month (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Sept. 26). Back to top       U.N. Powers Resume Iran Sanctions Talks The five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany began discussions yesterday over a possible third round of sanctions against Iran for its disputed nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 26). Political directors from the China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States conferred on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly to review details of the proposed Iran sanctions resolution, officials said. The officials planned to meet again today, and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is scheduled to meet in New York tomorrow with her counterparts Sergei Lavrov of Russia, Yang Jiechi of China, David Miliband of the United Kingdom, Bernard Kouchner of France and Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany (Sylvie Lanteaume, Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, Sept. 26). U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said yesterday that the discussion over Iran’s nuclear program is not “closed” as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had described it in his Tuesday address to the General Assembly, USA Today reported. “I am sorry to tell President Ahmadinejad that the case is not closed,” he said.  “The Iranian president is badly mistaken if he thinks the international community is going to forget about the fact that his country is continuing — against the will of the United Nations Security Council — its nuclear research programs” (Barbara Slavin, USA Today, Sept. 26). Burns said the goal for the council members’ talks this week was “to chart a way ahead, a diplomatic path forward for the rest of the autumn as we seek to continue this good cooperation internationally,” AFP reported. "But I wouldn't anticipate concluding negotiations on a sanctions resolution,” he said. Burns said the discussions would also emphasize the ongoing European dialogue with Iran, which the United States offered to join in May 2006 if Iran halted its uranium enrichment activities, which could yield a nuclear bomb ingredient. “But with the failure of the Iranian government over the last year and four months to accept that offer, we have no other alternative but to continue the sanctions,” he said (Agence France-Presse I). Rice joined in a heated exchange with Lavrov yesterday over the proposed sanctions resolution against Iran, the Associated Press reported.  Russia has questioned the value of additional sanctions being pressed by the United States. The argument took place during a luncheon, according to Lavrov and U.S. and European officials who attended the event.  One participant at the lunch described the exchange as “very emotional.” Lavrov later said that he and Rice debated strongly over whether to enact more sanctions against Iran when they could endanger a recent agreement with the U.N. nuclear watchdog for Tehran to share more of its nuclear history (see GSN, Sept. 12). “We want to rely on IAEA expertise,” Lavrov said following the meeting of diplomats from the Group of Eight nations. Burns said the lunch had included a “lengthy discussion” on Iran. “There is a very clear tactical disagreement,” he said.  “But we are hopeful that tactical disagreement can be overcome” (Matthew Lee, Associated Press/Google News, Sept. 27). Some Bush administration officials have expressed doubt that the United States can win approval from China and Russia for tough Security Council sanctions on Iran within the next several months if ever, the New York Times reported today. Meanwhile, U.S. officials have been using the nuclear intransigence expressed in Ahmadinejad’s U.N. address to try to convince European allies that stronger economic sanctions are the only effective means to pressure Tehran to halt its uranium enrichment. The United States has so far relied on gradually escalating sanctions enacted both unilaterally and through the U.N. Security Council and on implicit threats of military intervention in Iran. Still, senior officials said that Bush administration and Pentagon officials have given little support to the option of military action, although plans for an attack on Iran’s military and nuclear facilities have been formulated.  The officials said that while Tehran knows the United States is capable of destroying Iran’s nuclear facilities, the United States would have trouble handling an Iranian retaliation that could include strikes against Israel, stepped-up attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq or destabilization of Middle Eastern governments. It would also be difficult to prepare a military strike capable of setting Iran’s nuclear program back many years. While some nuclear sites have been identified, such as the Natanz facility that now holds about 2,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges, the United States cannot know for sure whether secret nuclear sites exist that a military strike would miss. Some U.S. officials have begun to speculate on how the United States could respond if Iran successfully tested a nuclear weapon or made it clear that it possessed enough highly enriched uranium to easily produce weapons.  Many intelligence analysts are most concerned about the second possibility, in which Iran would wield enough uranium to act as a strategic deterrent while remaining within the bounds of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The officials added, however, that European allies with the leadership of French President Nicolas Sarkozy have been discussing broader cutoffs of funding and equipment for Iran than any they have so far attempted.  Sarkozy took a stronger stance against a nuclear-armed Iran than Bush in his address to the U.N. General Assembly. U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley described a new U.S.-French initiative aimed at convincing the Iranians that the nuclear program is “taking us into the ditch” by increasing pressure to the point “that they finally have to make a strategic choice” (Sanger/Shanker, New York Times, Sept. 27). Meanwhile, Iran slammed legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday that would name Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist entity, AFP reported. “Branding the armed forces of a U.N. member as a terrorist group is a strange and unprecedented act.  It is worthless and invalid,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in a statement. “These kinds of ill-considered decisions and baseless acts do not help in implementing peace and security in the world,” he said. If passed, the bill would make the Revolutionary Guard the first military branch of a state on a U.S. list of individuals and institutions that sponsor terrorism (Farhad Pouladi, Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, Sept. 26). Back to top       D.P.R.K. Aided Israeli Target in Syria, Experts Say Private analysts yesterday reaffirmed speculation that the recent Israeli air attack against Syria was targeting nuclear or missile activity that Syria has been conducting with North Korean assistance, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Sept. 24). “I am definitely hearing it from U.S. and Israeli sources,” said former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton.  “The information is very closely held.” “What the Israelis struck I cannot say; whether a nuclear or missile facility is not clear,” added Bolton, now with the American Enterprise Institute. Any evidence of joint activity between North Korea and Syria should be grounds to retain Pyongyang on a list of nations that U.S. officials believe are supporters of terrorism, Bolton said (see GSN, Sept. 25). “If they are cooperating with Syria or Iran, such as on ballistic missile stuff, they should stay on (the list) with Syria and Iran,” he said.  “If you are supporting terrorist regimes, you are a supporter of terror” (Barry Schweid, Associated Press/FoxNews.com, Sept. 26). Meanwhile, a South Korea expert said Syria has been trying to acquire uranium enrichment technology and that North Korea had probably given Damascus uranium hexafluoride, a gaseous form of the material that can be processed by centrifuges. Kim Tae-woo, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Defense Analyses, said the United States was choosing not to confront Pyongyang over the transfer at this week’s six-nation nuclear talks in Beijing (see related GSN story, today). “The U.S. government has some evidence, but they seem to be deciding now is not the right time to talk about it,” said Kim, whose institute is affiliated with South Korea’s Defense Ministry (Donald Kirk, Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 26). Back to top       Pakistan Lashes Ex-Prime Minister on Access to Khan Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto faced criticism from the nation’s present government yesterday for saying that if returned to office she would allow U.N. nuclear inspectors to question nuclear proliferator Abdul Qadeer Khan, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 11). Khan, widely considered a leading founder of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, admitted in 2004 to providing nuclear expertise and material to Libya, North Korea and Iran.  Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf pardoned Khan but has kept him largely confined to his home, refusing requests for access from the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Bhutto, who has said she intends to return Oct. 18 to Pakistan, said in Washington that “we do believe that [the] IAEA … would have the right to question A.Q. Khan.” “Many Pakistanis are cynical about whether A.Q. Khan could have done this without any official sanction,” she said, adding that she would call for parliamentary hearings on whether to allow access to Khan if she were re-elected prime minister. Pakistan’s government quickly denounced Bhutto’s statement. “Pakistan cannot allow any interference in its affairs.  We have ourselves investigated A.Q. Khan's case, we don't think it needs to be taken up again," said Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azeem. “There is a strong reaction in Pakistan over Benazir Bhutto's statement on A.Q. Khan.  I think her statement is based on some wrong information,” he said. Some Pakistani politicians also denounced Bhutto, AFP reported. “Benazir Bhutto is doing everything to appease the United States," said Liaquat Baloch, a senior member of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, or United Action Front, the country's largest Islamic party alliance. “She wants to gain power and the people of Pakistan know that to achieve her objective she is ready to compromise the country's nuclear program,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Sept. 26). Back to top

U.S. Orders 18 Million Anthrax Vaccine Doses The U.S. Health and Human Services Department announced yesterday that it has awarded a $448 million contract for production of 18.75 million doses of anthrax vaccine, the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy said (see GSN, Aug. 20). The vaccine is expected to be produced over three years and incorporated into the Strategic National Stockpile of civilian drugs and medical supplies. The department has also agreed to pay bonuses to manufacturer Emergent BioSolutions if the Maryland firm wins regulatory approval to extend the vaccine’s shelf life from three to four years, and if it moves toward having the vaccine approved for treating people already exposed to anthrax. “Today's acquisition, in addition to the current stockpile of anthrax vaccine, will allow [the Health and Human Services Department] to maintain a stockpile of at least 10 million doses of anthrax vaccine through 2011.  In addition, [the department] has two current contracts for the acquisition of anthrax antitoxins, to treat individuals with advanced anthrax disease,” Health and Human Services said in a statement. The contract also provides $2.2 million to cover the expense of shipping the vaccine doses to the national stockpile overseen by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy release, Sept. 26). Meanwhile, the United States has issued a contract of up to $13.9 million to two biopharmaceutical firms for ongoing development of an anthrax treatment, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Development of Valortim, a drug for prevention and treatment of anthrax infection, has received a total of more than $24 million in federal funding.  Medarex Inc. of New Jersey and PharmAthene Inc. of Maryland are collaborating on the drug (Associated Press/Boston Globe, Sept. 26). Back to top

U.S. Picks Chemical Weapons Disposal Agency Chief The U.S. Defense Department has named the sitting manager of the chemical weapons destruction program for the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado and the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky as the program’s permanent director, the Pueblo Chieftain reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 18). Kevin Flamm has led the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program on an interim basis since the departure in March of former chief Mike Parker (see GSN, March 23).  Flamm previously served as ACWA program manager and held the same title at the Army Chemical Materials Agency, overseeing the destruction of chemical stockpiles in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Maryland, Oregon and Utah.  After community activists protested Pentagon plans to incinerate chemical weapons at the Colorado and Kentucky sites, Congress established the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program to oversee water-based neutralization of the weapons stockpiles.  Disposal plants have not been built yet at the two facilities (John Norton, Pueblo Chieftain, Sept. 26). Back to top

U.S. Sanctions North Korean Firm The United States has imposed new sanctions against a North Korean firm linked to missile proliferation activities, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, July 9). The Korea Mining and Development Corp. has faced prior U.S. sanctions, said State Department spokesman Tom Casey.  This set of penalties bars the firm from acquiring U.S. government contracts or shipping products to the United States. “It’s an indication once again of the serious concerns that exist about behavior by North Korean entities with respect to these kinds of technology transfers,” Casey said. No details were immediately available regarding the reported missile technology transfers (Associated Press/Straits Times, Sept. 26). Back to top

U.S. Missile Defenses in Europe Could Undermine Russian Nuclear Deterrent, Physicists Say Prominent U.S. physicists are challenging the Bush administration’s claims that its missile defense proposal for Europe would pose no threat to Russia’s nuclear deterrent, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Sept. 26). Moscow has repeatedly characterized plans for a radar base in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors in Poland as a threat to its strategic security.  Washington has said its proposal is aimed at a potential Iranian missile threat, with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calling the Russian claims “ludicrous.” “The reason we selected Poland and the Czech Republic for the potential positions of these assets is because it was optimum for the Iranian threat,” Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, said in March.  “They are not positioned to where we can even catch the Russian missiles with these interceptors.” Six U.S. scientists have disputed both claims in Obering’s statement.  U.S. interceptors have the speed to bring down an ICBM launched against the United States from western Russia, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Theodore Postol, a critic of the missile defense program.  While the Missile Defense Agency says missile interceptors in Poland would have a burnout speed of 3.9 miles per second, Postol argues their speed could be faster than 5.6 miles per second. The physicists also argue that the United States could better offset a missile threat from Iran by placing the radar and interceptors closer to the Middle Eastern nation, AP reported. “The claim by the Missile Defense Agency is not correct,” said Postol, who wrote a study on the claims with George Lewis of Cornell University.  “And it is hard to understand how they could get something so basic wrong.” Four physicists have supported the findings of Postol and Lewis. The scientists do not question the U.S. contention that 10 missile interceptors in Poland would prove no match against the large Russian stockpile of nuclear-tipped missiles. The Missile Defense Agency said that interceptors in the real world would not function as efficiently as estimated by Postol.  However, hydrogen bomb designer Richard Garwin said that Postol actually underestimated the efficiency of at least one rocket motor (Desmond Butler, Associated Press I/Yahoo!News, Sept. 27). Meanwhile, a senior U.S. State Department official said yesterday that the missile defense proposal for Europe could help deter a war with Iran, AP reported. “Our intent is to address emerging threats in the Middle East,” said Assistant Secretary of State John Rood, who is leading negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic.  “Countries like Iran are developing long-range missile systems.  And we’re concerned not only about the emerging capability but of the hostile intent from countries in the region.” “We think (missile defense) helps create disincentives for development of missiles,” he added (Jason Keyser, Associated Press II/Washington Post, Sept. 26).   Back to top

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