U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has defended a pending compromise with North Korea (Alex Wong/Getty Images). Bush Administration Pushes Korea Nuclear Declaration Deal The Bush administration yesterday publicly rejected criticism of a plan to reignite the faltering North Korean denuclearization process, though there is internal debate on the matter, the New York Times reported (see GSN, April 17). A key step of the 2007 deal called for Pyongyang to issue a full declaration of its nuclear activities and material by Dec. 31.  ..Full Story

Railroads Ordered to Find Lowest-Risk HAZMAT Routes The U.S. Transportation Department this week ordered railroad companies to determine the “safest and most secure” available routes for shipments of radioactive materials, explosives and hazardous chemicals that could become tools of terrorists, the Contra Costa Times reported (see GSN, March 14)...Full Story

U.S., British Leaders Threaten New Iran Sanctions U.S. and British leaders said yesterday they would continue to pressure Iran to halt nuclear activities suspected of being directing toward nuclear weapons development (see GSN, April 17)...Full Story

	Friday, April 18, 2008

Bush Administration Pushes Korea Nuclear Declaration Deal The Bush administration yesterday publicly rejected criticism of a plan to reignite the faltering North Korean denuclearization process, though there is internal debate on the matter, the New York Times reported (see GSN, April 17). A key step of the 2007 deal called for Pyongyang to issue a full declaration of its nuclear activities and material by Dec. 31.  The status of the agreement has appeared shaky this year in the wake of North Korea’s apparent unwillingness to address certain topics. Top U.S. and North Korean negotiators last week reportedly reached a compromise under which Pyongyang would describe its plutonium program in detail and “acknowledge” Washington’s suspicions regarding uranium enrichment efforts and support for Syria’s alleged nuclear program.  The plan also requires a North Korean pledge to halt any nuclear proliferation activities. Critics have said the deal is a step back from the previous U.S. demand.  State Department spokesman Sean McCormack rejected that criticism and said the agreement enables international inspectors to examine all North Korean nuclear sites to ensure that weapons work has halted. “There is nothing inevitable about this process, and we are reserving judgment about this declaration until we see it,” he said.  “Every aspect will be subject to verification, and if we detect that they have misled or attempted to mislead, there will be diplomatic consequences.” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and top North Korea negotiator Christopher Hill have backed the deal as a way to at least shut down North Korea’s plutonium program, which is believed to have produced material for several nuclear weapons.  Aides to Vice President Dick Cheney and other conservative administration officials have opposed the plan, the Times reported. “A lot of people will say this fall short of a full confession,” said one administration official.  “They want them to appear in Town Hall and acknowledge that they have sinned.  But they weren’t willing to go that far.” While the agreement reportedly calls on Washington to move toward removing Pyongyang from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, the State Department said that most economic sanctions against the Stalinist state would remain. “We’re going to have to judge whether North Korea has carried out its obligations,” Rice told reporters yesterday.  “But I will say this:  we have a long way to go in terms of all the various statutory sanctions and multilateral and bilateral sanctions that would remain even if the United States were to take the steps that you outlined” (Helene Cooper, New York Times, April 18). North Korea could be freed from some penalties under the terrorism list and the Trading With the Enemy Act before the verification process is complete, Rice suggested.  However, she said Pyongyang would face new trouble should inaccuracies be found later in the nuclear declaration, Reuters reported. “Verification takes some time because these are complex programs, this is a nontransparent society, there is a history here of surprises and so it will take some time — even past the second phase — for verification to completely play out,” she said. “Whatever is done in phase two, if it’s demonstrated in phase three that something was wrong in phase two, of course, the United States reserves the right to take whatever steps it needs to,” she added. The second phase of the denuclearization deal involves the nuclear declaration and disablement of three key North Korean nuclear facilities.  The third phase would be actual dismantlement of the nation’s nuclear complex, for which it stands to receive energy, diplomatic and security benefits (Arshad Mohammed, Reuters/Washington Post, April 17). Rice also indicated that part of the declaration could remain secret, Agence France-Presse reported.  “This is a diplomatic matter and not everything in diplomacy is public,” she said (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, April 17). South Korea has also expressed concern about the agreement ahead of President Lee Myung-bak’s meeting beginning today with U.S. President George W. Bush, the Christian Science Monitor reported yesterday. “I do not know what they have agreed,” said Prime Minister Seung Soo.  “But if North Korea is going to the United States over the shoulder of (South) Korea, it will not succeed.” The revised nuclear accounting is “too big a concession,” said Choi Jin-wook of the Korea Institute for National Unification (Donald Kirk, Christian Science Monitor, April 17). Back to top       U.S., British Leaders Threaten New Iran Sanctions U.S. and British leaders said yesterday they would continue to pressure Iran to halt nuclear activities suspected of being directing toward nuclear weapons development (see GSN, April 17). During a joint press conference in at the White House, U.S. President George W. Bush said Iranian leaders “have proven themselves to be untrustworthy.”  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown added that “Iran has not told the truth to the international community about what its plans are” regarding its nuclear program. Iran insists its nuclear program is intended for electricity production but recently moved to expand a uranium enrichment program that could produce nuclear weapon-grade materials (James Gerstenzang, Los Angeles Times, April 18). “Our position is clear:  That we’re going to work together along with other nations to make it abundantly clear to the Iranian regime that they must not have the capability of developing a nuclear weapon,” Bush said. “Gordon Brown seriously sees the threat, as do I.  And now is the time to confront the threat.  And I believe we can solve the problem diplomatically,” Bush said. Brown said he is “talking to other European leaders about how we can extend European sanctions against Iran over the next period of time, and to ensure that any sanctions taken are effectively implemented. “In the next few weeks, we want to extend the measures and sanctions to include investment in liquefied natural gas.  I believe that sends another signal to the regime that what is happening is unacceptable,” Brown said (Agence France-Presse I/Google News, April 17). Officials from the U.S. Treasury and State departments told lawmakers yesterday that unilateral sanctions imposed by Washington are effectively cutting Iran off from international financial networks, Reuters reported. “Iran is increasingly isolated.  Iran has to spend more time to figure out how to do trade, financial transfers.  The sanctions are having an effect,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman said at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. While the sanctions have not yet pressured Iran to halt its disputed nuclear activities, Feltman said that U.S. officials continue to hope the penalties will “change the calculus” for Iran’s leaders. U.S. bans on transactions with Iranian firms and financial institutions believed to be involved with Iran’s nuclear and missile programs are “having an effect,” said Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser.  Banks and other private entities around the world are choosing not to do business with Tehran, he said. However, some lawmakers said the penalties were not enough to force Tehran to change its strategy. “Having a policy of hope is horse dung. Praise the Lord, but pass the ammunition,” Representative Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) said in a call for new moves against Iran.  “What is the ‘or else’ here?  We’ll tell the U.N.?” (David Lawder, Reuters, April 17). Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said yesterday that Iran’s uranium enrichment program is only making slow progress, AFP reported. “The rate of progress so far has not been very fast,” ElBaradei said after meeting in Berlin with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.  “I think they had in the past 3,000 centrifuges and I think now they have like 3,300 or 3,400.  They are not moving very much.” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced last week that his government would install 6,000 new uranium-enriching centrifuges at its Natanz enrichment complex.  Iranian state media said that 492 new machines have been placed at the site so far. “I continue to call on Iran not to speed up the process because we need first to have an agreement with the international community about building confidence before Iran moves with its enrichment program,” ElBaradei said (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, April 17). ElBaradei also urged Tehran to enter into new discussions with the six world powers managing international penalties against Iran over its nuclear work, the Associated Press reported. “We can inspect the past and the present, we cannot inspect the future.  We cannot inspect intentions,” he said (Melissa Eddy, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, April 17). Back to top       Cold War Data Reaffirms Modern Ability to Detect and Measure Nuclear Test Activity, Researcher Says A historical analysis of Soviet nuclear weapon testing has shown that remote seismic monitoring tools produced excellent estimates of the weapons’ explosive yields, a Columbia University researcher said yesterday. The findings bolster confidence in the worldwide network of seismic sensors that has been created to monitor the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (see GSN, March 6). Following the 1991 Soviet collapse, Western researchers have been able to gain access to documents describing 40 years of Soviet nuclear weapon testing at the Semipalatinsk test range in Kazakhstan.  The information includes official measurements of the tests’ yields, which the United States had only been able to estimate based on seismic measurements and other monitoring technologies. Seeing the official measurements demonstrated “the remarkable accuracy” of yield estimates generated by seismic and other sensors, according to an abstract of a paper presented yesterday by Paul Richards of Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.  Richards spoke at the Seismological Society of America’s annual conference in Santa Fe, N.M. The findings show “that today we can a very good job indeed” of assessing future tests, Richards said in a released statement (Greg Webb, Global Security Newswire, April 18). Back to top       U.S. Senator Calls for RRW Funding Freeze U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) urged lawmakers Wednesday not to approve a $10-million White House request for a replacement nuclear warhead program while questions about the program’s strategic significance remain unanswered, Environment and Energy Daily reported (see GSN, March 6). “I think it is very important to answer how [the Reliable Replacement Warhead fits] in a much broader context,” including its role in the U.S. strategic posture and likely international responses, said Dorgan, who chairs the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. The $10 million is intended for fiscal 2009, which begins Oct. 1.  Congress zeroed the $88 million requested for this fiscal year (see GSN, Dec. 18, 2007). Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) expressed support for withholding project funding until a bipartisan commission completes a comprehensive review of the U.S. nuclear posture (see GSN, March 20).  The report is expected to be finished by Dec. 1. Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), who fought as the subcommittee’s ranking Republican to maintain funding for the warhead in the fiscal 2008 budget, said he remains uncertain whether he would challenge Dorgan’s move to freeze all RRW funds.  He added that the “modest” $10-million request would only fund research into RRW technology and not warhead manufacturing. According to National Nuclear Security Administration chief Thomas D’Agostino, most of the funds would be used to ensure that completed research into the warhead technology is preserved.  He said some money would also contribute to new study of the warhead’s blueprint to resolve issues raised when the design was independently certified in 2007 (Katherine Ling, Environment and Energy Daily, April 17). Back to top       Pakistan Rejects U.S. Oversight of Nuclear Weapons Pakistan yesterday rejected the idea of allowing U.S. officials to personally monitor the nation’s Nuclear Command Authority, the Press Trust of India reported.  Media reports this week indicated that the United States was seeking permission to allow an embassy staffer to have direct access to the Pakistani nuclear weapons control institution (see GSN, April 15). “These are national assets and there will be no compromise on (this issue),” Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters.  No foreign official would be granted any sort of access, he said:  “national interests come first” (Press Trust of India I, April 17). Meanwhile, Pakistan’s new prime minister yesterday reaffirmed his nation’s nuclear deterrence policy (see GSN, March 21). “Pakistan believe[s] in maintaining a minimum credible deterrence as a cornerstone of its national security policy,” said Yousuf Raza Gillani after his first official visit to Pakistan’s Strategic Plans Division, the joint services body that oversees the nuclear stockpile. He dismissed concerns that Pakistani nuclear weapons could fall into the wrong hands (see GSN, Feb. 7). “It has been ensured that while our nuclear assets are safe and secure, the force development as per the needs of Pakistan’s minimum deterrence is progressing well,” Gillani said (Press Trust of India II, April 17). Back to top       Former Russian Nuclear Energy Chief Released Former Russian atomic energy chief Yevgeny Adamov was released on parole yesterday, two months after a Moscow court handed him a 5 1/2-year prison sentence for embezzling more than $30 million from a U.S.-Russian uranium venture, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Feb. 21). The court reduced his sentence to a three-year parole period, according to court records cited by Interfax and RIA Novosti. Prior to his conviction in Russia, Adamov was charged by the United States of crimes relating to the embezzlement of $9 million from a program aimed at improving Russian nuclear safety (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, April 17). Back to top

U.S. Develops Anthrax Viability Measuring System The United States has developed methods of examining DNA in anthrax samples to determine the potency of the spores after years in storage, United Press International reported yesterday (see GSN, April 3). The measurement system will help scientists to standardize their control samples and detector settings and improve decontamination techniques in their experiments, according to researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland and the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. Results from the study are expected to be published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology (United Press International, April 17). Back to top

Railroads Ordered to Find Lowest-Risk HAZMAT Routes The U.S. Transportation Department this week ordered railroad companies to determine the “safest and most secure” available routes for shipments of radioactive materials, explosives and hazardous chemicals that could become tools of terrorists, the Contra Costa Times reported (see GSN, March 14). The new regulations, proposed in 2006, are intended to minimize the effects of a terrorist attack on a shipment of potentially lethal materials.  They call on firms to begin evaluating the best transportation routes by June and to implement any changes by September 2009. “The goal of this rule is not to prohibit the movement of these hazardous materials. … Moving commodities such as chlorine and anhydrous ammonia by rail is absolutely vital to our national economy,” said Transportation Secretary Mary Peters. Evaluations of the lowest-risk routes must consider 27 factors such as population density, track reliability and nearby landmarks that are potential terrorist targets.  Companies could also take measures to make routes safer such as replacing tracks to improve their quality. For the first time, railroad firms will be required to consult with local jurisdictions in determining the safest train routes, according to Randy Sawyer, the top hazardous materials official at the Contra Costa County, Calif., health department. “If they do a good job, that would be great, but I’m not sure what they’re required to do,” he said.  Sawyer noted that routes for petroleum gas — an explosive substance regularly sent through municipalities in California — would not have to be reconsidered. Rail security expert Fred Millar warned that the federal regulations do not require sharing of rail lines owned by separate companies.  That could reduce the likelihood that companies would choose to use routes that keep trains carrying hazardous materials away from major population centers, he said. “The way they’ve defined the problem is by the individual railroads and each railroad’s route,” Millar said.  “That virtually eliminates the possibility of rerouting.” Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Boardman declined to predict how many train routes the regulations would affect. “This is about routing, not rerouting,” he said.  “Anybody that is predicting no change, I think is premature.  My expectation is that some routes for hazardous materials will be safer routes” (Erik Nelson, Contra Costa Times, April 17). Back to top

U.S. Missile Defenses to Be Augmented, Pentagon Says Senior U.S. Defense Department officials indicated yesterday they are looking to significantly increase deployment of certain missile defense components, Reuters reported (see GSN, April 17). “Like many members of this committee, I believe we need to field additional ballistic missile defense assets in the near-term,” John Young, defense undersecretary for acquisition, said during an appearance before the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee. Young singled out the ship-based Aegis system and the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, saying they could offer “a significant defensive capability in just a few years” for the U.S. military and allied nations. The THAAD system is intended to counter short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles either within the atmosphere or in space (see GSN, Feb. 12). The Pentagon hopes over a five-year period beginning in fiscal 2010 to “roughly double” production of THAAD and sea-based Standard Missile 3 interceptors, said Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, head of the Missile Defense Agency. It is not yet known if his agency would provide the funding or whether it would come from a branch of the armed services, Obering said. The proposed fiscal 2009 budget for Obering’s agency includes funding for 111 SM-3 interceptors under the Aegis system and for 96 THAAD interceptors.  Defense contractor Lockheed Martin announced in January 2007 that it would provide 48 THAAD interceptors, six launchers and related technology under a $619 million contract. The overall missile defense budget request for fiscal 2009 is $10.4 billion, with $9.3 billion directed toward the Missile Defense Agency. Obering also said that the missile defense system “could be greatly enhanced someday by an integrated, space-based layer.”  He hopes to receive $10 million to begin research in that area. “I would like to begin concept analysis and preparation for small-scale experiments,” Obering said.  Congress has previously turned back funding requests for space-related missile shield work (Jim Wolf, Reuters, April 17). Back to top

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