A.B. Bardhan, head of the Communist Party of India, has said his supporters will not back a planned U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear trade deal (Manpreet Romana/Getty Images). Nuclear Impasse Remains After Indian Leaders Meet Indian politicians remain at odds over a tentative U.S. nuclear trade deal despite discussions today between ruling party leaders and critics of the agreement, Bloomberg reported (see GSN, April 30). The pact has been stalled by opposition from key supporters of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s ruling coalition.  ..Full Story

Time Needed for N. Korea Nuke Declaration, U.S. Says The U.S. State Department suggested yesterday that North Korea’s submission of its nuclear declaration might not be imminent, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, May 5)...Full Story

Iran Complains of Nuclear “Double Standard” Iran yesterday said it would not permit snap inspections of its nuclear sites as long as Israel fails to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 5)...Full Story

	Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Nuclear Impasse Remains After Indian Leaders Meet Indian politicians remain at odds over a tentative U.S. nuclear trade deal despite discussions today between ruling party leaders and critics of the agreement, Bloomberg reported (see GSN, April 30). The pact has been stalled by opposition from key supporters of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s ruling coalition.  The critics have threatened to force early elections if Singh seeks to advance the agreement, which would enable New Delhi to purchase U.S. nuclear materials and technology but would also open India’s civilian nuclear sector to international monitoring. The deal’s opponents, mainly a group of communist parties, allowed Singh to negotiate an inspections agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, but have not permitted him to sign the accord. “In-depth discussions were held on the India-specific safeguards agreement between India and the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters about today’s session.  “The Left parties have sought further clarifications, which will be provided in the next few days.” Another round of talks among the otherwise allied parties has been scheduled for May 28, Mukherjee said (Bibhudatta Pradhan, Bloomberg, May 6). One communist leader said yesterday that future talks would be meaningless, the Hindustan Times reported. “We have made up our mind,” said A.B. Bardhan, head of the Communist Party of India. He rejected suggestions from U.S. officials that India should accept the agreement quickly or face the prospect of no deal at all when the next U.S. president takes office in about nine months (see GSN, April 22) “There is no time limit to resolve the deadlock with the government.  It is very convenient for Americans to have a time frame.  The deal is headed for the deep freezer,” he said (Hindustan Times, May 5). Back to top       Time Needed for N. Korea Nuke Declaration, U.S. Says The U.S. State Department suggested yesterday that North Korea’s submission of its nuclear declaration might not be imminent, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, May 5). The statement came amid reports that agency Korean Affairs Office chief Sung Kim was heading back to Pyongyang this week for further talks on the atomic accounting. “We’ve got all kinds of people including Sung who have gone back and forth to North Korea as part of efforts to help facilitate and move forward the six-party talks,” said State Department spokesman Tom Casey. “I assume if he goes back, whether that is this week or beyond that, that’ll be for those purposes, but I wouldn’t look for any kind of final declaration being provided as a result of that trip, at least not that I’m aware of,” he added. Kim was last in North Korea last month for talks on the declaration required under a 2007 agreement under which the regime would receive economic, diplomatic and security benefits for giving up its nuclear sector.  The document was due Dec. 31 and its absence has proven to be another stumbling block to the six-nation negotiations involving China, Japan, Russia, the United States and both Koreas. A reported U.S.-North Korean compromise would apparently require Pyongyang to provide details of its plutonium program while only acknowledging Washington’s suspicions regarding uranium enrichment and nuclear proliferation activities (Kyodo News, May 6). U.S. Secretary of State John Negroponte was expected this week to visit South Korea, Japan and China for talks on the nuclear issue and other matters, the Korea Herald reported.  His first stop is scheduled for Thursday in Seoul (Lee Joo-hee, Korea Herald, May 6). To date under the denuclearization process, North Korea has halted operations at the Yongbyon nuclear facility and begun disablement of three key facilities, including its plutonium-producing reactor.  The final phase of the project would involve full dismantlement of the nation’s nuclear infrastructure. North Korea is likely to possess several nuclear weapons and sufficient plutonium for another six to eight, said former Los Alamos National Laboratory chief Siegfried Hecker, who has made several trips to Yongbyon. “I don’t think they have made the decision to give up the bombs,” he said during a recent forum organized by Johns Hopkins University and the U.S.-Korea Institute. “Yes, they have the bomb.  They have weapons-grade plutonium,” he added, according to Space & Missile Defense Report.  However, Pyongyang is “unlikely to have confidence to mount them on missiles,” Hecker said. He said he believed that the Syrian facility destroyed last year by an Israeli air raid was a nuclear reactor being built with support from North Korea.  The facility “clearly was a type that North Korea has some expertise in,” Hecker said. Meanwhile, one expert speaking at the American Enterprise Institute said Pyongyang cannot be trusted to keep its word on denuclearization. “How do you have a successful negotiation” with a nation known for violating agreements, said former National Security Council counterproliferation official Carolyn Leddy. Another expert warned of the ultimate effects of North Korean nuclear proliferation. “If Iran were to get a nuclear weapon (from North Korea), would they allow Hezbollah to use it?  Their doctrine suggests” that the answer would be yes, said former State Department official David Asher (Space & Missile Defense Report, May 5). Back to top       Iran Complains of Nuclear “Double Standard” Iran yesterday said it would not permit snap inspections of its nuclear sites as long as Israel fails to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 5). “The existing double standard shall not be tolerated anymore by non-nuclear-weapon states,” said Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iranian envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, during a conference of NPT states in Geneva. Iran is a NPT member nation but has not yet ratified the Additional Protocol to its IAEA safeguards agreement, which allows for more intrusive nuclear inspections.  Israel refuses to confirm or deny the existence of its nuclear arsenal. Soltanieh said that Western powers were enforcing a “nuclear apartheid” by secretly giving nuclear assistance to some nations while impeding the civilian atomic activities of Iran and other countries.  France, the United Kingdom and the United States have pressured Tehran to abandon nuclear work they fear could contribute to weapons development, but Iran insists its program is purely civilian in nature. “Access of developing countries to peaceful nuclear materials and technologies has been continuously denied to the extent that they have had no choice than to acquire their requirements for peaceful uses of nuclear energy — including for medical and industrial applications — from open markets,” Soltanieh said, adding that the equipment obtained often costs more, is of poorer quality and is more dangerous. Soltanieh said that more than 30 nations have not yet agreed to full U.N. nuclear watchdog safeguards.  “Israel, with huge nuclear weapons activities, has not concluded” a similar agreement or opened its nuclear sites to IAEA inspections, he said (Alexander Higgins, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, May 5). Meanwhile, Israeli President Shimon Peres said yesterday that Iran would endanger the entire world if it obtains nuclear weapons, Agence France-Presse reported. “Iran is a danger not only for Israel but also for the rest of the world,” Peres told reporters.  “A nuclear Iran will be a nightmare for the world.” The Israeli leader said his nation does not plan to launch strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities similar to its 1981 attack on Iraq’s Osirak reactor. “There will be no need for military action if the world community is united,” he said (Agence France-Presse/Google News, May 5). Back to top       U.S., Russia Sign Civilian Nuclear Deal Russia and the United States today signed a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement that would allow the countries to collaborate on an international nuclear fuel enrichment station in Siberia (see GSN, April 30). The “123 agreement” would also allow private firms from the two nations to conduct transactions involving uranium and other nuclear materials without requiring government approval on a case-by-case basis, Reuters reported. “The signing of the document … will provide for the normal development of atomic energy and the nuclear fuel cycle while reducing the risk of the proliferation of atomic weapons,” the Russian nuclear energy agency Rosatom said in a statement. U.S. Ambassador to Russia William Burns and Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko signed the agreement, the statement said.  “It is symbolic that it will be signed on the last day of Vladimir Putin's presidential term,” one Russian official told Reuters. The deal will be submitted to lawmakers in both nations.  The U.S. Congress can consider the agreement over the next 90 days, after which it would automatically take effect if no action is taken.  A resolution would be required to halt the deal (Guy Faulconbridge, Reuters, May 6). Back to top       Russia Plans Nine Ballistic Missile Tests in 2008 Russia plans to launch ballistic missiles in nine exercises this year, RIA Novosti reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 2). “One of the main tasks for us in 2008 is to test new (ballistic) missile systems and to extend the service life of the existing complexes,” Col. Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov, commander of Russia’s strategic missile forces, said yesterday.  “This program includes nine test launches of ballistic missiles.” Russia expects to double its number of annual ballistic missile tests beginning in 2010, Solovtsov said.  Moscow annually deploys an average of three or four silo-based Topol-M ballistic missile systems and three mobile-launched systems, he said. The nation now maintains 48 silo-launched Topol-M systems and plans to place two more under the control of a missile regiment in the Saratov region this year.  Solovtsov said earlier that Russia soon would also deploy a second mobile missile battalion equipped with Topol-M systems. The Topol-M missile has a range of roughly 7,000 miles and is designed to avoid ballistic missile interceptors and withstand electromagnetic pulses, radiation, nuclear detonations and hits from a missile defense laser.  Solovtsov restated Moscow’s plan to add multiple warheads to its missiles within two or three years (RIA Novosti, May 5). Back to top       China Skirts Claims of New Submarine Base A Chinese official today refused to address the suspected existence of a new submarine base on an island in the South China Sea, Reuters reported (see GSN, April 25). “China is going down the road of peaceful development.  China's national defense policy is defensive.  Other countries have no reason to fear, or make a fuss about it and be prickly,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a press conference. “We have vast coastal areas and territorial seas.  Protecting our national security on the seas, protecting our sovereignty on the oceans and our oceanic rights are the sacred responsibilities of our armed forces,” he said. According to Jane’s Information Group, the extensive construction at the alleged base — seen in commercial satellite imagery — indicates that it could eventually service Chinese aircraft carriers and other naval vessels. Located near the city of Sanya on Hainan Island, the site would affect China’s control of the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, Jane’s said (Reuters, May 6). Back to top       U.S. to Replace Kansas City Nuclear-Weapon Plant The U.S. Energy Department is reviewing proposals for construction of a nuclear-weapon component manufacturing facility that would replace an aging site in Kansas City, Mo., the Kansas City Star reported yesterday (see GSN, April 11). The new $500 million plant to be operated by Honeywell would produce non-nuclear parts, particularly electronics, for the nation’s atomic arsenal.  The current plant is too old and too large to meet U.S. needs, said Mark Holecek, deputy site manager for the National Nuclear Security Administration. “The existing facility is now 65 years old and is becoming increasingly expensive to operate and maintain,” he said.  “Also, it’s about three times larger than is needed to meet current and anticipated demands of the nuclear weapons stockpile.” However, some critics of plan have argued that the United States lacks a clear vision of its future nuclear-weapon needs. “My main concern is that to start building facilities when we don’t know what the new president would want is like putting the cart before the horse,” said William Hartung of the New America Foundation. Unlike other sites in the U.S. nuclear-weapon complex, the planned facility would be privately owned and operated (Kevin Collison, Kansas City Star, May 5). Back to top

Florida Court Mulls Liability for Anthrax Death The Florida Supreme Court is considering whether the U.S. government and an Ohio research firm can be held liable for an anthrax mailing that killed a journalist in 2001, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 3, 2007). American Media Inc. photo editor Bob Stevens received an anthrax-tainted envelope on Sept. 19, 2001, and died just over two weeks later.  Maureen Stevens claimed in a lawsuit that the material that killed her husband came from a U.S. Army biological defense laboratory in Maryland or the Battelle Memorial Institute. U.S. Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Bucholtz and Battelle attorney Tami Lyn Azorsky in oral arguments yesterday contended it was not possible to anticipate the 2001 anthrax mailings because the material had never previously been used in acts of terrorism.  They noted that their clients possessed the anthrax to develop treatments and protective measures. Attorney Phillip Burlington, representing Stevens, said the entities should have foreseen the possibility of someone acquiring the anthrax for illicit use.  It remains unknown who mailed the anthrax that killed five people or how that person obtained the disease agent. “When you are dealing with biological warfare materials it is not unreasonable in this day and age to expect the government to reasonably anticipate that, or a private lab,” Burlington said. The arguments were conducted at the request of a federal appeals court determining whether the lawsuit, which includes negligence claims for failing to secure the anthrax, has legal grounding.  There was no word on the schedule for a decision by the Florida court (Bill Kaczor, Associated Press/Google News, May 5). Back to top

VX Land Mine Destruction Begins at Pine Bluff Destruction of land mines carrying VX nerve agent began Saturday at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, March 3). The land mine project follows destruction at the site of rockets containing the nerve agent sarin and, more recently, VX-filled rockets.  Full destruction of the land mine stockpile is expected to take four months, after which the Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility would prepare for its last campaign — destruction of bulk containers filled with mustard blister agent (Associated Press/Fox16.com, May 5). Back to top

NATO Chief Warns of Additional Nuclear-Armed Nations Additional nations might follow the path of Iran and North Korea and pursue nuclear weapons, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said yesterday in arguing for ballistic missile defenses (see GSN, April 3). “The nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea threaten to set in motion a domino effect that will be difficult to contain,” de Hoop Scheffer said during a missile defense conference in Prague, the Associated Press reported. “If there is a serious suspicion that in Syria there was a facility in the making, it only increases the arguments … for finding a collective answer to a ballistic missile defense threat,” he added. Iran has denied Western claims that its nuclear program is being developed for military purposes (see GSN, May 5), while Syria has rejected reports that a facility destroyed by Israel in September was an unfinished nuclear reactor (see GSN, April 30). The Bush administration is developing a ballistic missile defense system intended to counter threats from nations such as Iran and North Korea.  It hopes to deploy components in Poland and the Czech Republic (see GSN, May 2).  NATO is also considering developing a theater missile shield that could augment the U.S. infrastructure in Europe. “The number of states that possess the ballistic missiles is already growing.  Slowly and surely,” de Hoop Scheffer said.  “The proliferation of ballistic missiles is a reality that concerns us all.” NATO is “ready to explore a potential linking of United States, NATO and Russian missile defense systems,” he said.  “Sooner or later, Moscow will realize that Russia, too, is not immune to the consequences of proliferation.  Once it happens, and I hope it won’t take long, Russia will consider NATO’s offer.” The anticipated signing next month of a deal for the Czech Republic to house a U.S. early warning radar “will be a major step forward … in the process of building a missile defense architecture in Europe … (and) also a major development for NATO,” according to de Hoop Scheffer (Karel Janicek, Associated Press, May 6). De Hoop Scheffer warned that Europe could not rely solely on the United States for protection against ballistic missiles, Agence France-Presse reported. “The development of a so-called third site in Europe will be an important contribution to the protection of the allies, but it will not protect all of them,” he said.  “We need U.S. sensors, but we also need other sensors and we need to link them.” The U.S. shield, which would also involve 10 missile interceptors deployed in Poland, would not cover Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Turkey (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, May 5). U.S. Undersecretary of State John Rood said yesterday in Prague that he expected lawmakers in Poland and the Czech Republic to approve the missile defense agreements, the Xinhua News Agency reported. Polish leaders have appeared less enthusiastic about a deal than their Czech counterparts, but the Bush administration has been working to meet Warsaw’s demands for hosting the missile interceptors (see GSN, May 5).  Both countries’ parliaments would ultimately have to sign off on any agreements (Xinhua News Agency, May 5). Back to top       Senate Committee Authorizes Missile Defense Programs The Senate Armed Services Committee has announced its budget authorization levels for U.S. missile defense programs, leaning toward supporting more mature technologies while cutting those far from completion, Space & Missile Defense Report reported yesterday (see GSN, March 7). The senators for fiscal 2009 authorized an additional $100 million to the Bush administration request for Aegis sea-based missile defense systems (see GSN, April 18) and added $115 million to the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense program (see GSN, Feb. 12).  The panel also approved a $30 million boost for Israel’s Arrow missile interceptor system (see GSN, April 21). The administration received approval for full funding of U.S. missile defense plans in Eastern Europe, contingent upon receiving a green light from Poland and the Czech Republic and a certification from the U.S. defense secretary that the system would work “in an operationally effective manner” (see GSN, May 2). Less developed technologies, however, received cuts. The committee slashed $45 million from Airborne Laser program, for which the administration had requested $406 million (see GSN, Feb. 22).  The same amount was cut from the Kinetic Energy Interceptor program, which had a $376 million request (see GSN, June 15, 2007). Both programs are intended to destroy enemy ballistic missiles in their boost phase, shortly after they leave their launch pads (Space & Missile Defense Report, May 5). Back to top

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