North Korea might destroy this cooling tower at Yongbyon this week to demonstrate the nation’s commitment to denuclearization (Siegfried Hecker/Stanford University). U.S. Official to Watch N. Korean Nuclear Facility Demolition The U.S. State Department is sending its top Korea expert to watch North Korea blow up a cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, June 24). The demolition, set to occur Friday, is intended to symbolize Pyongyang’s adherence to a 2007 agreement to eliminate its nuclear programs in exchange for economic, diplomatic and security benefits.  Senior State Department official Sung Kim has led U.S. supervision of work to close down Yongbyon and is expected to return to North Korea tomorrow, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul said...Full Story

Critics Win Delay to U.S.-Indian Nuclear Deal Indian critics of a tentative nuclear trade agreement with the United States won a further delay to the deal today following a meeting with government leaders, Reuters reported (see GSN, June 24)...Full Story

Six Months Needed for Iranian Nuke, ElBaradei Says Iran could build a nuclear bomb in as little as six months if it withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and banned international inspectors, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in an interview last week (see GSN, June 24)...Full Story

	Wednesday, June 25, 2008

China Conducts CW Attack Exercise Chinese emergency personnel responded to a simulated chemical attack yesterday in another exercise to prepare authorities for potential terrorist incidents at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, the Xinhua News Agency reported (see GSN, June 23). The drill’s premise involved a car exploding and catching fire outside an Olympic soccer site.  The fire released a yellow smoke, causing people to faint. A control center deployed civilian and military responders, including firefighters, police officers and People’s Liberation Army personnel. The drill was the first of a series of planned exercises designated “Binhai 6” (Xinhua News Agency, June 24). Meanwhile, China has deployed Hongqi 7 air defenses near the soccer and pentathlon venue, the Associated Press reported yesterday. A fenced and guarded enclosure contained at least two of the surface-to-air missile launchers.  The site, which also contained military vehicles and equipment stored under camouflage netting, is located 300 yards from the soccer stadium and a half mile from other Olympic sites. China last week announced it had established a 100,000-member counterterrorism force in Beijing for the Olympics, set to begin Aug. 8.  The force was said to include police commandos, army forces and the Snow Wolf Commando Unit, a paramilitary organization (Stephen Wade, Associated Press/Google News, June 24). Back to top

Senators Seek Continuous Cargo Monitoring The U.S. senators from New Jersey and New York have introduced legislation intended to help prevent unconventional weapons from being smuggled into the country inside sea-cargo containers, the Newark Star-Ledger reported yesterday (see GSN, June 24). The legislation would require continuous monitoring of all cargo between its placement in a shipping container in another country and its final destination in the United States.  Potential tools could include electronic locks on cargo containers or a global positioning satellite, said Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). Authorities currently scan just one in 20 cargo containers for weapons as they arrive at the 361 U.S. ports, said Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.).  That is the same ratio as seen prior to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he said. Congress last year passed legislation requiring that all U.S.-bound cargo by 2012 be scanned at its foreign point of departure for nuclear materials.  The Bush administration has opposed that requirement as undoable and of questionable value (see GSN, June 13). “President [George W.] Bush has a pre-9/11 mindset,” Lautenberg said during an event at Port Newark.  “Just imagine for a moment what would happen if terrorists were to bring weapons of mass destruction right through here. “Right now the Bush port security strategy allows companies to take voluntary security precautions and, frankly, that’s not good enough,” he added. The senators could not say how much their plan might cost.  The Democratic senators from New York, Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer, have also backed the legislation, the Star-Ledger reported. “Millions of containers move around the globe, many with very minimal levels of inspection and minimal levels of control,” said Anthony Coscia, chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  “We think that’s a vulnerability that needs to be addressed and we need to make a priority” (Rudy Larini, Newark Star-Ledger, June 24). Back to top

U.S. Official to Watch N. Korean Nuclear Facility Demolition The U.S. State Department is sending its top Korea expert to watch North Korea blow up a cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, June 24). The demolition, set to occur Friday, is intended to symbolize Pyongyang’s adherence to a 2007 agreement to eliminate its nuclear programs in exchange for economic, diplomatic and security benefits.  Senior State Department official Sung Kim has led U.S. supervision of work to close down Yongbyon and is expected to return to North Korea tomorrow, the U.S. Embassy in Seoul said. Destruction of the cooling tower is scheduled to follow the long-awaited release tomorrow of North Korea’s declaration of its nuclear activities and holdings.  Pyongyang is likely to issue the document through its embassy in Beijing, the Yonhap News Agency reported. The declaration and disablement of three key facilities at Yongbyon are required under the second phase of the agreement.  The third and final phase involves full dismantlement of North Korea’s nuclear infrastructure. China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States have been negotiating with the Stalinist state since 2003.  It could take years more to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons, analysts have said (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, June 25). North Korea expects to be rewarded for issuing the nuclear declaration by being removed from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. The Bush administration has alerted Japan that it intends to initiate that process after receiving the document, the Japan Times reported today. Tokyo has consistently expressed concern that such a move could relieve pressure on Pyongyang to fully address its abduction of Japanese citizens in past decades. The U.S. Congress must receive 45 days notice of removal of any country from the list.  Tokyo intends to use that period to pressure North Korea to deal with the matter.  Pyongyang to date has claimed that all surviving abductees had been returned, but more recently agreed to review the issue. Taking North Korea off the terrorism list could undermine relations between Tokyo and Washington, experts said. “The question now is how the U.S. assuages Tokyo’s anger, disappointment and sense of betrayal,” said Brad Glosserman, head of the Pacific Forum for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Honolulu (Yoshida/Johnston, Japan Times, June 25). In a telephone conversation today with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, U.S. President George W. Bush said he remained cognizant of the abduction issue, AFP reported. “I will never forget the abduction issue.  I fully understand Japan’s concerns and would like to continue close cooperation with Japan,” Bush said during the 20-minute call, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry. Fukuda said “it is important to move forward the six-party process towards an abolition of North Korea’s nuclear weapons” (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, June 25). Back to top       Critics Win Delay to U.S.-Indian Nuclear Deal Indian critics of a tentative nuclear trade agreement with the United States won a further delay to the deal today following a meeting with government leaders, Reuters reported (see GSN, June 24). Communist deal opponents discussed the matter with representatives of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, but no resolution was reached besides an agreement to meet again. “The next meeting of the committee … will finalize its findings,” said Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee after the meeting. The planned nuclear deal would give India access to U.S. nuclear materials and technology in exchange for allowing international supervision of the nation’s civilian nuclear sector. The communist critics have threatened to withdraw their backing for Singh’s ruling coalition; the prime minister needs that support to avoid facing early elections this year.  Singh has held recent talks with coalition partners to assess support for the nuclear deal and their willingness to risk losing their parliamentary majority, Reuters reported. In addition, U.S. Ambassador to India David Mulford reportedly met yesterday with top officials in New Delhi, according to Reuters.  Mulford has in recent months warned that continuing Indian inaction could scuttle the deal as the U.S. Congress runs out of time to approve it before the November elections (see GSN, Jan. 29; Krittivas Mukherjee, Reuters, June 25). One U.S. analyst agreed that time was running out. “Some Indian officials and advocates for the deal … still think there would be enough time to bring the U.S.-Indian bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement back to the U.S. Congress for consideration before the end of the year,” said Arms Control Association head Daryl Kimball.  “This is … highly unrealistic” (Press Trust of India, June 24). Back to top       Six Months Needed for Iranian Nuke, ElBaradei Says Iran could build a nuclear bomb in as little as six months if it withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and banned international inspectors, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in an interview last week (see GSN, June 24). The United States and other Western powers have expressed concern about Iranian activities that could enable it to build a nuclear bomb.  Iran insists that its nuclear program, including its controversial acquisition of uranium enrichment centrifuges, is aimed only at generating electricity. “If Iran wants to turn to the production of nuclear weapons, it must leave the NPT, expel the IAEA inspectors, and then it would need at least, considering the number of centrifuges and the quantity of uranium Iran has …it would need at least six months to one year,” ElBaradei told al-Arabiya television, according to CBS News. “Therefore, Iran will not be able to reach the point where we would wake up one morning to an Iran with a nuclear weapon,” he said. ElBaradei said the six-month period would be necessary for Iran to build a weapon capable of detonating fissile material and to produce enough highly enriched uranium to use in the bomb (CBS News/CBS 11, June 11). Meanwhile, an adviser to the Israeli national security council said yesterday that Syria had planned to supply Iran with spent fuel produced at an alleged nuclear facility destroyed by Israel last September, the London Guardian reported. “The idea was that the Syrians produce plutonium and the Iranians get their share.  Syria had no reprocessing facility for the spent fuel.  It’s not deduction alone that brings almost everyone to think that the link exists,” the adviser said. IAEA officials are wrapping up an inspection of the Syrian site, which Damascus denies housed any nuclear equipment (see related GSN story, today; Ian Black, London Guardian, June 25). Elsewhere, Western nations have threatened to end support for Iran’s counternarcotics operations if Tehran refuses to stop uranium enrichment activities, the Associated Press reported. Antonio Maria Costa, head of the U.N. Drugs and Crime Office, warned that Europe could experience a “heroin tsunami” if aid is cut for the Iranian forces that fight drug smuggling along the country’s border with Afghanistan. “We should definitely assist Iran in this respect,” he said (Abbot/Karimi, Associated Press I/International Herald Tribune, June 24). The European Union yesterday identified the 15 individuals and 20 businesses blacklisted this week for their ties to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.  The sanctioned Iranians individuals include Defense Ministry officials, Revolutionary Guards chief Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari and Atomic Energy Organization leader Gholamreza Aghazadeh. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday called for creating a special tribunal to hold world powers accountable for pressuring Iran to halt its controversial nuclear work. Speaking to a group of judges, Ahmadinejad said “a court should be formed to try and punish all world criminals who invade the rights of the Iranian nation” (Nasser Karimi, Associated Press II/International Herald Tribune, June 24). Back to top       IAEA Inspects Alleged Syrian Nuclear Site International nuclear inspectors have visited an alleged Syrian nuclear site bombed by Israel last year, Reuters reported today.  The inspectors’ mission was to assess U.S. claims that the former facility was an unfinished reactor designed with North Korean assistance to produce plutonium for a nuclear weapon (see GSN, June 23). The four-day visit wrapping up today has gone well, a senior official familiar with the International Atomic Energy Agency said without providing details.  The agency team in Syria included three inspectors and was led by safeguards division chief Olli Heinonen. This was the first IAEA visit to the facility which was bombed by Israeli air forces in September.  U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei has criticized the military action and Washington’s decision to wait until several months after the attack to provide intelligence data to the agency (Mark Heinrich, Reuters, June 25). Syria agreed to let the agency visit the bombed site, but has rejected a request to inspect three additional facilities that could be related. That decision reflected an effort to balance a desire to be cooperative without setting a precedent of acceding to any IAEA request, said one analyst. “What’s driving Syria right now is an anxiety about becoming a pariah” along the lines of Iran, said Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at the University of Oklahoma.  “Iran can afford to thumb their nose at the West because they have so much money coming in from oil that will help insulate them from sanctioning,” he said.  “Syria doesn’t have a cushion like that” (Julien Barnes-Dacey, Christian Science Monitor, June 25). Back to top       Lawmakers Move to Block U.S.-Russian Nuclear Deal Members of the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday submitted a resolution to stop a U.S.-Russian civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, June 13). Opponents of the deal have argued that Moscow should not receive a pass for its nuclear assistance to Iran, which Washington suspects of having nuclear weapon ambitions. The 30-year pact would allow the countries to collaborate on an international uranium enrichment station in Siberia and permit private firms to trade in nuclear equipment and expertise.  The deal would take effect 90 days after its May 14 submission to Congress unless the U.S. Senate and House each muster two-thirds majorities to pass rejection resolutions. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman (D-Calif.) co-sponsored the new resolution with the panel’s ranking Republican, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.). "There are some good arguments for the agreement, and some good ones against it," Berman said.  He said he could still support the deal if the Bush administration presents a compelling case that the agreement would ramp up pressure on Iran to halt sensitive nuclear operations. "I chose to introduce a resolution of disapproval today because I want the administration to understand that I will not support the agreement until that question, on the most critical foreign policy issue facing our nation today, is answered to my satisfaction,” Berman said. The Bush administration has argued that the deal could shore up relations between Moscow and Washington, which have been plagued by disputes over missile defense, Iran and NATO expansion (Desmond Butler, Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, June 24). Back to top       Leaked Plutonium Within U.S. Limit, Laboratory Says A trace amount of plutonium that might have escaped this month from a U.S. laboratory into the Boulder, Colo., sewer system does not exceed state or federal safety limits, the Denver Post reported yesterday (see GSN, June 19). Federal and state rules allow the release of up to 0.0000002 microcuries of radiation per milliliter of plutonium-tainted wastewater, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where a vial containing 250 milligrams of powdered plutonium cracked on June 9.  Radiation was later found contaminating various parts of one building, including two sinks connected to the sewer. The National Nuclear Security Administration found that 76 to 87 percent of the substance stayed in the room where the spill took place, largely in and around the cracked vial, according to the laboratory. "The maximum amount that likely could have been lost when a researcher washed his hands in the laboratory sink immediately after discovering the cracked vial is about 0.06 gram," said NIST spokeswoman Laura Ost in a statement.  That is the equivalent of .00000014 microcuries per milliliter, which “means that any plutonium washed down the drain would have been below the legal limits,” she said. The investigation of the incident by the laboratory and other U.S. agencies continues; "additional safety and occupational and health experts" are set to visit the site today, according to the institute. "The health and safety of our personnel and local communities is our top priority," said acting director James Turner.  "The fact that this incident occurred is not acceptable.  “We are actively investigating what happened and have enlisted the help of top radiation safety experts to review our procedures" (Howard Pankratz, Denver Post, June 24). Back to top

British Lawmakers Blast Disease Lab Safeguards A British parliamentary committee said the government must improve safeguards at aging biological research laboratories to prevent the release of deadly diseases such as anthrax or Ebola, the London Daily Mail reported today (see GSN, Aug. 10, 2007). The report, issued today, follows the accidental release of foot-and-mount disease in 2007 from a government-funded laboratory in southern England. The United Kingdom could face another “devastating” disease situation if the government does not increase its emphasis on biosecurity, according to the House of Commons’ Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee. “A number of high-containment laboratories have been neglected and the funding situation is uncertain,” the report says.  “The government must ensure that dependable funding is provided to maintain such facilities safely.” The United Kingdom has 10 “level four” laboratories that store and conduct research on the most lethal diseases, the Daily Mail reported.  Study of less-dangerous pathogens is performed at another 600 facilities. Particular emphasis is needed on the future of the Institute for Animal Health site at Pirbright, the source of foot-and-mouth that escaped last year into nearby farms, forcing thousands of animals to be destroyed and costing farmers millions, according to the report.  It also singled out a Health Protection Agency laboratory at Porton Down, which handles Ebola, Lassa fever and hemorrhagic fever. “It is not acceptable that scientists at Health Protection Agency Porton Down are asked to work in such aging facilities,” the committee said. Lawmakers also called for increasing security reviews of high-containment laboratory employees and designating a single government minister to manage biosecurity efforts (David Derbyshire, London Daily Mail, June 25). The report further urges the creation of a biosecurity committee that would issue a report every two years on the state of British disease readiness, the London Guardian reported. “When you think about how important biosecurity is, the fact that there’s no minister responsible, no coordinating committee, and no organization bringing any of this together, is staggering,” said committee Chairman Phil Willis (Ian Sample, London Guardian, June 25). Back to top

Medvedev Ratifies Italian CW Disposal Aid Deal Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has ratified an agreement enabling Moscow to accept more than $560 million in Italian assistance for chemical weapons disposal, SKRIN Market & Corporate News reported yesterday (see GSN, May 22). The legislation establishes Italy’s obligation to provide the funding to Russia and sets out legal and bureaucratic mechanisms for the collaborative effort.  The deal also includes tax and liability protections for Italy. The Italian funding could be used to build a new facility for eliminating chemical warfare agents and weapons stored at Pochep, in Russia’s Bryansk region (SKRIN Market & Corporate News, June 24).   Back to top

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

© Copyright 2008 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.