By Greg Webb
Global Security Newswire
VIENNA — Seeking to reduce the threat of nuclear terror, a U.S. foundation today led the launch of an institution designed to promote sharing of “best security practices” among civilian nuclear facilities worldwide (see GSN, Sept. 18).
The World Institute for Nuclear Security would create a forum for private nuclear facility operators, domestic regulators and international standard setters to confer about security vulnerabilities and solutions at nuclear sites. The new group is set to be headquartered in Vienna and funded multilaterally. Initially, it has been started with $3 million from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, $3 million from the U.S. government and $100,000 from Norway.
The underlying goal is to erect the best possible barriers to terrorists seeking to acquire material for nuclear or radiological weapons. “We must be committed to the vision of a world in which all nuclear materials are safe secure and accounted for — from cradle to grave,” NTI Co-Chairman Sam Nunn said today at a launch event at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s annual meeting in Vienna. “Vulnerable nuclear material anywhere is a threat to everyone, everywhere.” The new institute is partly an effort to replicate the international response to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear reactor incident, which triggered an industry collaboration to improve nuclear safety standards. “The world has never experienced a catastrophe, thank God, that came from a major lapse in security, although we have had some major lapses,” Nunn said. “WINS is born today to help ensure that we never do have that ‘security Chernobyl.’” IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei praised the new institute and pledged his help. “I don’t think anyone will disagree that we need to protect ourselves from a major nuclear conflagration. Whether we come from the right, left or the center, this is an issue we all have to have a consensus on,” he said today. “It’s our life and the life of our children. In fact, the future of our humanity is at stake.” Launch participants said today that nuclear facility operators currently have few occasions to share security concerns and methods with each other. The institute plans to convene meetings of plant operators, identify best practices, and transmit those findings to IAEA officials. “In other industries, the concept of sharing best practices is quite common, in fact, it’s standard operating procedure for most industries, even on security issues,” said Corey Hinderstein, director of the NTI international program. That is not the case in the nuclear sector, said Scott Sagan, co-director of Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation. The new institute recognizes “a very important gap,” he said. “The practitioners in the security area within [nuclear] industries and facilities don’t often interact at they level that they could.” “Everybody faces the same kind of challenges when it comes to nuclear material security,” Hinderstein added. “We face similar kinds of threats. They may differ as to who your adversary is and how they would operate, but basically around the world there are similar threats.” “But everybody has designed their systems to address those threats independently, differently and often in isolation,” she continued. “So the idea is to get professionals together. … They’re all dealing with those same kinds of challenges and there may be many different ways to do it, some of which are more effective than others, more successful than others.” There have, however, been questions about how much information plant operators might be willing to share with each other out of concern that they would expose security weaknesses. “There will always be limits to how much sharing can occur in the security area,” agreed Sagan. “That said, we shouldn’t assume that nothing can be shared.” “So even accepting that a facility will be reluctant to share knowledge about a known vulnerability, what this approach can do is actually help people understand unknown vulnerabilities that they haven’t recognized fully themselves,” he added. A former British nuclear security official has been tapped to lead the new institute. Roger Howsley has worked with NTI officials to develop the new organization and would serve as its first executive director, Nunn said. Howsley was formerly head of nuclear security and safeguards at British Nuclear Fuels. The organization would begin with an initial staff of five, possibly expanding to 10 within a couple years. Howsley said he would work to help plant operators share their successes. “It’s the operators who are ultimately responsible for implementing the security arrangements,” he said. “That’s the community of people we need to approach and talk to, to provide a forum for them to work out how they do things better.” [Editor’s Note: Sam Nunn is co-chairman and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. NTI is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by the National Journal Group.]
The U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday voted 298-117 in favor of an agreement allowing nuclear trade with India for the first time in three decades, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Sept. 26). The deal, dating back to 2005, would give New Delhi access to U.S. atomic technology and materials in exchange for opening Indian civilian nuclear sites to international inspections. The country’s nuclear weapons sites would remain closed to scrutiny. “The passage of this legislation by the House is another major step forward in achieving the transformation of the U.S.-India relationship,” said President George W. Bush, who called on the Senate to quickly follow the House example. Critics have argued that the agreement would reward India even while the nation refuses to join the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and publicly adheres to its right to resume nuclear testing. “This is a terrible bill that threatens the future of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime,” Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement. “This is a debate about Iran. This is a debate about North Korea, about Pakistan, about Venezuela, about any other country in the world that harbors the goal of acquiring nuclear weapons,” he added. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) argued that the agreement “furthers our countries' strategic relationship while balancing nuclear nonproliferation concerns and India's growing energy needs. “The legislation recognizes India's past support for nonproliferation initiatives and strengthens congressional oversight of any future U.S. decision to assist India's civilian nuclear program,” she said. It remains to be seen if the Senate will take action on the agreement before Congress goes into recess in coming days ahead of the November election (Virginie Montet, Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Sept. 27). One senator last week used a procedural rule to keep the body from voting on deal legislation, the Associated Press reported. Experts in India, however, said they did not believe the move would prevent the agreement from being approved. “Since both majority and minority leaders favor the bill, I hope they will find means of getting round to such things," said K. Subrahmanyam, a former member of the Indian National Security Council. Said former Indian diplomat G. Parthasarthy: “One senator can't block it. The bill enjoys bipartisan support and it is likely to go through” (Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Sept. 27). If Congress approves the plan, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could sign the deal during a trip to India next month, according to the Press Trust of India (United Press International, Sept. 27).
By Greg Webb
Global Security Newswire
VIENNA — The number of reported nuclear material thefts, losses and smuggling efforts in 2007 might have declined to their lowest level in years, the International Atomic Energy Agency disclosed Friday, but officials declined to claim any trends while warning that the data could be incomplete (see GSN, Nov. 20, 2007). The database includes information from 100 nations that report instances of unauthorized use or possession of nuclear materials as well as cases of loss or theft. Since the agency-run data exchange began in 1993, 1,340 incidents have been reported through the end of last year, according to the update issues Friday. Of those cases, 303 involved unauthorized possession or criminal activity, including 18 incidents with highly enriched uranium or plutonium. However, no criminal activity was reported last year involving uranium or plutonium; the overall number of criminal activities in 2007 declined to less than 15, while more than 20 incidents were reported in the previous year. The 2007 level was the lowest since 2001. Participating nations also declared lower numbers for thefts and losses of nuclear materials, with fewer than 20 being reported for 2007, the smallest number since 1998. Despite the encouraging data, one agency staffer cautioned against assessing any trends, in part because some 2007 data might not have been reported yet. “In general, though, there are more countries that have border detection equipment,” the staffer said. The improved detection capability, thanks in part to U.S. programs to fund and deploy radiation scanners at many nations’ border posts, should in theory result in more incidents being reported. The lack of such an increase could indicate that smugglers have improved their methods rather than showing an actual decrease in activity, according to the staffer. Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei warned today that smuggling prevention efforts must maintain momentum. “The potential for a malicious act involving nuclear or other radioactive material remains real” he told representatives from the 145 IAEA member states at their annual meeting. “The number of incidents reported to the agency indicates ongoing weaknesses and vulnerabilities.” Differing somewhat from ElBaradei was U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who praised international efforts to secure nuclear materials. “We are safer from nuclear terrorism than we were 10 years ago,” Bodman told the IAEA meeting. He noted, in particular, U.S.-Russian programs to blend down weapon-grade uranium (see GSN, Feb. 20), dispose of weapon-usable plutonium (see GSN, April 4) and repatriate highly enriched uranium from research reactors around the world (see GSN, July 18).
The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Saturday reiterating past economic penalties against Iran for continuing atomic efforts that could support nuclear weapons development, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 26). The unanimously endorsed resolution, drafted in a compromise between Russia and the United States, reaffirms three sanctions resolutions against Iran and urges the state to abandon its uranium enrichment program in exchange for a six-nation offer of political and economic benefits. Iran insists it only wants to produce nuclear power plant fuel with the enrichment effort, but the United States and other Western powers suspect the Middle Eastern nation wants to produce a key nuclear weapon ingredient through the process. "The council has restated its call for Iran to comply with the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council to cooperate with the International Atomic [Energy] Agency," said Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, referring to the agency’s investigation into Iran’s nuclear ambitions. "It is unacceptable for Iran to defy the Security Council resolutions." Representatives for the Security Council’s member nations reviewed a draft of the proposed resolution Saturday morning and voted on the measure later in the day. The resolution was backed by Indonesia, a council member that abstained earlier this year from the vote on the most recent Iran sanctions. "Once a resolution is adopted by the Security Council, it is incumbent upon member states to comply with it," said Marty Natalegawa, Indonesia's ambassador to the United Nations (Associated Press/USA Today, Sept. 27). France expressed support for the new U.N. measure while stressing the importance of new sanctions, Agence France-Presse reported. The resolution’s approval "shows the concern and the unity of the international community faced with Iran's nuclear program," the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that France "reaffirms its determination to work with its partners on new sanctions to increase the pressure on Iran if it continues to ignore its international obligations" (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Sept. 28). Iran today said it would not comply with the resolution. "Enrichment is our right and we believe that suspension is an illegal request. We will continue on our path in a normal way," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi told journalists (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Sept. 28). Meanwhile, China’s prime minister has urged the international community to resolve the nuclear standoff through diplomacy "rather than resort to the willful use of force or the intimidation of force,” AFP reported. International standards give Iran “the right” to develop peaceful nuclear power capabilities but not nuclear weapons, Wen Jiabao said in a CNN interview televised yesterday (Agence France-Presse III/Google News, Sept. 28).
A senior U.S. State Department official wants to travel to North Korea this week in hopes of saving the diplomatic effort to shutter the regime’s nuclear sector, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, Sept. 26). The trip by Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, U.S. envoy to the six-party talks, would follow two visits last year. Pyongyang last year signed a denuclearization agreement under which it was promised economic, security and diplomatic concessions from China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. North Korea subsequently halted operations at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, began to disable key facilities and issued a declaration of its nuclear activities and holdings. However, the regime became frustrated by what it perceived as the Bush administration’s broken promise to remove North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. Washington has demanded that Pyongyang first accept a protocol for verification of its nuclear work, another sore point between the two capitals. North Korea in recent weeks has removed some equipment from storage at Yongbyon and announced last week that it would soon resume processing of weapon-usable plutonium from spent reactor fuel rods (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Sept. 28). Hill’s task, as assigned by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, would be to determine the reasons for the North Korean nuclear reversal and work with officials in China, Japan and South Korea to promote further diplomacy, Agence France-Presse reported. “The secretary obviously believes it's important for Chris to go out to the region, particularly to go to Pyongyang, to get a sense on the ground as to what's going on," State Department spokesman Robert Wood said today (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Sept. 29). The nations negotiating with North Korea “all are sending strong messages to the North Koreans that they should stop any reversals that they are carrying out,” Rice told Reuters last week. One possible strategy for breaking the latest deadlock in the years-old diplomatic effort would be for Washington to present its verification plan to China. Only after the Bush administration had announced North Korea’s provisional removal from the terrorism list would Beijing declare that Pyongyang had signed off on the protocol that would include collection of samples, site visits and other measures. In that way, North Korea could say it had been taken off the list before accepting verification. Top U.S. officials have not yet agreed to the plan, which remains under consideration by Hill and his team at the State Department (Kessler, Washington Post). Rice said Friday the administration is not yet considering halting energy assistance to North Korea, one of the rewards promised by the 2007 deal, in order to prod the regime to remain on the denuclearization path, the Yonhap News Agency reported. “We just haven’t considered what specific steps we might take. We may need to take steps, but that’s not the stage at which we are right now,” she said. Echoing other U.S. officials, Rice said it was not yet known whether the seeming change in North Korea’s policy is related to the reported health troubles of leader Kim Jong Il. Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke last month. “They do correspond in time,” Rice said. “But, frankly, I don’t know if that’s coincidence or causality, and I just don’t think we know” (Yonhap News Agency, Sept. 27). South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed the nuclear standoff during a meeting today in Moscow, Agence France-Presse reported. "Russia continues to support having a nuclear-free peninsula and seeks progress in the ongoing six-party talks,” Medvedev said (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Sept. 29).
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday ordered that the country’s nuclear deterrent be augmented over the next 12 years, RIA Novosti reported (see GSN, June 10). “A guaranteed nuclear deterrent system for various military and political circumstances must be provided by 2020," Medvedev told Russian military officials. He added: “We must ensure air superiority, precision strikes at land and sea targets, timely deployment of troops. We are planning to launch large-scale production of warships, primarily, nuclear submarines with cruise missiles and multi-purpose attack submarines.” A plan for these moves is due by December (RIA Novosti, Sept. 26). During the meeting, Medvedev did not discuss the Borei-class submarines that would be armed with the new Bulava ballistic missile, which would have a range of more than 6,200 miles and would carry six warheads, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Sept. 19). The missile failed in multiple tests before a successful launch earlier this month. Russia is building three Borei vessels, with the first due for commissioning this year (Lynn Berry, Associated Press/CNN.com, Sept. 26). The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff expressed no surprise Friday about the Russian announcement, Agence France-Presse reported. “When I dealt with my (Russian) counterparts, when I was head of our Navy ... it was very clear to me that their intention was to modernize their strategic forces,” Adm. Michael Mullen told reporters (Agence France-Presse/Spacewar.com, Sept. 26). One former senior Russian military official said the plan is a response to the Bush administration intention to deploy U.S. missile defense elements in Europe, Interfax reported. “I think this decision is connected with the U.S. intention to deploy the first phase of the global missile defense system by 2020. It implies that we will have new missile systems armed in a way that they should be capable of penetrating any missile defense system,” said Col. Gen. Viktor Yesin, former chief of staff for the Russian Strategic Missile Forces (Interfax/istockanalyst.com, Sept. 27).
Security measures at two U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories remain susceptible to computer-based infiltration and other compromises, congressional investigators and a former FBI counterterrorism specialist warned Thursday (see GSN, Sept. 23). The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee said that security at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico has made some improvement but warned of the danger of backsliding, Energy and Environment Daily reported Friday. “While [the Government Accountability Office] found a number of ongoing concerns at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico that deserve our attention, they also found evidence of some improvement, — enough to make me cautiously optimistic that lab security is in some ways improving,” Representative John Dingell (D-Mich.) said in a statement. “This improvement must be tempered by GAO’s warning that security at DOE labs appears cyclical, and it is not clear how Los Alamos intends to ensure these problems will not reoccur,” he said. Meanwhile, security vulnerabilities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California were “shocking and so serious” that they could only be discussed in a closed hearing, he said. GAO officials said the problems involved lax monitoring and vetting of the site’s security programs. A GAO report notes that Los Alamos could not reach a deal with the Energy Department to fund security for its unclassified computer systems, leaving the systems vulnerable to attacks. In a written statement to the House panel’s oversight subcommittee, a former Livermore security official warned that continued disagreements over funding computer security could cause “catastrophic consequences.” “The vulnerability of DOE personnel and facilities to hostile intelligence entities has increased exponentially,” said Terry Turchie, who served as deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism branch (Katherine Ling, Energy and Environment Daily, Sept. 26).
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei today said he hoped that North Korea would rejoin the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as soon as possible (see GSN, Sept. 24). "I still hope that conditions can be created for the D.P.R.K. (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) to return to the Nonproliferation Treaty at the earliest possible date," ElBaradei said in his opening statement to the agency’s general conference. North Korea announced in 2003 that it was withdrawing from the treaty. It tested a nuclear weapon in 2006, but in 2007 agreed to a denuclearization agreement in talks with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. Pyongyang began carrying out the requirements of the agreement, but more recently has begun reversing those moves (see related GSN story, today; Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Sept. 29). ElBaradei also called on Iran to answer the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s remaining questions about its nuclear program (see related GSN story, today). "I urge Iran to implement all the transparency measures ... required to build confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program at the earliest possible date," he said. “This will be good for Iran, good for the Middle East region and good for the whole world.” He added: "Substantial progress has been made, especially regarding the scope and nature of Iran's uranium enrichment program. … We have been able to continue to verify the nondiversion of declared nuclear material in Iran.” "Although Iran has so far produced only a limited quantity of low-enriched uranium, which remains under agency safeguards, this is still a cause for concern for the international community in the absence of full clarity about Iran's past and present nuclear program,” ElBaradei added (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Sept. 29). Iranian atomic energy chief Gholamreza Aghazadeh canceled a planned trip to the IAEA meeting, Iranian state media reported today. Agency envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh and Iranian Atomic Energy Organization deputy head Mohammed Saeedi are expected to represent Tehran (Agence France-Presse III/Spacewar.com, Sept. 28).
A U.S. federal court on Friday sentenced a 40-year-old Chinese woman to one year in prison for attempting to purchase and export military hardware used to measure the strength of nuclear detonations, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Oct. 19, 2007). Qing Li was charged with trying to buy as many as 30 of the hand-held machines, which can be used in missile and artillery development, for delivery to China. A State Department permit is required to legally export the $2,500 gauges, which are considered defense articles. In addition to the prison time, a federal judge ordered Li to serve three years probation and pay a $7,500 fine. She is expected to begin her sentence on Oct. 29 (Elliot Spagat, Associated Press/Google News, Sept. 27).
In its Sept. 18 edition, Global Security Newswire incorrectly attributed a quote regarding replacement of the British submarines that carry nuclear-tipped missiles to a report released by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The statement came from Kate Hudson, chairwoman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. The report also did not focus criticism on the United Kingdom.
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