Threat Assessment: U.S. Officials Say More Terrorism Likely

Top U.S. officials said this weekend that more terrorism against the United States is likely and could include chemical and biological attacks (see GSN, Sept. 27).  “We think that there is a very serious threat of additional problems now.  And, frankly, as the United States responds, that threat may escalate,” Attorney General John Ashcroft said on Sunday’s CBS Face the Nation. 

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he would adjust the military’s command structure to increase homeland defense (see GSN, Sept. 28) in light of the “probability” that terrorists eventually will obtain weapons of mass destruction.

White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card Jr. said that some terrorist organizations probably possess chemical and biological weapons.  “I’m not trying to be an alarmist, but we know that these terrorist organizations, like al-Qaeda, run by Osama bin Laden and others, have probably found the means to use biological or chemical warfare, and that is very, very bad for the world,” he said. 

Card also said that the U.S. government would “do everything we can to defend the United States,” in response to a question if the United States could use nuclear weapons in retaliation for a chemical or biological attack (Dana Milbank, Washington Post, Oct. 1).

Federal Biochemical Attack Preparations

Card promised that the Bush administration is working to increase supplies of vaccines to prepare for a biological attack.  The administration said Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration are working to provide adequate medication and immunization products (Kenneth Bazinet, Daily News, Oct. 1).

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U.S. Response: Washington Authorities Prepare for Biochemical Attacks

Transit authorities and hospitals in the U.S. capital are devising plans to respond to a biochemical terrorist attack, the Washington Times reported.

Washington’s subway and local and federal agencies will simulate a terrorist chemical attack at a subway station in early December to test a sensor system designed to detect chemical agents and authorities’ responses.  The simulation will involve Metro Transit Police and D.C. fire and police departments who will not be notified of the test’s exact date or time.  The test is part of a five-year, $17 million test program.  The Washington subway, the only transit agency in the United States with the sensing technology, began preparations following the 1995 subway chemical attack in Tokyo, Japan.

Transit Police Chief Barry McDevitt said Metro began installing sensors to detect chemical agents in subway stations in 1999.  Sensors are installed inside and outside certain stations, and Metro plans to install sensors on subway cars.  The sensor system would show where chemical agents are in the subway system and could track the spread of chemical agents, showing the best exits for the public and entrances for rescue workers.  The system would allow Metro operators to change the airflow inside the subway system, moving chemicals away from passengers.  Metro also has air filters that could dilute toxins.  The sensors would sound an alarm to alert the public in the vicinity of chemical agents to “run the other way,” according to one source. 

“Our scientists have estimated that if one can respond within six minutes … over 1,800 lives would be saved in a small-scale sarin nerve-gas attack,” said Page Stoutland, former director of the Energy Department’s Chemical and Biological Nonproliferation Program.

Metro might install biological weapons sensors by the end of 2001 (Daniel Drummond, Washington Times, Sept. 29).

Hospital Preparations

Washington hospitals are increasing education and updating emergency plans to respond to biochemical attacks.  Georgetown University Medical Center has held three seminars and additional staff meetings since Sept. 11 to train hospital personnel to recognize symptoms of biological attack.  The center convened a task force in 1999 that created response scenarios for small, large or massive biological attacks.  Dr. Luciana Borio, a fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civilian Biodefense Studies, said many physicians are not used to looking for signs of biological attack, and raising their awareness is the first step in preparing a response.

George Washington University’s Medical Center faculty have training in nuclear, biological and chemical exposure.  Dr. Keith Holtermann of George Washington said most hospitals do not have electronic records, which makes spotting similar cases difficult.  “There’s not a protocol for community hospitals, or even university hospitals, for detecting this,” he said.

Holtermann said cost cutting has also eroded medical facilities’ ability to handle a massive attack.  In the past, hospitals were able to attain an extra 100 or 200 beds when necessary, but they no longer have that excess capacity, he said. 

Holtermann said hospitals do not want to spend resources on plans for scenarios that might happen “once in a lifetime,” so he suggested strengthening the systems hospitals use every day so that those systems can expand to respond to large biological attacks. 

A 1993 U.S. congressional Office of Technology Assessment report estimated that an aerosol attack using 100 kilograms of anthrax upwind of the Washington metropolitan area could kill 130,000 to 3 million people (Matthew Cella, Washington Times, Sept. 29).

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United Nations: General Assembly Takes Up Terrorism

As the U.N. General Assembly prepared for this week's five-day debate on terrorism, the world body's Security Council Friday approved a broad antiterrorism measure proposed by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

The council in its resolution established a committee to monitor the resolution's implementation, calling on countries to report on the subject within 90 days; called on countries to crack down on the financing of terrorism by freezing terrorists' funds and criminalizing the provision or collection of such funds; said countries should themselves refrain from supporting terrorist groups and prevent would-be terrorists from using their territories to commit acts of terrorism and create strict laws and sentences related to terrorism; and called on countries to cooperate with each other by sharing intelligence, helping in each other's investigations and using border controls to restrict terrorists' movements.

Before granting refugee status, the council said, countries should make sure asylum seekers have no connection with terrorist acts.  The resolution also highlights the connection between terrorism and international issues such as money laundering; organized crime; illegal drugs; and the smuggling of nuclear, biological, chemical and other weapons.  Greater international cooperation is needed to ensure security, it said (U.N. release, Sept. 28).

The resolution has "considerable significance" and "provides a legal foundation for forming a coalition against terrorism," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.  France has also welcomed the resolution (BBC Online, Sept. 30).  Jordan Saturday promised its full support as well (Agence France-Presse/Jordan Times, Sept. 30).

Musa Qorbani, a member of the Iranian Parliament, expressed opposition, however, saying the council cannot resist the influence of powerful countries he called arrogant.  Iran will not join a U.N. antiterrorism campaign unless the world body can ensure the security of all members without discrimination, Qorbani told the Tehran Times (Islamic Republic News Agency, Sept. 30).

Citing U.S. sources at the United Nations, Toronto's National Post reports that Canadian laws were the inspiration for the council's call for stricter refugee regulations (Steven Edwards, National Post, Oct. 1).

Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, whose country takes up the council presidency today, was to meet with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan today.  Calling military action "just one component in the whole range of responses that we simply have to come up with" to fight terrorism, Cowen said he expects the month's agenda to focus on "this whole question of the fight against terrorism" (Mark Sage, Press Association, Oct. 1).

Annan, Giuliani Address General Assembly

Annan was scheduled to address the General Assembly today as it begins its weeklong terrorism discussion.  In a draft of his remarks, Annan advocated tougher international measures to control nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, saying the Sept. 11 attacks could have been even worse had such weapons been used.

"The truth is that a single attack involving a nuclear or biological weapon could have killed millions," Annan said.  "While the world was unable to prevent the attacks, there is much we can do to help prevent future terrorist acts carried out with weapons of mass destruction."

The secretary general called for a 13th treaty to build on the 12 existing U.N. terrorism-related treaties.  Diplomats, however, stressed the difficulty of reaching quick agreement on such measures, saying a draft antiterrorism treaty last year failed because of disagreements over issues including how to define terrorism (Reuters/South China Morning Post, Oct. 1).  .

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher Friday expressed optimism about an existing convention that the United States signed last year but has not ratified.  "There is, I think, a growing international momentum for signing and then implementing this International Convention on the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism," Boucher said (U.S. State Department release, Sept. 28).

Japan yesterday decided to ratify by the end of the year the 12 existing U.N. treaties against terrorism, according to government sources.  Laws on biochemical weapons would have to be revised in order for Tokyo to ratify the pacts, the Daily Yomiuri reports (Daily Yomiuri, Oct. 1).

New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani -- only the third mayor of New York to speak at the world body -- addressed the assembly this morning after being introduced by Annan.  Telling the gathered representatives that "America came from all your nations," the mayor called the Sept. 11 attacks "a direct assault on the founding principles of the U.N. itself" (CNN.com, Oct. 1).

Officials from 145 countries are to address the assembly this week (Arieff, Reuters/South China Morning Post).  Negroponte will make his first major speech (Associated Press/ABCNews.com, Oct. 1).

U.N. headquarters remains closed to the public, with sand-filled dump trucks blocking off portions of First Avenue and 42nd Street.  "It's the new world we live in," one U.N. official told the Washington Times.  "If terrorists are looking for symbols, this is a big one" (Betsy Pisik, Washington Times, Oct. 1).

More Than 100 Countries With U.S., Says Shelton

More than 100 countries are supporting the United States in its antiterrorism campaign, outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Henry Shelton said yesterday.  "So it'll be not only America and America's political, diplomatic, economic, military power that'll be applied, but it'll be an international effort that will also bring in the great capabilities of our partners, our allies and our friends around the world," Shelton said (Reuters/Miami Herald, Sept. 30).

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto yesterday called bin Laden a warlord, saying he has a force of 12,000 armed men in Afghanistan.  Bhutto called for capturing bin Laden, ousting the Taliban and bringing back the former king (Karen Matusic, Reuters/Boston Globe, Oct. 1).  Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, however, said yesterday that Washington has provided no proof of bin Laden's guilt.  "All I know is from the television," Musharraf said (AFP/Times of India, Oct. 1).

Despite what U.S. officials call tacit assurances that Saudi Arabia will allow U.S. troops to use a base in the country to stage military strikes on Afghanistan, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Sultan Saud said yesterday that Saudi facilities will not be used to launch strikes against Arabs or Muslims.  "We will not accept in our country even a single soldier who will attack Muslims or Arabs," he said (AP/Nando Times, Sept. 30).

Sudan's ruling National Congress party said yesterday that there are no terrorist camps or terrorism-linked bank accounts in the country.  U.S. officials last week said Sudan had detained 30 people in arrests related to the Sept. 11 attacks.  Party Secretary General Ibrahim Ahmed Omar called Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the "biggest terrorist in the world" (AP/CNN.com, Sept. 30).

The United Kingdom is expected to announce today that it has frozen $90 million in Taliban assets following the U.N. resolution on the financing of terrorism (CNN.com II, Oct. 1).

Russian President Vladimir Putin is to meet today in Brussels with NATO Secretary General George Robertson to discuss global antiterrorism efforts (AFP/European Internet Network, Oct. 1).  U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov met this weekend in Moscow to discuss related "military-political issues," a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said (AP/Baltimore Sun, Sept. 30).

Commonwealth of Independent States countries have agreed to act as one in the fight against terror, Putin said Friday (Deutsche Presse-Agentur/EIN, Sept. 28).  Uzbek President Islom Karimov and Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov Friday agreed to increase cooperation against terrorism (AFP/EIN, Sept. 28).

Bosnia and Herzegovina has denied the existence of terrorist camps on its territory.  The country's Foreign Ministry said it will cooperate with any international efforts against terror (AFP/EIN II, Oct. 1).  Muslim-Croat Federation Interior Minister Mohamed Besic warned Friday that 70 people "involved in bin Laden's organization" are preparing to leave Afghanistan for Bosnia (Daria Sito-Sucic, Reuters/Washington Times, Sept. 29).

"A peaceful solution could still be possible," Cuban President Fidel Castro said last week of the international crisis (Anita Snow, AP/Nando Times, Sept. 29).

Mexico will help the United States by supplying oil, freezing funds and monitoring its border with the United States, President Vicente Fox said Friday (CNN.com, Sept. 29).

U.N. criteria allowing the use of weapons to defend U.N. members may help Japan ease restrictions on the use of arms by its Self-Defense Forces, the Daily Yomiuri reported this weekend.  Japan's three ruling coalition parties have agreed to relax the restrictions in light of the current global antiterrorism movement, but have not worked out the details (Daily Yomiuri, Sept. 29).

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United Nations: Dhanapala Values ABM Treaty

U.N. Undersecretary General Jayantha Dhanapala warned that a U.S. withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty could “seriously upset the current strategic balance,” in a Sept. 14 interview with U.N. television’s “World Chronicle.” Dhanapala discussed the current state of disarmament affairs after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against the United States.

Dhanapala said the ABM Treaty was “by common consent, regarded as underpinning the current strategic stability” and U.S. plans to withdraw would disrupt other treaties.

In the last two U.N. General Assembly sessions, the overwhelming majority of nations wanted the treaty kept intact, according to Dhanapala.  “It is very clear that the overwhelming trend in world opinion is against” some missile defense plans, Dhanapala said, “because they do not see firstly, the technology has been proven, secondly, that the threat is as imminent as some say it is and thirdly, because of its overall impact on the entire fabric of disarmament treaties and conventions.”  Dhanapala doubted that the Sept. 11 attacks would shift world opinion against disarmament, because “the situation could have been much worse than it has been.  Consider for example if weapons of mass destruction were used by these terrorists.”

The Cold War’s end has reduced the possibility of nuclear weapons use, Dhanapala said, but with 30,000 nuclear weapons in existence, there were still fears that one could be used by accident or design.  Dhanapala also said use of a nuclear weapon by terrorists could not be ruled out, although there had been an explosion in the proliferation of small arms.  Over 550 million such weapons are circulating in over 85 countries, according to Dhanapala, showing the importance of a recent U.N. conference on small arms.

There are also signs of missile proliferation -- “an area where there are no norms,”  -- Dhanapala warned.  A study was began as a result of a U.N. resolution earlier this year that Dhanapala hoped would lead to “a kind of normative process, if not a kind of nuclear restraint regime because this is another very serious delivery vehicle for both conventional weapons and weapons of mass destruction.” 

The process has begun to prepare for the 2005 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty review conference next year, according to Dhanapala, and at these preparatory meeting, non-nuclear-weapon states are going to ask the nuclear-weapon states  -- “all of them” – what their stance is and what they have done to implement the decisions of the 2000 review conference.  “I think it’s premature at this stage to make judgments as to how these 13 steps have been achieved but as you know, there have been a number of countries certainly who have tried to make some steps with regard to unilateral reductions,” Dhanapala said.  “And the Bush administration itself has indicated that it would be ready to have unilateral reduction of its nuclear weapons arsenal” (Mike Nartker, GSN, Sept. 14).

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Pakistan: U.S. and Pakistani Officials Discuss Nuclear Arsenal Security

U.S. military and intelligence officials met with Pakistani officials last week to discuss how the United States could help to improve the security of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and two nuclear plants (see GSN, Sept. 26).  The talks focused on how to protect nuclear weapons and create new restrictions on personnel handling the weapons. 

There are formal limitations on how much assistance the United States can offer.  One restriction is Pakistan’s refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which prohibits transfers of nuclear technology to countries that have not signed the treaty.  U.S. law also imposes restrictions on sharing information about nuclear weapons with other countries. 

Many experts predict the United States will find ways around such obstacles and provide Pakistan with advice and technology to increase security at nuclear facilities, according to the New York Times.  The United States could even provide classified information, such as how to create devices to disable a stolen weapon. 

A number of U.S. officials and experts have expressed concern that Pakistan’s arsenal could be at risk from attack or control by radical forces in the country and military.  “The greatest risk is a fissure within Pakistan’s military caused by officers sympathetic to the Taliban,” said Gary Milhollin of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control (Douglas Frantz, New York Times, Oct. 1).

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf assured the world that Pakistan is a stable country with a secure nuclear arsenal.  “I am very, very sure that the command and control center that we have developed for ourselves is very, very secure … There is no chance of these assets falling into the hands of extremists,” he said, adding, “There is no destabilization within.  There is no opposition, no mass opposition, to me and my government” (CNN, Sept. 30).

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U.S. Use Policy: Biological Attack Deserves Nuclear Response, Says Kyl

The United States should respond to a terrorist chemical or biological weapons attack with nuclear weapons, said U.S. Senator John Kyl (R-Ariz.) last week (see GSN, Sept. 20).  “I can’t think of any other appropriate response in the case of a massive attack with biological weapons,” Kyl said. “We have to let them know nothing is off the table.” 

Kyl was not specific about potential targets for such a strike and said it would kill innocent civilians.  A biological weapons attack may have already happened (see GSN, Sept. 27), according to Kyl, and he said he expected terrorists to strike again against the United States during the next several months (Associated Press, Sept. 29).

Testing:  Bones From Dead Babies Used in Nuclear Tests in Britain

From the mid-1950s until 1970, the bones of thousands of dead babies in Britain were removed, without their parents’ consent, and tested for radioactive fallout.  The testing was part of a study on the effects of nuclear weapons testing, a spokesman for Britain's Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday. 

The study looked at the effect atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons was having on health.  Thigh bones from 3,400 dead infants were removed, incinerated and tested for levels of strontium-90, a radioactive isotope able to penetrate the body. British scientists were able to establish strontium-90 levels in children's bones had increased when atmospheric testing was prevalent.  Results from the tests may have contributed to Britain's 1963 ban on atmospheric testing, according to the Atomic Energy Agency. 

"The program was done for the best reasons," said Beth Taylor of the agency.  "It was the period when we were doing atmospheric testing of hydrogen bombs and there was quite a bit of concern about the dangers of nuclear fallout" (Alan Cowell, New York Times, Oct. 1).    

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U.S.-Russia:  Strategic Nuclear Talks Continue in Moscow

High-level U.S. and Russian officials met for unscheduled talks in Moscow Saturday to discuss strategic nuclear weapon reductions and missile defenses (see GSN, Sept, 25).  Returning through Moscow on his way from Uzbekistan, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Mamedov (UPI, Sept. 29).

According to a Foreign Ministry statement, the two discussed “specific proposals for creating a new architecture of Russian-American strategic relations transmitted … [by] Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov (see GSN, Sept. 21) to senior Bush administration officials” in September (Foreign Ministry release, Sept. 29).

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Iran: Russian SAMs to Defend Bushehr?

Iran may be seeking Russian air defense missile systems to defend its nuclear facilities at Bushehr, according to analysts commenting on pending Iranian-Russian arms deals.  Arms talks between the two nations were scheduled to begin today in Moscow.

Russia suspended arms exports to Iran in 1995, but announced last year that it would resume sales.  U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton urged Russia to continue its moratorium when he visited Moscow last month (see GSN, Sept. 18), but Russia was finding it difficult to resist the potential $300 million a year that Iranian arms purchases would generate, experts said (Robert Cottrell, Financial Times, Sept. 30).

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British Fuel Cycle: Sellafield Could Start Up This Week

The United Kingdom could give a green light this week to British Nuclear Fuels to open a new nuclear fuel plant at Sellafield despite increased fears that the plant’s shipments are vulnerable to attack.  The plant, which produces nuclear fuel from reprocessed uranium and plutonium, was completed in 1996, but several rounds of government consultation have delayed its operation. 

Opponents to the mixed-oxide plant say that shipments of the fuel, sometimes overseas, are vulnerable to terrorist suicide attacks or theft.  BNFL Chairman Hugh Collum said the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States did not indicate that the plant’s cargo is more vulnerable.  The ships carrying nuclear fuel are usually armed and accompanied by another ship. 

The United States, which has a veto over the transport of nuclear materials originating from the plant, is likely to object to transporting the material internationally, according to the Guardian (Gow/Brown, Oct. 1). 

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Afghanistan: Taliban Has “Huge Stockpile” of Nuclear Weapons

The Taliban has nuclear weapons and is prepared to use them, according to a senior Taliban official in Islamabad in an interview in the London Sunday Mirror.

“We bought our nuclear weapons from the U.S.S.R. when it broke up.  We have a huge stockpile but I am forbidden from saying anything more.  It is top secret,” said Hafiz Hussain Ahmed.

“If the United States and Britain attack Afghanistan with nuclear weapons, we will respond with the same type of warfare,” Ahmed said.  “There are also Muslim-minded people in the West who have sworn they can provide us with the latest military technology.  If the war starts we can call upon unlimited resources from our network of supporters across the world.”

“This will be the Third World War,” Ahmed said (Dominic Turnbull, London Sunday Mirror, Sept. 30).

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North Korea: KEDO Delegation Leaves Pyongyang

A delegation from the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) left Pyongyang on Saturday after five days of talks.  KEDO spokesman Brian Kremer described the sessions as “routine meetings that we have throughout the year to discuss the implementation of light-water reactor project” (see GSN, Sept. 26).  Deputy Executive Directors Akira Nakajima and Kyu-Hyung Cho led the KEDO delegation (Greg Webb, GSN, Oct. 1).

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North Korea: Blame Belongs to United States

North Korea responded vigorously Saturday to last week’s International Atomic Energy Agency statement urging North Korea to cooperate with the IAEA’s efforts to verify the North’s nuclear holdings (see GSN, Sept. 24).

In an official statement, Pyongyang said, “If the IAEA conference wants to know who is to blame, it should first of all call the U.S. into question for being insincere in the implementation of the Agreed Framework.”

“If the U.S. had remained sincere in implementing the Agreed Framework, it would have been implemented to such a level as to enable the DPRK and the IAEA to start negotiations on verifying the accuracy and perfectness of the initial report on nuclear substance,” the statement said (KCNA, Sept. 29).

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U.S. Response: Focus Should Shift to Public Health System, Experts Say

Bioterrorism discussions should focus on strengthening the public health system and preparedness rather than on antibiotics or vaccines, according to some health experts (see GSN, Sept. 28).  “For bioterrorism, the No. 1 inadequacy, if you rank them, is the inadequacy of our public health infrastructure.  This is a product of about 15 years of neglect,” said U.S. Senator Bill Frist (R-Tenn).

Many problems face the U.S. public health system, according to the New York Times.  Doctors are poorly trained to recognize symptoms of possible biological warfare agents, such as anthrax, which can resemble the flu.  Many hospitals lack necessary equipment, in some cases even tools like fax machines, to receive or report information in an emergency.  Government agencies cannot agree on what diseases are the biggest threats -- with the Centers for Disease Control listing smallpox as a major risk and the FBI not even placing smallpox on its list.  Two important health positions, commissioner of food and drugs and director of the National Institute of Health, remain unfilled.

While a number of federal agencies have established bioterrorism response teams and there has been steady improvement in laboratories on testing and identifying biological agents, it is a patchwork set against the larger arena of cities, states, and counties all with their own reporting requirements and plans (Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, Sept. 30).

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson has said that the United States is prepared in the event of a biological attack. “We’ve got to make sure that people understand that they’re safe.  And that we’re prepared to take care of any contingency, any consequence that develops from any kind of bioterrorism attack,” Thompson said.  There are eight staging areas around the country that are each stocked with 50 tons of medical supplies including vaccines, antibiotics, gas masks and ventilators, that can be moved to the site of a biological attack within hours, according to Thompson.  There are also 7,000 trained medical personnel ready to respond, Thompson said (Associated Press/Salon, Sept. 30, 2001).

Some public health officials agree that the United States is better prepared than it was three or four years ago, but worry that improvements still need to be made in identifying when a biological attack is under way.  “We are not going to have a bomb fly out of the sky and land on somebody so that we can say, ‘Look, there’s a bomb, and we are all dying of anthrax,’” said Asha M. George, who studies bioterrorism for the Nuclear Threat Initiative.  “It is most likely going to be a covert release, and people will get sick and go to their hospitals, and the public health system will have to pick up on this,” George said (Stolberg, New York Times).

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Russia: Chemical Export Controls Strengthened

Russia imposed new limits on exports of dangerous chemicals yesterday in an attempt to keep them out of the hands of terrorists.  The new rules will cover substances, equipment and technology that could be used in manufacturing chemical weapons and will also block exports to some countries altogether. The decision was made after U.S. intelligence sources expressed fears of terrorists working with the Russian mafia to procure weapons of mass destruction (Express, Sept. 29).

Russia Unable To Destroy Chemical Weapons

Russia does not have the technology or adequate funding needed to destroy its chemical weapons, said Lev Fedorov, a former chemical weapons scientist, last week.  “Russia so far has no normal technologies for chemical weapons destruction,” Federov said (see GSN, Sept. 20).  The new chemical weapons program (see GSN, Sept. 26), adopted by Russia in July, includes plans to destroy chemical weapons and the plants that build them, according to Fedorov, but “no solution is offered to the third problem addressed by the [Chemical Weapons Convention], the problems of old weapons buried in Russia.” Over 200,000 tons of World War II-era chemical weapons are buried in unknown locations throughout Russia, said Fedorov (Interfax, Sept. 27, in FBIS-SOV, Sept. 27).

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