Afghanistan:  Brahimi Meets Afghans, Reportedly Floated Mecca Talks

Lakhdar Brahimi, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's newly reappointed special Afghanistan envoy, was to meet today in Pakistan with "Afghans from inside Afghanistan" to discuss the war-torn country's future, according to U.N. spokesman Eric Falt.

Brahimi and the Afghans—"we cannot disclose who, for obvious reasons," Falt said—were expected to discuss what kind of government will replace the ruling Taliban if and when U.S.-led attacks against the regime, accused of harboring alleged terrorism kingpin Osama bin Laden, lead to its downfall.

Brahimi was also to meet with the Revolutionary Afghan Women's Association, a human rights group that has photographed and publicized executions in violation of Taliban law, before traveling tomorrow to Iran and then returning to New York.  Reuters reports the envoy is likely to return to the region soon for meetings in countries such as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (Jack Redden, Reuters/Yahoo! News, Nov. 1).

In meetings earlier this week with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and others, the Financial Times reports, Brahimi proposed a meeting of Afghan leaders in Mecca, Islam's most sacred site.  A diplomat Brahimi briefed said the plan will likely be agreeable to Pakistan and Iran, adding that the parties will find it difficult to reject a peace plan in Mecca.

Players and observers have for weeks been discussing the idea of a traditional grand council, attended by various factions and ethnic groups, to decide how to govern a post-Taliban Afghanistan.  Haron Amin, the opposition Northern Alliance's Washington representative, continued to speak of such a meeting being held in Turkey, not Saudi Arabia, saying his government would attend.  Amin added that Taliban defections are welcome but that Taliban members should have no place in a new Afghan government (Financial Times, Nov. 1).

Brahimi met yesterday with a group of Afghan women representing volunteer groups and nongovernmental organizations, who Falt said expressed a desire for peace and for respect for women's rights.

"There should be space for women's development and education in the future of Afghanistan," Falt quoted one woman as saying.  "If we can get peace, we will be able to assert our rights."

"The commanders are all men and they enjoy war," another woman said, according to Falt.  "Please be sure, however, that their own wives want peace" (U.N. Newservice, Oct. 31).

Current bids to decide Afghanistan's future, at least six of which are proceeding at sites from Europe to Central Asia, are "a disaster," a Western diplomat told the Washington Post.  The Post cites officials involved in the process in reporting that factional infighting and foreign countries' influences are hampering the talks (Anderson/Moore, Washington Post, Nov. 1).

U.N. Development Program Administrator Mark Malloch Brown met yesterday with Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka to discuss rebuilding Afghanistan.  UNDP hopes to cooperate with Japan and other countries, as well as with the World Bank, to reconstruct the country, Malloch Brown said.  Tanaka said Japan will contribute to the effort, adding that she hopes to present an Afghan reconstruction plan to foreign ministers at a Nov. 11 Group of Eight meeting in New York (NHK, Oct. 31).

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine said today in New Delhi that any new Afghan government should be created with an eye to regional stability.  "We shared our analyses of the situation on the military and political fronts, and we will in a coordinated manner continue our efforts so that a political situation takes hold in Afghanistan," Vedrine said after meeting with Indian officials including External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh.  Agence France-Presse reports that India will frown on any Afghan solution that leaves Pakistan with significant influence over Afghanistan.  Vedrine will travel to Pakistan next (AFP/TF1.fr, Nov. 1, UN Wire translation).

Taliban Seeks Negotiations, Evidence

Amir Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban's education and culture minister, yesterday called for negotiations with the United States and reiterated the regime's demand for proof of bin Laden's guilt in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"We do not want to fight," Muttaqi said.  "We will negotiate, but talk to us like a sovereign country.  We are not a province of the United States, to be issued orders to.  We have asked for proof of Osama's involvement, but they have refused.  Why?"

U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher replied, "All one has to do is watch television to find Osama bin Laden claiming responsibility for the Sept. 11 bombings.  There is no question of responsibility.  There is no question of the responsibility of the Taliban, and there's no question of what they should do."

Muttaqi called on Washington not to "make Muslims everywhere angry" by continuing to bomb Afghanistan.  Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Muttawakil, though, struck a different tone, daring the allies to send ground troops into the country.  "We will fight and let's see who will win," Muttawakil said (Kathy Gannon, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Oct. 31).

Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef today said the regime has detained "a few American citizens," but did not give their identities and said he did not know how or when they were arrested.  According to some media reports, late opposition leader Abdul Haq was accompanied by some Americans when the Taliban captured him last week.  Haq was then executed (Reuters/Irish Times, Nov. 1).

Zaeef yesterday accused the United States of seeking to install a puppet regime in northern Afghanistan to eliminate the country's "Islamic identity" (Oliver Moore, Globe and Mail, Oct. 31).

Powell Predicts Ramadan Bombing

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has said the United States will continue to attack Afghanistan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts in about two weeks, despite calls for a halt to bombing, although it may temper its effort, the Wall Street Journal reports.  "It would not be smart of us not to be sensitive to the fact that this is an important religious period," Powell said.  The allies must "keep the pressure up all through the winter," though, he added (Robbins/King, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 1).  Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, whose country is home to more Muslims than any other, called today for a Ramadan halt to the bombing (NHK, Nov. 1).

Zaeef said yesterday that 1,500 people have died since the U.S. strikes began Oct. 7, accusing the United States of deliberately targeting civilians (Reuters/Karachi Business Recorder, Nov. 1).

Countries Aid U.S., Northern Alliance

Japanese and U.S. officials met today in Tokyo to discuss the participation of Japanese troops in the U.S.-led campaign following Japanese passage this week of a law that would for the first time allow Japanese troops to engage in overseas activities (Teruaki Ueno, Reuters, Nov. 1).

Turkey will also contribute troops, Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said today.  Washington was reported yesterday to have asked the country for troops to train Northern Alliance fighters (AP/ABCNews.com, Nov. 1).

European Union countries agreed yesterday to authorize the provision of arms to the Afghan opposition, sources told AFP (AFP/Cyberpresse.ca, Oct. 31, UN Wire translation).

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Worldwide Response: Countries Pass Antiterrorism and Security Measures

France approved new antiterrorism legislation yesterday in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.  Both the Senate and the French National Assembly have passed the bill, which will become law once it is published.  France is one of several countries to have created domestic antiterrorism legislation.

The bill will allow greater powers for private security firms to check identity cards and luggage, provide police increased authority to search properties and vehicles and allow more sharing of police information.  The new provisions, however, will expire at the end of 2003. 

The Green Party opposed the legislation, and the Communist Party abstained from voting on the bill.  “France has today become a victim of collateral damage on its civil liberties as a result of the war in Afghanistan,” said Green deputy Noel Mamere.

The bill, however, “is not detrimental to our freedom to fight terrorism.  On the contrary, to do nothing would be detrimental,” said French Interior Minister Daniel Vaillant (Karachi Business Recorder, Nov. 1).

Canada

Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien opposed adding a sunset clause to antiterrorism legislation under consideration in the House of Commons and Senate, as debate over limiting the bill continued (see GSN, Oct. 31).  Chretien said adding an expiration date to the bill would interfere with police investigations that can require years of work. 

“I think he pretty well closed the door on the sunset clause.  But I don’t think MPs have given up,” said one Canadian parliament member (Shawn McCarthy, Globe and Mail, Nov. 1).

Fisheries Minister Herb Dhaliwal expressed his continuing support for a sunset clause yesterday at a Liberal Party caucus meeting, despite Chretien’s request at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that ministers stop publicly arguing over the bill (Nahlah Ayed, Canadian Press/Miami Herald, Oct. 31).

The Canadian Bar Association recommended yesterday the antiterrorism legislation include a sunset clause and called Chretien’s suggestion of a review of the bill in three years insufficient.  Simon Potter, first vice president of the CBA, yesterday called the bill “draconian” (Allison Dunfield, Globe and Mail, Oct. 31).

Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci said yesterday the United States believes Canada has made significant progress toward meeting U.S. security concerns relating to the U.S.-Canada border but still should follow through on some proposals.  Cellucci added that traffic between the two countries would likely remain slow for some months, although border crossings should speed up eventually as new technology allowed for more efficiency while also meeting security requirements.  U.S. President George W. Bush has also called on Canada to negotiate how to harmonize immigration and customs rules with the United States (Campbell Clark, Globe and Mail, Nov. 1).

Worldwide Bioterrorism Preparation

The United Kingdom has been negotiating with the manufacturer of Cipro, Bayer, to buy the drug, which the United States uses to treat early stages of anthrax, according to the London Independent Tuesday (see related GSN story, today). 

“We are reviewing our stocks and supplies of a broad range of antibiotics and vaccines and talking to manufacturers.  The goal is to ensure that we have sufficient stockpiles to cope with the release of a broad range of biological agents, including anthrax and smallpox,” said a Health Department spokesman.

Bayer has also been discussing Cipro sales to France (see related GSN story, today).  “Because the U.K. and French governments are involved in the Afghanistan war, these countries seem to be a little more concerned than others.  So far we have had only short contact with them about potential supply, but it has been forward-looking,” said a Bayer spokesman (Foley/Butler, London Independent, Oct. 30).

Meanwhile, disaster experts from several Latin American and Caribbean countries met at the Pan American Health Organization and recommended last week that countries should increase disaster response capabilities to include cases of biological attacks (PAHO release, Oct. 26).

Other Countries

The South Korean government and ruling party have called for antiterrorism legislation and a revision of its hazardous chemical control act in response to terrorism concerns, South Korean officials said last week, adding the government also planned to include funds in the next year’s budget to combat terrorism, including the establishment of a nationwide emergency response system, vaccine research and buying protective gear (Hwang Jang-jin, Korea Herald, Oct. 26).

Representatives from 11 Mediterranean countries (see GSN, Oct. 30) met last week to create a common strategy to fight terrorism in light of the Sept. 11 attacks (Karachi Business Recorder, Oct. 26).

A group of Central American countries approved antiterrorism measures last week to prevent states or individuals in the region from attacking other countries.  Measures will include migration and arms transportation controls, increased border security and calls for information exchange to combat money laundering by radical groups (Reuters/New York Times, Oct. 25).

Hungary announced earlier this month it had installed air defense missiles in certain parts of the country as part of tightened security after the Sept. 11 attacks (BBC Monitoring/European Internet Network, Oct. 11).

Other countries that have increased antiterrorism, security and nonproliferation measures since the Sept. 11 attacks include China (CNN, Oct. 26), Spain (El Pais/Global News Wire, Oct. 17), Russia (Interfax, Oct. 1 in FBIS-SOV, Oct. 2), Australia (Mark Dunn, Herald Sun, Oct. 3), Japan (Xinhuanet, Oct. 5), Thailand (Xinhuanet, Oct. 19) and Greece (Xinhuanet, Oct. 5).

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U.S.-Russia: Bush Administration to Propose New Strategic Cuts

The Bush administration plans to propose new goals for reducing U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear warheads, the Los Angeles Times reported today, as part of a larger understanding that would permit the United States to conduct some missile testing currently prohibited by the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (see related GSN story, today).  U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell will outline the U.S. plan today in Washington in meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov (Robin Wright, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 1).

The U.S. goal is for each side to reduce to between 1,750 and 2,250 strategic nuclear warheads, according to U.S. officials (Pincus/Sipress, Washington Post, Nov. 1).

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is scheduled to fly to Moscow tomorrow to present the proposal to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, and Bush administration officials have said they hope an agreement can be signed later this month by U.S. and Russian Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin at their summit in the United States.

Internal Disputes

The U.S. proposal has been hotly contested within the Bush administration, so much so that Bush was unable to present it to Putin at their Shanghai meeting (see GSN, Oct. 22), as originally planned.

Adm. Richard Mies, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, has argued vehemently that the current U.S. nuclear arsenal is needed to assure stability and guarantee that the United States could provide a nuclear response even after suffering a nuclear attack, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“There is a tyranny in very deep numerical reductions that inhibits flexibility and induces instability in certain situations,” Mies told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee in July.

On the other hand, the Pentagon also faces “budget restraints and diverse threats to balance,” said an administration official.  “We don’t need to spend billions maintaining a nuclear arsenal if the threats are now coming from elsewhere” (Robin Wright, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 1).

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Pakistan: Pakistani Nuclear Scientists Questioned

Pakistani officials confirmed yesterday that Pakistan has arrested three of its leading nuclear scientists for questioning.  The officials refused to confirm or deny reports that U.S. FBI and CIA agents were interrogating the scientists—rumors a Pakistani official had denied Tuesday (see GSN, Oct. 31).

Pakistani authorities have arrested Bashiru-Din Mehmood, Mirza Yusuf Baig and Abdul Majeed (see GSN, Oct. 26), all former senior scientists at Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Commission.  The men’s families told Pakistani newspapers the scientists were originally taken into custody on Oct. 23.  The Pakistani Observer reported Mehmood was released Friday and then rearrested Sunday, and reports said he had been hospitalized for chest pains (see GSN, Oct. 31).  The Observer said Mehmood’s health was precarious while at home over the weekend, and he feared for his life when officials arrested him again on Sunday (John Burns, New York Times, Nov. 1).

Did the Scientists Pass On Nuclear Secrets?

Pakistani officials have said they did not arrest the men because of concerns they might have passed nuclear secrets to Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban or to Osama bin Laden (see GSN, Oct. 29).  Pakistan was questioning the scientists about their relief work in Afghanistan, where they operated with the support of Taliban leader Mohammed Omar, the officials said. 

Some experts, however, have expressed concern the scientists provided nuclear weapons assistance to the Taliban or bin Laden’s organization and suggested such concerns were behind the arrests.  U.S. officials said there was no hard proof bin Laden had nuclear capability. 

U.S. officials have said they know bin Laden has attempted to obtain nuclear material several times, including trying to buy spent nuclear fuel rods from a Bulgarian nuclear plant (see GSN, Oct. 15) and enriched uranium from Sudan (see GSN, 19). 

The recent arrests forced authorities to ask if the scientists had provided any nuclear information to Afghanistan or bin Laden, said David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security, adding, “We think this case should be investigated much more thoroughly than I think the Pakistanis would like to.”

Who is Bashiru-Din Mehmood?

Several reports in Pakistani newspapers have said Mehmood was a key scientist involved in the development of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, although a Pakistani official previously said Mehmood was involved with nuclear reactors, not with Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program (see GSN, Oct. 31) (Bill Nichols, USA Today, Nov. 1).

The London Independent reported that Mehmood was a key scientist in Pakistan’s nuclear weapons development and called him a “zealous Islamist” who supported the Taliban (Peter Popham, London Independent, Oct. 31).

Mehmood expressed support for the Taliban in an undated article posted on the Web.  “Thus Taliban and their leader Mullah Muhammad Omar are not ordinary people in power but upholders of a movement—the movement of reconnaissance [sic] of Islam in the world.  Simple proof of this is that all anti-Islamic forces are united in opposition to them.  In the Holy Quran, Allah has told us ‘All Kufr (wrong) will unite against the Haque, the truth of Islam.’  Today world is witness of this truth,” he wrote (Mehmood, YesPakistan.com).

Musharraf Understands Importance of Nuclear Security, Powell Says

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday in Washington that he had discussed the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.  “I’m confident that [Musharraf] understands the importance of ensuring that elements of his nuclear program are safe and secure … And he knows that if he needs any technical assistance on how to improve that security level, we’d be more than willing to help in any way we can,” Powell said (Burns, New York Times, Nov. 1).

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Anthrax: Investigation Into New York Inhalation Case Continues

While New York investigators were working today to determine how the latest inhalation anthrax victim contracted the disease, new reports revealed the spread of anthrax spores beyond the East Coast.

After New York City woman Kathy Nguyen died yesterday from inhalation anthrax, investigators began examining her whereabouts for the past two weeks, the period when she was most likely exposed to the disease, according to the New York Times.  Tracing that path was harder because Nguyen was too sick to speak to investigators before she died, they said.  "What we are trying to do is backtrack in this woman's life to see who her friends were, who she associated with, who knows where she has been," municipal Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik said yesterday.

Tests at Nguyen 's apartment and the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital where she worked have come back negative, said Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.  Another woman who worked in a different section of the hospital, however, had a small skin lesion that may be suspicious, according to the Times.  The woman was undergoing testing to determine if she had been exposed to anthrax, officials said.  "At this point, people should not jump to conclusions about it," said Giuliani.

Nearly 30 investigators have tried to retrace Nguyen 's movements, talking to coworkers and searching her apartment to locate a possible exposure point, according to the Times.  Postal investigators were tracking the course of mail to the hospital to see if any of it passed through a Manhattan postal center where anthrax spores had previously been found.  "It's like a fugitive investigation," said FBI official Barry Mawn. "We want to know everything and anything."

One small clue was anthrax found on Nguyen’s clothing, according to health officials.  It was unlikely that the clothes were contaminated after she had gotten sick, said health officials. The anthrax may have gotten on the clothing at the time of Nguyen 's exposure.  "The reality of this is, this is a much more difficult investigation," Giuliani said.  "It does not mean it can't be done.  It just means it's going to take a while longer."

Possible New Exposures Detected

A postal employee at a mail center near Camden, New Jersey, may have contracted skin anthrax, officials said yesterday.  The victim is a 54-year-old man who works as a mail processor at the Bellmawr center, according to officials.  Final tests were pending, but the man was being treated with antibiotics for a skin lesion.  If the man tested positive for anthrax infection, it could mean that the affected area in New Jersey is larger than previously believed, according to the Times.  Past anthrax cases in New Jersey centered on a mail processing center near Trenton, New Jersey, which is north of Camden. 

The Bellmawr facility was closed yesterday.  A small amount of mail would remain inside until tests could show it was not contaminated with anthrax, officials said (Eric Lipton, New York Times, Nov. 1).

More Postal Facilities Tainted

Trace amounts of anthrax spores were found at two spots inside a postal center in Kansas City, Missouri, officials there said Wednesday.  The center had received about 7,000 pieces of mail from a Washington postal facility where anthrax spores had been found.  Tests found anthrax spores on two garbage bags near the mail from Washington.

No employees at the center showed signs of infection, but employees were to be interviewed and given antibiotics as a precaution, officials said.  They said the threat to the public was negligible.  "There is no danger to the public," said Gary Stone, manager of the postal center.  "It's important to remember that (since) Sept. 11, there have been 21 billion pieces of mail processed in this country.  And only three were contaminated" (Schultz/Hart, Kansas City Star/RealCities.com, Nov. 1).

Anthrax spores also surfaced at a private postal maintenance center in Indianapolis, Indiana, according to the Associated Press.  Trace amounts of spores were found on a printer shipped to the Indiana facility from a mail-processing center in New Jersey know to be contaminated with anthrax.  The spores were limited to the equipment and the maintenance center's workers showed no signs of infection, said Governor Frank O'Bannon on Wednesday.  "At this level of exposure, anthrax is not a threat to human health in Indiana," O'Bannon said (Associated Press/London Guardian, Nov. 1).

A mailbag from the U.S. Embassy in Lithuania tested positive for anthrax spores, officials said yesterday. Five mailbags were tested as part of a worldwide sweep of U.S. Embassies, said Lithuanian Public Health Center Microbiology Laboratory Chief Kazimiera Rutiene.  The tests involved injecting mice with a suspicious substance taken from the bag, which then died, according to Rutiene.  "This is real proof that there were traces of anthrax there," Rutiene said.

Preliminary tests of the mailbags showed two out of the five to possibly contain anthrax spores, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday.  The embassy mailroom was sealed and antibiotics were to be provided to any employee who requested them, Boucher said (Liudas Dapkus, Associated Press/Washington Post, Nov. 1).  

Is Washington in the Clear?

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday proposed relaxing guidelines on which postal and private mailroom workers in Washington should take antibiotics as a precaution against anthrax.  No new anthrax cases were reported in Washington in the last week and three patients infected with inhalation anthrax were believed to be improving, according to the Washington Post.  “We're hoping and praying that we won't see any new cases in the next few days,” said CDC Emergency and Environmental Health Services Director Patrick Meehan. 

The CDC proposed that postal workers at three reopened facilities stop taking antibiotics.  Mailroom workers at close to 4,000 private firms that receive large volumes of mail could also stop taking antibiotics, according to the CDC. Mailroom workers at Washington media companies, other organizations that could be possible terrorist targets and companies with mechanized mail sorting equipment located in ZIP codes starting with 200, however, should continue taking antibiotics and those companies should conduct environmental testing at their buildings, the CDC said.

Mayor Anthony Williams said city officials would announce today whether or not they would accept the new CDC guidelines (Cohn/Goldstein, Washington Post, Nov.1).

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BWC: U.S. Blocks U.N. Proposal to Condemn Anthrax Incidents

The United States yesterday blocked a French proposal for the U.N. Security Council to condemn the recent U.S. anthrax incidents, said senior U.S. and European officials.   The proposed resolution would have stated that the use of biological weapons was prohibited under the Biological Weapons Convention.  It also would have said that, under the U.N. charter, the United States had a right of military to militarily to defend itself unilaterally against biological warfare.

A U.N. condemnation would only be appropriate if there was clear proof that the anthrax came from a foreign source, said a senior official in U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration.  "Let's assume this was the work of a bunch of right-wing nuts or a Unabomber kind of thing," the official said.  "That would make it a domestic criminal matter.  The Security Council just has no legitimate role in this." 

The decision to reject the proposal came after debate within the U.S. State Department over whether or not the anthrax incidents violate the Convention, administration officials said.  "The French told us this was a clear violation of the convention, but I don't know how it would be if it's a domestic nut case," said another administration official. 

European officials said the U.S. rejection of the proposal was shortsighted and a missed opportunity.  "This was the first time that a biological agent was used against a civilian population and we felt that it was important at the very least that the international community say something about it," said a senior European official.  "The goal was to reaffirm the value of the convention and assure solidarity.  But the answer clearly was 'No'" (Elaine Sciolino, New York Times, Nov.1).

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Anthrax:  U.S. Investigation Continues

Some officials expressed frustration yesterday over the lack of information and patterns in the investigation into the recent anthrax incidents, while the fourth victim of inhalation anthrax died in New York City (see GSN, Oct. 31).

The recent anthrax incidents are something totally new for scientists and investigators, Surgeon General David Satcher said yesterday.  “We’re used to dealing with infectious diseases, but we don’t have a lot of experience dealing with terrorists, Satcher said.  “We don’t know what the attacker is doing or what the attacker is going to do next in terms of strategy” (CNN.com, Nov. 1).

What’s needed are “scientifically trained people who are able to … come up with new hypotheses” to explain why certain people contract anthrax and others do not, said former U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Bill Roper, highlighting the need for more epidemiologists.  The recent New York City case, examined by epidemiologists, could provide clues into the recent anthrax incidents, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “The hospital worker who died doesn’t fit [known patterns] and may well be an opening wedge” for a better understanding of the problem, Roper said.

A suspicious second case of skin anthrax at the same hospital where yesterday’s victim had worked could also provide clues.  “These two particular cases don’t meet an exposure scenario consistent with what we’ve seen before, so we’ve got to be more open-minded,” said CDC Director Jeffrey Koplan.  The new and seemingly different cases would “throw you off,” said Greg Evans, director of the Center of the Study of Bioterrorism and Emerging Infections at the St. Louis University School of Public Health.  “You always have to ask, ‘Is this the beginning of another pattern, or was this an isolated case?’”

Not only will investigators and epidemiologists try to learn more about the New York victim’s movements before she became ill, but will also look into ‘host-risk factors,” such as smoking or a weakened immune system, according to the Inquirer.  All of those who died from inhalation anthrax were over 47, and being older means a person has a diminished immune system, Koplan said.  Smoking weakens the lungs and allows infections, such as anthrax, to occur, said epidemiologist Howard Frumkin.  “If the anthrax spores glob onto the smoke, then the smoke can basically act as a carrier, and brings other materials into the lungs and deposits them deep down,” Frumkin said (Seth Borenstein, Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 1).      

Research Labs Subpoenaed

Federal officials have issued 60 subpoenas for records from research facilities that work with anthrax to determine whether the spores used in the recent incidents were taken from a lab, according to sources.  There is no evidence thefts have occurred, said sources, but the subpoenas were issued as a precaution.  “We were fishing,” said a law enforcement official.  “But we need to understand who could have access to the bacteria.  We wanted to know everyone who had entered a lab, been interested in anthrax research, and background them.”

The subpoenas were to obtain laboratory visitors logs and shipping documents from universities, research institutes and CDC-licensed companies.  “It was a friendly subpoena,” said Richard Hidalgo, assistant to the dean of the School of Veterinary Medicine at Louisiana State University.  “I think they are just looking for any missing shipments, trying to cover all the bases.”

“We’re chasing ghosts,” a source said.  “Issuing those subpoenas was a smart thing to do to try to get a handle on where the anthrax is and who has access to it.  So far, we have nothing to go on” (Kidwell/Garcia, Miami Herald, Nov. 1).

A decades-old sample of anthrax at Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine was destroyed two weeks ago with a state trooper standing guard, according to the Associated Press.  The process, which took about two weeks, used steam pressure to destroy the bacteria (Associated Press, Nov. 1).

Witches, bin Laden, or Angry White Males?

Media organizations received threatening letters before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that were similar to recent anthrax-tainted letters sent to targets, such as NBC News, according to the New York Post.  The prior letters were mailed from Indianapolis, Indiana, according to the Post. They were addressed in block writing similar to that on anthrax-tainted letters mailed to NBC News, the New York Post and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), the Post reported.  Each line clearly sloped downward to the right and the handwriting resembled that on the tainted letters.

The similarities between the pre-Sept. 11 letters and the recent tainted letters could mean the anthrax incidents were the result of a domestic source rather than a foreign terrorist such as Osama bin Laden.  A number of groups were being investigated, according to the Post, including members of a pagan cult (Murray Weiss, New York Post, Nov. 1).

There are still no clear leads as to who is responsible, law enforcement officials said.  Possibilities range from bin Laden to domestic terror groups to even a lone individual.  “Everything is still on the table,” said a senior law enforcement official.  “We need a break, we need to get lucky.”

Signs point to either bin Laden’s al-Qaeda organization, domestic sympathizers, or to an angry white male with a microbiology degree and engineering skills, an official said (ABC News.com/Yahoo.com, Oct. 31).

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Anthrax: Vaccine is on the Way

BioPort Corp., the sole U.S. maker of anthrax vaccine, could resume production as early as Nov. 22, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said this week. By then, the company should have completed a renovation and expansion project.

The Food and Drug Administration effectively shut the plant down in 1998, citing concerns about the quality and sterility of the vaccine (see GSN, Oct. 26). Once BioPort resumes production, FDA officials can reinspect the plant and test samples of a stockpile of 5 million doses of quarantined vaccine.

The U.S. military, which has immunized some of its personnel with stocks of previously manufactured vaccine, hopes to vaccinate 2.4 million personnel, the Washington Post reported. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could immediately receive vaccine for 800 to 1000 epidemiological investigators and researchers. Additionally, health officials are considering vaccinating a substantial number of people in high-risk occupations, such as postal workers, law enforcement officers, and firefighters (David Brown, Washington Post, Nov. 1).

Make Government Bigger

The U.S. federal government should oversee and finance the research and production of vaccines against germs that could be used as bioweapons, said a panel of congressional advisors.

“We’ve suggested that the private sector can no longer respond to the requirements of producing vaccines for diseases that may only emerge if they are intentionally perpetrated,” said Michael Wermuth of Rand. “The private sector can’t see any profit motive in doing this over the long term” (Scott Lindlaw, Associated Press/Real Cities, Nov. 1).

Cipro Gets Around

The governments of France and the United Kingdom signed agreements this week with German drug maker Bayer to buy the anthrax antibiotic Cipro, a company spokesman said today. The spokesman declined to provide details of the agreement (Agence France Presse, Nov. 1).

In the United States, government health officials are treating tens of thousands of people with Cipro. Additionally, in the third week of October private pharmacists sold nearly 63,000 more prescriptions for Cipro than in the same week last year, according to a pharmaceutical tracking company (Jeff Donn, Associated Press/ Real Cities, Nov. 1).

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BWC: Europeans Say They Will Work Together with U.S.

Two veteran European diplomats confirmed today that their governments were ready to work with the approach to enforcing the Biological Weapons Convention proposed by the United States, the New York Times reported (see GSN, Oct. 29). Both representatives, however, added that they still hoped the United States would eventually endorse some of the more sweeping measures that it rejected earlier this year.

“We are ready and willing to work with the Americans to bridge the gaps,” one of the diplomats said. “But we hope this is only a first step and that it opens the door to more sweeping multilateral measures.”

In July, the Bush administration blocked a protocol that would have allowed international inspectors to tour potential bioweapons manufacturing sites. Bush administration officials proposed new measures to European officials last week (see GSN, Oct. 23) and to Canadians this week (see GSN, Oct. 29).

Provisions that the United States is proposing reportedly include requiring signatories to “accept international expert inspectors” on the order of the U.N. secretary general, and creating procedures for “international investigations of suspicious disease outbreaks” or alleged treaty violations. The provisions, however, fall short of mandatory inspections of dual-use facilities. Administration officials were expected to formally announce the new plan soon.

“We strongly believe in the importance of the Biological Weapons Convention and the need to strengthen it,” a senior administration official said. “But the anthrax attacks against Americans show that a treaty is not the be-all and end-all to stopping the spread of biological weapons or preventing and dealing with germ attacks” (Judith Miller, New York Times, Nov. 1).

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Anthrax:  More Public Health Funding Needed, Says Surgeon General

The United States needs to spend billions to upgrade its public health system to better combat bioterrorism, Surgeon General David Satcher said Monday. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control should increase its annual budget by ‘a few billion” dollars, said Satcher, to hire trained epidemiologists and advisors nationwide.  State and local public health systems also need better communication networks and improved laboratory facilities to test suspected bioterrorism agents, said Satcher. 

“If there’s anything these bioterrorism attacks have taught us, it’s that the best defense is a strong public health infrastructure,” Satcher said.  “The CDC has funded some good initiatives, but we need more than we have.”  

Federal officials have had a difficult time finding and treating people exposed to anthrax, Satcher said.  “The attacks have been different than we anticipated,” he said.  “We hope we’re more ready now than we were.  But until an attack comes, we can’t be fully ready.  We’re all learning together” (Gavin McCormick, Associated Press, Oct. 30).

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Russia: Duma Economizes Destruction Process for Chemical Weapons

Russia could halve the cost of its program to destroy chemical weapons by transporting them to three central destruction facilities instead of building such facilities at each of the country’s seven arsenals under Duma action yesterday. The Duma voted 342-0 to approve legislation to allow chemical weapons to be transported across regions, lowering the destruction costs from $7 billion to $3.5 billion.

Even if the measure is endorsed by the upper house of Parliament, however, it could face obstacles since it requires that local and regional leaders approve any transports through their areas.

Russia has the world’s largest arsenal of chemical weapons—40,000 metric tons. The nation ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997, but it has said that it does not have the funds to destroy its arsenal. It has asked to extend the destruction deadline (see GSN, Sept. 21) from 2007 to 2012 (Associated Press, Oct. 31).

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ABM Treaty: Agreement Closer, U.S. Officials Hint

The United States and Russia are moving closer to agreement on the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and strategic nuclear reductions (see GSN, Oct. 30), the Washington Post reported today.  If agreed, the deal would allow the United States to conduct missile defense tests that might otherwise violate the treaty (see GSN, Oct. 31).  An agreement could be announced when U.S. and Russian Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin meet later this month in Washington and Crawford, Texas.

“Testing will go on, but there will be no announcement of a U.S. withdrawal from the ABM Treaty,” said a U.S. official.  “That would be associated with a decision to deploy a [national missile defense] system which will come later.”

The agreement made sense for now, said a senior U.S. official, who noted that no missile defense architecture exists today and therefore a decision on actually deploying a missile defense system remains years away.

Under the pending deal, the United States would propose to Russia that the two nations reduce the number of strategic nuclear warheads to between 1,750 and 2,250 each (see GSN story, today).

Internal Arguments

Advisers within the Bush administration who had different perspectives on the treaty and missile defense were still debating the form and details of the agreement, according to the Post. 

One contingent, led by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, sought to scrap the ABM Treaty quickly and was quick to highlight how the treaty was constraining U.S. missile defense testing and development programs, the Post said.

Another contingent, including National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, sought to find compromise with Russia.  This group believes that Russia was not threatened by U.S. testing, according to the Post.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell also suggested that Russia might be willing to accept more U.S. testing under the existing treaty provisions (see GSN, Oct. 23) (Pincus/Sipress, Washington Post, Nov. 1).

Ivanov Sees Powell Today

Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov was scheduled to meet with Powell today in Washington for “synchronizing the clocks” of the pending summit, Ivanov said yesterday.  The two would be drafting a number of joint statements for the presidents to sign, ITAR-Tass reported (ITAR-Tass, Nov. 1).

Ivanov said Russia would welcome a new arrangement on nuclear weapons and missile defenses.  “We are working in such a way as to take into consideration the interests of security of both sides and the interests of international stability in general,” Ivanov said upon arriving in Washington (Joseph Boris, United Press International, Nov. 1).

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