U.S. Response I: House Prepares Major Bioterrorism Bill

By David Ruppe

Global Security Newswire

U.S. Representatives Billy Tauzin (R-La.) and John Dingell (D-Mich.) are planning to introduce a major bioterrorism bill that could be considered by the U.S. House of Representatives as soon this week.  A press conference to announce the bill was scheduled for today.

The bipartisan Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Response Act of 2001, said to be the product of weeks of intense negotiations, is intended to strengthen U.S. public infrastructure for responding to a biological weapons attack at the federal, state and local levels.

“This sweeping package includes everything from beefed-up food safety regulations (see GSN, Dec. 6) to tightened controls on deadly biological agents,” said House Commerce Committee Chairman Tauzin, announcing a bipartisan agreement on the bill last week.

The bill specifically authorizes more than $1 billion in grants to state and local governments and hundreds of millions to federal agencies (see GSN, Dec. 7).

Senate Bill Passed Last Week

The bioterrorism bill resembles a Senate appropriations measure passed last week as part of the fiscal 2002 defense appropriations bill, though many of the funding levels differ significantly.

The Senate bill, which is expected to go to a House-Senate Conference Committee in the next two weeks, similarly provides $1 billion for national health care infrastructure and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention improvements. Notably, it provides significantly less funding to upgrade CDC research capabilities and to improve the nation's pharmaceutical stockpile, while allowing millions of dollars more to improve FDA and USDA food inspections.

The Tauzin-Dingle bill ultimately could prove somewhat irrelevant, says Bill Burton, spokesman for Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) who helped design the bill as chairman of the Senate Health Appropriations Subcommittee.

“The authorization process right now is a helpful guide, but it’s not exactly a necessary part of the process right now. We’re just at the point where we need to appropriate the funds and make it happen.”

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U.S. Response II: Weldon Urges Domestic Responders to Get Political

By David Ruppe

Global Security Newswire

U.S. local and state responders to terrorist attacks with weapons of mass destruction need to assert themselves more intensely in the nation’s political process, U.S. Representative Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), said yesterday.

“What you have to now do is respectfully demand that government respond, that we give you the tools and resources that you may need to deal with the threats that you may face in your states, counties, cities and towns,” he told some 1,600 firefighters, emergency medical personnel and other responders from around the country.  They were gathered for a chemical emergency responder conference in Baltimore run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“We’ve got a lot of pressures in Washington, in Baltimore, Harrisburg, and Trenton, all the other state capitals. You have to make the process work for you,” he said.

Weldon urged the responders to establish personal contact with respective congressional staffers handling homeland defense issues, informing them about what is needed. He advocated greater local responder access to applicable new technologies developed for the military and increased radio frequency spectrum space to encourage better communication after an incident.

He also compared some $30 million in federal dollars last year spent on domestic responders to $317 billion in military spending this year and $4 billion spent on law enforcement, both of which he supported.

“To protect America, it’s going to cost money,” said Weldon, who is himself a former firefighter and fire chief.

The USA Patriot Act, signed into law in October, appropriated $25 million each year through 2007 for responder equipment and training (see GSN, Oct. 26) and the House version of the fiscal 2002 defense appropriations bill has an increase in funding of $1 billion for a grant program for firefighters and other first responders.

“The money should not go to federal agencies to build bigger bureaucracies, because the first responder on any incident in America … is not going to be [the Federal Emergency Management Agency], the National Guard, … EPA,” Weldon said.  “The first responder is always going to be the fireman, [the emergency medical technician], the law enforcement person on that first-in vehicle.

“If you don’t hold [lawmakers] accountable, then don’t expect them to respond,” he said.

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International Response:  U.S. and Allies Search Ships

Forces on U.S., British, Australian, German and French ships have started searching every merchant ship leaving Pakistan as well as ships in some other waters in a hunt for materials that terrorists could smuggle to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, according to the Singapore Business Times.  The countries have also searched ships in a hunt for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders.

In addition, the U.S. Navy has been searching for 23 merchant vessels that U.S. and Norwegian intelligence agencies have identified as owned or controlled by al-Qaeda (Donald Urquhart, Singapore Business Times, Dec. 10).

Thirty to 40 seacraft, ranging from ships to small boats, are challenged every day, according to the Washington Post.   Many fewer are searched and so far none has been detained, according to the Post.

Last Thursday, for example, U.S. forces stopped and boarded a large container ship they suspected of carrying senior al-Qaeda leaders.   U.S. Marines and Navy special forces searched dozens of containers, but “didn’t find anything,” said a Navy official (Vogel/Vick, Washington Post, Dec. 11).

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U.S. Response:  Dual-Use Exports to be Monitored

The U.S. Customs Service yesterday announced a new plan in which businesses are to monitor export orders for items that could be used by terrorists.

The Customs Service has created a “shopping list for terrorist organizations” of 100 items that could be used to develop weapons of mass destruction, said Customs Service Commissioner Robert Bonner.  Items on the list include the chemical thiodiglycol, which can be used both for making dyes and mustard gas, and krytrons, which are small glass bulbs that have uses in photocopiers as well as nuclear warhead triggers, Bonner said (see GSN, Nov. 27).

Businesses should be cautious of first-time customers, customers offering large amounts of cash or prospective buyers willing to pay high above market prices for sensitive materials, Bonner said. 

The Customs Service, along with the State and Commerce departments, will also work to strengthen enforcement of export laws, Bonner said.  “It will take a vigorous effort from everyone, including the government and private sector, to shield America from being targeted by its own technology,” he said (Bill Miller, Washington Post, Dec. 11).

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U.S.-Russia:  Nuclear Reduction Agreement Developing

The United States and Russia are close to working out and formalizing an agreement to reduce strategic nuclear weapons (see GSN, Dec. 10), officials said yesterday after a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in Moscow.   Speaking to reporters after their meeting, Powell and Ivanov said they hoped to have an agreement ready for signature when Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin meet next summer in Russia on a still-undetermined date.  Bush and Putin announced major reductions to U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear forces when they met last month in the United States (see GSN, Nov. 14).

What Form of Agreement?

The two sides appear to have agreed to sign a treaty-like agreement. Ivanov reaffirmed Russia’s desire for a “relevant legal formalization of this arrangement,” and Powell agreed.

“Both of us recognize the need for a codification of the new levels we are going to and we will be discussing the form that that might take.  It might be in the form of a treaty, or some other way of codifying it,” Powell said.

“The main thing is that there is an understanding expressed by both sides that these reductions need to be embodied in some form of treaty formalization.  During the negotiations, we will decide what form it will take,” Ivanov said.

What Kind of Verification Measures?

Powell expressed a preference for a system that “preserves the verification and transparency procedures that exist in current agreements,” and Ivanov called for “adequate control and transparency” (U.S. State Department release, Dec. 10).

How Low Will Russia Go?

At the U.S. summit last month, Putin said Russia would “respond in kind” to the Bush announcement that the United States would reduce to 1,700 to 2,200 deployed strategic nuclear warheads in the next 10 years.  Although some U.S. officials were expecting to hear a specific reciprocal Russian offer during Powell’s visit, “the Russians are still not giving a firm figure,” a U.S. official said.

Nevertheless, “we’ve got an idea, we’re close” to agreement, said the official (CNN.com, Dec. 10).

“A New Approach to Arms Control”

Any new agreement would differ from those in the past because it would be based on exchanging information and access instead of matching numbers of weapons to guarantee mutual deterrence, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“Full transparency can be a substitute for the voluminous arms control agreements that we’ve had in the past,” said a senior State Department official. 

“This introduces a new approach to arms control,” the official said.  “It’s an approach that says we don’t have to have exactly the same number or have an agreement based on the ability of each one to kill the other” (Robin Wright, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 11).

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United States:  Officials Debate Purchasing New B-2s

A proposal from Northrop Grumman to build several new B-2 stealth bombers has reignited the debate among U.S. Defense Department officials over whether to purchase new bombers, officials said yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 18).

The Air Force refused the proposal—under which Northrop Grumman would reopen several plants in California and build 40 bombers over the next 10 years for $30 billion—when the company offered it last year, the New York Times reported.  B-2 proponents raised the issue again this year because Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is planning to submit the fiscal 2003 Defense Department budget by early January.  Rumsfeld has said he wants to use the budget to resolve disputes over new weapon programs.

Rumsfeld has been an advocate for new B-2s in the past, according to the Times.  In 1995, he and several other former defense secretaries signed a letter pressing the Clinton administration to buy more of the bombers.  Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz has also been an advocate of the B-2 and might be willing to purchase more if a strong argument can be made, according to sources involved in the debate.

B-2 advocates point to a need for more long-range aircraft demonstrated by the lack of short-range fighter airbases in Central Asia during the war in Afghanistan.

“Air Force strike fighters played a small role in the Afghan war,” said one B-2 advocate.  “Yet the Air Force is scheduled to buy 2,200 short-range tactical aircraft in the coming decades, and zero bombers.  For some of us, their portfolio seems unbalanced.”

Air Force Opposition 

The Air Force, however, opposes the plan to purchase additional B-2 bombers.  One main reason is that allocating money for new B-2s would draw funds away from other weapons programs, including the high-priority F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jet, according to the Times.  Air Force Secretary James Roche, a former Northrop executive, has expressed opposition to the proposal (see GSN, Oct. 25).

New upgrades to existing B-52 and B-1 bombers, which allow forces to drop guided munitions, have reduced the need for more B-2s, according to senior Air Force officers.  “I think we’ve proven that we’ve got not only the right airplanes but pretty much the right mix,” said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper (Dao/Schmitt, New York Times, Dec. 11).

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North Korea:  KEDO Project Cost Could Double

The overall cost of building two light-water reactors in North Korea will grow to double the original estimated cost of $4.6 billion, former Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization General Counsel Mitchell Reiss said yesterday.

There already is a disparity of 8 percent between KEDO’s payable and receivable accounts from its member countries, Reiss said.  Additionally, North Korea has asked for compensation due to delays in the project (see GSN, Dec. 4).

“KEDO was a challenge from the beginning, and it’s easy to focus just on the problems, but there have also been a lot of achievements,” Reiss said (Seo Soo-min, Korea Times, Dec. 12).

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Anthrax:  Tests Show Potency of Daschle Letter Spores

Federal scientists discovered that they could aerosolize already-settled anthrax spores in the offices of U.S. Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) simply by moving about the office.  The finding reaffirms the suspicions that the anthrax in the letter received by Daschle was highly refined and professionally produced, according to the New York Times.  Meanwhile, investigators are continuing to track down who is responsible for the anthrax incidents, according to reports.

Anthrax spores floated back up into the air when researchers in Daschle’s office simulated normal office activity a month after their initial release, according to scientists.  The tests, conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Public Health Service, countered earlier claims by the U.S. military that once spores landed on a surface, they would rarely become airborne again.

The test results were announced yesterday during a meeting conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on research needs for combating bioterrorism.  Participants discussed new testing and cleanup measures, including what liquid disinfectants are most effective, new environmental sampling techniques and methods for determining when a decontaminated building is safe, EPA official Dorothy Canter said.  (Lawrence Altman, New York Times, Dec. 10).

More than 200 scientists and experts attended yesterday’s CDC meeting.  Participants came from the CDC, the military, universities and research facilities.  “We are very mindful this is not over,” said Julie Gerberding, deputy director of the National Center for Infectious Diseases.  “If we thought it was over, there would perhaps be less need for a meeting like this” (M.A.J. McKenna, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dec. 11).

“Amerithrax” Investigation Continues

More than 700 FBI agents plus agents from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, state and local police and others are working on the anthrax investigation, which is code-named “Amerithrax,” the Wall Street Journal reported today.

The investigation is proceeding on three theories, the Journal reported.  One theory is that the person responsible is acting alone like the Unabomber.  The second is that a domestic terrorist group is responsible, and the third is that a foreign or state-sponsored terrorist group is responsible.

One source of clues for investigators are the four tainted letters sent to Senator Daschle, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw and the New York Post.  One clue found in the Post letter was that the handwritten note was on paper of a size that is uncommon in this country, an FBI official said.  Few other clues have been found in the three early letters, law-enforcement officials said.

The handwriting on the envelopes and enclosed notes (see GSN, Nov. 1) has been run through the Secret Service’s Forensic Information System for Handwriting (FISH), according to the Journal.  The Secret Service scanned the handwriting into a system that includes digital images of thousands of threats sent to presidents and officials.  The FISH system searched for similar handwriting and syntax between the sample and the database, but there were no matches, the Journal reported.

The U.S. Capitol Police is also comparing the anthrax letters, by hand, with its file of threatening letters sent to members of Congress, said Capt. David Callaway, head of the Capitol Police’s investigation division.

Leahy Letter Could Provide New Leads

Testing on anthrax spores taken from the recently decontaminated Leahy letter will focus on three areas, according to a member of the FBI group that will conduct the tests (see GSN, Dec. 6).  One area consists of the biological traits of the spores, such as their genetic makeup.  The second consists of the chemical components of the powder, such as what drying agents were used, and the third consists of the physical properties of the powder.

The CDC has a process that could detect other biological agents in the anthrax powder, said Mitchell Cohen, director of the CDC’s bacterial and mycotic diseases division.  The process could help determine the origin of the anthrax, especially if a microbe was found in the powder that only came from a specific part of the world, Cohen said.

Military Connection

FBI officials said any U.S. military connection to the anthrax incidents was just one path of inquiry they are investigating (see GSN, Dec. 10).  The FBI issued a subpoena for a list of everyone who worked at the U.S. Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMIID) at Fort Detrick, Md., according to a USAMIID senior employee.

“There are people who left here under less-than-the-best circumstances who are being investigated—where did they go and what are they doing?” the employee said.

Other military research facilities also had access to anthrax, according to the USAMIID employee.  He noted the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah and described it as a bleak and isolated place.  “They work with anthrax there, and they have just one hell of a turnover.  It’s 17 miles of just open desert from the main gate to the main lab,” the USAMIID employee said.  Working in such an environment could cause anger among employees, according to the Journal.  “It’s like going to a penitentiary,” he said (Wall Street Journal, Dec. 11).

Backlog of Mail Returning to Congress

At an irradiation plant in Lima, Ohio, workers are sanitizing congressional mail in 147 trucks before the mail heads back to Washington over the next few weeks, according to the Los Angeles Times.  Another 507 bags of mail taken by the FBI as possible evidence have tested negative for anthrax and are ready to be sanitized.

About 65 bags of mail taken by the FBI at the onset of the anthrax incidents tested positive for anthrax, the Times reported.  Members of Congress debated what to do with this mail.  House Administration Chairman Bob Ney (R-Ohio) wants it destroyed. “Why truck it across state lines?” asked Ney’s communications director Jim Forbes.

“I want to see each letter,” said Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).  “It’s very time consuming, but it’s an important part of the job” (Johanna Neuman, Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune, Dec. 10).

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United States:  Aberdeen to Build Mustard Gas Storage

Officials at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland plan to spend $9 million to build reinforced “igloos” for storing mustard gas, officials said yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 2).

The corrugated-steel structures covered with earth will hold 1,815 canisters of gas that have been stored in an open yard at the facility since the end of World War II, according to the Associated Press.  Construction will take eight months, said Edgewood Chemical Activity Commander Maj. William Huber.

The igloos will be built in the same area where the gas is now, which means the canisters will only be moved “very, very short distances,” said Edgewood spokeswoman Kathy DeWeese.  Destruction of the gas is scheduled to begin in 2004 and is expected to finish in 2006, DeWeese said.

Surrounding residents were pleased with the new mustard gas storage plan, the AP reported.  “I think it’s an excellent idea,” said Glenda Bowling, vice president of a local watchdog group.  “It should have been done a long time ago.  We’ve had concerns all along about the way it’s currently stored” (Associated Press, Dec. 11).

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Radiological Weapons I:  FDA Revises Potassium Iodide Guidelines

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued new guidelines yesterday recommending the use of potassium iodide to reduce the risk of thyroid cancer from radiation exposure.  The FDA said potassium iodide’s benefits outweigh its risks.

The new recommendations, which are based on data taken from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident in the Ukraine, supersede guidelines issued in 1978 and 1982 that were based on data taken after the U.S. nuclear attacks on Japan. (FDA release, Dec. 10).

The new guidelines suggested that potassium iodide doses for children and infants should be lower than earlier recommendations (Federal Register, Dec. 11) and the FDA said potassium iodide would be more effective the sooner it is taken.  Preferably, it should be taken before exposure to radiation.

David Orloff, director of the FDA division of metabolic and endocrine drug products, said the report did not specifically recommend the drug should be stockpiled in communities closest to nuclear plants (see GSN, Nov. 29), but the need to take the drug before or soon after exposure to radiation implied it should be readily available to those at risk (Wald/Revkin, New York Times, Dec. 11).

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Radiological Weapons II: U.K. to Install Radiation Sensors at Ports

The United Kingdom plans to install devices that detect plutonium or enriched uranium to discover terrorists attempting to bring a radiological bomb—a conventional explosive laced with radioactive material—into the country, according to the London Sunday Times.

British authorities plan to install over a dozen detection units at several ports.  The units can be hand-held or attached to an object, such as a security barrier.  U.S. customs agents have been using such devices for years, the Times reported.

The decision to install the devices followed reports indicating that al-Qaeda operatives could try to explode a radiological bomb (see GSN, Dec. 4).  The CIA warned U.S. allies to watch for an al-Qaeda member who allegedly left Afghanistan after claiming to possess a canister of radioactive material, according to a U.S. report.  Meanwhile, Russian police arrested several people last week (see GSN, Dec. 10) attempting to sell uranium (David Leppard, London Sunday Times, Dec. 9).

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