U.S. Response I:  Senate Impasse Continues on Homeland Bill, Iraq Resolution

By Brody Mullins and Charlie Mitchell

CongressDaily

WASHINGTON — The bipartisan congressional leadership headed to the White House this morning to iron out the final language of a resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq, but Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) continues to consider waging a filibuster against the resolution if it gives U.S. President George W. Bush too much authority to wage war in the region.

According to Byrd’s spokesman, the Senate’s most senior Democrat wants to ensure that the Bush administration’s resolution does not trample on congressional authority over war making.  The spokesman said that Byrd would have “significant concerns ... if there is a resolution before the Senate that Senator Byrd believes would run counter to the separation of powers.”  The spokesman did not say Byrd would filibuster the resolution, although Byrd has previously hinted he might do so.

Anticipating a possible filibuster, Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) filed a cloture petition late Tuesday.  A Daschle spokeswoman said the move was intended to “get the train moving.”  She added that if senators tried to delay debate on Iraq, a cloture vote might be held Thursday.  Daschle and Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) both held out hope Tuesday afternoon that a path would be cleared quickly for a bipartisan resolution to come to the floor.

Congressional leaders hoped to begin debate on the issue today, with deliberations stretching into next week — scheduled to be Congress’ last on Capitol Hill before November’s elections.

Also Tuesday, both parties continued to wrestle over legislation to create a homeland security department.

After Senate Republicans rallied for the fifth time to defeat a Democratic cloture motion on the bill, senators on both sides of the aisle angled to blame one another for the delay in approving the popular legislation.  Governmental Affairs ranking member Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) said the bill is on “life support” because of Democratic intransigence on the personnel rules in the legislation.  Democrats countered that Republicans are responsible for the delay by blocking cloture.

Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) said the defeat of the fifth cloture petition was “truly an irresponsible act.”

Daschle told reporters the Senate would remain focused on the homeland security bill until it is completed, pledging to break off for other legislation such as an Iraq resolution only when agreement allows.

“I don’t want to displace homeland security,” Daschle said.  “If we can find an arrangement to interrupt [the homeland security debate], we’ll do it.”

Lott and top Senate Republicans warned Tuesday that the homeland security bill was on the verge of dying, but Daschle threatened to keep the Senate in session through next month’s elections to get the measure enacted.

Daschle said the Senate’s shift to the Justice Department reauthorization bill Tuesday afternoon was only a “temporary interruption” and warned, “We’re going to stay on the [homeland] bill.  We’re going to finish it.”  Daschle’s spokeswoman said later that no decision had been made about keeping the Senate in session through November, saying of the target date for adjournment, “We’re hoping next week and we’re thinking it might be the week after.”

Republicans said a breakthrough must take place today on homeland security or, in Lott’s words, “it’s going to be hopeless.”

Daschle also said renewing budget enforcement mechanisms was one of “two or three high priorities” he would try to deal with in the coming weeks.

Leading House supporters of providing Bush with authorization to use military force against Iraq emerged from a White House meeting Tuesday confident that a deal was at hand that would attract the support of most GOP leaders and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.).

Some among the bipartisan group of lawmakers, who were led by House Chief Deputy Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Representative Howard Berman (D-Calif.), said the agreed-to language could be announced as early as today.  Blunt predicted committee action and a floor vote next week.

One GOP official suggested Tuesday that Daschle remains a dissenting voice, while Lott, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) and Gephardt are in basic agreement over the text of the resolution.

“There’s an increasing possibility that three of the four leaders are on the same page,” the GOP official said.

Back to top

U.S. Response II:  Exercise to Simulate Threat to Energy Plant

A terrorism exercise designed to respond to a simulated threat on a U.S. energy plant is set to take place Oct. 17-18 with a slate of current and former public officials acting as decision makers (see GSN, Sept. 30).

Dubbed Silent Vector, the exercise is to feature former Senator Sam Nunn playing the role of the president, current New Jersey Governor James McGreevy in his present role and former Defense Secretary William Cohen, former CIA Director James Woolsey, former FBI Director William Sessions and former Virginia Governor James Gilmore acting as other government leaders.

The exercise, which is being organized by two nongovernmental security research organizations — the ANSER Institute for Homeland Security and the Center for Strategic and International Studies — follows on the heels of Dark Winter, a biological terrorism exercise that revealed gaps last year in the country’s preparedness for a biological attack (see GSN, Nov. 30, 2001; Chuck McCutcheon, Newhouse News Service, Oct. 1).

[EDITOR’S NOTE:  Sam Nunn is co-chairman and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by National Journal Group.]

Back to top

Iraq I:  Technical Talks End as Security Council Continues Deliberations

By Jim Wurst
Global Security Newswire

UNITED NATIONS — Talks between the United Nations and Iraq ended yesterday in Vienna with agreement on technical matters relating to the return of weapons inspectors, as more details emerged about the proposed U.S. resolution that would set new conditions for the inspections (see GSN, Oct. 1).

According to Hans Blix, head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, “There is a readiness [on the part of Iraq] to accept the inspections that did not exist before.”

“On the question of access, it was clarified that all sites are subject to immediate, unconditional and unrestricted access,” he said.  “However, the Memorandum of Understanding of 1998 establishes special procedures for access to eight presidential sites.”  That memorandum, negotiated by the United Nations and Iraq, requires UNMOVIC to provide advance notice of its intention to inspect any of eight specific sites.

The Iraqi delegation also turned over to Blix four CD-ROMs containing the backlog of monitoring declarations for sites and items that have dual-use capabilities — both civilian and military applications — covering June 1998 to July 2002.  Blix said the CDs “will be very important in the months to come for our analytical staff to see what has changed in various sites and items and they will be also important for deciding where we will go and what we will inspect.”

Blix will brief the Security Council tomorrow on the talks.

“We are happy to reach this agreement and we expect the advance party to arrive in Baghdad in about two weeks and we expect no difficulty regarding that,” said General Amir al-Sadi, head of the Iraqi delegation.

The Financial Times and other media today published the draft Security Council resolution that the United States and United Kingdom have presented to Russia, France and China, the other three permanent members of the council.  The draft text lays down new rules for inspections, including negating the 1998 memorandum of understanding, granting inspectors the right to declare no-fly and no-drive zones in areas where they are working and giving inspectors the right to bring Iraqi citizens out of the country for interviews.  Military action would be automatically authorized if Iraq is found to make “false statements or omissions” in the reports of its weapons of mass destruction.

Despite the publication of the text, the 10 elected members of the council have not been given the draft and a U.S. official said there were no immediate plans for formally releasing it.  This morning, Mexican Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser said, “We will be very open to discuss a new resolution if the United States presents a text we can discuss.  But meanwhile, we do not have another resolution.”

“Mexico would like to see inspections,” as soon as possible, he said.  “If there is another set of rules for inspections because it is agreed in the council, we are open to that, too.  But meanwhile, we want these inspections to take place.”

Norwegian Ambassador Ole Peter Kolby said this morning, “I believe Blix will not send the inspectors back in before the Security Council has said OK to that.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be a resolution, but the inspectors need now to have the backing of the council.”  He said he was not concerned that the 10 have not received the draft.  “I think it’s most important that the Americans and the British try to work things out with the other permanent members,” Kolby said.

U.S. Reaction

A few hours after the Vienna meeting concluded yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington will continue to push for a new Security Council resolution.  The inspectors “are deserving of the strongest possible authority and the ability to do their job and to do it right.  That will only come from a new resolution that keeps the pressure up on Iraq,” he said.

Powell said the United States opposes the return of inspectors without a new resolution.  “UNMOVIC cannot simply go back in under the former terms of reference,” he said.  “There are still issues in debate.  So we don’t want to get into a negotiating situation with the Iraqis under the old terms.  That’s why we need a new resolution with clear terms, tough terms, high standards.”

He added, “There’s no magic calendar on when they should go in.”

Last month, Blix gave the Security Council a schedule based on the requirements in Resolution 1284.  According to this plan, an UNMOVIC advance team should be in Iraq by Oct. 15.  The resolution also calls on UNMOVIC and the International Atomic Energy Agency “not later than 60 days after they have both started work in Iraq” to submit to the council “a work program for the discharge of their mandates.”

Powell said Blix’s talks in Vienna “cleared out quite a bit of the underbrush that existed with the old resolutions and might give us something to work with on a new resolution,” but he added,  “Not one inspector has set foot in Iraq and not one thing has changed since 1998,” when inspectors left Iraq.

Concerning the negotiations with China, France and Russia, Powell said, “We have made some progress .… Everyone understands this is not something we can turn away from.”

Details of the U.S. Draft

The draft resolution recalls that earlier resolutions “authorized member states to use all necessary means to uphold and implement” council decisions.  The text would have the council deplore “the fact that Iraq has never provided an accurate, full, final, and complete disclosure … of all aspects of its programs to develop weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles” and deplores “further that Iraq repeatedly refused to allow access to sites designated by” weapons inspectors.

The draft would declare that “Iraq is still, and has been for a number of years, in material breach of its obligations under relevant [council] resolutions,” and as a first step in fulfilling its obligations, “Iraq shall provide to the Security Council prior to the beginning of inspections and no later than 30 days from the date of this resolution an acceptance of its programs to develop chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles … as well as all other chemical, biological and nuclear weapons production or material.”

Citing “the prolonged interruption by Iraq of the presence of UNMOVIC and IAEA,” the draft would impose new conditions on Iraq including the “unrestricted rights of entry into and out of Iraq, the right to free, unrestricted and immediate movement to and from inspection sites, and the right to inspect any sites and buildings, including unrestricted access to presidential sites notwithstanding the provisions of resolution 1154,” the resolution that endorsed the memorandum of understanding.

The draft also says inspectors “shall have the right to the names of all personnel associated with Iraq’s chemical, biological, nuclear and ballistic missile programs and the associated research, development and production facilities” and “immediate, unimpeded, unrestricted, and private access to all officials and other persons whom UNMOVIC or IAEA wish to interview [and] may at their discretion conduct interview inside or outside Iraq.”  The inspectors also “shall have the right to declare for the purposes of this resolution no-fly/no-drive zones, exclusion zones, and/or ground and air transit corridors.”  In addition, “Any permanent member of the Security Council may request to be represented on any inspection team with the same rights and protections accorded other members of the team.”

The triggering mechanism for military action is the paragraph that “decides the false statements or omissions in the declaration submitted by Iraq to the [Security] Council and failure by Iraq at any time to comply and cooperate fully in accordance with the provisions laid out in this resolution, shall constitute a further material breach of Iraq’s obligations, and that such breach authorizes member states to use all necessary means to restore international peace and security in the area.”

Asked about access to presidential palaces, al-Sadi said, “Quite honestly, I don’t understand why it is so critical.  Anyway, it was not a subject on the agenda.”  He added, “It is regulated by a memorandum of understanding and it is also referred to in the Security Council resolutions and that remains valid.”

Back to top

U.S. Response:  Officials Say U.S. Forces Not Ready for WMD Attack

U.S. troops are vulnerable to a chemical or biological attack because of poor training and a lack of effective equipment, officials told a hearing of the House Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans Affairs and International Relations yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 30).

Despite increased efforts and funding “serious problems still persist,” an official from the General Accounting Office said (Ron Martz, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Oct. 2).

A GAO report submitted to the subcommittee also highlighted problems that the Defense Department faces in the event of a chemical or biological war.  In particular, the GAO said the Pentagon could not account for up to 250,000 defective chemical protection suits and officials feared that the some of those suits could end up in the hands of deployed U.S. forces.

The report faulted the military’s inventory system, in which some unit commanders kept inventories of the suits with computer spreadsheets, some with chalkboards and some not at all.  George Allen, head of the Defense Logistics Agency, told Congress he could not guarantee that all front-line units would have working protective suites.

Representative Chris Shays (R-Conn.) accused the Pentagon of playing “Russian roulette” with soldiers in the field (John Hendren, Los Angeles Times, Oct. 2).

Pentagon Inspector General Joseph Schmitz, however, testified that front-line units were well equipped and prepared to fight.

Schmitz praised the U.S. Navy and the Central Command on their preparation for chemical and biological attacks and said any problems that his office has identified in front-line units can be corrected (Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg.com, Oct. 1).

Back to top

Iraq II:  Pentagon Prepares for Chemical, Biological Weapons Attack

The U.S. Defense Department recently sent five biological weapons detection systems, known as “Portal Shields,” to bases in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, the Wall Street Journal reported today.  As part of an overall effort to defend against a possible biological weapons attack from Iraq, the Pentagon has also extended tours of chemical and biological reserve units by one year and ordered 35,000 gallons of a recently developed decontamination foam (see GSN, Sept. 26; Jaffe/Robbins, Wall Street Journal, Oct. 2).

Coalition Holds WMD Response Exercise

Meanwhile, U.S., German and Czech troops are holding a two-day exercise in Kuwait to prepare for a biological or chemical weapons attack, the U.S. Embassy said Tuesday.

The military personnel, all of whom are stationed in Kuwait, are preparing to support that country’s response to a potential attack from Iraq.  A unit of German vehicles is stationed in the country to detect biological, chemical and nuclear materials (see GSN, Feb. 19).  There are 10,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in Kuwait and 250 Czech troops who are trained in dealing with weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, April 30).

“If called upon, coalition forces are well prepared to help Kuwait deal with the effects of a chemical or biological incident,” U.S. Ambassador Richard Jones said.

The emirate’s Interior Ministry plans to hold separate exercises later this week (see GSN, Sept. 27; Agence France-Presse, Oct. 2).

Back to top

North Korea:  U.S. Envoy Arrives in Seoul

A U.S. delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly arrived today in Seoul to meet with South Korean officials before a three-day visit to North Korea scheduled to begin tomorrow (see GSN, Sept. 27).

Kelly’s visit to North Korea is a first step by the United States to determine how serious Pyongyang is about restarting a dialogue and resolving differences, officials and analysts said.  Recent North Korean gestures such as a summit with Japan have helped lead to Kelly’s visit, the first by a U.S. official since 1999 (see GSN, Sept. 18).

It is unknown whether Kelly will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il or with other North Korean officials, U.S. and South Korean officials said.  Kelly is scheduled to meet with South Korean officials Saturday and with Japanese officials Sunday before returning to Washington.

“We hope special envoy Kelly’s visit to North Korea will serve as a launching pad for improving ties between the North and the United States,” said Park Sun-sook, spokeswoman for South Korean President Kim Dae Jung.  “We also hope the visit will produce best results to help bring about peace and stability to the Korean Peninsula” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo.com, Oct. 2).

Back to top

Cuba:  Havana Moves to Ratify Nuclear Treaties

By Greg Webb
Global Security Newswire

Cuba yesterday confirmed its intention to ratify two major nuclear arms treaties, the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Treaty of Tlatelolco, the pact banning nuclear weapons from all of Latin America.

“Cuba has already initiated the necessary national domestic procedures to become a state party of both treaties in the shortest possible time frame,” Cuban Ambassador Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla told the U.N. General Assembly’s First Committee on disarmament and international security.

NPT

“Our country has decided to become a state party to the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, as a signal of the clear political will of the Cuban government and its commitment to an effective disarmament process that ensures world peace,” Parrilla said.

His speech reinforced a Cuban statement delivered in September to the General Assembly that said Cuba would “adhere” to the NPT.

Parrilla said, “Cuba intends to actively join the preparatory process of the coming NPT Review Conference and work together with other state parties that share our concerns on the limitations of the treaty and the lack of fulfillment of obligations by the nuclear states.”

Treaty of Tlatelolco

“Cuba will also ratify” the treaty making Latin America and Caribbean a nuclear weapon-free zone, Parrilla said.  Of 33 eligible states, Cuba is the sole state that has not yet ratified the treaty.

The treaty was opened for signature in 1967, but nuclear-capable states did not join the pact until much later.  Rivals Argentina and Brazil joined in 1994 soon after reaching a bilateral nuclear inspections agreement.  Cuba signed the treaty in 1995.

Back to top

International Response:  Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone Likely to Receive Limited Support

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

Of the five declared nuclear-weapons states, China is the only one likely to participate in a treaty establishing a nuclear weapon-free zone in Central Asia, according to report released yesterday by Scott Parrish, a senior research associate at the Monterey Institute of International Studies (see GSN, Oct. 1).

The five Central Asian states — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — appear ready to sign the treaty at a ceremony at a former Soviet nuclear test site in Kazakhstan during a visit to the region by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan in mid-October, the report said.

The treaty contains a protocol that declared nuclear states are invited to sign, stating that they agree to respect the zone and to refrain from using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against zone members.  China, which has openly supported creating the zone, appears to be the nuclear-weapons state most likely to sign the protocol, according to the report.

The United States has not openly supported creating the zone, preferring to wait until the final treaty was completed, the report said.  Washington will probably have reservations about several measures in the treaty, including transit issues, negative security assurances and possible expansion of the zone, according to the report.  Such reservations might prompt the United States to refuse to sign the treaty’s protocol.

The United Kingdom and France will probably base their support of the treaty’s protocol largely on the U.S. position.  Russia has previously expressed concerns over creating the zone and might use its influence among Central Asian states to try to modify the treaty or block its signature, the report said.

The nuclear-weapons states have rejected protocols to past nuclear weapon-free zone treaties for several reasons.  For example, no nuclear-weapons state has signed the protocol to the Bangkok Treaty to create a Southeast Asian nuclear weapon-free zone, saying it might be interpreted to interfere with sea-based activities, the report said.

Stumbling Blocks

The idea to create the Central Asian treaty, which establishes the first nuclear weapon-free zone located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere, originated in 1997 when the five countries in the region issued a declaration calling for the zone’s creation.  Throughout the treaty’s development, two main issues arose to hinder negotiations:  how the treaty would treat the possible transit of nuclear weapons through the zone and the relationship of the treaty to overlapping international agreements.

Russia wanted to continue to be allowed to deploy nuclear weapons in the area, according to the report.  Kazakhstan, which has maintained close relations with Russia, said that each state should be allowed to resolve the issue independently.  Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, which had further distanced themselves from Russia, urged more restrictive language, the report said.

The 1992 Tashkent Collective Security Treaty, to which Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan belong, prompted concerns about overlapping international agreements.  Russia has interpreted that treaty as allowing it to deploy nuclear weapons within treaty countries if members jointly approve, the report said.  While Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan wanted previous agreements to supercede the nuclear weapon-free zone treaty, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan disagreed.

Reaching Agreement

Negotiators reconciled the main stumbling blocks in the treaty’s development in several ways.  The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, in which the United States deployed military forces in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, helped reduce Russian pressure on the Central Asian states, and the region’s new prominence as a terrorism “hotspot” also helped move the treaty closer to completion, the report said.

The final impetus for negotiations on the treaty came after a visit to the region by U.N. Undersecretary General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala in August, according to the report (see GSN, Aug. 13).  Dhanapala’s meetings with the foreign ministers and three presidents of the Central Asian states helped further efforts to create compromises on unresolved issues, ultimately leading to agreement.

For further information, see:

Bangkok Treaty Text

Back to top

United States:  Navy Prepares to Convert Oldest Trident Submarine

Within the next few weeks, the U.S. Navy plans to begin converting the USS Ohio — the first and oldest Trident ballistic missile submarine — to carry conventionally armed cruise missiles, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Sept. 27).

The Ohio will undergo the $900 million, 18-month conversion process at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash.  Once the conversion is completed, the Ohio will be able to carry more than 150 Tomahawk cruise missiles and other equipment, instead of 24 long-range ballistic missiles it now carries, according to AP.  The Ohio is one of four U.S. Trident submarines being converted to carry conventional weapons (see GSN, Feb. 22).

“This is an historic event,” said Capt. Stan Mack, chief of staff of the Ohio submarine group.  “The military in general and the submarine force in particular is sometimes accused of preparing for the last war and being Cold War-centered.  The USS Ohio is the answer to that accusation” (Associated Press, Oct. 2).

Back to top

U.S. Response I:  CDC Ships Biological Agents Worldwide

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention distributes hundreds of different biological agents to a dozens of countries each year for use in research, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today (see GSN, Sept. 27).  The CDC has recently come under criticism for shipments of biological agents to Iraq in the 1980s that some analysts have suspected were used in Baghdad’s biological weapons program.

The shipments are part of a worldwide exchange of agents that is necessary in order to conduct research to combat pathogens, CDC officials said.

“We ship over 300 agents to several dozen countries every year,” said CDC spokesman Thomas Skinner.  “It’s important for the CDC to cooperate with international health authorities on research that ... saves lives.  At the same time it’s equally important to us to work with the U.S. Commerce Department to see that these organisms don’t fall into the wrong hands.”

Commerce has created a list of countries where biological agents cannot be shipped, including Iran, North Korea and Cuba.  In the 1980s, Iraq was not included on that list, but is today, according to the Journal-Constitution.  The department also has a list of pathogens that require U.S. approval before export.

Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has called for even stricter controls on the export of biological agents.  Byrd has criticized the CDC and the American Type Culture Collection, a nonprofit firm, for shipping biological samples to Iraq in the 1980s. 

American Type Culture Collection’s shipments to Iraq are “old news” that came up during congressional hearings in 1993, said company spokeswoman Nancy Wysocki.

“The Department of Commerce approved all requests for shipments of biological samples by Iraq,” Wysocki said.

The current situation with Iraq, however, has made the dangers of potentially weak export controls on pathogens more apparent, Byrd said.

“We not only know that Iraq has biological weapons, we know the type, strain, and the batch number of the germs that may have been used to fashion these weapons,” he said.  “We know the dates they were shipped and the addresses to which they were shipped” (Mike Toner, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Oct. 2).

Back to top

U.S. Response II:  CDC Awards Grant to Develop Early Warning System

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has awarded the Harvard Consortium a $1.2 million grant to develop an early warning system for biological terrorism attacks, the agency said today (see GSN, May 20).

The consortium, which includes health care experts in institutions throughout the United States, plans to develop a pilot program to connect 20 million ambulatory care records throughout the country, the agency said in a press release.  The goal of the program is a system that can interconnect information from various health departments to detect disease clusters and alert health care professionals to a biological weapons attack.  If the program is successful officials will use it as a basis for a U.S. monitoring system, the CDC said.

“This system will be able to locate pockets of illness that might represent an intentional attack of terrorism and will give us an early warning of such an attack,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention release, Oct. 2).

Back to top

Smallpox:  Australia Prepares to Stockpile Vaccine

Australia is expected to soon receive supplies of smallpox vaccine for use in the event of biological terrorism, officials said today (see GSN, May 16).

The Australian Health Department is close to completing contracts with the French pharmaceutical company Aventis Pasteur for an initial shipment of 50,000 doses of the vaccine, the department said.  Officials are set to order an additional supply that should be available early next year from another producer, the department said.

No mass vaccination campaign has been planned and the threat of a smallpox outbreak is “very low,” Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer Richard Smallwood said.

“The current response strategy is to keep the vaccine in a secure location and deploy it to affected areas in the event of the discovery of a case of smallpox in Australia,” Smallwood said (Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Oct. 2).

For further information, see:

CDC Smallpox Information

Journal of the American Medical Association Background on Smallpox

Back to top

India:  United States Removes Payload Obstacles

The United States last month said it intends to stop opposing international customers who want to launch satellites on India’s space platforms, the Hindu reported yesterday (see GSN, April 16).

During bilateral talks on weapons of mass destruction, the United States said it will suspend political obstacles to launches that do not involve U.S. parts.  Many countries have expressed interest in using India’s relatively cost-effective Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, according to the Hindu (see GSN, Aug. 13).

Meanwhile, U.S. Commerce Undersecretary Kenneth Juster is expected to travel to India in a few weeks to continue discussions aimed at relaxing controls on dual-use technologies and increasing high-technology trade (C. Raja Mohan, Hindu, Sept. 30).

Back to top

MTCR:  Members Meet in Warsaw

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The Missile Technology Control Regime, an export control arrangement with more than 30 members, held its annual plenary meeting last week in Warsaw to review the regime’s activities and strengthen its efforts against missile proliferation (see GSN, Sept. 26).

Meeting participants agreed to continue to pursue contacts with nonmembers and to make several changes to the regime’s control list.  They issued a joint action calling for increased efforts to prevent terrorists groups from obtaining items on the control list.  The participants agreed to hold the 2004 plenary meeting in Seoul, while Argentina plans to chair the 2003 meeting in Buenos Aires, the MTCR said in a press release Friday.

Meanwhile, the signing ceremony for the International Code of Conduct Against Ballistic Missile Proliferation, a complementary agreement to the MTCR, is to be held Nov. 25-26 in The Hague, the MTCR said (see GSN, Aug. 23).

For further information, see:

U.S. State Department MTCR Summary

Draft International Code of Conduct (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute)

Back to top

Bulgaria:  Local Experts Suspicious of U.S. Missile Dismantlers

A U.S. contractor hired to help Bulgaria destroy stockpiles of Soviet-era SS-23 and other ballistic missiles has dismissed a team of Bulgarian missile experts who were to be involved in the project, a senior Bulgarian military officer said Sunday (see GSN, Sept. 12).

Controlled Demolitions Inc. dismissed the Bulgarian experts because of a conflict over the company’s apparent interest in the SS-23 control units, according to sources.  The firm wanted to disassemble the electronic systems before destroying them, a measure opposed by lead Bulgarian missile expert Lyubomir Balevski, who questioned the company’s motives in wanting to remove the equipment before destroying it. 

One country’s intellectual property should not be turned over to foreign experts for analysis without its consent, Balevski said.

The experts had been scheduled to sign a contract with the company last week.

Meanwhile, Zheko Ganev, an expert from the Bulgarian National Assembly’s Environment Commission, announced that fuel from the scrapped SS-23 missiles would be processed at a waste treatment facility in the town of Belozem.  The Bulgarian missile experts, however, said the facility would not be able to handle the SS-23 fuel.  Instead, special facilities owned by the Voinko consortium should be used, the experts said (Sofia 24 Chasa, Sept. 30 in FBIS-EEU, Sept. 30).

Back to top

Russia:  Moscow Plans Missile Interceptor Test

The Russian Defense Ministry plans to conduct a flight test of a missile interceptor this month, ITAR-Tass reported Monday (see GSN, April 16).  Ministry officials have said they hope the test will help extend the service life of the interceptor, which has been in use for more than 12 years.  If the test is successful, the interceptor’s service life could be extended by an additional three years, according to ITAR-Tass (ITAR-Tass, Sept. 30 in FBIS-SOV, Sept. 30).

Back to top