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It was either a broadcaster’s mistake in North Korea, a mistake in transcription or translation or a distortion by Yonhap, which is pretty well known for propagating rumors.
—Peter Hayes, director of the Nautilus Institute nonprofit research organization, on recent mistaken reports from the South Korean news agency that Pyongyang had claimed to possess nuclear weapons.
The U.S. Senate today rejected an amendment to modify legislation that would create a homeland security department, strengthening the probability that U.S. President George W. Bush would sign the legislation into law before the end of the year...Full Story 
An Oct. 21 memorandum from U.S. Defense Undersecretary Pete Aldridge recommends that the United States look into resuming nuclear tests and “assess potential benefits that could be obtained from a return to nuclear testing with regard to weapon safety, security and reliability” (see GSN, Nov. 15)...Full Story
By Bryan Bender
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — NATO members this week plan to agree on steps to improve the alliance’s ability to respond to nuclear, chemical and biological incidents caused by terrorists or rogue states, according to alliance officials and documents...Full Story
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Tuesday, November 19, 2002 |  | | |  |
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The U.S. Senate today rejected an amendment to modify legislation that would create a homeland security department, strengthening the probability that U.S. President George W. Bush would sign the legislation into law before the end of the year. Rejecting a call from Democrats to remove certain special-interest provisions, senators voted 52-47 this morning to consider the legislation in the form in which it has been approved by the House of Representatives (Jim Abrams, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Nov. 19).
Meanwhile, the congressional stalemate over a proposed homeland security department has stifled action on other legislation, including spending provisions for current U.S. homeland security efforts, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Nov. 18).
Congress’s decision to maintain funding for U.S., state and local agencies at last year’s levels until Jan. 11 could result in those agencies not receiving promised funding increases until spring, the Post reported (see related GSN story, today). Congress is unlikely to pass any nondefense-related spending bills until at least February, budget experts said.
“After the attacks of Sept. 11, many of us anticipated with urgency what should have been recognized by Congress — that all this money would have been passed by Oct. 1,” Illinois homeland security director Matthew Bettenhausen said. “Now, it’s not going to be until calendar year ’03 that they even consider the president’s proposals.”
Spokesmen for several U.S. agencies have said that their departments are continuing to function under continuing resolutions, but U.S. officials have also said that the stalemate over the homeland security department bill might lead to serious consequences for homeland security efforts.
Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health, told Congress last month that if the NIH did not receive promised funding increases soon, bioterrorism grants to be awarded in December and January would have to be reduced (see GSN, June 12).
Biological defense “is one program that was slated to markedly increase in 2003, so a continuing resolution there for any length of time will greatly impair that program,” Zerhouni said.
Through the Container Security Initiative, the U.S. Customs Service has reached agreements to station inspectors at seaports in nine countries, but the lack of promised funding is likely to delay the deployment of inspectors that is currently scheduled for January, the Post reported (see GSN, Nov. 11). Major computer purchases, which were to aid Bush’s border security program, are also likely to be delayed.
One U.S. agency expected to be hurt the most by the delayed funding increases is the Transportation Security Administration, according to the Post. The agency, which is operating on $466 million less than it expected for the next two months, has had to delay $20 million in truck security grants, a senior Transportation Department official said.
The agency also has had to delay reimbursements to U.S. airlines for cockpit door security retrofits. Agency employees at almost 430 airports lack needed computers and administrative support, the Post reported. If Congress does not quickly resolve the funding situation at the start of next year when agency employees are set to receive a mandatory 3.1 percent pay increase, the agency will have to furlough hundreds of employees, according to the Post.
“There are a lot of agencies that are going to be in the soup on this thing,” a Bush administration official said. “But the biggest problems are at TSA. They’re going to be clobbered.”
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress have criticized the funding delays. It is “a disgrace” and “a spectacular abdication of responsibility,” said Representative David Obey (D-Wis.), the ranking minority member of the House Appropriations Committee.
Committee Chairman C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) said Congress’s actions are “not the best way to fund the government” (Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post, Nov. 19).
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By Bryan Bender
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — NATO members this week plan to agree on steps to improve the alliance’s ability to respond to nuclear, chemical and biological incidents caused by terrorists or rogue states, according to alliance officials and documents.
As NATO heads of state gather in Prague Thursday and Friday to invite seven new members to join their ranks — expanding the Western military alliance further eastward into the territory of the former Soviet Union — summit participants are expected to approve at least five new initiatives.
“Special considerations” are to be given to enhancing biological defenses, considered a key shortfall in NATO planning over the years, which has been more concerned with nuclear and chemical weapons, according to the documents.
Collectively known as the NATO Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Initiatives, first proposed in June, the new initiatives call for developing an alliancewide disease surveillance system; establishing a nuclear, biological and chemical event response team; creating a mobile nuclear, biological and chemical analytical laboratory; establishing a coordinated NATO stockpile of chemical and biological defense materials; and expanding nuclear, biological and chemical training and education.
“The NBC Defense Initiatives were developed by NATO’s Senior Defense Group on Proliferation and endorsed by defense ministers in June 2002,” according to a NATO briefing. “They were designed to serve as a first step in addressing the most critical deficiencies in NATO’s NBC defenses. These initiatives will be developed over the next year and will emphasize multinational participation and the rapid fielding of enhanced capabilities.”
As part of its shift away from defending Western Europe from conventional military attack to preparing for new threats, NATO will also outline a new command structure to better reflect new realities, officials said.
The clearest sign of the new direction may be discussion of a NATO response force of up to 20,000 troops that could quickly deploy in the event of a crisis both inside and beyond the alliance’s historic sphere of influence.
NATO members are expected to extend invitations to the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and to Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, formerly members of the Warsaw Pact. The new NATO-Russia Council, meanwhile, also plans to discuss future cooperation with Moscow.
As the alliance expands eastward, however, NATO officials have said that the threat from weapons of mass destruction — to military forces as well as population centers — is also expanding and that the alliance must take steps to improve its capability to deal with a catastrophic event — particularly a biological attack.
The documents acknowledge that NATO is particularly deficient in biological defense, noting that “NATO capabilities are optimized for chemical defense” rather than biological weapons. The first step is to establish a disease surveillance system to collect information on unusual disease outbreaks, alert NATO commanders of a biological outbreak and fuse the data with other information sources.
To respond to an attack involving weapons of mass destruction, NATO members plan to establish a prototype nuclear, biological and chemical event response team to assess the effects of a WMD event, advise commanders on mitigating the effects and enable the alliance to “reach back” to national experts for technical advice.
The response team would include an NBC-trained commander, a biological weapons specialist, an NBC specialist, a medical doctor, an NBC explosive ordnance expert, a communications specialist and a public affairs and information operations support officer. Equipment might include detection devices, communications equipment and NBC assessment tools.
Also needed, according to NATO, is a mobile laboratory that could be quickly and easily transported to investigate and collect samples of a possible nuclear, biological or chemical contamination and conduct highly reliable scientific analysis of samples.
Meanwhile, alliance members will probably agree to pool their resources, establishing a NATO chemical-biological defense stockpile that will help members to identify and share national supply inventories, rapidly move needed materials and improve medical treatment protocols, according to the NATO documents.
Lastly, NATO plans to seek during the next year to enhance the knowledge of senior officials on nuclear, biological and chemical issues through education, while improving understanding of the operational effect of WMD weapons and otherwise strengthening WMD training.
U.S. national security adviser Condoleeza Rice, briefing reporters last Friday on the summit, said that in the future NATO will have to focus new attention on the threat from weapons of mass destruction.
“Iraq is typical or the most important example of the kind of threat that NATO will face in the future,” she said.
By Greg Webb
Global Security Newswire
LAS VEGAS — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak warned yesterday that another major terrorist attack, one that could possibly involve biological weapons, is “a simple matter” and could prevent a global economic recovery.
An unprecedented level of international cooperation and spending would be needed to prevent such an attack, said Barak, speaking to participants, and later to reporters, at a biological terrorism conference. Officials need to improve international cooperation in intelligence, law enforcement and immigration, he said, adding that scientists also need dramatically more support to defend against the threat of biological weapons.
In particular, Barak cited the threat posed by shipping containers, noting that 15 million are in use at any one time.
“A major simultaneous attack of a biological nature by terrorist groups,” using shipping containers is plausible risk, Barak said. “It is frightening how simple an attack could be,” he said.
Barak praised the U.S. Container Security Initiative, a program to inspect and secure cargo at its point of origin (see GSN, Nov. 11). Nevertheless, he suggested, U.S. efforts to deploy scanners to detect radioactive materials at ports and border crossings are misdirected and narrowly focused (see GSN, Oct. 21).
“There is a need for a globally coordinated effort” to secure shipping containers, Barak said. Such an effort, he said, would involve creating a real-time tracking system for shipping containers and an improved system of seals to ensure that containers remain closed after they are loaded. With shipping containers each costing $1,200-$1,500 to purchase, Barak estimated that tracking and sealing equipment could be procured for an additional few thousand dollars per container.
“Once containers are controlled, you reduce exposure dramatically to the risk of terrorist attack,” Barak said.
Critical Training
Adequate preparation is the only way to address terrorist attacks, Barak said, highlighting some of the strategies Israel is pursuing to prevent and respond to possible WMD attacks. Effective preparation would have two primary results, deterring terrorists from executing attacks and reducing the effects of attacks when they do occur, he said.
In broad terms, proper preparation requires intensive scientific research and development, thorough training of emergency first responders and successful public education campaigns. Provided with adequate equipment, training and education, Israelis can face WMD attacks with confidence, Barak said.
To address the risk of a biological attack, Israel has vaccinated 10,000 first responders against smallpox, Barak said. If an attack were to occur, Barak said Israel would then proceed to vaccinate the entire population. In addition, Barak said he thought Israel should seriously consider making the vaccine available to anyone in Israel who wished to receive it (see related GSN story, today).
To address the risk posed by chemical weapons, Israel has supplied its entire population with chemical protection equipment, primarily gas masks, but the 1991 Gulf War demonstrated that training how to use the equipment is critical.
Barak recalled that Iraqi missile attacks during the 1991 Gulf War were responsible for the deaths of 15 Israelis. One victim was killed by a missile blasting through the open door of his shelter and the rest were killed by responding improperly to the attacks. Some suffocated in improperly donned gas masks and one or two died after injecting themselves with government-distributed atropine, fearing a chemical attack, Barak said.
Given proper training, however, the confidence supplied by adequate preparation is invaluable, Barak said. Israeli troops training with chemical protection gear, for example, are put in rooms contaminated with chemical simulants to demonstrate the gear’s effectiveness. Such training ensures that personnel will be willing to enter an area under chemical attack.
Iraq response
Although preparing to respond to WMD attacks is necessary, the best strategy for addressing WMD threats is to prevent them altogether, Bark said, hinting that if the United States were to take military action against Iraq, Israel would act to protect itself from any counterattack (see GSN, Oct. 18).
Despite the scope of the problem, Barak predicted success in addressing the WMD threat. “I’m confident that if we focus and converge our efforts, we will prevail,” he said.
By William New
CongressDaily
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House’s failure to reform the country’s export-control regime before the apparent end of its work in the 107th Congress leaves the technology industry back at the drawing board on the high-priority issue, but a key senator already plans to reintroduce a revised version of the Senate-passed export-control bill in the next Congress, his spokesman said Monday (see GSN, Nov. 4).
The export reform bill remains one of the highest priorities of Senate Banking member Michael Enzi (R-Wyo.), the spokesman said, “and he will continue to work diligently next year to see it passed into law.” Enzi will work with other parties to the debate to make changes before introducing a revised measure, he said.
The White House and House leadership tried to clear a minimal bill that would have renewed the 1979 Export Administration Act and ended a standard that restricts computer exports based on the millions of theoretical operations per second that computers perform. EAA governs exports of commercial products with potential military uses.
But Representative Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) blocked the effort, sources said. Hunter is expected to assume chairmanship of the House Armed Services Committee in January. The defeat of the bill forces the tech industry to rethink its strategy.
“While we’re disappointed, we now feel we can get bipartisan House and Senate leadership and the White House on board to get something done next year,” said Ralph Hellmann, senior vice president for government affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council. “Sadly, there’s an acknowledgement that EAA’s not going to get any easier in the next Congress, and it forces us to find solutions to the MTOPS [issue] that may not be comprehensive.”
Following a White House meeting on EAA last week, officials decided to push for a limited bill, according to an industry source. They crafted their first compromise plan, for a short-term renewal of the 1979 EAA and a repeal of the MTOPS, last Tuesday (see GSN, Aug. 6). When it became clear that Hunter would block it, officials proposed a straight renewal of the EAA until next year, but Hunter blocked that as well.
Edmund Rice, president of the Coalition for Employment Through Exports, outlined “key decision points” for the issue in the next Congress. He said it must remain a priority for the Bush administration. The position of incoming Senate Banking Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), who has opposed export-control reform in the past, and the House Armed Services Committee also are key, Rice said.
“We’ll continue to work with Congress on this when they return,” White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said Monday. “There are a number of items of unfinished business” to be taken up when lawmakers return, she said.
An advance team of U.N. weapons inspectors met with Iraqi officials last night in what a U.N. spokesman said was a useful round of discussions on preparations for weapons inspections (see GSN, Nov. 18).
The meetings yesterday focused on a timeline for U.N. Resolution 1441, which outlines a new inspections regime for Iraq, said Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix. Inspection teams will probably not reach their full complement for several weeks because some inspectors are not able to join immediately, Buchanan said today.
“There are people who we trained but they’ve gone back to their normal jobs and now some of them are getting leave of absence so that they can come down here to Baghdad and get on with inspection process,” Buchanan said (Bassem Mroue, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Nov. 19).
Most of the inspections will be carried out on a “no-notice” basis “and therefore we will not say in advance where the inspections are going to take place,” Buchanan said today. For the inspections to be credible, Iraq must provide access to suspected WMD sites on an “immediate, unconditional and unrestricted basis,” as mandated by the new resolution, he added.
Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, met last night with Iraqi Brig. Gen. Hossam Amin and Gen. Amer al-Saadi, a presidential adviser who had negotiated some terms of inspections with Blix in Vienna last month.
“I think we are making progress,” Blix said after last night’s meeting, which lasted about two hours (Agence France-Presse, Nov. 19).
Swiss Aid
Three Swiss technicians are scheduled to arrive in Baghdad tomorrow to help prepare the U.N. inspectors’ headquarters, according to swissinfo. Additionally, 10 more technicians such as plumbers, electricians and engineers plan to arrive soon to renovate the site to make it ready for inspectors (swissinfo, Nov. 18).
For further information, see:
UNMOVIC
IAEA Iraq Action Team
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An Oct. 21 memorandum from U.S. Defense Undersecretary Pete Aldridge recommends that the United States look into resuming nuclear tests and “assess potential benefits that could be obtained from a return to nuclear testing with regard to weapon safety, security and reliability” (see GSN, Nov. 15).
The United States will face “major challenges” maintaining its nuclear stockpile and must also look “to respond to new nuclear weapons requirements in the future,” according to the memo, which was sent to members of the Nuclear Weapons Council.
“We will need to refurbish several aging weapon systems, but the limitations of the nuclear weapons complex will not permit us to perfectly replicate the original designs,” Aldridge said in the memo.
Aldridge recommended that the Pentagon investigate the benefits of a “low-yield testing program.”
The memo is a sign of movement toward resuming nuclear testing, one expert said.
“I think this is yet another sign that some in the Pentagon are trying to move the White House toward a resumption of testing,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association (Jonathan Wright, Reuters, Nov. 18).
By Bryan Bender
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Energy Department has awarded a $290 million contract to IBM to build the world’s two fastest supercomputers to assess the safety, security and reliability of nuclear weapons without underground nuclear tests, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said today (see related GSN story, today).
Named Purple and BlueGene/L, the computers should be able to conduct 100 trillion and 360 trillion calculations per second, respectively. Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories plan to use the computers to “gain unprecedented understanding of the health of the U.S. nuclear deterrent and the effects of aging and parts replacement over time,” Abraham told the Supercomputer 2002 Conference in Baltimore.
The contract award comes as the Bush administration debates whether the moratorium on underground nuclear tests should be lifted in order to fully assess the health of the nuclear force or test weapons designs now being studied (see GSN, Nov. 15). Some U.S. officials want to end the moratorium on nuclear testing in the United States, but several U.S. experts said last week that there is little to gain from nuclear testing and much to lose (see GSN, Oct. 22).
“This is a vital step in providing the resources to develop high-fidelity, three-dimensional simulations to predict the behavior of aging nuclear weapons for out national security,” acting National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Linton Brooks said today.
The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration has implemented an almost complete hiring freeze and a ban on personnel moves in the face of uncertain congressional funding, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Aug. 9).
Acting NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks imposed an “immediate freeze on most categories of personnel actions, as well as a freeze on interim organization changes,” in a memorandum sent to agency officials and distributed to the media by congressional officials. The move came because of “budget and re-engineering,” according to the memo (see related GSN story, today).
Exemptions to the freeze are allowed, but Brooks said that he “will personally review each request for an exemption to this freeze, and I expect to approve very few.” The NNSA Office of Transportation Safeguards, responsible for secure transportation of nuclear material and weapons, has been exempted from the hiring freeze.
The security of the U.S. nuclear stockpile — which the agency maintains — will not be jeopardized, officials said.
“Security is first and foremost, and we would not do anything that would compromise it in any way,” agency spokesman Anson Franklin said.
Congressional Democratic aides took the opportunity to criticize President George W. Bush for ignoring security issues.
“In front of the cameras, George Bush pretends he’s a big shot on homeland security, but behind the scenes he has repeatedly denied funding for critical security,” said David Sirota, spokesman for House Appropriations Committee Democrats.
The White House has requested a $400 million increase for the nuclear agency, which would total $8 billion in this year’s budget if met. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has approved a $7.9 billion agency appropriation while the Democratic-controlled Senate approved an appropriation of about $8.3 billion. The final bill is awaiting House-Senate conference committee action.
Brooks said the hiring freeze is necessary partly because it is unclear how much funding the NNSA will receive this year and “we must do all we can now to ensure that we don’t overspend the financial resources that will eventually be available to us” (Philip Shenon, New York Times, Nov. 19).
Clarifying a statement made Sunday by a North Korean radio station, Pyongyang today specified that it is “entitled” to possess nuclear weapons (see GSN, Nov. 18).
“To safeguard our sovereignty and right to exist, we are entitled to have powerful military countermeasures, including nuclear weapons,” said a commentary broadcast on the official Korean Central Broadcasting Station.
Today’s statement varied from Sunday’s by as little as a single syllable in the Korean language, according to the New York Times. Some analysts said regional differences in pronunciation might have led to differing interpretations. While the South Korean Yonhap news agency reported that Sunday’s statement indicated North Korea was claiming to possess nuclear weapons, other international media organizations reported the statement similarly to today’s clarification, the Times reported.
The differing interpretations make it almost impossible to determine Pyongyang’s true intentions, according to analysts (see GSN, Nov. 15).
“It was either a broadcaster’s mistake in North Korea, a mistake in transcription or translation or a distortion by Yonhap, which is pretty well known for propagating rumors, especially by hard-line elements in South Korea,” said Peter Hayes, director of the Nautilus Institute, a nonprofit research organization for international security and conflict resolution (Howard French, New York Times, Nov. 19).
Fuel Oil Shipment Arrives
Meanwhile, a tanker carrying more than 42,000 tons of heavy fuel oil arrived yesterday at the North Korean port of Nampo as required by the 1994 Agreed Framework, the South Korean Office of Planning for the Light-Water Reactor Project said today (see GSN, Nov. 15). The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, which oversees the framework, has suspended all future shipments.
It is expected to take 10 days to unload the oil, the office said. Officials plan to distribute the oil to thermoelectric power stations throughout North Korea, including stations in Pyongyang and Yongbyon — the site of North Korea’s former nuclear program, which was suspended under the framework (Yonhap/Korea Times, Nov. 20).
Preserve Framework, Senator Says
The United States should work to preserve some form of the Agreed Framework despite renewed suspicions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons efforts, U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) said yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 6).
“I know there are some who think this agreement was bad from beginning to end, but for the moment we need a construct that stops the production of more weapons by North Korea,” said Lugar, who will most likely become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January.
Lugar said he does not oppose the White House decision to suspend the fuel oil shipments to North Korea (see GSN, Nov. 14). “That was a judgment call, and I respect their judgment,” he said.
The only long-term solution to the nuclear issue, however, involves “creative diplomatic solutions” that maintain a role for international inspectors in North Korea and promise improved U.S.-North Korean relations, Lugar said (David Sands, Washington Times, Nov. 19).
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Richard Lugar is a board member of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by National Journal Group.]
For further information, see:
Agreed Framework Text
KEDO
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By Greg Webb
Global Security Newswire
LAS VEGAS — A leading U.S. science official today criticized a U.S. advisory panel’s recommendation to vaccinate 500,000 U.S. first responders against smallpox (see GSN, Oct. 17).
Ronald Atlas, president of the American Society for Microbiology, said that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, succumbed to political pressure when it enlarged the number of public health personnel that it said should receive smallpox vaccine. Atlas said he concurs with the panel’s earlier decision to recommend vaccinating 15,000 personnel nationwide who would be among the very first to respond to a smallpox outbreak.
At least the panel did not advise nationwide vaccination, Atlas said. The smallpox vaccine carries unacceptable risks of serious side effects, including death, compared to the uncertain risk of a smallpox attack, he said.
Statistical modeling predicts that if the entire U.S. population were vaccinated, 400-1,400 people would probably die, Atlas said.
“I’m still not prepared to sacrifice 1,000 people unless I have to,” he said. Such a result would seriously undermine public confidence in the smallpox vaccine, in vaccines more generally and in the federal government’s credibility, he added.
Atlas further criticized U.S. planners for not proposing to allow medical personnel time away from work following vaccination. People who have been vaccinated are somewhat contagious for two weeks, Atlas said, and could infect people with compromised immune systems (see GSN, Nov. 21, 2001). Requiring recently vaccinated medical personnel to work in hospital environments would threaten many patients, including those receiving cancer treatments, he added.
No to Public Availability
Atlas also recommended that the vaccine be withheld from public availability, even from U.S. residents who understand and are willing to take the risk of receiving the vaccine. Such “voluntary” cases probably would not quarantine themselves, easily infecting others around them during the 14 days following their vaccination, Atlas said.
Arkansas public health officials plan to use a mass flu inoculation program this week to assess their preparedness for widespread smallpox immunizations (see GSN, Oct. 29).
Workers plan to administer free flu shots at the Baxter County fairgrounds Thursday to test the state’s emergency health care capacity in the case of a smallpox terrorist attack.
“The more people who show up, the more accurate our assessment will be,” said Donnie Smith, Arkansas director of biological terrorism preparedness. “It’s a no-lose situation because we will be providing a valuable service in terms of the flu vaccine,” he added.
Ten thousand vaccine doses will be available, the Associated Press reported. Authorities said they hope the exercise will simulate the organization, screening, education, post-vaccine checks and security that would be required for smallpox immunizations, but they acknowledged there would also be fundamental differences.
“In smallpox, you would have a lot of questions about medical background and history, but we are not going to be asking a lot of smallpox questions because we don’t want to alarm the community,” said Richard Taffner, state health director for Baxter County (Melissa Nelson, Associated Press, Nov. 19).
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U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday defended Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the Russian leader should not be blamed for the Moscow theater raid in which an opiate-related gas killed more than 120 civilians and almost 50 of the Chechens who held them hostage (see GSN, Nov. 18).
Putin made some “very tough decisions” in ordering the Oct. 26 raid, Bush said.
“People tried to blame Vladimir,” he said. “They ought to blame the terrorists. They’re the ones who caused the situation, not President Putin.”
The terrorists had threatened to kill 800 people in the theater, according to the Washington Post. Although Bush declined to comment immediately after the raid, administration officials had refused to criticize Putin’s handling of the hostage standoff.
“These people were killers, just like the killers that came to America,” Bush said yesterday. “There’s a common thread — that any time anybody is willing to take innocent life for a so-called cause, they must be dealt with,” he added (Mike Allen, Washington Post, Nov. 19).
The U.S. Army has sought permission from Indiana to store some of the secondary waste that will probably be created during disposal of VX nerve gas at the Newport Chemical Depot, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Oct. 17).
The Army plans to dispose of the neutralized VX within 90 days, said Scott Rowden, environmental manager of the disposal facility. Some of the secondary waste, however — including personal protective equipment and laboratory fluids — will need to be stored on-site for a longer period of time, he said. The disposal project is set to begin next year and is expected to last nine months (Associated Press, Nov. 19).
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The Bush administration has invited Russian officials to view the next planned missile interceptor flight test, scheduled to take place next month, the Russian Information Agency Novosti reported today (see GSN, Nov. 6).
The United States and NATO are also cooperating with Russia on missile defense issues through the NATO-Russia Council, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said (see GSN, May 29). The alliance is likely to add a statement on the necessity of missile defense development to the text of the final declaration of the NATO summit to be held in Prague, he said (RIA Novosti, Nov. 19).
For further information, see:
MDA Basics of Missile Defense
MDA Missile Defense System
Raytheon has delievered the track illuminator laser — the first diode-pumped laser qualified for use on a military aircraft — as part of the Airborne Laser Program, the company said last week (see GSN, Nov. 1).
Boeing Co., which is developing the anti-ballistic missile laser program with Lockheed Martin and TRW, accepted the delivery. Raytheon is the subcontractor responsible for building the track illuminator laser, one of four lasers that will be used in the system (Defense Daily, Nov. 15).
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The United States and Tanzania are working together to investigate the source of four illegal containers of uranium seized in Tanzania’s capital, Dar es Salaam, last week, the East African reported yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 25).
One of the uranium canisters was apparently made and loaded by a U.S. company, according to the East African. The United States is cooperating with Tanzanian officials to determine how the canister arrived in Tanzania and whether the company still exists, said Michael Korff, an official at the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam.
“We are pleased to cooperate with the government of Tanzania, and we will do everything possible to assist in the investigation and arrest those responsible,” Korff said.
Tanzanian authorities have already arrested five people in connection with the illegal uranium, which is believed to have entered Tanzania from a neighboring country, the East African reported. The five have been charged with illegal possession of dangerous materials.
“There is a need for the public to report to the police anybody involved in this business of peddling dangerous materials, because radiation from these materials could affect large numbers of people and damage the environment for years to come,” said Adadi Rajabu, director of criminal investigations (East African, Nov. 18).
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2002 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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