U.S. Response:  White House Appoints Counterterrorism Assistant

The White House last week announced that Rand Beers has been appointed as special assistant to the president and senior director for combating terrorism.  Beers has served for the last four years as assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs.  He has also served three times on the staff of the National Security Council (U.S. State Department release, Aug. 19).

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U.S.-Russia:  Russian Weapons Scientists Study Radiological Threats

By Bryan Bender
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — Seeking to renew efforts to help shift former Soviet weapons experts to peaceful pursuits, the U.S. Energy Department has hired a team of Russian scientists to study the potential threat of radiological weapons made with a certain type of radioactive metals (see GSN, July 17).

Energy’s Office of Nonproliferation and its National Nuclear Security Administration last week said they plan to award a one-year contract to the Russian Analytical Center for Nonproliferation, which was created to foster the conversion of the Soviet Union’s vast nuclear weapons complex.  The contract is funded under the Nuclear Cities Initiative, a program to aid the transition to peace in Russia’s 10 nuclear cities.

Using scientists and materials from the former Soviet nuclear cities of Sarov and Snezhnisk, the center plans to study and make recommendations on the potential threat from actinides, a series of radioactive metallic elements known for their radioactive instability.

“The proposed effort fulfills the objective of NCI closed nuclear cities to engage scientists, engineers and technologists in nonproliferation and conversion activities,” according to an Aug. 13 Energy Department announcement.

Some of the actinide elements — which include actinium, thorium, protactinium, uranium, neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, californium, einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, nobelium and lawrencium — are found in nature, but others have only been synthesized in nuclear reactions.

The one-year study calls for an intermediate report as well as final recommendations and a draft protocol for how to restrict extraction of actinides from spent nuclear fuel for uses such as makeshift radiological weapons.

U.S. officials are increasingly concerned about the threat of radiological weapons, including a conventional explosive mated with radioactive materials, commonly referred to as a “dirty bomb.”  They have taken a variety of steps to better secure such materials, both at home and abroad, particularly those such as cesium that are widely used in industrial activities and medical facilities.

Now they are using the Nuclear Cities Initiative as another means of assessing what is considered to be the growing threat of radiological attack from terrorist groups and other nonstate actors.  Of the nuclear cities that will be involved in the actinides study, the Sarov facility, formerly known as Arzamas-16, houses elements of the Federal Nuclear Center and Avangard Electromechanical Plant, while Snezhinsk, formerly known as Chelyabinsk-70, is also part of the Federal Nuclear Center.  Russia created the Analytical Center for Nonproliferation to help take advantage of the U.S. nonproliferation aid.

The new Energy contract comes as the department is seeking to expand its nonproliferation efforts in general.  The Bush administration has requested $1.1 billion for Energy nonproliferation programs in fiscal 2003, $86 million more than last year.  The funds will go for a variety of programs, including $448 million for plutonium disposition, $233 million for materials protection control and accounting in Russia and $39 million for the Nuclear Cities Initiative.

The new work for Russian weapons scientists also comes as one of the original sponsors of U.S. weapons aid in the former Soviet Union, Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), visits Russia this week to see some of the U.S. programs first-hand (see GSN, Aug. 19).  Before leaving on his trip, Lugar highlighted the importance of supporting peaceful pursuits for Russian weapons scientists, noting that U.S. efforts so far have provided them only with short-term employment.

“Tens of thousands of Russian weapon scientists have been employed by the U.S. in peaceful pursuits under the International Science and Technology Centers and the IPP program at the Department of Energy,” Lugar told reporters July 24.  “These programs are critical to U.S. security.  If desperation and bankruptcy become the norm, many weapons experts might leave Russia and renew their weapons careers.”

“I encourage U.S. corporations and those from G-8 states to explore the possibility of purchasing or investing in Russian laboratories,” Lugar said.  “Only when these scientists have long-term employment in peaceful pursuits and succeed in domestic and international markets, will we be able to scale back our efforts.”

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U.S. Response I:  Advisers Gather to Discuss Security, Defense Plans

U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to meet with senior officials tomorrow to discuss plans to accelerate development of a U.S. missile defense system and other security and defense issues (see GSN, Aug. 19).

The meeting will probably not include any discussions on potential U.S. military action against Iraq, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said (see GSN, Aug. 19).

“Now, can I guarantee you that that word will never come up?  No, of course not,” he said.  “But the purpose of the meeting, the focus of the meeting, is much bigger than that.”

Bush is expected to receive updates on missile defense program timetables from Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during the meeting at Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.  National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Richard Myers are also expected to attend the meeting.

Another potential topic for discussion is the recent discovery by CNN of an al-Qaeda videotape collection that shows scenes of experiments with crude chemical weapons, according to the Washington Times (see GSN, Aug. 19).

“It’s another reminder of the type of enemy that we face in the war on terror,” Fleischer said.  “This underscores why it’s so important to pursue the war on terror and to win it” (Bill Sammon, Washington Times, Aug. 20).

For further information, see:

MDA Basics of Missile Defense

MDA Missile Defense System

CDC List of Chemical Agents

Federation of American Scientists Information on Chemical Weapons

UNMOVIC

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U.S. Response II:  Sandia Develops Software to Simulate Attack

The U.S. Sandia National Laboratories plans to make new simulation software available to public agencies in the next few months to help plan for potentially disastrous WMD situations such as a biological attack or nuclear blast, the San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday.

The program, called Weapons of Mass Destruction Decisions Analysis Center, simulates possible situations, such an apparent flu outbreak that begins to look like an anthrax attack, and provides the user with relevant information, including charts showing the number of deaths and which hospitals have the most patients.  When the simulation is complete, the program provides different possible outcomes.

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United States:  Energy Sites’ Security Staff Down by 40 Percent, Report Says

By Kerry Boyd

Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Energy Department has cut security forces at nuclear sites 40 percent in the last 10 years, according to a new report by Edward Markey (D-Mass.).

The number of uniformed guards at Energy nuclear sites dropped from 5,640 in 1992 to 3,500 in 2001, and security support staff dropped from 1,451 to 762 in the same period, according to the report released today.  The department cut back more on armed guards than on unarmed guards, who receive less pay and must meet lower physical standards, the report says.

The missions and sizes of the Sandia, Los Alamos, and Lawrence Livermore nuclear laboratories “have not changed dramatically,” but they experienced 24 percent, 21 percent and 12 percent cuts in their armed guards, respectively, the report says, citing unclassified information Energy provided Markey (see GSN, Aug. 13).  During the reporting period, five sites had no armed security guards, and officials reduced armed security forces at the Hanford Site by 47 percent.

Only two sites, the Pantex plant in Texas and Argonne West laboratory in Idaho, have increased armed guards during the last 10 years, the report says.

Security Delays and Cyberattacks

In addition to cutting security forces, Energy has been slow to implement security upgrades, the Markey report says (see GSN, March 1).  The department began to review its risk-determination policy for nuclear sites after the Sept. 11 attacks, but by the time plans for security upgrades are scheduled to be drafted and reviewed, “the earliest any DOE facility would be required to implement the new security requirements would be almost 2.5 years after the Sept. 11 attacks,” according to the report.

Energy facilities have also suffered successful cyberattacks, the report says.  It notes that successful attacks dropped from 130 in fiscal 1999 to 64 in fiscal 2001, which the department said was due to increases in firewalls and e-mail scanning capabilities.

Bush Administration Refuses Funds

The report criticizes the Bush administration for refusing to budget funds that the department had requested for security upgrades in the last year (see GSN, April 22).  In March, the department asked the Office of Management and Budget for $379.7 million in supplemental funds for “urgent and compelling” upgrades to address “security vulnerabilities,” the report says, quoting the department’s request.

In the White House supplemental appropriations request, however, administration officials asked Congress for only $26 million.  Congress in turn appropriated $360 million for emergency security and nonproliferation efforts at various Energy facilities, but the White House refused this month to use more than $26 million, the report says (see GSN, Aug. 9).

Administration Response

“Our weapons complex remains safe and secure, and the protection systems at our sites are robust, reliable and responsive to evolving security challenges,” Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said in a May letter to Markey, according to the report.

The department’s National Nuclear Security Administration, tasked with overseeing nuclear weapons laboratories, has criticized Markey’s report.

“The findings have been taken out of context,” NNSA spokesman Bryan Wilkes said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  “It seems as if someone wants to sensationalize something that isn’t there.”

The drop in security forces has occurred at the same time that facilities have been scaled back, Wilkes said, according to the Journal-Constitution.  The Markey report also does not mention that Energy has hired hundreds of new security personnel since Sept. 11, he added.

The department has “taken numerous steps since Sept. 11 to improve security at our nation’s nuclear facilities,” Office of Homeland Security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, according to the Journal-Constitution.

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Kazakhstan:  Experts Inspect Vozrozhdeniya

A team of Kazakh health experts has arrived on the Vozrozhdeniya peninsula in the Aral Sea to inspect the site where former Soviet biological weapons agents were abandoned, the Kazakhstan Today news agency reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 28).  The eight-member team is inspecting the Kazakh section of the peninsula to determine the scale of and necessary funding for planned research at the site (Kazakhstan Today/BBC Worldwide Monitoring, Aug. 19).

The program is an “extremely valuable exercise,” said Gary Simpson, medical director of infectious diseases for New Mexico’s state Health Department.  “There are a lot of ways to prepare for the unimaginable.”

“The more practice that people like us have in actually working through these kinds of models in extremely realistic settings, the better we’re going to do,” he added (Benjamin Pimentel, San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 19).

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U.S. Response:  Washington Metro Installs More Toxin Sensors

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The Washington Metro mass transit system has begun installing 10 additional toxic chemical sensors in underground stations this month, a Metro spokeswoman said last week (see GSN, Jan. 3).

It will probably take six months to install the additional sensors, Metro spokeswoman Cheryl Johnson said.  She declined to say in which stations the sensors would be installed, citing security concerns.  Metro plans eventually to install a toxic chemical sensor in each of the system’s 47 underground stations, Johnson said.  Technicians installed sensors in two Metro stations in January.

The sensors have proven to be effective in tests, Johnson said.  The last major test of the sensors was in December, she added.

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Iraq:  Kurdish Militant Group Experiments With Ricin

There is evidence a Kurdish militant group in Iraq suspected of ties to al-Qaeda has performed small experiments with crude chemical weapons, the Wall Street Journal reported today (see GSN, July 19).

The group, Ansar al-Islam, is believed to have produced ricin — a chemical toxin made from castor beans.  Intelligence reports have indicated one man and a few farm animals died after exposure to the toxin, the official said.  Several of the group’s leaders are believed to have trained with al-Qaeda operatives at camps in Afghanistan, the Journal reported (see GSN, March 19). There no signs, however, that al-Qaeda is involved in the ricin experiments, the official said (see GSN, March 26).

CNN has reported that Bush administration officials have been considering a covert U.S. attack to destroy the group’s camp in northeastern Iraq, according to the Journal.  ABC News recently reported, however, that U.S. President George W. Bush refused to approve such a plan, according to the Journal.

The group’s experiments are considered unsophisticated and some intelligence analysts have determined that Ansar al-Islam poses little threat to U.S. interests, the official said (David Cloud, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 20).

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Al-Qaeda:  U.S. Officials to Examine Recovered Videotapes

U.S. officials will examine a recently recovered collection of al-Qaeda videotapes, which includes footage of crude chemical weapons experiments, for intelligence information, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 19).

“Appropriate officials will take a look” at the videotapes, Fleischer said.  U.S. news organization CNN, which recovered the videotapes in Afghanistan, confirmed through a spokeswoman that it is sharing them with “appropriate authorities.”

A U.S. defense official said the footage of chemical weapons experiments corroborates what U.S. troops found in searches of more than 60 sites in Afghanistan believed to be associated with al-Qaeda attempts to acquire weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, March 26).  Those searches uncovered instructions on how to produce biological and chemical agents, the official said.  U.S. forces also found laboratory equipment and supplies of atropine — a nerve agent antidote — but no weapons, the official said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo.com, Aug. 20).

The recovered al-Qaeda videotapes also appear to support the court testimony of Ahmed Ressam, who said he had witnessed al-Qaeda experiments involving poisoning dogs with cyanide (see GSN, Nov. 16, 2001).  Ressam has been convicted of attempting to bomb the Los Angeles airport (Barrie McKenna, Globe and Mail, Aug. 20).

For further information, see:

CDC List of Chemical Agents

Federation of American Scientists Information on Chemical Weapons

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U.S. Response II:  U.S. Troops Train to Attack Chemical Weapon Sites

U.S. military forces recently completed a three-week military exercise that included mock attacks on four sites containing chemical weapons or their delivery systems, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, May 20).

The $250 million joint combat exercise was the largest in U.S. history and involved 13,500 military and civilian personnel across the United States.  There were nine live exercise ranges included in the operation and twice as many computer simulations.  Preparing to deal with weapons of mass destruction was an important part of the exercise, according to the Times.

Military planners intend to use results from the exercise to shape war plans in the future, the Times reported.  It will take months to analyze the operation and implement its lessons throughout the armed services, according to Brig. Gen. James Smith, who directed the exercise (Thom Shanker, New York Times, Aug. 20).

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United States:  Depot Considers Off-Site Help to Dispose of Weapons

U.S. Army officials at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas said yesterday that they are considering working with an off-site facility to help destroy the site’s chemical weapons more quickly (see GSN, Feb. 14).

Work is almost complete on a chemical weapons incinerator at Pine Bluff, which houses 3,850 tons of chemical weapons, according to the Associated Press.  The Army, however, is looking at alternative disposal methods to meet a 2006 deadline, said John Gieseking, an Army project manager.  Officials might contract with an off-site commercial waste manager to handle disposal of some nonstockpile chemical weapons, he said (Associated Press, Aug. 19).

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