U.N. inspectors in Iraq discovered today at least 10 empty warheads designed to be used with chemical weapons, U.N. spokesman Hiro Ueki said. The 122 mm chemical warheads and an additional shell awaiting further evaluation, were discovered at the Ukhaider Ammunition Storage Area, Ueki said (see GSN, Jan. 15).
“The warheads were in excellent condition and were similar to ones imported by Iraq during the late 1980s,” Ueki said. “The team used portable X-ray equipment to conduct preliminary analysis of one of the warheads and collected samples for chemical testing,” he added (Reuters, Jan. 16).
Meanwhile, the United States is expected to urge the U.N. Security Council today to suspend plans by U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix to present a report on inspections to the council in late March, according to the Washington Post.
The United States plans to call on the Security Council to suspend Blix’s report, scheduled for Mar. 27, which is expected to outline disarmament obligations Iraq must meet before U.N. sanctions could be lifted, according to the Post. The Bush administration instead would prefer that a decision on possible military action be made soon after Blix’s scheduled Jan. 27 briefing to the council. The United States will request that the council disregard a 1999 U.N. resolution mandating further reports until Iraq complies with inspectors, U.S. officials said.
“How can you talk about suspending sanctions or outlining key remaining disarmament tasks when the Iraqis have not complied" with their current obligation to supply the council with a complete declaration on their WMD programs, a Bush administration official said.
“They have to first comply. We don’t want to reward Iraq,” the official added.
Three Security Council members — Russia, France and Syria — oppose the U.S. plan, saying there are no grounds for altering the terms of the 1999 resolution, the Post reported. The U.S. plan would remove a key incentive for Iraq to cooperate with inspections and would create discord within the council, a diplomat said.
“The council’s resolutions shouldn't be flouted, they should be respected,” said Fayssal Mekdad, Syria's deputy U.N. ambassador.
The dispute also could divide the Security Council’s members, China’s U.N. ambassador, Wang Yingfan, said, adding that a compromise needed to be reached.
“We have to work within the Security Council to find a way out” of this dispute, Wang said. "It’s no good for everyone if we have confrontation,” he added (Colum Lynch, Washington Post, Jan. 16).
Blix said yesterday he would tell Iraqi officials during a visit to Baghdad scheduled to begin Sunday that they needed to provide further information on their WMD efforts.
“They have provided prompt access, been very cooperative in terms of logistics,” Blix said. “But they need to do a good deal more to provide evidence if we are to avoid any worse development,” he added.
Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, are scheduled to begin a two-day visit to Baghdad Sunday, according to Reuters. Blix traveled today to Brussels to meet with European Union officials. ElBaradei will join him Friday in Paris to meet with French President Jacques Chirac. The two will then travel to London to meet with British Prime Minster Tony Blair before traveling to Iraq, Reuters reported.
Iraq still has time to demonstrate its willingness to cooperate with inspectors and to ward off any possible military action, Blix said.
“I don’t think we should ever talk about last chances in this world,” Blix said. “There's still time for the Iraqis to get themselves out of a very dangerous situation,” he added (Evelyn Leopold, Reuters, Jan. 16).
Russian Visit to Iraq
A Russian delegation arrived in Baghdad yesterday in an attempt to develop a diplomatic solution to the disarmament crisis, according to Reuters. “We have to seize any chance to achieve and find a diplomatic and peaceful solution,” said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov, one of the members of the delegation.
Russia has characterized Saltanov’s visit to Iraq as part of “constant contacts” meant to ensure that U.N. resolutions are being implemented, Reuters reported (Nadim Ladki, Reuters, Jan. 15).
Russian Deputy Energy Minister Ivan Matlashov and representatives of the Russian oil and gas companies Lukoil, Stroytransgaz and Zarubezhneft, accompanied Saltanov on his visit to Iraq, according to the Financial Times (see GSN, Oct. 11, 2002). They were to meet with senior Iraqi officials to try and restore Lukoil’s contract to develop Iraq’s West Qurna oilfield and to arrange contracts for the other two Russian companies, the Times reported (Tom Warner, Financial Times, Jan. 16).
Inspections
Inspectors in Iraq have visited at least six sites so far today, including for the first time two private residences, according to the Associated Press and Reuters.
Inspectors traveled to the homes of physicist Faleh Hassan and his neighbor, nuclear scientist Shaker el-Jibouri, AP reported. After the visit, Hassan traveled with inspectors to al-Salamiyat — an agricultural area located about 10 miles west of Baghdad. There, they inspected an apparently man-made earth mound before returning to Baghdad, AP reported (Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press /Yahoo.com, Jan. 16).
Inspectors also visited a site today in Karkh belonging to the Iraqi-supported Iranian opposition group Mujahedine Khalq, Reuters reported (see GSN, Aug. 15, 2002). IAEA inspectors visited the Ghazaliyeh neighborhood of Baghdad for reasons that are still unknown (Reuters/Yahoo.com, Jan. 16).
Yesterday, inspectors visited at least 17 sites, according to an IAEA release. Chemical experts from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission visited three sites — the Saad State Company in West Baghdad, the Khan Dari Stores and the Nassr al-Adheem State Company. UNMOVIC biological inspectors visited four colleges at the Anbar University in Ramadi — the biology department of the College of Education for Women, the College of Science, the College of Education and the College of Medicine, the IAEA release said.
UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited the al-Ameen Factory, which produces motor cases and nozzles for Iraqi solid-propellant missiles, according to the IAEA release. The inspectors then split into two subteams, with one visiting the al-Rasheed SC Headquarters and the second visiting the al-Zafaraniya Military College of Engineering, to verify information provided by the al-Ameen factory’s staff.
IAEA inspectors visited three sites yesterday — the Isakandariya State Establishment for Mechanical Industries, the al-Mutaz Technical Institute and the Hatteen State Company, the agency release said.
UNMOVIC inspectors also traveled to the Tiklit Munitions Depot (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Jan. 15). The depot is located at a Mujahedine Khalq-owned site, U.N. inspector Demetrius Perricos said (Associated Press/New York Times, Jan. 16).
So far, inspectors have visited at least 380 sites, an Iraqi official said today during a press conference (MSNBC, Jan. 16).
For further information, see:
UNMOVIC
IAEA Iraq Action Team
U.N. Resolution 1441
U.N. Resolution 687 (Sanctions Regime)
U.N. Resolution 1409 (“Smart Sanctions”)
U.N. Resolution 706 (Oil-for-Food Program)
Experts from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission and the International Atomic Energy Agency have conducted hundreds of inspections in Iraq since resuming the post-Gulf War inspection regime Nov. 27. More than 100 inspectors are now based in the country at two facilities in Baghdad and Mosul. The following chart summarizes some of the inspectors’ reported activities.
| Date | Site | Activity | | Jan. 16 | Ukhaider Ammunition Storage Area | Inspectors discovered at least 10 empty chemical warheads and are conducting further testing (see GSN, Jan. 16). | | Home of physicist Faleh Hassan | See GSN, Jan. 16. | | Home of nuclear scientist Shaker el-Jibouri | | Al-Salamiyat agricultural area, about 10 miles west of Baghdad | Inspectors traveled to the site with Hassan to inspect an apparently manmade earth mound (see GSN, Jan. 16). | | Site in Karkh belonging to the Iraqi-supported Iranian opposition group Mujahedine Khalq | See GSN, Jan. 16. | | Ghazaliyeh neighborhood of Baghdad | | Jan. 15 | Saad State Company in West Baghdad | See GSN, Jan. 16. | | Khan Dari Stores | | Nassr al-Adheem State Company | | Biology department of the College of Education for Women at the Anbar University in Ramadi | | College of Science at the Anbar University in Ramadi | | College of Education at the Anbar University in Ramadi | | College of Medicine at the Anbar University in Ramadi | | Al-Ameen Factory | | Al-Rasheed SC Headquarters | UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited the site to verify information obtained from personnel at the al-Ameen Factory (see GSN, Jan. 16). | | Al-Zafaraniya Military College of Engineering | UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited the site to verify information obtained from personnel at the al-Ameen Factory (see GSN, Jan. 16). | | Isakandariya State Establishment for Mechanical Industries | See GSN, Jan. 16. | | Al-Mutaz Technical Institute | | Hatteen State Company | | Tiklit Munitions Depot, located at a Mujahedine Khalq-owned site | | Al-Jamhoury presidential palace in central Baghdad | See GSN, Jan. 15 | | Private farm in Doura, south of Baghdad | | Jan. 14 | Al-Rabia Center for Agricultural Research in Baghdad | See GSN, Jan. 15. | | Air Force Technical Military Depot in al-Taji | | Al-Mutaseem site | UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited the site to tag al-Fatah missiles (see GSN, Jan.15). | | Inskandariya Explosives Research and Development facility | See GSN, Jan. 15. | | Tho al-Fukar Mechanical Plant | | Sumood Factory | | Nassr State Establishment | | Qa Qaa Stores | | Missile engine testing plant | See GSN, Jan. 14. | | Military depot | | State-owned company housed in the National Monitoring Directorate complex | | Jan. 13 | Al-Ameer Factory | UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited the site, which had produced Scud missile components before 1991 (see GSN, Jan. 14). | | Airstrip near al-Muhammadiah | See GSN, Jan. 14. | | Storage area adjacent to the airstrip near al-Muhammadiah | | Bombing range near al-Muhammadiah | | Baghdad Technology University | UNMOVIC chemical inspectors conducted a rebaselining inspection and inspected the Department of Chemical Technology. IAEA inspectors verified the scientific and technical activities conducted at the site (see GSN, Jan. 14). | | Baghdad University College of Science for Women | See GSN, Jan. 14. | | Department of Biology at the Baghdad University College of Science | | Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center | IAEA inspectors visited the site to confirm sections of the Iraqi declaration (see GSN, Jan.14). | | Ibn Rushed Company | See GSN, Jan. 13. | | Jan. 12 | National Chemical Plastic Industry in Baghdad | IAEA release, Jan. 13. | | Sharqat EMIS Facility | A joint UNMOVIC and IAEA team visited the site, which was originally designed to house an electromagnetic isotope separation facility (see GSN, Jan. 13). | | Al-Rafah Liquid Engine Test Facility | UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited the site to observe a static test of an al-Samoud missile engine (see GSN, Jan. 13). | | Al-Mutaseem | UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited the site to observe a static test of the al-Uboor motor (see GSN, Jan. 13). | | Iraqi military unit north of the southern city of Mosul | UNMOVIC missile inspectors tagged al-Farah missiles at the unit (see GSN, Jan. 13). | | Microbiology Department at Baghdad University’s College of Medicine | See GSN, Jan. 13. | | Baghdad University’s College of Pharmacy | | Air Force Technical Military Depot at al-Taji | | Jaber Ben Hayan State Establishment | Inspectors visited the site, which produces chemical protection equipment (see GSN, Jan. 13). | | Jan. 11 | Bin Sina Center | UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited several buildings at the site to verify equipment and raw materials used in missile activities (IAEA release, Jan. 11). | | Airfield about 300 kilometers west-northwest of Baghdad | IAEA release, Jan. 11. | | Tiklit University College of Science | | Tiklit University College of Agriculture | | Tiklit University College of Engineering | | Tiklit University College of Medicine | | Tiklit University College of Women’s Education | | State Company for Drugs and Medical Appliances Marketing at al-Addile | See the Jan. 10 entry. | | State Company for Drugs and Medical Appliances Marketing at al-Dabash | | Mosul Dairy Plant | Inspectors determined the site’s current activities and verified previously tagged equipment (IAEA release, Jan. 11.) | | Saddam GE Plant | IAEA release, Jan. 11. | | Qa Qaa Sumood Explosives Plant | | Jan. 10 | Al-Mamoun Plant of al-Rasheed State Company, about 25 miles southeast of Baghdad | UNMOVIC chemical inspectors visited the site, which produces missile propellants (see GSN, Jan. 10). | | State Company for Drugs and Medical Appliances Marketing at al-Addile | IAEA release, Jan. 10. | | State Company for Drugs and Medical Appliances Marketing at al-Dabash | | Trade Ministry’s al-Dabbash stores in Baghdad | See GSN, Jan. 10. | | Trade Ministry’s al-Adel stores in Baghdad | | | Jan. 3-9 | See GSN, Jan. 10 | |
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Russian lawmakers might wait to ratify the U.S.-Russian Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty until the United States ratifies the pact first, a top Russian legislator said Tuesday (see GSN, Dec. 19, 2002).
“Russia is closely watching their U.S. colleagues discussing the document,” said Gennady Seleznyov, speaker of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament. He pointed out Russia was the first to ratify the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty and its protocol, but the United States never followed suit.
“Last time they cheated us,” Seleznyov said.
The current situation in the Middle East might also play a role in the Moscow Treaty’s ratification, Seleznyov said (see related GSN story, today). Russia would like to see a peaceful resolution to the situation with Iraq before signing any new treaties, he said.
“The never-ending blackmailing of Iraq is not conductive for a favorable climate in this issue,” Seleznyov said (Diana Rudakova, ITAR-Tass, Jan. 14 in FBIS-SOV, Jan. 14).
The State Duma could begin ratifying the treaty by April, said Konstantin Kosachev, deputy chairman of the Duma’s International Affairs Committee (Associated Press/Moscow Times, Jan. 16).
For further information, see:
U.S.-Russia Nuclear Reduction Treaty Text (U.S. State Department)
Bush Announces Moscow Treaty
U.S. State Department Fact Sheet on Moscow Treaty
START II Text and Associated Documents (U.S. Defense Department)
North and South Korea have agreed to a meeting of senior officials to discuss the current nuclear crisis, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Jan. 15).
The Cabinet-level talks, the first in months between the neighbors, will convene Tuesday in Seoul, according to the Times.
While agreeing to talks with South Korea, Pyongyang rejected diplomatic overtures from the United States.
“In essence there is no change in the U.S. conditional stand that it would have dialogue with the D.P.R.K. only after it scraps its ‘nuclear program,’” a statement from the North Korean Foreign Ministry said.
The White House referred to the North Korean reaction as an “unfortunate statement.”
“North Korea has a habit of saying many inflammatory things,” said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
Analysts, however, said North Korea might be leaving the door open to negotiations with the United States.
“It is the consistent stand of the D.P.R.K. to settle the issue on an equal footing through fair negotiations that may clear both sides of their concerns,” the North Korean statement said. “We have already clarified that the D.P.R.K. is ready to solve the nuclear issue through negotiations on condition that the U.S. recognizes the D.P.R.K.’s sovereignty, assures it of nonaggression and does not obstruct its economic development,” the statement added (Howard French, New York Times, Jan. 15).
The interim head of Los Alamos National Laboratory said yesterday that he would thoroughly investigate allegations of financial impropriety and cover-ups to restore confidence in the University of California, which runs the laboratory, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Jan. 14).
“We have to have transparency,” Pete Nanos said at a meeting of the university’s Board of Regents in San Francisco. “The only way to do that that I know of is to drain the swamp,” he added.
Nanos said that an internal audit of 61,000 pieces of electronic media could not locate one of them (Michelle Locke, Associated Press, Jan. 16).
The school and its regents must alter the management of Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, according to Bruce Darling, the interim vice president for laboratory management at the university.
The board agreed that a change was necessary and supported continuing to run the facilities, even if it means more responsibility for the university and the regents, the Contra Costa Times reported.
“This laboratory is so important to our country that we have to do the right thing,” said regent Judith Hopkinson (Andrea Widener, Contra Costa Times, Jan. 16).
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By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — A Washington postal facility has reopened after tests completed yesterday showed no presence of anthrax, U.S. Postal Service officials said today (see GSN, Jan. 15).
The Postal Service decided to test the V Street facility, which processes mail addressed to U.S. agencies, after a laboratory culture test indicated the presence of anthrax in a sample taken from Federal Reserve Board mail processing site, according to postal officials.
More than 85 samples were taken from the postal facility Tuesday night, including both surface and air samples, said Thomas Day, Postal Service vice president of engineering. Samples were collected at locations throughout the facility where it was likely that mail addressed to the Reserve would be handled, he said, adding that the autumn 2001 anthrax attacks provided officials with information on which equipment should be tested. Tested equipment included an optical character reader and a bar code sorter, as well as letter cases and mail sack racks.
Postal officials also reviewed health records of the facility’s employees for the past two weeks to determine if there were unusual instances of sick leave that might have indicated an anthrax infection, Postal Service spokesman Gerald McKiernan said, adding that none was found.
Yesterday’s tests were conducted at a laboratory set up outside the Brentwood Road postal facility in Washington, where postal officials have been conducting a massive anthrax decontamination effort, Day said (see GSN, Dec. 18, 2002). He praised the laboratory’s effectiveness, saying that it has tested over 15,000 samples taken during the Brentwood decontamination process and has experience working with live anthrax samples.
There is essentially a “mathematical certainty,” that the V Street facility is not contaminated by anthrax, Day said.
The Reserve first learned of the potential anthrax contamination when routine testing on Jan. 3 detected the presence of anthrax DNA in a small batch of about 15 mail pieces, spokesman David Skidmore said today. The tests, however, were unable to determine if the anthrax DNA was part of a live spore, he said. Technicians obtained 36 samples from the batch of mail and sent them to a private laboratory in North Carolina. Out of those 36 samples, one, taken from a package addressed to Reserve Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson, produced “a suspect colony” that was presumed to be anthrax, Skidmore said. He noted that the package addressed to Ferguson did not appear suspicious.
A state-run North Carolina laboratory, working under U.S. Centers for Disease Control guidelines, conducted further tests on the presumed anthrax culture yesterday and learned that it was not anthrax, Skidmore said. The sample has now been sent to the CDC for identification, he said. The CDC should release the results of its testing in coming days, Day said.
For further information, see:
CDC Frequently Asked Questions About Anthrax
FBI Amerithrax Investigation
Journal of the American Medical Association Background on Anthrax
GSN Anthrax Attack Chronology (Dec. 12, 2001)
U.S. authorities arrested a Texas Tech University professor yesterday for allegedly telling officials that 30 vials containing samples of bubonic plague-causing bacteria were missing, when the professor knew they had been destroyed (see GSN, Nov. 26, 2002).
The FBI arrested Thomas Butler, chief of the university medical school’s Infectious Diseases Division and he has been charged with making a false statement to a federal agent, according to USA Today. Butler told the agent the vials were missing Saturday when “he well knew he had destroyed them prior to that,” said U.S. Attorney Dick Baker. Butler is expected to be arraigned today, USA Today reported.
The vials were reported missing Tuesday night to U.S. authorities and public health officials. The report briefly raised public concerns yesterday over the possible threat of biological terrorism, but the FBI agent who headed the investigation has said there is no cause for alarm.
“We have ... determined that there is no danger to public safety whatsoever,” FBI agent Lupe Gonzalez said (Johnson/Locy, USA Today, Jan. 16).
Even if the bacteria samples had been stolen and used in some sort of an attack, it would have a posed a minimal public health concern, said Texas Tech Chancellor David Smith (see GSN, Oct. 21, 2002).
“They were not in powder form and were not, of course, weaponized in the sense that they were not developed to be resistant to certain kinds of antibiotics,” Smith said. “This region has a lot of supply of those antibiotics — as well as Texas and the nation,” he added (Hugh Aynesworth, Washington Times, Jan. 16).
For further information, see:
Journal of the American Medical Association Background on Plague
CDC Basic Information
The United States is rushing into its smallpox vaccination effort, according to an advisory panel created to advise U.S. health officials on the impending immunization program (see GSN, Jan. 15).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked the U.S. Institute of Medicine to form the panel, which has written a draft report of its findings, the New York Times reported today.
“I think it’s saying the decision to vaccinate was essentially a political one, and there are a lot of scientific reservations about it,” a member of the 15-member panel said. “We were not asked to talk about the policy, but we’re saying there are a lot of reservations and safeguards that need to be put in place,” the panel member added.
The panel — made up mostly of medical school professors — met Dec. 18-20 and will send a final report of their conclusions to the CDC next week, the panel member said.
U.S. President George W. Bush’s plan calls for a two-stage immunization effort, with 500,000 health workers to be inoculated at first and up to 10 million health workers, firefighters, police and emergency personnel to be immunized in the second stage.
The panel’s draft report suggests leaving enough time between the two phases to scrutinize the first phase and learn from it, the Times reported.
Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC, said that states and jurisdictions will conduct immunizations at their own pace, but the overall mandate will be to conduct the vaccinations “the fastest we can do it with the greatest amount of safety.”
The panel also questioned what events — such as adverse reactions — would force the to CDC reconsider its guidelines, the Times reported. The draft report expressed concern over who would pay compensation for lost wages and medical treatment in the event of adverse reactions. The federal government will not provide compensation and state worker compensation laws may not be applicable. The panel recommended that consent forms clearly indicate what compensation is available.
Gerberding said that compensation and consent forms are in the hands of the states, although the CDC would provide some direction.
“We have enormous respect for the IOM. The credibility of their input is always taken very seriously by CDC, and we look forward to seeing their final report. That’s why we wanted to take this issue to the IOM,” Gerberding said.
The draft report also recommended that the safety board in charge of watching the vaccinations be separate from the government, the Times reported.
The draft report suggested that health officials disseminate information on the immunizations through one, nonpolitical, voice, the Times reported.
“In reality, there are a lot of people who are going to be involved in providing messages about events related to terrorism,” Gerberding said (Denise Grady, New York Times, Jan. 16).
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Italian police discovered 50 tons of a chemical used to make mustard gas, following a routine inspection of cargo containers in the Italian port city of Genoa, La Repubblica reported today.
The discovery, made in late December, consisted of several hundred barrels of the chemical, a substance prohibited by the United Nations, which considers it a “precursor for the fabrication of weapons of mass destruction.”
The barrels, found in three containers being loaded onto a ship reportedly bound for Libya after several other destinations, was immediately confiscated by Italian authorities, the Italian newspaper reports.
According to La Repubblica, the chemicals were produced in a German factory and were being sent to Libya by a Belgian-based company. The company is also suspected of having attempted to ship a container with six tons of small arms to Libya two months ago, the newspaper adds.
Italian authorities are now considering whether they should transfer the confiscated cargo to a secret location or military base.
The incident is already raising diplomatic tensions, La Repubblica reports, as the Belgian and Libyan companies who were involved in the shipment are insisting that the merchandise was regularly declared and is for the legitimate production of pesticides, but investigations suggest accompanying documents may be false (Marco Preve, La Repubblica, Jan. 16, GSN translation).
According to RAINews24, the chemical in question is morpholine, a toxic and flammable chemical used to maintain drills at oil fields.
The online news site also reported that police forces from European countries and a group of U.S. customs officials are participating in the investigation (RAINews24, Jan. 16, GSN translation). ANSA news agency reports that a six-member team from the Science Applications International Corporation is collaborating with port authorities to secure the port area (ANSA, Jan. 16, GSN translation).
According to Agencia EFE, Italian authorities have upgraded security in ports over the last several months with assistance from U.S. authorities in an effort to step up efforts against smugglers and terrorists operating in the Mediterranean. Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu has warned that the current international situation favors cooperation between Italian and Islamic terrorist groups (EFE/El Mundo, Jan. 16, GSN translation).
By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) reintroduced legislation Tuesday to increase security at U.S. chemical plants to reduce the threat of an intentional release of toxic chemicals through a terrorist attack (see GSN, Dec. 3, 2002)
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee had approved the proposed Chemical Security Act unanimously in late July, but the full Senate failed to act before the congressional session ended, according to Corzine spokesman Darius Goore. The bill has been reintroduced in the new congress with only a few technical changes, such as replacing references to the Office of Homeland Security with the term “Homeland Security Department,” Goore said, adding that no hearings on the bill are scheduled yet.
The bill would require the Environmental Protection Agency and Homeland Security Department to identify high-priority chemical plants based on the chemicals they produce or store and their proximity to populated areas. Once such plants have been identified, the two agencies would be required to craft regulations requiring the plants to develop vulnerability assessments and implement response plans. Plants would have up to year after the regulations’ release to develop vulnerability assessments and up to 18 months to develop their response plans (see GSN, Nov. 26, 2002).
The bill envisions chemical plants working with local law enforcement and first responder units to develop vulnerability assessments and response plans, which would then be submitted to the two agencies for review. The EPA and Homeland Security Department could issue orders to correct any deficiencies and to impose fines and penalties on plants that failed to comply.
The bill also seeks to prevent terrorists from obtaining information on a chemical plant that could be useful when planning an attack (see GSN, May 30, 2002). A plant’s vulnerability assessment and response plan would not be made publicly available. Instead, only information on the EPA and Homeland Security’s certification of those plans would be available for public review.
Representative Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) plans to reintroduce a companion chemical security bill in the House of Representatives within the next two weeks, Pallone spokesman Andrew Souvall said. The House bill did not make it out of committee last year because of its late introduction, which was delayed until after the Senate version was approved by committee, Souvall said.
Goore said he was fairly positive the Senate would take chemical plant security up his year, noting that both EPA Administrator Christie Whitman and Office of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge have expressed support for legislative action on the issue. There is also support among Republican senators for legislative action to improve chemical plant security, Goore said. He did not say, however, if such support directly transferred to Corzine’s bill.
“I think this is a balanced bill that puts commonsense requirements in place to deal with a significant problem,” Corzine said on the Senate floor Tuesday when reintroducing his bill. “I think the bill has moved a long way from the introduced bill. It has accommodated many of the concerns that industry raised about the bill I introduced in the 107th Congress. It reflects intensive bipartisan negotiations, and I think it’s a good bill,” he added.
Israeli Defense Ministry Director General Amos Yaron announced Wednesday that Israel will stop purchasing “black” gas masks and will instead begin to buy “Sapphire” gas masks (see GSN, Dec. 31, 2002).
“As far as I’m concerned, Shalon (the Israeli manufacturer of the black masks) can wrap their machines in plastic. I don’t want the ministry buying any more of the black masks,” Yaron said.
A recent government investigation indicated that many black masks would be ineffective. Black masks are sealed on the face of the mask wearer, while Sapphire masks have head-covering hood and a ventilation system, Ha’aretz reported.
Israeli Home Front Commander Maj. Gen. Yosef Mishlav said the defense ministry should continue to purchase the black masks, prompting a heated argument, Ha’aretz reported today (Amnon Barzilai, Ha’aretz, Jan. 16).
The 27-year-old North African man who allegedly stabbed a British policeman to death yesterday might be involved in developing chemical weapons as part of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, the London Independent reported today (see GSN, Jan. 15; Bennetto/Herbert, London Independent, Jan. 16).
Two of the men arrested in yesterday’s raid are also suspected of being linked to a group of Algerians who were detained last week in connection with the discovery of ricin in a north London apartment, the Associated Press reported (Beth Gardiner, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Jan. 16).
A senior Bush administration official today linked the ricin group in England to a terrorist group in northern Iraq. The Algerians detained in England last week are allegedly connected to Ansar al-Islam, a group that has in the past been linked to al-Qaeda, according to AP (see GSN, Aug. 20, 2002; Mat | |
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