U.S. Response I:  Senate Confirms Ridge for Homeland Security Post

The U.S. Senate yesterday voted 94-0 to confirm Tom Ridge as the first U.S. secretary of homeland security, two days before the organization formally begins its existence (see GSN, Nov. 25, 2002).

The 57-year-old Ridge will lead the third-largest federal department, and he will be faced with the task of consolidating 22 agencies, 170,000 workers and a $38 billion budget, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today.

While Ridge must establish his office and nominate aides by tomorrow’s deadline, most agencies will be brought into the organization March 1.  Officials will integrate other agencies into the department during the summer and the consolidation is scheduled to be complete by Sept. 30.

During his Senate Governmental Affairs Committee confirmation hearing, Ridge testified that the United States must secure its border with Canada and tighten security for shipping containers that enter U.S. ports, according to the Journal-Constitution.

Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) warned that Ridge must control the department’s power.

“It is essential that Governor Ridge understand that he will be responsible not only for defending the homeland but also for defending against the abuse of power within the new department,” Byrd said.

Ridge said that domestic security has improved since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but warned that “we are only at the beginning of what will be a long struggle to protect this country” from a “hate-filled, remorseless enemy that takes many forms.”

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) criticized the Bush administration for underfunding domestic security issues while aggressively spending money on military operations overseas.  Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) said the Senate is working on a supplemental spending bill that will provide $2.5 billion for homeland security (Eunice Moscoso, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 23).

Democratic senators praised Ridge, but criticized the Bush administration during the confirmation hearings.

Ridge “needs the tools to do this job,” said Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.).  “You can’t do that on the cheap,” he added.

“Cuts have been made that devastate our ability to deal with homeland security,” Daschle said.  “In spite of what we all profess to be our goals, there is a lack of willingness, a lack of commitment on the part of the administration to provide the resources,” he added (Philip Shenon, New York Times, Jan. 23).

The new department will initially have headquarters in Washington, the Washington Post reported today.  Earlier reports indicated that the department would be housed in Washington’s Virginia suburbs.

The “initial headquarters” for the department will be in a four-story building at the U.S. Naval Security Station in Washington, according to Gordon Johndroe, Ridge’s spokesman.

The naval station site gives the new department an existing security perimeter, established communications infrastructure and convenient access to the White House, which is five miles away, the Post reported.

The location is also a few blocks from U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney’s residence.

While 100 key staff members will immediately move into the new headquarters, it is not clear how many workers will ultimately be at the headquarters or how long the department will remain at the naval site.

“The most important thing was to be operational Monday,” Johndroe said.  “And this facility provides that,” he added (Hsu/Irwin, Washington Post, Jan. 23).

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U.S. Response II:  Senators Reintroduce Nuclear Plant Security Bill

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) this month reintroduced legislation aimed at increasing U.S. nuclear power plant security (see GSN, July 30, 2002).

The proposed Nuclear Security Act includes a number of provisions designed to improve nuclear plants’ ability to defend against and respond to a terrorist attack.  Under the bill, a task force headed by the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would examine nuclear plant security.  The task force would also include the heads of several U.S. agencies, including the Defense and Homeland Security departments, CIA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  The task force would be required to provide recommendations on the adequacy of plant emergency response plans, the types of terrorist threats plants should defend against, the establishment of a U.S. nuclear counterterrorism team and the adequacy of security plans.

Once the task force completed its work, the NRC would be required to implement its recommendations and other measures, including establishing federal security coordinators, who would be NRC employees, at each nuclear power plant.

The bill also seeks to improve the testing of plant security forces.  Under the bill, a Security Response Team would be created to test guards at existing plants through mock terrorist-style attacks.  Each plant would also be required to be tested every three years, as opposed to the current testing schedule of once every eight to 10 years.  The NRC would also be required to conduct evaluations to test plant emergency response plans. 

The bill includes language that would allow nuclear plant guards to use more sophisticated weapons, give some plant owners the authority to make arrests and strengthen anti-sabotage provisions in the 1954 Atomic Energy Act to include conspiracy to conduct sabotage.

“Last year, we did not do enough to improve security at our nuclear power plants, and it is a glaring weakness in out homeland defense,” Clinton said in a press statement.  “We know that terrorists turned airplanes into missiles, and we don’t want them to turn power plants into nuclear weapons.  This legislation will ensure that new security measures are enacted so that the millions of Americans who live near these plants can feel safe and secure that their country is doing all that it can to keep them and their families safe,” she added.

Hearings have not been set yet for the bill, according to a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee spokesman.  The committee had unanimously approved the bill last year, but the full Senate failed to take action before Congress went into recess, according to a Reid press release.

The U.S. nuclear industry, while supporting some of the bill’s provisions, sees the act as mainly unnecessary, said Mitch Singer, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the main lobbying group for the nuclear industry.  Among the unnecessary provisions, Singer said, is the establishment of the new NRC task force because the commission has had a similar panel in place since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.  A new task force would only repeat and negate the work that has been done in the past year and a half, he said.

The nuclear industry also opposes the placement of a NRC security coordinator at each plant, Singer said.  There are already NRC personnel at each nuclear plant, who review plant security among their other responsibilities.  The addition of a second NRC employee, who would be responsible solely for reviewing security, would only create confusion in a plant’s chain of command, Singer said.

There are some provisions, however, that the industry favors, including the new language authorizing plant guards to use more sophisticated weaponry, Singer said.  The reintroduced bill also continues to contain no language that would federalize nuclear plant guards — an issue that had been hotly contested when the bill was originally introduced last year and a position that the nuclear industry opposed, he said (see GSN, Jan. 18, 2002).  Such language had been removed from the bill last year during congressional negotiations.

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Iraq I:  Bush Warns of War Crimes Charges for WMD Use

U.S. President George W. Bush warned Iraqi officials and military personnel yesterday that they would face war crimes charges if they employed weapons of mass destruction against U.S. troops during any possible military action (see GSN, Jan. 22).

In a speech in St. Louis, Bush said there would be “serious consequences” for any Iraqi officer or soldier who carried out an order to launch a WMD attack on U.S. forces.

“My advice is, don’t follow that order, because if you choose to do so, when Iraq is liberated, you will be treated, tried and persecuted as a war criminal,” Bush said (Hutcheson/Rubin, Knight Ridder/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 23).

U.N. Security Council

Meanwhile, France and Germany continued their opposition to military action against Iraq yesterday, saying they wanted to pursue a peaceful solution through the United Nations.

“War is not inevitable,” French President Jacques Chirac told a joint session of the French and German parliaments.  “The only framework for a legitimate solution is the United Nations,” he added.

France and Germany “are entirely in agreement to harmonize our positions more closely in favor of a peaceful solution of the Iraqi crisis,” German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said after a joint meeting of the two countries’ cabinets.

The Security Council should be solely responsible for any decision on whether to attack Iraq, and such a decision should only be made after weapons inspectors report their findings, Chirac said.

“For us, war is always the proof of failure and the worst of solutions, so everything must be done to avoid it,” he said (John Leicester, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Jan. 23).

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld criticized France and Germany for their positions on the Iraq conflict.

“Germany has been a problem, and France has been a problem,” Rumsfeld said. “But you look at vast numbers of other countries in Europe.  They’re not with France and Germany on this, they’re with the United States,” he said (CNN.com, Jan. 23).

French and German officials today responded in kind to Rumsfeld’s comments, saying they illustrated U.S. arrogance.

“We should try to treat each other sensibly,” said German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. “Our position is not a problem, it is a constructive contribution,” he added (Geir Moulson, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Jan. 23).

Bush administration officials yesterday said there are plans to confront France and Germany, as well as other opponents of military action, next week to demand that they agree publicly that Iraq has not complied with the Security Council, according to the New York Times. 

The U.S. strategy is based on the belief that conclusive evidence of Iraq’s possession of weapons of mass destruction might never be found, and instead the argument needs to be presented as one that Iraq has failed to cooperate fully, Bush administration officials said.

There is a debate within the White House as to whether U.S. allies opposed to military action will eventually support the U.S. position, the Times reported.  Some administration officials believe that allies might ultimately support the United States over fear of losing possible future connections to the Iraqi oil industry, while others think a few more weeks of inspections could increase support, according to the Times. 

Some administration officials, however, are skeptical that opponents could ever be convinced and that Bush should not even try to obtain a second Security Council resolution authorizing military action, according to the Times.  France and Germany’s resistance to military action has even caused U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell to tell aides that he would support an attack on Iraq without a council resolution — a position Powell has previously resisted, U.S. officials said (Steven Weisman, New York Times, Jan. 23).

Inspections

U.N. weapons inspectors today have visited at least five suspect Iraqi sites, according to Reuters.  International Atomic Energy Agency experts inspected Iraqi Ministry of Trade food stores in Tarmiya, about 20 miles north of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

Missile inspectors from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission visited the Taji Fiberglass production plant, located a few miles north of Baghdad, according to Reuters.  UNMOVIC chemical experts visited the al-Qa Qaa complex south of the capitol and UNMOVIC biological inspectors visited the colleges of science and medicine at the University of Mustansiriya in Baghdad (Reuters/MSNBC.com, Jan. 23).

Yesterday, inspectors visited at least seven sites, including the Qayyarah Petroleum Refinery south of Mosul, according to an IAEA press release.  Agency inspectors visited the Iraq Geological Survey Headquarters in Baghdad and conducted a motorized radiation survey of areas north of the city (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Jan. 22).

For further information, see:

UNMOVIC

IAEA Iraq Action Team

U.N. Resolution 1441

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Iraq II:  Summary of Inspections

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. 23	Iraqi Ministry of Trade food stores in Tarmiya, about 20 miles north of Baghdad	See GSN, Jan. 23.
	Taji Fiberglass production plant, located a few miles north of Baghdad
	Al-Qa Qaa
	College of Science at the University of Mustansiriya in Baghdad
	College of Medicine at the University of Mustansiriya in Baghdad
Jan. 22	Qayyarah Petroleum Refinery, south of Mosul	See GSN, Jan. 23.
	Iraq Geological Survey Headquarters in Baghdad
	Area north of Baghdad	IAEA inspectors conducted a motorized radiation survey (see GSN, Jan. 23).
	Technology Institute in Baghdad	See GSN, Jan. 22.
	Al-Qa Qaa
	Al-Badr missile complex
	University of Basra
Jan. 21	Ukhaider Ammunition Storage Area	Inspectors examined and tagged empty chemical warheads discovered last week and sealed the bunker at the site that contained them (see GSN, Jan. 22).
	Al-Mutaseem	UNMOVIC missile inspectors observed a static test of a solid propellant al-Fatah motor (see GSN, Jan. 22).
	Shahiyat Test Facility	UNMOVIC missile inspectors verified that the site was still abandoned (see GSN, Jan. 22).
	Al-Qa Qaa	UNMOVIC chemical experts inspected chemical production units (see GSN, Jan. 22).
	College of Agriculture at Baghdad University in Abu Ghraib	UNMOVIC biological inspectors verified tagged equipment at the site (see GSN, Jan. 22).
	Agricultural Research Center in Abu Ghraib	See GSN, Jan. 22.
	Lime production facility in the northern city of Mosul
	Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center	IAEA inspectors conducted a motorized radiation survey, inspected buildings and checked sealed equipment (see GSN, Jan. 22).
Jan. 20	Al-Nidaa mosque in Baghdad	BBC News, Jan. 22.
Jan. 19	Department of engineering at Baghdad University	IAEA inspectors visited the faculty’s laboratories and asked about research the faculty was conducting (Baghdad Iraqi Satellite Channel Television, Jan. 19, in FBIS-NES, Jan. 19).
Jan. 18	Ukhaider Ammunition Storage Area	Inspectors conducted an additional analysis on a chemical warhead found at the site last week (U.N. release, Jan. 18).
	Al-Numan General Company	Inspectors assessed the site’s current activities (U.N. release, Jan. 18).
	Al-Qa Qaa	UNMOVIC chemical inspectors surveyed the site using multi-frequency electromagnetic detectors (U.N. release, Jan. 18).
	Microbiology Department of Kufa University’s College of Medicine in Kufato	(U.N. release, Jan. 18).
	Kufa University’s College of Science in Kufato
	Biology Department of Kufa University’s College of Education for Women in Kufato
	State Company for Foodstuff Trading	UNMOVIC biological inspectors inspected quality control laboratories and two declared mobile laboratories at the site (U.N. release, Jan. 18).
	Textile factory in the northern city of Mosul	(U.N. release, Jan. 18).
	University of Baghdad’s College of Science
	University of Baghdad’s College of Education
	Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center	IAEA inspectors conducted a motorized survey (U.N. release, Jan. 18).
Jan. 17	General Establishment for Extractional Operations in the northern city of Mosul	See U.N. release, Jan. 18.
	Fallujah 1, northwest of Baghdad	See GSN, Jan. 17.
	Fallujah 2, northwest of Baghdad
	Al-Saweira, about 30 miles south of Baghdad
Jan. 10-16	See GSN, Jan. 17.

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North Korea:  Seoul Urges Pyongyang to Defuse Crisis

During meetings in Seoul today, South Korean negotiators asked their North Korean counterparts for a specific statement on steps Pyongyang will take to defuse the peninsula’s nuclear standoff, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Jan. 22).

North Korean delegates again said that Pyongyang has no intention of building a nuclear weapon, but South Korean officials pushed for a more specific declaration.  A joint statement on the situation might be released today, delegates said.

“We underlined our people’s and international society’s concerns about North Korea’s nuclear issue and continued to urge them to make a progressive position on it,” said South Korean delegate Rhee Bong-jo (Joseph Coleman, Associated Press, Jan. 23).

South Korean officials urged North Korea to return the situation to its status before the crisis began.

“We demanded that North Korea replace the seals at its nuclear reactor and reverse its withdrawal from the NPT [Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty] to regain the confidence of the international community,” Rhee said (Howard French, New York Times, Jan. 23).

U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton, however, said that Washington would not be happy with a return to the status quo.

“The violation by North Korea was such a fundamental and material breach, that you can’t put Humpty Dumpty together again,” Bolton said yesterday in Seoul.

For the United States to resume aid shipments to North Korea, U.S. President George W. Bush needs “a fundamental change in North Korean behavior,” according to Bolton (Doug Struck, Washington Post, Jan. 23).

It is “only a matter of time” before the North Korean nuclear issue goes to the U.N. Security Council, Bolton said.  He traveled to Tokyo today and is due to meet with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, AP reported (Coleman, Associated Press).

Washington will not, however, immediately seek sanctions when it asks the Security Council to address the nuclear standoff, U.S. officials said (Struck, Washington Post).

International Reaction

Bolton said in Seoul that Britain, France and Russia would probably support an effort to bring the situation to the Security Council (Coleman, Associated Press).

An Australian official who recently traveled to Pyongyang said there was still hope for diplomatic dialogue.

“Having been through the three days over there with them, we’re mildly encouraged that there might be some prospect of dialogue,” Murray MacLean, first assistant secretary for North Asian Affairs in the Australian Foreign Ministry, said.  “But I would emphasize that achieving dialogue is going to be, in itself, quite a long, slow process, and the dialogue, when it gets going, will be as well,” he added.

North Korea Appeals to Seoul

During the inter-Korean talks, Pyongyang said that the two Koreas should focus on the peninsula’s economic issues.

“At the moment, all inter-Korean projects face grave obstacles posed by outside forces which do not like us to join our hands,” Kim Ryong Song, North Korea’s chief delegate, said yesterday.  “The North and South should uphold the great cause of national independence and crush attempts by outside forces seeking to meddle in intranational affairs and forge ahead, without interruption, with all issues including economic projects which have been agreed upon by the two sides,” he added.

South Korean delegates, however, kept the focus on the nuclear crisis.

“The South emphasized that overall inter-Korean relations would be unable to move ahead without the nuclear issue being resolved,” Rhee said (French, New York Times).

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Pakistan:  Islamabad Announces Security Upgrade at Nuclear Sites

Pakistan yesterday said security at its nuclear facilities had recently been increased (see GSN, Jan. 17).  The announcement followed a meeting of the Development Control Committee of the National Command Authority, which oversees the country’s nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported.

The “physical protection and custodial controls” at Pakistani nuclear facilities have recently been upgraded, according to a Pakistani military statement.  The command authority also adopted new measures to improve “personal reliability programs” for employees in nuclear-related programs, AFP said (Agence France-Presse/Times of India, Jan. 22).

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India:  Pakistan Criticizes Russian Arms Lease

Pakistan yesterday criticized India’s decision to lease nuclear-capable bombers and nuclear submarines from Russia, saying the purchase would increase the strategic arms imbalance between the two countries (see GSN, Jan. 21). 

“The acquisitions would complete India’s nuclear triad,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said in a statement.  “It would also aggravate the existing imbalance in conventional forces and strategic weapon delivery systems in the region,” he said.

While Pakistan is not interested in an arms race with India, it will “take every possible measure to safeguard its independence and sovereignty,” Khan said.

The Indian-Russian agreement, signed earlier this week, is only a protocol to help facilitate future arms purchases, an Indian Defense Ministry official said.  “The deals being talked about are ongoing deals and there is nothing new about them,” the official said (Reuters/CNN.com, Jan. 22).

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Smallpox:  Most Atlanta Hospitals Opt Out of Smallpox Plan

Most Atlanta trauma centers will not ask their emergency medical staff to be immunized against the smallpox virus, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported today (see GSN, Jan. 17).  Atlanta is home to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which issued the recommendation to vaccinate up to 10 million civilian emergency personnel in the United States.

Four of the seven hospitals in the area — Atlanta Medical Center, DeKalb Medical Center, Gwinnett Medical Center and Grady Memorial Hospital — have informed state health officials that they will not ask their staff to receive the smallpox immunization, according to Kathleen Toomey, Georgia’s public health director.

North Fulton Medical Center has not announced a policy but workers there are allowed to make their own decision on the issue, Toomey said.  Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, which operates two hospitals, will ask their staff to take part in the program.  Officials have scheduled inoculations for Jan. 30, according to the Journal-Constitution.

Georgia already has one of the country’s most conservative immunization programs; officials originally planned to vaccinate 400 emergency staff and health workers.  With only two hospitals guaranteeing their participation in the program, the number of immunized workers could now drop below 100.

Medical facilities that do not participate in the vaccination program are still important to the state’s preparations for potential biological terrorism, according to Toomey.

“You could vaccinate everyone in Georgia and still not mount an effective response if you haven’t thought through how you would investigate a case and mobilize the medical community,” Toomey said.  “We’ve gotten the full cooperation of all the hospitals, and we’ll have more than enough (of our) staff ready to respond in the event of a smallpox case,” she added.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent vaccine shipments Tuesday to Connecticut, Nebraska, Vermont, and Los Angeles, the Journal-Constitution reported.  CDC Officials said 20 states have requested more than 100,000 doses of the vaccine (M.A.J. McKenna, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 23).

Rhode Island Unions Discourage Shots

Rhode Island’s biggest health care unions are discouraging their members from receiving smallpox immunizations as that state’s health officials are preparing the early stages immunization process, the Providence Journal reported.

The state smallpox immunization plan is “hasty and ill-conceived” and “may do more harm than good”, according to Linda McDonald, president of the United Nurses and Allied Professionals union.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association, the largest nurses’ union in that state, Tuesday told its members to hold off from the vaccines until U.S. health officials address concerns about adequate safety procedures and coverage for those who are sickened by the shots (Felice Freyer, Providence Journal, Jan. 23).

The Rhode Island Health Department Tuesday held the first of a series of meetings for hospital personnel, seeking to recruit volunteers for the program.

“We are being extremely conservative in how we approach this,” said Patricia Nolan, the state health director.

Health officials hope to inoculate about 1,200 medical workers, beginning early February.

“There is a small, incalculable risk that smallpox will be introduced,” Nolan said.  “It’s greater than zero; we think it’s not much great than zero,” she added (Felice Freyer II, Providence Journal, Jan. 23).

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China:  Californian Accused of Illegal Dual-Use Exports to be Arraigned

Qing Chang Jiang, a Californian accused of illegally exporting dual-use items to China, is to be arraigned today, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Jan. 13).

Jiang is at least the fourth Chinese native since October indicted on charges involving illegal shipment of equipment or technology to China, according to AP.

Jiang has been accused of shipping three microwave amplifiers, which can be used to improve ICBM accuracy, to the Hebei Far-East Harris Co. in China without an export license.  The 54th Research Institute, a Chinese military agency, is at the same address, prosecutors said.

Jiang purchased nine microwave amplifiers from a division of L-3 Communications, according to AP.  He told authorities he had withdrawn his export license application and returned the items.  Three of the amplifiers, however, had already been shipped to China, prosecutors said. 

If convicted, Jiang could face up to 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine, AP reported.  Lupe Martinez, Jiang’s lawyer, denied that his client was involved in any Chinese attempts to obtain U.S. technologies.  Beijing has denied any relationship with Jiang, according to a spokesman for the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco (Rachel Konrad, Associated Press/Philadelphia Inquirer, Jan. 23).

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U.S. Plans:  Kwajalein Lease Negotiators Sign Deal

The United States and the Marshall Islands signed an agreement last week giving the United States use of the Kwajalein missile testing facility until 2066, with an option to extend the lease for an additional 20 years, according to Agence France-Presse (see GSN, Jan. 14).  The new agreement will increase the annual U.S. payment for using the atoll to $15 million starting Oct. 1 and then to $18 million beginning 2014, AFP reported.  The United States also agreed to provide up to $500 million for community development projects over the life of the lease. (Giff Johnson, Agence France-Presse I, Jan. 23).

The U.S. and Marshallese governments, as well as Kwajalein landowners, must now approve the agreement, according to Agence France Presse (Giff Johnson, Agence France-Presse II, Jan. 19).  The landowners, however, objected yesterday to it, AFP reported.  Among their concerns is a demand for an annual U.S. rent payment of more than $19 million beginning this year (Johnson, Agence France-Presse I).

The new U.S-Marshallese agreement also establishes a joint Labor Relations Board to help address the concerns of the 1,400 Marshallese employees at the missile testing facility and provides an annual U.S. payment of $200,000 to the Marshall Islands Environmental Protection Authority, according to AFP.  The United States also will continue annual payments of about $2 million for community development at Ebeye, an island next to the atoll.  Washington agreed that, beginning next year, the annual payments will be adjusted for inflation if the Marshall Islands ensures their proper accounting (Agence France-Presse II).

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