In a closed meeting one day after hearing from U.N. weapons inspectors, a majority ๐๐of the U.N. Security Council — including permanent members France, Russia and China — remained unconvinced of the need for war in Iraq, according to the New York Times (see GSN, Jan. 29).
“The majority in the council thinks that we should continue the inspections, inspectors should have some time, more time,” said French U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, the current Council president. France would prefer to give the inspections “weeks or months, as long as the inspection system is producing results” (Julia Preston, New York Times, Jan. 30).
At least 11 of the 15 Security Council members supported continuing inspections, including Germany, Mexico, Chile, Guinea, Cameroon, Syria, Angola and Pakistan, according to the Associated Press. Only Bulgaria and Spain expressed support for the U.S. and British position that Iraq has failed to comply with inspections (Lederer/Linzer, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Jan. 30).
Meanwhile, a senior U.S. nonproliferation official yesterday dismissed calls to extend inspections.
“[Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein has shown his colors,” Assistant Secretary of State for Nonproliferation John Wolf said during a press briefing. “If he wants to [disarm] ... he doesn’t need more time,” Wolf added.
If Iraq intended to fully disarm itself of weapons of mass destruction, it could easily do so by answering outstanding questions and encouraging scientists to consent to private interviews with inspectors — all of which Hussein could do “today,” Wolf said.
“If they have nothing to hide, why should they? He can do it all today,” Wolf said. “He does not need a final opportunity,” he added.
Iraq’s compliance, or noncompliance, with U.N. disarmament resolutions rests solely in the hands of Hussein, who has not yet accepted that Iraq must disarm, Wolf said.
“In Iraq, you don’t need a vote of parliament. In Iraq, you don’t need search warrants. In Iraq, you don’t need to pay much attention to public opinion,” Wolf said. “But Saddam Hussein has not yet ... made the genuine acceptance, not even today, of the fact that disarmament ... was demanded of it. He’s not accepted that. If he makes the decision, he knows where to find the U.N. He has their phones tapped, I’m sure. So he must know the phone number. He should pick up the phone and tell them, ‘I’m coming to deliver the arms,’” Wolf added (Federal News Service transcript, Jan. 29).
Today, the leaders of eight European countries — Spain, Portugal, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Denmark — issued a joint declaration yesterday supporting the U.S. efforts to disarm Iraq, according to the BBC News.
“We must remain united in insisting that his [Hussein’s] regime is disarmed. The solidarity, cohesion and determination of the international community are our best hope of achieving this peacefully. Our strength lies in unity,” the joint declaration says. “Our goal is to safeguard world peace and security by ensuring that this regime gives up its weapons of mass destruction. Our governments have a common responsibility to face this threat. Failure to do so would be nothing less than negligent to our own citizens and to the wider world” (BBC News, Jan. 30).
In an attempt to persuade the rest of the council, the United States said Secretary of State Colin Powell would next week present U.S. evidence that Iraq is continuing to develop weapons of mass destruction and links to terrorism, U.S. diplomats said (see GSN, Jan. 29).
“The diplomatic window is closing,” said John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. “We feel that the time for decision-making is fast approaching,” he said.
Washington said yesterday it expected the debate over use of force to begin after Powell’s presentation. Powell is also expected to set into motion provisions of U.N. Resolution 1441, which established the current inspections regime, that call for a new council debate if Iraq has failed to comply, U.S. diplomatic sources said (Preston, New York Times).
White House Prepares Evidence
To that end, U.S. President George W. Bush’s top national security aides are debating what information should be declassified to illustrate Iraqi noncompliance, according to the New York Times.
National Security Council, State Department, Pentagon and U.S. intelligence officials are examining which information might be shared with Security Council members. The information includes satellite photographs that show Iraq trying to clean up sites before the arrival of inspectors and reports that Iraqi intelligence agents posed as scientists for interviews, the Times reported (David Sanger, New York Times, Jan. 30).
The White House is also debating whether to declassify more information concerning Iraq’s attempts to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes, according to the Washington Post (see GSN, Sept. 9, 2002). While U.S. intelligence officials have said the tubes could be used in a uranium-enrichment program, International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have said they were intended for use in conventional rockets (see GSN, Jan. 24). However, the United States believes the tubes’ specifications, set by Iraq, are more precise than those needed for rockets, a senior Bush administration official said yesterday.
While officials acknowledged there was no “smoking gun,” officials told the Post that the United States could prove Iraq secretly attempted to buy ordinary materials to use as basic components for weapons of mass destruction, officials said.
“Not all of them can have peaceful uses. Any one of them can have a safe explanation, but not all of them. Through them, we will put together a mosaic that is convincing,” the senior intelligence official said (Pincus/Priest, Washington Post, Jan. 30).
One White House concern over the release of satellite images is the fear of what other countries might learn about U.S. technical capabilities, a Pentagon official said. Analysts could cipher much from such photographs, including the location of a satellite and what time of day it flew over the subject, the official said.
“When you let out this stuff, you give it up to China, Russia and other countries,” the official said. “That’s the sensitivity,” the official added (Sanger, New York Times).
Another concern is the possible identification of human intelligence sources, foreign intelligence services or defectors who wished to keep their identities secret, intelligence officials said.
“There also are future defectors or potential foreign informants who may withhold their information if they see we on occasion disclose secret data,” one senior intelligence official said (Pincus/Priest, Washington Post).
Peaceful Options
If Hussein and other top Iraqi officials chose to peacefully leave power and go into exile, then the United States would “try to help find a place for them to go,” Powell said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 21).
“If he [Hussein] were to leave the country and take some of his family members with him and others in the leading elite that have been responsible for so much trouble during the course of his regime, we would, I am sure, try to help find a place for them to go,” Powell said during a State Department news conference.
State spokesman Richard Boucher said later, however, that an exile scenario is not one that the White House appears to be seriously considering. Instead, it is only “an idea floating out there,” Boucher said (Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Jan. 30).
Saudi Arabia is also trying to find a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said today.
“We are working to find a solution to the Iraqi issue and to avoid military action,” Prince Saud said after meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London yesterday.
Prince Saud is scheduled to meet with Bush and Powell later today in Washington to discuss Iraq (Agence France-Presse, Jan. 30).
U.S. Personnel in Iraq
U.S. Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed yesterday that a small number of U.S. military personnel were currently operating within Iraq (see GSN, Jan. 6).
“There are not significant (U.S.) military forces in northern Iraq right now,” Myers told reporters, declining to provide further details on the exact numbers, locations and activities of the forces.
U.S. personnel in Iraq are working for the CIA, a defense official said. These could be direct CIA employees or U.S. troops temporarily transferred to CIA control, according to the Washington Post. Over the last several weeks in northern Iraq, “there have been very small numbers that have moved in and out of the area, more CIA than military,” another defense official said (Ricks/Slevin, Washington Post, Jan. 30).
Inspections
U.N. inspectors have visited at least four suspect Iraqi sites today, Iraqi officials said. Biological experts from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission visited the central public health laboratory in Baghdad and the al-Thirthar and al-Awali private breweries in Khan Bani Saad, about 30 miles northeast of Baghdad. IAEA inspectors visited the April 7 factory, a few miles northeast of the Iraqi capital (Reuters/MSNBC.com, Jan. 30).
Yesterday, inspectors visited at least 10 sites, according to an IAEA statement. Inspectors visited the al-Fallujah Ammunition Depot. UNMOVIC biological inspectors visited the University of Technology in central Baghdad, two agricultural field stations northwest of the city and sites belonging to the State Company for Drug Marketing Appliances, the agency release said. UNMOVIC missile inspectors traveled to al-Mamoun to obtain a sample of propellant used in the al-Fatah missile.
IAEA inspectors visited the Headquarters of the Geological Survey of Iraq in Baghdad and the Colleges of Science, Education and Engineering at Kufa University. They also conducted a motorized radiation survey in the Fallujah industrial area and other areas west of Baghdad.
The IAEA also revised yesterday the number of Iraqi scientists inspectors have tried to privately interview. There have been 16 interview requests involving 13 scientists, with three asked twice, the agency release said. The IAEA had previously reported that 16 scientists had been approached for interviews (International Atomic Energy Agency, Jan. 29).
For further information, see:
UNMOVIC
IAEA Iraq Action Team
U.N. Resolution 1441
By Bryan Bender
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W. Bush will ask Congress for a 30 percent budget increase for the Energy Department’s nuclear nonproliferation programs around the world, the largest request for nonproliferation funding to date, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 28).
The Bush administration’s fiscal 2004 budget submission, to be delivered to Congress Monday, will request more than $1.3 billion for nuclear nonproliferation programs, Abraham told a luncheon hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (see GSN, Jan. 22). The department last year requested a little over $1 billion, he said.
“This unprecedented level of funding comes just months after our successful effort to establish the G-8’s [Group of Eight] Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction,” Abraham said (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2002).
He said the budget request, combined with the G-8 pledge to add $20 billion for nonproliferation programs during the next 10 years, demonstrates “how far this nation is prepared to go individually and collectively to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and materials.” The United States has already pledged to fund half of the G-8 program.
Beefing Up Current Efforts and Initiating New Ones
Some of the new budget resources for the coming year will be used to begin securing nearly all of the estimated 600 metric tons of nuclear weapons-usable materials remaining in Russia, a priority Abraham said he hopes to complete during the next few years, “in many cases ahead of previous schedules.”
The increased funding will also help secure an additional 18 sites in Russia housing dangerous radiological materials, collect 225 orphaned or surplus radioactive materials in the former Soviet Union, and boost U.S. funding for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s nuclear safeguards efforts by 17 percent, Abraham said (see GSN, Oct. 23, 2002). The United States will cosponsor an international conference on securing radiological materials along with the IAEA in March in Vienna (see GSN, Nov. 14, 2002).
In the new budget, $110 million will also be used to help spot nuclear proliferation by developing technologies for long-range detection and by improving the ability to identify the origin of nuclear weapons and materials after they might be confiscated or used, Abraham said.
“We will also continue to refine our ability to detect illicit trafficking of nuclear materials at our own borders, and be looking at ways to make those borders even more secure,” Abraham said (see GSN, Oct. 21, 2002).
Meanwhile, a new Energy program will seek to prevent “export control failures” by anticipating where WMD technologies are most vulnerable to theft or illicit transfer, he said.
Russia Top Priority, But Expansion Necessary
Abraham said Russian stocks of nuclear weapons and materials remain the top priority.
With fiscal 2004 funding, the United States plans to begin building facilities for disposing of surplus plutonium from Russian weapons, working to shut down Russia’s plutonium reactors, and implementing a “modest new program” to purchase additional Russian uranium derived from nuclear weapons for use in a strategic U.S. reserve (see GSN, Oct. 4, 2002). In addition, the department hopes to fund efforts to improve security at Russian nuclear sites — including disposing of 1,200 Russian naval warheads — and to strengthen Russian border security.
“The United States and Russia have taken major steps to secure Russian materials, but there is much more to be done,” Abraham said.
Beyond Russia, Abraham said the department would seek to help strengthen regional nuclear security in the Middle East and Asia, through venues such as the Cooperative Monitoring Center at Sandia National Laboratory, which is responsible for understanding the evolving threat and reducing the incentives for states, such as North Korea, to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
The new budget reflects Bush’s comments in Tuesday’s State of the Union address to Congress.
“Today, the gravest danger in the war on terror, the greatest danger facing America and the world, is outlaw regimes that seek and possess nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons,” Bush said. “These regimes could use such weapons for blackmail, terror and mass murder. They could also give or sell those weapons to terrorist allies, who would use them without the least hesitation.”
“We are strongly supporting the International Atomic Energy Agency in its mission to track and control nuclear materials around the world,” Bush added. “We are working with other governments to secure nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union and to strengthen global treaties banning the production and shipment of missile technologies and weapons of mass destruction.”
The new Energy budget “signals our intention to lead as we move ahead with this long, complex and costly process” of reducing the threat of weapons of mass destruction, Abraham said today.
He said the budget priorities reflect the “10 principles” of nuclear and radiological security that he outlined last fall (see GSN, Nov. 15, 2002).
U.S. and Russian experts applauded U.S. President George W. Bush’s proposed 30 percent increase for fiscal 2004 nonproliferation funding, but lamented uneven program funding, the Russian-American Nuclear Security Advisory Council said today (see GSN, Jan. 29).
“The overall budget increase seems impressive, but it is somewhat misleading. The major increase is to be spent in the United States, while key programs focused on Russian nuclear security have been cut below FY 2003 levels or held to minimal growth,” said Ken Luongo, RANSAC’s Executive Director (RANSAC release I, Jan. 30).
Most of the budget increase — 84 percent, or $262 million — will go to disposing of U.S. fissile material, according to the council.
The council nevertheless commended the proposed increase for nonproliferation funds, in particular a boost of almost $20 million to provide security for Russian nuclear material stockpiles. However, the organization criticized proposed cuts U.S.-Russian cooperative nuclear efforts.
U.S. domestic plutonium disposal efforts are expected total $609 million, according to RANSAC.
The Energy Department hopes to spend $47 million on Russian plutonium disposition, up $13 million from fiscal 2003. The administration also requested a 30 percent increase for international nuclear safeguard funding, up to more than $13 million from below $10 million in fiscal 2003.
RANSAC also reported that the Energy Department is pushing the new Accelerated Materials Disposition effort, which will put about $30 million into four primary programs. The president requested the bulk of the money, $26 million, be used to buy and store Russian highly enriched uranium blended to low enriched uranium.
Bush also asked that the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors program’s budget be increase by almost 30 percent, or up $2 million from $5.86 million. The program is working to phase out use of highly enriched uranium fuel in the former Soviet Union.
The administration wants to put $1 million toward purchasing Russian highly enriched uranium.
A final sum of $1 million will augment a fourth program: the materials conversion and consolidation effort in Russia, which already received a $4 million boost in the proposal. All told the project’s budget would be $32 million up from $27 million fiscal 2003, according to RANSAC.
Within the budget request, the president wants to slightly cut funding for the Energy Department’s International Nuclear Materials Protection and Cooperation program — from $227 million to $226 million — although the department asked for $262 toward that effort.
Within the $226 million request, the budget for preventing the proliferation of radiological material was boosted from about $16 million to $36 million.
The request includes $24 million for a new Materials Protection and Cooperation program that would cover nuclear warhead storage facilities in Russia.
The council criticized cuts to some programs as “a short-sighted mistake.”
The administration requested $38 million for cooperative programs with the Russian Navy, a cut of almost $18 million. Bush slashed the request for security work at Russian nuclear agency facilities by $14 million — to $34 million.
The budget request for security work at Russian civilian nuclear sites is almost half of fiscal 2003 levels — the president asked for a cut from almost $22 million to $11 million — RANSAC reported.
The request for the Second Line of Defense program, which aids border control efforts, remained level at $24 million.
The request for funding of export control operations at the Energy Department dropped by $521,000, to just below $15 million.
The Russian Transition Initiatives program, which includes efforts to reduce the size of the Russian nuclear weapons complex and find suitable work for Russian scientists involved in weapons efforts, remained flat.
The budget request will be formally made public next week, according to RANSAC (RANSAC release II, Jan. 30).
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. 30 | Central public health laboratory in Baghdad | See GSN, Jan. 30. | | Al-Thirthar private brewery in Khan Bani Saad, about 30 miles northeast of Baghdad | | Al-Awali private brewery in Khan Bani Saad, about 30 miles northeast of Baghdad | | April 7 factory, a few miles northeast of Baghdad | | Jan. 29 | Al-Fallujah Ammunition Depot | See GSN, Jan. 30. | | University of Technology in central Baghdad | | Two agricultural field stations northwest of Baghdad | | Sites belonging to the State Company for Drug Marketing Appliances | | Al-Mamoun | UNMOVIC missile inspectors obtained a sample of propellant used in the al-Fatah missile (see GSN, Jan. 30). | | Headquarters of the Geological Survey of Iraq in Baghdad | See GSN, Jan. 30. | | Fallujah industrial area and other areas west of Baghdad | IAEA inspectors conducted a motorized radiation survey (see GSN, Jan. 30). | | College of Science at Kufa University | See GSN, Jan. 30. | | College of Education at Kufa University | | College of Engineering at Kufa University | | Jan. 28 | Ukhaider Ammunition and Missile Storage area | Inspectors recovered a sample from an empty chemical warhead previously discovered at the site for further analysis (see GSN, Jan. 29). | | Saddam Center for Biotechnology Research at Baghdad University | See GSN, Jan. 29. | | 7 Nissan stores | | Grain Board of Iraq’s main depot at Taji | | Furat State Company | | Al-Harith Missile Maintenance Workshop in Taji | UNMOVIC missile inspectors retagged some SA-2 surface-to-air missiles at the site and removed the tags from others for maintenance purposes (see GSN, Jan. 29). | | Nassr industrial machining and foundry facility, north of Baghdad | See GSN, Jan. 29. | | Baghdad | IAEA inspectors conducted a motorized radiation survey (see GSN, Jan. 29). | | University of Babylon‘s College of Science | See GSN, Jan. 29. | | University of Babylon’s College of Education | | University of Babylon’s College of Engineering | | Jan. 27 | Az Zubayr Naval Complex | See GSN, Jan. 28. | | Al-Rafah Liquid Engine Test Facility | UNMOVIC missile inspectors observed a static test of an al-Samoud missile engine (see GSN, Jan. 28). | | Al-Majd Center in Amiriyah | UNMOVIC chemical inspectors used a metal analyzer to examine sheets of alloy (see GSN, Jan. 28). | | Taji area | IAEA inspectors conducted a motorized radiation survey (see GSN, Jan. 28). | | Al-Kindi Research and Development Company, near the northern city of Mosul | See GSN, Jan. 28. | | North Refinery Company, near the city of Baji | | Al-Amiriya medicine stores | See GSN, Jan. 27. | | Al-Samoud missile factory in Taji | | Baghdad area | IAEA inspectors conducted a nuclear survey (see GSN, Jan. 27). | | Jan. 26 | National Project to Control and Combat the Cattle Plague in Baghdad | IAEA release, Jan. 26. | | Chest and Respiratory Diseases Institute in Baghdad | | Al-Basil Center, Nahrawan, in Baghdad | | Karama State Company’s Khadhimiya Plant | UNMOVIC missile inspectors held technical discussions with the leaders of the al-Samoud missile project (IAEA release, Jan. 26). | | Hittin State Establishment | IAEA release, Jan. 26. | | Al-Kut Military Hospital | | Baiji underground refinery located between Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul | | Um al-Maarik industrial machining and foundry facility, south of Baghdad | | Salman Pak area | IAEA inspectors conducted a motorized radiation survey (IAEA release, Jan. 26). | | College of Science at the University of Mosul | IAEA release, Jan. 26 | | College of Education at the University of Mosul | | College of Engineering at the University of Mosul | | Jan. 25 | Al-Mamoun | UNMOVIC missile inspectors met with officials of the al-Rasheed State Company at the site (IAEA release, Jan. 25). | | Sumaykah surface-to-surface missile support facility | IAEA release, Jan. 25. | | College of Veterinary Medicine at Quadisiyah University | | College of Education at Quadisiyah University | | Al-Qa Qaa | UNMOVIC chemical inspectors conducted a rebaseline inspection at the site (IAEA release, Jan. 25). | | Storage area of the North Oil Company | IAEA release, Jan. 25. | | College of Education at Tikrit University in Tikrit | | College of Engineering at Tikrit University in Tikrit | | Vicinity of Baghdad | IAEA inspectors conducted a motorized radiation survey (IAEA release, Jan. 25). | | Jan. 24 | Mamoun Factory | IAEA release, Jan. 24. | | Al-Basil Center in the Jadriyah complex in Baghdad | UNMOVIC chemical Inspectors assessed the site’s current activities (IAEA release, Jan. 24). | | Al-Qa Qaa | See GSN, Jan. 24. | | Jan. 17-23 | See GSN, Jan. 24. | |
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By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — Pakistan’s nuclear program is “India-specific” and not a threat to the rest of the international community, Pakistani Foreign Minister Mian Khursid Mahmud Kasuri said yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 28).
“No other country in the world need feel threatened,” Kasuri said during a press conference held at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington.
Tensions between the South Asian rivals have escalated in recent weeks, with exchanges of heated rhetoric over recent Indian ballistic missile tests (see GSN, Jan. 9) and India’s decision to lease Russian strategic bombers and nuclear submarines (see GSN, Jan. 23).
Pakistan’s fears of India are “not imaginary,” Kasuri said, noting that the two countries have gone to war three times since 1947 and that India’s armed forces dwarf those of Pakistan. Earlier this month, Pakistan sought to bolster its own strategic forces by beginning to deploy the 1,500-kilometer range Ghauri nuclear-capable ballistic missile (see GSN, Jan. 9).
The most recent source of contention between India and Pakistan has been a set of planned U.S.-Indian air combat exercises, scheduled to occur by early 2004. Pakistani officials were reportedly concerned that the exercises would help improve India’s ability to defend against Pakistani aircraft-delivered nuclear weapons.
However, Pakistani fears were allayed after the United States offered similar exercises with the Pakistani Air Force and Navy yesterday, Kasuri said after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell earlier in the day. The international community should play a role in helping to reduce tensions between Pakistan and India, he added.
“The United States wishes to play a helpful role in the area and will be doing everything we can to continue to reduce tensions in the region, and hopefully reach a point where dialogue can begin between Indian and Pakistan and all the various issues that exist between the two nations,” Powell said in remarks following the meeting.
While refusing to name any specific proposals, Powell indicated that economic activities or reduced fighting in the disputed Kashmir region could help “jump-start” a dialogue.
“We remain committed to a strong U.S.-Pakistan relationship and a strong U.S.-Indian relationship,” Powell said. “It’s not a zero-sum game. We can have good friendships with both nations.”
Proliferation Concerns
During his visit, Kasuri also met with top congressional leaders and several senior Bush administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Pakistan’s alleged aid to North Korea’s nuclear program was also on the table. Kasuri pledged Pakistan would not proliferate nuclear assistance to North Korea or any other country (see GSN, Jan. 21).
Kasuri also denied reports that Pakistani scientists have informally aided other countries or terrorist groups in obtaining nuclear weapons. The father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, A.Q. Khan, has reportedly made a number of secret trips to North Korea (see GSN, Nov. 25, 2002). U.S. and Pakistani authorities have also investigated Pakistani nuclear scientist Sultan Bashiru-din Mehmood, who was allegedly approached by al-Qaeda to aid their efforts to develop a nuclear weapon (see GSN, Dec. 31, 2002).
“We keep a close eye on our scientists,” Kasuri said. “People in our country are not floating around available to the highest bidder.”
For further information, see:
Pakistani Government
Carnegie Endowment Nuclear Status Map
Carnegie Endowment World Missile Chart
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s head is looking to hold an emergency meeting of his governing board on Feb. 12 to discuss the North Korean nuclear crisis, Reuters reported today (see GSN, Jan. 29).
“The board of governors of the IAEA should meet on February 12. I hope it will not be postponed,” said Director General Mohamed ElBaradei. “The question must be treated urgently and decisively, if we want to preserve the integrity of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty,” he said.
North Korea, which expelled IAEA inspectors last month (see GSN, Dec. 31, 2002) and withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty nearly three weeks ago (see GSN, Jan. 10), dubbed the IAEA the “cat’s paw” of the United States this week (Reuters/MSNBC.com, Jan. 30).
ElBaradei’s call comes as South Korean envoy Lim Dong-won returned home after failing to meet with the elusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Despite the snub, Lim insisted progress had been made.
“North Korea repeated what it has said to the world: that it has not developed nuclear arms and has no intention to develop them,” Lim said. “They said that if the U.S. wants to conduct its own inspections, they are willing to accept that,” he added (Ward/Jack, Financial Times, Jan. 30).
Pyongyang Receives Millions From South
South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, meanwhile, asked for understanding after a government audit revealed a $200 million transfer to North Korea shortly before a historic 2000 summit in Pyongyang.
Opposition politicians alleged that Kim’s administration bribed North Korea to hold a summit for which Kim won the Nobel Peace Prize.
“I request special understanding from the public for the interest of the nation and country,” Kim said.
Without making any allegations of wrongdoing, the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection revealed that $200 million was withdrawn from a state-owned Seoul bank and transferred to Pyongyang a week before the summit, Agence France-Presse reported today.
The money was reportedly part of a loan to a Hyundai group subsidiary and was “used to finance projects in North Korea,” according to audit board member Sohn Sung-tae. (Charles Whelan, Agence France-Presse/OutlookIndia.com, Jan. 30).
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By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — U.S. state and local authorities remain “underprepared” to detect and respond to a biological weapons attack, a U.S. investigation concluded earlier this month (see GSN, Jan. 24).
A Jan. 14 report, released by the Inspector General’s Office of the Health and Human Services Department, reviewed 12 state and 36 local health departments last year and says inspectors found “vulnerabilities in their infrastructure that leave them not fully prepared for a bioterrorism event.”
It says not all state and local health departments evaluated by the department had sufficient staff, surveillance systems, technology or laboratory capacity to quickly and accurately identify an attack.
The report says surveillance systems “are weak” and epidemiological capacity is “limited by lack of resources.” Laboratory capacity is “vulnerable,” and state and local authorities “have limited availability to mobilize response,” it says.
Nevertheless, the report says virtually all public health departments are improving their preparedness. It also noted an unprecedented congressional appropriation of nearly $918 million in emergency infrastructure funding to state and local authorities, and says the money, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded to authorities last year, is intended to address many of the vulnerabilities identified in the report.
The report concludes, however, that such funding will need to be sustained in the coming years and that a mechanism should be created to ensure the money is used as intended.
Inspectors further concluded that state and local authorities have little guidance for addressing the mental health needs of victims, their families, first responders and the public. In addition, questions remain about where to direct equipment and supplies and who to immunize.
“First and foremost, CDC should develop a monitoring system to ensure that the bioterrorism preparedness funds are being used as intended,” it says.
The report serves in part as a critique of the federal funding response to the World Trade Center, Pentagon and anthrax attacks. Health and Human Services, which administers anti-terrorism federal aid to state and local authorities, responded to the report by praising its criticisms.
The report’s recommendations, wrote Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness Jerome Hauer were “straightforward, practical, and consistent with steps that HHS is taking to enhance preparedness for bioterrorism and other public health emergencies.”
He said, though, that the inspectors evaluated capabilities just prior to the $918 million funding awards.
“This funding constituted a more than 20-fold increase over the annual level of HHS funding for similar purposes during the period FY 1999-2001,” Hauer wrote in a report appendix and said current department activities are “consistent” with the recommendations.
State and local officials have since complained, however, that the Bush administration’s decision to vaccinate up to 10 million emergency response and health care personnel against smallpox could greatly deplete the funding.
President George W. Bush is hoping his proposed $6 billion “BioShield” will push pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to develop vaccines and treatments to bioterrorism threats by promising to buy up market slack, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Jan. 29).
“We want to be able to assure drug companies there will be a market for their product, as opposed to making something that nobody will buy,” said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “This is a way to guarantee there will be a market whether it is used or stockpiled, and perhaps they will make a modest profit,” he said.
The effort, which is subject to congressional approval, would spur the private sector to develop vaccines and treatments for obscure but deadly diseases such as the Ebola virus or anthrax and smallpox, the Post reported.
The plan would also enable the National Institutes of Health to lift its salary restrictions to attract top scientists, to renovate laboratories quickly and to restructure staff contracts, Fauci said. < | |
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