The United States “will not shrink from war” if Iraq refuses to abandon its weapons of mass destruction, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell wrote in a commentary in today’s Wall Street Journal (see GSN, Jan. 31).
Iraq has not taken U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 seriously and has responded, “with empty claims, empty declarations and empty gestures,” Powell said.
“Iraq has failed the resolution’s two tests — to disclose and to cooperate,” Powell said, adding that the United States plans to discuss the next step in the Iraq confrontation with its allies.
“A peaceful outcome to this situation is possible if Iraq cooperates with the U.N. and disarms. Unfortunately, [Iraqi President] Saddam [Hussein] seems to be leading his nation down another path. The U.S. seeks Iraq’s peaceful disarmament. But we will not shrink from war if that is the only way to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction” (Colin Powell, Wall Street Journal, Feb. 3).
Meanwhile, Powell is preparing to brief the U.N. Security Council Wednesday, when he will provide transcripts of electronically intercepted Iraqi conversations, the London Sunday Telegraph reported today.
“They’re saying things like, ‘Move that,’ ‘Don’t be reporting that,’ and ‘Ha. Can you believe they missed that?’” said a U.S. official.
Powell will also describe al-Qaeda attempts to cooperate with Iraq on chemical and biological weapons efforts, the Telegraph reported today (Colin Brown, London Sunday Telegraph/Washington Times, Feb. 3).
In his commentary, Powell reiterated U.S. President George W. Bush’s claim that Iraq has ties to terrorist organizations, including al-Qaeda (Powell, Wall Street Journal).
Meanwhile, a British intelligence document said that Iraq pressured scientists not to talk to weapons inspectors.
“We have no evidence that a threat was made, but the threat was there,” said a spokesman for British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Iraq has also used ground-penetrating radar to ensure that buried weapons caches cannot be found, the Telegraph reported (Brown, London Sunday Telegraph/Washington Times).
A top Iraqi official said yesterday the evidence Powell would present to the Security Council Wednesday would be false.
“I think they will be fabricated,” said Gen. Hossam Mohamed Amin. “They will be space photos, aerial photos, of some vehicles that could be interpreted in different ways just to create suspicion around the Iraqi declaration. They will not be real evidences because we have nothing. We have no weapons of mass destruction,” he added (Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, Feb. 3).
Satellite photographs will be a key component of Powell’s briefing, the London Times reported Saturday.
“The real killer stuff is going to be the satellite images indicating pretty clearly that Iraq was actively moving things around while UNMOVIC (United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspections Commission) was visiting different sites,” said a U.S. official. “It’s pretty clear. While the inspectors are getting into cars, the Iraqis are in full panic moving boxes, crates, bulldozers and a couple of huge vans which look like mobile labs,” the official added (Elaine Monaghan, London Times, Feb. 1).
Powell might not present an overwhelming case to the Security Council, instead leaving that to Bush in a later speech, the New York Times reported.
“You won’t see Powell swing for the fences,” said an administration official. “It will not be the end-all speech. The president will do that. The president has to lay it out in a more detailed way,” the official added (Risen/Johnston, New York Times, Feb. 2).
Mohamed al-Douri, Iraq’s U.N. ambassador, will ask to attend the Security Council briefing and speak after Powell’s presentation, the Associated Press reported.
“We will assert our position that we have no link with al-Qaeda, whatever Mr. Colin Powell says,” al-Douri said. “We will also assert our position to be fully cooperative with the inspectors, and we will state that the meeting on Feb. 8-9 (with top weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei) will produce positive results,” he added Associated Press/New York Times, Feb. 3).
A U.N. spokesman said it was not clear that Iraq had complied with Blix’s demand that Iraq increase cooperation before he visited (Ian Fisher, New York Times, Feb. 2).
Russian U.N. Ambassador Sergei Lavrov said the U.N. Charter allows Iraq to participate.
“It’s their sovereign right,” Lavrov said. “I don’t think anyone can dispute that the charter says if you consider a dispute involving a particular country they shall participate,” he added. It was unclear, however, whether al-Douri would be able to speak at the meeting (Associated Press/New York Times).
Meanwhile, some U.S. intelligence officials expressed doubt about the Bush administration’s attempts to link Iraq with al-Qaeda, the New York Times reported.
“We’ve been looking at this hard for more than a year and you know what, we just don’t think it’s there,” said a U.S. official (Risen/Johnston, New York Times).
When he attempts to define the relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda, Powell will focus on Abu Mussab al-Zarkawi, who was reported to be in Baghdad after fleeing Afghanistan, the Financial Times reported.
Interviews with al-Qaeda detainees linked Al Zarkawi with al-Qaeda attempts to develop chemical weapons between 1999 and 2001 (Mark Huband, Financial Times, Feb. 1).
Iraq to Get Six More Weeks
U.S and British officials will try to allow U.N. weapons inspectors six more weeks in Iraq, the Los Angeles Times reported today.
In that time, inspectors could report to the Security Council twice on Iraq’s cooperation, the Times said. British officials will take the lead in brokering a second Security Council resolution with France.
“I believe there will be a second resolution,” Blair said. “I think it will be very plain to people whether Saddam is cooperating or not in the next few weeks. If he does not comply, we have to act,” he added.
The United States will not seek a second resolution, officials said.
“We’re in a position of strength, so we’re not asking for a second resolution. But we’re letting the conversations drift that way. We have a red line: Another resolution has to include the idea of imminent serious consequences,” said a U.S. official (Robin Wright, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 3).
An Iraqi official, meanwhile, threatened suicide attacks across the region if the United States attacked.
“Martyrs, perpetrators of suicide attacks, are our new weapons, and they will not only take action in Iraq,” said Taha Yassin Ramadan, an Iraqi vice-president who is thought to be one of Hussein’s top aides. “The whole region will be set ablaze. This part of the world will become a sea of resistance and danger for Americans,” he added (Fisher, New York Times).
U.S. officials, meanwhile, are training Iraqi dissidents in self-defense, small arms use, first aid, detecting land mines and the Geneva Convention at a facility in Hungary, the Associated Press reported.
Hungary will allow up to 3,000 Iraqis and several dozen volunteers arrived at the base last week (Karl Kirk, Associated Press/Newsday, Jan. 31).
The heads of the U.N. weapons inspections teams in Iraq — chief weapons inspector Hans Blix and International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei — are tentatively scheduled to travel to Baghdad Feb. 8 to meet with Iraqi officials and discuss unresolved inspections issues, Iraqi and U.N. officials said Saturday (see related GSN story, today).
“They’ll be discussing all the outstanding issues, including interviews with Iraqi scientists,” Iraqi U.N. Ambassador Mohammed al-Douri told the Associated Press.
Iraq issued the invitation to Blix and ElBaradei last week, but the U.N. officials said they would only travel to Baghdad if Iraq first agreed to certain conditions, such as allowing inspectors to conduct private interviews with Iraqi scientists and agreeing to U.S.-piloted U-2 surveillance flights (see GSN, Jan. 31). Blix and ElBaradei are still awaiting a response from Iraqi officials, said U.N. spokesman Ewen Buchanan.
Iraq needs to clarify “the purpose of the visit” and “how to achieve prompt progress in the resolution of open disarmament issues,” Buchanan said.
Blix said Friday he was encouraged Iraq wanted to discuss “transparency,” and if given the chance, he would tell Iraqi President Saddam Hussein the current situation is “dangerous” and that he must quickly and fully disclose Iraq’s WMD efforts.
It is unlikely, however, that Blix and ElBaradei will meet with Hussein, said Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Aziz said. “Mr. Blix has a certain mission and that mission could be dealt with the experts who will talk to him about technical matters,” he added (Dafna Linzer, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Feb. 1).
Maj. Gen. Hossam Mohamed Amin, chief Iraqi liaison with U.N. inspectors, indicated yesterday that Iraq might be willing to compromise, saying Baghdad was “keen to resolve any pending issues.”
“We shall do our best to make his (Blix’s) visit successful,” Amin said (Charles Hanley, Associated Press/Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 3).
Defector Could Provide “Smoking Gun”
Meanwhile, one of Hussein’s former bodyguards has provided Israeli intelligence with information on WMD sites that inspectors have not yet visited — information that one former inspector called a “smoking gun,” the Australian Herald Sun reported yesterday.
Abu Hamdi Mahmoud, a senior bodyguard, has provided Israeli intelligence with information on several sites, including an underground chemical weapons site at the southern end of the Jadray peninsula in Baghdad, a Scud assembly site near the city of Ramadi and two underground bunkers containing biological weapons in western Iraq, the Herald Sun reported. Mahmoud also told Israeli intelligence about five bunkers hidden beneath man-made sand dunes that contain empty WMD warheads, similar to those recently discovered by inspectors, and an underground complex in the town of Ouja, north of Tikrit (see GSN, Jan. 17).
“The complex was built five years ago with help from Chinese engineers,” Mahmoud said. “The entrance to the site is through a house in Tikrit. It is the home of one of Saddam’s cousins and is more than half a mile from where the weapons are stored,” he added.
Mahmoud’s information is “the smoking gun” needed to prove Iraqi noncompliance with U.N. resolutions, said former inspector William Tierney. “Once the inspectors go to where Mahmoud has pointed them, then it’s all over for Saddam,” he said.
Mahmoud was debriefed by Israeli intelligence last week at a high-security facility in the southern Negev Desert, according to the Herald Sun. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has so far given permission for only small amounts of Mahmoud’s information to be shared with the U.S. and British intelligence agencies.
“Sharon intends to shatter the growing anti-war movement,” a source close to the Israeli prime minister said. “He plans to call all those European leaders who are wavering to let them know how Saddam has continued to fool Hans Blix and his weapons inspectors,” the source added (Herald Sun, Feb. 2).
Inspections
U.N. inspectors yesterday visited a university located in the Kurdish-controlled northern section of Iraq, angering local officials, according to the New York Times.
The inspectors visited the chemistry and biology laboratories of the College of Science at Salahaddin University in Erbil, the capital of Kurdish-controlled Iraq, according to the Times. After arriving on the scene, university President Saedi Barzinji ended the inspections because of the presence of Iraqi minders, saying they could be Iraqi intelligence agents.
Kurdish officials were angered by the inspection, and the implication they might be collaborating with Hussein to develop weapons of mass destruction, the Times reported. Iraq attacked the Kurdish village of Halabja with chemical weapons in 1988, causing as many as 5,000 casualties, according to the Times.
“This is not just an insult, it is pouring salt on our wounds,” said Sami Abdul Rahman, deputy prime minister for the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which controls the western Kurdish zone (C.J. Chivers, New York Times, Feb. 3).
On Saturday, inspectors visited at least 12 suspect Iraqi sites, according to an IAEA press release. Missile experts from the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission visited the Waziriyah Industrial Complex to obtain clarifications on the present status of al-Samoud ballistic missile guidance and control activities, as well as on the January semi-annual declaration for the site. UNMOVIC missile teams also visited the al-Mamoun Factory and the headquarters of the al-Raya General Company to obtain clarifications on the latest declarations for the sites, the IAEA release said.
UNMOVIC biological inspectors visited three sites in Baghdad — the Biotechnology Department of the College of Science at Saddam University, the Biology Department of the College of Education at Saddam University and the Eastern Distillery Company. UNMOVIC chemical inspectors visited the al-Shaheed State Company, according to the IAEA release. Inspectors traveled to the Tuz Airfield via helicopter to interview the senior officer present and to inspect the site’s ammunition storage areas and aircraft shelters.
IAEA inspectors visited the Tho al-Fiker industrial machining and manufacturing facility north of Baghdad and the Colleges of Science and Engineering at Saddam University. IAEA inspectors also conducted a motorized radiation survey southeast of Baghdad (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Feb. 1).
Weapons experts inspected at least nine suspect Iraqi sites Friday, according to an IAEA statement. UNMOVIC biological inspectors conducted for the first time aerial inspections of several sites, including Fallujah 2, Fallujah 3, the Agricultural and Biological Research Center, the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center and former biological research facilities at Salman Pak. U.N. inspectors also visited the Abu Ghraib Ammunition Factory, where they inspected the site’s production area, quality control, computer system and several warehouses (International Atomic Energy Agency, Jan. 31).
For further information, see:
UNMOVIC
IAEA Iraq Action Team
U.N. Resolution 1441
Romania has launched a WMD detection and warning system, Bucharest Mediafax reported Thursday (see GSN, Nov. 19, 2002).
The system, which was inaugurated by Defense Minister Ioan Mircea Pascu and chief of the General Staff Mihail Popescu in Bucharest Thursday, will collect and process data regarding WMD events, according to Mediafax.
The system will also work with local and federal agencies to monitor Romanian territory for the development or existence of any weapons of mass destruction (Bucharest Mediafax, Jan. 30 in FBIS-EEU, 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 | | Feb. 2 | Chemistry laboratory in the College of Science at Salahaddin University in Erbil, the capital of Kurdish-controlled Iraq | See GSN, Feb. 3. | | Biology laboratory in the College of Science at Salahaddin University in Erbil, the capital of Kurdish-controlled Iraq | | Feb. 1 | Waziriyah Industrial Complex | UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited the site obtain clarifications on the present status of al-Samoud ballistic missile guidance and control activities and on the January semi-annual declaration for the site (see GSN, Feb. 3). | | Al-Mamoun Factory | UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited the site to obtain clarification on the latest declaration for the site (see GSN, Feb. 3). | | Headquarters of the al-Raya General Company | UNMOVIC missile inspectors visited the site to obtain clarification on the latest declaration for the site (see GSN, Feb. 3). | | Biotechnology Department of the College of Science at Saddam University in Baghdad | See GSN, Feb. 3. | | Biology Department of the College of Education at Saddam University in Baghdad | | Eastern Distillery Company in Baghdad | | Al-Shaheed State Company | | Tuz Airfield | Inspectors traveled to the site via helicopter to interview the senior officer present and to inspect the site’s ammunition storage areas and aircraft shelters (see GSN, Feb. 3). | | Tho al-Fiker industrial machining and manufacturing facility north of Baghdad | See GSN, Feb. 3. | | College of Science at Saddam University in Baghdad | | College of Engineering at Saddam University in Baghdad | | Area southeast of Baghdad | IAEA inspectors conducted a motorized radiation survey (see GSN, Feb. 3). | | Jan. 31 | Abu Ghraib Ammunition Factory | Inspectors visited the site’s production area, quality control, computer system and several warehouses (see GSN, Feb. 3). | | Fallujah 2 | UNMOVIC biological inspectors conducted an aerial inspection of the site (see GSN, Feb. 3). | | Fallujah 3 | UNMOVIC biological inspectors conducted an aerial inspection of the site (see GSN, Feb. 3). | | Agricultural and Biological Research Center | UNMOVIC biological inspectors conducted an aerial inspection of the site (see GSN, Feb. 3). | | Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center | UNMOVIC biological inspectors conducted an aerial inspection of the site (see GSN, Feb. 3). | | Former biological research facilities at Salman Pak | UNMOVIC biological inspectors conducted an aerial inspection of the site (see GSN, Feb. 3). | | Al-Yarmouk State Company | See GSN, Jan. 31. | | 7 Nissan Company in Nahrawan, about 20 miles east of Baghdad | | Agricultural equipment company in Waziriya in Baghdad | | Jan. 24- Jan. 30 | See GSN, Jan. 31. | |
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Washington suspects North Korea is pushing to build a half dozen nuclear weapons, but U.S. President George W. Bush has few options to counter the effort, the Washington Post reported Friday (see GSN, Jan. 31).
The suspicion follows recent reports that Pyongyang is moving spent fuel rods from storage at Yongbyon and could attempt to separate the plutonium in the rods.
“Any movement of the spent fuel rods at Yongbyon would be a very serious development for the international community,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. “It would be another step in the wrong direction by North Korea,” he added.
In closed congressional intelligence hearings, administration officials have said Pyongyang is making definite moves to develop nuclear capability, according to the Post. The Bush administration has said it will not enter into talks with North Korea until Pyongyang abandons its nuclear aspirations.
“The ball’s in their court,” a senior administration official said. “We are looking for a fundamental change in North Korea’s behavior,” the official added.
Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, recently requested aircraft reinforcements to compensate for the potential deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk to the Persian Gulf, the Post reported. Fargo asked for two dozen long-range bombers to be stationed in Guam as well as eight F-15E fighter-bombers and several reconnaissance planes to be sent to Japan and South Korea.
U.S. defense officials said the request — which is being considered — was not linked to the latest intelligence reports on the spent fuel rods (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Feb. 1).
2001 Report Revealed Nuclear Work
In November 2001, officials at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California completed a report alleging that North Korea was developing a secret uranium enrichment program, but the Bush administration did not confront Pyongyang with the evidence until October 2002, the Post reported.
“No one focused on it because of 9/11,” said a Livermore official.
The Livermore findings were confirmed in a June 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, a major report that pools the information of several intelligence agencies, but administration officials did not make the account available until after Congress passed a resolution authorizing Bush to use force against Iraq, the Post reported.
White House officials denied withholding intelligence for political reasons (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, Feb. 1).
The U.S. Defense Department has initiated a program to develop computers that would help determine when nuclear weapons should be used against underground bunkers, the Los Angeles Times reported today (see GSN, Jan. 31).
The program would develop computers that would calculate the structure of an underground target and determine the amount of weaponry needed to destroy it, according to Pentagon documents. The system, which is also slated to include human experts, would then determine whether a nuclear weapon is needed to destroy the target and how much collateral damage that explosion would cause, the Times reported, citing Pentagon documents.
Defense and White House officials declined to comment on the program, which is slated to cost $1.26 billion (Richard Cooper, Los Angeles Times, Feb. 3).
Rebels in the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya are continuing efforts to obtain a Russian nuclear weapon, ITAR-Tass reported Thursday, citing remarks by a senior Russian military officer (see GSN, Nov. 1, 2002).
“Operational reports indicate that Chechen terrorists intend to get hold of an important military facility or a nuclear warhead in order to threaten not just our country but the whole world,” Col. Gen. Igor Volynkin, head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s 12th Directorate, said during a reception for a U.S. Defense Department delegation held at a Defense Ministry training center in the Moscow region (ITAR-Tass, Jan. 30 in FBIS-SOV, Jan. 30).
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Nonterrorism research funded by the National Institutes of Health will fall next year — only the second time since 1989 — as U.S. President George W. Bush steps up funding for bioterrorism vaccines, the Washington Post reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 30).
“It will be shocking,” said Donald Poppke, NIH’s acting associate director for budget. “The response will be fairly negative,” he predicted.
For the last five years the NIH has enjoyed annual growth in federal funding of 14 to 15 percent (see GSN, Feb. 4, 2002). However, in fiscal 2004 it is expecting only a 2 percent increase to $27.9 billion, according to officials.
Meanwhile, the still unfinished 2003 budget will fall about $1 billion short of a 1998 goal of doubling the NIH budget over the subsequent five years, according to the Post. The typical 4 percent “cost-of-doing-research” annual increase for ongoing grants — which officials said usually grows faster than inflation — will fall to 1 percent.
“Two or three years of 2 or 3 percent increases, and you’ve pretty much lost what you’ve gained,” said Dave Moore, associate vice president at the Association of American Medical Colleges. “And you’ve certainly lost the morale of investigators who can’t help but be demoralized by trying to compete for funding under those circumstances,” he said.
Both the five-year doubling of the NIH budget and the higher annual increases enjoyed popular support in Congress, the Post reported.
Senators Arlen Specter (R.Pa.) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) have proposed a resolution to triple the NIH budget, from its 1998 level, by 2008 (Rick Weiss, Washington Post, Feb. 2).
Required U.S. procedures for testing new drugs are slowing the development of medicines that could potentially be used to counter bioterrorism threats, according to a leading expert (see GSN, Dec. 18, 2002).
Ken Alibek, former head of the Soviet Union’s chemical weapons development who is now a U.S. researcher, recently encountered such delays from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, he said.
Alibek’s team combined a protein with antibiotics and the result proved 100 percent effective against anthrax in animals, he said.
“We said to NIH, ‘Here is a product. Do you have any fast, accelerated way of organizing production, testing and so on?’ They said, ‘No, we don’t,’” according to Alibek.
He said officials told him that before testing and production, the anthrax treatment must first be presented in a proposal and then pass through several levels of review before they would consider directing additional funding to the effort.
“I said I don’t care if I am going to get money. Here is the product — take it. We’ve already gotten our government money to develop this product,” Alibek said.
However, Alibek said officials responded, saying the treatment would not be available to the public for another five or six years.
The FDA has special programs to accelerate drugs that can save lives, according to Dianne Murphy, director of the FDA’s Office of Pediatric Drug Development and Program Initiatives. It is important, however, to ensure that the drug is safe for human use, she added.
“You can’t do studies on a few mice and say it looks good,” according to Murphy.
A U.S. biological defense program, supported by Washington, could solve many problems in creating needed vaccines and treatments, Alibek said.
“In all senses this would be best — in terms of funding, in terms of quality — this would be preferred,” he said (Divis/Horrock, United Press International, Jan. 31).
The FBI Friday wrapped up a second search of a section of forest near Frederick, Md., related to the bureau’s investigation into the autumn 2001 anthrax attacks, the Associated Press said Saturday (see GSN, Jan. 28).
Investigators left the area Wednesday night after scuba divers used video equipment to search three ponds in the area, near the former home of Steven Hatfill.
The anthrax letter attacks left five dead and infected 13 others.
Hatfill, a former U.S. Army biologist, has been the public focus of the FBI’s investigation, said bureau spokeswoman Debra Weierman. She refused to comment on what, if anything, investigators found during the search (Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Jan. 31).
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)
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By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is hoping to flight-test miniature missile interceptors for the first time in fiscal 2005, according to Pentagon budget documents released Friday. The system will be designed to resolve the technical problem of distinguishing enemy warheads from decoys by attacking both with large numbers of interceptors (see GSN, April 10, 2002).
The “miniature kill vehicles” are not expected to be ready for deployment until sometime after 2010, agency spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Lehner said today. They have been considered a risky technology because of challenges in reducing the size and mass of traditional kill vehicle technologies and reducing cost.
Some experts consider the miniature interceptors a more viable alternative to the agency’s current approach to defending the United States from long-range missile warheads. The current approach seeks to intercept an enemy warhead with a single “exo-atmospheric kill vehicle” launched by a ground-based missile. Critics have charged that such a single interceptor can be easily fooled by simple countermeasures such as decoys and camouflage (see GSN, Oct. 17, 2002).
Depending on the development of the technology, 20 to 40 miniature interceptors would be deployed from a single launcher to attack warhead and decoys alike.
For further information, see:
U.S. MDA fact sheet
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By Bryan Bender
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W. Bush today proposed a $2.23 trillion budget for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, requesting substantial increases for defense and homeland security programs, according to budget documents.
Bush is asking Congress for $379.9 billion for the Defense Department, a $15 billion increase from the current year, or a 4.2 percent increase. A senior Pentagon official said last week that the budget aims to transform the military by making it faster and more agile, while exploiting dramatic advances in information technology and computer networking.
Among the biggest increases would be a 50 percent funding boost for U.S. Special Forces, which have played a central role in the U.S.-led war on terrorism. The elite commandos are slated to receive $1.5 billion more than the current spending level of $3 billion.
Substantial new money will also go for revolutionary technologies such as the development of a national missile defense system, the conversion of four trident nuclear ballistic missile submarines to launch conventional cruise missiles (see GSN, Jan. 27), and unmanned air and undersea vehicles.
The budget also calls for a nearly $3 billion increase to $12.1 billion in the Navy’s shipbuilding budget to construct a Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine and several other new warships in the coming year.
The budget forecasts that fully funding all the weapons systems on the Pentagon drawing board — including three new tactical aircraft programs — will require the department to have annual budgets of nearly half a trillion dollars by the end of the decade. Congressional Budget Office experts have said that it could be substantially higher, on the order of $75 billion more each year until 2009.
On the home front, Bush’s budget reflects a large increase for the newest federal agency, the Homeland Security Department (see GSN, Jan. 23). The department is responsible for protecting U.S. territory from terrorist attack and it will be supported by a new military command, the U.S. Northern Command, tasked with supporting domestic security agencies (see GSN, Oct. 1, 2002).
Created just 10 days ago, the Homeland Security Department is slated to receive $23.9 billion in fiscal 2004, an 8 percent increase over what was expected. The department is in the process of consolidating all or parts of 22 federal agencies and a workforce of 170,000 personnel.
The White House expects a $304 billion budget deficit next year as a result of the federal spending request, up $3 billion from this year’s level.
A senior defense official played down talk that the defense budget and related security spending would unduly strain the U.S. economy.
“We don’t think this is an undue burden on the economy in any way, shape or form,” the official said.
However, he acknowledged that the budget does not take into account the accrued costs of the war on terrorism, a potential war with Iraq or other military operations worldwide. “We don’t know what the costs will be, and any figures you get will be garbage,” he said.
By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — The U.N. World Health Organization released new guidelines last week to help countries better defend their food supplies against terrorist attacks and to respond if such an attack occurs (see GSN, Jan. 31).
“The malicious contamination of food for terrorist purposes is a real and current threat, and deliberate contamination of food at one location could have global public health implications,” according to the report, Terrorist Threats to Food: Guidance for Establishing and Strengthening Prevention and Response Systems.
Food supplies could be a tempting and effective method for terrorists to deliver biological, chemical or radioactive materials, according to the report. Food is extremely vulnerable to deliberate contamination and the wide number of food sources makes prevention more difficult. While access to chemical and biological weapons agents is highly limited, toxic chemicals, industrial chemicals and naturally occurring pathogens are all more readily available and could be used for weapons, the report says.
A successful attack on a country’s food supply could cause large-scale economic damages well as mass casualties, the report says. For example, trade between Israel and some European countries was disrupted briefly after some Israeli citrus fruit shipments were deliberately contaminated with mercury in 1978.
“In fact, economic disruption may be a primary motive for a deliberate act, targeting a product, a manufacturer, an industry or country,” the report says. “Mass casualties are not required to achieve widespread economic loss and disruption of trade,” it adds.
Prevention
A government-industry partnership is needed to better defend food at all stages of the supply and to communicate all information to the public, according to the report.
For example, one measure under consideration by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is the registration of all U.S. and foreign food facilities that produce food or animal feed for consumption in the United States by the end of this year.
Under the proposed regulation, owners of U.S. and international food facilities would be required to submit a registration to the FDA that would include the names and locations of each facility, trade names under which the owner conducts business and the categories of food that each facility handles, according to an FDA press release.
“This measure will bolster our ability to regulate effectively the more than 400,000 domestic and foreign facilities that deal with food within our country,” FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan said. “Our ability to efficiently and effectively help protect the nation’s food supply is a critical part in our agency’s counterterrorism mission.”
U.S. and foreign food facilities would have until Dec. 12 to register with the FDA under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002. The agency said it plans to have a registration system in place by mid-October to begin accepting early registration.
Response
Given the high risk countries must improve their public health systems to better respond to acts of food terrorism, the WHO report says.
“It is highly unlikely that acts of food terrorism can be completely prevented, and it is even more unlikely, if not impossible, to prevent hoaxes,” the report says.
Many countries already have in place disease surveillance systems that are capable of detecting outbreaks of foodborne diseases, provided they are large enough and severe enough to cause people to seek medical attention, according to the report. To strengthen these systems to respond to food terrorism, they should be linked to other systems that provide related information, such as veterinary health systems and health care workers, it says. For example, pharmacists could report a higher-than-usual demand for nonprescription medicines, such as anti-diarrheals, that could indicate a food terrorism incident.
Countries should also routinely monitor chemical, biological and radioactive contaminants in food, which can provide a baseline of contaminant levels and help to detect unusual incidents, the report says.
Emergency response plans need to consider food terrorism according to the report. Such plans should consider the ability of disease surveillance systems to detect food safety emergencies and should be tested in exercises for effectiveness in responding to food terrorism, the report says.
Swift action and communication by emergency response agencies in the event of a food terrorism incident is crucial to reduce public concerns, according to the report.
International Response
The WHO is also working to improve its International Health Regulations (IHR) to better defend against incidents of food terrorism, which could have international repercussions.
“International trade in food, with its rapid, widespread distribution systems, may pose a new international threat to public health, as food that has been contaminated in one country can threaten public health in other countries,” the report says.
The proposed IHR changes include a requirement for WHO members to notify the organization of “all public health emergencies of international concern,” as opposed to the current requirement to report only cases of cholera, plague and yellow fever, the report says. This would require WHO members to identify and control high levels of food contamination, as well as infectious and noninfectious diseases, it says. The proposed regulations will also include guidelines for WHO members to implement surveillance and public health response requirements, it says. The revised IHR is expected to be submitted to the World Health Assembly by May 2004.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration encouraged companies Friday to submit marketing applications for drugs using the mineral compound ferric hexacyanoferrate (II), also known as Prussian blue, to treat people who have been exposed to radioactive elements (see GSN, Dec. 4, 2002).
The FDA has determined that 500-milligram capsules of Prussian blue would be effective in treating patients contaminated with radioactive thallium, nonradioactive thallium or radioactive cesium — elements terrorists could use in a radiological weapon, according to an agency press release. Prussian blue works by binding with radioactive particles while in the gut, causing them to be expelled. Currently, there are no FDA-approved treatments for internal thallium or radioactive cesium contamination.
“FDA is working to protect U.S. citizens who may be exposed to radioactive materials released from terrorist attacks using a dirty bomb,” said FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan. “FDA’s guidance to industry and approved labeling for Prussian blue products gives manufacturers critical information necessary for producing an FDA-approved product to counter terrorism,” he added (U.S. Food and Drug Administration release, Jan. 31).
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2002 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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