Threat Assessment:  War With Iraq Could Bring Domestic Terrorism

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said yesterday that an attack on Iraq could cause an increased threat of terrorist attack in the United States (see GSN, Feb. 28).

“There may be more threats, there have been more threats, if we go to war,” he told reporters.

While U.S. officials said there is no evidence of an imminent terrorist plot, Washington believes terrorists want to time an attack to coincide with a U.S. military conflict in Iraq.

“I think we can anticipate more noise in the system, more threats, because of potential invasion,” Ridge said.  “I mean, it’s fairly predictable, and we see some of that now,” he added.

Ridge also said an invasion would be an integral part of the war on terrorism.  The potential collaboration of terrorist groups with Iraq, and its suspected weapons of mass destruction, must be prevented, he said.

“Those are partnerships that we never want to see develop,” according to Ridge.

He added that the national threat alert level could be raised if the United States attacks Iraq.

“I think it certainly would be incumbent on us to take into consideration military involvement as we determine the level of protection we need for homeland security — we’d be foolish if we didn’t,” Ridge said (Philip Shenon, New York Times, March 4).

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Iraq I:  U.S., U.K. Look for U.N. Resolution Vote by End of Next Week

The United States and the United Kingdom have decided that a vote on their latest draft U.N. resolution on Iraq should occur by the end of next week, but the two countries will not push for such a vote unless they are confident the draft resolution will receive the nine votes it needs to pass, U.S and diplomatic officials said yesterday (see GSN, March 3).

President George W. Bush said in late January that “this issue will come to a head in a matter of weeks, not months,” White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said yesterday.  “Nothing has changed that timetable,” Fleischer said. 

The impending Security Council briefing by U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, scheduled for Friday, is seen as the beginning of the final debate period over the draft resolution and the ultimate use of force against Iraq, officials said.

“I think that … meeting will mark the final open break between council members,” a Security Council ambassador said.

The United States believes that Russia and China, two permanent council members that oppose the use of force against Iraq, will abstain rather than veto a new resolution, leaving only France, according to the Washington Post.  If the United States and the United Kingdom can round up the necessary nine votes among the nonpermanent members, and assure the Russian and Chinese abstentions, then a vote might be held by the end of next week, even under the threat of a French veto, U.S. and diplomatic officials said.

“We could let them veto it and then turn on them,” an official said.  If nine votes cannot be guaranteed, however, “then there will be no vote,” the official added.

In his report to the Security Council Friday, Blix is expected to say that Iraq has still not made a full commitment to disarm, but it has made some progress, such as beginning to destroy its prohibited al-Samoud 2 missiles, according to the Post (see related GSN story, today; Karen DeYoung, Washington Post, March 4).

The White House yesterday criticized Iraq’s new cooperation efforts, however, suggesting they were “the mother of all distractions.”

While the United Nations has praised Iraq for agreeing to destroy its al-Samoud 2 missiles, the Bush administration said that, by doing so, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was admitting to lying in the declaration Iraq provided the United Nations in December concerning its WMD efforts.

“Here’s the Catch-22 that Saddam Hussein has put himself in," Fleischer said yesterday.  “He denied he had these weapons, and then he destroys things he says he never had.  If he lies about never having them, how can you trust him when he says he has destroyed them?” Fleischer added.

The White House also appeared unimpressed with Iraq’s pledge to provide a new report soon to inspectors on the destruction of its stockpiles of VX and anthrax, according to the New York Times. 

“How do you know this is not the mother of all distractions, diversions, so the world looks in one place while he buries them in another?” Fleischer asked (Sanger/Shanker, New York Times, March 4).

The 10 nonpermanent Security Council members yesterday met with Canadian U.N. Ambassador Paul Heinbecker to discuss a his proposed compromise between those pushing for military action against Iraq and those calling for an extension to the inspections process (see GSN, Feb. 27).

The Canadian proposal calls for the Security Council to authorize military action against Iraq at the end of March if Baghdad was found to be still not complying with inspections, according to United Press International.  The proposal also includes a timeline for continued, enhanced inspections if inspectors reported “substantial Iraqi compliance” by March 28.

While there was division among the 10 nonpermanent council members over the Canadian proposal, there were no negative comments, Heinbecker said.

“We’ve been offering ideas and I think it has been appreciated,” Heinbecker said.  “Whether or not there will be a sufficient agreement even among the elected members to take the issue forward is for them to answer,” he added (William Reilly, United Press International, March 3).

Some council diplomats indicated that the Canadian proposal represented the best chance to maintain some sort of Security Council unity on the Iraq issue, according to the Globe and Mail.

“If you want to obtain some sense of agreement … you would have to look at the Canadian alternative, probably in a modified way,” said Deputy Chilean U.N. Ambassador Cristian Maquieira (Paul Knox, Globe and Mail, March 4).

U.S. Spying Controversy

Meanwhile, Security Council diplomats yesterday were unimpressed by recent reports of a U.S. National Security Agency memo that ordered an increase of surveillance on them to help determine how they might vote on the new U.N. resolution on Iraq, according to the Washington Post.

“The fact is, this sort of thing goes with the territory,” said Pakistani U.N. Ambassador Munir Akram.  “You’d have to be very naive to be surprised,” Akram added.

Espionage is considered a fact of life at the United Nations, U.N diplomats and analysts said, adding that they assume their conversations are being monitored.

“I assume every phone conversation I have either on the cell phone or at the office is listened to by several people,” a European diplomat said.  When another Security Council diplomat was asked during a telephone interview if he thought his calls were monitored, the diplomat replied, “Let’s ask the guy who’s listening to us” (Colum Lynch, Washington Post, March 4).

Some of the smaller Security Council countries consider being the target of foreign intelligence efforts almost as a mark of prestige, said Bulgarian U.N. Ambassador Stefan Tavrov.

“It’s almost an offense if they don’t listen,” Tavrov said.  “It’s integrated in your thinking and your work,” he added.

While U.S. officials refused to confirm or deny the reported NSA memo, current and former U.S. officials familiar with the agency said that it is very likely that the United States is monitoring U.N. diplomats concerning the Iraq issue.

“It would be inconceivable to me, with the interest of the nation’s leadership on this set of issues, that we aren’t using all available means to collect as much information as possible,” a former U.S. official said.

The leaked memo might have the effect of persuading foreign governments to take measures to block U.S. monitoring efforts, the former U.S. official said.

“Not only is it embarrassing, but ultimately it’s compromising sources and methods,” the former official said.  “People will go out of their way to prohibit you from having success in the future,” the former official added (Drogin/Miller, Los Angeles Times, March 4).

The reports might also increase public opposition to the U.S. stance on Iraq, a former U.S. ambassador with experience in U.N. affairs said. 

“Diplomatically, it may stiffen opposition to the United States,” the former ambassador said.  “It’s not a helpful development,” the former ambassador added.

The history of espionage at the United Nations goes clear back to the conference held in San Francisco in 1945 to create the organization, where the United States monitored foreign delegations and pushed for the body to be located in New York to make it easier to conduct espionage, according to historians.

“One would have to have the innocence of an unborn child to believe that espionage doesn’t go on every day at the United Nations,” said Loch Johnson, an authority on intelligence at the University of Georgia.  “From a purist point of view, it’s unfortunate in a way, because after all, we’re the host nation for the United Nations.  But the reality is, Europeans and everyone else engages in espionage in New York City, much of it focused on the United Nations,” Johnson added (Shane/Sabar, Baltimore Sun, March 4).

Inspections

U.N. inspectors visited at least 15 suspect Iraqi sites yesterday, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency press release. 

Chemical experts from the U.N. Monitoring, Inspection and Verification Commission visited al-Muthanna to observe the destruction of 14 empty 155 mm artillery shells, 10 of which had once been filled with mustard gas agent.  UNMOVIC biological inspectors visited the headquarters of the Mesopotamia State Company for Seeds in Baghdad and the Biology Department at the College of Science at Mosul University.

UNMOVIC missile inspectors supervised the destruction of six al-Samoud 2 missiles at al-Taji.  They also supervised the destruction of a casting chamber at al-Mutasim (see related GSN story, today).

Inspectors also visited al-Furat State Company and an anti-aircraft missile component storage facility outside of Baghdad.  Inspectors based in the northern city of Mosul visited a construction agency related to spray irrigation systems, the IAEA release said.

IAEA inspectors conducted a radiation survey in an area north of Baghdad, near the town of Tarmya (IAEA release, March 3).

For further information, see:

UNMOVIC

IAEA Iraq Action Team

U.N. Resolution 1441

U.N. Resolution 687 (Sanctions Regime)

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U.S. Response:  CTR Program Hurt by U.S., Russian Bureaucracies, GAO Says

The U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which helps fund efforts to safeguard Russian WMD stockpiles and materials, has been hindered by bureaucratic obstacles in both Moscow and Washington, according to a U.S. General Accounting Office report expected to be presented to Congress this week (see GSN, Jan. 17).

While the United States has contributed about $6 billion since 1992 to help Russia destroy or secure its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, basic security improvements have still not been made at dozens of Russian sites that store about 60 percent of the country’s nuclear materials, the GAO report says.  One of the biggest problems is that Russia refuses to grant U.S. officials access to the sites where the security upgrades are to be made, it says.

“Russia is not providing needed access to many of the sites,” the draft report says.  “Unfortunately, there is little reason to believe this situation will change in the near future,” it adds.

In the United State, both the Congress and the White House have refused to provide essential funding or to grant waivers for the awarding of program contracts, the GAO report says (see GSN, Jan. 15).  It also criticizes the U.S. Defense Department for implementing security improvements too slowly at sites where Russia has provided access (Joby Warrick, Washington Post, March 4).

The threat reduction program also came under fire yesterday from House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), who said that greater financial control over the program was needed following the collapse of two major projects.

The United States spent almost $95 million to help Russia build a plant to destroy missile engines, which was ultimately wasted because Russian local officials blocked the plant’s construction, Hunter said.  The United States also contributed $106 million to help Russia build a plant to destroy liquid missile fuel, only to be told by Russia last year that the fuel had been used in its civilian space program, he said (see GSN, May 29, 2002).

“We’ve got two white elephants here,” said Hunter, whose committee was scheduled to hold a hearing on the issue today.  “An enormous amount of money has been wasted here.  Taxpayer money,” he added (Ken Guggenheim, Associated Press/Austin American-Statesman, March 4).

Hunter continued his assault on the threat reduction program in a Washington Post commentary today. 

“Twelve years and more than $7 billion later, it is worth revisiting the original purpose of this program,” Hunter said.  “Designed as a temporary, focused effort to shrink Moscow’s vast strategic arsenal with American funding and know-how, the CTR program has, over time, morphed into an open-ended, unfocused and sometimes self-defeating venture,” he added.

The United States appears ready to make another mistake by considering helping Russia to dispose of missile engines through the use of outdoor-burners — an $80 million project that could cause environmental damage and has no guarantee of obtaining the needed permits, Hunter said.

Hunter also warned that the U.S. threat reduction efforts could be instead aiding Russia militarily.  “For every dollar the United States commits to helping Russia destroy these weapons, we run the risk that Moscow will use the savings to fund military programs that are contrary to U.S. national security interests,” he said, citing reports of Russia acquiring new ICBMs (see GSN, Jan. 30, 2002).

The Pentagon needs to both return the threat reduction program to its original focus of destroying strategic systems and to maintain greater financial control, Hunter said.  He said Congress needed to maintain strict oversight of the program.

“If the Cooperative Threat Reduction program is to once again benefit U.S. national security, it must refocus its resources on real threats and ensure real Russian cooperation,” Hunter said.  “Moscow’s leadership has to understand that it cannot stand by as CTR projects fail, $100 million at a time, and still expect U.S. assistance,” he added (Duncan Hunter, Washington Post, March 4).

For further information, see:

U.S. Defense Department CTR Site

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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.  About 100 inspectors are now based in the country at two facilities in Baghdad and Mosul.  The following chart summarizes some of the inspectors’ recently reported activities.

Date	Site	Activity
March 3	Al-Muthanna	UNMOVIC chemical inspectors observed the destruction of 14 empty 155 mm artillery shells, 10 of which had once been filled with mustard gas agent (see GSN, March 4).
	Mesopotamia State Company for Seeds in Baghdad	See GSN, March 4.
	Biology Department at the College of Science at Mosul University
	Al-Taji	UNMOVIC missile inspectors supervised the destruction of six al-Samoud 2 missiles (see GSN, March 4).
	Al-Mutasim	UNMOVIC missile inspectors completed the destruction of a casting chamber and began the destruction of a second casting chamber (see GSN, March 4).
	Al-Furat State Company	See GSN, March 4.
	Anti-aircraft missile component storage facility outside of Baghdad
	Construction agency related to spray irrigation systems
	Area north of Baghdad, near the town of Tarmya	IAEA inspectors conducted a radiation survey (see GSN, March 4).
	Chemical and explosives plant	See GSN, March 3.
	Rocket factory
	Al-Aziziya
	State-owned trading company in the Sadoon district of Baghdad	IAEA release, March 3.
	Private trading company in the Mansoor district of Baghdad
	National Chemical Plastics Industries plant in Baghdad
March 2	Al-Taji	UNMOVIC missile inspectors supervised the destruction of six al-Samoud 2 missiles (IAEA release, March 2).
	Al-Mutasim	UNMOVIC missile inspectors supervised the destruction of a casting chamber (IAEA release, March 2).
	Al-Aziziyah Airfield and Firing Range	UNMOVIC biological inspectors took samples from R-400 bombs at the site reported to have been filled with biological agents (IAEA release, March 2).
	Fallujah 2	IAEA release, March 2.
	SA-2 missile support facility near Kadhimiya, Baghdad
	Private trading company in central Baghdad
	Area north of Baghdad	IAEA inspectors conducted a radiation survey (IAEA release, March 2).
Feb. 21-28	See GSN, Feb. 28.

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North Korea:  Bush Says Military Force Is Possible

U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday suggested the United States might use military force against North Korea if the nuclear crisis is not solved through diplomatic means, the Baltimore Sun reported today (see GSN, March 3).

“If they don’t work diplomatically, they’ll have to work militarily,” according to Bush, who said that a conflict is “our last choice” (Matthews/Greene, Baltimore Sun, March 4).

Congressional sources and White House officials, however, said Washington would not respond with a military attack if North Korea restarts its nuclear fuel reprocessing facility, USA Today reported.

The Bush administration has decided that at first, it “won’t do anything,” said an administration official.  The White House will not rule out a military option, but officials have not said what it would take to begin such a scenario.

Some experts believe that the White House would not be unhappy if North Korea restarts the reprocessing plant.

“Some in the Bush administration think this (reprocessing) would not be a bad thing,” said a Senate staff member who is familiar with the administration’s stance.  These officials believe that reprocessing would help the United States build an international coalition to alienate Pyongyang.

Analysts fear, however, that the crisis could move toward conflict because of miscalculation, USA Today reported (Barbara Slavin, USA Today, March 4).

Military Tensions Escalate

Meanwhile, four North Korean fighter jets intercepted a U.S. Air Force spy plane near the Korean coast Saturday, the New York Times reported.

The fighters came within 50 feet of the RC-135S Cobra Ball in international airspace about 150 miles from North Korea and a North Korean pilot apparently “locked on” to the U.S. plane with his radar, the Times reported.  No shots were fired, according to Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis.  The surveillance flights will continue with armed U.S. fighter escorts, which raises the possibility of a confrontation, officials said.

“This is serious stuff,” said a senior official.  “It’s worrisome because they are creating their own drumbeat,” the official added.

There were no radio communications between the pilots during the encounter, but a North Korean waved to the U.S. aircrew and indicated they should leave the area.

“He was waving at them to get out of there,” said a senior military officer.

A senior administration official said the issue is not over.

“There was some real concern for a few minutes when they locked on.  It’ll be taken up with other countries in the region.  There will be a protest filed with the North Koreans,” the official said (Eric Schmitt, New York Times, March 4).

Amid the tension, U.S. and South Korean forces began a joint military exercise today over protests from Pyongyang.

The exercise will last one month and are “defense-oriented” and designed to protect against “external aggression,” the U.S.-South Korean Combined Forces Command said in a news release.

“These unceasing U.S. war drills drive the situation on the Korean peninsula to such a dangerous pitch of tension that a nuclear war may break out on it any moment,” said a statement from the state-run Korean Central News Agency (Jong-Heon Lee, United Press International, March 4).

Yang Sung-chul, South Korea’s ambassador to the United States, said yesterday that the U.S. policy is becoming a “self-fulfilling prophecy.  If you have a confrontational approach, you get a confrontational response,” the ambassador added (Slavin, USA Today).

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Russia:  Gorny Disposal Plant Operation in Doubt

The Russian Natural Resources Ministry yesterday ordered Russia’s only chemical weapons disposal plant, located in Gorny, to halt operations because of environmental concerns (see GSN, Feb. 27). 

The ministry ordered the Gorny plant to cease operations until violations discovered during an inspection last month were corrected, according to the Associated Press.  Those violations included the lack of a license to work with chemical waste, poor control over waste emissions into the environment and improper storage of the waste resulting from the destruction of mustard agent, said Denis Kiselyov, head of the ministry’s department of state control for nature management and resource protection (Steve Gutterman, Associated Press/Moscow Times, March 4).

A Russian chemical disarmament official said today, however, that the facility would not cease its current operations.  The ministry’s order applies to work the plant was scheduled to conduct in May, which would have expanded its operations, said Alexander Kharichev of the Russian state commission on chemical disarmament.

“It is not about neglect in any current operations,” Kharichev was quoted as saying by ITAR-Tass.  “There were no sanctions in the investigating commission’s report,” he added (Mara Bellaby, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, March 4).

During a visit to Russia last month, Rogelio Pfirter, director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which oversees the Chemical Weapons Convention, praised the Gorny disposal plant for using the most up-to-date technologies.

“Russia is strictly observing the ecological norms,” Pfirter said.

“We are satisfied with the condition of the Gorny complex and we have no doubts concerning its technology.  Russia is doing a concrete job and it will get additional backing,” he said (ITAR-Tass, March 4).

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United States:  Arkansas Man Charged in Ricin Hoax

An Arkansas man was arrested yesterday after the FBI’s Little Rock office received an envelope labeled: “Caution: contents contain ricin” (see GSN, Feb. 6).

Bertier Ray Riddle was charged with threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction within the United States and affecting interstate commerce.

“The attorney general has made it clear that threats regarding the use of weapons of mass destruction, particularly during this time of heightened tension and vigilance, will not be tolerated,” said U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins.

After receiving the letter in February, investigators narrowed their list of suspects by examining the envelope which contained Riddle’s return address and was signed, “Sincerely not Bertie Ray Riddle” (Kelly Kissel, Associated Press/Baxter Bulletin, March 4).

During a court appearance this morning U.S. attorneys said they intend to file a motion seeking to determine Riddle’s mental competency, according to Sandra Cherry, an assistant to Cummins.

That motion will most likely be filed today, Cherry said.

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Iraq:  Baghdad Destroys 16 Al-Samoud 2 Missiles

Iraq yesterday destroyed six of its banned al-Samoud 2 missiles, bringing the total number of destroyed missiles since Saturday to 16, according to an International Atomic Energy press release (see GSN, March 3).  Iraqi technicians yesterday also completed the destruction of a casting chamber and began the destruction of a second chamber, scheduled to be completed today (IAEA release, March 3).

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U.S. Plans:  Broken Chip Connectors Caused December Test Failure

A faulty computer chip connection caused last December’s test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system to fail, U.S. Missile Defense Agency officials said yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 11, 2002).

The exoatmospheric kill vehicle, built by Raytheon, failed to separate from its booster because it “didn’t get the proper signal to where it was going,” said agency Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish.

A “mechanical break” occurred in two “pins” that connect computer chips to a circuit board, Kadish said at a missile defense conference sponsored by the agency and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Defense officials have not yet determined why the pins broke, but the kill vehicle’s technology is sound and “there’s no reason to” consider changing it, he added.

Kadish also announced the establishment of an office to improve the agency’s quality control, which he said was the culprit in three failed midcourse defense test flights.

“There is no detail too small to worry about in this program,” Kadish said.

He also defended the White House proposal to bypass operational testing requirements to field the Ground-based Midcourse Defense and the Sea-based Midcourse Defense in 2004 (see GSN, Feb. 24).

“The best operational testing you can get is to have a system that people are using and improve it,” Kadish said (Marc Selinger, Aerospace Daily, March 4).

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Israel:  Reservists Called Up to Operate Patriot Missile Defense System

Israeli reserve soldiers are being called up to learn how to operate the second Patriot missile defense battery that Tel Aviv has received from Germany, Ha’aretz reported today (see GSN, Jan. 30).

Another Patriot battery from Germany is already up and running and U.S.-supplied Patriot batteries are being deployed around Tel Aviv today.

The Patriots are intended as a backup to the Arrow missile defense system (see GSN, Feb. 12).

Israeli defense officials are also worried about Syrian efforts to develop its Scud-D missiles, although there is no imminent sign of a confrontation between Syria and Israel, Ha’aretz reported (Amos Harel, Ha’aretz, March 4).

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Radiological Weapons:  Congress Seeks Improved Security Over Radioactive Sources

By Karen Lee Scrivo

CongressDaily

WASHINGTON — People across the globe could be at risk from terrorist attacks with so-called dirty bombs unless more is done to monitor and contain unsecured commercial radioactive sources both in the United States and abroad, warns a Monterey Institute report circulating on Capitol Hill (see GSN, Feb. 28).

Conducted by the Institute’s Center for Nonproliferation Studies, the report focuses on the need for radiological terror prevention.  It calls for better national and international regulation, as well as securing commercial radioactive sources to prevent them from being used to make dirty bombs or radiological dispersal devices (RDDs).

“We need to put up enough barriers so that terrorists can’t get their hands on these materials,” Charles D. Ferguson, one of the report’s authors, told CongressDaily.  Ferguson, the center’s scientist-in-residence, was scheduled to brief members of the House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation on the issue yesterday.

The report notes that while there have been no dirty-bomb incidents, al-Qaeda is interested in “acquiring the means to unleash radiological terror.”  And after the report’s release in January, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported that the al-Qaeda network has successfully built a crude dirty bomb in Afghanistan.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), who brought the report to the attention of his colleagues, says he will reintroduce the Nuclear and Radiological Terrorism Threat Reduction Act (see GSN, Oct. 17, 2002).

The Soviet Union produced hundreds of small nuclear generators, known as radioisotope thermal generators (RTGs) to supply power to remote locations, Lugar said.

“These RTGs are considered very dangerous because they hold nuclear material that might be used in a radiological weapon, or a ‘dirty bomb,’” Lugar said in a press release.  “The Russian government does not have an accurate accounting of where all the generators are located.  We must find these units, secure them and remove the dangerous materials” (see GSN, Oct. 23, 2002).

Lugar first introduced the bill last October with Ranking Member Joseph Biden, D-Del., who was then committee chairman.  It would:

*         provide five temporary facilities for radioactive storage;

*         accelerate discovery, inventory and recovery of unwanted radioactive material;

*         replace former Soviet lighthouses, weather stations and other facilities using RTGs;

*         provide training for radiological emergencies;

*         require a global radiological threat assessment;

*         develop nonradioactive alternatives to radiological uses; and

*         appoint a special representative to coordinate U.S. efforts.

Several lawmakers, including Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), have introduced bills seeking to ensure that radioactive material in the United States doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.  Clinton’s bill, which is co-sponsored by Senator Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), calls for the creation of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission task force to prevent a dirty-bomb attack in the United States.  Representative Ed Markey (D-Mass.) is sponsoring a similar bill on the House side.

The bill’s supporters note that radioactive material that could be used to make a dirty bomb is fairly widespread — it’s found in hospitals, research laboratories, food irradiation plants, oil drilling facilities and airport runway lighting.

The lawmakers want the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to oversee a classification and tracking system for the recovery and storage of unused radioactive sources.  The NRC reports that among the 375 sources that are lost or stolen each year, 60 percent have yet to be recovered.  The International Atomic Energy Agency has said that more than 100 nations have inadequate control and monitoring programs to prevent or detect the theft of these materials.

“Radioactive material that could be used in a dirty bomb exists in thousands of research institutions and industrial facilities around the United States,” Clinton said last month at a press conference announcing the bill.  “We must do more to make sure it’s not stolen or lost, because the consequences if it falls into the wrong hands are unthinkable.”

The current system of radioactive source control is based on radiation safety applications, not national security, Gregg said, adding that while much has been done to prevent bioterrorism, the nation remains vulnerable to radiological terrorism.

“As Sept. 11, 2001 tragically demonstrated, terrorists will use any weapon at their disposal to create terror and kill Americans, and although the human casualties of a radiological attack are far less than that of conventional weapons of mass destruction, the psychological and economic impact can be enormous,” Gregg said.

Markey added, “FedEx and Lands’ End seem to do a better job of tracking clothing purchases than the NRC does at tracking radioactive materials.”

In addition to the Clinton-Gregg and Markey bills, Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La.) is sponsoring legislation that calls for a radioactive detection system demonstration project for the nation’s seaports.  And a section in Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle’s (D-S.D.) Homeland Security Act deals with radioactive material.

Ferguson of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies says the Lugar, Clinton and Landrieu bills are part of what’s needed — along with stringent export controls on radioactive materials.  “It’s not that government isn’t doing something, it just has to prioritize this,” he said.

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