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The Russian government backed a loser. This will undoubtedly seriously damage Russian interests.
—U.S. Defense Department adviser Richard Perle on the likelihood of Iraq keeping its prewar financial commitments to Russia.
The United States is attempting to lower expectations for talks with North Korean and Chinese officials that are scheduled to begin tomorrow, the Wall Street Journal reported today (see GSN, April 21)...Full Story 
The Bush administration has begun to lose confidence in its intelligence on the possible locations of Iraqi WMD stockpiles, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, April 22)...Full Story
A Tacoma, Wash., mail distribution facility was evacuated today after a suspicious white powder was found inside, according to reports...Full Story
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The U.S. State Department yesterday issued a “worldwide caution” alert, warning U.S. citizens abroad of the possible increased risk of terrorist attacks due to the war on Iraq (see GSN, April 16). Such potential attacks could include the use of chemical and biological agents, the alert said (Washington Post, April 22).
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The Bush administration has begun to lose confidence in its intelligence on the possible locations of Iraqi WMD stockpiles, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, April 22).
After testing some of their most promising leads, U.S. analysts in the Middle East and in Washington have become doubtful that they will find any evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction in the locations included on a five-tier list of suspect sites created before the war began, the Post reported. Now, the WMD hunt strategy has begun to shift from investigating known suspect sites to a greater reliance on unexpected discoveries and information.
The U.S. military has begun to tighten the security of files and equipment at a larger number of potentially sensitive sites in Baghdad that were left unguarded immediately after the capture of the city, according to the Post. Since late last week, U.S. troops in Baghdad have moved to secure all 23 government ministry buildings and approximately two-dozen other sites that could contain important intelligence information.
There have been increasing concerns, stemming from U.S. intelligence, that Iraqi insiders took advantage of the recent spate of looting within Baghdad to steal WMD-related files, electronic information and equipment, the Post reported. Former Iraqi officials could use such information and equipment to conceal their roles in WMD programs, to attempt to trade for better status with the U.S. military government or to sell for financial gain.
“It’s a danger,” said U.S. Defense Undersecretary Douglas Feith. There are signs “that some of the looting is actually strategic,” he said. Former Baath Party and Iraqi government officials appear to be “doing at least some of the looting” of government facilities, “including those that might have records or materials” relating to weapons of mass destruction, Feith said.
In addition, U.S. military planners have begun shifting resources away from investigating known suspect Iraqi sites, according to the Post. Two of the four mobile exploitation teams have been given a new mission to screen non-WMD sites, which are sites believed to have large amounts of records.
“The focus of main effort has changed,” said a U.S. military officer involved in the WMD hunt. “Because of all the looting, coupled with (the fact that) they’re not coming up with anything on weapons, we’ve got to get these sites secured. They can’t afford to have stuff walking off because the clues we have right now are not leading us anywhere,” the officer said (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, April 22).
Blix Briefs Security Council
Hans Blix, director of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, told the Security Council this morning that while it is “entirely natural” for the United States to place a priority on “finding and neutralizing” Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, finding these weapons “is an interest that is not limited to the governments that have pursued the war but is one which is shared by the whole international community.”
This was as close as Blix got to calling for the return of UNMOVIC inspectors to Iraq. He pointed out that council resolutions governing UNMOVIC’s work are still valid but that they “can be abrogated or modified by the council at any time.”
The return of weapons inspectors to Iraq is tied up in the debate over the lifting of sanctions, something the United States wants the council to do immediately. However, council resolutions say sanctions can only be lifted once UNMOVIC and the International Atomic Energy Agency have verified that Iraq no longer has weapons of mass destruction. Washington says there are no plans to allow the international inspectors back into the country.
According to his briefing notes to the closed-door meeting, Blix said UNMOVIC rules require that “any destruction of proscribed items should take place under international supervision. This would seem still advisable for international credibility.” In addition, UNMOVIC and the IAEA are required to implement a long-term monitoring program “to maintain a high level of confidence in the region and the world that Iraq remain free of weapons of mass destruction,” Blix said.
The latest IAEA report on Iraq’s nuclear weapons program, released today, says that as of March 17, the agency “had found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program in Iraq.” However, the agency is still not in a position to say with certainty that such a program was not restarted.
While much of the equipment UNMOVIC left behind in Baghdad has been looted, Blix said the field office in Cyprus is “fully operative,” and therefore the agency “could probably go back into limited operations within two weeks after a return of staff.”
Benon Sevan, who directs the U.N. oil-for-food program for Iraq, is scheduled to brief the council this afternoon. These two briefings are expected to set the stage for the next round of council debates over Iraq (Jim Wurst, Global Security Newswire, April 22).
In an interview broadcast today by BBC Radio, Blix described as “shaky” U.S. intelligence indicating Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and alleged that U.S. officials tried to discredit his inspection team before the war in order to help justify military action. He added that U.S. officials falsely accused the inspectors of deliberately suppressing information about an Iraqi unmanned drone and Iraqi weapons.
“At that time, the U.S. was very eager to sway the votes of the Security Council, and they felt that stories about these things would be useful to have, and they let it out,” Blix said. “Thereby, they tried to hurt us a bit and say we’d suppressed this,” he added (Reuters/MSNBC.com, April 22).
Russia Likely to Lose Iraqi Contracts
Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Department Adviser Richard Perle has said Russia is likely to lose the multibillion-dollar contracts it signed with Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Russia is believed to have contracts worth more than $50 billion with Iraq, according to the London Times. In addition, Iraq owes Russia at least $8 billion. With a new government in place, however, those contracts and debts are likely to be cancelled, Perle said in interview with the Russian newspaper Kommersant yesterday.
“It is highly likely that all previous deals with Russia will be declared null and void,” Perle said. “The Russian government backed a loser. This will undoubtedly seriously damage Russian interests,” he said (Robin Shepherd, London Times, April 22).
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov yesterday to discuss specific items for the U.S.-Russian St. Petersburg summit in late May and the G8 summit in Evian, France, set for June 1-3 (see GSN, April 10).
Powell and Ivanov reaffirmed their commitment to pursue nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation (ITAR-Tass, April 22).
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The United States is attempting to lower expectations for talks with North Korean and Chinese officials that are scheduled to begin tomorrow, the Wall Street Journal reported today (see GSN, April 21).
The meetings in Beijing this week are “initial discussions,” according to U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.
U.S. officials downplayed the idea of a quick agreement coming from the discussions, and Boucher said Washington is “not prepared to offer any inducements to North Korea.”
“The issue for us is how to achieve a verifiable and irreversible end to North Korea’s nuclear programs,” and Pyongyang can “bring forward whatever they want to put on the table,” he added (David Cloud, Wall Street Journal, April 22).
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly arrived today in Beijing for the talks, Reuters reported, and he is scheduled to meet with Li Gun, deputy director general of U.S. affairs at the North Korean Foreign Ministry, and Fu Ying, chief of Asian affairs at the Chinese Foreign Ministry (Reuters, April 22).
Chinese and North Korean officials met yesterday in advance of the trilateral summit, Agence France-Presse reported.
Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok, the top official in the North Korean army’s political bureau, met yesterday with Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan and Guo Boxiong, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission.
“China (has) always advocated the resolution of the Korean issue through dialogue and peaceful means,” Guo said. While focusing on the alliance between the two nations, Guo told Jo that China wants a non-nuclear Korean Peninsula, Agence France-Presse reported (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, April 22).
Sides Still Angling Over Who Should Participate
North Korea said yesterday that talks with Washington should be bilateral, and Pyongyang objected to calls for the early inclusion of Tokyo and Seoul.
“The D.P.R.K.’s position about the nuke issue is to talk with the United States directly and bilaterally,” a North Korean diplomat at the United Nations said. “China is aware of the D.P.R.K.’s position,” the official added (Kyodo News Service/BBC Monitoring, April 22).
South Korea, meanwhile, is increasing efforts to work its way into the talks, the Korea Herald reported.
Lee Jeong-kwan, the director of the South Korean Foreign Ministry’s North American bureau, is set to travel to Beijing today to meet with U.S. officials and discuss the progress of the talks as they unfold.
“We decided to dispatch our officials to Beijing because we need to grasp the situation there and fine-tune our position with the United States,” a Foreign Ministry official said (Seo Hyun-jin, Korea Herald, April 22).
“Operation Weasel” Denied
Meanwhile, U.S. officials denied reports that Washington financed a diplomatic mission in Beijing for the tiny Pacific nation of Nauru in an effort to smuggle North Korean defectors out of the country. Boucher called the reports “great reading but untrue,” and also said that the United States did not promise Nauru it would deflect financial sanctions over suspected money-laundering (see GSN, April 21).
“We did not pay for the establishment of any Nauru diplomatic missions, we never promised to provide financial assistance to Nauru or requested their cooperation in any other sphere to enable Nauru to avoid the imposition of financial sanctions against them under the USA Patriot Act,” he said.
Media reports yesterday indicated that the United States and 10 other countries organized “Operation Weasel” to smuggle top North Korean scientists and officials out of the country, through China and to the West.
“I’m never in a position to comment on defections, but allegations that we offered inducements of this kind to others are just not true,” Boucher said (State Department transcript, April 21).
U.S. Military Plans
In Washington, the U.S. Defense Department has made plans to bomb North Korea’s nuclear facilities if Pyongyang decides to reprocess spent nuclear fuel rods, The Australian reported. Australian officials with links to the United States said that the plan also involves bombing North Korean artillery positions (Greg Sheridan, The Australian, April 22).
Retiring U.S. Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill called for an end to terrorism against India yesterday, saying there could be no other “legitimate stance” by the United States (see GSN, April 21).
India has often accused its South Asian rival Pakistan of sponsoring cross-border terrorism in the disputed region of Kashmir, which has threatened to become a flashpoint between the two nuclear-armed countries. Blackwill, who is retiring from his position after serving less than two years, is believed to be frustrated with a lack of U.S. effort to pressure Pakistan to shut down Kashmiri separatist camps on its side of the “line of control” separating the two countries in the disputed region, according to the Financial Times.
“The fight against international terrorism will not be won until terrorism against India ends permanently,” Blackwill said yesterday during his retirement announcement. “There can be no other legitimate stance by the U.S., no American compromise whatever on this elemental geopolitical and moral truth … otherwise we sink into a swamp of strategic myopia,” he said (Luce/Bokhari, Financial Times, April 22).
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A Tacoma, Wash., mail distribution facility was evacuated today after a suspicious white powder was found inside, according to reports. The powder was later determined to be nontoxic (see GSN, Jan. 16).
The powder was found early this morning on a table where mail is processed, said Tacoma Fire Capt. Jolene Davis (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, April 22). The powder was found in two letters — one addressed to the U.S. State Department and one addressed to the local police department, said U.S. Postal Service spokesman Gerry McKiernan.
Preliminary tests conducted on the powder came back positive for botulism and plague, CNN reported. Further testing, however, determined that the powder was nontoxic, U.S. Homeland Security Department officials said (CNN.com, April 22).
Four workers near the table where the powder was found were decontaminated as a precaution, but no injuries have been reported and none of the four workers have displayed any symptoms of illness. Ninety-three people were evacuated from the building.
The Washington National Guard WMD Civil Support Team was conducting an exercise at a hospital across the street from the mail distribution facility when the building was evacuated, according to CNN (see GSN, March 17).
The Tacoma facility is one of 14 postal facilities throughout the United States that have been chosen to test new biological detection equipment, according to CNN (see GSN, April 10). A postal official said he was “pretty sure,” however, that the new equipment had not been installed yet (CNN, April 22).
A U.S. National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team is conducting daily tests for biological agents in New York City, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, March 17).
The team makes recurring, almost daily visits to as many as 30 sites in the city, including hotels, tourist attractions, government buildings and office buildings, the Times reported.
The 22-member civil support team from Scotia, N.Y., is one of 32 such units in the United States, but it is the only one conducting such tests. The team travels in unmarked vehicles with New York City police officers and trades military dress for indistinguishable blue uniforms, according to the Times. The unit works with a $600,000 annual budget, according to officials (William Rashbaum, New York Times, April 22).
By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — U.S. Postal Service officials last year failed to inform workers at a Wallingford, Conn., postal facility as to the results of anthrax tests performed there until almost nine months later, in violation of federal guidelines, according to a General Accounting Office report released yesterday (see GSN, April 10).
The Wallingford facility first tested positive for anthrax contamination in December 2001, after samples were taken from four mail-sorting machines the month before, according to the GAO report. The sample collection was prompted by the death of Ottilie Lundgren, a Connecticut woman who died of inhalational anthrax during the autumn 2001 anthrax attacks. Among the samples taken in December 2001, one cultured about 3 million living anthrax cells, more than enough needed for a fatal dose, the report says.
The Postal Service decided not to inform workers at the facility, however, about the positive anthrax test results, because the results could not be validated as required, the GAO report says, adding that the Postal Service’s decision was “consistent” with service guidelines. Workers were told that “trace” amounts of anthrax had been detected and were advised to continue to follow recommendations issued by Connecticut health officials, such as continuing to take preventive antibiotics, the report says. No workers at the Wallingford facility contracted anthrax.
The GAO found that postal officials continued to withhold the results of the tests, however, even after an employee union requested the results in January and February 2002. The decision to continue to withhold the results, even after the union’s request, was a violation of Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines, the GAO report says. A subsequent OSHA investigation resulted in the Postal Service releasing the results of the tests in September 2002, about nine months after the results of the tests were first known.
U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), who requested the GAO investigation, criticized the Postal Service for failing to inform workers at the Wallingford facility about the levels of anthrax contamination found.
“It is difficult for me to fathom why postal workers were kept in the dark about this level of anthrax contamination,” Lieberman said yesterday in a press statement. “Given the fatalities that had already occurred in Connecticut, Florida, Washington, and New York, it’s clear that postal and health officials, through their own missteps, put Wallingford employees at serious and unnecessary risk. We can only thank God that no postal employees died as a result,” he said.
In its report, the GAO said the Postal Service’s decision to initially withhold the results of the test was “understandable given all of the circumstances that existed at the time,” such as an ongoing criminal investigation and uncertainties about the sampling methods used. The delay, however, also illustrates a need for better communication between workers and officials, according to the report.
“The lessons learned from this experience suggest the need for more complete and timely information to workers to maintain trust and credibility,” the GAO report says.
According to the GAO report, postal officials agreed with the results of the investigation and have agreed to revise their guidelines.
U.S. health officials had vaccinated 32,644 civilian volunteers as of April 13, an increase of only 1,400 over the previous week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week (see GSN, April 10).
Health officials released immunization numbers for individual states yesterday.
The CDC has recorded 10 cases of myopericarditis — swelling in or around the heart — since the program began, according to the CDC. Three new cases were registered in the week preceding April 13.
The U.S. military has reported about 20 cases of heart inflammation in the course of its immunization program, in which more than 350,000 personnel have received the vaccine.
Between April 5 and April 13, health officials recorded at least nine serious adverse reactions to the vaccine and seven cases of the vaccine spreading beyond the immunization site. Officials also reported 77 mild adverse effects in that week, according to the CDC (CDC release, April 17)
| State / City | Number of Immunizations | | Alabama | 446 | | Alaska | 93 | | Arizona | 40 | | Arkansas | 976 | | California | 1,220 | | Chicago | 47 | | Colorado | 224 | | Connecticut | 560 | | Delaware | 95 | | Florida | 3,470 | | Georgia | 102 | | Hawaii | 117 | | Idaho | 190 | | Illinois | 118 | | Indiana | 765 | | Iowa | 478 | | Kansas | 436 | | Kentucky | 595 | | Los Angeles County | 202 | | Louisiana | 1,106 | | Maine | 39 | | Maryland | 662 | | Massachusetts | 65 | | Michigan | 484 | | Minnesota | 1,470 | | Mississippi | 389 | | Missouri | 1,253 | | Montana | 87 | | Nebraska | 1,388 | | Nevada | 0 | | New Hampshire | 275 | | New Jersey | 657 | | New Mexico | 68 | | New York City | 224 | | New York | 446 | | North Carolina | 1,199 | | North Dakota | 376 | | Ohio | 1,678 | | Oklahoma | 289 | | Oregon | 55 | | Pennsylvania | 83 | | Puerto Rico | 5 | | Rhode Island | 22 | | South Carolina | 716 | | South Dakota | 710 | | Tennessee | 2,429 | | Texas | 3,008 | | Utah | 210 | | Vermont | 51 | | Virginia | 706 | | Washington | 381 | | Washington D.C. | 65 | | West Virginia | 718 | | Wisconsin | 754 | | Wyoming | 402 | | TOTAL | 32,644 |
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U.N. chemical weapons inspectors are scheduled to visit Pakistan by the end of this month for an annual inspection of the country’s chemical industry facilities, as required under the Chemical Weapons Convention, senior Pakistani officials said today (see GSN, Oct. 3, 2002).
The inspectors are scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on April 29 and are expected to begin their work the next day, according to Pakistani officials. “Nothing is unusual” about the visit, a senior Pakistani Foreign Ministry official said. “They come every year and we will cooperate with them,” the official said.
Once the inspectors have completed their work in Pakistan, they are expected to travel to India, the Associated Press reported (Associated Press/Times of India, April 22).
For further information, see:
CWC Text
OPCW Main Page
CWC States Parties
Japan disposed of almost 4,000 tons of chemical weapons after World War II, according to a 1973 government study publicly released yesterday (see GSN, April 17).
During the U.S. occupation of Japan following the war, the Japanese military disposed of 3,875 tons of chemical weapons that were stored at 18 sites by dumping the agents into the ocean, according to the report. The 1973 report is the first public account of the amount of chemical weapons Japan destroyed after the war. Experts have estimated that Japan produced 7,000 tons of chemical weapons, primarily mustard gas and lewisite, during World War II (Independent Online, April 21).
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U.S. officials are planning to conduct a “dirty bomb” simulation in Seattle next month as part of Topoff 2, a national counterterrorism exercise, according to the Tacoma, Wash., News Tribune (see GSN, April 2).
The $2.5 million exercise is scheduled for May 12-16 and will involve Cabinet-level officials, as well as state and local officials, according to the News Tribune. Local media have also been invited to participate to add to the realism. The purpose of the exercise is to demonstrate whether officials can meet a number of objectives in the event of a WMD-related terrorist attack, including minimizing fatalities while managing a crime scene, quickly restoring essential services and maintaining state and local government.
The Topoff 2 exercise is also set to include a simulated biological terrorism attack in Chicago, the News Tribune reported. The exercise is the second such counterterrorism training exercise ever conducted in the United States, and the first conducted since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“It’s the largest counterterrorism event ever held in the nation,” said Eric Holdeman, director of the King County Office of Emergency Management. “Or the world, for that matter,” Holdeman said (Jason Hagey, News Tribune, April 22).
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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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