U.S. Response:  White House Seeks Voluntary Standards for Chemical Plant Security

The Bush administration is seeking to improve chemical plant security by having the industry trade organization, instead of the federal government, set appropriate standards, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, April 2).

The bill, being drafted by Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the White House and the Homeland Security Department, will reflect the environmental policies that U.S. President George W. Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge followed when they were governors, Bush administration officials and activists said.  The bill is expected to be made public by the end of this month, the Post reported.

The White House proposal would have chemical plants adopt enhanced security measures created by the American Chemistry Council, sources said.  It would also require plants to conduct self-assessments of security vulnerabilities under a council-developed plan.

Chemical industry officials have said their plants are already safe and that intervention by Washington would amount to micromanagement. 

“Government commanding changes in our operations can create unintended risks,” said council spokeswoman Kate McGloon.  “Hazard reduction is inherent in everything we do,” she added.

A former security official for the chemical company Georgia-Pacific, however, has criticized the White House approach, according to the Post.

“Refusing to issue prescriptive standards essentially means the industry association is simply creating a smoke-and-mirrors exercise to make it appear that it is issuing bona fide standards,” Sal DePasquale, who was recently laid off by Georgia Pacific, wrote in a recent letter to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.  “It is not,” he added (John Mintz, Washington Post, April 8).

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U.S. Response:  U.S. Takes Targeting Precautions to Avoid Chemical, Biological Release

By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — U.S. forces have been taking precautions to avoid a devastating release of suspected Iraqi chemical and biological agents during U.S. air strikes over the past three weeks of conflict, according a senior military official.

Army Lt. Col. Thomas Woloszyn, who is in charge of chemical and biological defense for the U.S. Central Command at its Joint Operations Center in Qatar, said in an interview Friday that U.S. forces have sought to incorporate factors such as wind direction into bombing decisions to try to minimize the potential for casualties resulting from a chemical or biological release.

“A lot of emphasis is placed on minimizing collateral damage and if we can check the weather reports, and get the most accurate [reports] as possible prior to a strike, we’ll do that,” Woloszyn said.

“There have been times when we have not struck targets based upon that wind, and based upon those decisions, and that’s all part of the targeting process,” he said.

As for where suspected stocks might be located, “We don’t know what’s there or where it’s at.  So a lot of times we have to project the worst case,” he said.

Another approach to minimizing casualties, he said, is to consider the use of so-called “agent-defeat” weapons, which can minimize the dispersal of targeted WMD agents by incinerating them (see GSN, July 24).  He would not say whether such weapons have been used in the last three weeks.

Woloszyn said U.S. forces would seek to destroy weaponized agents that could be used against U.S. forces, but might generally avoid striking a known production facility of chemical or biological weapons.

“What we want to do is limit the enemy use of those weapons on the battlefield.  So if he’s got a production plant, we may not need to destroy it.  [As a] matter of fact, we probably don’t want to destroy it, we can just limit his access” to those sites, he said, by perhaps destroying a bridge, cutting off power, or laying mines.

No Evidence of a Release

Woloszyn said so far, there has been no evidence that the thousands of bombing and cruise missiles strikes against Iraqi government and military infrastructure during the conflict have struck any chemical or biological agents.

“There have been no releases that we can detect, or any casualties that we can see that were inflicted that could result from chem or bio,” he said.

He said an agent release could be detected by ground forces with special equipment, if nearby, or by unique signs of casualties that might result.

“Generally speaking, you have to have forces on the ground,” to determine that WMD agents have been released, he said, but other indicators are also used.  “For example, if you see there are a lot of casualties or you hear from enemy news organizations that a lot of casualties are there,” he said.

“Chemical and biological weapons both offer a unique signature [of casualties] that we can attribute to them,” he said, which are distinct from broken bones and other injuries typical from a conventional weapons blast.

The absence of such evidence, he said, could mean U.S. and allied forces so far have not struck such weapons, or that the attacks were made at a time when wind conditions favored minimal casualties and U.S. or allied forces were not positioned to detect a release. 

Woloszyn said forces have equipment capable of detecting a release up to five kilometers away.  With U.S. forces rapidly gaining ground, however, they have only in the last few days massed on the outskirts of Baghdad, the capital city where chemical and biological weapons are believed hidden and so until lately have not been well positioned for detection there.

Still, Dexter Ingram, a nuclear, biological and chemical warfare scenario expert at the Heritage Foundation, said, “I think we would hear about it if they did hit a target,” citing reporters in Baghdad and embedded with U.S. forces.  

“If there was any kind of sign of chemical depot hit by either our artillery or their artillery you’d hear about it,” he said.

Searching for Evidence

U.S. officials have alleged Iraq has been concealing chemical and biological weapons, in violation of U.N. requirements to disarm and have made that a central reason for the current military action to end Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Officials have conceded, however, they do not know specifically where Iraq’s suspected chemical and biological weapons might be hidden, but expect to find evidence of them as forces move closer to Baghdad.

“I think we can certainly be sure that this regime has been skillful at hiding the things they have,” said Central Command Deputy Director of Operations Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks in a press briefing Sunday.

“While we can’t say where they may have been moved to, we certainly anticipate that there have been deliberate efforts to bury, hide, move, disperse — all these efforts that were part of the denial and deception campaign,” he said.

The U.S. Army currently is testing, however, to see whether drums of chemical agents ground forces recently discovered in Iraq contained weapons agents (see related GSN story, today).

Senior military officials have indicated U.S. and allied forces have conducted thousands of bombing sorties and cruise missile strikes since the beginning of the conflict nearly three weeks ago, striking “regime leadership targets,” military forces, command centers, communications nodes and aircraft.

Predictions Tool

U.S. forces have been using specially designed computer software, called hazard prediction and assessment capability or HPAC, to predict the potential effects of an agent release that might result from targeting or from an Iraqi attack (see GSN, Nov. 27, 2002).

That approach is distinctly different from that of the 1991 Gulf War.  Although there was significant concern at the time that a WMD release could harm coalition forces, U.S. military forces had no software to provide decision makers with timely estimates about the impact of targeting, according to an investigation performed by a Defense Department-sponsored task force in response to concerns from Gulf War veterans.

Instead, they relied upon “the opinions of chemical and biological experts,” that chemical warfare agents would be contained within the confines of any targeted production or storage facilities, according to the investigation report.

The experts said biological warfare agents released from bombed facilities could pose risks to coalition forces, but “advised that any biological release would degrade upon release to minimize the risk to coalition service members,” the report said.

Using the HPAC software with Pentagon approval, the Natural Resources Defense Council recently calculated that even a fairly small release of certain agents, such as anthrax, could devastate an urban population under certain wind conditions (see GSN, March 14).

In another estimate, the Heritage Foundation calculated the potential impact of an Iraqi nerve gas attack within 10 miles of Baghdad “under current weather conditions,” finding it would have little impact on U.S. forces equipped with gas masks, suits and antidotes, but could kill up to 2,200 unprotected civilians, injure 33,000 more, and possibly harm unprotected Iraqi forces.

In addition to HPAC’s impact on targeting, U.S. ground forces in Iraq can gain access to a secure Web site to check for the likelihood of encountering chemical or biological agents upon entering a location near a destroyed facility, said Woloszyn.

“We’ll offer that to the unit so that when they are going through that area they can actually check the Web to see whether any targets have been taken out in that area that may have a chemical or biological fill,” he said.

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Iraq:  U.S. Airstrike Targets Hussein

A U.S. B-1 bomber attacked a Baghdad building yesterday where Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and his sons were thought to have met with other officials, a U.S. official said (see GSN, April 7).

U.S. military commanders do “not know for certain” if Hussein or his two sons — Uday and Qusay — were in the bombed building, the official said.  The CIA, however, was confident in information indicating that they had earlier met there with members of the Iraqi intelligence service, the official added.

“This was the first (tip) that was fairly specific” about the location of Hussein and his sons since the war began, the official said, adding that the attack might have killed Hussein.

“If he was in that facility, he would most likely be dead,” the official said (Los Angeles Times, April 8).

U.S. troops yesterday advanced farther into Baghdad, capturing two of Hussein’s presidential palaces, according to the Washington Post.  U.S. forces moved into a section of Baghdad that contains a number of important government facilities, including Hussein’s official quarters.  The advance also resulted in the capture of the Republican Palace, the official seat of the Iraqi government, and the Sijood Palace, both located on the west bank of the Tigris River (Shadid/Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, April 8).

After starting the war with more than 800 tanks, Iraq now has fewer than two dozen, the U.S. Defense Department said.  In addition, the Iraqi leadership is becoming increasingly isolated, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.

“The circle is closing and their options are running out,” Rumsfeld said.

A coalition victory is not dependent, however, on the capture or death of Hussein, Rumsfeld said.  “At that point where he is not running his country … the regime has been changed,” he said (Los Angeles Times).

Rice Meets With Putin

Meanwhile, U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow yesterday in an attempt, as one senior U.S. diplomat said, to repair relations damaged by the two countries’ differing stance on Iraq.

In addition to meeting with Putin, Rice also met his chief of staff, Alexander Voloshin, and national security adviser Vladimir Rushailo, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, according the New York Times.  The meetings covered a number of issues, including terrorism and nuclear weapons efforts in Iran and North Korea. 

In each meeting “the important thing was the signal we sent was that we’re interested in engaging with the Russians, and that time is of the essence to begin the dialogue,” the senior U.S. diplomat said.  “Her message was from the president, stressing the importance of working to keep the relationship on track, to contain the disagreement,” the diplomat added (Michael Wines, New York Times, April 8).

Blair Calls for U.N. Role in Post-Hussein Iraq

British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday to allow the United Nations to create an interim Iraqi-led government in Iraq once the war is over, according to the London Independent.

Bush arrived in Belfast yesterday for a two-day meeting to discuss Iraq.  Blair has proposed a plan to allow a U.N-created Iraqi interim authority to work next to the U.S. administration after two months.  The authority would then take full control of Iraq after six months after the end of the war until elections could be held, the Independent reported (Paul Waugh, London Independent, April 8).

The United States has already begun installing a civil administration in the southern Iraqi port of Umm Qasr, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  Officials from the Pentagon’s Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, headed by retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, could begin operating at the port today.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said that while the United Nations could add legitimacy to any new Iraqi government, the United States and the United Kingdom must be allowed to take the lead.

“The coalition, having taken the political risk and having paid the cost in lives, must have a leading role,” Powell said (Don Melvin, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 8).

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South Asia:  United States Rejects India’s Argument for Pre-Emptive Action

The United States yesterday dismissed India’s idea of a pre-emptive attack on Pakistan, saying the dispute between the two South Asian rivals over Kashmir was not similar to Iraq (see GSN, April 7).

Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha last week said a pre-emptive strike against Pakistan would be appropriate, claiming the United States had set an example for such action by its invasion of Iraq.  U.S. officials, however, denied that the two situations were comparable.

“Attempts to draw parallel between Iraq and Kashmir are overwhelmed by differences between the two situations,” a U.S. State Department official said.  “We recognize the very serious nature of the situation in Kashmir ... but the two situations are not comparable,” the official added.

The State official noted Iraq’s previous history of aggression toward its neighbors, such as Iran as Kuwait, as well as Iraq’s use of chemical weapons against its own population.  The United States and its allies attacked Iraq only after Baghdad ignored more than a decade of U.N. Security Council resolutions to disarm itself of weapons of mass destruction, the official said.

“These circumstances, which made the coalition actions necessary in Iraq, do not apply in the subcontinent and should not be considered a precedent,” the State official said (Anwar Iqbal, United Press International, April 7).

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North Korea:  Permanent U.N. Security Council Members Still Split on Nuclear Efforts

The five permanent U.N. Security Council members, hampered by Chinese opposition, could not reach agreement yesterday on a joint statement condemning North Korean nuclear efforts, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, April 7).

The United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom met yesterday in a prelude to a meeting tomorrow of the full, 15-member Security Council.  Earlier efforts to bring the five together were unsuccessful when China and Russia decided not to attend (see GSN, March 14).

China had held out against meetings of the permanent members, but attended Monday’s session.

“We hope that the council would react constructively on this issue,” Chinese U.N. Ambassador Wang Yingfan said yesterday.

Other council diplomats, however, said China was not ready to join a council statement criticizing North Korea (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Sacramento Bee, April 8).

Russia also warned that U.S. efforts to censure North Korea could hurt relations between Washington and Moscow, Agence France-Presse reported today.

The nuclear crisis is “very dangerous and not developing in the direction of easing of tensions, but rather the other way,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov said.  “We need to take urgent measures to cool off the situation,” he added.

“The most important thing is to, first, try to clear up relations between the United States and North Korea, so that the (two sides’) fears about each other are eliminated,” Losyukov said.  “Otherwise, the U.N. Security Council discussion could, instead, become a launching pad for a further unraveling of relations,” he added (Agence France-Presse, April 8).

U.S., North Korean Diplomats Meet

Meanwhile, in face-to-face meetings last week, the United States asked North Korea to take part in multilateral talks, AP reported.  U.S. special envoy for North Korea Jack Pritchard met with Han Song Ryol, North Korea’s deputy permanent representative at the United Nations, in three days of talks.

Council diplomats did not know if North Korea had responded, but Pyongyang has long resisted anything but direct negotiations with Washington (Lederer, Associated Press/Sacramento Bee).

U.S.-South Korea Talks Begin

U.S. Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Richard Lawless is in Seoul this week to meet with South Korean officials on the future of the two countries’ relationship.

South Korean defense officials said the talks could focus on moving U.S. forces away from the South Korea’s border with the North, and possibly reducing the number of U.S. military personnel in the country (Associated Press/London Guardian, April 8).

Seoul’s delegation, including Cha Young-koo, the assistant defense minister for policy, is against a drastic reduction in frontline U.S. troops while the nuclear crisis lasts.

“We are opposed to the early relocation of key frontline bases like the 2nd Infantry Division.  The issue can be discussed only after the nuclear crisis is over,” said a Defense Ministry official.

“We will do our best to search for a win-win strategy, beneficial to both countries,” Cha said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo.com, April 8).

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Anthrax:  Researchers Discover New Details of Anthrax Toxin

Researchers at Harvard University and the University of Wisconsin have made a new discovery of an additional way that anthrax toxin enters a cell — a find that could be useful in developing new anthrax treatments, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, March 27).

Last year, researchers discovered the first “door” by which anthrax toxin enters a cell, which led to the creation of a decoy substance able to draw the toxin away and prevent cellular damage, AP reported.  Scientists have now discovered a second entry point and have created an even more effective decoy, according to research set to be published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“It’s about 25-fold better than the first one we had,” said John Young, who headed the research at the University of Wisconsin Medical School.

While the researchers still need to conduct animal testing on their findings, the new decoy could be used as an emergency treatment now in the event of an anthrax outbreak, AP reported.

“The hope would be that it would be quick enough to be useful if a need came along like that,” Young said (Associated Press, April 8).

For further information, see:

CDC Frequently Asked Questions About Anthrax

Journal of the American Medical Association Background on Anthrax

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U.S. Response I:  States Need Federal Guidance for Biological Attack

State and city officials need better federal guidelines to respond to bioterrorist attacks, the General Accounting Office reported yesterday (see GSN, April 1).

Many local officials have widely varied plans to deal with bioterrorist attacks, according to a GAO study of seven states.  Cities and states also need to better coordinate their efforts to detect and track sickness stemming from a bioterrorist attack, the GAO announced.

Some state and city governments have prepared for natural and large-scale disasters but these plans may not be applicable if a terrorist releases a dangerous biological agent, the Associated Press reported.  Governments that have dealt with large public health emergencies, however, are better prepared to deal with bioterrorism, the GAO said (Laura Meckler, Associated Press/Orlando Sentinel, April 8).

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U.S. Response II:  WMD Research Centers Remain Unfunded, Unfounded

Four medical centers intended to study the medical effects of WMD terrorism were authorized by the U.S. Congress in November, but lawmakers have opted not to fund the centers, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Dec. 12, 2002).

In last year’s legislation, the Veterans Affairs Department was directed to establish four medical centers to research the effects of chemical, biological and radiological terrorism.  The omnibus budget bill for fiscal 2003, passed early this year, however, said that no money may be used to create the “medical emergency preparedness centers” or to establish a new Pentagon assistant secretary to oversee them, according to the Post.

Further, neither the House or Senate versions of a supplemental defense budget bill, which lawmakers are expected to pass Thursday or Friday, contain any funding for the effort.  Officials have not chosen sites for the centers.

“In a way, we have met the enemy, and he is us, not you,” House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health Chairman Rob Simmons (R-Conn.) said, while speaking to Veterans Affairs Department representatives last month.

It was not clear why the 2003 budget prohibited funds from being used for the centers and a House Appropriations Committee spokesman said there is no hidden agenda preventing the effort from gathering support, the Post reported.

The centers were intended to “develop methods of detection, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of injuries, diseases and illnesses arising from the use of chemical biological, radiological, incendiary or other explosive weapons,” according to legislation.  Lawmakers designated the centers to be affiliated with medical schools or graduate schools of epidemiology or public health, according to the Post.

“They are an important resource to have available,” a Veterans Affairs spokesman said last week.  “But at this point, it’s not a realistic expectation they’ll be funded in this budget cycle,” he added (David Brown, Washington Post, April 8).

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Iraq:  U.S. Forces Test Captured Suspect Sites, Find Pesticides Instead of Sarin at One

U.S. troops have begun testing for chemical weapons agents at several recently captured Iraqi sites that were initially suspected of containing banned chemical weapons, and one site has been cleared, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, April 7).

Soldiers guarding a captured military compound near the Iraqi town of Hindiyah, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, complained over the weekend of symptoms consistent with very low exposure to nerve agent.  While initial tests detected the presence of sarin, more comprehensive tests conducted yesterday determined the presence of pesticide compounds, said Capt. Adam Mastrianni, a military intelligence officer with the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division’s aviation brigade.

“They thought it was a nerve agent.  That’s what it tested.  But it is pesticide,” Mastrianni said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo.com, April 8).

U.S. troops are also conducting further analysis on liquid agent found at an agricultural compound located near the town of Albu Mahawish, according to the National Post.  Initial tests conducted on the agent, discovered in 14 drums, tested positive for tabun, sarin and lewisite, but these results could also be an indication of the presence of pesticides.

“Now, this could be either some type of pesticide because it was an agricultural compound and literature inside the compound talks about dealing with mosquitoes,” said Gen. Benjamin Freakly, assistant commander of the 101st.  “On the other hand, it could be a chemical agent, not weaponized, a liquid agent that is in drums,” he said.

“It is a liquid agent that concerns us and we want to investigate further,” Freakly said (Michael Higgins, National Post, April 8).

U.S. troops have also discovered two additional suspect sites, according to reports.  A warehouse was discovered near an airbase just north of the city of Karbala with more than 500 artillery shells, many with hollow tips, which could indicate they are to be used with chemical weapons, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Wall Street Journal, April 8).  Additionally, members of the 1st Marine Division were reported to have found yesterday 20 artillery rockets filled with sarin and mustard gas at a site near Baghdad.

The U.S. Central Command receives an average of three reports per day of suspect Iraqi WMD sites, but none has been confirmed yet, a U.S. source said (Neil Tweedie, London Telegraph, April 8).

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday warned that initial reports from the field of the presence of chemical weapons are often inaccurate.

“Almost all first reports we get turn out to be wrong,” Rumsfeld said.  “We don’t do first reports and we don’t speculate,” he added (Earl Lane, Newsday, April 8).

Testing Equipment

One of the tools U.S. troops have to use in their hunt for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction is the Fox armored vehicle, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.  While the Fox contains much of the same WMD detection equipment as other vehicles, it also contains a mass spectrometer, which can break a suspicious substance down into its chemical components.  Spectrum analysis, which is often more precise, can then be done at the location and the results immediately reported to commanders, the Inquirer reported (Tom Infield, Philadelphia Inquirer, April 8).

Most field tests, however, often result in false positives, experts said.  The portable kits used to conduct initial tests often lack the specificity needed to precisely identify a suspicious substance.  Instead, the kits are designed to lean toward a positive result to protect U.S. troops, often resulting in false alarms, said Jonathan Tucker with the U.S. Institute of Peace (William Broad, New York Times, April 8).

“Chemical Ali” Dead or Alive?

Meanwhile, U.S. officials have begun to play down reports that Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as “Chemical Ali” for ordering a 1998 chemical weapons attack on Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, was killed Saturday during a British airstrike on the southern city of Basra, according to U.S. News & World Report.  While al-Majid was wounded in the attack, he probably survived and was able to escape, several military sources said.

“I don’t think he’s dead, but I think he’s hurt bad and he’s been neutralized,” said a senior official with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force.

A number of Marine officers have said they expect to hear of al-Majid again. 

“The thing about Chemical Ali is that he’s got such a great name,” said Lt. Col. David Pere.  “He’s everywhere,” Pere added (Mark Mazzetti, U.S. News & World Report, April 7).

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United States:  U.S. Air Force Says It Found, Destroyed Scud Missile

A U.S. pilot claimed to have attacked and destroyed an Iraqi Scud missile at the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, Aviation Week reported yesterday (see GSN, March 28).

U.S. Air Force Capt. Mary Melfi, an F-15E weapons officer, was directed to a target “and it happened to be a Scud,” she said.

Melfi said the target was not in western Iraq, where Iraq could have positioned missiles to be fired toward Israel.

About five hours into a patrol mission, Melfi sighted the missile and asked permission from her controllers to attack it.

“I told them what I was seeing,” she said.  “It was a (Scud) launcher,” she added.

The attack was reportedly successful.

“It was a pretty big explosion.  The intelligence folks looked at my tape and assessed it as being one of the Scuds,” Melfi added (David Fulghum, Aviation Week, April 7).

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Radiological Weapons:  Pediatricians Recommend Potassium Iodide Stockpiles

The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that homes, schools and child-care centers near nuclear power plants maintain stockpiles of potassium iodide pills to protect children from excessive radiation exposure, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Dec. 4, 2002).

In addition to keeping the pills on hand, families, schools and child-care centers within 10 miles of nuclear power plants should also develop distribution plans in the event of a disaster, the academy said.  “It may be prudent to consider stockpiling potassium iodide within a larger radius because of more distant wind-borne fallout, as occurred after Chernobyl,” it said.

Potassium iodide can prevent thyroid cancer by blocking the body’s absorption of excess radiation, according to AP.  Children are more vulnerable to radiation because they are closer to the ground where fallout settles and because their bodies absorb and metabolize substances differently, the academy said.

The new recommendations were prompted by biological terrorism concerns and the current war in Iraq, said Sophie Balk, a pediatrician who headed the academy committee that created the recommendations (Associated Press/USA Today, April 8).

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