Iraq:  ElBaradei Expresses Concern Over Nuclear Site Looting Reports

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said yesterday that he was “extremely concerned” about reports of looting at Iraqi nuclear sites (see GSN, May 16).

“(There are) a lot of radioactive sources that people have been exposed to, and that obviously is a major worry for us,” ElBaradei said before giving a commencement speech at Tufts University.

There have been a number of media reports that agency seals at Iraqi nuclear sites have been tampered with and that radioactive sources have been stolen, ElBaradei said (see GSN, May 6).

“We do not know where they are, we do not know the impact on the civilian population, we do not know whether nuclear materials under safeguard have been looted,” ElBaradei said, adding that looted radioactive sources could also pose security concerns.

ElBaradei said that he has been writing to U.S. officials for months to obtain permission for IAEA inspectors to return to Iraq.  “I am getting frustrated that we haven’t heard their response yet,” he said.

ElBaradei also said yesterday that agency teams would be more qualified than U.S. troops to inspect Iraqi nuclear sites and search for radioactive materials. 

“We have the most field experience.  We know who to interview, what to do,” ElBaradei said.  “We would be much more efficient in completing that job,” he said (CNN.com, May 18).

The recent war in Iraq should serve as a warning to world of the need to strengthen international law, ElBaradei said.

“The war in Iraq is a wake-up call that we need to stick together ... and we need to move forward and build a better society," ElBaradei said.  “We need to continue to see and learn that we are best served by solving our problems through dialogue and interaction.  I don’t think that resorting to war every time we have a dispute is going to solve our problems,” he said (Robert O’Neill, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, May 18).

Tuwaitha Radiation Poisoning

Meanwhile, residents near the Tuwaitha nuclear research facility — believed to be the main site in Iraq’s former nuclear program — have made a number of illness complaints which doctors believe could be linked to radiation poisoning, according to CNN.

The Tuwaitha complex was looted near the end of the recent war in Iraq.  While some of the stolen items were discarded, other items were used by the looters.  For example, Amar Jorda said he became ill after drinking water that was stored in a plastic barrel stolen from the complex.

“My skin itches.  I can’t breathe well, and my nose bleeds at least four times a day,” Jorda said.

Jaafar Nasser, a senior physician at a nearby hospital, said he has seen six people within two days with symptoms similar to Jorda’s, including rashes, frequent nosebleeds, shortness of breath and vomiting.  “This is called acute radiation sickness,” Nasser said.

A “nuclear disablement team” from the U.S. Army’s V Corps will assess the Tuwaitha complex to review “the quantity and condition of the nuclear material stored there,” U.S. Central Command officials said Friday (Karl Penhaul, CNN.com, May 16).

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U.S. Response:  U.S. Company Developing New Radiation Sickness Treatment

The U.S. company Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals is developing a new drug that could help protect against radiation exposure from a nuclear blast or “dirty bomb” detonation, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Feb. 3).

The drug, HE-2100, appears to offer significant protection against radiation sickness, which would kill many more people than a nuclear blast, military officials and experts said.  Radiation damages the body’s immune system, leading to fatalities from infections occurring one to six weeks after exposure, medical experts said.  HE-2100 strengthens the immune system, especially the infection-fighting abilities of bone marrow, which is most vulnerable to radiation, according to the Post.

HE-2100 appears to offer protection against radiation sickness when given before exposure, as well as a few hours after exposure or even later, according to the Post.  Currently, there are no treatments available for administration post-exposure, according to experts.

With its apparent ability to prevent radiation-caused infections in the time span following a nuclear blast, the drug can apparently “bring people over that hump in time, where, without it, they would die,” said David Grdina, a professor of radiation and cellular oncology at the University of Chicago.

More research still needs to be conducted on HE-2100 to prove its effectiveness and safety in humans, experts said.  Animal testing conducted with the drug has indicated that it will work in humans and not be toxic, radiation experts said.

U.S. military officials are enthusiastic about HE-2100, the Post reported.

“We want it on the fast track,” said Navy Adm. James Zimble, president of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.  “We’ve been very encouraged by the very positive results” of animal testing, he said (John Mintz, Washington Post, May 19).

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North Korea I:  Washington Needs Allies to Ease North Korean Crisis, Task Force Says

By David McGlinchey
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The United States must form a united front with its East Asian allies before it can successfully address North Korea’s nuclear weapons development, according to a report released today by an expert task force (see GSN, May 16).

Gaining the support of North Korea’s neighbors, however, will require Washington to first show a genuine commitment to diplomatic negotiations, report says.

The report, sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations, recommends testing Pyongyang’s intentions by offering a temporary nonaggression assurance and foreign aid in exchange for a freeze on nuclear activity.

“The U.S. must be perceived as trying to resolve this problem [diplomatically],” said task force co-chairman Morton Abramowitz, a former longtime U.S. diplomat.

The report criticizes the Bush administration’s current strategy, which it described as “a policy of isolation, punctuated by occasional, mostly fruitless meetings with the North.”

Abramowitz said the White House has indicated it is seeking a diplomatic solution, but “they have not defined what that means.”

Pyongyang and Washington held contentious talks in Beijing last month, but no further negotiations have been announced.

The report says a diplomatic effort would not be successful without support from regional powers.  Washington “must utilize a coalition of allies in the region,” said the task force’s other co-chairman, James Laney, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea.

Blockade

Abramowitz acknowledged that a diplomatic solution “may not be possible,” and “whether the North Koreans would ever accept it is highly uncertain.”

If diplomacy does fail, the United States must take firm steps to seal off North Korea — a move that would not be feasible without the strong support of Pyongyang’s regional neighbors, the report said.

The report endorsed a blockade or naval containment of North Korea to prevent the spread of nuclear materials and to pressure Pyongyang into dropping its nuclear ambitions.  To seal off North Korea would require the cooperation of allies and “a land blockade from China and Russia,” according to Eric Heginbotham, the task force director and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

He added that a blockade “certainly would be highly provocative” and “could not guarantee” that nuclear material was not seeping out of the reclusive communist country.

“Plutonium can be very small,” Heginbotham said.

High-Level Coordinator

Laney said the Bush administration should assign a senior diplomat to develop a unified front with Japan, South Korea, Russia and China.

“Full time, I mean at the highest level,” Laney said, adding, “with a coordinator, that strength can be marshaled.”

He said North Korea’s neighbors are not happy with Pyongyang’s nuclear development and that discontent should be unified.

 “This [dissatisfaction] is not something that is going to merge; we have to work at it,” according to Laney.

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North Korea II:  South Korean President Indicates Harder Stance Toward Pyongyang

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun last week indicated that his country is willing to take a harder stance toward North Korea to resolve the conflict over Pyongyang’s relaunched nuclear efforts, according to the Wall Street Journal (see GSN, May 16).

Following a summit with U.S. President George W. Bush, Roh and his aides have said Seoul will demand greater reciprocity from North Korea on the nuclear issue before it moves forward with economic aid and diplomatic exchanges, the Journal reported (see GSN, May 14).  Such a stance contrasts sharply with statements Roh made during South Korea’s presidential election last year, when he stressed the importance of engaging North Korea in an attempt to draw it out of isolation.

“We need to have a card to deal with the North that is more flexible than before and prevents us from being swayed by the North,” Roh said last week.  “We will not blindly follow the direction that North Korea wants in the future,” he said (Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, May 19).

Meanwhile, Seoul has said that a 1992 inter-Korean agreement to keep the Korean Peninsula free of nuclear weapons is “still valid,” according to AFX News (see GSN, May 13).  North Korea last week said the agreement was dead and blamed the United States. 

“The official position of our government is that the denuclearization agreement is still valid,” said Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun.  “I don’t think North Korea has officially declared the scrapping of the agreement.  If you read North Korea’s statement carefully, you will know that North Korean authorities have not scrapped the agreement,” Jeong said in testimony before the South Korean National Assembly (AFX News, May 19). 

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United States:  Congress to Vote on New White House Weapons Research Proposals

The U.S. House and Senate are expected this week to vote on the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill, in which each house’s armed services committee has permitted some previously banned nuclear weapons research (see GSN, May 14).

The bill is expected to reach the Senate floor today and the House floor Wednesday, according to the Washington Post.  Debate in each chamber is expected to only last two days each, congressional sources said (Pincus/Morgan, Washington Post, May 19).

The $400 billion bill includes $15 million to fund research into “bunker-busting” nuclear weapons and includes a provision that would lift a 1993 ban on research into small nuclear weapons, according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

New Research Would Be Allowed

Bush administration officials have said they are taking a prudent and cautious approach to new nuclear weapons research.  Currently, the 1993 ban prevents U.S. scientists from conducting any research on low-yield nuclear weapons, a Defense Department source said.  

“The first thing they have to do is get the lawyer into the office to see if I can legally think about this or am I going to break the law,” the Pentagon source said.  “All we’re basically doing is say, ‘Look, let’s let these guys think about what we need for national security to defend this nation.’ … At the end of the day, it’s just that simple,” the source said.

Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), a critic of the proposals, said she has seen no evidence of new threats that would require changes to U.S. nuclear policies.

“It’s part of a mosaic of this neoconservative positioning that is deeply troubling,” Tauscher said.  “I think some of these folks would put nuclear tips on ice cream cones if they could,” she said (George Edmonson, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 18).

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Russia:  Moscow to Launch Nine Satellites Using Converted SS-19

Russia plans to conduct a group satellite launch early next month using a converted SS-19 ballistic missile, a Russian Aerospace Agency spokesman said last week (see GSN, April 16).

The launch of the Rokot space launch vehicle, which is set to take place at the Plesetsk cosmodrome, will place nine satellites in orbit (Vladislav Kuznetsov, ITAR-Tass, May 15, in FBIS-SOV, May 15).

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U.S.-Russia:  U.S. Experts Inspect Russian ICBM Bases

U.S. experts have completed a three-day inspection of a Russian strategic missile base in eastern Siberia, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said today (see GSN, April 29). 

The inspection, conducted under the auspices of START, examined rail-based SS-24 ICBMs and Russia’s compliance with the treaty (Vladislav Kuznetsov, ITAR-Tass, May 19).  The base houses 12 SS-24 missiles, along with four launch trains, according to a START memorandum of understanding that the United States and Russia exchange twice a year (Mike Nartker, GSN, May 19).

Last week, U.S. experts completed an additional three-day inspection of a Russian missile base near Uzhur, according to ITAR-Tass.  The inspection, also conducted under START, examined warheads on SS-18 ICBMs (ITAR-Tass, May 15 in FBIS-SOV, May 15).  As of January, 46 SS-18s were deployed at the base, according to a START memorandum of understanding (Nartker, GSN).

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International Response:  Nuclear Suppliers Group Meeting Begins in Seoul

This annual meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a group of nations that establishes export control guidelines for nuclear trade, began today in Seoul, South Korean Foreign Ministry officials said (see GSN, Dec. 19, 2002).

The weeklong meeting is expected to include discussions of new measures to help prevent nuclear proliferation to North Korea and to address revisions to group guidelines to improve information-sharing among members, officials said (Seo Hyun-jin, Korea Herald, May 20).

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International Response:  WHO to Consider Improved Regulations

World Health Organization officials are expected today to begin discussing new powers to combat international epidemics that could be caused by bioterrorism.  The agency is scheduled to begin its 10-day annual meeting today in Geneva (see GSN, Oct. 22, 2001).

The World Health Assembly is expected to consider revisions to WHO guidelines that would require members to report a much larger number of diseases than currently required, according to the Washington Post.  The revisions would also give the organization the authority to respond even when members will not admit they are facing a health crisis.

“These are major changes in the way WHO works,” said David Heymann, executive director of WHO’s communicable diseases program.  “The way we work now is passive.  This would now be active,” he said.

The disease outbreaks that nations must currently report — cholera, yellow fever and plague — “with the possible exception of cholera, are not really what you’re worried about anymore,” Kimball said.  “If you leave a body of internationally agreed regulations that limited, it becomes irrelevant,” he said.

The proposed revisions would create a new, more general requirement that countries report any “public health emergency of international concern,” according to the Post.

The Bush administration was reviewing its position on the proposed revisions late last week and has not made its position public.  The White House is concerned that the proposals “not go too far,” said Health and Human Services Department spokesman William Pierce. 

“You want to be very clear about what you should do in these cases, but at the same time you don’t want to create undue panic or take undue actions,” Pierce said (Rob Stein, Washington Post, May 18).

The World Health Assembly meeting is also expected to include discussion on the eradication of smallpox virus stockpiles, according to a WHO release (see GSN, Nov. 6, 2002; World Health Organization release, Feb. 27).

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Anthrax:  Hatfill Conversation Led to Pond Search, Sources Say

The FBI’s recently reported discovery of discarded laboratory equipment in a pond near Frederick, Md., was prompted by a tip from an acquaintance of former U.S. Army biologist Steven Hatfill, who has long been the public focus of the bureau’s investigation into the fall 2001 anthrax attacks, Newsweek reported today (see GSN, May 12).

In December 2002 and January of this year, the FBI conducted two searches of a section of forest outside Frederick, using divers to investigate a set of ponds in the area.  The Washington Post reported earlier this month that, during those searches, divers recovered a clear box with holes that could accommodate gloves, as well as vials wrapped in plastic, from one of the ponds.

FBI agents searched the pond after an interview with the Hatfill acquaintance, who told them about a conversation he had with Hatfill, according to Newsweek.  The acquaintance told the agents that Hatfill, who had been questioning the theory that whoever produced the anthrax used in the attacks would need access to sophisticated equipment, said the anthrax could have been made in the woods and the evidence could be tossed “in a lake,” Newsweek reported.

The discovery of the box led to some FBI agents developing a theory that whoever was responsible for the anthrax attacks submerged the box into the pond to work with anthrax spores without fear of self-infection.  Other law-enforcement officials, however, have dismissed such a theory.

“It got a lot of giggles,” an FBI source said.

The FBI tested the box for anthrax and initially received a positive result, according to Newsweek.  Further testing, however, has come back negative.  The bureau now plans to drain the pond in an attempt to find more evidence, such as a wet suit that might have been used and discarded by the person responsible for the attacks, Newsweek reported (Newsweek/MSNBC.com, May 19).

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United States:  Anniston Workers Find Another Leaking Rocket

Employees at Anniston Army Depot in Alabama discovered a fourth rocket leaking chemical weapons last week, the Anniston Star reported Friday (see GSN, May 15).

News of the latest leaking rocket follows last Monday’s discovery of three rockets that were leaking the deadly GB nerve agent.  Officials verified the fourth leaking rocket May 14, according to the Star.

No GB nerve agent leaked from the tubes that hold the faulty rockets, depot officials said.  The leaking munitions were placed in larger containers and moved to a larger holding area that is inspected daily, the Star reported.

“They’ve got them canned,” said depot spokeswoman Cathy Coleman (Sara Clemence, Anniston Star, May 16).

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North Korea:  Nerve Gas Component May Have Been For North Korea

German officials intercepted 30 tons of sodium cyanide, which can be used to develop chemical weapons and might have been headed to North Korea, Pakistan’s Daily Star reported today (see GSN, May 16).

A German company was sending the cargo to a warehouse in Singapore, and U.S. officials requested the shipment be intercepted.  Washington believed the chemical was actually ordered by North Korea.  Sodium cyanide, commonly used in the treatment of metals, can also be used to make the nerve gas Tabun (Pakistan Daily Star, May 19).

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U.S. Plans:  MDA Will Test Missile Defense Systems at Night

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is planning to conduct a nighttime intercept test with its Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, Aerospace Daily reported today (see GSN, May 16).

Missile defense officials do not believe that testing the system at night will present serious challenges, but they say they want to test it nonetheless.

“I would think that at the least, you’d want to know that the system could work at night,” said Philip Coyle, former Defense Department director of operational test and evaluation, who pushed for the nighttime test along with several experts, according to Aerospace Daily (Marc Selinger, Aerospace Daily, May 19).

Officials also said that money and staffing shortages forced the agency to suspend a planned June 2004 missile intercept test and instead test a radar component of the system.  The agency is still deciding whether the intercept test will be conducted at all, according to System Executive Officer Patricia Sanders.  The Senate Armed Services Committee added $100 million to the fiscal 2004 budget to pay for the test, Bloomberg.com reported (Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg.com, May 19).

Boosters Tested Soon

Agency officials have also decided on more specific timeframes to test its prospective boosters.  The agency plans to test the Orbital Sciences booster in late July and the Lockheed Martin booster in late August at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base.  Full flight tests of the boosters with a variety of sensors involved are scheduled to take place between September and November (Selinger, Aerospace Daily).

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