Iraq:  CIA Says It Informed White House of Intelligence Doubts

The CIA yesterday said it sent a cable to the White House and other U.S. agencies in March 2002 that cast doubt on the credibility of a report that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium from Niger (see GSN, June 12).

The cable did not, however, include the conclusions of a former U.S. ambassador who had been sent to Niger in April 2002.  The former ambassador determined that documents purporting to describe the attempted purchase had been forged, Bush administration officials said.  Instead, the CIA cable attributed its assessment only to an anonymous source, failing to mention the name of the former ambassador — a known Africa expert — or that the agency had sent him to Niger, according to the Washington Post.

The CIA cable was one of a large number of such reports the White House received every day, a Bush administration official said yesterday.  Other information received after the cable transmission supported claims that Iraq was attempting to purchase uranium prior to the recent war, the officials said.  The cable was not considered especially important because it cited an anonymous source and therefore was not distributed to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice or other senior White House officials, the Post reported.

Rice said Sunday that she did not know there had been doubts about the documents that purported to show that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium from Niger.

“Maybe someone knew down in the bowels of the agency, but no one in our circles knew that there were doubts and suspicions that this might be a forgery,” Rice said (Walter Pincus, Washington Post, June 13).

The CIA also informed the United Kingdom that the Niger claims were false, months before London would include the claim in a dossier justifying war, according to the Associated Press.

The CIA passed on the information to British officials, a senior intelligence official said.  Even so, the claim that Iraq “sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa” was still included in a British dossier released Sept. 24 that cited intelligence sources (John Lumpkin, Associated Press/London Independent, June 13).

Former U.N. Inspector Criticizes Intelligence

Meanwhile, former U.N. weapons inspector Steve Allinson has said that every piece of intelligence provided to the inspectors by the United States and the United Kingdom was “absolute rubbish.”

Allinson said that in the three months prior to the war that he worked in Iraq, inspectors were often sent to sites named in U.S. and British intelligence, but no weapons of mass destruction were found.  At one site, U.S. intelligence said that equipment was being moved and that some pieces had been placed on the roof of a store, he said.

“That site I had been to several times ... and it is basically just a warehouse full of mechanical bits and pieces,” Allinson said.  “Even though we had been to this site, we had to act on the intelligence to appease the Americans,” he said (Press Association/London Guardian, June 13).

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday defended the U.S. intelligence that said Iraq possessed and was attempting to develop weapons of mass destruction.

“This isn’t a figment of somebody’s imagination.  This isn’t something that was overblown, or made up in the basement of the CIA late one night,” Powell said.  “These were real weapons, real programs, that Saddam Hussein refused to come forward and explain. ... Do you want to give Saddam Hussein the benefit of the doubt?  Well, we didn’t.  And now we don’t have to worry about it anymore,” he added.

The Bush administration believes that prior to the war Iraq possessed both actual weapons of mass destruction and WMD programs, Powell said.  Once coalition teams finish examining suspect WMD sites, interviewing Iraqi scientists and reviewing documents, “it will lead us not only, we believe, to weapons that may exist, but to the programs themselves,” Powell said (Sonya Ross, Associated Press/Washington Post, June 13).

U.S. Secret Forces Played Role in WMD Search

A U.S. Army special forces unit that has been operating in Iraq since before the war began has played an important — but unsuccessful — role in the search for Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, according to military and intelligence sources.

The unit’s main mission is to “seize, destroy, render safe, capture or recover weapons of mass destruction,” according to a special operations mission statement.  As part of that mission, the unit conducted raids ahead of coalition forces to capture suspected WMD stockpiles, collected hundreds of samples and captured as many as half of the Iraqi scientists and Baath Party officials now in custody, according to the Washington Post.

The U.S. Defense Department has so far refused to publicly release the unit’s preliminary findings, which include the discovery of a cache of land mines believed to have been designed for use with biological agents, the Post reported.  A Task Force 20 “direct action” team discovered the mines during a raid on an Iraqi military base near the western city of Qaim shortly before the war. 

Testing on the mines helped to convince some U.S. analysts that the mines were once loaded with botulinum toxin, according to two sources.  The mines are not considered to be offensive weapons, however, and they had deteriorated to the point where their contents could be disputed, the sources said.

While Task Force 20 had initially sent a number of reports to Washington indicating the possibility of WMD discoveries, it has found no conclusive evidence of such weapons or programs, sources said (Barton Gellman, Washington Post, June 13).

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North Korea I:  Lawmakers Say North Korea Ready to Talk

By David McGlinchey
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of U.S. congressmen who recently returned from North Korea revealed details this week of their trip and said they may have breathed new life into the push for a peaceful resolution to the Korean Peninsula’s nuclear crisis (see GSN, June 9).

Such a resolution has proven difficult as Washington and Pyongyang have not even been able to agree on a forum for negotiations. North Korea has insisted on direct talks with the United States, and Washington has held out for a multilateral meeting with Northeast Asian nations, including China, Japan and South Korea.

Describing their visit to Pyongyang, the six U.S. House members said the North Koreans greeted them warmly and seemed ready for negotiations.  The three-day trip, which began May 30, was aimed at establishing contact outside the tightly controlled world of diplomatic negotiation, the lawmakers said.  Through low-pressure dinners, sightseeing, and informal conversations, the House members “put a human face on America for the North Koreans,” according to Representative Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), the delegation’s leader and the vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.  The group — three Republicans and three Democrats — toured Pyongyang’s computer center and visited the movie studios of idiosyncratic North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.  They did not meet with Kim in person, however.

Pyongyang looked like a troubled city, said Representative Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) who brought back photographs of shiny monuments near empty eight-lane boulevards.  The city’s schools and its computer center were operating without lights, he said.  A large amusement park sat empty and still.  Nearby hills were dusty and treeless, apparently stripped bare for fuel.  The city’s hotels were empty, although North Korean officials blamed that on severe acute respiratory syndrome; SARS has hampered travel throughout Asia.

The legislators described North Korean officials as polite, friendly, and open to discussion, yet determined to let the lawmakers know that they do have nuclear weapons and are prepared to make more.  The North Koreans were also “absolutely petrified” of a U.S. invasion, said Representative Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.).  The delegation found a country that is convinced it is next on a U.S. invasion list, according to several of the trip’s participants.  “They mentioned in every meeting the fact that Bush dubbed them part of the ‘axis of evil,’” Engel said.  “They are very much aware of what happened to the first part of the axis of evil,” Iraq.  North Korean officials are now saying publicly and privately that they need a nuclear deterrent to ward off such an attack.

The congressmen were eating dinner high above Pyongyang — atop a nearly vacant sky-scraping hotel in a restaurant empty except for their party — when a top North Korean official told them that his country did indeed have nuclear weapons.  During the May 31 dinner, North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Gue Gwan “looked me in the eye,” Weldon said.  “He had had a couple of drinks; he said, `We have them.’”

North Korea has never publicly declared itself a nuclear state, although North Korean officials have told U.S. officials privately in the past that they possess nuclear devices.  U.S. intelligence agencies have said for some time that North Korea probably has two nuclear bombs, perhaps more.  But the lawmakers said the North Koreans’ recent admission might be the most candid and pointed on record.

The congressmen said that Pyongyang’s message to them was clear and unambiguous.  “They said, `We have nuclear weapons and we are building more,’” recalled Representative Solomon Ortiz (D-Texas).  Ortiz said he is unsure if he should believe the claims, “but I wouldn’t tempt them.  I wouldn’t try them just to see if they have one.”

Relations between the two countries have taken a nosedive in the past two years, starting with President Bush’s disparaging comments about North Korea early in his term, followed by the axis-of-evil characterization.  Then, in late 2002, U.S. intelligence revealed that North Korea was operating a new, clandestine nuclear weapons program.  Pyongyang initiated a series of bellicose actions, among them renouncing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in January and then abandoning the 1994 Agreed Framework with the United States and South Korea, an accord that was supposed to freeze the North’s nuclear programs in return for economic and energy aid.  Just this week, Pyongyang said it was seeking to develop nuclear weapons so that it could reduce the size of its expensive and massive conventional army.

But even as Pyongyang continues to spout hostile rhetoric against the United States, North Korean officials told the lawmakers that they welcomed a new proposal, developed spontaneously by Weldon in his hotel room during a late-night bout of insomnia.  Weldon said he was unable to fall asleep his first night in Pyongyang so instead he sketched out a rough plan to resolve the crisis.

“I went back up to my room and I really couldn’t sleep,” Weldon said.  “I had all these things running through my head.  I said, there’s got to be a way.  So I got up at three o’clock in the morning and I went over to a pad and I scratched out what it would take to end the conflict.”

The North Koreans may have been open to the House delegation in part because Pyongyang always wants bilateral, not multilateral, talks with the United States and might have viewed the congressional visit as a version of two-way talks.  But Weldon said he made it clear to his hosts that he was not in Pyongyang to negotiate.  He only wanted to share his ideas.  The 10-point proposal, which Weldon declined to reveal in detail, mirrors White House goals to involve key regional allies in any solution and to ensure the end of all of North Korea’s nuclear programs, he said.  The proposal includes “some substantive” requirements for the North Koreans, Weldon said.

The plan reportedly calls on North Korea to dismantle its nuclear facilities, reaffirm the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, sign international accords on missile proliferation, and join the Helsinki Commission on human rights as an observer.  North Korea would also gain some benefits under the plan, perhaps economic aid, but those details have not been made public.

On the second night of the visit, Weldon presented the plan to Vice Minister Kim.

“I went through it point by point,” Weldon said.  A key component of the plan is a midpoint hiatus, during which North Korea can prove its commitment to cooperation with the United States.  “Five items to do right away and five items that would take place after a period of transparency and candor,” Weldon said.

Kim’s reaction was surprisingly positive, according to Weldon.  The plan might also appeal to U.S. officials, because it relies heavily on strict verification of North Korean compliance.  Republicans have criticized the Agreed Framework often over the years for not being verifiable, and for allowing Pyongyang to secretly develop nuclear weapons.

His plan, Weldon said, would require “transparency.  It requires them to take some bold steps.  It requires us to take some bold steps.... My goal, as a pro-defense, pro-hawk supporter of President Bush, is to find a way to test” the North Koreans.

Under the plan, a more permanent solution would be put in place if both sides were satisfied with progress on the first five requirements.  Weldon said he has discussed the plan twice in the past week with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, and the entire delegation briefed Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday for a little more than an hour.  Powell described the congressional diplomacy as “helpful,” according to Weldon spokesman Bud DeFlavis.

The plan, and Weldon’s down-home diplomacy, received good reviews from Democrats on the trip.  “I have to give it to Curt Weldon; he’s a smart guy,” Ortiz said.  Before the trip, some in Washington worried that experienced North Korean negotiators would outmaneuver the delegation.  Ortiz dismissed that notion.  The group “did a great job in Korea,” Ortiz said.  “We pulled no punches.”

Wilson said that, if anything, the North Koreans were warmer after Weldon pitched his new plan.  Other lawmakers said that the North Koreans seemed open to future talks and perhaps future concessions.  Officials told the U.S. visitors that they are welcome to return any time.  “They clearly sent us signals.  They clearly signaled that they would not be hard-nosed on this,” Engel said.

According to some analysts, the bipartisan visit was significant simply because North Korea allowed it.  “It means that lines of communication are open,” said Nicholas Eberstadt, a Korea scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.  Nevertheless, “you can only get a deal if both parties agree and both parties think there is something to be gotten by the shaking of hands.  I don’t see the components of a deal being anywhere near in place on this.”

So much suspicion and animosity exists between the two capitals that most analysts are skeptical of immediate progress.  And some recent events don’t bode well.  In the past couple of weeks, the United States and Japan have begun to talk about interdicting North Korean shipping to look for illegal weapons transfers and drugs-actions that Pyongyang has charged would amount to an embargo, and possibly an act of war.

“Everybody has made it very clear that they do not want war,” said Dan Pinkston, a North Korea analyst with the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California.  “You can find some sort of deal, but there is the huge lack of trust on both sides.”

The North Koreans’ willingness to negotiate might be a sign of goodwill, or it could be a desperate attempt to gain concessions for a failing country.  Pyongyang typically negotiates when it is in trouble, Eberstadt said.  “The game isn’t going that well for North Korea at the moment,” he said.

Keeping in mind the troubled North Korean economy and the drastic energy shortage there, some Bush administration officials have been pushing for an economic embargo against Pyongyang to force the collapse of the regime.  But the congressmen — equally divided between hawks and doves — warned against an embargo, saying the situation could deteriorate too easily and slip into war.  The successful U.S. invasion of Iraq has left North Korea more amenable to negotiations and concessions, Weldon said.

Ortiz said he has been met with skepticism when he has told friends about the warmth of the North Koreans.  Nevertheless, he is already pushing for another trip to North Korea to reinforce the message of rapprochement.  Fears are growing on both sides of the Pacific, he noted, and time may be a luxury that no one has.  Speaking of the North Koreans, Ortiz concluded, “Time will tell whether I can really trust them or not.”

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North Korea II:  KEDO Delays Reactor Construction

The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization has delayed building nuclear reactors in North Korea and could suspend the project for the foreseeable future, Yonhap News Agency reported today.

The organization recently suspended orders for major reactor parts, effectively halting construction that has continued despite the current nuclear crisis (see GSN, March 7).  Construction, however, is expected to continue on projects around the reactors.

Members of the organization, which include the United States, South Korea and Japan, were expected discuss the issue at today’s meeting in Honolulu of the Trilateral Coordination and Oversight Group (Yonhap/Korea Times, June 13).

Powell Says Peaceful Solution Possible

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday that he believes “a diplomatic solution is possible” to end the nuclear standoff.

“I am confident that, with increasing pressure and with a clear way for the North Koreans to get out of the box that I believe they are in, a solution can be found,” he said.  Powell also said that a solution to the crisis must involve North Korea’s neighbors, a stance the Bush administration has maintained throughout the standoff (Yonhap News Agency/BBC Monitoring, June 13).

Japan Bars Ship

Japan today stopped a North Korean ship from entering port amid concern that cargo ships are being used to smuggle missile technology back to Pyongyang.

Authorities cited safety concerns in barring the Su Yang San from docking at Toyama, in Western Japan (Audrey McAvoy, Associated Press, June 13).

Japanese officials dismissed North Korean threats over a crackdown on loosely regulated North Korean shipping.

“We have conducted such inspections in line with our law,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda said.  He said Pyongyang should react to the new effort in a “reasonable and cool-headed manner” (Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times, June 13).

State Denies Report on Talks

The State Department yesterday denied reports that U.S. Envoy Jack Pritchard met last week with North Korean representatives in the United Nations to propose bilateral talks between the two countries (see GSN, June 12).

Also, “it’s not true that he ever, two weeks ago, or any time before that, or after that, or tomorrow, made any proposal for bilateral discussions,” said State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher (State Department transcript, June 12).

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Pakistan:  United States to Resume F-16 Sales to Islamabad

The United States is preparing to resume sales of F-16 fighters to Pakistan, high-placed U.S. sources said yesterday (see GSN, May 23).

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld informed Indian Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani during a meeting in Washington last week about U.S. plans to resume F-16 sales to Pakistan, according to Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily.  Indian sources close to Advani were unhappy about the U.S. decision, but did not leak information to the media for fear of damaging Indian-U.S. relations, Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily reported.

In the late 1980s, Pakistan ordered 28 F-16s, but the United States embargoed arms sales to Pakistan in 1992, blocking their delivery, according to Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily.  Improvements in U.S.-Pakistani relations following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, however, led to an end of the embargo.

The undelivered aircraft have been kept in U.S. storage since their transfer was blocked, but Pakistan will not seek to receive those planes, preferring instead to receive upgraded models (Defense & Foreign Affairs Daily, June 13).

Musharraf to Visit Camp David

Meanwhile, U.S. President George W. Bush has decided to welcome Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to Camp David when he visits the United States later this month, White House officials said yesterday.

Bush plans to use Musharraf’s visit, scheduled for June 24, as an opportunity to pressure him to do more to prevent al-Qaeda from using Pakistan as a place to regroup, as well as to continue to improve relations with India, officials said.  While some Bush aides were worried about India’s potential reaction to Musharraf’s visit, intelligence agencies strongly supported welcoming him to Camp David because Pakistan has been an important staging ground for U.S. operations in Afghanistan, officials said.

“Pakistan has been stalwart in working with us to fight terrorism, and Camp David is appropriate to the strength of the relationship,” a senior Bush administration official said (Mike Allen, Washington Post, June 13).

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United States:  NNSA Chief Defends Weapons Research Plans

Defending White House proposals to conduct research on nuclear “bunker-busting” bombs, a senior Energy Department official said yesterday that the Bush administration currently has no plans to resume nuclear testing or to develop new nuclear weapons (see GSN, June 11).

“We’re not going to restart the arms race,” said Linton Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, noting that he would recommend that nuclear testing be resumed only under certain circumstances.

“There is no condition in the stockpile that would call for a resumption in nuclear testing.  I’m pretty sure that will be true next year and the year after that,” Brooks said.  “But if there were a situation in which there were a problem with a significant weapon in the stockpile, then I think that it would be irresponsible not to test the weapon,” he said.

Brooks also denied that the Bush administration was seeking to lower the threshold for nuclear weapons use through the new research proposals.

“I think crossing the nuclear threshold remains probably one of the most awesome decisions any president will ever make,” Brooks said.  “And I don’t know of anything we are doing that will make that an easier decision for the president or his advisers,” he said (Will Dunham, Reuters/AlertNet, June 12).

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Anthrax:  FBI Completes Draining of Maryland Pond

The FBI has finished draining a pond near Frederick, Md., and is now preparing to search the sediment at the bottom as part of the bureau’s investigation into the fall 2001 anthrax attacks, Frederick and law enforcement officials said yesterday (see GSN, June 11).

Frederick’s police chief was informed late Wednesday that the draining — which began Monday — had been completed, Frederick Public Information Officer Nancy Poss said.  Officials believe it could take several weeks to examine the bottom of the pond for further evidence (Kevin Bohn, CNN.com, June 12).

The FBI has asked Phillips and Jordan Inc. — a general contractor specializing in heavy earth moving that worked to sift through the rubble of the World Trade Center — to assist in searching the pond, said Page Riley, the company’s chief engineer.

“We’re just basically up there trying to help the FBI,” Riley said Wednesday.  “They drained the pond today and they’re going to try to get in there and start going through the pond bottom,” Riley said (David Keim, KnoxNews.com, June 12).

Anthrax Attacks “Perfect Crime”

Meanwhile, a scientist at the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah has said the anthrax attacks could be “the perfect crime.”

No fingerprints were found on the letters used in the attacks and there is apparently no other evidence pointing to the person responsible, said Army microbiologist Jeff Mohr.  “They can’t crack it because there’s no forensic trail.  It was a perfect crime,” Mohr said.

FBI agent George Dougherty said, however, that some evidence is being discovered in the case, although he refused to provide further details (Paul Foy, Associated Press/Casper Star-Tribune, June 12).

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Smallpox I:  United States Immunizes More Than 37,000 Civilians

U.S. health officials have immunized more than 37,000 civilian volunteers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today (see GSN, May 28; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention release, June 12).

State / City	Number of Immunizations
Alabama	495
Alaska	96
Arizona	39
Arkansas	976
California	1,609
Chicago	66
Colorado	224
Connecticut	636
Delaware	107
Florida	3,701
Georgia	140
Hawaii	181
Idaho	200
Illinois	289
Indiana	765
Iowa	486
Kansas	448
Kentucky	768
Los Angeles County	237
Louisiana	1,107
Maine	63
Maryland	734
Massachusetts	100
Michigan	783
Minnesota	1,476
Mississippi	404
Missouri	1,253
Montana	121
Nebraska	1,470
Nevada	15
New Hampshire	331
New Jersey	657
New Mexico	173
New York City	339
New York	719
North Carolina	1,274
North Dakota	414
Ohio	1,772
Oklahoma	335
Oregon	115
Pennsylvania	229
Puerto Rico	28
Rhode Island	31
South Carolina	882
South Dakota	736
Tennessee	2,429
Texas	4,208
Utah	285
Vermont	130
Virginia	866
Washington	543
Washington D.C.	105
West Virginia	734
Wisconsin	745
Wyoming	409
TOTAL	37,478

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Smallpox II:  Japanese Vaccine Headed to United States

A California drug company has purchased a 25-year-old Japanese smallpox vaccine and will soon begin testing it in the United States, the Daily Yomiuri reported today (see GSN, May 28).

The vaccine — purchased by VaxGen for use in combating bioterrorism — is reportedly one of the safest in the world.  So Hashizume, president of Japan’s Poliomyelitis Research Institute, developed the vaccine in the 1970s.  The vaccine has been held in cold storage since the Japanese government ended mandatory vaccinations in 1976 (Makiko Tatebayashi, Daily Yomiuri, June 13).

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U.S. Response:  Homeland Security Department Assumes Control of Plum Island Facility

The U.S. Homeland Security Department announced last week that it would assume management of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center off Long Island, N.Y., which studies animal pathogens (see GSN, June 24, 2002).

Homeland Security and the U.S. Agriculture Department, which currently manages the facility, have begun a joint management program to oversee a four-month transition period, according to a Homeland Security press release.  Under the new management, Plum Island researchers will contribute their expertise to Homeland Security’s biological counterterrorism efforts, which includes the prevention of agricultural terrorism, the release said (see GSN, June 12).

“We look forward to working closely with our USDA colleagues on a focused research and development program and management plan that will help us prevent, respond to, and recover from agroterrorism attacks,” said Homeland Security Undersecretary Charles McQueary.  “Our commitment to making a safer and more secure environment for our nation and our agricultural community is a top priority,” he said (U.S. Homeland Security Department release, June 6).

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North Korea:  Japanese Company Provided Additional Equipment in 1994 Export, Sources Say

Five Japanese executives arrested yesterday for selling missile technology to Iran worked for a company that has long been suspected of helping North Korea’s missile program as well (see GSN, June 12).

Japanese authorities believe that Seishin Enterprise Co. exported a jet mill to Pyongyang in 1994.  The mill can be used to manufacture solid rocket fuel, the Daily Yomiuri reported today.

Along with the jet mill, Seishin sent North Korea several additional pieces of equipment that could be used to develop missiles, such as a dryer to quickly dry powdered materials and a mixer to blend powdered materials using centrifugal force, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Public Safety Bureau (see GSN, Feb. 6).  The additional equipment was necessary to process ammonium perchlorate into missile fuel after it is ground in the jet mill, sources close to the Metropolitan Police Department said.

Seishin Enterprise will not be prosecuted for its exports of missile-related equipment to North Korea, however, because the statute of limitations for such charges has expired, the Daily Yomiuri reported (Daily Yomiuri, June 13).

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European Plans:  NATO Ministers Approve Study Funding

NATO defense ministers have approved funding for a missile defense feasibility study at their meeting yesterday (see GSN, June 2).

“This is truly an exciting time for missile defense at NATO,” said NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment Robert Bell.  “Missile defense is without any doubt a major building block towards transformation of the alliance to meet new security threats,” he added.

Work on the study, which will examine options for missile defense systems and determine the best technologies and systems to achieve an effective NATO missile defense, is expected to commence in October (NATO release, June 13).

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U.S.-Japan:  Kadish Pushes for Two-Layer Japanese Missile Defense

The top U.S. missile defense official today encouraged Japan to implement a two-layer missile defense shield, the Kyodo News Agency reported (see GSN, June 5).

Visiting Tokyo, U.S. Missile Defense Agency Chief Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish persuaded Japan’s defense chief Shigeru Ishiba to adopt a system that incorporates Aegis radar-equipped ships and ground-based Patriot missiles, according the news agency.  Kadish also pushed for a spiral approach, in which technology is upgraded and the system is enhanced over time.

The two officials said they would cooperate on ballistic missile defense, according to a Japanese official.  Ishiba said, however, that more domestic debate is needed before Japan adopts such a system (Kyodo News Agency/BBC Monitoring, June 13).

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Radiological Weapons:  Thai Police Block Cesium-137 Sale

Thai police arrested a man in a Bangkok hotel parking lot today after he attempted to sell a metal container containing radioactive materials (see GSN, Nov. 15, 2002).

Narong Penanam was arrested after try to sell to undercover Thai police the container, which he said contained uranium, police Col. Pisit Pisutisak said.  Narong said he obtained the container from Laos and that his sources there had additional materials.  An analysis conducted by the Thai Office of the Atomic Energy for Peace determined that the material was cesium 137, according to the Associated Press.

Narong has been charged with illegal possession of nuclear materials and could be sentenced to up to one year in prison and a fine of $240 if convicted (Associated Press/FOXNews.com, June 13).

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