U.S. Response I:  Customs Official Defends Cargo Screening Policy

CongressDaily

WASHINGTON — President Bush’s top customs official yesterday defended the administration’s strategy to safeguard against terrorist attacks through cargo entering the United States, in the face of criticism from Democratic members of a House panel who charged the plan left serious breaches in the nation’s security (see GSN, June 12).

Robert Bonner, commissioner of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection in the new Homeland Security Department, touted agreements with the host nations of 19 of the 20 largest-shipping ports to U.S. shores that allow U.S. Customs agents stationed overseas to prescreen containers identified as high-risk, in a hearing of the House Homeland Security Infrastructure and Border Security Subcommittee.

Senior subcommittee Democrat Jim Turner (Texas), however, charged that Customs was not vigilant enough in questioning entrants to the United States across its Mexican and Canadian borders, citing findings from GAO in which investigators were able to enter this country with forged identification.

Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) assailed Bonner because Customs does not screen U.S.-bound cargo traveling on passenger jets before it enters the United States.  Bonner replied that this was the jurisdiction of the Transportation Safety Administration, not Customs.

Of the 20 largest ports, the exception that has not signed an agreement under Custom’s Container Security Initiative is Kaohsiung, China, according to the Customs bureau.  In addition, Customs has no agreements with Latin American countries, but these might be targeted in a second phase of the program announced by Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge last week, Bonner said.

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U.S. Response II:  National Emergency Alert System Needs Improvements, Experts Say

Experts have said the United States needs to develop a better national emergency alert system to inform Americans about dangerous situations, such as a terrorist attack, USA Today reported today.

“If you get warned, it’s as much luck as anything else,” said Kenneth Allen, executive director of the Partnership for Public Warning, an organization of government emergency managers and industry executives.

The well-known Emergency Alert System, which broadcasts alerts via radio and television, is outdated and only functional in a small number of states, according to experts.  While the president has the ability to access thousands of television and radio stations to issue national warnings, the emergency alert system is less effective for state and local emergencies, according to USA Today.  Even if the president were to activate the system on a national level, which has never been done, it would only reach those people tuned in to a television or radio network that was broadcasting the alert.

“We live in a much more complex, diverse, mobile society, and we face threats that our grandparents never faced,” Allen said.  “They didn’t have chemical-truck spills or nuclear accidents or terrorists,” he said.

The Partnership for Public Warning and a U.S. Federal Communications Commission advisory committee have urged the development of a more advanced national alert system, USA Today reported.  For example, alert information could be delivered via cell phones, pagers and computers, along with television and radio.  In addition, computer chips could be installed in televisions and radios to make them automatically switch on when an alert is broadcast. 

The FCC advisory committee is expected to vote this week on recommendations for a more advanced system (Mimi Hall, USA Today, June 17).

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Iraq:  CIA Sought to Rebuild Intelligence Network in Iraq Prior to War, Officials Say

In the year prior to the U.S.-led war on Iraq, the CIA attempted to rebuild its network of Iraqi agents, which had been decimated by numerous purges conducted by ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s regime, USA Today reported today (see GSN, June 16).

The CIA began an intensive effort to rebuild its Iraq spy network after it had been almost destroyed by Hussein’s security forces, according to three U.S. intelligence officials.  In a series of classified briefings to congressional intelligence committees beginning in late 2001, CIA officials described a plan to rebuild a network of agents within Hussein’s regime.  While a major focus of the effort was to obtain information on Iraqi WMD programs, the CIA also wanted to obtain information that would aid the U.S. Defense Department in planning an invasion, according to a Bush administration official.

Although the CIA allocated numerous resources to its effort, by the end of last year it had only achieved partial success in recruiting a network of Iraqi agents, according to USA Today.  While those agents provided valuable information about Iraq’s conventional weapons, they provided no conclusive evidence of biological or chemical weapons, Bush administration and congressional officials said (John Diamond, USA Today I, June 17).

The CIA effort was needed because of the brutal effectiveness of Hussein’s security forces in finding, and eliminating, Iraqis working for U.S. intelligence, according to USA Today.  In the 12 years leading up to the recent war, Iraqi security services killed hundreds of Iraqis working for U.S. intelligence through a combination of careful planning and broad purges, intelligence sources said.

“Saddam Hussein would say, ‘If we’ve got a spy on the fifth floor of the building, take everyone on that floor out and chop them up into little pieces,’” said Milt Beardon, a former senior CIA official.

The largest single blow to the U.S. intelligence network in Iraq came in August 1996, when Iraqi security agents infiltrated a U.S.-supported coup plot and arrested 200 Iraqis on charges of supporting the plot, executing 80 of them immediately, according to USA Today.  Afterward, Iraqi forces invaded sections of the northern part of the country that was a base for the CIA-backed effort, capturing additional suspects.

Kenneth Allard, a retired U.S. Army colonel, praised the effectiveness of Iraq’s counterespionage efforts. 

Hussein displayed an “extreme efficiency ... at rooting out anyone suspicious,” Allard said.  “He was far more serious about counterintelligence than we were about positive intelligence,” Allard added (John Diamond, USA Today II, June 17).

Meanwhile, Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) yesterday questioned the credibility of CIA Director George Tenet, according to the Baltimore Sun.

Levin has asked Tenet to release classified documents describing the information the CIA shared with U.N. weapons inspectors on suspect Iraqi WMD sites.  In February, Tenet told Congress that intelligence officials had briefed U.N. inspectors on all “high-value and moderate-value” known suspect sites.  Classified documents, however, indicate that U.S. officials withheld information from U.N. inspectors, Levin said.

“It undermines the credibility of the director of (central) intelligence to be making public statements relative to intelligence which are factually inaccurate, and this falls into that general category,” Levin said.

Tenet, along with other U.S. officials, might have claimed to have fully informed U.N. inspectors to avoid delaying invasion plans, Levin said.  Public opposition to the war might have increased if it had been known that U.S. intelligence agencies had withheld information on suspect Iraqi sites from U.N. inspectors, he said.

“There could have been questions as to why,” Levin said.  “It could have made the administration’s decision to cut short the U.N. inspection process and to institute military action less compelling,” he added (Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Baltimore Sun, June 17).

British Intelligence

In London today, the British Parliament’s House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee is set to begin an inquiry into the British decision to go to war with Iraq, according to Agence France-Presse.

The committee is expected to hear today from two former Cabinet officials who opposed the war in Iraq:  former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and former International Development Secretary Claire Short.  The committee is expected to hear from current Foreign Secretary Jack Straw twice next week, with one meeting to be conducted in private (Agence France-Presse, June 17).

Cook said today that he was concerned that the British government used intelligence on Iraq’s suspect WMD programs to justify a decision that had already been made.

“I fear the fundamental problem is that instead of using intelligence as evidence on which to base a decision about policy, we used intelligence as the basis on which to justify a policy on which we had already settled,” Cook said (Jill Lawless, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, June 17).

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U.S. Response:  AMA Announces New Training Courses for Health Care Workers

The American Medical Association announced yesterday the creation of new training courses to prepare doctors and other health care workers for mass casualty events, such as a terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, June 7, 2002).

The two courses, a basic course and a follow-up advanced level, focus on a wide range of potential mass casualties events and related issues, such as nuclear and radiological attacks, biological incidents, chemical incidents and medical decontamination issues, according to an association press release.  The courses were developed by the association in conjunction with the medical schools in Georgia and Texas.

The new courses will help provide a standardized approach to training health care professionals in disaster response, said James James, director of the new AMA Center for Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Response. 

“Currently, there is a tremendous amount of information out there on emergency response,” James said.  “But while there is a lot of material, there is not much consistency.  We need to be thinking of standardization and what is required in terms of basic skills and knowledge to make our health care providers and physicians more ready,” he said.

Physicians will receive continuing medical education credit for taking the new courses, according to the association release.  The association is also working to develop additional courses that will focus on logistical issues and target the general public.  In addition, the association is also working to develop a system to teach the courses online.

The courses will initially be targeted at current health care workers, but there are also plans to incorporate them into medical school education, according to Richard Schwartz, director of the Center of Operational Medicine at the Medical College of Georgia.

“Disaster medicine has not been a traditional part of medical education, so there is a tremendous need for a train-up for the country,” Schwartz said.  “I think our first phase will be to do that initial train-up for the health care providers who are out there.  To sustain that training is the next piece, where we have ongoing training within medical schools and nursing schools for students coming through so this becomes an integrated part of our mission,” he said (American Medical Association release, June 16).

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Georgia:  Authorities Capture Nerve Gas Concentrate, Radioactive Materials

Georgian officials announced yesterday the capture of nerve gas concentrate and radioactive materials that were that were discovered inside a taxicab in the capital Tbilisi, according to the Boston Globe.

During a routine search May 31, Georgian police discovered three boxes inside the taxicab, officials said.  One box contained a brown liquid that was later determined to be a nerve gas concentrate, Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Givi Mgebrishvili said.  Earlier reports had identified the liquid as mustard gas agent, the Globe reported.

Noting the possibility that the recovered liquid could be Russian mustard gas agent, Russian ecological activist Maxim Shingarkin warned that it would be easy to steal such material.

“It is kept in huge barrels in three large sites in central Russia,” Shingarkin said.  “Anyone who has access could just walk up and pour it out,” he said.

Inside the two other boxes, police discovered cesium 137 and strontium 90, both of which could be used to build radiological weapons.

“These substances could be used to create a … dirty bomb, which would be operational within a 500- to 600-meter radius (about one-third of a mile), and would create a larger area of radioactive fallout,” Mgebrishvili said.

The recovered materials were likely destined for Turkey to be resold, Mgebrishvili said.  Police have detained the taxicab’s driver, and two other suspects have reportedly been arrested, including a man living on the Georgian-Turkish border (David Filipov, Boston Globe, June 17).

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Iran:  Tehran Will Only Sign Additional Protocol in Exchange for Nuclear Technology

Iran restated yesterday that it would only accept more intrusive monitoring of its nuclear activities if it received Western nuclear technology in exchange (see GSN, June 16).

The issue is the lead topic at an International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors’ meeting that began yesterday in Vienna.

“We hope that Iran will sign the additional IAEA protocol, which will allow the extension of the provision of the IAEA over all nuclear facilities in the territory of the country,” said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.  The protocol would extend the agency’s authority to monitor Iranian nuclear activities.

“We have not yet decided about signing the Additional Protocol, but we are studying it with a positive view,” said Khalil Mousavi, a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (Felicity Barringer, New York Times, June 17).

Iranian officials claim that their cooperation with the agency has exceeded their current obligations.

“We have been forthcoming.  We have received six inspections teams in Iran, and they have been to places that were beyond the agreement we have with the agency,” said Ali Salehi, Iran’s representative to the IAEA.

He said the IAEA should “send the right signal,” but should not “use the language of force.”

“I think if mutual confidence is attained … then I think there will be mutual confidence in all fields,” Salehi added (Michael Adler, Agence France-Presse, June 17).

This was not enough for U.S. officials, however, who called on the IAEA board to pressure Iran.

“The board should speak with a very clear and firm voice in support of the agency’s work and the need for Iran to answer the questions raised,” said Kenneth Brill, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in Vienna (Anthony Browne, London Times, June 17).

Washington also rejected the prospect of sending advanced nuclear technology to Tehran in exchange for the signing of the Additional Protocol.

“That’s a nonstarter … it’s not a bargaining point.  It’s a point of living up to international standards that everybody else feels comfortable living up to,” said State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher (Reuters/Pakistan Business Recorder, June 17).

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North Korea:  Nuclear Reactors Face Delays

South Korea wants to continue to build two light-water nuclear reactors in North Korea, but U.S. opposition is making the project more difficult to complete, Yonhap News Agency reported Saturday.

“It is the government’s wish to keep the project alive by slowing down its pace, but this is a sticking issue due to the U.S. harsh position on it,” said Ban Ki-moon, a senior South Korean presidential foreign policy adviser.

Washington brought up the idea of halting the project during talks with Seoul and Tokyo that ended last week (Yonhap News Agency, June 14 in FBIS-EAS, June 14).

The project is also being slowed by a disagreement between North Korea and the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, the international syndicate building the reactors.  Pyongyang is demanding that KEDO take responsibility for any nuclear accidents.

“Negotiations on an indemnity protocol are making little headway,” said a South Korean Unification Ministry official.  “If the indemnity protocol is concluded by late August and the (U.S.-North Korean) nuclear standoff does not deteriorate, the light water project can continue.  Otherwise, the construction cannot proceed,” the official added (Yonhap News Agency/BBC Monitoring, June 17).

China Supports Multilateral Talks

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi and South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan during the Association of South East Asian Nations conference today.  The foreign ministers discussed the nuclear standoff with North Korea and Li supported multilateral talks that included Japan and South Korea (Kyodo News Agency/Japan Today, June 17).

Pyongyang Says Blockade Means War

North Korea said today that Washington is “laying an international siege to the North and putting a blockade against it as a premeditated scheme to start a new war on the Korean Peninsula.”

Pyongyang also warned that it will take “physical retaliation” if the alleged blockade violates its sovereignty (Sang-hun Choe, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, June 17).

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International Response:  Washington Seeking to Boost IAEA Budget

The United States is pushing to increase the budget of the U.N. nuclear inspection agency by 25 percent, the Financial Times reported today.

The proposed boost would equal about $30 million for the International Atomic Energy Agency, $20 million of which would go toward the nuclear safeguards program.  The proposed budget increase would cover increased monitoring efforts in Iran and North Korea, according to the Financial Times (Financial Times, June 16).

The move is out of character for U.S. leaders, according to David Waller, the deputy director general of the IAEA and the manager of the agency’s financial affairs.

“It is a pretty unique situation (compared to other U.N. groups),” Waller said.

The IAEA operates with a budget of $250 million, of which $80 million is earmarked for the safeguards program.  Last year, the safeguards funding was augmented with $19 million, which came mostly from Washington, but agency officials have complained that this extra funding is unreliable and comes with strings attached.

IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei proposed the $20 million boost for the safeguards program, and the United States, Britain and France back the idea.  Other countries, however, have said that domestic financial problems will not allow them to contribute (Gillian Tett, Financial Times, June 17).

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Smallpox:  Many Decline Vaccine Despite Monkeypox Fears

Many people eligible to receive the smallpox vaccine, because of their potential exposure to the U.S. monkeypox outbreak, are choosing not to receive the vaccine, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, June 12).

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week recommended that the nation’s smallpox vaccine, stockpiled to defend against bioterrorism, be used to stem the spread of monkeypox.  There have been 82 reported cases of monkeypox nationwide, AP reported.

It is unclear how many people have come into contact with the monkeypox virus through infected animals or people.  Herb Bostrom, director of the Wisconsin Bureau of Communicable Diseases, said “the numbers are very, very small.”

Authorities in Wisconsin notified 90 people who were eligible to receive the smallpox vaccine at a clinic Saturday, but none of those people showed up, according to Milwaukee Health Commissioner Seth Foldy.

Ohio and Illinois, both states with suspected monkeypox outbreaks, have not offered the smallpox vaccine at all, according to AP (Jenny Price, Associated Press/ABCNews.com, June 17).

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U.S. Plans:  MDA Set to Conduct Sea-Based Missile Defense Intercept Test

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the U.S. Navy are preparing to conduct a sea-based missile defense intercept test tomorrow involving the use of an Aegis destroyer, the Defense Department announced yesterday.

The test will involve the launch of a Standard Missile 3 interceptor from the USS Lake Erie against an Aries target fired from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii, according to the Pentagon release.  The purpose of the test is to evaluate the interceptor’s kinetic warhead’s guidance, navigation and control operation in space using an upgraded solid divert and attitude control system.

The scheduled test is the second in a planned series of six intercept tests in the current phase of development, the Pentagon release said (U.S. Defense Department release, June 16).

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Radiological Weapons:  GAO Criticizes U.S. Program to Control Sealed Sources

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The U.S. General Accounting Office yesterday criticized the U.S. Energy Department’s efforts to help countries secure millions of sealed radioactive sources located throughout the world that could be attractive to terrorists seeking to build radiological weapons (see GSN, June 2).

Sealed radioactive sources — radioactive materials housed in containers made of stainless steel or other metals — could be used to construct a “dirty bomb,” a combination of conventional explosives and radioactive materials.  While the exact number of sealed radioactive sources around the world is unknown, a survey of 50 countries found approximately 10 million in use, the GAO said in a May report released yesterday.  In addition, it is estimated that there are thousands of “orphaned” — or abandoned — sealed radioactive sources, primarily within the former Soviet Union, the report says (see GSN, Oct. 23, 2002).

Since fiscal 2002, Energy has received $37 million to begin a program to assist other countries in controlling sealed radioactive sources, according to the report.  Through the program, the department has funded site assessments and security upgrades at sites housing sealed sources at several locations in Russia, Georgia, Moldova, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

However, congressional auditors found that the program’s initial efforts have lacked adequate coordination and planning, the report says.  While Energy is developing a plan to guide the program’s efforts, department officials said that more detailed analysis is needed to determine which countries outside the former Soviet Union require assistance, to identify future funding needs and to develop performance measures to determine the program’s success, according to the report.  In addition, the report says, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has recently announced that the program will expand to assist countries in other regions.

In addition, officials from several other U.S. agencies that conduct similar programs, such as the U.S. State Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, have said that Energy does not fully coordinate its efforts with them.  Better interagency cooperation could also lead to an improved working relationship with other countries’ nuclear organizations, the report says.  For example, the report says officials from the Russian nuclear regulatory organization Gosatomnadzor complained that Energy Department officials did not adequately consult with them when they chose the initial Russian sites to receive security upgrades.

The report also finds that most of the funding for the Energy program has been spent in the United States rather than in the former Soviet Union.  As of the end of January, the department had spent about $9 million of the program’s funding, with $3 million being transferred to the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to the report.  Of the remainder, 93 percent was spent in the United States by the department’s national laboratories, the report says. 

In its report, the GAO made several recommendations to help Energy improve the management of its program to improve controls over sealed radioactive sources.  For example, the department should work to develop a comprehensive plan to identify countries that need the most aid and that establishes realistic time frames and resources to meet program goals.  The GAO also recommended that the department spend more program funds in countries that need assistance and that it should initiate an effort to develop a governmentwide plan to increase interagency cooperation.

Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), who commissioned the report, has also called on Energy to spend more funds in other countries to improve controls over sealed sources.

“The secretary of energy has said improving the security of radioactive materials abroad is a high priority.  But the GAO report shows that DOE has spent the vast majority of its money for securing sealed sources internationally in the United States at the national labs,” Akaka said yesterday in a press statement.  “DOE needs to work much harder to make sure U.S. assistance goes overseas where it’s needed,” he said.

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