New York Nuclear Plant Received Inadequate Security Test, Group Charges

The Project on Government Oversight has charged that a mock terrorist attack conducted this summer at the Indian Point nuclear plant in New York state involved too few mock attackers who were not armed as terrorists could be, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Aug. 12).

In a letter to U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Nils Diaz, the group complained that the security exercise used only a small number of mock terrorists and did not arm them with easily available weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades, according to the Times.  Two of the exercises were conducted in “broad daylight,” making it easier for the plant’s security force to detect and observe the attackers, the letter said.

The commission defended the exercise, but refused to respond to the group’s specific allegations, saying it could not do so for security reasons.  The commission will not talk about “anything that would give a sense of what the security guards at the plant need to protect against,” Roy Zimmerman, director of the NRC Nuclear Safety and Incident Response Office, said (Matthew Wald, New York Times, Sept. 16).

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United States Sanctions Russian Entity for Conventional Transfers to Iran

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The United States has imposed sanctions against a Russian state-owned entity for selling conventional military equipment to Iran, which has been designated by Washington as a state sponsor of terrorism, according to a notice published in the Federal Register today (see GSN, July 22).

In August, the United States determined that the Tula Design Bureau of Instrument Building (Tula KBP) had provided “lethal military equipment” to Iran, according to the notice.  A U.S. State Department spokesman told Global Security Newswire today that the Russian company had transferred laser-guided artillery shells to Iran.  Under the sanctions, which go into effect today, Tula KBP will be prohibited from conducting business with the U.S. government and from receiving approval for defense-related imports and exports for one year.

Under U.S law, countries found to have sold lethal military equipment to designated state-sponsors of terrorism are to have U.S. assistance blocked.  The law contains a waiver of the assistance ban, however, for national interests, the State spokesman said.  He added that Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage had decided that there was a “national interest” in continuing U.S. assistance to Russia, enacting the waiver. 

The Washington Times reported today that today’s notice is the first time the recipient in such a transfer had been made public.  The decision was made to publicly name Iran because such a move would not reveal information sources and methods, the State spokesman said.

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Syrian WMD Goals, Support for Terrorism Pose “Security Concern,” Bolton Says

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton today warned that Syria remains a “security concern” for the United States because of a combination of WMD ambitions and support for international terrorism.  He also said, however, that there are no signs that Damascus has provided terrorists with weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, Sept. 12).

Appearing before a House International Relations subcommittee, Bolton outlined U.S. intelligence regarding Syria’s nuclear research efforts, as well as its biological and chemical weapons programs.  The United States remains “concerned” about Syria’s nuclear research program and its efforts to obtain dual-use nuclear-related technologies, Bolton said.  He also noted that Syria and Russia have agreed to increase civilian nuclear cooperation, which “could provide opportunities for Syria to expand its indigenous capabilities, should it decide to pursue nuclear weapons.”

In his remarks, Bolton compared Syria’s nuclear efforts with those of Iran by the fact that both countries have not yet signed Additional Protocols to their International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards agreements.  Bolton said the protocols were necessary because the safeguard agreements, on their own, were not enough to detect “a determined effort to circumvent the agreement and produce nuclear weapons.”

“Syria’s unwillingness to adopt and implement the Additional Protocol is extremely troubling, as in the case of Iran, which is also refusing so far to sign and implement that protocol,” Bolton said.

Bolton also told the Middle East and Central Asia Subcommittee of Syria’s biological, chemical and missile programs, as well as Damascus’ reliance on international aid for such efforts. 

Describing Syria’s chemical weapons programs as “one of the most advanced Arab state chemical weapons capabilities,” Bolton said Damascus had developed stockpiles of sarin and was attempting to develop stronger nerve agents such as VX.  While Syria’s chemical weapons program is fairly self-sufficient, it still relies on foreign assistance for “key elements” such as precursor chemicals and production equipment, Bolton said.

The United States believes that Syria is continuing its efforts to develop an offensive biological weapons capability, Bolton said.  He also said that Syria’s ballistic missile capability relied “heavily” on Iranian and North Korean aid.

In addition to its efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, Syria still remains an active supporter of terrorism with connections to Islamic militant groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, Bolton said.  He added, however, that there is no information that Syria has transferred weapons of mass destruction to terrorist groups or that Damascus would allow them to obtain such weapons.

Bolton also told the House panel that the United States has been unable to confirm reports that former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s regime covertly transferred Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to Syria in an attempt to hide them from U.N. weapons inspectors and coalition forces.

“We are continuing with the full breadth of resources at our command to seek conclusive evidence that any such transfer has taken place,” Bolton said.

In a seeming nod to the controversy surrounding U.S. prewar intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, Bolton said there was “very broad and deep agreement” within the Bush administration over the assessments he presented on Syria’s WMD efforts.

“I can assure you that with respect both to the unclassified testimony which I have delivered and the prepared classified statement which - which has been delivered to the committee, that the judgments that are expressed there have been reviewed and commented on by everybody with a stake in the issue within the executive branch,” Bolton said.

Knight Ridder News Service reported in July that an earlier scheduled subcommittee appearance by Bolton was delayed because of objections from U.S. intelligence agencies over his assessment of Syria’s WMD capabilities (see GSN, July 16).

Subcommittee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) closed today’s hearing with support for the White House’s Syria assessment.  “Nothing ‘sexed-up’ here,” she said, referring to the controversy surrounding a 2002 British dossier on Iraq’s WMD threat.

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British Intelligence Chief Defends Iraqi WMD Dossier

Testifying before a parliamentary inquiry yesterday, British Secret Intelligence Service Director Richard Dearlove defended a September 2002 dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, according to the New York Times (see GSN, Sept. 15).

Dearlove said that he and the intelligence service had had “full visibility of the process of preparing the dossier and that the whole process had gone extremely well.”

Dearlove also specifically defended a claim made in the dossier that the Iraqi military could deploy biological and chemical weapons within 45 minutes, calling it “a piece of well-sourced intelligence” (Warren Hoge, New York Times, Sept. 16).

“It did come from an established and reliable source equating a senior Iraqi military officer who was certainly in a position to know this information,” Dearlove said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Sept. 16).

Dearlove told the inquiry that he believed there had been a “misinterpretation” in the way the 45-minute claim had been presented, according to the New York Times.  Previous intelligence indicated that the claim referred to only short-range weapons, he said (Hoge, New York Times).

“The original report referred … to battlefield weapons,” Dearlove said.  ‘I think what subsequently happened in the reporting was that it was taken that the 45 minutes applied … to weapons of a longer range,” he said (Reuters/Washington Post, Sept. 16).

Powell Visits Site of 1988 Iraqi Chemical Weapons Attack

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday visited the northern Iraqi city of Halabja — the site of a 1998 chemical weapons attack by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s regime that killed 5,000 people.

“What can I say to you?”  Powell told an assembled crowd.  “I cannot tell you that choking mothers died holding their choking babies to their chests.  You know that,” he said.

“I cannot tell you that the world should have acted sooner.  You know that.  What I can tell you is that what happened here in 1988 is never going to happen again,” Powell said (Steven Weisman, New York Times, Sept. 16).

Powell also said the 1988 attack demonstrated that Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction and the will to use such weapons.

“If you want evidence of the existence and the use of weapons of mass destruction, come here now to Halabja today and see it,” Powell said.  “What happened over the intervening 15 years?  Did (Hussein) suddenly lose the motivation?  Did he suddenly decide that such weapons would not be useful?  The international community did not believe so,” he added.

Barham Salih, prime minister for the western section of Iraq’s Kurdish region, said the Halabja attack justified the U.S. effort to overthrow Hussein.

“Today it is perplexing and rather painful indeed for the people of Halabja to hear voices in the international community that continue to insist on proof for Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction,” Salih said.  “Here is the proof.  Halabja is the proof. … This mass grave in Halabja and the other 170 so far discovered mass graves in Iraq should dispel any doubts about the legitimacy of the American and British liberation of Iraq.  These mass graves vindicate the moral imperative of your intervention to protect the people of Iraq,” Salih said (Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Washington Post, Sept. 16).

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U.S. Senators Disagree on Need for Nuclear Weapon Research

U.S. senators yesterday debated the merits of U.S. nuclear weapons research as two Democrats introduced a measure to cut funding from several Energy Department efforts (see GSN, Sept. 15).

Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) introduced a measure to eliminate requested funds for several planned Energy Department activities, including research into earth-penetrating nuclear weapons, research into low-yield nuclear weapons, efforts to reduce the time needed to prepare for a nuclear test, and the selection of a site to build a plutonium “pit” production facility.  A vote on the amendment to the fiscal 2004 energy and water appropriations bill was expected today.

The Republican-led U.S. House limited the same programs in its version of the energy bill earlier this year (see GSN, July 17).  In its report at the time, the House Appropriations Committee wrote, “It appears to the committee the Department (of Energy) is proposing to rebuild, restart and redo and otherwise exercise every capability that was used over the past 40 years of the Cold War and at the same time prepare for a future with an expanded mission for nuclear weapons” (Nick Anderson, Los Angeles Times, Sept. 16)

As documented in the Congressional Record, Feinstein and Kennedy argued that improving the U.S. ability to design, test and build new types of nuclear weapons would set back U.S. and international nuclear nonproliferation efforts.

“I deeply believe the combined impact of studies or development of new nuclear weapons, enhancing the posture of our test sites and developing a new plutonium pit facility could well have the result of leading these other nuclear powers and nuclear aspirants to resume or start testing and to seek to enlarge their own nuclear forces — action that would fundamentally alter future nonproliferation efforts and undermine our own security.  Instead of increasing it, it will undermine it,” Feinstein said.

Increased nuclear proliferation, in turn, would threaten the tremendous conventional military advantage the United States now enjoys, Kennedy said.

“There is one modern military force in the world, and it happens to be the United States.  We have to keep it that way.  Why put at risk that advantage with the proliferation by other countries of small, useful nukes?” Kennedy said.

On that point, Feinstein said, “Next year we will spend more on our military than all of the other 191 nations on the planet combined.  If we can’t protect ourselves without thinking about nuclear weapons, who can?”

Senators Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) opposed the proposed amendment and disagreed that U.S. research would spur international nuclear proliferation.

“The idea that any country is going to react by saying, ‘We are going to go do something now and build more bombs because they are getting [the] Nevada [Test Site] ready,’ is an absurdity.  It has no logic to it,” Domenici said.

Stressing that “there is no money in this bill to build new weapons,” Domenici argued that U.S. nuclear weapon scientists must be free to study existing weapons and possible future designs.

“We should not have to have them worrying all the time whether thinking about certain aspects of a nuclear weapon of the future is a violation of the law,” Domenici said.

He added that uncertainties about the effects of aging on existing weapons mean that the United States cannot permanently rule out explosive testing.

“We should make [the] Nevada [Test Site] modern so if we need it, we use it, not three years after we decide we need a test because we have some idea there is something amiss in some of our weapons which are 35, 40, and 45 years old,” Domenici said.

Kyl argued that Cold War-era U.S. nuclear weapons do not provide a “credible deterrent” because no enemy would believe the United States would be willing to kill million of civilians with a large nuclear weapon.

“If smaller, more precise weapons could the job just as well, wouldn’t people of good will, who are concerned about unnecessary death, be interested in at least thinking about weapons that would pose a deterrent to an attack but would not kill as many people, would not kill so indiscriminately?” Kyl said (Congressional Record, p.S11435, Sept. 15).

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China, U.S. Sign Nonproliferation Deal for Technology Transfer

By Joe Fiorill
Global Security Newswire

VIENNA — U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and Chinese Atomic Energy Authority Chairman Zhang Hua-zhu this morning signed a statement of intent committing their countries to a new process for exchanging nonproliferation assurances in the context of nuclear technology transfers.

“These understandings open the way for greater participation by U.S. nuclear industry in China’s growing nuclear power program,” Abraham said in an Energy Department release.

The deal sets up new procedures for determining when technology transfers require government-to-government promises not to proliferate and for communicating such promises.  The deal had previously been formally adopted via an exchange of diplomatic notes.

The U.S. Energy Department said U.S. companies could now use its authorizations to provide technology and services to China’s nuclear energy program, something that some U.S. firms were previously prevented from doing because of a lack of nonproliferation assurances.

The department said the agreement means “that when nuclear technology proposed for transfer is determined to require nonproliferation assurances, the government of the recipient country will pledge that the technology will be used exclusively for peaceful purposes and will not be retransferred to another country without the prior consent of the government of the supplier country.”

The agreement also provides for extending term limits on Energy Department authorizations upon Chinese request and for exchanging nonproliferation assurances for joint U.S.-Chinese projects.  The first such project involves collaboration on a modular high-temperature gas pebble bed reactor by scientists at Tsinghua University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

After the signing, Abraham told reporters the statement of intent is part of generally stepped-up U.S.-Chinese cooperation on energy matters.  “We look forward to expanding our energy relationship on a number of fronts,” he said.

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U.S. Pays for KEDO This Year, But Has Not Requested Future Funds

U.S. President George W. Bush formally agreed yesterday to fund the U.S. share of this fiscal year’s administrative costs of the organization responsible for implementing the 1994 U.S.-North Korean Agreed Framework.

According to the White House, Bush “determined that it is in the vital U.S. national security interest to provide up to $3.72 million in assistance to the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) for administrative expenses for fiscal year 2003.”

The money will not be used to support the ongoing construction of nuclear reactors in North Korea or to finance any shipments of fuel oil, both of which North Korea was to receive in exchange for freezing its nuclear activities.  The fuel shipments were halted last year after North Korea reportedly acknowledged continuing its nuclear program (see GSN, Nov. 15, 2002; White House release, Sept. 15).

Bush has not asked the U.S. Congress for any KEDO funds for fiscal 2004, according to administration officials.

Meanwhile, the United States is examining whether to continue to provide food aid to North Korea.  The United States has delivered 44,000 tons of food this year, but concerns over the food actually reaching needy North Koreans have U.S. officials reviewing whether to supply the 66,000 tons scheduled to be provided by the end of the year, according to U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli (see GSN, Feb. 25).

He said North Korea has restricted the U.N. World Food Program’s ability to monitor food deliveries (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Sept. 15).

Another State Department official warned yesterday that North Korea is a significant participant in international illicit drug trade.  The accusation was made in an annual presidential report submitted yesterday to Congress on drug trafficking (see GSN, May 21).

“The president expresses his deep concern about the drug trafficking situation with respect to North Korea, and the continued allegations of involvement by state agents and enterprise in the narcotics trade, chiefly the methamphetamine trade,” said Paul Simons, acting assistant secretary of state for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs (Federal News Service transcript, Sept. 15).

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Washington, Seoul Sign Joint Nuclear Research Agreement

The United States and South Korea yesterday signed a five-year agreement to conduct joint research on proliferation-resistant nuclear fuel cycle technologies.

The agreement is the sixth in a series to implement a U.S.-South Korean memorandum of understanding that promotes laboratory exchanges on advanced nuclear energy technologies, according to a U.S. Energy Department release.  Yesterday’s agreement will help implement U.S.-South Korean cooperation in the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative, which U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced earlier this year.

“Under this agreement, both countries will cooperate on development of these advanced technologies that enhance our energy security and are safer, less waste intensive, and more proliferation resistant,” Abraham said (U.S. Energy Department release, Sept. 15).

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IAEA General Conference Continues, Discusses Civilian Nuclear Issues

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Conference met for a second day today in Vienna and discussed several issues relating to civilian nuclear issues (see GSN, Sept. 15).

At today’s meeting, international experts met to discuss new advances in nuclear science and technology, including advances in nuclear power, nuclear medicine, safety standards and safeguards technology, according to an IAEA release.  Nuclear officials from IAEA members also met this morning to discuss safety issues. 

In addition, senior IAEA staff yesterday briefed conference delegates on the International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles, which includes studies of “next generation” nuclear power plants.  (International Atomic Energy Agency release, Sept. 16).

Yesterday, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, head of the U.S. delegation to the conference, said the United States would contribute an additional $3 million to the IAEA’s nuclear security fund.  The additional money is set to go toward helping to improve the safeguarding and protection of nuclear materials, preventing the trafficking of radiological materials and improving the security of research reactors, Abraham said.  He called on other IAEA members to make similar contributions to the fund.

“Together, we must build on the successes of the past and overcome the challenges of the present, so that our ability to enjoy the benefits of peaceful nuclear cooperation can be expanded and sustained into the future,” Abraham said (U.S. State Department release, Sept. 15).

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan yesterday called for the further strengthening of the international nuclear nonproliferation regime through the conclusion of IAEA safeguards agreements.

“I support the agency’s continuing efforts to strengthen international safeguards — in particular, to promote conclusion of Additional Protocols by Iran and other states, and to encourage other countries to conclude safeguards agreements with the agency,” Annan said in a message to the conference (U.N. release, Sept. 15).

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U.S. Announces Cooperative BW Nonproliferation Effort With Russia

The U.S. State Department yesterday announced a $1.7 million contract to support collaboration between U.S. and Russian scientific centers as part of a new biological nonproliferation effort (see GSN, Aug. 18).

The contract will help fund collaboration between the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology in Boston and the International Science and Technology Center in Moscow, according to a State press release.  The contract was awarded through the department’s BioIndustry Initiative, which seeks to transform Russian biological weapons facilities into civilian institutions through U.S.-Russian research partnerships (U.S. State Department release, Sept. 15).

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U.S. Forces in South Korea Get Missile Defense Upgrades

U.S. forces in South Korea have received new equipment to upgrade Patriot missile interceptor batteries deployed there, the U.S. Eighth Army announced today (see GSN, June 10).

The new equipment will provide the 1-43 Air Defense Artillery Battalion with the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 interceptor, the Eighth Army said in a press release.  The upgraded interceptor, part of an $11 billion effort over the next several years to improve U.S. defensive capabilities in South Korea, will bring “enhanced defensive capabilities to the peninsula as well as contribute to the overall deterrence U.S. forces bring to the alliance,” the Army said (U.S. Eighth Army release, Sept. 16).

The new equipment was deployed in July, but was only announced today after troops operating the antimissile batteries completed their training (Reuters, Sept. 16).

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U.S. Air Force Criticizes Contractor Over Missile Detection Satellite

A senior U.S. Air Force official last month criticized defense contractor Northrop Grumman over poor handling of the Space Based Infrared System-High (SBIRS-High) satellite project, a planned component of the U.S. missile defense system, Bloomberg.com reported yesterday (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2002).

“Weak management oversight, inadequately designed test facilities and poor manufacturing discipline” have led to a 10-month delivery delay in the project, wrote Lt. Gen. Brian Arnold, commander of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Command, in a Aug. 19 letter to Northrop Grumman President Ronald Sugar.  The SBIRS-High project is intended to provide a system satellites to detect and track missile launches.

“To be clear and concise, I am very concerned about your corporate commitment,” Arnold wrote.

A Northrop Grumman spokesman said the company is “confident” that is has the right personnel for the SBIRS-High project.

“We are confident that we have the right management and talent in place,” Northrop Grumman spokesman Frank Moore said (Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg.com, Sept. 15).

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