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CWC: Review Conference Unlikely to Address Incapacitating ChemicalsBy David Ruppe “It’s being discussed, but it’s not being actively pursued,” said a Western diplomat today, on the second day of public statements from the treaty parties. Publicly and privately, some governments here have voiced concerns regarding the treaty’s legal boundaries for the development and military use of chemical incapacitants and riot control agents, together known as “nonlethal” or “less-than-lethal” weapons. The treaty allows using such toxic chemical agents for law enforcement purposes, but explicitly bans using them as a “method of warfare,” because such use effectively makes them chemical weapons, experts say. The United States has asserted that riot control agents can be used in military theaters of operation for certain purposes such as controlling rioting prisoners and hostage rescue. Nongovernmental experts have argued the Russian use of an incapacitating agent to rescue hostages last October demonstrates that such weapons can be lethal (see GSN, Oct. 30, 2002). Some critics have also raised concerns about the purposes and implications of U.S. military-sponsored research on incapacitants, which is considered legal by experts. The International Committee of the Red Cross in a statement circulated here criticized parties for paying insufficient attention to the issue. It expressed “alarm at the increasing interest among police, security and armed forces in the use of incapacitating chemicals and the lack of expressions of concern about the implications of such developments by states parties to this convention.” The Red Cross asserted that when the treaty was negotiated, states intended to “only permit use of domestic riot control agents and the use of lethal chemicals for executions, where permitted by national law.” It warned that developing chemical incapacitants for law enforcement could lead to their proliferation, and an “‘arms race’ of measures and countermeasures among security forces, criminals and those who commit acts of terror.” At least two treaty parties so far, Switzerland and New Zealand, separately voiced concern about the issue in statements yesterday. “I would ask that we pay some attention to … where is the line, if any, between chemical weapons and nonlethal law enforcement tools. I believe there needs to be some clarification,” said the head of New Zealand’s delegation. The head of the Swiss delegation said, “In light of recent experiences, it is appropriate to reiterate that chemical weapons are totally prohibited whether they are lethal or nonlethal and whether their precursors or components are listed in the schedules of the convention or not.” The Swiss delegate proposed requiring treaty parties to “declare not only chemical products they hold for riot control purposes but for law enforcement purposes in general.” “Certain chemical agents prohibited in war may be justified for domestic use, but that being the case, it is all the more important to assure other states parties that the production of these products poses no threat to their security,” she said. No Action Expected Despite these concerns, diplomats and experts here said they do not expect any significant action on the issue here in part because of U.S. resistance. There is a concern that raising the issue could antagonize the U.S. delegation and risk the success of conference, according to one Western delegate who said the issue would better be addressed in consultations between experts from among a smaller number of states. “It’s not really the right forum. It’s too big,” the Western delegate said. A senior U.S. official here said the United States does not believe the issue needs to be discussed by the conference. “We do not think that there is much ambiguity in the convention” regarding nonlethal chemicals, the official said. “The issue is not ripe for multilateral discussions,” the official added. Trevor Findlay, executive director of the Verification Research, Training The Red Cross urged the conference to begin to involve treaty parties and specialist bodies in discussions to clarify the treaty’s restrictions on nonlethal chemicals. For further information, see: Pentagon Executive Summary of CWC
From April 29, 2003 issue.United States I: Pentagon Reorganization Follows GAO CriticismThe United States reorganized its chemical and biological defense efforts in response to repeated criticism from the General Accounting Office, Aerospace Daily reported today (see GSN, April 25). The GAO has warned that the Defense Department has a “diffuse” management structure for its chemical and biological defense resources. Since 1996, auditors have warned of a “serious gap between the priority given to chemical and biological defense and the actual implementation of the program,” according to a GAO report from last year. Auditors’ reports also criticized inventory management for protective suits, Aerospace Daily reported. GAO has faulted the existing structure for allowing senior leadership little visibility of the overall effort. Under the new plan a clear line of authority will be established, according to Aerospace Daily (Stephen Trimble, Aerospace Daily, April 29).
From April 29, 2003 issue.United States II: Utah Incinerator Fires Up After DelaysThe U.S. Army’s chemical weapons incinerator in Tooele County, Utah, began destroying VX nerve gas Friday after several delays in the past month (see GSN, Sept. 6, 2002). Shortly after beginning to burn VX, the incinerator was halted March 28 because of a reaction inside a collection tank, the Associated Press reported. The incinerator began operating again April 11, but was stopped April 20 because of problems with the storage of decontamination solution, according to facility spokesman Chris Sprague. Operations resumed Friday at noon, Sprague said (Associated Press, April 28).
From April 28, 2003 issue.CWC: U.S., Iran Trade Accusations at Treaty Review Conference OpeningBy David Ruppe The treaty, which bans the possession and manufacture of chemical weapons, was opened for signature in 1993 and now has 151 members. The treaty entered into force in 1997 and review conferences are scheduled for about every five years. In a prepared statement to the conference, Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Stephen Rademaker said the United States believes “over a dozen” countries currently have or are actively seeking chemical weapons, and he identified five of them, including Iran and Sudan — both parties to the treaty — and nontreaty members Libya, North Korea and Syria (see GSN, April 11). The Bush administration has previously pinpointed the five countries in other forums as well, but the statement at the opening of the conference, which is intended to review the treaty for possible changes, has generated some controversy. “We owe it to you in this room to be candid about what [U.S.] concerns are,” he said. “The United States believes it is dangerous to acquiesce quietly in violations of the fundamental obligations arising under this convention,” he said. Rademaker said the United States was “most troubled by the activities of Iran, which we believe continues to seek chemicals, production technology, training and expertise from abroad.” He said the United States believes Iran has stockpiled blister, blood, and choking agents and has some nerve agents. He said North Korea is believed to have the capability to produce bulk quantities of nerve, blister, choking and blood agent and has a variety of means to deliver the weapons. Iranian Criticisms An Iranian delegate called the U.S. charge against his country “baseless” and said the public accusation could undermine the cooperative environment of the conference. “These kinds of comments and allegations by a state party against another state party would definitely put the expected constructive and cooperative atmosphere of the 1st review conference in jeopardy,” he said. He said “one could conclude” the accusation was an attempt at “weakening this successful treaty.” The official accused the United States of transferring “huge amounts of scheduled chemicals” to Israel, not a treaty party, and said Washington was partially responsible for 100,000 Iranian chemical weapons victims during the Iran-Iraq war. “The U.S. and some other industrial countries which equipped and helped Saddam’s regime have to be blamed for it,” he said in a printed copy of the speech. Intelligence Information Rademaker was asked at a subsequent press conference why the United States had not requested a challenge inspection permitted by the treaty to try to ascertain evidence of alleged chemical weapons activities. He said challenge inspections could prove ineffective against countries determined to hide illicit weapons, citing in particular U.N. efforts to uncover alleged Iraqi weapons and Germany’s post-World War I evasion of its disarmament requirements. “The United States supports the inspection and declaration provisions of the CWC, but we have no illusions about the effectiveness of such measures against determined cheaters,” Rademaker said in his prepared statement. He said U.S. intelligence agencies had developed the information, and added, “We’re quite confident in our information.” “The information we have is quite disturbing,” he said. Some critics of the U.S. statement faulted it for naming only some of the countries Washington believes to possess or seek chemical weapons. Rademaker’s speech was “pretty hard-hitting, but of course it didn’t include Israel and Egypt,” said Trevor Findlay, director of the nongovernmental organization Verification, Research, Training and Information Center. Rademaker said his focus was on identifying those countries suspected of having chemical weapons and relationships to terrorists. “The greatest risk of all is from those countries that have weapons of mass destruction and support international terrorism,” he said during the press conference. In his speech, he also faulted more than half of the treaty parties for not yet indicating that they are adopting national legislation to implement the treaty. He urged all parties to report on their implementing measures by October, when the next regular meeting of parties is scheduled, and said the United States would assist any states that needed help establishing such measures. For further information, see: Pentagon Executive Summary of CWC
From April 28, 2003 issue.Russia: Moscow Destroys 400 Tons of Mustard GasRussia has completed the destruction of 400 tons of mustard gas, a Russian official said Saturday (see GSN, April 23). “We have nothing to hide,” said Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the commission for disposing chemical weapons in Russia’s Volga region. Officials in Volga are scheduled to destroy 1,200 tons of chemical weapons by 2005. “With the amount destroyed thus far, one could have annihilated a medium-sized European city,” Kiriyenko said (Deutsche Presse-Agentur/Pakistan Dawn, April 27). The destruction meets an international deadline to destroy 1 percent of the Russian chemical weapons stockpile by the end of April, he added. Kiriyenko, who is also President Vladimir Putin’s representative in the Volga district, said the destruction “shows that our country is firmly fulfilling its obligations and testifies to the fact that Russian scientists can create technology not just on the world standard, but surpassing it” (Associated Press/Moscow Times, April 28).
From April 24, 2003 issue.Japan: Prosecutors Call For Death Penalty for AumJapanese prosecutors today called for the death penalty for Shoko Asahara, leader of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, which conducted several sarin attacks in the mid-1990s (see GSN, Feb. 21). “The seriousness of the crime is unprecedented in this country,” prosecutors said in their closing statement, which ran hundreds of pages long. “There is no room to consider leniency,” they said. Asahara, who has been on trial since 1996, has been accused of being responsible for 26 deaths, including 12 suffered in a 1995 sarin attack in Tokyo’s subway system. Asahara’s defense attorneys, however, have said the cult’s crimes were conducted by his followers without his involvement. “Prosecutors completely failed to establish a link between the alleged crimes and Asahara,” chief defense attorney Osamu Watanabe said. “I’m appalled,” Watanabe added. Nine Aum members have been sentenced to death for their roles in the 1995 subway attack and other crimes. Judges are not expected to issue a verdict in Asahara’s case until early next year (Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press, April 24).
From April 23, 2003 issue.Russia: Chemical Weapons Disposal Running Ahead of ScheduleRussia is set to eliminate 1 percent of its chemical weapons arsenal one month ahead of schedule, ITAR-Tass reported Saturday (see GSN, March 5). Russia’s sole chemical weapons disposal plant, located in Gorny, is on track to complete the destruction of 400 metric tons of mustard gas within a week, one month ahead of schedule, according to sources. Russia is expected to begin disposing of lewesite stockpiles in the second quarter of this year after commissioning new upgrades for the Gorny plant (Rosa Magasumova, ITAR-Tass, April 19 in FBIS-SOV, April 19). On Monday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov designated Col. Gen. Viktor Kholstov to become head of the Russian Munitions Agency, which oversees the chemical weapons disposal effort. Former agency Director Zinovy Pak was replaced because he reached retirement age (Associated Press, April 23). Meanwhile, Italy is set to provide Russia with more than $1 billion in aid for arms disposal efforts, Kasyanov said Saturday. The aid will go toward helping Russia dispose of its chemical weapons stockpiles and to recycle decommissioned nuclear submarines (see GSN, April 18; Interfax, April 19 in FBIS-SOV, April 19).
From April 23, 2003 issue.Pakistan: OPCW Inspectors to Visit Industrial PlantInspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which oversees the Chemical Weapons Convention, will conduct their first visit of a Pakistani industrial site as part of inspections set to begin there by the end of the month, officials said (see GSN, April 23). OPCW inspectors will visit the Fauji Jordan Fertilizer plant, Pakistan’s largest such facility, in Karachi on April 29, a senior Pakistani official said. “They are more than welcome to inspect the Fauji Jordan Fertilizer site,” the official said. “Pakistan does not have any chemical weapons,” the official added. In addition to military sites, industrial sites that produce certain CWC-listed chemicals known as “scheduled chemicals,” which have a wide range of civilian uses, are also subject to “routine” inspections, the OPCW said. “As a matter of routine and probability, the longer the convention is in operation, the higher the probability is that facilities that have been declared as producing ‘scheduled’ chemicals will be inspected,” organization spokesman Peter Kaisar said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, April 23). For further information, see:
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