U.S. Response:  Washington to Expand Container Security Initiative

The United States plans to station teams of inspectors at major seaports in Muslim countries and other strategically located ports, to help prevent terrorists from smuggling weapons of mass destruction into the United States, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, March 17).

The move is the second stage in the Container Security Initiative, which initially sought to station U.S. inspectors at the 20 largest international seaports, according to the Times.  In the new stage of the initiative, the Untied States will station inspectors in up to 25 additional seaports, which will be chosen on the basis of cargo volume and their location in countries or regions where terrorism poses a heightened threat, said Robert Bonner, commissioner of customs and border protection in the Homeland Security Department.

“We will be expanding to important parts of the Islamic world,” Bonner said.  “We will be looking more strategically,” he added.

Homeland Security plans to station inspectors in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Malaysia, Turkey and other Islamic nations, officials said.

In addition, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge yesterday signed an agreement with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to station inspectors at the port of Laem Chabang as part of the first stage of the initiative, according to the Times.

The expansion of the Container Security Initiative reflects concerns that al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups might attempt to smuggle a weapon of mass destruction into the United States in one of the millions of cargo containers that enter the country each year, Bonner said.

“I’m not prophesying anything,” Bonner said.  “But I do have concern that we need to have this security system in place as fast as we possibly can,” he said (Philip Shenon, New York Times, June 12).

Bush Administration to Fully Fund U.S. Port Security Program

Meanwhile, the Bush administration yesterday said it would fully fund Operation Safe Commerce, an $85 million program that would track cargo containers entering seaports serving New York, Los Angeles and Seattle, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, May 20).

Ridge announced the decision in a letter to Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who had placed a hold on the nomination of Clay Johnson, a friend of U.S. President George W. Bush, to the No.2 position in the Office of Management and Budget.  Murray had placed the hold on Johnson’s nomination to protest a White House proposal to cut $28 million from the program (Matthew Daly, Associated Press/Philadelphia Inquirer, June 12).

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Threat Assessment:  U.S. Nuclear Plants Near Airports May Be at Risk of Airplane Attack

Thousands of small airports are close to U.S. nuclear power plants, raising concerns that terrorists might attempt to attack a nuclear plant using a hijacked aircraft, USA Today reported today (see GSN, May 13).

While security at major U.S. airports has been increased since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, there is little to no security at most of the 18,000 “general aviation” airports that handle smaller aircraft, according to USA Today.

“What would prevent some terrorist or criminal from taking a Learjet from a small airport?” said security consultant Jalal Haidar, senior vice president of Aerospace Services International.  “They have no security measures.  They’re a loophole in the overall aviation security system,” Haidar said.

According to USA Today, more than 6,200 airports and heliports are within 60 miles of nuclear plants.  Every U.S. nuclear plant is located within less than 20 miles of at least one public airport.

Nuclear power plant operators have said, however, that most planes based at airports near nuclear plants are to small to cause the release large amounts of radiation (see GSN, Dec. 30, 2002).  The concrete around a plant’s nuclear reactor would shield it from damage, and a crash attack on other sections of a plant would not result in a massive radiation release, they said.

There is increased concern that a plant’s spent fuel pool might be more vulnerable to an attack using a hijacked aircraft because their roofs are often made of corrugated metal or concrete that is less thick than that of a reactor shell, according to USA Today (see GSN, Jan. 31). 

“It’s more difficult than a World Trade Center target but not beyond the capabilities of any commercial airline pilot,” airline pilot Marc Feigenblatt said, noting that an airplane attack on a spent fuel pool is possible.  “It’s also not beyond the capabilities of a Sept. 11 terrorist with some degree of training in a commercial aircraft,” he said.

Nuclear plant operators have said that commissioned studies indicate that while an airplane crash would damage a spent fuel pool, it would not result in a radiation release.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission began a study as to the possible effects of an aircraft crashing into a nuclear power plant.  The study remains uncompleted, though it has “the highest priority,” said NRC security chief Alan Madison, adding that science “does take time” (Gary Stoller, USA Today, June 11).

The fear that terrorists might attempt to crash an aircraft into a nuclear site did not originate with the Sept. 11 attacks, according to USA Today.  In 1972, three hijackers took control of a passenger flight during a stop in Birmingham, Ala., and threatened to crash the plane into a U.S. nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn.  The plane got as close as 8,000 feet above the site before the hijackers’ demands were met, USA Today reported.

The hijackers were later arrested and imprisoned in Cuba after flying the plane to Havana.  They were returned to Alabama in 1980, where they were sentenced to 20 to 25 years in prison each.  Then have since been released (Gary Stoller, USA Today II, June 11).

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Australian Response:  Canberra Revises Threat Alert Level System

Australia has implemented a new terrorism threat alert level system, with four levels of alert replacing the existing three classifications, Australian Prime Minister John Howard said today (see GSN, Dec. 16, 2002).

The new system includes an “extreme” alert level in addition to the existing low, medium and high classifications.  The new level indicates that a terrorist attack is imminent or that one has already occurred, according to Agence France-Presse.

The revised system will more accurately inform the public about any potential terrorist threat and help remove confusion, Howard said, adding that the system was not revised because of any new threat information.

“We don’t have any information additional to what we have previously received that has led to the reclassification,” Howard said.  “I don’t want people to be concerned that we’ve got some new information and that we’re preparing the ground to release that by ordering the (new) classifications,” he said (Agence France-Presse, June 11).

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Threat Assessment:  Washington Warns of Al-Qaeda WMD Attack

The United States believes there is a “high probability” that al-Qaeda members will attempt an attack with weapons of mass destruction within two years, according to a report released by the United Nations yesterday (see GSN, June 3).

The April U.S. report was prepared in response to a U.N. resolution requiring members to increase efforts against al-Qaeda, according to Reuters.  The U.S. report said al-Qaeda will continue to acquire weapons of mass destruction and could use them in attacks against targets such as banks, supermarkets and shopping malls, as well as in “spectacular attacks.”

“We judge that there is a high probability that al-Qaeda will attempt an attack using a CBRN [chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear] weapon within the next two years,” the report said (Reuters/Yahoo!News, June 9).

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