WMD 411 Chronology —  2007

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Produced by the Monterey Institute's Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Updated May 2008

KEY: [B] Biological, [C] Chemical, [M] Missile, [N] Nuclear, [O] Organization [T] Terrorism

Jan 3 2007 [T] The Department of Homeland Security announces that in March it will begin a new program to screen 750,000 U.S. port and maritime workers for possible activities related to terrorism and crime. The program will require worker to undergo extensive background checks to obtain an identification card that will give them access to U.S. ports and vessels.

Jan 3 2007 [M] The U.S. government imposes economic sanctions on Chinese, Russian, and North Korean companies for selling missiles to Syria and other weapons systems to Iran and Syria. The sanctions ban U.S. government support of the listed companies for two years and blocks U.S. businesses from selling them goods that require an export license. Later, Russia and China denounce the sanctions as unreasonable and not supported by evidence. 

Jan 4 2007 [N] The U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman dismisses the head of the National Nuclear Security Agency, Linton Brooks, because of continuing security lapses at U.S. nuclear weapons laboratories. For example, during a drug raid, police in New Mexico found thousands of classified documents related to nuclear weapons on a computer disk at the home of a former worker. 

Jan 4 2007 [B, W, M] The U.S. government freezes the assets of three Syrian government entities that is believes have helped to proliferate weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. Treasury Department designates the Syrian Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology, the Electronics Institute, and the National Standards and Calibration Laboratory as proliferators under an executive order aimed at stopping WMD proliferation. The three state-sponsored entities are subsidiaries of Syria's Scientific Studies and Research Center; in June 2005, President Bush designated this Center as a weapons proliferator for its activities focusing on the development of biological and chemical weapons and missiles. 

Jan 5 2007 [C] Responding to citizen’s complaints, the DuPont Company decides not to participate in the U.S. Army’s plan to dispose of up to four million gallons of treated wastewater from the destruction of VX nerve agent in the Delaware River in New Jersey. Plans had called for the treated, watered-down VX to be shipped by truck or train through four states from a chemical weapons stockpile in Indiana to DuPont's Chambers Works in Deepwater, Salem County.  

Jan 8 2007 [C] During a trial of former Baath party officials for their roles in the 1988 Anfal, campaign in northern Iraq, tapes are played of Saddam Hussein and his cousin Ali Hassan al-Majeed (known as “Chemical Ali”) discussing killing thousands with chemical weapons. The Iraqi government used chemical weapons against the Kurds in 1988 killing thousands.  

Jan 8 2007 [N, T] The London Telegraph reports that Scotland Yard detectives now suspect that Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy, was poisoned twice with radioactive polonium-210: once during lunch at a central London hotel on November 1 and probably several days prior to that at the Pine Bar in the Millennium Hotel in Mayfair. Detectives are looking into two former Russian KGB officers, Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, who met with Litvinenko on the day he became sick. Litvinenko died in December, and police in England and Russia are hunting the rare and valuable isotope polonium-210 used to kill him. 

Jan 9 2007 [T] By a vote of 299-128, Democratic members of Congress pass a bill that strengthens homeland security reforms as recommended by the September 11 commission. The bill opposed by the most Republicans would ask the United Nations to strengthen the Proliferation Security Initiative by forcing countries to agree to searches and seizures of ships and aircraft suspected of transporting WMD-related technology.  

Jan 10 2007 [C] Undersecretary of Defense Kenneth Krieg, who is responsible for the U.S. chemical weapons disposal programs at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and at the storage facility in Pueblo, Colo., testifies to Congress that the two programs are “essential to national security” and should continue, particularly as the stored weapons have been identified as a terrorist “threat target” as recently as June 2006. The current estimated costs of weapons destruction is $7.9 billion.  

Jan 11 2007 [N, T] The British government is working with 48 countries to help them assess the risk to some 450 people who may have been exposed to the polonium-210 that killed former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko in London in December. The British Health Protection Agency announces that tests had identified 116 people in Britain who probably had contact with the polonium-210 but only 13 of them required further monitoring.  

Jan 11 2007 In a demonstration of its growing military space capability, China successfully tests an anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon. China launches an ASAT from or near the Xichang Space Center and destroys a Chinese Feng Yun polar orbit satellite, flying at 530 miles altitude, launched in 1999. 

Jan 13 2007 [T] The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, meeting at a Philippines summit, sign an anti-terrorism agreement. The 10 ASEAN nations agree to track movements of suspicious money or people throughout the region, to permit the extradition suspected terrorists, and share intelligence and improve their responses to WMD or other forms of terrorism.”  

Jan 24 2007 [N, T] Authorities in the former Soviet republic of Georgia reveal that in February of 2006, the Georgian secret service in a sting operation arrested a Russian national Oleg Khinsagov and three accomplices for trying to sell 100 grams of highly enriched uranium. 

Jan 25 2007 [B, T] To prevent BW terrorism, Britain mandates tighter controls on an expanded list of deadly toxins and pathogens held in laboratories and hospitals. The new regulations cover around 100 viruses and bacteria — including diseases such as rabies, polio and influenza. Commercial laboratories, universities, and hospitals must give the police lists of their precise stocks of the agents and the names of every person with access to them.  

Jan 25 2007 [C] Chinese victims, who were injured in Qiqihar of northeastern China's Heilongjiang Province in 2003 by leaking chemical weapons abandoned by Japan in World War II, file a lawsuit in the Tokyo District Court, seeking compensation from the Japanese government totaling approximately $11.95 million. On August 4, 2003, one person was killed and 43 were injured in Qiqihar when barrels of mustard gas were unearthed at a construction site and began to leak. The plaintiffs accuse the Japanese government of ignoring the potentially dangerous chemical weapons and failing to prevent the accident.  

Jan 29 2007 [C, O] The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) announces that it has destroyed 40 percent of the nation’s chemical blister and nerve agents. The Chemical Weapons Convention requires the United States to destroy 45 percent of its chemical weapons—measured by agent weight—by December 2007. The CMA is currently destroying agent stockpiles in Indiana, Oregon, Arkansas, Alabama and Utah. To date, the CMA has destroyed chemical a range of CW munitions, including bombs, projectiles, mortars, land mines, rockets, spray tanks and bulk containers. The agents destroyed have included GB (Sarin) and VX nerve agents and mustard blister agent.  

Jan 31 2007 [N] The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces that it will begin upgrading the ninth and final Russian nuclear warhead site that it was assigned under the 2005 joint statement between Presidents Bush and Putin in Bratislava. Under the 2005 statement, the U.S. agreed to upgrade nine Russian nuclear warhead facilities that needed improved security against the risk of theft or attack by terrorists. At the nuclear warhead site, the NNSA will install physical protection systems, such as intrusion detection sensors, access controls and hardened defensive positions.

Feb 1 2007 [N, T] The UN International Atomic Energy Agency reports that there were 149 confirmed incidents of illicit trafficking and other unauthorized activities involving nuclear and radioactive materials in 2006. Of these, 15 involved the seizure of nuclear and radioactive materials from individuals who possessed them illegally.  

Feb 1 2007 [N] The BBC News reports that former KGB officer Andrei Lugovoi, now in Russia, probably poisoned Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in December 2006. Lugovoi met Litvinenko on the day he fell ill, and radioactive Polonium-210 has been discovered in a string places he had visited in London. However, Lugovoi claims he was only a witness and victim, not a suspected murderer.  If Lugovoi is the main suspect, he is unlikely to be extradited to the United Kingdom, as it violate Russia’s constitution. 

Feb 2 2007 [N, T] In a key cooperative effort to stop nuclear terrorism, Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili and U.S. Ambassador to Tbilisi John Tefft sign an agreement to fight illicit trafficking in nuclear or radioactive materials either through or within Georgia’s territory. The agreement provides for several initiatives: strengthening Georgia’s Nuclear Regulatory Agency; patrolling border areas between established points of entry; reinforcing border police aviation and maritime patrols; and increasing international cooperation on nuclear forensics.  

Feb 2 2007 [C, O] The U.S. Army announces that Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspectors just completed a week-long a verification inspection of the chemical weapons stockpile maintained by the Blue Grass Chemical Activity (BGCA) (located near Richmond, KY) to ensure continuing compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The inspectors from six different countries counted and verified every one of the chemical weapons stored at Blue Grass Army Depot.

Feb 2 2007 [N, T] The U.S. District Court in Tampa sentences Christopher Benbow to life in federal prison for trying to set up the sale of radioactive, bomb-making material to undercover agents.  In 2003, Benbow met with two men, who were government informants, in a Tampa hotel and offered to set up a sale of three Strontium 90 canisters (which can be used to make a “dirty bomb”) for $250 million each. Authorities still don’t know if Benbow actually had Strontium-90, and if he did, where it is now.

Feb 5 2007 [C] William Matthews pleads guilty to federal charges of possessing the deadly poison ricin along with firearms silencers and explosives under a plea deal with prosecutors to spare the possibility of life in prison. In May, police and federal agents searched Matthews’ property after a tip from his estranged wife, and found ricin in a sealed baby food jar, two functional pipe bombs, five gun silencers, three blasting caps, and bomb-making materials. Matthews never explained what he planned to do with the ricin and weapons.

Feb 7 2007 [B, T] Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner releases a report citing a series of problems in the BioWatch program, which costs $1 million a year per each of the 30 cities participating in the program. Run by the Homeland Security Department, BioWatch is an early-warning program designed to detect biological weapons.  Among the problems cited were sloppy handling and storage of sensors designed to give early warnings of a bioterrorism attack. The program has been revamped to address problems.

Feb 9 2007 [N, T] The United States and Panama sign a Declaration of Principles to help prevent smuggling of nuclear and other radioactive material through the Megaports Initiative of the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). NNSA's Megaports Initiative works with foreign governments to install specialized radiation detection equipment and enhance capabilities to deter, detect, and interdict illicit shipments of nuclear and other radioactive materials at international ports.  

Feb 8 2007 [N, T] The U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General’s Office reports that a special unit run by former Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld’s top policy aide, Douglas Feith, inappropriately produced “alternative” intelligence studies that wrongly concluded that Saddam Hussein's regime had cooperated with Al-Qaida. The Inspector General found that found that former Undersecretary of Defense Feith and his staff had done nothing illegal or unauthorized. However, the Bush administration relied on Feith’s now discredited work to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. Feith's department inaccurately claimed that there were many areas of cooperation between Iraq and Al-Qaida, and a shared interest in and pursuit of WMD.

Feb 13 2007 [N, T] The second international meeting on the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism concludes in Ankara, Turkey. Thirteen countries, including the Group of Eight industrialized nations, discussed how to keep terrorists from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Feb 13 2007 [N] Four month after testing a nuclear device, North Korea agrees to begin closing it nuclear facilities and to allow international inspectors into the country in exchange for approximately $400 million in fuel, food and other aid from the United States, China, South Korea, and Russia. (Japan does not agree to the aid package as it still has outstanding bilateral issues with the DPRK.) In addition, the United States and Japan will discuss normalizing relations with North Korea and lifting trade and financial sanctions. The agreement gives North Korea 60 days to take the first steps toward halting its nuclear program but it leaves to a later negotiation the question of whether and how Pyongang will dispose of its nuclear weapons and the fissile material used to produce them. 

Feb 14 2007 [C] Spain’s parliament rejects a proposal to debate whether its army launched chemical weapon attacks in Morocco in the 1920s. The Esquerra Republicana party proposed a motion calling on Spain to admit the attacks and pay compensation to victims. According to Spanish, Moroccan, and British historians, Spanish planes dropped phosgene, chloropicrin, and mustard gas on troops, towns and villages in the Rif region from 1923, often choosing market days so that more people were killed. Morocco claims that 80 percent of its larynx cancer cases are suffered by people in the Rif area, and are thought to be linked to the Spanish chemical attacks.

Feb 16 2007 [N, T] To help prevent nuclear terrorism, China’s State Council enacts tighter controls on export of nuclear technology that can be used for both military and civil purposes (“dual use” technology). The State Council Decree No. 484 forbids importers of dual-use technology from reproducing Chinese nuclear goods or technology to carry out nuclear explosions or for any other purpose not agreed upon first.  The recipient of the goods must also guarantee that it will not reproduce the technology to use in a nuclear fuel cycle, unless the nuclear facility is under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.  

Feb 19 2007 [N] Russia says that it will slow work on Iran s nearly completed Bushehr nuclear power plant because Iran has failed to make all payments under the contract for the plant.

Feb 19 2007 [B] Two members of a U.S. panel of scientists and experts announce at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science preliminary criteria for identifying research that could enable acts of biological terrorism, along with a code of conduct for those performing such studies. The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity was formed in 2004 to provide guidance to U.S. agencies on reducing the opportunities for terrorists to benefit from biological science while minimizing restrictions on beneficial research.

Feb 22 2007 [N, O] The IAEA Director General issues a report concluding that Iran, instead of halting its uranium enrichment program as required by UN Security Council Resolution 1737, has expanded its enrichment program. According to the report, Iran has set up hundreds of uranium-spinning centrifuges and gathered nearly 9 tons of gaseous feedstock to use as fuel. In addition, Iran is building a reactor that will use heavy water and a heavy water production facility; such a reactor produces plutonium that could be processed and used as fissile material in a nuclear weapon.

Feb 22 2007 [N] The U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency cancels its plans for a non-nuclear bunker buster test at the Nevada Test Site. The proposed test faced opposition from downwinders, politicians, and environmentalists who feared the blast would carry dust laced with radioactive particles from the test site. The blast would have been the last and largest in a series of bunker-buster experiments using conventional chemical explosives designed to destroy underground facilities for WMD or enemy command posts. 

Feb 23 2007 [B, C, N, O] The UN Security Council affirms it determination to strengthen multilateral cooperation aimed at countering WMD proliferation and to boost worldwide implementation of Resolution 1540, adopted in 2004.

Feb 27 2007 [B] Roberto Ortega, the former chief of Cuba's military medical services, claims that the Cuban government is creating an offensive biological warfare program in a secret underground laboratory near Havana.  Ortega has been calling for international weapons inspections of the Cuban lab where he says the government is creating BW agents like the plague, botulism and yellow fever. Ortega, a former army colonel, ran the Cuban’s military's medical services from 1984 to 1994, defected in 2003, and now lives in Florida. Ortega says that almost two years ago he told the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency nearly the maximum security lab, called “Labor One,” in Havana, which has an above-ground civilian cover and employs dozens of scientists.

Feb 28 2007 [B, T] Sujithkumar Venkatramolla, a 22-year-old graduate student at the University of Missouri-Rolla, was charged with making terrorist threats and assaulting a law enforcement officer. He had been arrested February 27, after walking into a civil engineering building on the university campus armed with a knife and holding a paper bag, while claiming he had a bomb and anthrax. 

March 2 2007 [N] The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces that the Nuclear Weapons Council selected the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California to develop a new nuclear warhead under the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program. The group of DOE and Defense Department officials picked Livermore’s design over the one proposed by the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico because it had been better validated by past testing. (Although the U.S. has not ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, it abides by a voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing.) The aim of the RRW program is to design warheads that include significantly better safety and security features while maintaining the explosive yield of current warheads. The Los Alamos Lab will continue to work on warhead designs. 

March 5 2007 [C] The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency announce that half the stockpile of U.S. chemical munitions—1.7 munitions—have been destroyed.

March 7 2007 [C, O] Barbados becomes the 182^nd country to join the Chemical Weapons Convention when it submits in instrument of accession; the treaty will enter into force in that country on April 6, 2007. 

March 7 2007 [C] The last VX-filled M55 rocket stored at the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Alabama is destroyed. The Anniston facility has destroyed 35,662 rockets and rocket warheads that were stored in earth-covered igloos there for 40 years; it also disposed of more than 40,300 gallons of liquid VX

March 8 2007 [N, O] The IAEA decides to cut approximately 40 percent of its technical projects related to Iran’s nuclear program. UN Resolution 1737, adopted in December 2006, bans transfers of technology or expertise to Iran that could be used to produce nuclear fuel.

March 9 2007 [N, T] The Greek Foreign Ministry announce that Greece has joined the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.  

March 10 2007 [T, B] At a military hearing, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described “military operational commander” for all Al-Qaida’s foreign operations, confesses to being the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks.  He also admits full or partial responsibility for more than 30 other terror attacks or plots, and claims to have directed Al-Qaida’s attempt to develop biological weapons.  

March 12 2007 [N] Russia announces that it will not send nuclear fuel to Iran this month for Iran’s first nuclear reactor scheduled to begin operating in September. Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani claims that Russia’s decision will boost Iran’s determination to pursue uranium enrichment, in defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 1737 (December 2006).

March 13 2007 [C] The Tokyo High Court rules against a group of Chinese plaintiffs seeking $682,000 in damages for injuries caused by chemical weapons leaks left by the Imperial Japanese Army at the end of World War II. The court affirms a 2003 ruling by a Tokyo district court refusing to award damages. The court did acknowledge that Japan illegally abandoned the weapons in China, but found that it would have been impossible for Japan to remove all of the weapons because they were left on Chinese soil.

March 14 2007 [N] By a vote of 409-161, Britain’s Parliament approves a $40 billion program to replace Britain’s fleet of four nuclear-armed submarines.

March 15 2007 [B, T] Rodney Curtis Hamrick pleads guilty to charges that in October 2005 he mailed packages containing an explosive device and a powdery substance labeled “Anthrax”’ to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Tests determined that the powder sent by Hamrick was not anthrax.

March 16 2007 [C, T] In Falluja, Iraq, two suicide bombings using dump trucks with chlorine tanks killed at least six people and sickened 350 people. Chlorine bombs have become increasingly popular with insurgents although because, although they don’t generally inflict mass casualties, they do spread panic and fear.  

March 21 2007 [N] The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that nuclear specialists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory are participating in a National Nuclear Security Administration project to remove weapons-usable uranium from the Dalat a reactor in Vietnam and to convert the research reactor so it can operate on low-enriched uranium fuel. Russia supplied the Dalat reactor, and the highly enriched uranium fuel at the reactor will be sent back to Russia to be downblended.

March 22 2007 [M] Pakistan successfully test-fires a nuclear-capable cruise missile, the Hatf VII Babur, with a range of 700 kilometers. This is the third time that Pakistan has tested this missile system. 

March 24 2007 [N, O] The UN Security Council unanimously approves Resolution 1747 authorizing additional sanctions against Iran for its continuing refusal to halt uranium enrichment. The new resolution bans all Iranian arms exports, requests countries to restrict loans and financial aids to Iran, and freezes the assets of an additional 28 institutions and officials with ties to Iran’s missile and nuclear programs. (UN Security Council Resolution 1737 [December 2006], which imposed the first round of sanctions on Iran, levies financial and travel restrictions on 22 individuals and business entities.) It gives Iran 60 days to comply with the UN demands to halt sensitive nuclear activities or face additional economic and other sanctions. 

March 26 2007 [C] Britain’s Ministry of Defense announces that it has destroyed the last of its stockpiles of mustard and nerve-gas weapons that were left over from World War II and the Cold War years. Britain eliminated a total of 3,812 bombs and artillery shells filled with lethal gases; it will retain small quantities of various lethal nerve agents and toxins at Porton Down, the government's secret research center, to allow scientists to develop protective clothing and other medical countermeasures.  

March 28 2007 [C, T] In Iraq, insurgents with two chlorine truck bombs attack a local government building in Falluja. The U.S. military reports that 15 Iraqi and U.S. soldiers were wounded in the blasts and many more suffered chlorine poisoning. Numerous Iraqi soldiers and policemen are treated for symptoms such as labored breathing, nausea, skin irritation and vomiting that are signs of chlorine inhalation.

March 30 2007 [M] Japan deploys its first ballistic missile interceptors at an air force base about 25 miles north of Tokyo; the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) launchers can shoot down incoming missiles in the final stage of flight as they near a target. Japan is building a missile defense shield to counter the threat from North Korea. 

March 30 2007 [M] India test fires an indigenously developed nuclear-capable missile—the Dhanush—from a naval ship in the Bay of Bengal. Developed by India’s Defense Research and Development Organization, the Dhanush has a 250-kilometer range and can carry a single warhead up to 750 kilograms. Versions of this missile have been tested five times since 2000. 

April 2 2007 [M] The U.S. Department of Justice reveals an indictment that charges the Singapore-based electronics firm, Cirrus Inc., worked as an agent of the Indian government to purchase sensitive missile and weapons technology between 2003 and 2006. The indictment charges four Cirrus company officials with violating the U.S. Export Administration Act, which prohibits the sale of dual-use technologies with Commerce Department approval attesting that the technology will only be used for non-military purposes. The Cirrus officials allegedly forged the necessary Commerce Department approvals and the weapons-related technologies were delivered to agencies that were part of the Indian Ministry of Defense and the Department of Space.    

April 2 2007 [C, T] The U.S. Homeland Security Department releases rules for chemical plants at high risk of catastrophe, caused either by an accident or terrorist attack. The new rules require facilities designated high risk, estimated at about 7,000 plants nationwide, to complete vulnerability assessments and security plans. Plants that fail to comply face stiff fines or the possibility of being shutdown. The Homeland Security Department has established standards that include securing the perimeters of chemical plants and any potential targets inside, controlling access to the facility, deterring theft, and preventing sabotage.

April 2 2007 [C] Frans van Anratt, 64, a Dutch businessman, appeals his 15-year prison sentence for selling tons of chemicals to the Iraqi government that were used to make mustard and nerve agent gas. Saddam Hussein’s military used the chemical weapons against Kurdish villages in northern Iraq in 1987 – 1988 and against Iran during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). Van Anratt claimed that he did not know how the Iraqi government would use the chemicals. 

April 6 2007 [C, T] In Ramadi, Iraq, an al-Qaida suicide bomber runs a truck loaded with TNT and toxic chlorine gas into a police checkpoint, killing at least 27 people. 

April 6 2007 [C, B, N, T] The U.S. Department of Defense certifies a special unit of the National Guard, called the Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team, to respond to weapons of mass destruction threats in Washington, D.C. Congress authorized 55 WMD Civil Support Teams to be established in every U.S. state and territory; the Washington-based team is the 49th team to be certified.

April 9 2007 [B, T] The Charles County Courthouse in Maryland receives a bomb threat in an envelope that contains and unidentified white powder. Initial testing of the powder shows it is not dangerous, but the U.S. Postal Service will perform more extensive testing and pursue any criminal prosecutions.

April 10 2007 [N] The Japanese Cabinet extends for six-months the trade sanctions that it imposed on North Korea following its October 2006 nuclear test. The sanctions include banning North Korean ships from Japanese harbors and stopping imports of North Korean goods. The Cabinet noted that North Korea had yet to comply with the February 2007 agreement to halt its nuclear program and allow IAEA inspections. 

April 11 2007 [N] The U.S. National Nuclear Security Agency and the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency agree to a plan that calls for Russia to maintain the U.S.-funded security upgrades at Russian nuclear material sites. Under U.S. law, Russia must take over sole support of securing sites that contain weapon-usable nuclear material or nuclear warheads by 2013; the new plan covers material sites but not weapons sites. 

April 12 2007 [M] India successfully tests its longest range ballistic missile, the Agni-III, which can strike targets up to 3,500 kilometers away. The Agni-III, a two-stage, solid-propellant missile, is launched from a rail-mobile platform. Experts say the Agni-III would be able to carry a 300-kiloton nuclear warhead all the way to Beijing, or to the Middle East.  

April 16 2007 [N, T] To prevent a terrorist attack with radioactive material, the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration and Mexican Customs sign a Megaports agreement. The U.S. will donate radiation detection equipment to be installed in Manzanillo, Lazaro Cardenas, Altamira and Veracruz, ports that account for 92 percent of container traffic in Mexico.   

April 16 2007 [B] Kazakhstan’s parliament ratifies the Biological Weapons Convention and sends it to the president for signature.  

April 17 2007 [C] Veolia Environmental Services in Port Arthur, Texas receives sixteen thousand gallons of wastewater from VX chemical weapons shipped from a CW disposal site in Newport, Indiana. Veolia has a $49 million contract with the U.S. Army to treat and incinerate the CW wastewater under the supervision of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.  

April 17 2007 [N, T] Armenia officially joins the U.S.-Russian Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (first announced in July 2006).

April 17 2007 [C] A Federal Circuit Court Judge in Oregon rules, in a case brought 10 years ago by environmental groups, that Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality [DEQ] must reassess whether a chemical weapons incinerator at Hermiston is good enough and safe enough to destroy 2,300 tons of mustard gas stored at Umatilla Chemical Depot. The judge does not halt incineration of the nerve agent, but he finds that DEQ must consider changes in the plant's design and operations made since the incinerator was approved in 1997 before it starts processing mustard gas. Since 1997, tests have shown U.S. mustard gas to be contaminated with mercury at higher levels than previously thought. The environmental group plaintiffs would prefer that the mustard gas be treated with a water neutralization process rather than the current incineration, which releases mercury. ‘

April 18 2007 [B, C, N, T] The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services releases for publication in the Federal Register the Department’s new plan for developing and purchasing medical countermeasures against a range of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats. The “Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE) Implementation Plan for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Threats” sets out the Department’s priorities for acquisition of vaccines, drugs and medical diagnostic tests, including purchases made under Project BioShield.  

April 19 2007 [B] The U.S. Air Force approves a new Counter-Biological Warfare Concept of Operations and Air Force Instruction to provide formal guidance for Air Force installations on how to respond to biological threats. 

April 19 2007 [C, B, N] The U.S. Department of Defense issues a new directive on DOD’s Combating Weapons of Mass Destruction Policy. The directive assigns responsibility to government officials and agencies for deterring and defeating the acquisition and use of WMD.

April 19 2007 [C] Russian officials report that Russia has destroyed 20 percent of its chemical weapons (8,456 metric tonnes) ahead of the deadline that it established with the Organization to Prevent Chemical weapons. Russia plans to build another four CW dismantlement facilities to dispose of the remaining 32,000 tonnes of chemical armaments. Russia’s next goal is the disposal of 45 percent of the overall chemical weapons stock (18,000 tonnes) by December 31, 2009.  

April 23 2007 [N] The European Union (EU) agrees to impose additional sanctions on Iran because it has refused to stop enriching uranium. The sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council in Resolutions 1737 and 1747 require a partial weapons embargo against Iran and a travel ban for a specified list of persons and companies involved in Iran’s nuclear program. The EU sanctions go further, imposing a total arms embargo on Iran, and banning additional people from the EU and freezing their assets in EU countries.

April 24 2007 [C, T] USA Today reports that the Department of Homeland Security had warned U.S. chemical plants and bomb squads to be on the look out for chlorine truck bombs, and the Chlorine Institute, a group that represents 200 companies that make and distribute chlorine, recently notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation of several thefts or attempted thefts of 150-pound chlorine tanks from water treatment plants in California. These warnings follow the use of several chlorine truck bombs in Iraq in recent months.

April 24 2007 [N, T] Hutchison Port Holdings, the world's leading port investor, developer and operator, endorses the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism The Initiative sponsored by the United States and Russia aims to leverage public-private partnerships to deter the shipment of nuclear materials and weapons.  

April 25 2007 [N] EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana meets with Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani in Turkey to discuss resolving the nuclear dispute.

April 26 2007 [N, T] Greece and Palau become partner nations of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.   

April 27 2007 [N, T] Georgia joins the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism first announced by U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg in July 2006.

April 27 2007 [C] Berea, Kentucky’s Chemical Weapons Working Group files a federal lawsuit suing the U.S. Army and the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency in an effort to stop shipments of VX nerve agent waste from a disposal site in Newport, Indiana to an incinerator in Port Arthur, Texas, to be burned. Plaintiffs claim that shipments of the chemical waste from Indiana to Texas violate the federal Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Resource, Conservation and Recovery Act and the Indiana Environmental Protection Act, and pose a substantial danger to public health and the environment.  

April 29 2007 [C,O] On the 10^th anniversary of the Chemical Weapons Convention, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls on all countries that still possess chemical weapons to abolish them and all governments that have not yet done so to ratify and accede to the Convention. The Secretary-General notes that the Convention now has 182 members, covering 98 percent of the world’s population, and that more than 25 percent of declared chemical weapons stockpiles have been destroyed.

April 30 2007 [C, T] Following insurgents’ use of chlorine truck bombs in Iraq, the New York Police Department has started tracking chlorine shipments in the city and requiring increased security at some storage areas. Police officers have been stopping vehicles transporting chlorine to check if they are properly licensed, and detectives regularly visit locations around the city to reduce the risk of certain chemicals or materials falling into the hands of terrorists.

May 1 2007 [M] Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso and Defense Minister Fumio Kyuma, and their U.S. counterparts, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates agree to expand cooperation on defense-related information between the two countries, including that on a missile defense system. They agree to the General Security of Military Information Agreement, designed to protect classified military information.  

May 2 2007 [N, M] A House Armed Services’ strategic forces subcommittee votes to setup a year-long, bipartisan commission to reconsider the U.S. strategy on nuclear weapons. The subcommittee votes to pay for the review by cutting $20 million from the Bush administration’s $88 million request for the Reliable Replacement Warhead program to complete design and cost studies for a new generation of nuclear warhead. The new commission will review the nuclear strategy contained in the Bush administration’s 2001 Nuclear Posture Review. The subcommittee also approves an independent study of the controversial European missile defense deployment. 

May 2 2007 [N] Seven key congressional supporters of the U.S.-India nuclear cooperation agreement signed in 2005, write a letter to India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warning that India’s military and energy cooperation with Iran may prevent the U.S. from completing the necessary arrangements to implement the agreement. The letter, signed by both Democratic and Republican leaders, lists a series of recent meetings between Iranian and Indian officials as signs of growing ties between the two countries. India’s Foreign Secretary Shiyshankar Menon responds that India’s contacts with Iran do not violate U.N. Resolutions 1737 and 1747, which sanction Iran for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment and other sensitive nuclear activities. 

May 4 2007 [N, T] During the trial at Woolwich Crown Court, England of Quaisar Shaffi for conspiracy to commit murder, the court hears testimony about a British terrorist cell plot to use a radioactive dirty bomb to close down an area the size of Manhattan. Shaffi allegedly supported the eight-member group led by Al-Qaida member Dhiren Barot, which had drawn up plans for terrorist attacks in America and Britain that would cause mass disruption and billions of dollars of damage.   

May 7 2007 [N, T] The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces that it has recovered and secured more than 15,000 radioactive sources, some of which could be used in “dirty bombs,” from around the United States. Through NNSA’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative, the radioactive sources are recovered by NNSA’s Los Alamos National Laboratory from commercial firms and academic institutions after the sources are determined to be excess and unwanted, and when there is no other disposal option.

May 7 2007 [N, T] A radiation detection system installed by the United States at Port Qasim in Pakistan begins transmitting data to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Port Qasim is one of the first ports to receive the integrated cargo scanning system under the U.S. Secure Freight Initiative. 

May 7 2007 [C, T] Citing procedural violations, a court in Jordan orders the retrial of nine Al-Qaida-linked Islamists sentenced to death last year over a foiled chemical attackciting procedural violations. The court rules that the state security court violated procedure by allowing the prosecutor to interrogate the suspects while he was himself among the defendants' alleged targets. The defendants included then Al-Qaida frontman in Iraq Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was slain in a U.S. raid in June 2006. In February 2006, Jordan's state security court sentenced Zarqawi, then a fugitive, and the eight others to death for planning a chemical bomb attack on intelligence services.  

May 8 2007 [N, O] The first PrepCom of the 2010 NPT Review Conference, which convened in Vienna on April 30, finally adopts an agenda when the lone holdout Iran consents to revised language. Iran had objected to language in the originally proposed agenda “reaffirming the need for full compliance with the Treaty” because it believed this language only targeted alleged noncompliance by Iran rather than the possible noncompliance by any non-nuclear or nuclear weapons state. Iran agrees to the agenda with the addition of a footnote stating that the members understand “the reference in the agenda to ‘reaffirming the need for full compliance with the Treaty’ to mean that it will consider compliance with all the provisions of the Treaty.” The delay caused by Iran means little work is done on preparing for the 2010 Review Conference. 

May 8 2007 [N, T] Canada pledges five million Canadian dollars to help upgrade Ukraine's airport and border security to prevent nuclear terrorism, with a gift of five million Canadian dollars. This contribution represents part of Canada's commitment to the Global Partnership against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction, launched by the Group of Eight industrialized nations (G8) in 2002; Canada has promised almost one billion Canadian dollars over 10 years to the partnership. 

May 8 2007 [N, T] The U.S. State Department reports that Cape Verde, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Georgia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, and Spain recently have joined the U.S.-Russian Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (first announced in July 2006). A total of 32 countries as well as the International Atomic Energy Agency have joined the group.  

May 9 2007 [C] A Dutch appeals court in The Hague raises the prison sentence of Frans Van Anraat, a Dutch businessman, to 17 years after confirming that he was guilty of complicity in war crimes for selling chemicals to Iraq later used in deadly gas attacks. In 2005, the trial court sentenced Van Anraat to 15 years in prison for supplying chemicals that were used by Saddam Hussein’s regime to make poison gas used in the 1980-1988 war with Iran, and against Iraq's own Kurdish population, including an attack on the town of Halabja in 1988 which killed an estimated 5,000 people. On appeal, the court increases the jail sentence because Van Anraat committed these crimes several times out of pure greed.  

May 9 2007 [T] President George W. Bush extends by a year U.S. sanctions against Syria because of its suspected support for terrorism and continued threat to U.S. security, foreign policy, and economy. The sanctions ban weapons supplies to Syria, restrict U.S. trade with the country, and freeze financial accounts of those suspected of helping Syria to shelter terrorists or of being involved in the development of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.  

May 14 2007 [N, T] Israel, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka announce they have joined the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.  

May 15 2007 [N] The head of the Russian Federal Nuclear Agency (RosAtom) and the Minister of Science and Technology of Myanmar sign an agreement under which Russia will build a nuclear research center in Myanmar, including a research reactor fueled with low-enriched uranium. The deal draws international attention because of Myanmar’s poor human rights record; the country has been ruled by a military junta since 1988. 

May 17 2007 [C, O] The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency announces that the United States has destroyed the last of its chemical weapon production facilities. Under the Chemical Weapons Convention signed in 1997, the United States agreed to destroy its five chemical weapon production facilities by the end of April 2007.  

May 20 2007 [N, T] Turkmenistan and Madagascar join the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism. 

May 21 2007 [N, T] The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration and the Administration of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine hold a ceremony to note the commissioning of a radiation detection checkpoint at the Kuchurgan vehicle crossing in Ukraine. The ceremony recognizes the ongoing U.S. and Ukrainian cooperation to prevent the trafficking of nuclear and radioactive material across Ukrainian borders.  

May 22 2007 [N, T] British prosecutor say they want to extradite Andrei Lugovoi, a Russian businessman and former KGB agent, from Russia and prosecute him for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, who died in London in November 2006 of polonium poisoning. Lugovoi met Litvinenko on the day he fell ill, but he has repeatedly claimed that he is innocent. Russia refuses to hand Lugovoi over to Britain. 

May 22 2007 [N, T] South Korea joins the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism by depositing its approval letters with the United States and Russia, co-chairs of the initiative.  

May 23 2007 [N, O] The IAEA Director General submits a report to the IAEA Board of Governors finding that Iran has not suspended its uranium enrichment-related activities and is continuing construction of a new reactor and heavy water related projects. In addition Iran has refused to provide requested information. Earlier IAEA inspectors noted that Iran was using approximately 1,300 centrifuges and enriching nuclear fuel on a large scale. Iran would have to further enrich the uranium to transform it into bomb-grade material.  

May 25 2007 [C] The University of Hawaii announces that in August it will partner with the U.S. Army on an underwater survey to locate nearly 600 tons of chemical weapons believed to have been dumped five miles south of Pearl Harbor. The Army believes that 16,000 M47A2 bombs holding nearly 600 tons of mustard agent were dumped in the area around October 1944. The chemical bombs weigh 100 pounds each and are about 32 inches long.  

May 25 2007 [M] North Korea test fires a barrage of short-range missiles into its coastal waters. South Korea says that the missiles tests were probably part of the DPRK’s annual military exercises, although they also occur at the same time that South Korea launches a new destroyer equipped with Aegis radar, enhancing its ability to shoot down the DPRK’s missiles and aircraft. 

May 28 2007 [B] Israel’s Ha’aretz newspaper reports that the Israel Defense Forces will provide the Israeli Medical Association’s ethics panel with the details of secret experimental anthrax vaccine trials they carried out on over 800 soldiers since 1999. The panel will decide whether the trials complied with the World Medical Association’s ethical requirements relating to human clinical trials.   

May 29 2007 [M] Russia test-launches a new intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple independent warheads from a mobile launcher at the Plesetsk launch site in northwestern Russia. According to the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, the test warhead hit its target 3,400 miles away. According to Russian officials, the new missiles can overcome any existing missile defense systems.  

May 31 2007 [C] The Tokyo High Court upholds a lower courts decision to sentence to death Seiichi Endo, the chemist who produced the sarin nerve gas used in mass murders carried out by the Aum Shinrikyo cult. The presiding judge states that Endo manufactured the sarin knowing that the gas would be used to kill an unspecified number of people.  

June 1 2007 [N, T] U.S. officials announce that a program to provide Russia with radiation detectors will be accellerated. The joint program intends to place automated detections systems at all Russian border crossing points by 2011, six years ahead of schedule. 

June 1 2007 [B, T] Japan implements new biosecurity rules designed to reduce the risk that terrorists could acquire biological agents from domestic researchers. The additions to the Infectious Disease Law empower the government to oversee the biological stockpiles at universities and research labs. 

June 6 2007 [B] The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is criticized for  failing detain a man known to have a potentially deadly contagious disease as he entered the country. The man, who successfully entered the United States by flying into Canada and driving across the border, was believed to have a drug-resistant form of tuberculousis. 

June 7 2007 [B, T] The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation releases a report which estimates that the United States has spent or allocated nearly $50 billion on biological weapons defense since September 2001.  

June 7 2007 [M] North Korea flight-tests short-range anti-ship cruise missiles over coastal waters, the second such demonstration by North Korea in as many weeks. 

June 8 2007 [B, T] A man is sentenced to three years in prison for an anthrax mail hoax on the Arkansas's governor's office in 2006. 

June 8 2007 [C] Libya announces that it intends to withdraw from a 2003 deal under which it promised to destroy its stockpile of mustard gas. Although it has already eliminated a significant portion of its chemical weapon stockpiles, Libya cites the costs of continuing the destruction as one of its primary concerns. 

June 11 2007 [N] British newspapers report that British intelligence services successfully disrupted a plot by Iran to acquire smuggled nuclear material from Russia in 2006. The plot, which involved Iran attempting to acquire uranium from the Russian black market through a middleman in Sudan, had been monitored for nearly two years before the British government disrupted the acquisition before the uranium was delivered. 

June 11 2007 [N, T] Pakistan joins the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism, a U.S.-Russia-led effort to secure nuclear materials, prosecute terrorists, and eliminate illicit trafficking networks. 

June 12 2007 [C, T] A week after a UN commission issued a warning regarding the use of chlorine gas in Iraq, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff warns American companies to secure chlorine stocks from possible terrorist theft.  

June 12 2007 [M] In response to American plans to construct a missile defense system in Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposes a joint program between the two countries. Instead of placing an early-warning radar in the Czech Republic and interceptors in Poland, Russia proposes using a radar station in Azerbaijan and interceptors in Iraq or Turkey. Putin and Bush schedule to discuss the proposal further in July. 

June 14 2007 [N, T] The New York Police Commissioner calls for additional funding to build a radiation detection system in and around the city. The appeal follows a proposed funding cut for the program in Congress. New York city officials have stated publicly that the system would greatly enhance the ability of local law enforcement to thwart a nuclear or radiological attack. 

June 15 2007 [B, O] Revisions to the International Health Regulations take effect, requiring members of the World Health Organization to notify the organization on all health issues of "international concern." Furthermore, states are now required to immediately report cases of smallpox, polio, new strains of influenza, and SARS. 

June 16 2007 [N] Following the release of $25 million in frozen North Korean funds several days earlier, North Korea invites a delegation from the IAEA to return to the country. The delegation will begin the process of inspections and monitoring to ensure the disablement of North Korea's plutonium-producing Yongbyon reactor. 

June 20 2007 [N, M] Indian officials propose to limit India’s missile arsenal to medium-ranged missiles in exchange for U.S. nuclear material and technology. The proposal is intended to soothe fears that a pending U.S.-Indian trade agreement could spark a nuclear arms race in Asia. 

June 20 2007 [N, T] After detecting a high level of radiation at a border checkpoint, Georgian customs officials discover a car attempting to smuggle fissile material into the country. However, they allow the car carrying the material—a mixture of plutonium and beryllium—to return to Azerbaijan. 

June 21 2007 [C] Months before a deadline set by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the United States meets its commitment to destroy 45 percent of the nation's chemical weapons stockpiles. The destruction is part of an ongoing effort by the United States to eliminate completely its chemical weapon stockpiles as mandated by its membership in the Chemical Weapons Convention. 

June 24 2007 [C] Several high-ranking Iraqis receive death sentences for their role in Iraqi chemical weapon attacks against Kurds in the late 1980s which left tens of thousands of civilians dead. Among those sentenced to death is Ali Hassan "Chemical Ali" al-Majid, cousin to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. 

June 26 2007 [N, M] Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov confirms that Russia will begin mass production of previously experimental missile systems. Among the systems are a strategic ICBM and a mobile, short-range tactical ballistic missile. The development, described by Ivanov as a major step toward reinvigorating Russian strategic nuclear forces, follows several weeks of heated controversy surrounding American plans for a missile defense system in Europe.

June 27 2007 [N] Days after U.S. envoy and Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill visits North Korea, a team from the IAEA is allowed to visit North Korea's plutonium-producing reactor at Yongbyon. The visit by Hill is the first such visit by a senior U.S. official in nearly five years and comes following a recent series of successful talks between North Korea and the United States.

June 28 2007 [N] Officials within the Bush administration continue to push forward an initiative to modernize America's arsenal of nuclear warheads. Secretary of Energy Clay Sell connects the Reliable Replacement Warhead program with nonproliferation goals, claiming that the initiative would allow the U.S. to cut the size of its reserve arsenal and forego new testing. The push accompanies debate within Congress whether to include funding for the controversial program in the upcoming budget.

June 28 2007 [M] Russia successfully tests a new, sea-based ballistic missile capable of breaching missile defense systems. The successful test of the intercontiental Bulava missile, which is intended to play a major role in Russia's ICBM force of the future, was conducted from a nuclear submarine and follows three earlier failures.

July 2 2007 [N] American media sources report that Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan has been removed from house arrest in Pakistan and has been granted more freedom to meet with friends and family members. Khan, a Pakistani scientist considered to be the founder of Pakistan's nuclear program, was orginally placed under house arrest following his confession that he had provided nuclear weapons technology to Libya, Iran, and North Korea.

July 2 2007 [N, C, B] The United Nations Security Council votes to dismantle the UN Monitoring, Verification, and Inspections Commission (UNMOVIC). Created in 1999 to verify that Iraq eliminated any WMD programs, UNMOVIC had failed to find any evidence of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons during its inspections in the months prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom – the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003. 

July 2 2007 [N] A plutonium core "pit" is delivered from Los Alamos National Laboratory to a manufacturing site in Texas. The pit, which will be used to create a nuclear warhead for a submarine-launched missile, is the first produced in the United States since 1989. 

July 5 2007 [M, N] In the ongoing controversy over U.S. plans to place missile defenses in Europe, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov warns that Russia may deploy new missiles in western Russia if the United States constructs such a missile defense system without first addressing Russian concerns. 

July 10 2007 [N] Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva announces that Brazil will provide additional funds over a five-year period to the Navy’s nuclear program so that the country can master the entire uranium enrichment process to produce fuel for civilian nuclear power plants and to eventually build a nuclear submarine. Brazil had earlier announced plans to complete Angra 3, its third nuclear power reactor.  

July 12 2007 [C] The verification body of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) confirms that Albania has destroyed is chemical weapons (CW) stockpiles. This makes Albania the first member of the CWC to eliminate completely CW under the agreement. 

July 12 2007 [T] In prepared testimony to Congress, a senior U.S. intelligence official warns that terrorist groups such as al-Qaida pose the largest threat to American security. According to the testimony, al-Qaida has recovered to an operational level approaching that which it possessed prior to the attacks of September 11, 2001. 

July 13 2007 [N] The Department of Energy announces it will seek $3.3 million in fines against managers at Los Alamos National Laboratory following a 2006 security lapse in which a contract employee took thousands of pages of classified documents from the laboratory to her New Mexico home. 

July 14 2007 [N] As part of the renewed negotiations regarding its nuclear program, North Korea receives its first shipment of oil from South Korea. In response, North Korea pledges to shut down its Yongbyon nuclear facility and allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to verify the move. 

July 16 2007 [M] In what is widely perceived to be a response to U.S. plans for a missile defense system in Europe, Russia suspends its participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, which limits the number of conventional military assets allowed to be deployed in Europe and western Russia. 

July 17 2007 [T] An unclassified version of the latest National Intelligence Estimate on terrorism threats is released which warns that terrorists present the most serious danger to the United States. The report notes that al-Qaeda will likely intensify efforts to strike the American homeland and has a growing capability to do so. 

July 17 2007 [B] Revisions in the International Health Regulations addressing the spread of infectious diseases take effect in the United States. 

July 18 2007 [T] Days after North Korea receives a shipment of oil from South Korea, the IAEA confirms that North Korea has shut down its Yongbyon nuclear complex as previously agreed. 

July 21 2007 [N, T] Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announces that nearly all shipping containers entering the United States will be screened for radiation by the end of 2007. The announcement comes days after American lawmakers reach an agreement on legislation that would require all cargo containers bound for the United States to be scanned for radiation at the port of departure. According to the legislation, infrastructure for scanning 100-percent of these containers in foreign ports should be completed within five years.  

July 23 2007 [N] The Government Accountability Office reveals that a team of its investigators conducted a successful sting operation in which it ordered enough equipment to create a nuclear weapon through a phony license obtained from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

July 24 2007 [C] A Chilean judge orders the arrest of six people formerly associated with Augusto Pinochet's regime who are accused of using sarin gas to kill a man in 1977. 

July 24 2007 [N] A summary of a new national nuclear strategy given to Congress advises that the United States modernize its nuclear arsenal and invest in smaller, more reliable nuclear weapons. Among the recommendations of the report is that the United States commit to the Reliable Replacement Warhead program. 

July 25 2007 [N] Four years after Libya renounced its WMD programs and renewed ties with the West, France agrees to help Libya contruct a nuclear reactor for water desalination. 

July 27 2007 [N] The United States announces that it has reached agreement with India on the terms governing the U.S. supply of nuclear equipment and technology. Under the agreement, which still requires congressional approval, the United States would help India to find a supply of nuclear fuel even if India were to test another nuclear weapon. Critics charge that this gives India a better deal than countries who have signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT); India has never signed the NPT. 

July 30 2007 [N] Following weeks of successful negotiations with Iran, the IAEA is permitted to inspect Iran's Arak facility. The two parties also agree to continue negotiations to resolve to ongoing dispute. 

July 30 2007 [N] The Department of Energy announces that Hong Kong will join the U.S. Secure Freight Initiative, a program which aims to expand the radiation screening infrastructure at the port.

August 1 2007 [C] A British chemical company is fined for illegally exporting a precursor to VX nerve gas to Egypt.

August 3 2007 [N] Officials confirm that the European company EADS will sell Libya $405 million worth of anti-tank missiles and other military equipment, marking the first major sale of Western military equipment to Libya since the country renounced its nuclear program in 2003.

August 3 2007 [N] Swiss authorities seize over two tons of dual-use nuclear equipment intended for sale to Iran. A Swiss company is thought to be involved in the sale of the equipment, which is worth an estimated $700,000.

August 6 2007 [N, T] President Bush signs legislation that mandates foreign seaports to conduct radiological screening on all cargo bound for the United States by 2011.

August 6 2007 [N] Japan pledges to fund the dismantlement of three decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines underneath Japan's "Star of Hope" program.

August 6 2007 [M] Russian officials announce that Russia has activated a new air defense system around Moscow. The system, consisting of S-400 Triumph rockets, is designed to destroy medium-range ballistic missiles and aircraft.

August 7 2007 [N] In a growing international effort to pressure Iran to halt uranium enrichment and comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Russia announces that it will withhold nuclear fuel for Iran's Bushehr reactor until Iran becomes more transparent regarding other nuclear activities.

August 9 2007 [C] A man is arrested for allegedly contaminating an Ohio courthouse with mercury and is charged with criminal use of a chemical weapon.

August 10 2007 [N] Officials in South Korea announce that members of its nuclear research institute mistakenly incinerated several grams of natural and enriched uranium. The uranium, which is unlikely to have burned, is yet to be found.

August 13 2007 [N] Reports reveal that Libya, which renounced its nuclear program in 2003, still maintains a stockpile of over 200 barrels of yellow cake uranium ore worth an estimated $400 million.

August 14 2007 [N] Following weeks of debate, Australia agrees to sell uranium to India. The agreement reverses an earlier policy to refuse nuclear trade to states outside of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and follows a recent nuclear trade agreement between the United States and India.

August 17 2007 [N] The International Atomic Energy Agency announces that North Korea continues to cooperate with inspectors in dismantling its nuclear program, raising the possibility that the process could be completed by the end of 2007.

August 20 2007 [N] Russia announces that it will resume regular flights of strategic bombers near the United States. The flights, which had not been conducted since 1992, will consist of 20 nuclear-capable aircraft, although it is not clear if they will carry nuclear weapons.

August 24 2007 [N] Four Chinese men, including the owner of a uranium mine, begin trial for attempting to sell over 17 pounds of uranium on the Chinese black market. Chinese officials announced that the uranium in question has not yet been found.

August 25 2007 [M] Pakistan successfully tests an air-launched cruise missile named Hatf 8 with a range of 350 kilometers. The new missile reportedly can carry all types of warheads, including nuclear warheads.

August 27 2007 [N] The International Atomic Energy Agency releases a new report detailing its most recent findings on Iran. The report finds that Iran continues to expand efforts to enrich uranium, although at a slower pace than experts had predicted. The report, which has been criticized by American officials, also commends Iran's level of cooperation and lays a framework for further cooperation that aims to resolve the issue by December.

Sept 4 2007 [N] A South African court gives a German engineer a suspended sentence for his involvement in the nuclear smuggling ring once headed by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan. Pleading guilty to exporting material to the nuclear programs in Libya and Pakistan, the German national is sentenced to house arrest and is not expected to serve time in prison.

Sept 5 2007 [N] Defense Department officials reveal that an American B-52 bomber mistakenly transported six nuclear warheads across the United States a week earlier. Although there was little risk of accidental nuclear detonation, the error bypassed multiple security protocols as well as a general ban on the flight of nuclear-armed bombers introduced in 1968. Air Force officials announce an investigation into the causes of the incident.

Sept 6 2007 [N, M] Israel conducts an air strike on a target within Syria. Some analysts speculate that the target may have been a nuclear facility built with assistance from North Korea.

Sept 6 2007 [B] The director of biosafety at Texas A&M announces his resignation in response to controversy regarding the security of the university’s infectious disease laboratories. Days earlier, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report criticizing the university for losing vials of brucella bacteria, allowing unauthorized access to samples of Q fever, and failing to perform regular security evaluations.

Sept 7 2007 [T, N, B, C] Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff warns that noncommercial aircraft and small boats could be used to transport WMD to the United States for use in a terrorist attack. To address these vulnerabilities, DHS announces new security measures for U.S. ports and travel restrictions on private aircraft.

Sept 7 2007 [N] Australia signs an agreement to export uranium to Russia for its civilian nuclear program. The agreement was finally reached following assurances from Russia that it would not resell any of the uranium to Iran or any other third country.

Sept 7 2007 [C] A Pennsylvania scientist is charged with chemical weapons use after attempting to poison a woman with potassium dichromate and chlorphenoxarsine, two potentially fatal chemicals.

Sept 15 2007 [N] The United States announces that it will remove nine metric tons of plutonium from its nuclear stockpile. The declared excess plutonium is in addition to the 68 tons of plutonium the United States is planning to remove as part of a joint agreement with Russia.

Sept 16 2007 [N] France’s foreign minister Bernard Kouchner warns that Iran’s refusal to suspend uranium enrichment may result in military action. In his controversial remarks, Kouchner admits that France is preparing military contingency plans in case Iran continues to pursue nuclear weapons.

Sept 17 2007 [N] Vietnam returns weapons-grade uranium to Russia and converts its research reactor to use low-enriched uranium. One week earlier, the United States and Vietnam signed a nuclear energy pact. Under the pact, the United States agrees to assist Vietnam in developing its civilian nuclear program, while Vietnam agrees to introduce safeguards and regulatory controls on its nuclear facilities.

Sept 17 2007 [N, T] A report issued by the Government Accountability Office finds that testing on port radiation detectors earlier in the year was biased. The report casts doubt on the effectiveness of Advanced Spectroscopic Portal monitors, which are designed to detect nuclear materials at U.S. ports.

Sept 19 2007 [N] Officials from the Department of Energy announce that all highly enriched uranium has been removed from South Korea to the United States. The repatriation of weapons-grade material is part of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, which aims to prevent the proliferation of nuclear material from civilian nuclear facilities built by the United States and Soviet Union.

Sept 19 2007 [C] Dozens of Syrians and Iranians are allegedly killed when an explosion occurs at a factory in Syria. According to reports, the explosion occurred as engineers attempted to mount a chemical weapons warhead on a Syrian missile.

Sept 22 2007 [M] Iran displays the Ghadar 1, a new medium-range missile with a range of 1,100 miles, in public for the first time.

Sept 26 2007 [N, T] A report released by Harvard University’s Managing the Atom Project finds that the risk of nuclear terrorism remains high. The report says the vulnerability of nuclear material and devices in Russia is a key contributor to the risk that terrorists may acquire nuclear weapons.

Sept 26 2007 [M] A day before Six Party talks are set to resume negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear program, the United States renews missile sanctions against North Korea. The sanctions prohibit U.S. businesses from conducting business with the North Korean government and a North Korean company allegedly involved in North Korea’s missile program.

Sept 27 2007 [T] A report by the Government Accountability Office finds that the American border with Canada remains highly porous. The report warns that the border may be exploited by terrorists attempting to enter the United States, especially those who may attempt to smuggle unconventional weapons.

Sept 27 2007 [N] The Department of Energy certifies the first nuclear warhead containing a replacement plutonium pit to be admitted to the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Sept 30 2007 [N] Negotiators of the Six Party talks reach a tentative deal to disable North Korea’s nuclear program before the end of the year. The deal, which is still subject to approval by the governments of the participating states, establishes a schedule for resolving remaining issues related to shutting down North Korea’s nuclear facilities.

Oct 1 2007 [N] The United States and Kyrgyzstan sign an agreement to aid in the prevention of nuclear smuggling. The agreement, the fourth reached by the U.S. Nuclear Smuggling Outreach Initiative, outlines a number of measures to improve Kyrgyzstan's ability to stop the transfer of nuclear technology and material across its borders.

Oct 1 2007 [N] Canada reaches an agreement with Russia to provide over $50 million for the removal of nuclear reactors from and dismantlement of several Russian submarines.

Oct 3 2007 [N] The participants (the United States, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia) in the Six-Party Talks agree that North Korea would take three steps toward denuclearization in accordance with the parties "Joint Statement" of September 19, 2005. The steps include the disablement of North Korea's 5 megawatt reactor, plutonium reprocessing plant, and fuel fabrication plant in Yongbyon; the submission of a detailed declaration of the North's nuclear program by December 31, 2007; and promises by North Korea not to transfer nuclear materials or technologies to others. In exchange, the United States and Japan agree to work on normalizing their relationships with North Korea and the six parties agree to supply Pyongyang with economic, energy, and humanitarian assistance.

Oct 7 2007 [B] The University of California is fined $450,000 for improperly packaging vials of anthrax shipped across the country in 2005. Although anthrax was released within the packag