WMD 411 Chronology —  2008

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Produced by the Monterey Institute's James Martin enter for Nonproliferation Studies
Updated January 2009

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

Jan 7 2008 [N] The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) questions members of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission regarding the reported disappearance of dozens of devices containing radiological material.

Jan 9 2008 [N] Diplomats from the United States announce a new deadline in the ongoing disablement talks with North Korea. According to top officials, North Korea should issue full declarations and disable key facilities before the end of February.

Jan 10 2008 [C, O] Reports reveal that the U.S. contractor Blackwater used tear gas in a May 2005 encounter while providing security services in Iraq. The reports raise questions whether the act constituted a violation by the United States of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which permits the use of tear gas in law enforcement but prohibits its use in warfare. The contractor claims the gas was used by accident.

Jan 10 2008 [N] Egypt announces that its first nuclear reactor will be constructed at the city of Dabba.

Jan 12 2008 [N] IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei and other high-level IAEA officials visit Iran to meet with Iran's leadership. In the meetings, Iran agrees to resolve remaining questions in the IAEA inquiry into the nation's nuclear program and to provide further information about its controversial uranium enrichment program.

Jan 13 2008 [N] An investigation over several years into a British national suspected of aiding the A.Q. Khan nuclear network ends without charges being filed.

Jan 14 2008 [N] A new government in Australia reverses a previous administration's decision to sell uranium to India. The new government affirms Australia's refusal to sell uranium to states not party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Jan 15 2008 [N] France reaches an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to provide peaceful nuclear technology for nuclear power generation, desalinization, and other civilian nuclear needs. The deal follows a wave of agreements between France and countries in the Middle East, whereby France pledges to provide nuclear expertise.

Jan 22 2008 [T] Jose Padilla, a U.S. national once accused of planning to detonate a radiological dispersal device is sentenced to 17 years in prison on terrorism-related charges.

Jan 23 2008 [N] British Prime Minister Gordon Brown issues a statement urging the United States and Russia to take proactive steps aimed at achieving nuclear disarmament.

Jan 23 2008 [N] Officials from Israel announce that radiation detectors have begun operating at the port of Haifa, the latest addition to the U.S.-led Megaports Initiative.

Jan 24 2008 [N] The United States agrees to provide support to Turkey's nuclear energy program. Under the agreement, the United States permits the trade of reactors and certain nuclear technologies needed for a civilian energy program.

Jan 25 2008 [M] Pakistan conducts a test of its nuclear-capable Shaheen-1 midrange ballistic missile.

Jan 30 2008 [N, O] Colombia ratifies the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, leaving only nine nations out of the original 44 specific countries identified which are required to ratify the treaty before it enters into force.

Jan 31 2008 [N, C, B] An independent report finds that the U.S. military is unprepared to deal with an attack involving weapons of mass destruction.

Jan 31 2008 [C] Defense officials in the United Kingdom announce that they have agreed to compensate military veterans exposed to chemical weapons in tests conducted during the Cold War.

Feb 1 2008 [T, N, C, B] Ranking members of the U.S. military downplay the results of an independent commission’s report reviewing the general preparedness of the U.S. National Guard and Reserves. Released a day earlier, the report finds that the U.S. military is poorly prepared to respond to an attack by nuclear, chemical, biological, or radiological weapons.

Feb 4 2008 [M] Iran tests a rocket designed to put the country’s first satellite into space. Experts and government officials in the United States and Russia warn that the Iranian missile test could be a step toward acquiring a long-range ballistic missile capability.

Feb 5 2008 [N] A South African court issues a suspended 13-year prison sentence for a Swiss engineer, Daniel Geiges, who pleaded guilty to manufacturing, importing, and exporting nuclear equipment as part of the nuclear smuggling network once run by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Feb 6 2008 [N] U.S. President George W. Bush issues an executive order that requires the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, Justice, and State and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other appropriate agencies to take steps to implement the Additional Protocol to the U.S. safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The United States signed the Additional Protocol in 1998 but has not taken all the necessary steps to bring the expanded inspections provisions into force.

Feb 7 2008 [T] U.S. National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell issues an annual threat assessment, in which he identifies al-Qaeda as the preeminent threat to U.S. security. According to the assessment, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is the second-most important danger.

Feb 8 2008 [N] Reports reveal that Iran is installing a new centrifuge design at its Natanz facility. Experts claim that the new design, dubbed the IR-2 (and perhaps based on the more advanced P-2 centrifuge), is potentially much more efficient than the existing P-1 centrifuges Iran has already installed.

Feb 8 2008 [N] U.S. Congress members criticize a Department of Energy program designed to provide work for former Soviet nuclear weapons scientists. According to the critics, the Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention program indirectly supports Iran’s nuclear development by providing funds to Russian entities responsible for Russian nuclear sales in Iran.

Feb 9 2008 [N, T] IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei warns nations of the danger posed by terrorist groups armed with nuclear material and calls on states to take steps to reduce the likelihood of nuclear terrorism.

Feb 12 2008 [N] Russia reaches a preliminary agreement to provide four nuclear reactors to India. Sales of nuclear materials to India, a nuclear weapon state not party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, are currently prohibited by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) of which Russia is a member. The deal is contingent on significant changes in NSG guidelines, which Russia anticipates as a result of U.S. pressure to permit its own nuclear sales to India. Russia has built other nuclear power plants for India that were exempted from the NSG rules because the contracts were signed before the NSG took effect.

Feb 13 2008 [M] Pakistan conducts a successful test of the Hatf 3 nuclear-capable ballistic missile.

Feb 20 2008 [C] Indonesia introduces new legislation under which the production or possession of chemical weapons may be punishable by death.

Feb 20 2008 [M] In a controversial decision, the United States military shoots down a failing satellite using a sea-based missile defense system. Russia and China, among other nations, cite the test as evidence that the United States is attempting to create an arms race in outer space. Some experts speculate that the test is designed to provide critical insight into U.S. missile defense systems.

Feb 21 2008 [B] Officials from Texas A&M University announce that the school is planning to pay a $1 million fine for safety violations in its laboratories. According to federal investigators, three lab workers were exposed to Q fever, and another suffered a Brucella infection.

Feb 22 2008 [N, O] The IAEA issues a new report on Iran’s nuclear activities. While the report notes that the IAEA has not uncovered evidence of a weapons program, it also cites “serious concern” regarding possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program. The United States cites the report as evidence that Iran continues to defy demands from the world community to disclose fully the details of its nuclear program.

Feb 25 2008 [N, O] IAEA’s Deputy Director General of Safeguards Olli Heinonen gives a briefing in Vienna to member states in which he presents evidence that Iran is still pursuing a nuclear weapons program. Iranian diplomats at the briefing insist the allegations are groundless and Heinonen’s evidence was fabricated.

Feb 28 2008 [B] Seven people, including three police officers, are hospitalized after ricin is discovered in a Las Vegas hotel room. It is later revealed that the man, Roger Von Bergendorff, responsible for producing the ricin had been hospitalized weeks earlier.

March 3 2008 [N] The United Nations Security Council passes new sanctions on Iran in response to Iran’s continued refusal to suspend uranium enrichment projects. The sanctions, which are the third set passed by the Security Council, aim to tighten exports of sensitive technology, punish individuals and banks associated with Iran’s nuclear program, and encourage other states to inspect cargo bound for Iran.

March 3 2008 [N] Argentina and Brazil begin a new initiative to evaluate bilateral cooperation on a host of nuclear energy issues.

March 4 2008 [N, M] Statements by the Federation of American Scientists suggests that the Chinese nuclear arsenal has increased by nearly one-third since 2006. However, the statements also note that much of these additions will likely be negated by planned decommissioning of older Chinese missiles.

March 6 2008 [N, T, B] In testimony to members of Congress, senior Defense Department officials warn that nuclear terrorism remains the greatest danger to the security of the United States. The officials also warn that advances in science likely mean that bioterrorism will be a significant threat in the future.

March 13 2008 [M] An American businessman pleads guilty to exporting missile technology to India without a license. According to U.S. law, the man may be sentenced up to five years in prison and face a $250,000 fine.

March 14 2008 [N] In response to delays in North Korea’s nuclear disablement process, U.S. officials call for greater transparency on the part of the North Korea. The announcement comes a week after negotiations between the United States and North Korea failed to produce a breakthrough in the disablement process.

March 18 2008 [M, N] American news sources report that negotiations between the United States and Russia failed to reach a resolution regarding U.S. plans to deploy missile defense systems in Europe.

March 21 2008 [N] France announces that it will reduce the size of its nuclear weapon arsenal. According to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, France will remove one-third of its airborne nuclear arsenal, which will reduce the number of French nuclear weapons below 300.

March 23 2008 [M] India conducts a successful test of its nuclear-capable Agni 1 missile.

March 25 2008 [N, M] The United States Defense Department reveals that it accidentally shipped four nuclear missile fuses to Taiwan in 2007. The accidental shipment follows a similar nuclear blunder in 2007, in which the Air Force mistakenly shipped nuclear warheads across the United States. In addition to strong Chinese criticism, outside experts call for greater government oversight of nuclear weapons and related technology. In response, the Defense Department orders an audit of the entire U.S. nuclear weapon arsenal.

March 25 2008 [N] Bahrain and the United States sign a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in civilian nuclear energy development.

March 25 2008 [N] News agencies report that Russia and Egypt reach an agreement whereby Russia is allowed to bid for the construction contract of Egypt’s first nuclear reactor. The construction contract is estimated to be between $1.5 and $1.8 billion.

March 29 2008 [M] Japan completes the deployment of a missile defense system around Tokyo. The Tokyo deployments, which consist of four advanced Patriot batteries built in cooperation with the United States, are the first phase of a nationwide missile defense system expected to be completed by 2011.

April 6 2008 [N, M] Following a meeting between Presidents George Bush and Vladimir Putin, the United States and Russia issue a “Strategic Framework Declaration” pledging to take steps to reduce their nuclear arsenals, create a system to respond to missile threats, prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and combat global terrorism.

April 7 2008 [C] The Second Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties to Review the Operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention begins in the Hague with 114 of 183 states parties participating. The parties review the operation of the CWC and note that as of April 1, 2008, only 38% of the total stockpiles of 70,000 tonnes of Category 1 chemical weapons declared by the members have been destroyed. The April 18 report on the Second Review Conference is available at http://www.opcw.org/docs.csp/rc2/en/rc204(e).pdf.

April 16 2008 [B] Roger Von Bergendorff, who was hospitalized in February with suspected ricin poisoning, appears in Nevada federal court to face charges that include possession of a biological toxin and unregistered firearms. Authorities claim that Von Bergendorff had enough ricin in his Las Vegas motel room to kill approximately 522 people.

April 19-21 2008 [M] In a three-day period, Pakistan conducts two test launches of its long range Shaheen 2 missile, which can reach targets in the interior of India. The Shaheen 2 is a two-stage, solid-fuel weapon capable of delivering a nuclear or conventional warhead up to 1,280 miles. These tests may be seen as part of Pakistan's on-going missile race with India, which tested its nuclear capable Agni 1 in late March.

April 19 2008 [N] Russia shuts down a reactor at Seversk, one of its three remaining nuclear energy reactors that produce weapon-grade plutonium; the reactor was one of two built in Seversk in the 1960s to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons. Russia plans to close the second Seversk reactor in June 2008, and the third reactor located in Siberia by the end of 2009. In 2003, the United States pledged $926 million to build two fossil fuel plants to replace the energy produced by the plutonium reactors.

April 20 2008 [N] During a meeting of Arab nations in Bahrain, the United States and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) sign a civil nuclear cooperation agreement. The UAE has signed a similar agreement with France and has announced a new organization to oversee nuclear development and compliance with nonproliferation efforts. In light of Iran's nuclear program and the rising cost of oil, countries in the Middle East have shown a growing interest in developing civil nuclear power.

April 21 2008 [N] At a two-day consultative meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the United States, at the behest of Canada, revises its position that no new states should be allowed to undertake uranium enrichment for nuclear power plant fuel. The United States now argues that certain states that comply with strict nonproliferation criteria should be permitted to engage in new enrichment and reprocessing activities.

April 21 2008 [N] Media reports state that in December North Korean officials informed the United States that North Korea produced 30 kilograms of plutonium, significantly less than the U.S. estimate of 50 kilograms. Reportedly North Korea used 18 kilograms for nuclear development and 6 kilograms for its October 2006 test of a nuclear device. The United States wants a complete accounting of North Korea's plutonium work as part of the nuclear dismantlement process agreed to in the Six-Party Talks.

April 22 2008 [N, M] The United States arrests Ben-Ami Kadish, an 84-year old American suspected of providing Israel with secrets on nuclear weapons, fighter jets, and missiles in the 1980s. Kadish has acknowledged his spying in interviews with Federal Bureau of Investigation interviews.

April 24 2008 [N] The United States releases new information about the Syrian site bombed by Israel on September 6, 2007 that indicates it was a reactor built with North Korean help.

April 28 2008 [C] The U.S. Army announces that the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama has destroyed 43 percent of its stockpile of chemical warfare agents (primarily VX nerve agent) and 46 percent of the munitions (155 mm artillery shells) that contained the CW agents.

April 28-May 9 2008 [N, O] States parties meet in Geneva for the 2008 PrepCom for the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). The parties adopt a "technical report" that contains organizational decisions, but they do not agree to attach the factual summary prepared by the Chair, Ukraine's Ambassador in Vienna Volodyrmyr Yelchenko. Among other issues, the states parties debate whether the nuclear weapon states (NWS) have abided by their nuclear disarmament obligation, whether NWS should provide security assurances to non-nuclear weapon states, the need for a resolution on the Middle East (particularly in light of Iran's nuclear program and burgeoning interest in nuclear power in that region), and the possibility Syria is developing a nuclear weapon program with help from North Korea. (For reports on the 2008 PrepCom see http://www.acronym.org.uk/npt/index.htm and http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/legal/npt/nirindex.html#2008.)

April 30 2008 [T] The U.S. government releases the 2007 Country Reports on Terrorism, which concludes that state sponsorship of terrorist groups undermines efforts to eliminate terrorism and increases the probability that terrorists could get access to WMD. Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria remain on the the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

May 5 2008 [N] In response to a proposed new package of incentives from six world powers, Iran says it will not suspend its uranium enrichment activities. While Western countries fear that Iran’s nuclear program is aimed at building nuclear weapons, Iran maintains that its program is peaceful and that it has a right to develop a complete nuclear fuel cycle.

May 6 2008 [N] On the eve of new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s inauguration, Russia and the United States sign an civilian nuclear cooperation agreement.

May 7 2008 [M] India test-fires the 3,000-km-range surface-to-surface nuclear capable Agni-3 missile from an island off the Orissa coast.

May 7 2008 [N] France's Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo submits plans for a new agency, France Nuclear International, to supervise the offering of French nuclear expertise to countries hoping to develop civilian nuclear power. France has recently signed civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with many states in the Middle East and Africa.

May 7 2008 [N] President George W. Bush announces his decision to extend U.S. sanctions against Syria because Washington's believes that Damascus had been building a nuclear reactor with help from North Korea. Israel bombed the reactor in Syria before it could be completed. The executive order continues a freeze on Syrian assets and bans on exports of certain goods to Syria.

May 8 2008 [M] The Pakistani military announces that it has successfully tested a Hatf-VIII (Ra'ad) cruise missile capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional warheads to a range of 350 kilometers (217 miles).

May 8 2008 [N] In Pyongyang, North Korea turns over 18,000 pages of documents related to its plutonium program dating from 1990 to a visiting U.S. diplomat. The documents are detailed technical logs from North Korea’s closed plutonium reactor, and they reportedly contain information about North Korea’s three major efforts to reprocess plutonium for nuclear weapons, in 1990, 2003 and 2005. North Korea provided the documents as part of the bargain struck during the Six-Party Talk; North Korea agreed to dismantle its nuclear weapon program in exchange for international recognition and aid.

May 8 2008 [C] Yomiuri Shimbun reports that the Japanese government wasted at least 700 million yen developing equipment that it decided not to use to dispose of chemical weapons discarded in China by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The government agency in charge of the cleanup effort decided to scrap the plan to use the newly developed machines and to dig up the weapons manually. Japan’s effort to dispose of the CW left in China has been plagued with delays and corruption charges.

May 13 2008 [C] In a growing scandal over the Japanese government’s project to remove chemical weapons abandoned in China at the end of World War II, five officials from the Japanese company Pacific Consultants International and its affiliate Abandoned Chemical Weapons Disposal Corp. are arrested for allegedly swindling about $1.1 million from the Japanese government.

May 13 2008 [N] Iran sends a letter to the UN Secretary General and an accompanying document titled "The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Proposed Package for Constructive Negotiations." Iran offers to participate in wide-ranging negotiations on political and security, economic, and nuclear issues. Iran does not offer to suspend its uranium enrichment program, but it does suggest increased supervision by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the possibility of enrichment and nuclear fuel production consortia in different parts of the world, including Iran.

May 13 2008 [C] The U.S. Army announces that one-third the tonnage of chemical warfare agents, including sarin and VX, stored at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon has been eliminated since disposal operations began in 2004. The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility has eliminated 237 tons of VX contained in more than 34,500 munitions and 156 aircraft spray tanks. Workers are about midway through the VX nerve agent incineration campaign, and they must also destroy 8-inch artillery projectiles and land mines. In July 2007, the facility completed destruction of 1,014 tons of sarin and the approximately 155,500 munitions that had contained the nerve agent.

May 15 2008 [C] After 20 years of work, Germany completes the clean up of the Espagit factory in Hallschlag where chemical weapons were made and stored during World War I. Espagit made chemical weapons from chlorine, arsenic and phosgene gas and had no waste-treatment ponds; the company sprayed its effluent onto nearby barren hillsides; where it seeped into the ground. Also in 1920, there was an explosion at the plant which dispersed the contents of an estimated 20,000 gas shells on the premises. The state government spent $84 million paying engineers to recover the chemicals and old ammunition and seal the ground with extra topsoil and wire-netting to prevent anyone digging up stray shells that may have been overlooked.

May 16 2008 [N] The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announces that it oversaw the removal of 14.4 kilograms (30 pounds) of Soviet-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) in “spent” nuclear fuel from Latvia. With the cooperation of several international organizations, the spent fuel was transported in secret to a secure Russian facility near Chelyabinsk. This shipment completed the removal of HEU from Latvia.

May 16 2008 [N] The U.S. government announces a new agreement with Saudi Arabia that covers cooperation on civil nuclear power and protection of Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure.

May 18 2008 [C] The Queensland state government in Australia announces it will investigate claims that chemical weapons such as Agent Orange were tested there in the 1960s. Reports said that forest near Innisfail, a town on the country's far northeastern coastline, had been a Agent Orange testing ground at the start of the Vietnam War. U.S. forces in Vietnam used the defoliant which contains the extremely toxic chemical dioxin, to clear jungle cover.

May 18 2008 [N] Chinese military officials report that all nuclear facilities in the Sichuan province region struck by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake on May 11, 2008 are secure and that military police and army soldiers were protecting the facilities.

May 20 2008 [C] Guinea-Bissau deposits its instrument of ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) with the Secretary General of the United Nations, becoming the 184th party to the Convention. Eleven states still remain outside the CWC.

May 21 2008 [C, T] A Jordanian court sentences eight al-Qaida militants, alleged associates of slain al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, to life in prison for plotting a 2004 chemical attack on the U.S. embassy and other locations in Jordan.

May 23 2008 [M] The Indian Army successfully test fires a surface-to-surface nuclear-capable Prithvi missile. The Prithvi, India’s first indigenously built ballistic missile, has a range of 350 kilometers, can carry a payload of between 500 kilograms and one tonne and, according to the Indian defense ministry, can achieve close to zero circular error probability (CEP) accuracy.

May 26 2008 [N] The International Atomic Energy Agency issues a report on Iran’s implementation of its safeguards agreement, which states that Iran has not suspended its enrichment related activities nor responded to questions about the history and purpose of its nuclear program.

May 27 2008 [N] A Swiss parliamentary committee undertakes an investigation into why files in a high-profile nuclear smuggling case were secretly destroyed on government orders last year. The documents contributed to a criminal case against three members of a Swiss family of engineers accused of aiding the nuclear smuggling ring of A.Q. Khan, the mastermind behind Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program. The Swiss government has acknowledged shredding the sensitive documents related to the Khan network’s aid to Libya’s now-abandoned program to build an atomic bomb.

May 27 2008 [T] The U.S. Government Accountability Office releases a report that finds gaps in the Department of Home Security's port security program. The report warns that terrorists exploit the weaknesses to transport WMD in cargo containers into the United States.

May 29 2008 [N, M] Russia announces that it has dismantled another six outdated Topol mobile ballistic missile systems under the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I).

May 29 2008 [C] The Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly calls on the United States, the United Kingdom and NATO to declassify information on chemical weapons that were taken from Nazi Germany at the end of World War II and dumped in the Baltic Sea.

June 2 2008 [N] The IAEA announces that Syria will allow its inspectors visit the site of a suspected nuclear reactor on the Euphrates River that Israeli warplanes bombed last September. The visit is scheduled for June 22 to 24.

June 3 2008 [C] The head of Russia’s CW disposal program, Valeriy Kapashin announces that during the third stage of its CW destruction program, Russia has destroyed 10,500 tons of toxic substances. By the end of 2009, Russia should recycle and destroy 18,000 tons of CW, or more than 40 per cent of its stockpile.

June 4 2008 [T] The Pentagon states that Ethiopian Binyam Mohammed, a Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainee will be charged with war crimes for allegedly participating in a plot to detonate a “dirty bomb.” Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan and 2002 and charged with participating in an al-Qaida plot to use a dirty bomb to blow up apartment buildings in the United States. His attorney claims that the CIA had taken Mohammed to Morocco where he was tortured.

June 5 2008 [N, C, B] After a five-year investigation, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence releases the final phases of a report finding that the Bush administration deliberately used faulty intelligence about Iraq’s alleged WMD programs to justify the U.S. invasion of that country in March 2003.

June 10 2008 [N] During a state visit to Japan, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announces that his government would set up a new commission to study nuclear disarmament and propose measures to shore up the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The commission will be co-chaired by a representative from Japan.

June 10 2008 [O] The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), which carried out WMD inspections in Iraq until the U.S. invasion in March 2003, submits a final report. UNMOVIC’s operations were terminated in 2007, but the organization created many innovative monitoring and verification procedures for WMD and their delivery systems.

June 12 2008 [C] A U.S Congressional subcommittee holds a hearing on Congressman Mike Thompson's bill to help veterans who were unknowingly tested with chemical and biological weapons in the 1960s and 1970s during “Project 112.” Between 1963 and 1973, the Department of Defense and other federal agencies conducted tests on unknowing military personnel, who were exposed to chemical weapons such as VX and sarin nerve gas and biological weapons such as E. Coli, Rabbit Fever and Q fever. Military veterans who took part in he tests developed cancers, respiratory ailments, and other illnesses.

June 14 2008 [N] Javier Solana, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, delivers a document to Iran’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Manuchehr Mottaki, which offers Iran technical and financial assistance for its civilian nuclear power program if it will suspend uranium enrichment. The document, bearing the signatures of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Javier Solana, and the Foreign Affairs Ministers of China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom, also proposes negotiations on regional security issues. View the full text of the offer to Iran at: http://www.isis-online.org/publications/iran/Diplomatic_Offer_16June2008.pdf.

June 14 2008 [N] Iran again refuses to suspend sensitive nuclear work despite the offer by six world powers of trade and other benefits if Iran stops enrichment and other activities that Western powers fear are part of a nuclear weapon program.

June 17 2008 [C] Russia opens its sixth facility to destroy chemical weapons as part of its plan to dispose of all such weapons by 2012. Located near Leonidovka, approximately 350 miles southeast of Moscow, it is the sixth of seven such facilities Russia plans to build.

June 17 2008 [M] A U.S. federal district judge sentences businessman Parthasarathy Sudarshan (a resident of South Carolina who is a citizen of Singapore) to 35 months in federal prison for illegally exporting more than $2 million in ballistic missile technology to India and orders him to pay a $60,000 fine.

June 18 2008 [N, M] The French government releases its White Paper on Defense, which notes that nuclear deterrence will remain an essential part of its national security. From 2010 onwards, France will equip its nuclear submarines with the M51 intercontinental ballistic missile, deployed on its new-generation SSBNs; from 2009 onwards, France will deploy ASMP A cruise missiles on Mirage 2000 NK3 and Rafale aircraft, stationed in France and carrier-based. The number of nuclear-capable land-based aircraft will be reduced from 60 to 40. France’s White Paper also calls for ensuring the reliability of its nuclear warheads, and improving the range and accuracy of its missiles.

June 19 2008 [N] Norway provides an additional 4 million euros ($6.2 million) to dismantle Russia's decommissioned nuclear submarines at the Nerpa shipyard in the northern Murmansk Region.

June 20 2008 [N] The New York Times reports that during the first week of June, Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that could be interpreted as a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on facilities related to Iran’s nuclear program. According to an American official, more than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters participated in the maneuvers, which were carried out over the eastern Mediterranean and over Greece. However, the Greek government, which participated in the exercise, claimed that it was not meant as a rehearsal for bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities.

June 20 2008 [C] The Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas completes destruction of the deadly VX nerve agent it had held since the 1960s; the facility had already destroyed its complete stockpile of sarin. The Pine Bluff facility once harbored more than 9,000 VX land mines, along with tens of thousands of rockets and other chemical weapons. The 725 workers at the plant will now prepare to incinerate mustard agent, which is expected to take about three years.

June 26 2008 [N] According to the Federation of American Scientists Strategic Security Blog, the United States has withdrawn its nuclear weapons from the Royal Air Force Lakenheath air base 70 miles northeast of London, marking the end to more than 50 years of U.S. nuclear weapons deployment to the United Kingdom. The United States has not officially announced the withdrawal but it has been confirmed by several sources. The latest removal of U.S. nuclear weapons from a NATO country follows the withdrawal of U.S. nuclear weapons from Ramstein Air Base in Germany in 2005 and Greece in 2001. Now, the United States has nuclear weapons stationed at two U.S. Air Force bases in Italy and Turkey, and at four other national European bases in Belgium, Germany, Holland, and Italy.

June 27 2008 [N] North Korea submits a 60-page declaration covering its capabilities in nuclear power and nuclear weapons; the document is many months late and not as comprehensive as the U.S. administration had originally demanded. Nonetheless, President Bush announces that the United States will lift some commercial restriction on North Korea and might end its designation of North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism within 45 days.

June 27. 2008 [N] North Korea destroys the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex. To date, North Korea has halted operations at Yongbyon and taken steps to disable three key nuclear plants, including the reactor that produced plutonium for its weapons. (For video of destruction, see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxYeny9qwvU.)

June 29 2008 [N] Jordan signs preliminary civilian nuclear cooperation agreements with Canada and the United Kingdom, opening the door for the Gulf nation to receive nuclear fuel and equipment to help run a planned atomic energy program. According to Jordanian Atomic Energy Commission chief Khaled Tukan, the deal with Canada might lead to the installation of a Canadian heavy-water reactor in Jordan that can run using nonenriched uranium. The agreement with the United Kingdom could lead to a cooperation agreement that would promote a reliable source of nuclear fuel for future civilian light-water nuclear reactors.

June 30 2008 [N] Three British former foreign secretaries and a former NATO secretary general publish an op-ed in the Times of London calling on all nations to work towards a dramatic reduction in the stockpile of nuclear weapons.

July 3 2008 [N] The United States and Japan announce that as part of the Megaports Initiative they will introduce screening to detect radioactive materials in cargoes at Yokohama port.

July 4 2008 [N] In a letter signed by Iranian Minister Manouchehr, Iran responds to the latest offer by the European Union and six world powers of incentives if Iran agrees to stop enriching uranium by saying that it will not halt its nuclear plans.

July 6 2008 [C] Japan Times reports that Pacific Consultants International (PCI), the construction company responsible for disposing of Japanese chemical weapons abandoned in China at the end of World War II, has decided to return about ¥300 million in suspected illegal profits to the Japanese government in an apparent effort to avoid being sued for fraud. In June, Japanese prosecutors indicted the former PCI President Masayoshi Taga and three others on charges of swindling the Japanese government by overcharging on the CW disposal project.

July 7 2008 [M] In Prague, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sign an agreement under which the Czech Republic consents to host a U.S. missile defense radar. Czech lawmakers must still approve the deal, and approximately two-thirds of Czech citizens oppose stationing the U.S. radar in their country.

July 9 2008 [M] Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps claim to have test-fired nine long- and medium-range missiles, including one with the range to reach Israel. Iran’s state-run media states that the launches included a number of Fatah, Zelzal, and Shahab-3 missiles.

July 9 2008 [B] U.S. officials announce that the recent Salmonella outbreak of unknown origin has now sickened more that 1,000 people in 41 states and the District of Columbia making it the largest food-borne illness in the last decade. Some food safety experts blame the difficulties in tracing the origin of the Salmonella contamination to lax record keeping requirements in the Bioterrorism Act of 2002.

July 12 2008 [N] The latest round of Six-Party Talks on North Korea’s nuclear program concludes with Pyongyang’s agreement to permit inspectors, including those from the IAEA, to examine nuclear facilities, study documents, and meet with technical staff members. North Korea also agrees to completely disable its Yongbyon nuclear complex by November 1. However, the talks end without agreement on the verification details or a deadlinesfor North Korea to dismantle its nuclear arsenal.

July 16 2008 [N, T] The Government Accountability Office releases a report finding flaws in the U.S. global nuclear detection architecture and stating that terrorists can smuggle nuclear materials into the United States.

July 21 2008 [N] A court in Pakistan eases some of the restrictions on Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, who has been under house arrest since 2004 when he confessed to running an illicit nuclear trading network. The Islamabad court relaxes travel restrictions within Pakistan and permits Khan to undertake research work, but restricts him from giving interviews about nuclear proliferation. Pakistan has refused to allow Khan to be interviewed by the IAEA or Western governments investigating his nuclear trade with Iran, Libya, North Korea and other countries.

July 17 2008 [N, M] The Russian media reports that an Uzbekistani citizen Anar Godzhayev has been indicted and is awaiting trial in Astrakhan, Russia for falsifying customs documents and attempting to smuggle materials [more than a ton of metallic tantalum sheets and foil] that could be used in weapons of mass destruction to Iran. Tantalum is used to produce superalloys for aircraft engines, nuclear reactors, missiles, and chemical equipment.

July 17 2008 [N] The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, in cooperation with several international organizations, removes nearly 14 pounds of Soviet-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) from the IRT-2000 Research Reactor in Sofia, Bulgaria to secure storage at a Russian nuclear facility. This is the second and final shipment of HEU from Bulgaria under the Global Threat Reduction Initiative; the first shipment of 37.3 pounds took place in December 2003.

July 21 2008 [B] The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announces that it has found a Jalapeno pepper from a Mexican farm with the identical strain fingerprint of the Salmonella that has sickened 1,200 Americans and killed two people.

July 28 2008 [C, T] A missile attack by unmanned drones on the village of Azam Warsak in South Waziristan, Pakistan kills an al-Qaida chemical weapons expert, Abu Khabab al-Masri. Masri received CW training in the Egyptian army before joining al-Qaida; he had been recorded on videotape killing dogs in poison gas experiments in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

July 29 2008 [B] Bruce Ivins, 62, a former researcher at the Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, a bioweapons laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland, kills himself allegedly to avoid arrest and prosecution for the 2001 anthrax attacks. Ivins had tried to develop a vaccine against the deadly anthrax toxin. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had been investigating Ivins as a chief suspect in the 2001 attacks in which letters filled with anthrax toxins killed five people, and had informed Ivins that he would soon be charged.

Aug 1 2008 [N] The IAEA unanimously approves an agreement that increases the number of Indian nuclear reactors it will inspect from six to 14; the agency cannot inspect eight other reactors related to India’s military nuclear program. The agreement removes another hurdle from the U.S.-India nuclear cooperation deal.

Aug 1 2008 [C] The U.S. Army announces that it has completed the destruction of 71 World War I era chemical weapons that were found at an operational training range at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii.

Aug 4 2008 [N] The Brazilian government authorizes the resumption of work on its third power plant, Angra-3 near Rio de Janeiro; a lack of funds and political issues halted the work at the plant for 22 years.

Aug 4 2008 [B] Roger Bergendorff, who allegedly poisoned himself with ricin in a Las Vegas, Nevada hotel room, pleads guilt to possession of a biological toxin and unregistered firearms. Bergendorff spent two months in the hospital suffering from ricin poisoning and could face up to 10 years in prison.

Aug 9 2008 [N] Syria announces that it will bar the IAEA from revisiting the site of a suspected nearly completed nuclear reactor, which was destroyed in a bombing by Israel in September 2007. Syria denies that it has a clandestine nuclear program, but the United States, Israel, and an unnamed third country allege that the bombed facility was a nearly completed plutonium-producing reactor that might have been built with guidance from North Korea; plutonium can be used as fissile material in a nuclear bomb. The made one visit to the site in June and had planned to return and to seek access to other sites that might be related to a nuclear program.

Aug 11 2008 [C] The United States Army Chemical Materials Agency completes neutralization of the 1,269 tons of nerve agent VX (representing four percent of the original U.S. CW stockpile) at the Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Indiana. Aug 11 2008 [B] Utah resident Thomas Tholen pleads guilty to federal charges of knowing a biological agent had been illegally produced by his cousin, Roger Bergendorff, and a count of lying to hide the fact. He faces up to three years in prison and a $250,000 when he's sentenced.

Aug 11 2008 [C] Former leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Eastern Province and the current leader of the political party TMVP, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan claims that military defeat is inevitable for the LTTE as it lacks a proper commander and that the LTTE might use chemical weapons as their last measure to avoid defeat.

Aug 13 2008 [C] Staff offices of New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark are evacuated after an envelope containing an unidentified white powder was opened; none of the staff appears to be harmed by the powder.

Aug 16 2008 [C] The Canberra Times publishes an article reporting that Australian Minister of Defense, Joel Fitzgibbon, has revealed information showing that in the past three years there have been 41 known breaches of Australia’s export control regulations designed to prevent sensitive military equipment and dual-use technology from falling into the hands of North Korea, Iran, China, and Russia. According to the article, 17 breaches involved the export of chemicals that are regulated because they could be used to make chemical weapons, explosives, or missile propellants.

Aug 17 2008 [M] Iran claims to test-fire a new rocket capable of carrying a satellite into orbit; such a rocket could potentially deliver nuclear warheads. U.S. officials say that Iran’s announcement, like several of its similar claims of missile launches, is overblown and that the rocket launching had failed.

Aug 18 2008 [N] Facing impending impeachment charges, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, an important U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism, resigns, raising concerns about the security of the country’s nuclear arsenal. Top U.S. officials claim that Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are not in danger from extremists.

Aug 18 2008 [B] At a two-hour press briefing, FBI personnel detail the agency’s investigation of Dr. Ivins and the 2001 anthrax attacks. They revealed that Dr. Ivins, the chief suspect in the attack who killed himself in July before being charged, had submitted a sample of a unique strain of anthrax in 2002, but the FBI destroyed the sample because he hadn’t followed the proper protocol. In 2006, a scientist working with the FBI discovered a backup copy of the 2002 sample and determined it was the same strain used in the 2001 anthrax attacks. While the FBI maintains that Ivins was the sole perpetrator of the 2001 attacks, other experts question the evidence.

August 20 2008 [M] Despite the Russian government’s opposition, the United States and Poland sign an agreement to place 10 missile interceptors on Polish territory as part of the U.S. ballistic missile defense system. Russia’s recent military intervention in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia may have pushed both sides to finalize the agreement.

Sept 2 2008 [C] Colorado files a federal court suit against the Department of Defense in an effort to force the Army to destroy chemical weapons stored in the state by 2017; the military has said it could take until 2023.

Sept 3 2008 [N] South Korean government officials say that North Korea has begun reassembling its main nuclear complex, used to produce plutonium for its nuclear devices. North Korea is reversing its nuclear dismantlement efforts because it claims that the United States reneged on its agreement to remove it from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Sept 5 2008 [B] Democratic leaders of the House Judiciary Committee send a letter to the FBI seeking more information on the agency’s seven-year investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks and its conclusion that U.S. Army scientists Bruce Ivins was the sole person responsible for the attacks. Ivins killed himself before he could be charged with the crimes.

Sept 6 2008 [N] As requested by the United States, the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group grants a waiver of its export control guidelines to permit nuclear trade with India, a nuclear weapon state that never joined the NPT. India has been barred from such nuclear trade since it tested a nuclear device in 1974.

Sept 8 2008 [N] In response to Russia’s military action in the republic of Georgia, the Bush administration formally withdrew an agreement for civilian nuclear cooperation with Russia from congressional consideration.

Sept 8 2008 [N] The Bush administration intends to notify Congress that it plans to sell the United Arab Emirates an advanced U.S. missile defense system (the so-called Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD), valued at up to $7 billion that could be used to defend against Iran. After being notified of the proposed arms sale, Congress will have 30 days to consider it.

Sept 10 2008 [N] The United States announces sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and 18 affiliate firms, claiming that they gave logistical support to the Iranian Defense Ministry and Armed Forces Logistics that could aid Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons activities. The sanctions freeze the assets of the shipping company in the United States and bar U.S. citizens from doing business with the company or its affiliates.

Sept 10 2008 [N] Indian authorities detain five people in northeastern India on suspicion of attempted uranium smuggling; police submitted a powdery substance taken from one suspect for analysis.

Sept 10 2008 [M] The Associated Press reports that over the last eight years, North Korea has built a second site for launching long-range missiles, on the country’s west coast. According to analysts, the site began operations in 2005, but has not yet launched a missile.

Sept 11 2008 [N] The U.S. Homeland Security Department announces a plan to use Radiation Portal Monitors to scan all incoming air cargo at the U.S. airports to try to prevent terrorists from smuggling radioactive bombs into the country. The program will start this week at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C.

Sept 12 2008 [N] Wrapping up its four-year investigation of Libya’s nuclear weapons program and the aid it received from the A.Q. Khan network, the IAEA issues a report on the implementation of NPT safeguards in Libya, and expresses serious concern that sensitive information from the Khan network about uranium centrifuge technology and nuclear weapons designs was circulated electronically. The IAEA plans to continue its investigation of the Khan network.

Sept 12 2008 [N] A task force, commissioned by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and chaired by former U.S. Defense Secretary and Central Intelligence Director James Schlesinger, recommends that the Air Force should consolidate all its nuclear weapon systems within a single command and shift more than 1,500 personnel to that command. Gates formed the task force after two major breaches in the Air Forces management of nuclear weapons. In August 2007, a bomber crew flew from an air base in North Dakota to another in Louisiana without being aware that they had nuclear-armed cruise missiles on board; in March 2008, the Defense Department admitted that nuclear weapon fuses had been mistakenly shipped to Taiwan in 2006.

Sept 15 2008 [N] The IAEA releases a new report on the implementation of safeguards agreement in Iran finding that Iran still has not complied with UN Security Council Resolutions 1737, 1747 and 1803. The report notes that rather than curtailing it uranium enrichment activities, Iran has significantly increased them and that Iran has failed to address the agency’s serious concerns about possible nuclear weapons-related work, possibly with help from a foreign country.

Sept 15 2008 [N] The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Romanian Frontier Police sign an agreement to coordinate efforts to prevent nuclear smuggling by installing radiation detection equipment at multiple border crossings in Romania. To date the NNSA has deployed radiation detection technology and provided operations training at more than 160 sites in other nations through its Second Line of Defense Program.

Sept 16 2008 [M] A U.S. counterproliferation official says that several months ago North Korea tested the engine on a long-range Taeopondong-2 missile at its new West coast missile launch facility. The U.S. State Department would not confirm the test of the engine for the 2,500 mile range missile, but says that if a test took place it would violate UN sanctions banning North Korea from testing ballistic missiles and components.

Sept 17-19 2008 [C] The Sri Lankan government prepares for a chemical weapon attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who are fighting the government Security Forces in the north part of the country. However, the LTTE military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara denies that the LTTE can use chemical weapons on the battlefield. Nanayakkara admits that the LTTE had used CS gas during a recent clash in Akkaraynkulam with the Security Forces. Akkarayankulam adds that CS gas is generally used for anti-hijack or hostage operations and that the Security Forces can handle such situations as they are provided with masks.

Sept 18 2008 [N] ISIS analysts issue a report showing that Pakistan is construction of its second and third plutonium production reactors at Kushab. The authors argue that once completed these reactors will greatly increase Pakistan’s ability to make weapon-grade plutonium and thus exacerbate the Pakistan-India nuclear arms race.

Sept 23 2008 [N] U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration secures 20 pounds of HEU fuel from Germany at the federal Savannah River site near Aiken, South Carolina. The spent fuel was secretly transported by ship and rail under secure conditions.

Sept 24 2008 [C] The Liverpool Magistrates Court convicts two directors of the now defunct chemical company Organic Intermediates Limited, Colin Stott and Simon Knowles, for failing to notify the government in 2002, 2003, and 2004 that their company produced more than one ton of a chemical controlled under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). The court fines the defendants a total of £6,750 and orders them to pay £8,000 towards the prosecution's costs. This case is the first prosecution under the UK's Chemical Weapons Act.

Sept 24 2008 [N] The IAEA announces that North Korea has barred its inspectors from a nuclear reprocessing plant that produces weapons-grade material at its Yongbyon nuclear complex and plans to restart activity there. The IAEA also says that as requested by North Korea, it had removed all seals and surveillance cameras from the reprocessing plant. These developments reverse some of the progress that North Korea had made in meeting its nuclear dismantlement obligations; North Korea claims that the United States did not remove it from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism as it had promised in the Six-Party Talks.

Sept 25 2008 [N] IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei states that his agency’s investigation of Syria's nuclear activity suffered a set back when its main Syrian contact was assassinated in August 2008. Brigadier General Mohammad Suleiman, a senior security adviser to President Bashar al-Assad who escorted IAEA inspectors during their June visit to Syria, was killed by a sniper on a Mediterranean beach.

Sept 28 2008 [N] Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says that his country will develop a nuclear reactor for energy and medical purposes, and that Russia had offered to help with the reactor.

Sept 29 2008 [N] India and the European Union announce an agreement to cooperate on civil nuclear energy research and development as part of their growing cooperation on energy security and global climate issues.

Sept 29 2008 [N] The Nuclear Threat Initiative announces that is helping to set up a new organization, the World Institute for Nuclear Security (WINS), to coordinate sharing of information on improving security at the world's nuclear sites. WINS will be based in Vienna and will complement the nuclear security work done by the IAEA. NTI contributed $3 million to WINS, the U.S. Energy Department matched the $3 million, and Norway contributed $100,000 to support a staff of 5-10 experts.

Oct 1 2008 [N] The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passes "H. R. 7081, United States- India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Non-proliferation Enhancement Act"; this legislation lifts 34 years of restrictions on nuclear trade with India because India is a nuclear weapon state that has never signed the NPT.

Oct 3 2008 [C] The U.S. Commerce Department announces that Nalco Co. of Naperville, Illinois will pay an $115,000 fine for exporting the potential CW precursor triethanolamine to Angola, the Bahamas, and the Dominican Republic without obtaining the necessary license. Nalco Co. admitted that between April 2003 and September 2006 it made 13 illegal shipments of the chemical solution to the three countries.

Oct 4 2008 [N] IAEA member nations vote for a recurring resolution to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East; the resolution; the resolution by a vote of 82-0, with 13 mostly Arab nations abstaining. Arab nations abstain because the resolution supporting nuclear nonproliferation measures does not call on Israel to comply with the NPT.

Oct 8 2008 [N] President George Bush signs into law the legislation to implement the U.S.-India civil nuclear deal with an assurance that the United States will commit to supplying nuclear reactor fuel to India.

Oct 2008 [C, B] The U.S. Department of Defense launches a new website [http://fhp.osd.mil/CBexposures/] to inform the public about testing of chemical and biological warfare agents from the early 1940s through the mid-1970s.

Oct 10 2008 [N] The New York Times reports that the IAEA obtained a document written in Farsi that allegedly shows that a Russian scientist helped the Iranians conduct precision detonator experiments relevant to nuclear weapons development. The IAEA is now seeking information from the Russian scientist who allegedly participated in the experiments. Iran challenges the authenticity of the incriminating document and the Western countries’ assertions that it is developing nuclear weapons.

Oct 10 2008 [N] The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has temporarily halted plans to expand the production of nuclear warhead “pits” from 20 to 80 annually at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The maximum number of pits produced annually will remain at 20 until the United States completes a new Nuclear Posture Review.

Oct 10 2008 [N] The NNSA announces that it had helped to end the use of weapon-usable highly enriched uranium fuel at research reactors in Argentina, South Africa, and Ukraine. The reactors were modified to run on low-enriched uranium fuel. Under the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, the NNSA has supported the conversion of closure of 62 reactors in 32 nations.

Oct 11-12 2008 [M] Russia test-fires three submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) and a land-based missile; the Sineva SLBM flew more than 7,145 miles, a new record for distance. Experts differ over whether the missile tests were meant to intimidate Western countries of to shore up political support within Russia.

Oct 11 2008 [N] The Bush administration removes North Korea from the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism in return for North Korea’s nuclear disarmament efforts and agreement on a verification plan. Under the plan, North Korea agrees to allow U.S. inspectors at its main nuclear compound at Yongbyon. North Korea may also have agreed to allow international inspections at other nuclear facilities and to permit environmental samples; the actual text of the agreement has not been released.

Oct 15 2008 [C] Rogelio Pfirter, the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announces at the United Nations that on July 10, 2008, an unnamed state party, believed to be South Korea, completed the destruction of its entire chemical weapons arsenal. The South Korean government had invoked a confidentiality clause in the Chemical Weapons Convention that permits a member state to withhold information about its CW stockpile or its destruction program. Experts estimate that South Korea held between 3,000 and 3,500 metric tons of CW material, including 400 to 1,000 metric tons of sarin nerve agent in artillery shells.

Oct 16 2008 [N] The Stuttgart court in Germany sentences engineer Gotthard Lerch to 5 1/2 years in prison after convicting him of illegally transferring uranium enrichment centrifuge components to Libya between 1999 and 2003 when Libya halted its WMD programs. Lerch confessed his involvement with the transfers, but did not discuss whether he worked with A.Q. Khan’s illicit nuclear network.

Oct 18 2008 [N] Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi announces that Pakistan has signed an agreement with China, under which China will provide two additional nuclear power reactors at Chashma, where it has already built one reactor and is completing a second. This deal follows the Nuclear Suppliers Group decision to exempt India from its restrictions on transfers of nuclear technology to non-NPT parties. Both India and Pakistan have refused to sign the NPT and have tested nuclear weapons, most recently in 1998.

Oct 19 2008 [C] In northern Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launch tear gas attacks against government troops. Military sources say that government troops withstood the chemical attack and beat back the LTTE.

Oct 19 2008 [C] The Press of Atlantic City reports that new oil and natural gas exploration along the New Jersey coastline might unintentionally release U.S. chemical warfare agents dumped in the Atlantic Ocean between World War I and the early 1970s. Beginning in 1957, the U.S. military dumped 48 one-ton containers of lewisite, 4,577 bulk containers of mustard agent, nearly 9,000 M55 rockets carrying VX or sarin, and 38 bulk containers filled with the nerve agents in the Atlantic Ocean.

Oct 20 2008 [N, M, C] The office of U.S. Senator Richard Lugar announces that in September the U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program deactivated six former Soviet strategic nuclear warheads, eliminated four ICBMs, and destroyed six mobile ICBM launchers. The CTR program (also known as the Nunn-Lugar program for its two original senate sponsors) also built a new biological agent monitoring station, transported 12 train shipments of nuclear weapons to secure storage sites, and moved chemical weapons to a more secure site.

Oct 21 2008 [B] Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) spokesman Richard Kolko announces that during the past two days over 30 threatening letters, most containing suspicious powder, have been sent to financial institutions in New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Ohio, Illinois, Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas and Washington, D.C. The FBI, police, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating; to date field tests on the powder have been negative for anthrax.

Oct 22 2008 [B] A federal judge in Nevada sentences Thomas Tholen to two years of probation and fines him $500 for failing to inform authorities that his cousin, Roger Bergendorff, had produced a supply of the lethal toxin ricin.

Oct 22 2008 [N] U.S. NNSA officials announce that enough processed uranium to make six nuclear weapons was secretly transported thousands of miles by truck, rail and ship from a research reactor in Budapest, Hungary, to the Mayak nuclear facility in Siberia, Russia. It was the largest recovery of U.S. or Soviet HEU to date. The shipment of 13 radiation-proof casks, each weighing 17,000 pounds and carrying 341 pounds of weapons usable uranium, took a month.

Oct 24 2008 [N] The Air Force Nuclear Task Force releases its Strategic Plan to Reinvigorate the Air Force Nuclear Enterprise. [The report can be found at http://www.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-081024-073.pdf.]

Oct 27 2008 [N] IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei notes that there were close to 250 thefts of nuclear and radioactive material that could be used in a dirty bomb between June 2007 and June 2008.

Oct 28 2008 [C] Interfax reports that Russia has destroyed about 30 percent of its chemical warfare agents. Russia possessed 40,000 metric tons of chemical agents banned by the CWC, and has now disposed of 11,600 tons of CW agents.

Oct 31 2008 [M] The United States and the Czech Republic sign an agreement outlining terms for deploying a new missile-tracking radar station on Czech territory. The United States agrees to provide $600,000 for Czech scientific research in exchange for agreeing to host the station. But work on the radar will not begin until after Czech lawmakers ratify two agreements on its deployment. The Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek has called for the final vote on ratification to be delayed until a new U.S. president takes office in January 2009.

Nov 1 2008 [N] The Libyan government announces that Libya and Russia have signed a cooperation agreement on the peaceful use of civilian nuclear energy. According to Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelrahman Chalgham, the deal covered the design and construction of nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel supply, as well as nuclear medicine and nuclear waste treatment. However, the Russian government spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, denies that such an agreement had been signed.

Nov 1 2008 [N] The U.S. Air Force establishes the new Air Staff office at the Pentagon to oversee and integrate the service's nuclear weapons policy. The Air Force has taken measures to evaluate and improve its nuclear policies after a series of operational problems, including the accidental shipment of nuclear-armed cruise missiles between U.S. air bases and a fire at one nuclear weapon silo.

Nov 1 2008 [B] In California, a U.S. federal court judge sets bail at $25,000 for Marc Keyser who was arrested for allegedly mailing more than 120 hoax anthrax letters across the United States. The judge also bars Keyser from any activities intended to draw attention to biological weapons threats.

Nov 4 2008 [M] South Korean Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee claims that North Korea has completed approximately 80 percent of a new facility to launch long-range missiles and rockets.

Nov 4 2008 [C] In Oregon, the Government Accountability Project on behalf of the Oregon Wildlife Federation, the Sierra Club and local residents, file a lawsuit seeking to halt mustard agent incineration scheduled to begin at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility. The plaintiffs argue that the incineration process would contaminate the surrounding area with mercury and other contaminates. The Umatilla site has already burned stockpiles of sarin and VX agents.

Nov 4 2008 [B] The Israeli Knesset passes a new law that will regulate the supervision of civilian research on dangerous bacteria and viruses that could be used as biological weapons.

Nov 5 2008 [M] In his first state of the nation speech, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says that Russia will deploy Iskander missiles near Poland in response to U.S. missile defense plans that include installations in Poland. Russia also plans to install equipment to electronically interfere with the U.S. missile defense facilities in eastern Europe.

Nov 5 2008 [C] The Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon has finished disposing of its entire stockpile of VX nerve agent munitions. The U.S. Army has now destroyed 95 percent of its original arsenal of VX; it now stores the nerve agent at only two U.S. locations.

Nov 6 2008 [C] Global Security Newswire reports that the U.S. Defense Department has received its highest-ever yearly budget ($427.5 million) for preparing two chemical weapons disposal sites; under the Chemical Weapons Convention, the United States must eliminate its entire CW stockpile by 2012.

Nov 10 2008 [C] Interfax reports that Russia intends to spend more than $4.7 billion on chemical weapons disposal operations from 2009 to 2011. According to Interfax, Russia is operating disposal sites at four out of seven planned locations, and as of November 1, had eliminated 11,747 metric tons of CW material from its declared 40,000-metric-ton stockpile.

Nov 12 2008 [M] Iran state-run television reports that Iran successfully test-fired a new generation of long-range solid fuel surface-to-surface missiles, called the Sejil, with a range of 1,200 miles.

Nov 12 2008 [N] North Korea says that it will bar international nuclear inspectors from taking soil and nuclear waste samples to determine the extent of its nuclear weapons program.

Nov 17 2008 [C] U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs James Peak officially receives a new government report, titled "Gulf War Illness and the Health of Gulf War Veterans," which demonstrates that approximately 25 percent of the 697,000 U.S. veterans of the 1990-91 Gulf War suffer from Gulf War illness resulting from exposure to toxic chemicals. The chemicals included pesticides used during the conflict and pills given to protect troops from the effects of nerve agents.

Nov 17 2008 [N] Argentina and Algeria sign an agreement on civil nuclear energy cooperation; Algeria has already signed similar deals with France, the United States, Russia, and the United Arab Emirates. Argentina built the Nur nuclear research reactor near Algiers in the mid-1980s.

Nov 17 2008 [B] In Nevada, a U.S. District Court judge sentences Roger Bergendorff to three and one-half years in federal prison for possessing enough of the deadly toxin ricin to kill approximately 500 people.

Nov 19 2008 [N] The IAEA releases a Report by the Director General on the implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement and relevant Security Council resolutions in Iran. The report finds that while the Agency has been able to verify the non-diversion of nuclear material, it has serious concerns about materials that suggest Iran had undeclared nuclear materials and activities. It urges Iran to provide requested information and to implement the Additional Protocol. Iran has continued its enrichment activities in violation of the UN resolutions.

Nov 19 2008 [N] The IAEA issues a Director General Report, “Implementation of the NPT Safeguards Agreement in the Syrian Arab Republic.” The report covers the IAEA’s investigation into allegations that the Syrian installation destroyed in an Israeli bombing in September 2007 was a nuclear reactor. The IAEA made one visit to the Dair Alzour site, but Syria denied its request to revisit that site and three others that are suspected of being nuclear related. The IAEA concludes that the features of the building destroyed in the bombing “are similar to what may be found in connection with a reactor site.” The IAEA found uranium particles at the site that suggest nuclear activity; Syria claims the uranium came from Israeli missiles. The IAEA calls on Syria to provide additional information and access to requested locations.

Nov 26 2008 [M] Iran’s state media announces that Iran successfully launched a rocket called Kavosh 2 (Explorer 2) “to register and send correct environmental data and (to test) separation of the engine from the body.”

Nov 26 2008 [N] The IAEA members approve Syria’s request for a three-year, $350,000 study into the feasibility and siting of a nuclear power station. The United States and other Western countries had argued against providing such aid until the IAEA completes its investigation of Syria’s nuclear activities. In September 2007, Israeli bombers destroyed a facility on Syria’s territory that was alleged to be a nuclear reactor built with North Korean assistance. The IAEA recently issued a report concluding that there is evidence of nuclear activity in Syria and that Syria has refused to provide all requested information and access to potential nuclear-related sites.

Nov 26-29 2008 [T] Terrorists armed with guns, grenades and bombs, stage a brutal attack in Mumbai, India, shooting indiscriminately at people in several locations including the train station and two luxury hotel. Approximately 10 gunmen kill almost 200 people and wound hundreds more. The Indian government suspects the attacks were conducted by the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist organization from Pakistan. The attacks increase tension between the two nuclear rivals.

Nov 28 2008 [C] Lebanon becomes the 185th signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Dec 1 2008 [N] South Korea and Jordan sign an agreement providing for peaceful nuclear cooperation.

Dec 1 2008 [B] Biological Weapons Convention members begin their annual meeting. This year the group focuses on measures to improve biosafety and biosecurity, and on oversight and codes of conduct to prevent advances in bioscience and biotechnology from being used for biological weapons purposes.

Dec 2 2008 [N, C, B] The Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, a congressionally mandated body, issues a report concluding that unless the international community takes urgent actions, it is more likely than not that terrorists will use WMD, probably biological weapons, in an attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013. The Commission offers 13 recommendations to address WMD proliferation risks, and noted that Pakistan poses special proliferation and terrorist concerns.

Dec 4 2008 [B] The Malaysian government releases from jail a U.S.-trained al-Qaeda microbiologist, Yazid Sufaat, who had been in custody since December 2001. Sufaat who assisted in planning the 9/11 attacks, was arrested because of his alleged involvement with Jemaah Islamiah, a terrorist group linked to al-Qaeda. While U.S. government officials believe that Sufaat is dangerous, the Malaysian government says that he no longer poses a threat to the public.

Dec 5 2008 [N] Russia and India sign a civil nuclear cooperation agreement that calls for Russia to build four more power reactors in Tamil Nadu province; they also sign agreements covering civil space cooperation, defense, and measures against terrorism. The nuclear agreement follows the Nuclear Suppliers Group’s decision to exempt India from nuclear export restrictions.

Dec 5 2008 [N] French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on behalf of the European Union, writes a letter to the United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon stating that the European Union wants to play an important role in promoting nuclear disarmament, banning nuclear testing, and establishing a moratorium on the production of all fissile material.

Dec 5 2008 [M] The U.S. Missile Defense Agency announces that it had shot down a long-range target with a missile interceptor; however the target did not deploy countermeasures as planned. Critics contend that the test is not realistic because any country that could fire a long-range missile at the United States would also have the ability and motivation to deploy decoys to defeat U.S. missile defenses.

Dec 7 2008 [N] The Boston Globe reports that the U.S. oil-services firm Schlumberger allegedly has used a legal loophole to sell a 2,000-pound drilling tool to Iran that uses a radioactive chemical, which could be used in a dirty bomb, for power.

Dec 8 2008 [N] Global Zero, a new international group advocating the elimination of nuclear weapons, begins a conference in Paris. The group, comprised of more than 100 political, military, business and religious leaders, proposes deep cuts in U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals and phased, verified reductions leading to the total elimination of nuclear weapons.

Dec 8 2008 [B] At least eight governors’ offices around the United States receive letters, originating from Dallas, that contain a suspicious white powder. Letters arrive in governors’ offices in Alabama, Alaska, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, and Rhode Island. Field tests of the suspicious powder show it is harmless but samples are sent to laboratories for further testing.

Dec 10 2008 [N] The latest round of Six-Party Talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program deadlock over verification measures such as environmental sampling.

Dec 11 2008 [N] The upper house of the Kazakh parliament approves ratification of the Central Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone (CANWFZ) Treaty, completing the ratification process for the treaty. Five Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan) signed the treaty on September 8, 2006; the other four had already ratified the treaty.

Dec 11 2008 [N] The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Republic of Djibouti’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and Ministry of Equipment and Transportation (MET) sign a Memorandum of Understanding that will allow the two governments to work jointly to prevent the smuggling of nuclear and other radioactive material through the Port of Djibouti.

Dec 12 2008 [N] The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. government plans to sign a nuclear cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates. While the UAE has outlined extensive safeguard for its nuclear power program, the deal still raises concerns because the UAE’s largest trading partner is Iran, and the UAE has served as a hub for dual use materials transshipped to Iran and other countries.

Dec 13 2008 [C] Japan begins trying to remove chemical weapons abandoned in China during World War II; the weapons still pose threats to people, property and the environment. Japan’s plans to remove the weapons have been delayed by scandals involving contractors.

Dec 15 2008 [N] The Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States issues an Interim Report setting out its objectives and initial findings. The Commission describes its scope of work “to include all uses of nuclear weapons and tools to counter the nuclear threat including for example missile defense and countering proliferation.” The Commission finds a rising threat of nuclear terrorism and a possible “cascade of proliferation” if Iran and North Korea succeed in building nuclear arsenals.

Dec 15 2008 [B] The Washington state governor’s office receives a letter with a suspicious white powder. The State Patrol tests the powder and determines it is harmless. In the past week, governors’ offices in 39 states and two U.S. territories have received mailings with suspicious powders, all determined harmless. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating these anthrax hoaxes.

Dec 16 2008 [N] The U.S. NNSA issues a media release about its plan to reduce U.S. nuclear weapons facilities, including an effort to consolidate weapon-grade uranium and plutonium at five sites instead of seven.

Dec 16 2008 [N] The U.S. NNSA and Jordanian officials sign an agreement to cooperate on preventing the illicit smuggling of nuclear and other radioactive material. Under the agreement, the two countries will install radiation detection equipment at the Port of Aqaba and selected land border crossings; the NNSA will also train Jordanian officials on the use of such equipment and maintain the equipment for a specified period.

Dec 17 2008 [B] The U.S. State Department and the FBI announce that in December, 15 U.S. embassies in Europe have received envelopes containing white powder that later tested negative for toxins. The letters sent to the embassies resembled those sent to over 40 U.S. governors’ offices; all of the letters were post-marked in Texas.

Dec 17 2008 [N] Kenyan authorities announce that the Kenyan Flying Squad, a rapid-response antitheft unit, has arrested two men found in possession of a cylindrical 20-pound container of uranium. Authorities charge the two men, Bwambale Nason Ndyambo of Uganda and David Juma Osoma of Congo, with possession of uranium. They allege that the suspects bought the material in the Democratic Republic of Congo for approximately $51,000 and planned to sell it in Nairobi for around $1.2 million. Authorities say that the uranium is highly radioactive and possibly could have been used in a dirty bomb. The container, which indicates that it was filled in 1993, is being kept in a special concrete room at the National Radiation Protective Board.

Dec 22 2008 [M] Russian officials deny press reports that Russia is delivering advanced air defense missiles (surface-to-air SA-20s) to Iran. Iranian officials earlier announced that Russia had already begun delivery of the missiles.

Dec 24 2008 [C] The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) eliminates it last VX landmine at the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Alabama. The CMA has now destroyed all VX weapons at storage sites in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, and Utah, and on Johnson Atoll. The United States still has VX stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky. The Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives, a Defense Department agency, will dispose of the remaining VX. Between 1961 and 1969, the United States produced 4,400 tons of VX, but never used it in combat.

Dec 30 2008 [N] U.S. President George W. Bush signs the instrument of ratification for the Additional Protocol to the U.S. Safeguards Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency. Developed in 1997, the protocol gives IAEA inspectors more power to conduct short-notice inspections and to undertake environmental sampling.

This material is produced independently for NTI by the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2008 by MIIS.