Global Security Newswire

The United States plans to assist Libya’s stated intention to dismantle its WMD programs, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Dec. 29).

According to a senior Bush administration official, the United States plans to send an initial team of technical experts to Libya next month. The team is also expected to include British experts, the Post reported (Daniel Williams, Washington Post, Dec. 30).

U.S. and British intelligence services believe that Libya has at least 11 sites connected to WMD-related efforts, the official said (Maggie Michael, Associated Press/Boston Globe, Dec. 30).

Meanwhile, initial inspections of Libyan nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency Sunday have indicated that Libya was in breach of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, according to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei.

“There were some imports and some activities they should have reported,” he said.

ElBaradei said the disclosure of Libya’s covert nuclear program indicated the inadequacy of current international inspections. IAEA inspectors have visited Libya for years but they never found any of the equipment that was seen Sunday, some of which was found in dirt alleys in city areas, according to the Post.

“Low-level programs like this are difficult to detect. They can be run in a garage,” ElBaradei said. “You would have to be lucky or have very good intelligence to run across it. We’re doing a lot of soul-searching,” he said.

ElBaradei called for new export controls on the types of equipment seen during the Libyan inspections, which included centrifuges and equipment for purifying uranium. He also said that international monitoring of enriched uranium production sites was also needed.

“The leeway for countries to develop uranium is too risky. We need to choke the supply,” ElBaradei said (Williams, Washington Post).