U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly (shown in August) is scheduled to travel to Seoul next week to discuss the next round of six-nation talks to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis (AFP/Getty). North Korea Offers to Abandon Nuclear Weapons Program North Korean diplomats said yesterday that Pyongyang is willing to abandon its nuclear weapons program, stop testing and exporting missiles, and allow annual inspections as part of a multilateral deal that would include the United States, the Washington Times reported today (see GSN, Nov. 13). North Korean diplomats Kim Yong Ho and Kim Song Sol said that in exchange North Korea would require written security guarantees and compensation for the suspension of an internationally-backed nuclear power plant project. Pyongyang is also seeking an assurance that Washington will not hinder its economic growth, the envoys said...Full Story

Iran Offers Full Nuclear Transparency Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said today that Tehran is committed to total nuclear transparency and will continue to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (see GSN, Nov. 13)...Full Story

G-8 Effort to Prevent WMD Proliferation Needs More Funding, Researchers Say By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A multinational effort to secure WMD materials in the former Soviet Union needs more support to be effective, a group of more than 20 international research organizations said in a report released this week (see GSN, Sept. 22)...Full Story

	Friday, November 14, 2003

U.S. Homeland Security Department Allocates $725 Million to Improve Urban Security The U.S. Homeland Security Department announced yesterday that $725 million has been made available to help urban areas prevent and respond to terrorist attacks (see GSN, Nov. 4). The $725 million comes in addition to about $800 million awarded during the last fiscal year by the department’s Office for Domestic Preparedness to help improve security in urban areas, the department said in a press release. Of the additional funding, $675 million will be allocated in grants to urban areas chosen by the department to help enhance their overall security and preparedness levels. The 50 cities that will receive funding were selected based on a formula that included factors such as critical infrastructure, population density and credible threat information.  In addition, $50 million will be made available to mass transit security agencies through grants to help protect passengers and equipment from possible terrorist attacks, according to Homeland Security. The 30 transit systems set to receive grants were chosen based on the number of annual passengers and overall track mileage. The department said the transit systems could use the funding for enhanced security measures such as area monitoring systems and chemical and radiological material detection systems (U.S. Homeland Security Department release, Nov. 13). Back to top

G-8 Effort to Prevent WMD Proliferation Needs More Funding, Researchers Say By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A multinational effort to secure WMD materials in the former Soviet Union needs more support to be effective, a group of more than 20 international research organizations said in a report released this week (see GSN, Sept. 22). In establishing the Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction last year, the Group of Eight nations pledged $20 billion over 10 years to help fund nonproliferation projects, primarily in Russia. The effort was launched during a 2002 G-8 summit in Kananaskis, Canada. The G-8 consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, and several other nations have joined the effort, including Finland, the European Union, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland (see GSN, June 6). According to a report by the Strengthening the Global Partnership project, partnership nations have provided “inadequate and short-sighted” funding to adequately combat WMD proliferation threats. While partnership members have so far pledged $18.6 billion to the effort, this figure does not represent actual national funding allocations, the report says. It also says that the pledged funding is for projects designed to be carried out over the 10-year course of the partnership rather than immediate work, and that much of the pledged funding is for projects that were initiated before the launch of the partnership. “We are doing a lot of things, but we are not moving nearly fast enough. We have a common peril and we must hold leaders to be accountable for the wise pledges they have made,” the Singapore Straits Times today quoted former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) as saying. In addition, according to the report, many of the funding pledges made by partnership members are “minimal” compared with national resources. For example, if current spending patterns are maintained, every partnership member with the exception of Russia itself will spend less than 1 percent of what they devote to defense spending on cooperative assistance programs. In addition, no partnership member has agreed to provide as much as 1 percent of their annual gross domestic product toward the efforts of the partnership, the report says. “It is in the interest of every member to make a contribution to the partnership proportional to its means and reflective of the magnitude of the threat the partnership confronts,” it says. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Sam Nunn is chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. NTI is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by National Journal Group.] Back to top       Top U.S. Official Alleges Iraq Had Illicit Weapons Programs By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The United States was justified in invading Iraq this year because it had secret chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs and was a significant sponsor of terrorism, a senior U.S. Department of Defense official said last night. The administration eliminated “one of the regimes in the world that was a prominent supporter of terrorist organizations and aspired to chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and there is no question they had those programs,” said Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith, speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations. Those assertions remain a major subject of dispute within Washington, tied to the larger debate of whether the administration was justified in invading Iraq. Feith’s allegations of unconventional weapons programs, in particular, appear to differ with those of other senior officials and independent experts following a preliminary postwar assessment of Iraqi capabilities last month. David Kay, who leads the CIA’s Iraq Survey Group, said in an interim report last month that no evidence was found indicating Iraq had either an active chemical or nuclear weapons program prior to the war (see GSN, Oct. 3). Kay furthermore wrote Iraq had no biological weapons and that no evidence of biological weapons production was found. He said there were found a number of biological weapons “activities,” including a vial containing a “reference strain” of botulinum, alleged research on biological weapons-“applicable” agents, and concealment efforts. He also reported the discovery of a network of biological laboratories and safe houses run by Iraqi intelligence. Whether all of that would constitute a biological weapons program, however, is disputed by independent experts (see GSN, Oct. 6).  Event moderator Robert Gallucci, who was the State Department’s special envoy on WMD proliferation during the Clinton administration, challenged Feith’s assertions on Iraq’s nuclear capabilities and terrorist links, calling his claims “strained.” Differing Assessment Language Feith said while Kay’s team had found no chemical or biological stores yet, it had “obtained corroborative evidence of Saddam’s nuclear, chemical and biological programs, covert laboratories, advanced missile programs and Iraq’s program — active right up until the start of the war — to conceal WMD-related developments from the U.N. inspectors.” Since the Oct.3 Kay report, however, many top administration officials have interpreted Kay’s findings to indicate Iraq had either a biological weapons program or comparable activities, but not chemical or nuclear weapons programs. Iraq was “actively seeking a weapons of mass destruction program,” said national security adviser Condoleezza Rice on Oct. 8, in a major address arguing justification for the administration’s decision to invade. Bush, in an Oct. 9 speech, also did not allege chemical or nuclear programs. He said, “Since the liberation of Iraq, our investigators have found evidence of a clandestine network of biological laboratories. They found advanced design work on prohibited longer-range missiles. They found an elaborate campaign to hide these illegal programs.” At an Oct. 28 news conference, Bush said Hussein “had a weapons program, he’s disguised a weapons program, he had ambitions.” Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton, in an address on WMD threats last month, did not address the Iraqi program question directly. He said instead that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein “had ambitions to reconstitute his weapons arsenal” and cited the Kay report’s comment that Iraq had “dozens of WMD-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations during the inspections that began in late 2002.” Vice President Richard Cheney, who reportedly joined Feith as a leading proponent of the war, appeared to have an assessment closer to Feith’s in an Oct. 17 address to the Heritage Foundation. “We could not accept the grave danger of Saddam Hussein and his terrorist allies turning weapons of mass destruction against us or our friends                     and allies. And, gradually, we are learning the details of his hidden weapons                     programs,” he said. Experts Dispute Gallucci also challenged Feith’s allegations of Iraqi sponsorship of terrorism.  “There is no connection, I think it’s been admitted, to 9/11 itself,” Gallucci said in a critique following Feith’s comments. He disputed Feith’s characterization of the war against Iraq as part of the administration’s so-described “war on terrorism.” “I think the key for a lot of us is … do we feel as though we are safer from international terrorism by devoting all these resources to Iraq?” he said. Feith defended his assertions, saying the purpose of invading Iraq was to deny terrorists bases of operation and state support. “We did that with one of the regimes in the world that was a prominent supporter of terrorist organizations and aspired to chemical, biological and nuclear weapons,” he said. He said U.S. officials knew Hussein “had relationships with various terrorist organizations and supported them in various ways, including … with training and exercising regarding chemical weapons. We had information about that and exchanges between the Saddam Hussein regime and terrorist organizations in that area.” Special Office Prior to the war, Feith created an office of “special plans” that has been criticized for reportedly re-evaluating evidence collected by the intelligence community to make the case of an Iraqi threat. He said the operation was not intended to serve as a substitute for traditional intelligence community intelligence. “What those people did in that so-called intelligence unit that’s been written about, was simply help me read and absorb the intelligence produced by the intelligence community, the CIA and other members of the intelligence community,” he said. Feith said conspiracy theories emerged about the office after it was given a nondescript name to disguise its relevance to Iraq from the press. “If it would have been called the Iraq office, [it] would have probably, in and of itself, created headlines,” he said. “We chose the kind of name that the government gives to offices throughout the government that’s kind of nondescript, you know, ‘special plans,’ ‘long-range plans,’ that kind of thing. … And it’s been grist for the conspiracy mongers ever since.” Back to top       U.S. Lawmakers Urge White House to Resolve Threat Reduction Liability Dispute With Russia By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. lawmakers last week called on the Bush administration to resolve an ongoing dispute with Russia over liability protections in nuclear nonproliferation agreements (see GSN, Oct. 17). In a provision to the fiscal 2004 energy appropriations conference report, House and Senate negotiators said they were “greatly concerned with the continued impasse” in the negotiations between the United States and Russia over liability protections, which are intended to protect workers involved in cooperative threat reduction efforts. The impasse led the Bush administration to allow two nuclear nonproliferation projects — the Plutonium Disposition Scientific and Technical Cooperation Agreement (see GSN, July 25) and the Nuclear Cities Initiative (see GSN, Sept. 19) — to expire recently. “The conferees urge a speedy resolution to the liability negotiations,” the report says. Kenneth Luongo, executive director of the Russian-American Nuclear Security Advisory Council, yesterday praised lawmakers for urging a speedy resolution to the liability dispute. “The Congress now has clearly stated that the protracted wrangling over liability issues threatens the success of U.S.- Russian nonproliferation engagement. The Administration may find it hard to ignore such a pointed bipartisan message from key legislators,” Luongo said in a press statement. Last week, U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said the United States and Russia were moving to resolve the disagreement. “[Russian Atomic Energy] Minister [Alexander] Rumyantsev suggested this summer that we get the legal teams together, and we’ve already had one such meeting. I think it was a positive meeting that hopefully can help lead to resolving these legal issues in terms of interpretation and issues of that sort. We’re obviously each putting a great deal of emphasis on the program,” he said in a Nov. 6 press briefing. Back to top

North Korea Offers to Abandon Nuclear Weapons Program North Korean diplomats said yesterday that Pyongyang is willing to abandon its nuclear weapons program, stop testing and exporting missiles, and allow annual inspections as part of a multilateral deal that would include the United States, the Washington Times reported today (see GSN, Nov. 13). North Korean diplomats Kim Yong Ho and Kim Song Sol said that in exchange North Korea would require written security guarantees and compensation for the suspension of an internationally-backed nuclear power plant project. Pyongyang is also seeking an assurance that Washington will not hinder its economic growth, the envoys said. U.S. President George W. Bush last month proposed an informal written pact that would offer North Korea a conditional nonaggression guarantee. “If Mr. Bush’s proposal on written guarantees of security is based on the principle of simultaneous action which was proposed by the D.P.R.K., we can consider positively about that,” Kim Yong Ho said. Six-nation talks on the nuclear crisis — involving North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia — are expected to resume next month. Pyongyang has “agreed in principle to the next round of talks,” according to the diplomats (John Zarocostas, Washington Times, Nov. 14). U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly is scheduled to meet senior South Korean officials next week to prepare for the talks (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Nov. 14). On set of dates reportedly under consideration for resuming the six-nation talks, Dec. 10-13, would be “difficult” because it clashes with a conference in Tokyo, according to Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi. A meeting of leaders from countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is scheduled for Dec. 11 and 12, and Japan might not be able to address both meetings at once, Kawaguchi said (Agence France-Presse, Nov. 14). Back to top       Iran Offers Full Nuclear Transparency Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said today that Tehran is committed to total nuclear transparency and will continue to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (see GSN, Nov. 13). “We are strongly determined on complete transparency,” Kharazi said after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in Tokyo. “We have cooperated even more than the IAEA expected,” he added. The IAEA recently completed a report detailing a history of extensive and secret Iranian nuclear activities, but the agency concluded that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons.  The United States has dismissed the IAEA conclusion (Reuters, Nov. 14). Iran and Pakistan also today denied reports that Iranian officials had told the IAEA that Pakistan had secretly assisted Iran in its nuclear development. “Both sides dismiss as totally baseless a Western media report alleging that Iran had admitted to the IAEA that Pakistan had given Iran assistance for its nuclear program,” according to a statement from Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry. “These unsubstantiated reports are published periodically in some sections of the Western media, and they reflect their longstanding anti-Muslim bias,” the statement added (Agence France-Presse, Nov. 14). A U.S. State Department spokesman yesterday said that Iran is developing nuclear weapons, but added that Washington has not decided if it will push the issue toward the U.N. Security Council. “We have received the IAEA report. We are looking at it.  We are studying it. We have not come to a conclusion about what actions to take on the basis of that report,” said spokesman Adam Ereli. He said that U.S. officials will work to ensure that the Nov. 20 IAEA Board of Governors meeting produces an “appropriate and effective” response to Iran’s recently revealed nuclear development (State Department transcript, Nov. 13). If the board forwards the matter to the Security Council, the issue could “escalate into an international crisis,” according to Iran’s IAEA representative Ali Akbar Salehi. Iran would not withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, but “there are many things Iran can do. We have a lot of leverage,” Salehi said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Nov. 14). Back to top       Two U.S. Companies Pay Fines for Illegal Exports to South Asia The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security announced this week that two U.S. companies have agreed to pay civil fines for illegal exports to India and Pakistan (see GSN, Nov. 3). The Florida-based Future Metals Inc. has agreed to pay a fine of $180,000 to settle charges of violating U.S. export regulations on 40 occasions with unlicensed exports to India, the bureau said in a press release. BIS had charged that between July 1998 and October 2000, Future Metals had exported aluminum bars to India without obtaining the required export licenses. Export of the bars to India is controlled for nuclear nonproliferation reasons, the bureau said (U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security release I, Nov. 12). In addition, Connecticut-based Omega Engineering Inc. has agreed to pay a $187,000 fine for illegally exporting laboratory equipment to Pakistan, the bureau said (see GSN, April 30). Both the company and its vice president, Ralph Michael, were also barred from exporting goods to Pakistan for five years (U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security release II, Nov. 12). Back to top       Russia Recommissions Delta 3-Class Submarine The Russian Navy has recommissioned a Delta 3 ballistic missile submarine, ITAR-Tass reported today (see GSN, Sept. 3). The submarine, St. George the Victorious, was returned to the Russian Pacific Fleet today after an overhaul and is now stationed at a naval base on the Kamchatka Peninsula, according to ITAR-Tass. The submarine is armed with 16 ballistic missiles (Naryshkin/Konovalov, ITAR-Tass, Nov. 14). Back to top       Russia to Test Converted SS-19 ICBM Next Month Russia plans to conduct a flight test of its Strela space-launch vehicle Dec. 5, according to ITAR-Tass (see GSN, July 1). The Strela, based on a converted SS-19 Stiletto ICBM, will be launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome and will place a dummy spacecraft into orbit, ITAR-Tass reported (see GSN, July 28). According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, it is more cost-effective for Russia to convert its ICBMs to other uses rather than merely disposing of them (ITAR-Tass, Nov. 14) Back to top

Small Fire Shuts Down Anniston Chemical Disposal Plant Officials at the chemical weapons incinerator in Anniston, Ala., closed the facility yesterday after a rocket caught fire during the disposal process, the Birmingham News reported (see GSN, Nov. 13). As M-55 rockets are destroyed, they are drained of liquid sarin but not of rocket propellant. As a rocket was being cut into pieces, the propellant burst into flames and the munition itself caught fire. The room — which has 24-inch thick concrete and steel walls and is designed to withstand an explosion — was immediately sealed and the fire quickly burned itself out. Anniston officials this week fired a 23-year-old laboratory technician who accidentally caused a sensor to report a sarin leak at the plant. The technician was fired because he attempted to hide his role in the incident, according to the Army (Katherine Bouma, Birmingham News, Nov. 14). The U.S. Senate, meanwhile, passed a nonbinding measure Wednesday that encourages the Army to improve its safety monitoring at chemical disposal facilities, including Anniston. The move, sponsored by Senator Jim Bunning (R-Ky.), was included in the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill, which the House of Representatives has already approved. Bunning is pushing the Army to pursue advanced technologies, such as infrared spectrometers, which some say could detect a chemical leak before existing sensors could (John Yaukey, Gannett News Service/Louisville Courier-Journal, Nov. 13). Army officials, however, insisted that the existing sensors are sufficient. “The Army remains firm in its belief that the current system of monitoring is effective and provides for the protection of its workers, the community and the environment,” said spokeswoman Cynthia Smith in a written statement (Katherine Bouma, Birmingham News, Nov. 13). Back to top       U.S. Army Announces More Delays at Indiana Chemical Weapons Destruction Site The U.S. Army announced yesterday that it will not begin neutralizing VX nerve agent at the Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana in January as planned. The start date has been pushed back indefinitely (see GSN, Nov. 11). In August, Army officials delayed the start of the chemical weapons disposal from October to January. That startup schedule has been hindered by local officials and activists with environmental concerns, according to the Indiana Tribune Star. The Army said the January target date was contingent on the disposal of a neutralization byproduct — called hydrolysate — by a Ohio subcontractor. The company lost the Army contract after local officials blocked a plan to dump the treated hydrolysate in the local sewage system. Army Col. Jesse Barber, project manager for the Alternative Technologies and Approaches program at the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, said in October that he would “lay out how I get from point A to point B in November.” Barber does not currently have a plan in place, however, according to Army spokeswoman Terry Arthur (Patricia Pastore, Indiana Tribune-Star, Nov. 14). Back to top       Texas Man Faces Sentencing for Chemical Weapons Possession A 62-year-old Texas man pleaded guilty yesterday to possessing a chemical weapon after authorities discovered precursors needed to make cyanide gas in a storage facility he rented (see GSN, Nov. 3). Authorities arrested William Krar after an April search uncovered sodium cyanide as well as hydrochloric, nitric and acetic acids and instructions for turning the agents into a chemical weapon. Krar faces nine to 11 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Judith Bruey, who shared the storage space with Krar, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess illegal weapons and could be sentenced to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. In the April search, investigators also discovered white supremacist literature and illegal firearms (Associated Press/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Nov. 13). Back to top

Al-Qaeda Purchased Enriched Uranium From Congolese Opposition, Soldier Says A former solider from the Democratic Republic of Congo has alleged that an al-Qaeda operative purchased enriched uranium from two Congolese opposition figures in 2000, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 17). The French newspaper Le Progress reported that the solider has testified that he attended a meeting in Hamburg where the sale was allegedly made, according to the Times. The soldier said the transactions involved “some” Congolese men and an Egyptian (Agence France-Presse/Expatica.com, Nov. 13).     Back to top

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