IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei spoke to reporters yesterday. The IAEA Board of Governors today pushed back its discussion of how to address Iran’s nuclear program (AFP/Getty). IAEA Governors Accept Iran’s Additional Protocol; Talks on Resolution Delayed By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire VIENNA — The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors today approved the Additional Protocol to Iran’s IAEA safeguards agreement, clearing the way for Iran and agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to sign the measure (see GSN, Nov. 20)...Full Story

U.S. Congress Completes Work on Syria Sanctions Bill By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. Congress yesterday completed passage of a bill that would impose economic sanctions against Syria if it fails to end its suspected WMD activities and alleged support for terrorist organizations (see GSN, Nov. 12)...Full Story

KEDO Officially Suspends Nuclear Reactor Project The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization today formally announced that it would suspend the construction of two nuclear power plants in North Korea on Dec. 1, the Korea Times reported (see GSN, Nov. 20)...Full Story

	Friday, November 21, 2003

Suicide Attacks Becoming Dominant Terrorist Tactic, Expert Says By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Terrorists are increasingly choosing to conduct suicide-type attacks because of their increased effectiveness, a terrorism expert said Wednesday (see GSN, Oct. 31). Speaking before a conference held here by the Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute, RAND Vice President Bruce Hoffman listed several reasons why terrorists are increasingly turning to suicide attacks, including the ability of the attacker to adopt to changes in situation and to defenses around targets, as well as the fact that the perpetrator is no long available after the attack for possible capture and interrogation by authorities. “In essence,” suicide bombers are “the ultimate smart bomb,” Hoffman said. To demonstrate the increased effectiveness of suicide attacks, Hoffman said that suicide attacks conducted in Israel kill six times more than other types of attacks and injure 26 times more people. He said that the suicide component of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which killed more than 2,500 people, was “essential” to the attacks’ successes. Hoffman also said that there have been a handful of suicide attacks carried out by Palestinian militants in Israel that have used crude chemical weapons, such as bombs soaked in rat poison, which is an anticoagulant. He said, however, that these types of attacks have been relatively ineffective and that the addition of chemical toxins to the bombs appears to be intended more for psychological effects and to increase media attention on the attacks. In addition, two suicide bombers in Israel were later discovered to have been infected with hepatitis B, Hoffman said, adding that this appeared to be coincidental. Seth Carus, deputy director of the Center for Counterproliferation Research at the National Defense University said, however, that it was not “technically plausible” that a would-be terrorist would attempt to conduct a suicide biological attack through self-infection with a pathogen such as smallpox. Carus discounted such attacks because most biological weapons agents are not contagious and because smallpox, which is highly contagious, would render the attacker incapacitated before he or she could enter the population to spread the disease. Suicide attacks by self-infected terrorists is “not an issue that I would be sleepless about,” Carus said. Back to top

U.S. Congress Completes Work on Syria Sanctions Bill By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. Congress yesterday completed passage of a bill that would impose economic sanctions against Syria if it fails to end its suspected WMD activities and alleged support for terrorist organizations (see GSN, Nov. 12). The House of Representatives yesterday voted 408-8 to approve a version of the Syria Accountability Act that was passed earlier this month by the Senate. The measure now moves to U.S. President George W. Bush for his signature.  The bill would prohibit U.S. military and dual-use exports to Syria and would also require the president to impose at least two of six additional sanctions included in the bill, such as a freeze of Syrian assets and a prohibition on U.S. businesses operating in Syria. The sanctions could only be lifted if the president certified that four conditions were met, including that Syria no longer provides support for terrorism and that Damascus had ceased the development of biological and chemical weapons. The bill passed yesterday would grant the president the authority to waive both the dual-use export ban and the additional sanctions for national security reasons. In approving the measure, the House abandoned a provision granting the president the authority to waive only the additional six sanctions. Representative Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the bill’s main sponsor, yesterday called on Bush to sign the legislation into law. “This is a fair approach to dealing with the threat that Syria poses to the stability of the Middle East and to American interests around the world.  For decades, the United States has not imposed sanctions on Syria in the hope that the nation would change its destabilizing ways.  But it has become all too clear that things are getting worse and Damascus continues to undermine international peace and stability,” Engel said. Officials at the Syrian Embassy in Washington could not be reached today for comment. Syrian Information Minister Ahmad al-Hassan said last week, however, that Damascus would attempt to maintain a dialogue with the United States, despite the sanctions bill (see GSN, Nov. 13). “Syria will not close the door on dialogue with the American administration, even if the hawks in that administration want to push for escalation in an unjustifiable way,” al-Hassan was quoted as saying in a statement by Agence France-Presse. During the Senate debate on the bill, Senator Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), one of only four senators to vote against the bill, said he opposed the measure because of concerns that it could lead to U.S. military action against Damascus. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) yesterday, however, discounted such concerns. “This bill in no way threatens or condones the use of military force against Syria.  But it makes clear that the United States will not conduct business as usual with a nation that allows terrorists to operate within their borders.  I hope that the president will swiftly sign this bill,” she said. Back to top       U.S. Homeland Security Department Institutes New Cargo Rules In an effort to prevent terrorists from bringing weapons of mass destruction into the United States, the U.S. Homeland Security Department yesterday announced new security rules for the trucking, air cargo and railway industries, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, Sept.2). Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said the rules provide a balance between the need for greater security and a sensitivity to the tight timetables used by the cargo transportation industry. “We could pass regulation that would so tightly constrict commerce that our economy would slow to a crawl,” Ridge said. “That would be a terrorist’s dream,” he added. The new regulations mandate that the Homeland Security Bureau of Customs and Border Protection receive data on shipments before they reach U.S. borders, with the amount of required advanced notice dependent on the mode of transportation. The information will be sent to the National Targeting Center in Northern Virginia where 175 analysts will pore over the incoming data and try to identify suspect shipments for inspection. “They’ll look for trends and red flags,” Ridge said. The American Trucking Associations said yesterday that the new rules will cause delays and confusion at U.S. border crossings (Mintz/Phillips, Washington Post, Nov. 21). Ridge said, however, that the notice on shipments is essential for security efforts. “Advance information is a cornerstone in our efforts to secure our nation’s borders and ensure the flow of trade,” he said. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert Bonner called the new regulations “bold but necessary” (U.S. Homeland Security Department release, Nov. 20). The United States and the European Union, meanwhile, have agreed to form a joint working group to address the possible expansion of the U.S. Container Security Initiative throughout Europe. In 2002 the European Commission criticized eight EU members for joining the CSI program as individual states (U.S. State Department release, Nov. 20). Back to top       Former U.S. General Predicts Military Takeover if U.S. Suffers a Major WMD Attack The former head of the U.S. Army’s Central Command has said that a military-led government might rule the United States in the event of a WMD attack that causes mass casualties, NewsMax.com reported today (see GSN, Sept 12). In an interview with Cigar Aficionado magazine, retired U.S. Army Gen. Tommy Franks said that a terrorist attack within the United States or against a U.S. ally involving weapons of mass destruction could lead to people questioning the effectiveness of a republican-type of government in protecting them.  Franks offered his prediction “in a practical sense” of the possible aftermath of a successful WMD attack. “It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world — it may be in the United States of America — that causes our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. Which in fact, then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution. Two steps, very, very important,” he said (John Edwards, NewsMax.com, Nov. 21). Back to top

IAEA Governors Accept Iran’s Additional Protocol; Talks on Resolution Delayed By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire VIENNA — The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors today approved the Additional Protocol to Iran’s IAEA safeguards agreement, clearing the way for Iran and agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to sign the measure (see GSN, Nov. 20). That progress was counterbalanced, however, by the board’s decision to push back formal discussion on passing a resolution on Iran’s nuclear activities and by a semantic dispute between ElBaradei and U.S. officials over whether the terms “evidence” and “proof” are synonymous. The board’s decision to put off further discussion of the Iran resolution clouded the outlook for Iranian signature of the protocol, which would allow the agency to conduct more intrusive monitoring of Iran’s nuclear activities. The meeting was initially expected to end today, but with the weekend at hand and a U.N. holiday Tuesday, delegates are now scheduled to reconvene Wednesday to take up the resolution. The meeting follows an IAEA report to the board last week that described how Iran has now acknowledged hiding extensive nuclear activity since the mid-1980s, including small-scale plutonium and low-enriched uranium production. The report in turn followed an Iranian promise late last month to sign the protocol and suspend uranium enrichment. Talks here this week have focused on a resolution developed by France, Germany and the United Kingdom, which were instrumental in obtaining last month’s Iranian promise of increased cooperation. The United States and the European countries have been facing off over the resolution, which the United States calls too weak. In remarks here yesterday and today, Iranian envoy Ali Akbar Salehi has spoken of a “package deal” whereby Iran would sign and implement the protocol and suspend uranium enrichment in exchange for economic and other incentives offered by the Europeans and, potentially, for board action that falls short of sending the matter to the U.N. Security Council, as advocated by the United States. Although Salehi said today that Iran is “not putting any conditions” on the Additional Protocol, he hastily added that the protocol was generated by Iran’s “cooperation with the Europeans” and even added, “It’s a package deal.” Iran yesterday obtained a change in the meeting agenda, postponing approval of the protocol until the resolution’s character became clearer, but the original chronology was restored today by the board’s action on the protocol. In the words of a Western diplomat here, though, “there’s still a logjam” affecting the board’s work because of Iran’s insistence on a comprehensive, rather than a step-by-step, approach to the protocol and the resolution. The board’s approval of the protocol, which ElBaradei called “quite a positive move forward,” puts more pressure on Iran, reducing the leverage it sought to wield by balking yesterday at taking up the protocol as scheduled. “They could [still] change their mind” about signing the measure, but “that wouldn’t be looked upon so kindly,” IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said today of Iranian authorities. Meanwhile, a core group of key countries, such as the United States, the European drafters of the resolution, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the Netherlands, is struggling to reach consensus on a text before presenting it to other board members unofficially and, ultimately, table it before the full board. Diplomats said today that the bulk of work on the measure was being done in national capitals, not here at the IAEA. “The resolution is not ready. … The text of the resolution is not agreed, that’s what it comes down to,” Fleming said after today’s morning session, adding that the resolution is “the only thing that has been held up.” ElBaradei said a resolution could be tabled Wednesday, “to be adopted, I still believe, by consensus.” Despite such optimism, differences among delegations here appeared to be sharpening this morning.  The United States, in particular, delivered a long statement excoriating Iran for its “egregious conduct” and insisting countries “do all [they] possibly can to ensure it remains an exceptional case.” In an implicit reference to European countries’ recent focus on Iran’s new willingness to reveal once-covert activities, U.S. envoy Kenneth Brill told the board, “This is not the case of a state that may have violated its safeguards obligations and lied in an attempt to cover up its noncompliance but in the end took responsibility for violating its international obligations in a way that provides confidence of future compliance. Quite the opposite is the case.” “Neither the board nor the secretariat nor any member state,” Brill said, “knows whether Iran has ‘turned over a new leaf.’ Iran says it has, but so much of what it has said in the past year about its nuclear program has turned out to be false that there is no rational basis simply to assume the contrary now. Iran is asking us to pass over its record of deception on the strength of today’s bare assurances that now it is telling the truth. No serious observer of Iran’s record can accept that argument.” Salehi dismissed U.S. arguments, alleging that the United States is inflexibly refusing to take new developments in Iran into account. “The American delegation … is sort of a hostage to its own accusations, past accusations,” Salehi said. In response to such language, one Western diplomat said Iran is holding the Additional Protocol “hostage” to other concerns. Breach or Noncompliance? Much of the debate here centers on whether Iran should be found in “breach” or in “noncompliance” with its obligations, or whether another term altogether should be employed. A finding of noncompliance would greatly facilitate a referral of Iran’s conduct to the Security Council, but ElBaradei has limited himself to the term “breach,” and the initial European draft reportedly contained neither word. Brill today sought to cut through the semantic dispute. Citing ElBaradei’s assessment in last week’s report that Iran committed “breaches of its obligation to comply with the provisions of the safeguards agreement,” the U.S. ambassador asked, “Does the phrase ‘breached its obligation to comply’ differ from ‘noncompliance with its obligations’?” “In fact,” Brill said, “there is no substantive difference in meaning, and to any objective reader of the D.G.’s report there can be no doubt that Iran’s conduct, stretching back for well over a decade, constitutes noncompliance with its safeguards obligations.” “If the board fails to find noncompliance,” he said, “we will send the message to states throughout the world that they, too, can disregard their safeguards obligations in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction without repercussions.” Furthermore, said Brill, “discussions with other delegations” leave “no doubt” that “almost everyone here agrees privately that Iran’s actions constituted noncompliance.” Objections to using the term, he said, stem from both a focus on Iran’s recent increased cooperation and from a fear that “unless its past conduct is overlooked, Iran may lapse back into its prior pattern of violations, or even worse.” The Nonaligned Movement, which has consistently argued for a more lenient approach toward Iran, appears unconvinced by arguments such as those advanced by the United States. In a statement today on behalf of the movement that focused almost exclusively on Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA, Malaysian envoy Hussein Haniff said the movement “notes with concern” Iran’s illicit nuclear programs ― language that was included in the initial British-French-German draft and ridiculed by diplomats from some other Western countries. Evidence or Proof? Another semantic dispute that has ruffled feathers here stems from the IAEA’s view, stated in last week’s report, that “there is no evidence [Iran’s] activities were related to a nuclear weapons program.” ElBaradei changed “evidence” to “proof” in a statement yesterday to the board, and Brill said today that the report’s “wording is, at best, very questionable.” Despite IAEA assurances that the words are synonymous, he said, it “is clearly not normal usage” to equate the two. In the United States, Brill added, “This misleading phrasing moved both government officials and academic experts across the political spectrum to expressions of disbelief that the institution charged by the international community with scrutinizing nuclear proliferation risks was dismissing important facts that had been disclosed by its own investigation as irrelevant to the question of whether Iran has a nuclear weapons program.” According to a transcript of the closed meeting, ElBaradei moved “right away” to “set the record straight” after Brill’s remarks. “We used the word ‘evidence’ here as we have used it over the last year, repeatedly, in the case of Iraq. Our reports on Iraq, without exception, said that we had no evidence that Iraq had resuscitated its nuclear weapons program,” ElBaradei said. “We have used the word ‘evidence’ to mean ‘proof.’ I checked my copy of Black’s Law Dictionary this morning; it says that ‘“proof” and “evidence” may be used interchangeably,’” said the IAEA chief. Brill also cited “damage caused to the agency’s credibility by this highly unfortunate and misleading ‘no evidence’ turn of phrase” ― a view ElBaradei opposed, saying the IAEA “maintain[s] [its] credibility by continuing to be impartial and factual.” “The agency was criticized by some before the war with regard to our conclusions on Iraq. I believe we can proudly say that, because we stood our ground, our credibility in retrospect has been not only maintained but in fact enhanced. We reflect facts as radar does, without partiality. We do not jump to conclusions or make leaps of faith, and that is how we intend to continue on my watch,” the director general said. A Western diplomat here termed the open dispute between the IAEA and the United States “very unusual … possibly unprecedented.” Back to top       KEDO Officially Suspends Nuclear Reactor Project The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization today formally announced that it would suspend the construction of two nuclear power plants in North Korea on Dec. 1, the Korea Times reported (see GSN, Nov. 20). The U.S.-supported suspension is the latest step in a tit-for-tat series of moves away from a 1994 agreement to provide North Korea with nuclear energy in exchange for an end to all other North Korean nuclear activities. The one-year suspension is being viewed as the end of the project by many in Washington. KEDO officials, however, say that the project’s work must be maintained in case the current nuclear crisis is resolved and construction can resume. “The suspension process will require preservation and maintenance both on- and off-site,” a KEDO press statement said (Seo Soo-min, Korea Times, Nov. 21). While the nuclear power plant project seems to be unraveling, some experts said that KEDO should continue as an organization. “It makes eminent sense that KEDO would be called upon to adjust itself,” said Charles Pritchard, a scholar at the Brookings Institution and recently the top U.S. State Department negotiator with Pyongyang. “KEDO was certainly able to accomplish things a lot of us individual countries were not able to do,” he added. “It has already a legal framework with North Korea,” said Robert Carlin, KEDO’s assistant director for policy planning and North Korea affairs. “If that’s junked, it’s all going to have to be negotiated again,” he added (Paul Eckert, Reuters/Planet Ark, Nov. 21). James Kelly, the top U.S. State Department envoy to Asia, continued talks today with South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck on the future multilateral talks with North Korea. “They also had tense one-to-one discussions through several hours of informal talks during and after dinner yesterday without interpreters,” a Foreign Ministry source said (Agence France-Presse, Nov. 21). Back to top

U.S. Agriculture Department Funding Insecure Laboratories, Report Says Security and oversight are sorely lacking at many federally funded U.S. university laboratories that contain dangerous biological agents, according to a report by the U.S. Agriculture Department’s inspector general, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Nov. 12). The report surveyed 104 laboratories that receive department funding and found that only two have central databases for monitoring biological agent inventories. Only five have institutionalized procedures for reporting missing agents. One university had seven vials of Yersina pestis, which can cause bubonic and pneumonic plague, stored in an unlocked freezer. School officials conducted the last inventory of that freezer in 1994 and it was incomplete, AP reported. “Officials we spoke with about this situation believed there was a strong possibility that similar conditions existed at a number of other institutions,” the report says. Another laboratory containing high-risk pathogens was situated near a football stadium and was left open during some games so that fans could use the restrooms (Associated Press/Baltimore Sun, Nov. 21). The report urges the White House to impose a new standard on the laboratories, including requirements to maintain a central database, improve security and create procedures for reporting missing biological agents (John Heilprin, Associated Press/Boston Globe, Nov. 21). Back to top

Russian Chemical Weapons Disposal Program to Receive Czech Support The Czech Republic has agreed to contribute more than $70,000 to aid Russia in its effort to destroy its chemical weapons stockpile, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced today (see GSN, Nov. 20). The Czech funding will go toward the construction of an electrical substation that will support a planned Russia chemical weapons disposal facility near the city of Shchuchye.  About 30 percent of Russia’s chemical weapons stockpile is expected to be destroyed at Shchuchye, the OPCW said (OPCW release, Nov. 21). Back to top

Radioactive Materials Seized by Czech Police Unusable for Weapons The radioactive material seized by Czech police last week during a undercover operation in the city of Brno, about 125 miles southeast of Prague, cannot be used for weapons purposes, a Czech official said today (see GSN, Nov. 17). Test conducted on the material after it was recovered found that two metal rods contained depleted uranium and that three other rods were made of natural uranium, said Pavel Pittermann, a spokesman for the Czech nuclear safety office. The rods could not be used to make radiological weapons, Pittermann said (Associated Press, Nov. 21).   Back to top

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