British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw speaking in Turkey last week. After Straw consulted today with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, an IAEA Board of Governors resolution on Iran appears imminent (AFP/Getty). IAEA Resolution on Iran Appears Imminent; “Trigger” Clause Negotiated By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A resolution warning Iran of consequences for further nuclear missteps is likely to be formally introduced today at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, diplomats said this morning (see GSN, Nov. 21)...Full Story

Citing Poor Security, Analysts Question U.S.-Russian Program to Transfer Dangerous Uranium to Russia The case of alleged Russian uranium thief Alexander Tyulyakov has highlighted the dangers posed by poor security at Russian nuclear facilities and the potential risks of a U.S.-Russian program to place more highly enriched uranium under Russian protection, the San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday...Full Story

Next Round of Six-Nation Talks on North Korea to Be Held Next Month China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States have agreed to begin the next round of talks to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis Dec. 17 in Beijing, according to Asahi Shimbun, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 21)...Full Story

	Monday, November 24, 2003

U.S.-Sanctioned Chinese Company Ships Equipment to Iraq A shipment of power-station equipment from a U.S.-sanctioned Chinese company is expected to reach Iraq next month, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, July 25, 2002). The $13 million shipment is the first export to Iraq by the China National Machinery & Equipment Import & Export Corp. (CMEC) since the U.S.-led takeover in Iraq, said CMEC project manager Liu Tong. The shipment was part of a $700 million contract signed with prewar Iraq under the U.N. oil-for-food program, the Post reported. In July 2002, though, the United States sanctioned CMEC and several other Chinese companies for shipping WMD-related materials to Iraq in violation of the Iran-Iraq Arms Nonproliferation Act of 1992. Under those sanctions, CMEC was prohibited from doing business with the United States or receiving any U.S. import/export licenses for two years (Al Kamen, Washington Post, Nov. 24). Back to top       Hawaii National Guard to Train WMD Response Teams for U.S. Pacific Territories The Hawaii National Guard plans to train WMD response teams that will be stationed in U.S. territories in the Pacific Ocean, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 13). State Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Robert Lee said the goal of the pilot program is to have a WMD response unit stationed in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands or another island nation in the Pacific. The planned teams would also be at the disposal of the head of U.S. military forces in the Pacific, Lee said (B.J. Reyes, Associated Press/Honolulu Advertiser, Nov. 23). Back to top

IAEA Resolution on Iran Appears Imminent; “Trigger” Clause Negotiated By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — A resolution warning Iran of consequences for further nuclear missteps is likely to be formally introduced today at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, diplomats said this morning (see GSN, Nov. 21). After apparently reaching a compromise with the United States on a “trigger” mechanism for U.N. action on Iranian violations of international nuclear obligations, European countries appear ready to table the resolution late today at the IAEA Board of Governors. The measure would implicitly warn Iran it is in danger of being referred to the U.N. Security Council for any further breach, diplomats said. One Western diplomat said the text is “making its rounds in the house [the IAEA],” adding that some at the agency are saying “it’s going to be tabled tonight.” In order to be taken up Wednesday, when the board next meets, the draft would have to be tabled by 11 a.m. tomorrow. “It looks as though it might be the thing that sticks,” the diplomat said of the draft, first floated early today. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw today held a crucial discussion on the matter, the U.S. State Department confirmed. Disagreement over the trigger has been the last major obstacle to agreement between Washington and key European countries on a resolution condemning Iran for 18 years of concealed nuclear activities that Tehran acknowledged last month in a letter to the agency (see GSN, Nov. 11). The United States having abandoned its quest for an immediate referral of Iran to the U.N. Security Council over the secret programs, another diplomat said talks today were focusing on how to warn Iran of serious consequences for further “breaches” without jeopardizing European diplomatic efforts with the country. “The words ‘Security Council’ are a red line for the Iranians, so the question is, ‘How do you make it absolutely clear what will occur without using the words “Security Council”’?” the diplomat said. In a report to the board this month, the IAEA detailed a series of long-concealed, recently acknowledged Iranian nuclear programs, including the small-scale production of low-enriched uranium and plutonium. France, Germany and the United Kingdom, however, obtained a vow last month from Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment and sign up for more intrusive IAEA inspections (see GSN, Oct. 21), and the three countries last week circulated an initial draft resolution to the board that stopped short of the U.S. goals of finding Iran in “noncompliance” with its IAEA safeguards agreement and sending the matter to New York. Under the current draft now in the late stages of negotiation, according to diplomatic sources, the United States could respond to any new revelation about Iran’s secret programs by demanding that the board refer Iran to the Security Council. The compromise reflects the European drafters’ focus on what they call Iran’s new honesty, as well as the U.S. view that Iran has still acknowledged only a portion of its illicit programs. “If they’ve come clean, which they say they have, then there shouldn’t be anything left unreported,” said one diplomat. “Everyone agrees on the need for some sort of trigger,” said the diplomat. The “EU-3” ― France, Germany and the United Kingdom ― “doesn’t want to agree to anything that it knows Iran won’t like,” the diplomat added, and the views of the Nonaligned Movement, which took a lenient line toward Iran in a statement to the board last week, are also affecting negotiators’ strategies. Meanwhile, Iran, which currently holds only observer status at the board, has been calling for more “multilateralism” and claiming Zionist plots. Efforts to have the Security Council take up Iran’s nuclear programs stem from “Zionist and U.S. consultations and lobbying,” Speaker Mehdi Karroubi of Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly said today. “Pressures are politically motivated. Efforts to refer Iran’s case to the United Nations Security Council is a move against [the] Tehran Declaration” ― the agreement reached with European foreign ministers last month ― “and the Europeans’ opinion,” Karroubi said in Tehran, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. “Such measures, which are taken due to the U.S. lobby, indicate that they seek to determine the fate of others, and, in their eyes, the Zionists and [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon are the symbols of democracy,” said Karroubi. Back to top       Citing Poor Security, Analysts Question U.S.-Russian Program to Transfer Dangerous Uranium to Russia The case of alleged Russian uranium thief Alexander Tyulyakov has highlighted the dangers posed by poor security at Russian nuclear facilities and the potential risks of a U.S.-Russian program to place more highly enriched uranium under Russian protection, the San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday. Tyulyakov, deputy director of the state-owned firm responsible for operating Russia’s nuclear-powered icebreakers, was arrested in August following a sting operation in which he allegedly tried to sell enriched uranium to undercover authorities. More than 6 pounds of enriched uranium were confiscated from his car and residences, according to the Chronicle (see GSN, Sept. 4). “This is the first documented case of theft involving the senior management of a facility handling such material,” said Matthew Bunn, a Harvard University nuclear nonproliferation expert. “This is particularly worrisome, as thefts involving senior managers are among the hardest for any security system to prevent,” he added. Charged with stealing, possessing and attempting to sell radioactive materials, Tyulyakov is expected to hear the verdict from his trial today, the Chronicle reported. Some nuclear analysts and environmentalists have argued that the Tyulyakov case shows Russia is not ready to implement a recently announced U.S.-Russian plan to recover Soviet-supplied highly enriched uranium from nuclear research reactors in 17 nations (see GSN, Nov. 7). Under the plan, the United States would fund the transfer of the fuel back to Russia, where the weapon-usable material would be stored in two facilities at Novosibirsk and Dmitrovgrad. While these sites have received security upgrades with U.S. cooperative threat reduction funds, some analysts have questioned the wisdom of adding more material to their inventory. “They can’t bring all this stuff to Russia without upping the threat of terrorists getting hold of it,” said Charles Digges, an analyst at the Norwegian environmental group Bellona. Digges said the stolen material in the Tyulyakov case was taken from a facility that had already received U.S.-funded security improvements. “Sensors, fences, radiation detectors, weight machines, surveillance — I can’t emphasize too much that the comprehensive upgrades are only as good as the people who operate them,” he said. “If they don’t turn them on in the morning, someone can leave with nuclear materials of some kind. If the guy in charge wants to steal nuclear materials, he can easily do it,” he added. A Russian activist concurred. “The U.S. thinks Russia is more under their (political) control compared to Serbia, Romania and Uzbekistan. I doubt that very much,” said Vladimir Slivyak, head of the Moscow environmental group Ecodefense. Slivyak was referring to previous research reactor fuel-recovery missions in Serbia (see GSN, Aug. 23, 2002) and Romania (see GSN, Sept. 22) as well as an expected operation in Uzbekistan (see GSN, Jan. 3). “The reality is that material in Russia is as unsafe as it would be in Serbia or Romania,” he said. Other experts and officials, however, said that moving the uranium reactor fuel to Russian facilities with imperfect security was nevertheless preferable to allowing the fuel to remain where it is. Third World research reactors with highly enriched uranium fuel are considered by many experts to be among the most vulnerable to terrorist efforts to acquire nuclear materials, the Chronicle reported. “The concerns here are not the quantity of the material, it’s the quality and the portability,” said Laura Holgate of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, which supports the transfer effort. Bunn echoed concerns about the security of nuclear materials where they are currently located. “With some of these reactors, you’re talking about backpack-sized packages of material. You can move it in a pickup truck,” he said. U.S. and Russian officials also backed the recovery plan. “These are high-security facilities. No one can get in.  They are properly guarded,” said Nikolai Shingaryov, a spokesman for the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry. A U.S. Energy Department official also said that Russian facilities would secure the reactor fuel better than the sites where the fuel is now kept. “We’re pretty confident,” said Paul Longsworth, deputy administrator of the department’s National Nuclear Security Administration (Badkhen/Sternfold, San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 23). [EDITOR’S NOTE: The Nuclear Threat Initiative is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by National Journal Group.] Back to top       Next Round of Six-Nation Talks on North Korea to Be Held Next Month China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States have agreed to begin the next round of talks to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis Dec. 17 in Beijing, according to Asahi Shimbun, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 21). The five countries, along with North Korea itself, are expected to issue a joint statement after the next round of talks, in which Pyongyang is expected to state its plans to abandon its nuclear weapons efforts, AFP reported. The five countries have also agreed to not present North Korea with a written security guarantee, which Pyongyang has long been seeking, at the next round of talks. Instead, the five countries are expected to say in their joint statement that they would be prepared to offer North Korea such a guarantee in exchange for its participation in a third round of talks (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 23). “If North Korea moves forward on its intention to get rid of nuclear weapon[s] entirely and shows concrete solutions, we will write down a safety guarantee in black and white,” a Bush administration source said (Hun-joo/Young-sik, Dong-A Ilbo, Nov. 23). Meanwhile, a report prepared by two senior U.S. Senate aides that traveled this summer to North Korea says that U.S. food assistance to North Korea has dropped from more than 300,000 metric tons per year to 40,000 metric tons this year, Reuters reported. The report, prepared by aides to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and top committee Democrat Joseph Biden (Del.), says that the drop in U.S. food aid may have “undercut U.S. legitimacy” in pressing for greater transparency as to how the food is distributed. It also says that Pyongyang sees the decrease in aid as being politically motivated. “North Korean officials are convinced the United States is using food as a weapon,” the report says. The Bush administration is still deciding whether to send an additional 60,000 metric tons of food aid to North Korea this year, a U.S. State Department spokesman said. Other U.S. sources said, however, that additional food aid is unlikely to occur this year (Carol Giacomo, Reuters/Washington Post, Nov. 23). Back to top       Bush Signs Fiscal 2004 Defense Authorization Bill U.S. President George W. Bush today signed the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill, which includes a provision to lift a ban on the research of low-yield nuclear weapons, according to the Washington Post (see GSN, Nov. 13).  The $401 billion bill also authorizes $15 million for research into the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (Fred Barbash, Washington Post, Nov. 24). Back to top

Countries Form Working Group on Russia Chemical Weapons Disposal Plant Canada, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States have created a working group to coordinate the construction of a chemical weapons disposal plant near the Russian city of Shchuchye, Interfax reported last week (see GSN, Nov. 21). The group is expected to meet four times a year, with the next meeting scheduled to be held in Moscow in late January. At that meeting, to be chaired by Russia, the four countries will discuss the state of funding for the Shchuchye facility and other construction and cooperation issues (Interfax/BBC Monitoring, Nov. 19). Back to top

Japan Seeks to Coproduce Advanced Missile Interceptor Components The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun has reported that the Japanese Defense Agency wants to help produce components of a new missile interceptor being jointly developed with the United States, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Nov. 10). The United States and Japan are currently working to develop a more-advanced interceptor to replace the Standard Missile 3, AP reported. The Japanese Defense Agency expects the missile to be ready for production in several years, and wants Japanese companies involved in the production process to stay up-to-date in defense technology. Japan is currently unable to export weapons systems abroad, but did agree in 1983 to allow exports of weapons-related technology to the United States, according to AP. Some Japanese officials are concerned, though, that the exemption cannot be expanded to cover exports of weapons systems components (Associated Press, Nov. 24). Meanwhile, the Japanese Defense Agency is also seeking more than $1 billion in the next fiscal year to purchase a U.S. missile defense system that would deploy the SM-3 interceptor onboard an Aegis-equipped destroyer, Agence France-Press reported (Agence France-Presse, Nov. 24). Back to top

Al-Qaeda Studied Attacking U.S. Food Supply, Senator Says Coalition forces searching suspected al-Qaeda hideouts in Afghanistan last year found hundreds of pages of U.S. agricultural documents, indicating that the terrorist group was interested in conducting attacks on the U.S. food supply, Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins (R-Maine) said last week (see GSN, Nov. 21). “Al-Qaeda’s interest in agriculture is not limited to studying documents,” Collins said during a committee hearing. “These killers have practical hands-on knowledge,” she said. In addition, a May CIA report said that the terrorists who had been involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had been interested in crop-dusting aircraft, which are “an effective and remarkably simple way” to spread biological agents such as plant and animal diseases, Collins said. She also said that Osama bin Laden “has considerable knowledge of agriculture” and may have used his farms in Sudan to train al-Qaeda operatives (Dave Ahern, Navy News, Nov. 24). Back to top       Investigators Report Radioactive Material Missing From Australian Research Site The Australian Safeguards and Nonproliferation Office (ASNO) has found that several batches of radioactive materials, including enriched uranium, have been unaccounted for at an Australian nuclear research facility since 2000, the Herald Sun reported today (see GSN, Oct. 28). ASNO audits found that about 20 kilograms of uranium, including about 10 kilograms of enriched uranium, were unaccounted for during inspections at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization since 2000, the Herald Sun reported. In addition, investigators were also unable in 2001 to account for more than 61 kilograms of thorium at the research site. ASNO believes that most of the material is unaccounted for because of poor record keeping or failures in accounting for material that had been transferred from waste stocks to inventory storage, and not because of theft (Mark Dunn, Herald Sun, Nov. 24).       Back to top

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