U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday announced his resignation (U.S. State Department photo). Powell Draws Mixed Reviews from Nonproliferation Experts By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — On the day he announced his resignation, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday received mixed reviews from experts for his handling of arms control and nonproliferation issues (see GSN, Oct. 27)...Full Story

Intelligence Doubts, Policy Incoherence Threaten U.S. Goals on North Korea, Say Former Top Diplomats By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Doubts about U.S. intelligence and an incoherent overall policy are preventing progress on halting North Korea’s suspected nuclear weapons program, a former top U.S. diplomat said here yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 15)...Full Story

Reactions Vary on Iran Nuclear Freeze Agreement While European officials expressed optimism about a limited deal reached Sunday for Iran to temporarily suspend uranium enrichment activities as negotiations continue on its nuclear program, some Iranian and U.S. officials questioned the value of the agreement, the New York Times reported (see GSN, Nov. 15)...Full Story

	Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Approval Imminent for National WMD, Terrorism Response Plan, Says U.S. Homeland Security Official By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — An integrated national plan for U.S. WMD and terrorism response is likely to be approved by Cabinet secretaries by the end of this week, Deputy Homeland Security Secretary James Loy said here today. By this time next year, the final National Response Plan will have replaced the disparate plans now in effect at federal agencies that work on WMD and terrorism response, the former Coast Guard commandant said at a maritime-security conference organized by Defense Today and held at George Washington University. A February 2003 directive by President George W. Bush required the fledgling Homeland Security Department to design and implement the National Response Plan and the associated National Incident Management System in a bid to “establish a single, comprehensive approach” to managing terrorist attacks, natural disasters and other large-scale emergencies (see GSN, Sept. 30). The National Incident Management System is intended to guide operations during incidents and is based on the Incident Command System, already widely used by emergency agencies around the country. The broader National Response Plan lays out the administrative structure behind response operations, bringing together existing plans such as the Domestic Terrorism Concept of Operations Plan and the Federal Radiological Emergency Response Plan. Under last year’s directive, the response plan and operational system were to be developed by the Homeland Security Department, then reviewed by the president’s Homeland Security Council, which includes several Cabinet secretaries. The directive required federal agencies to adopt the incident-management system and to help to develop, and ultimately adopt in their own practice, the overall emergency-response plan. The president instructed agencies by fiscal 2005 to give emergency-response grants only to those states and localities that practiced the National Incident Management System. Among the effects of the National Response Plan is the designation of a “primary federal agency” charged with managing the response to each type of incident envisioned. According to a draft of the plan, Homeland Security’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate would be responsible for WMD response “regardless of the cause,” as well as for general coordination of emergency management for all hazards. Homeland Security agencies would also be in charge of several other areas. The department’s Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate would be responsible for infrastructure protection and for information, and its Border and Transportation Security Directorate would be responsible both for border and transportation security and for terrorism preparedness generally. The State Department would be responsible for international coordination, while the Defense Department would be responsible for protecting the U.S. territory against military attacks. Back to top

Powell Draws Mixed Reviews from Nonproliferation Experts By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — On the day he announced his resignation, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday received mixed reviews from experts for his handling of arms control and nonproliferation issues (see GSN, Oct. 27). Powell formally submitted his letter of resignation to President George W. Bush on Friday. During a press conference yesterday to announce his departure, Powell said he had “always” indicated to the president his intent to serve four years as secretary of state. “As we got closer to the election and the immediate aftermath of the election, it seemed the appropriate time and we were in mutual agreement that it was the appropriate time for me to move on,” Powell said. Bush issued a statement yesterday thanking Powell for his service, calling him “one of the great public servants of our time.” “He is a soldier, a diplomat, a civic leader, a statesman, and a great patriot. I value his friendship.  He will be missed. On behalf of all Americans, I thank him for his many years of service,” Bush said. During his tenure, Powell has had to address a number of arms control and nonproliferation issues, ranging from a successful effort with Russia to negotiate the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty — which calls for cuts to both countries’ deployed nuclear arsenals — to halting suspected nuclear weapons programs in Iran and North Korea. Nonproliferation experts yesterday provided a mostly downbeat assessment of Powell’s record on such issues, with some saying that his views received little attention within the administration.  Never before has a secretary “entered with such great expectations and left with such meager results,” said Joseph Cirincione, director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Nonproliferation Project. Instead, Undersecretary of State John Bolton played a larger role than Powell concerning nonproliferation issues, according to William Potter, director of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Bolton has been called a leading neoconservative in the administration. Arms Control Association Executive Director Daryl Kimball yesterday, though, described Powell as leaving behind “a mixed legacy” regarding nonproliferation. Kimball praised Powell’s efforts to have the White House engage North Korea on its nuclear program, as well as the secretary’s support for negotiations on a treaty to ban the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons. Kimball also said, though, that Powell had “not succeeded” in some areas, such as achieving a permanent solution to the North Korean nuclear issue. One issue likely to loom large in Powell’s legacy, according to experts, is the administration’s allegation that Iraq possessed widespread WMD capabilities prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom. In February, Powell presented a detailed overview to the United Nations of prewar Iraq’s alleged WMD efforts in an attempt to gain international support for the war. Powell’s presentation was later found to contain a number of errors, and coalition inspectors have determined that prewar Iraq did not possess WMD stockpiles or large-scale programs to produce them at the time of the U.S. invasion. “We’ll have to see in his memoirs what he has to say about that,” said Charles Pena, director of defense policy studies at the CATO Institute. Kimball said, though, that it was Powell’s influence that led the Bush administration to go before the United Nations in the first place before invading Iraq. Experts said that Powell’s departure will remove a key voice of moderation from the Bush administration.  “There’s really not a moderate voice left,” Cirincione said. Potter said that Powell’s departure, along with the resignation of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, would likely increase the influence of the Defense Department in arms control and nonproliferation issues “in the short term.” In his remarks yesterday, Powell said that he would continue to serve as secretary of state until a replacement is in place.  Earlier today, Bush nominated national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to replace Powell. Citing people close to Rice, the New York Times reported today that she had wanted to either replace Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense or return to Stanford University, where she had previously been provost, but would serve as secretary of state if asked. In addition to Powell, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has also decided to leave the State Department, according to reports. Armitage’s departure was hinted at yesterday during a department press briefing.  “I think all of us realize that the two of them, Secretary Powell and Deputy Secretary Armitage, have been a very successful team,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. “So there’s generally the expectation that it’s like Bosnia: in together, out together.” Boucher also suggested yesterday that other department officials may also leave following Powell’s departure. “I do know personally for me and for many others that there was a something about working for Secretary Powell that made us sort of stay in jobs longer than we might otherwise have done. And so for, I think, various people it might be time to move on. We’ll just have to see how that sorts itself out,” he said. Back to top

Intelligence Doubts, Policy Incoherence Threaten U.S. Goals on North Korea, Say Former Top Diplomats By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Doubts about U.S. intelligence and an incoherent overall policy are preventing progress on halting North Korea’s suspected nuclear weapons program, a former top U.S. diplomat said here yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 15). The six-party approach to the North Korea situation is a good one, but the United States has no coherent vision of how to solve the problem and has failed to establish a united front with Japan and China that could help contain or derail Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, said Stanford University professor Michael Armacost, a former ambassador to the Philippines and Japan. “I don’t think we’ve been serious about this issue, and I hope we will get serious fast,” Armacost said. The ex-ambassador spoke at the launch of two coordinated Asia Foundation reports by Asian and U.S. experts on Washington’s role in Asia. Armacost was co-chairman of the working group that produced the U.S. experts’ report. “We seem now to be the target for pressure from North Korea’s neighbors to adopt a more conciliatory approach,” Armacost said. “We have not got a policy which offers either attractive inducements or credible threats.” Armacost and co-chairman J. Stapleton Roy, a former ambassador to China and Indonesia who is now managing director of Kissinger Associates, write in their report that progress on North Korea is also hampered by doubts about U.S. intelligence in the wake of the September 2001 attacks and the fruitless Iraq WMD hunt. “This is reflected in our evident inability to date to persuade Chinese and Russian officials that North Korea possesses an active uranium-enrichment program,” Roy and Armacost write. “Whether the remedy for this is to be found in new organizational agreements, as recommended by the 9/11 commission, is debatable, but there can be no question that shortcomings in our human intelligence and our analysis must be overcome.” “It is desperately important that we re-establish the credibility of our intelligence,” Armacost said at the launch. The U.S. and Asian expert groups called for a continuation of both multilateral and bilateral U.S. efforts in Northeast Asia and suggested a more comprehensive U.S. approach to the region’s security, possibly through an eventual broadening of the six-country process into an overall regional security forum. Both groups also broached what they saw as fundamental deficiencies in U.S. policy. The Asian report group’s chairmen —former South Korean ambassador to Washington Kim Kyung-won, Singaporean Ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh and former Bangladeshi foreign secretary Farooq Sobhan — called on the United States to negotiate directly with North Korea in addition to participating in the six-party talks, which involve Japan, China, Russia and South Korea. “The U.S. should negotiate not because the D.P.R.K. insists but because no one in North Korea is capable of negotiating a settlement except for [head of state] Kim Jong Il,” write Kim, Koh and Sobhan. Writing in a section of the report on Northeast Asia, Kim adds, “Since the death of the Agreed Framework, time has not been on the side of a peaceful and successful outcome regarding North Korea. It is therefore a mistake for the U.S. to take a leisurely approach to North Korea’s nuclear challenge.” The U.S. chairmen pointed to links between U.S. policy on North Korea and Washington’s handling of relations with Taiwan and China. China “is increasingly inclined to link its cooperation in moderating North Korea’s nuclear activities to Washington’s readiness to limit its political and military support to Taiwan,” they write in the report. Armacost indicated at the launch that the United States has given China good reason to put faith in such a link. “The assurances that have been offered to China are more forthcoming, I think, than at any previous time,” he said. Bad Image, Piecemeal Policy Endanger U.S. Goals Asian perceptions of U.S. heavy-handedness and the absence of a coherent long-term U.S. policy threaten Washington’s security goals on the continent, according to the Asian and U.S. ex-diplomats. The experts said a single-minded focus on terrorism and a perceived unwillingness to consult meaningfully with Asian countries threaten to limit U.S. influence in Asia. “The effectiveness of our policies in the region is undercut by our style of leadership,” Roy said at the launch. Asia is generally an economic and political “success story” but is home to some of the world’s most dangerous security problems in Kashmir, North Korea and the Taiwan Strait, write Roy and Armacost. Compounding the difficulty of addressing the security threats, they write, is that “U.S. policy must now take into account the widely held perception in the region that the United States is using its unprecedented power to pursue unilateralist policies without adequate regard for the impact of its actions on other countries.” “Perpetuation of America’s ‘unipolar moment’ has been declared one objective of U.S. strategy, but it is not an aim that can evoke support among Asians; indeed, its appeal to most Americans is debatable,” write the State Department veterans. A piecemeal and overly crisis-driven U.S. approach to Asia could endanger Washington’s goals, according to the U.S. report. “Without a more coherent and integrated strategy which links our approaches to East Asia with our policies in South and Southeast Asia and which extends well beyond countering terrorism and checking nuclear proliferation, we could see American influence in the area seriously diminished in the years ahead,” the chairmen write. “Counterterrorism and counterproliferation are critical but provide too narrow a base for a regional strategy.” The Asian report focuses even more heavily on the perceived excesses of U.S. policy following the September 2001 al-Qaeda attacks. “The dramatic reassessment of U.S. foreign policy in the wake of the tragic terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, has affected virtually every country in Asia and underscored the extent to which America’s own security is tied to that of the broader Asia-Pacific region,” write the Asian chairmen. “At the same time, many Asians are concerned that the decisions affecting all countries’ security [are] being made unilaterally in Washington. Asian policy-makers seem to feel they have little influence over these decisions and that their domestic interests may not be taken into account.” In their report, the three Asian experts call on Washington to deepen cooperation with Asian countries, to improve public diplomacy and to expand its view of security policy to include not only “the ‘conventional’ strategic challenges of China-Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula and India-Pakistan” but also “‘human’ security challenges” such as human trafficking, the drug trade and HIV/AIDS. “Anti-Americanism is at an all-time high,” they write. “This anti-American sentiment is not directed at the American people per se but has developed in response to the perception that the U.S. is pursuing unilateralist policies without taking into consideration the impact of its actions on other countries.” Back to top       Reactions Vary on Iran Nuclear Freeze Agreement While European officials expressed optimism about a limited deal reached Sunday for Iran to temporarily suspend uranium enrichment activities as negotiations continue on its nuclear program, some Iranian and U.S. officials questioned the value of the agreement, the New York Times reported (see GSN, Nov. 15). “We believe that the conclusion of this agreement can both allow for confidence-building in respect of Iran’s nuclear program and represent a significant development in relations between Europe and Iran,” British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in a written statement. “It is essential now for the agreement to be implemented in full.” The deal could eventually lead to “a solid, long-term agreement” with Tehran if the negotiating parties could achieve “lasting confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program,” said Javier Solana, the European Union’s senior foreign affairs official. The agreement between Iran and the United Kingdom, France and Germany says the uranium-enrichment suspension “is a voluntary confidence-building measure and not a legal obligation.” Hassan Rohani, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, said yesterday that the suspension “will be a matter of months, not years.” European officials disagreed. “Suspension must remain in force until the [International Atomic Energy Agency] gives Iran a clean bill of health,” said one European official. “If the suspension is lifted the process is deemed to have broken and we, the Europeans, will withdraw and go to the Security Council.” The White House said the settlement’s details would have to be studied before a U.S. position is announced, but Secretary of State Colin Powell said “we have seen a little bit of progress, hopefully, over the last 24 hours.” Undersecretary of State John Bolton and other administration hard-liners, however, have expressed skepticism about the likelihood of Iran honoring its pledge to suspend uranium enrichment, administration officials said (Elaine Sciolino, New York Times, Nov. 15). State Department spokesman Richard Boucher added that the U.S. position remains that Iran’s nuclear work should be referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions, the Associated Press reported. “This needs to be more than promises. This needs to be promises made and promises implemented,” Boucher said (Barry Schweid, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Nov. 15). The Europeans would not “cut across” U.S. policy on Iran, a senior EU diplomat said. “The U.S. will make its own mind up as to what they want to do. But we will not want to do anything that cuts across U.S. policy,” he said, according to Agence France-Presse. “The U.S. knew what we were doing so it won’t come as a surprise to them. Maybe there are tactical differences but the objectives are the same,” he added. Negotiations on a long-term agreement could commence “very shortly,” he said, while the EU is expected resume talks with Iran on trade deals promised in exchange for the suspension (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 15). Some experts said the conclusion of the agreement would create the need for Washington to revise its Iran policy. “This will put a lot of pressure on the Bush administration to come up with a new policy,” David Albright of Institute for Science and International Security told AFP. Joseph Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said the European Union alone cannot “give Iran the security guarantees it needs.” “The United States has to join to have any chance of giving the Iranians a lasting deal,” Cirincione said. Cirincione said that hard-liners in the Bush administration “want to confront the threat of Iran, not, in their view appease it.” “Administration policy is now to proceed aggressively with Iraq and then (when Iraq is pacified) deal with other countries, like Iran,” he added (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 16). Iranian conservatives during a parliament session today condemned the agreement to suspend nuclear activities, AFP reported. “The concessions that we accepted compared to the commitments the Europeans made is like us offering a rare pearl in return for a lollipop,” said Ali Larijani, another top official who represents supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the Supreme National Security Council. “This accord goes against our national interests,” said another deputy, Rafaat Bayat. “I say to the United States and the Europeans, and in particular France who insists a lot on the suspension of enrichment, that our parliament will not accept anything that goes against our national interests,” she said. “The Europeans should not give us orders,” she said, as even relatively moderate deputies protested the agreement, according to AFP (Siavosh Ghazi, Agence France-Presse/IranMania.com, Nov. 16). Meanwhile, in a report released yesterday the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Iran tried to acquire equipment that could have been used in uranium enrichment at the Lavizan site in Tehran, which the United States says was used for developing nuclear weapons, AFP reported. Iran divulged the new information only last month, according to the report. The International Atomic Energy Agency has found “no evidence of nuclear material” from “vegetation and soil samples” taken at Lavizan, but added that this may be because the site had been razed and all the topsoil removed (see GSN, June 29). The U.N. agency also took environmental samples from “two whole body counter,” machines, designed to measure radiation in humans, which were connected with Lavizan “and a trailer said to have contained one of the containers while it was located at Lavizan,” according to the report. The agency is still searching, however, for the trailer that contained the other counter, in order to check it for radiation and possibly determine the type of work the Iranians were doing at the site. The agency also said Monday in the report that it had requested to visit the military complex of Parchin, 19 miles southeast of Tehran, “in order to provide assurance regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities at that site” but was still waiting for permission to visit that site (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 15). The report also noted that Iran had invited the agency to verify the suspension as of Nov. 22, according to AFP, although this would leave inspectors only three days before the IAEA Board of Governor’s meeting beginning Nov. 25 to confirm the suspension. “We may or may not finish by the board” meeting, a Western diplomat close to the agency said, adding that the U.N. nuclear watchdog “will do its job and do it thoroughly and if it takes a few more days, it will take a few more days.” The board meeting is expected to last around a week, according to AFP (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Nov. 15). Back to top       Pyongyang Threatens to Boost “Nuclear Deterrent” North Korea today repeated its vow that it would strengthen its “nuclear deterrent” in the face of purported U.S. plans to launch a nuclear strike against the communist nation, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Nov. 15). “No matter what the others say, our People’s Army and people will further strengthen our nuclear deterrent force for self-defense,” the Minju Joson state-run newspaper was quoted as saying by the official KCNA news agency (Associated Press/The Scotsman, Nov. 16). Elsewhere, some South Korean officials expressed concern that U.S. officials might harden their policy toward North Korea in light of Washington’s push for greater international pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear work, Asia Africa Intelligence Wire reported. “The Iranian case, just like the case in Libya, proved how strong U.S. power is,” a senior Seoul official said. “The U.S. hard-line policy towards the North will gain some momentum now.” Other South Korean officials, however, said yesterday’s conclusion of an agreement with European powers for Iran to suspend its nuclear work has positive implications for the standoff with North Korea. “It is very positive for the North Korean nuclear problem that the Iran case was resolved through negotiations, without using armed forces at all,” a Foreign Ministry official said (Asia Africa Intelligence Wire/BBC Monitoring, Nov. 16). Back to top       U.S. Energy Secretary Abraham Resigns U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham yesterday submitted his letter of resignation, according to the Washington Post (see GSN, Sept. 22). Throughout his tenure, Abraham has steered the Energy Department through several nonproliferation issues, including efforts to eliminate Russian nuclear weapons stockpiles and a restructuring of the agency’s nonproliferation offices, the Post reported. Abraham was also involved in the effort to secure Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the site of the first U.S. long-term nuclear waste repository. In his resignation letter to President George W. Bush, Abraham said he was stepping down to spend more time with his family, the Post reported (Greg Schneider, Washington Post, Nov. 16). Back to top

Questions Persist of Anthrax Vaccine Link to Illness Among Gulf War Veterans, Report Says By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — Poor U.S. military health records have hindered research on whether anthrax vaccinations may have been a factor in illnesses affecting thousands of U.S. troops who participated in the 1991 Gulf War, according to a report published last week. A Department of Veterans Affairs research advisory committee published a report Friday concluding that there is credible evidence of diverse, widespread illnesses, some particularly severe, resulting at least in part from exposure to toxic chemicals such as Iraqi nerve agents released from destroyed facilities. The report, titled Scientific Progress in Understanding Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses: Report and Recommendations, says other potential causes include infectious diseases, smoke from oil-well fires, and vaccinations against anthrax and other biological agents. Of those, it says, “The most consistent epidemiological findings come from studies linking multisymptom illnesses in Gulf War veterans to receipt of vaccines.” It says, though, that poor record keeping by U.S. military agencies undermines efforts to assess the degree to which side effects from vaccines may have contributed to the widespread illnesses. “Reports have indicated that the anthrax vaccine administered during the Gulf War, commonly referred to as AVA (anthrax vaccine absorbed) is associated with a relatively high rate of acute adverse reactions, and have pointed out that there is insufficient evidence to determine whether the AVA vaccine formulation may be associated with long-term health” effects it says. Citing anthrax and botulinum toxoid vaccinations, the report says, “Many units did not record information on these vaccines in the shot records of personnel.” Safety and Effectiveness Questioned About 700,000 troops were deployed to Gulf War, of which 150,000 received the anthrax vaccine. Thousands of soldiers have suffered a diverse range of unexplained symptoms following their service. Potential problems with the anthrax vaccine, the report states, are ones of quality control during manufacturing, changes in the manufacturing process that may have resulted in increased levels of active antigen, and the use of unapproved adjuvants to bolster the effectiveness of the vaccines. A newer form of AVA has been used in a controversial mandatory program to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of U.S. forces and civilians in the past two years and the Army until recently aggressively vaccinated forces in countries around the globe against the disease.  A federal judge ordered last month, however, that vaccinations not be made without informed consent, finding that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not obey federal law last year when it ruled the drug safe and effective (see GSN, Nov. 11). The military has since suspended all anthrax vaccinations. A U.S. military Web site says the vaccine is “as safe as other vaccines” and that “There is no reasonable evidence that anthrax vaccine caused Gulf War illnesses.” “Multiple civilian panels found no evidence linking vaccination and Gulf War illnesses,” it says, but also cited a lack of data. “These civilian panels knew DOD didn’t keep comprehensive records of who received the anthrax vaccine in the Gulf War. DOD did not identify vaccinated units in order to keep Iraq from aiming bioweapons at unvaccinated units,” it says. Seven independent civilian panels, the Web site says, “affirm the safety of anthrax vaccine.” Apparently contrary to the report’s finding, Col. John Grabenstein the deputy director for military vaccines for the Army Surgeon General, told Global Security Newswire, “Absolutely no unapproved adjuvants were used in anthrax vaccine given to the troops.” More Research Needed The research advisory committee report recommends that U.S. government agencies — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health and the Defense Department — conducting vaccine testing “ensure that these trials include follow-up assessments of study subjects a minimum of five years after inoculation,” and use methods and instruments for detecting symptoms experienced by Gulf War veterans. It also recommends a “retrospective” study to compare the illnesses suffered by Gulf War veterans who received the vaccine to those who did not. The committee said it intends in the coming months to investigate many of the hypothetical causes for Gulf War illness, including “a more detailed consideration of evidence relating to vaccines.” Grabenstein said a long-term study of more than 100,000 service members is under way that “will be able to do comparisons and contrasts of anthrax-vaccinated and -unvaccinated personnel.” “Clearly the VA research advisory committee recognizes there are some significant concerns about the anthrax vaccine and that more research is necessary,” Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) told GSN. “In my view, there is no doubt that the Department of Defense should continue the operation of the Vaccine Healthcare [Centers], which is conducting some of this important work right now,” he said, referring to a small network of military centers for treaty and studying vaccine side effects for which Congress approved funding this year (see GSN, May 18). Back to top       Woman Who Planned to Kill Ex-Husband With Ricin Gets 11-Year Sentence for Attempted Murder A 22-year-old California woman was sentenced yesterday to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty this summer to attempting to kill her former husband for insurance money, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Aug. 11). In January, Tepatti snuck into the home of her Marine ex-husband. She shot at him, but the bullet hit the sofa on which he was sleeping, according to AP. Tepatti and her lesbian lover, Ebony Wood, were arrested later that day. Police found in the duo’s car a bag of ricin, which the two women had made from castor beans and planned to use in another murder attempt on Tepatti’s husband, AP reported. Wood is expected to be sentenced next her month for her role in the plot, which included building a silencer for Tepatti’s gun out of a potato (Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Nov. 15). Back to top       Eye Scanner Could Detect Anthrax, Ricin Poisoning A U.S. firm is developing a hand-held, binocular-style “ocular scanning instrument” to allow soldiers to quickly screen themselves for contamination during a biological or chemical attack, the CanWest News Service reported yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 11). A military prototype of the “Eye Zapper” is expected to be finished this year, after which it could be adapted for civilian use. “Think of it as a way to triage people whether they are on a battlefield or in the tundra of Canada,” said W.C. Bird, chief executive of MD Biotech, the W.Va.-based company that designed the device with funding from the U.S. Defense Department. The Eye Zapper searches the eye’s intricate network of veins and arteries for evidence of anthrax, ricin and cyanide poisoning. It would also be used to detect a host of other afflictions (Sarah Staples, CanWest News Service, Nov. 15). Back to top

Japanese First Responders Conduct Exercise Japanese emergency personnel today conducted a training exercise in which they responded to a simulated chemical attack at a monorail station at Tokyo’s Haneda domestic-route airport, according to the Xinhua News Agency (see GSN, Oct. 22). About 150 police and firefighters took part in the exercise, in which monorail passengers became ill after gas was released from a plastic container found in the train. First responders practiced rescues and decontamination (Xinhua News Agency, Nov. 16) Back to top

Canada Inspects Russian Submarine Dismantlement Canadian inspectors recently spent four days examining the dismantlement of Russian nuclear submarines at the Zvyozdochka shipyard, the shipyard’s press office said today (see GSN, Oct. 21). Canada is funding the decommissioning of three Project 671 submarines at the shipyard, and the inspectors said they were satisfied with Russian cooperation with the project, according to ITAR-Tass. Russia plans to fund the dismantlement of 13 out of 18 nuclear submarines set to be scrapped this year (Vladimir Anufriyev, ITAR-Tass, Nov. 16).   Back to top

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