U.S. President George W. Bush said yesterday that improved cooperation was needed with Russia to secure nuclear materials (AFP photo/Brendan Smialowski). Bush Seeks More Russian Access to U.S. Nuclear Sites By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday proposed providing Russia with increased access to U.S. nuclear storage sites to help improve overall nonproliferation efforts (see GSN, Dec. 14)...Full Story

Iran Continues to Process Yellowcake Uranium Despite a recent pledge to suspend all uranium enrichment activity, Iran has continued to process “yellowcake” uranium, diplomats close to the International Atomic Energy Agency said today (see GSN, Dec. 20)...Full Story

Umatilla Depot Workers to Be Retrained in Wake of “Near-Miss” Chemical Exposure Incident Chemical weapons destruction has been suspended and all 700 workers at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon are scheduled to be retrained in the wake of a Dec. 1 safety incident that one facility official called a “near-miss,” the East Oregonian reported (see GSN, Dec. 16)...Full Story

	Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Former Sept. 11 Commissioners to Push for Improved Congressional Intelligence Oversight in 2005 Former members of the Sept. 11 commission plan to push Congress when it reconvenes next month to reform its oversight of intelligence and homeland security issues, according to the New York Times (see GSN, Oct. 12). In a report released this summer, the commission proposed the creation of permanent homeland security committees in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The commission also proposed either the creation of a joint House-Senate intelligence committee or separate intelligence committees in each house of Congress with appropriations authority. “We’ve still got a ways to go; there are still some things that are very important in our report that have not been implemented,” said former commission Chairman Thomas Kean. “There has to be more power given to those intelligence committees.” This fall, the Senate approved some modest changes, such as removing term limits for intelligence committee members. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has indicated that House Republican leaders would not support creating a joint intelligence committee or providing the separate committees with appropriations authority, the Times reported. Hastert has made permanent, though, a special homeland security committee created in the House following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks (Shenon/Lipton, New York Times, Dec. 21). Back to top

Bush Seeks More Russian Access to U.S. Nuclear Sites By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W. Bush yesterday proposed providing Russia with increased access to U.S. nuclear storage sites to help improve overall nonproliferation efforts (see GSN, Dec. 14). Bush said there is a need to improve cooperation with Russia to secure stockpiles of nuclear materials — an issue of debate during this year’s U.S. presidential election campaign. “I think one of the things we need to do is to give the Russians equal access to our sites, our nuclear storage sites to see what works and what doesn’t work, to build confidence between our two governments,” Bush said in response to a question on U.S.-Russian relations during an end-of-the-year press conference. To address long-standing concerns about the vulnerability of Russian nuclear weapons and materials to theft or acts of terrorism, the United States conducts several programs to help improve security at nuclear sites. Such efforts have been hindered, however, by charges from both Washington and Moscow over lack of access to each other’s facilities.  Last month, though, a high-level delegation from the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency visited several U.S. sites, including the Pantex nuclear weapons plant in Texas, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and the Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico, according to an Energy Department official. The purpose of the visit was to discuss best practices for securing nuclear materials and to show Russian officials how such materials were protected at U.S. sites, the official said, adding that the Russian delegation was escorted during its visit. The U.S. official said the Russian visit was unrelated to Bush’s remarks yesterday. Nonproliferation advocates praised the president’s comments. “I applaud President Bush’s willingness to discuss Russia's reciprocal access to our nuclear sites,” said former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, who now heads the Nuclear Threat Initiative.  “Both countries have a vital stake in working together to prevent catastrophic terrorism by keeping nuclear materials and weapons out of the hands of terrorists.  Notwithstanding our inevitable differences, our mutual security depends on cooperation, and cooperation requires a much higher degree of reciprocity.” During his tenure in the Senate, Nunn was one of the architects of the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, which seeks to secure and dispose of former Soviet weapons of mass destruction.  While the Bush administration “deserves some credit” for attempting to break the “logjam” surrounding the access issue, questions remain on how the White House would resolve the dispute and how such access would be provided, said William Hoehn of the Russian-American Nuclear Security Advisory Council. He said that access would likely have to be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. Bush’s remarks sent “a very important signal” to Moscow, indicating continued interest in pursuing nonproliferation cooperate despite recent tensions, such as those concerning the Ukrainian presidential election, said Rose Gottemoeller of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In his remarks yesterday, Bush noted several disagreements that have arisen between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin, including the U.S. decision to invade Iraq and recent moves by the Kremlin to increase its domestic political control. Even so, Bush praised the current standing of the U.S.-Russian relationship, which he described as “vital and important.” “Vladimir Putin and I have got a good personal relationship,” Bush said. “I intend to keep it that way.  It’s important for Russia and the United States to have the kind of relationship where if we disagree with decisions, we can do so in a friendly and positive way.” According to reports, Bush and Putin are scheduled to meet in February in Slovakia. [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 the National Journal Group.] Back to top       Iran Continues to Process Yellowcake Uranium Despite a recent pledge to suspend all uranium enrichment activity, Iran has continued to process “yellowcake” uranium, diplomats close to the International Atomic Energy Agency said today (see GSN, Dec. 20). “The Iranians have decided to continue UF4 (uranium tetrafluoride) production until the end of February,” a diplomat told Reuters. Two other diplomats in Vienna confirmed the report. Iranian officials agreed last month in negotiations with the European powers not to process any yellowcake uranium that was not already in the conversion facility, Reuters reported. However, Tehran has now decided to convert all 37 tons of its raw uranium. “This goes beyond the agreement to only convert what was absolutely necessary,” one diplomat said (Reuters/Yahoo!News, Dec. 21). Meanwhile, a senior Iranian nuclear negotiator said today that the United States is seeking to hold direct talks with Iran to discuss its nuclear program. Iran does not object to European Union efforts to include Washington in ongoing nuclear negotiations, said Hossein Mousavian, secretary of the foreign policy committee on Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, according to Reuters. “The United States wants negotiations with Iran and definitely doesn’t like having a mediator in between, even if the Europeans want to mediate,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Mousavian as saying. “The Europeans have launched massive efforts to bring the United States into the nuclear negotiations,” Mousavian said. “We have no objection to the Americans joining the Europeans in this process.” “If the Americans want to hamper the Iran-EU cooperation, they can be effective and no one can deny it. ... U.S. interaction with Europe in this process is important from our point of view, nevertheless our partner is Europe, not America,” Mousavian said. “I don’t reject the possibility of nuclear talks between Iran and the United States, but I cannot predict the future.” A Western diplomat in Tehran, however, said discussions of the United States joining the talks were premature, but added that the EU “has been very clear that negotiations would have a much bigger chance of success if the Americans put their shoulders behind it.” U.S. officials remained skeptical that Iran is negotiating in good faith, he added. “We’re a long way from the Americans taking a seat at the negotiating table,” he said (Paul Hughes, Reuters/Yahoo!News, Dec. 21). Back to top       Y-12 Security Drill Nearly Backfired, Guards Say Security guards at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee responded to a mock training “attack” on Sept. 2 with live weaponry, not sure initially what they were facing and prepared to shoot, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, Nov. 18). The attack squad of guards wearing body armor and carrying loaded submachine guns was dispatched before dawn to intercept a group of “intruders,” according to the Times. The intruders, however, turned out to be a second group of guards conducting a fake attack with laser-tag equipment. “For two minutes, it was mass confusion,” said one of the guards on duty that night. “People asked several times, ‘Is this a drill?’ Nobody would clarify.” A second guard involved in the exercise said the security team had concluded, due to radio dispatch chatter, that “it was time to go fight.” A third person involved in the incident submitted an anonymous letter to the union safety officer calling the error “an almost fatal tragedy,” the Times reported. No one was in danger during the incident, according to William Brumley, the Energy Department official in charge of the site, and an official with the company that handles security at the facility, Wackenhut. Company official Martin Anderson acknowledged that the communication that night could have been “crisper.” Once the problem had been identified, a dispatcher promptly called a “code October,” indicating that the guards should halt the exercise immediately, according to Wackenhut and Energy Department officials. Peter Stockton of the Project on Government Oversight was more critical. “When you introduce live ammo in one of these things, it can be a disaster. If somebody had come around the side of the building, chances are they would have been killed,” Stockton said (Matthew Wald, New York Times, Dec. 21). Back to top       Bush Says U.S. to Continue Multilateral Diplomacy on Iran, North Korea Nuclear Issues By Marina Malenic Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The United States will continue to use multilateral diplomacy to persuade Iran and North Korea to dismantle their nuclear programs, U.S. President George W. Bush said yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 9). Referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, Bush said, “The best way to convince him to disarm is to get others to weigh in.” “The Iranian situation, as well,” Bush added during a press conference. “We’re relying upon others … to send a message that we expect them to listen to those voices.” “Diplomacy must be the first choice, and always the first choice of an administration trying to solve an issue of … nuclear armament. And we’ll continue to press on diplomacy.” The United States has been participating in six-party talks — which also include Russia, China, Japan and the two Koreas — to address Pyongyang’s nuclear work. The negotiations stalled after June, when the United States offered some economic and security concessions to North Korea (see GSN, July 26); Washington and other negotiating states have so far failed in efforts to schedule a new round of talks (see GSN, Nov. 19). The European Union, meanwhile, has continued negotiations aimed at convincing Iran to accept a longer-term suspension of its nuclear work (see related GSN story, today). Iran last month agreed to freeze all of its uranium enrichment activities, avoiding action by the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors, which could have referred the matter to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions (see GSN, Nov. 15). Tehran has continued to insist that its nuclear work is peaceful despite U.S. skepticism (see GSN, Sept. 22), while Pyongyang has repeatedly and publicly declared it is pursuing a “nuclear deterrent” (see GSN, Sept. 28). Multilateral negotiations make sense in both cases, nonproliferation expert Robert Einhorn of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said earlier this month at a CSIS event. “In the case of North Korea, the Bush administration has favored a multilateral approach and there are sound reasons for that,” Einhorn said. “North Korea’s neighbors have a stake in the outcome and a multilateral approach would involve North Korea in making commitments not just to the U.S. but to all the others, and perhaps increasing the likelihood that North Korea would take those obligations seriously.” “I think many of the same factors apply to Iran,” he added. “I think there are many countries in the region and outside who have got a real stake in this nuclear issue and they should be involved.” Back to top       U.S. Cannot Verify Russian SORT Compliance U.S. intelligence agencies determined shortly after the signing of the 2002 U.S.-Russian Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty that it would not be able to verify whether Moscow was adhering to the pact, Knight Ridder reported today (see GSN, June 22). The treaty requires both countries to reduce their stockpiles of deployed nuclear warheads to 2,200 each by the end of 2012. In an assessment issued a month after President George W. Bush signed the pact, U.S. intelligence determined that Russia’s poor economic situation would probably force Moscow to reduce its number of deployed warheads to about 1,500, according to Knight Ridder. U.S. intelligence also determined, though, that there could be circumstances in which Russia could deploy without detection a few hundred more warheads than allowed by the treaty, Knight Ridder reported. U.S. intelligence also concluded that warhead deployment counts could be verified if verification procedures contained in the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty could be extended past that agreement’s expiration in 2009, Knight Ridder reported (Jonathan Landay, Knight Ridder/Monterey County Herald, Dec. 21). Back to top       Russia to Conduct Two ICBM Tests This Week Russia is set this week to conduct two ICBM tests, according to reports (see GSN, Dec. 10). One test, scheduled to be held tomorrow, will involve an RS-20 ICBM launched from a mini-cosmodrome in Russia’s Orenburg region, according to ITAR-Tass. The missile is also known as the SS-18 in NATO classification. The new base is expected to replace the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for ballistic missile combat training launches, according to Russian Strategic Missile Troops Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Sergei Khutortsev (ITAR-Tass/BBC Worldwide Monitoring, Dec. 20). Russia is also set to test its mobile Topol-M ICBM on Friday from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, according to Interfax. The test is scheduled to be the last for the missile, which will then be supplied to army units, a Russian Defense Ministry official said (Interfax/BBC Monitoring, Dec. 21). Back to top

Umatilla Depot Workers to Be Retrained in Wake of “Near-Miss” Chemical Exposure Incident Chemical weapons destruction has been suspended and all 700 workers at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon are scheduled to be retrained in the wake of a Dec. 1 safety incident that one facility official called a “near-miss,” the East Oregonian reported (see GSN, Dec. 16). Two workers put at least themselves at risk of chemical exposure when they unclamped a working filter in the building’s ventilation system. “We’re taking this event very seriously,” Doug Hamrick, manager for U.S. Army contractor Washington Demilitarization Co., said Thursday. “We could have hurt somebody.” The Dec. 1 incident was the third to temporarily halt disposal of the 7.4 million pounds of chemical weapons stored at the facility, the East Oregonian reported. Employees in two events ignored markings on doors warning them not to enter an area, and on both occasions were not wearing the appropriate level of protective gear, said Dennis Murphey, administrator for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s chemical demilitarization program. “Everybody I’ve talked to is really stunned it happened,” Murphey said. “It’s extremely important that all the workers recognize and appreciate the consequences of the actions they’re taking.” Washington Demilitarization is requiring that all depot personnel meet individually with supervisors to make sure they understand safety procedures. One employee from each work shift will be designated to monitor communications between workers, supervisors and the building control room, the East Oregonian reported. There is no set schedule for the resumption of chemical weapons destruction (Amy Jo Brown, East Oregonian, Dec. 17). The Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, which funds equipment for emergency responders and emergency management and planning for a potential attack on the Umatilla Chemical Depot, will not be eliminated, said Dale Ormond, deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Army’s program to eliminate chemical weapons. “I am not here to eliminate the CSEPP program,” Ormond said Thursday at a public meeting in Hermiston, Ore. “As a steward of taxpayer dollars, I am asking the question ‘does the capability to provide protection change as the stockpiles are destroyed?’” he said. Umatilla and Morrow counties in Oregon have received about $90 million in CSEPP funds, according to the Government Accountability Office (Amy Jo Brown, East Oregonian, Dec. 17). Meanwhile, Umatilla workers detected a trace amount of sarin vapor Sunday inside a storage structure, the U.S. Army said in a press release. Most weapons in the structure have previously leaked and are packed in larger containers. The structure’s “passive” filter system prevents vapor from escaping. As an additional safety precaution, a powered filter system was installed Sunday, according to the Army. A crew was expected to enter the structure yesterday to locate the source of the vapor, according to the statement (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Dec. 20). Back to top       Tokyo Court Refuses to Halt Appeal Trial for Convicted Cult Head Despite Reported Mental Deterioration The Tokyo High Court refused to suspend an appeal trial for the former head of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, Shoko Asahara, whose lawyers said he was mentally unfit to stand trial, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, July 28). The court told Shoko Asahara’s lawyers yesterday that their request to suspend the trial had been rejected after chief judge Masaru Suda met with Asahara in prison and determined he was mentally fit, according to a court spokesman. Asahara was sentenced to death in February, in part, for leading the cult responsible for conducting a 1995 sarin attack on the Tokyo subway that killed 12. Asahara’s daughters said their father has been incoherent during meetings since mid-August, AFP reported. “I could not understand what was going on as (father) was incoherently laughing, turning right and left, looking up and down,” one daughter said, according to a Japanese tabloid (Agence France-Presse/Channel News Asia, Dec. 21). Back to top       Mustard Leak Detected at Deseret Chemical Depot Workers at the Deseret Chemical Depot in Utah yesterday detected mustard agent vapor leaking from two over-packed 155 mm projectiles, the U.S. Army said in a press release (see GSN, Dec. 17). The workers placed the munitions in larger airtight containers for continued storage, and no vapor escaped into the environment, according to the statement (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Dec. 20). Back to top

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