Speaking during a two-week NPT session that ends today, Mexican Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba urged the nuclear weapons states not to ignore their disarmament obligations under the treaty while they also pursue nonproliferation goals (U.N. photo). NPT Meeting Ends With Deep Divides By Jim Wurst Global Security Newswire UNITED NATIONS — The preparatory meeting for next year’s review of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty concludes today with the United States and the majority of non-nuclear parties to the treaty at odds over nearly every substantive issue (see GSN, April 28). The contentious issues include the nuclear weapons states’ responsibilities to eliminate their weapons, the noncompliance concerns over North Korea and Iran, how Israel — a nuclear weapon state outside of the NPT — is affecting the drive for a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction, and how to balance countries’ rights under the treaty to pursue peaceful nuclear technology against the need to ensure that technology is not used for weapons...Full Story

Bush Missile Defense Wins First Round in House By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — In a succession of 8-6 votes, Republicans on a House subcommittee yesterday beat down several initial Democratic efforts to curb the Bush administration’s newly revealed plans to expand its planned missile defense system and fund space-based interceptor development and testing (see GSN, Feb. 4)...Full Story

Senator Seeks to Maintain Public Health Spending to Prepare for Bioterrorism By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee’s senior Democrat, Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), called today on Congress to protect public health funding he called vital to defending the country against bioterrorism (see GSN, May 5)...Full Story

	Friday, May 7, 2004

Blair’s Choice for Top Intelligence Officer Draws Criticism From Opposition The intelligence official who oversaw the British assessment of Iraq’s prewar WMD capabilities was named yesterday to lead the MI6 intelligence agency, causing a political uproar in London, the New York Times reported (see GSN, Feb. 2). Prime Minister Tony Blair designated John Scarlett, currently chairman of the government’s Joint Intelligence Committee, to head the British overseas intelligence service. Scarlett presided over and approved the September 2002 report asserting that then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. To date, no weapons have been found. Blair’s political opponents criticized the appointment, arguing that Blair should wait until a British government inquiry on Iraq intelligence is complete before allowing the appointment to go ahead. “The government-appointed Butler inquiry is currently reviewing the whole question of intelligence, and the use made of it, in the run-up to the Iraq war,” Michael Ancram, foreign affairs spokesman for the Conservative Party, said in a statement. “Given that John Scarlett is central to that review, and that the inquiry has not yet reported, I believe that this appointment, at this time is inappropriate,” he added. Blair responded to the criticism by noting that he had confidence in the independent panel that selected Scarlett for the post. “You can only imagine what you guys would have been saying to me if I had interfered with that process,” Blair told reporters (Sarah Lyall, New York Times, May 7). Back to top

NPT Meeting Ends With Deep Divides By Jim Wurst Global Security Newswire UNITED NATIONS — The preparatory meeting for next year’s review of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty concludes today with the United States and the majority of non-nuclear parties to the treaty at odds over nearly every substantive issue (see GSN, April 28). The contentious issues include the nuclear weapons states’ responsibilities to eliminate their weapons, the noncompliance concerns over North Korea and Iran, how Israel — a nuclear weapon state outside of the NPT — is affecting the drive for a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction, and how to balance countries’ rights under the treaty to pursue peaceful nuclear technology against the need to ensure that technology is not used for weapons. The chairman of the meeting, Indonesian Ambassador Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, last night issued his own meeting summary, an attempt to reflect all the divergent positions expressed during the two-week session. As such, there are ideas in it to please and annoy everyone. The document, as has been the case in past NPT preparatory meetings, would probably be attached to the final report of the meeting without the endorsement of the governments. The United States, through several speeches and position papers, maintained that the greatest threat to the NPT comes from countries that are using the treaty to acquire nuclear weapons under the guise of peaceful technology, in particular North Korea and Iran. Assistant Secretary of State Paula DeSutter said this week, “All current and would-be proliferators (must) come to understand that noncompliance entails considerable political costs, and that the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction brings not security but insecurity.” However, the nonaligned states and the New Agenda — a coalition of seven countries (Brazil, Egypt, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sweden) that is promoting a nuclear disarmament agenda within the NPT framework — maintained that the lack of disarmament on the part of the nuclear weapons states, in particular the United States, should be the parties’ priority. Speaking for the nonaligned states, Malaysian Ambassador Hussein Haniff said, “Any assumption of the indefinite possession of nuclear weapons is incompatible with the integrity and sustainability of the nuclear nonproliferation regime.” Mexican Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba, speaking for the New Agenda said, “Nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear disarmament are mutually reinforcing processes that require continuous and irreversible progress in both fronts.” The U.S. position, as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton said last week, is that “we cannot divert attention from the violations we face by focusing on (disarmament) issues that do not exist.” The “chairman’s summary,” which was shown briefly to Global Security Newswire, credits the efforts made by the nuclear powers but is more in line with the majority view that more needs to be done by those states to eliminate their weapons in a transparent and irreversible manner. One key point of agreement is the need to increase the authority of the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect facilities to ensure that illegal nuclear activity is not taking place. “The international community committed itself to strengthen the agency’s verification capability,” said Vilmos Cserveny of the IAEA. “Specifically, its ability to provide the assurance not only that declared nuclear material has not been diverted for nonpeaceful purposes, but equally also the agency’s ability to detect that no undeclared nuclear material or activities exist,” he added. These measures are incorporated in an additional protocol which allows the IAEA to conduct more intrusive inspections than would normally be allowed under the NPT. Cserveny said last week that only 83 non-nuclear parties have signed the additional protocols, meaning there are still 100 countries that have not entered into these agreements (see related GSN story, today). Sudjadnan’s summary reflects these concerns, dedicating long passages to safeguards and other means, such as establishing international standards on exports, to ensure nuclear technology is not diverted to military purposes. The United States, in effect, wanted this meeting to be a referendum on Iran. “We should be deeply concerned by Iran’s desire to continue developing a full nuclear fuel cycle capability and by its repeated lack of transparency in almost all aspects of its nuclear program,” Assistant Secretary of State John Wolf said this week. “For at least 18 years, Iran has been in serious violation of its NPT obligations,” he added, saying that the IAEA has described in “striking detail a systematic, clandestine effort” to produce weapon-grade nuclear material “and hide its undeclared efforts from the world.” The IAEA itself does not use such unambiguous language. Cserveny said the agency’s reports “concluded that Iran had failed to meet its obligations under its safeguards agreement with respect to the reporting of nuclear material, the subsequent processing and use of that material and the declaration of facilities.” He said, “The process of verifying the correctness and completeness of the Iranian declarations by the agency is still ongoing” (see related GSN story, today). A new report on Iran is due at the end of May. Sudjadnan’s paper takes the more nuanced view of the IAEA concerning Iran and stresses there are still outstanding issues. The paper does not single out Israel’s nuclear weapons program as many delegates did as a threat to peace in the Middle East, but frames Israel’s absence from the NPT in terms of creating a Middle Eastern WMD-free zone. Back to top       Better Security Announced for U.S. Nuclear Labs By Marina Malenic Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham today announced plans for widespread security upgrades to better protect U.S. nuclear weapon laboratories from potential terrorist attacks (see GSN, April 28). Speaking at the Savannah River nuclear site in Aiken, S.C., Abraham said plans include: *         Consolidating nuclear material — Abraham said the number of facilities that require the highest level of protection would be reduced. Specific plans include permanently removing weapon-grade nuclear material from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico; expediting construction of a Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, allowing on-site consolidation of nuclear materials; and possible relocation of defense-related work at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, allowing for removal of weapon-grade nuclear material from the facility. *         Enhancing protective forces — The department would consider creating a specialized security unit to guard facilities, with training and capabilities similar to military special forces units. *         Federalization—Abraham discussed the possibility of federalizing DOE security forces, many of which now use contracted personnel. *         Protecting sensitive information — The department would expand performance testing of information systems to help “identify our actual and potential vulnerabilities to existing and emerging cyber threats.” *         Keyless security environment — Citing past problems with lost keys at some installations, Abraham announced his intention to “do away with the use of mechanical keys,” and replace them with new technologies (see GSN, Nov. 7, 2003). Abraham said the consolidation of nuclear materials is “one of the surest ways” to keep weapon-grade uranium and plutonium from falling into the hands of terrorists. “We must make certain changes,” Abraham said. “We must adapt to a world that changed three Septembers ago,” he added. Back to top       Congress Slow to Pass Protocol Legislation Implementing legislation for the Additional Protocol to the U.S. nuclear safeguards agreement is stuck in a Senate committee, and both Republicans and Democrats acknowledge that the approval process could take longer than once expected, Arms Control Today reported (see GSN, April 1). “This is something that will take some time,” said Andy Fisher, spokesman for Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.). “Numerous committees in both houses have an interest in the legislation,” he added. Although the full Senate approved the protocol itself in March, legislation to implement the agreement is also required and the Senate has insisted that the legislation be completed soon after the president ratifies the pact, according to Arms Control Today. One congressional staff member said jurisdictional issues are causing some delays. The implementing legislation was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but provisions such as those on issuing of warrants under U.S. law pertain to matters usually handled by the Judiciary Committee. A Democratic congressional staff member suggested that companion legislation would be introduced in the House after the Senate approves its version. He also suggested that the legislation would pass quickly in the House because the Bush administration is eager to put additional diplomatic pressure on Iran (Arms Control Today, May 2004). Back to top       ElBaradei: Caution, Not Speculation, Needed in Iran The International Atomic Energy Agency has no evidence yet to support the U.S. contention that Iran is running parallel nuclear programs to conceal its weapons ambitions, IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei said yesterday (see GSN, May 6). “We cannot speculate,” ElBaradei said. “It is very dangerous — as we’ve seen in Iraq — to speculate,” he added, referring to the war against Iraq and the subsequent inability to locate weapons of mass destruction in that nation. “We need to be very careful,” ElBaradei said in a speech to French lawmakers. “As long as we are moving forward, as long as we don’t see an imminent threat, I believe the best way is to continue to work on the basis of verification and diplomacy,” he said (Associated Press, May 6). Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Friday he believes Iran would not be censured during the IAEA board meeting next month, Reuters reported. “I am optimistic about the results of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s next meeting,” spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted as saying by the IRNA news agency. “Iran will definitely not be condemned in the next meeting, because Iran has been cooperating with the agency transparently” (Reuters/Yahoo!News, May 7). Back to top       U.S. Could Redeploy MX Missiles for Conventional Use The U.S. Defense Department is considering converting the nuclear-armed MX missile to carry conventional warheads, Arms Control Today reported today (see GSN, Feb. 4). Air Force Space Command already deactivated 26 of the intercontinental ballistic missiles that can carry 10 warheads each, and has 24 more to go by September 2005, according to spokesman Michael Kucharek. The Air Force does not plan to destroy the MX silos, however, preferring to retain them for possible future use. A February 2004 report by a task force of the Defense Science Board, an independent advisory body to the secretary of defense, recommended redeploying MX missiles armed with conventional warheads. The Air Force Space Command plans to review the recommendations starting this month (Wade Boese, Arms Control Today, May 2004). Back to top       Safety Problems Found at Livermore Lab Safety lapses at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California have created increased dangers for both facility employees and the public, federal investigators have found, the San Francisco Chronicle reported today (see GSN, Nov. 7, 2003). Investigators for the congressional Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board said in a five-page report dated March 17 that recent safety changes at Livermore made systems less effective. For example, changes have downgraded the ventilation system enough to raise concerns about public safety from accidental escapes of radioactive material, says a letter from safety board Chairman John Conway to the Energy Department. The investigators say the following features of the laboratory’s plutonium building were adversely affected by changes: *         the emergency power system; *         ventilation systems linked to gloves that allow workers to work with plutonium inside sealed chambers; *         components of the building ventilation system; and *         parts of the fire detection and suppression system. Joe Sefcik, program leader for Livermore’s nuclear materials technology program, which includes the plutonium building, denied the charges. “There is no hazard. . . . We’ve gone to a level of safety that is unique in the (U.S.) nuclear weapons complex,” Sefcik said. “There are 200 of us that work in this facility every day. If it wasn’t safe, none of us would work there,” he added (Keay Davidson, San Francisco Chronicle, May 7). Back to top       U.S. Welcomes Possible Easing of New Zealand Rules on Nuclear Ships A call by New Zealand’s National Party to relax rules barring any nuclear vessels to dock is a “positive, constructive” development in discussions on the island nation’s relationship with the United States, the U.S. Embassy in Wellington said yesterday (see GSN, May 6). The country’s main opposition party this week issued a report recommending that nuclear-powered ships be allowed at New Zealand’s ports. However, the National Party said that the ban on nuclear-armed vessels should be maintained and that all nuclear ships should still be considered unwelcome. The U.S. Embassy in Wellington promised to forward the report to Washington, according to the New Plymouth Daily News. The plan was based on policy in Denmark, which asks its allies not to send nuclear ships to its ports. One research effort found, though, that 54 nuclear-capable U.S. ships visited Denmark between 1975 and 1985. “It was quite clear that, unless they spent a lot of time at sea with no nuclear weapons on board at all, or unless they took with them some special ships to which they could offload weapons when they went into Danish ports, then they must have had their weapons on,” said Robert White, director of the Center for Peace Studies and a retired nuclear physicist. No nuclear ships have visited Denmark since the United States removed nuclear weapons from its surface vessels, said Wyatt Creech, former National Party deputy leader (Nick Venter, New Plymouth Daily News). Back to top

Senator Seeks to Maintain Public Health Spending to Prepare for Bioterrorism By Joe Fiorill Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The Senate Governmental Affairs Committee’s senior Democrat, Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), called today on Congress to protect public health funding he called vital to defending the country against bioterrorism (see GSN, May 5). Providing a glimpse of the Democratic strategy in one coming congressional appropriations battle, the erstwhile presidential candidate released a letter he sent today to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson saying that President George W. Bush’s administration “has failed to meet the letter or the spirit” of the 2002 Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act. In particular, Lieberman said, the administration has not produced a national bioterrorism preparedness plan and has sought to cut bioterrorism-related funds as if “the threat was diminishing.” “The bottom line is we are not now as prepared as we need to be to prevent or respond to a bioterrorist attack,” Lieberman said. The administration’s fiscal 2005 budget, according to Lieberman, would cut $100 million from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants to state and local health departments, $39 million from Health and Human Services Department grants to help states improve hospitals’ capacity for absorbing surges of patients and $5.5 million from funds for training public health workers. Speaking in a park outside the Senate at a press conference held to announce Lieberman’s move, American Public Health Association Executive Director Georges Benjamin said current and recent outbreaks of naturally occurring infectious diseases demonstrate the need for better U.S. biological defenses. “Public health departments and workers across this country have worked around the clock to improve the capacity of our public health system to respond to these threats, and we’ve certainly made progress. Yet, importantly, no single state and no community have reached a full level of national security preparedness to address the health consequences of a terrorist threat,” Benjamin said. “When I got up this morning,” he said, “I looked, and we were still at code yellow, which obviously means there is a significant risk of terrorist attacks. We cannot have a code-green budget for a code-yellow risk.” Executive Director Shelley Hearne of the Trust for America’s Health, which last year issued a report indicating U.S. states’ preparedness for health emergencies has improved “modestly” since September 2001, said at the press conference that “there is still extensive need to further fortify our public health system” (see GSN, Dec. 11, 2003). Hearne expressed particular concern over budget cuts for state and local efforts to better prepare for health emergencies. Benjamin described the public-health funding process as a frustrating vicious circle in which funds become scarce each time that some, but not sufficient, progress has been made in addressing a threat. “We get our hands almost around it, and then they withdraw funding. … That’s happened with tuberculosis, and it’s going to happen with bioterrorism,” he said. Back to top

U.S. Finds Iraqi Artillery Shell With Mustard Residue; Not Believed to Indicate a WMD Program A U.S. bomb-disposal team found an old artillery shell containing mustard agent residue Tuesday on a Baghdad street, Knight Ridder reported (see GSN, May 5). A U.S. military report said the shell was from a “very old stockpile,” and was not considered evidence that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein possessed an illegal stockpile of unconventional weapons. More tests on the shell were reportedly underway (Jonathan Landay, Knight Ridder/Billings Gazette, May 7). Back to top

Bush Missile Defense Wins First Round in House By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — In a succession of 8-6 votes, Republicans on a House subcommittee yesterday beat down several initial Democratic efforts to curb the Bush administration’s newly revealed plans to expand its planned missile defense system and fund space-based interceptor development and testing (see GSN, Feb. 4). In a markup session for the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill, the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee approved legislative language that would cut $177 million overall from the administration’s requested Missile Defense Agency budget for fiscal 2005, including $75 million for developing a new interceptor intended for launch from land, sea and space. Republicans, however, defeated Democratic amendments to block a controversial second fielding of ground- and sea-launched systems in 2006 and 2007, which would include building up to 20 new missile interceptors and silos (see GSN, Feb. 26). Plans to develop and begin testing space-based interceptors by 2010, and to conduct a test in 2006 that could lead to a space-based interception, also were untouched (see GSN, April 29). Dueling Concepts Representative Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) sought an amendment to require the Pentagon to realistically test the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system before additional missiles are funded. An initial batch of 20 interceptors, designed to destroy long-range enemy missiles, are currently scheduled for fielding by 2006 and the administration plans to activate some this year. Lacking key components, the system so far has not been tested to intercept a target under operationally realistic conditions, Tauscher said. Representative Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) said the military should pursue the traditional “fly-before-you-buy” approach to acquisition.  Representative Heather Wilson (R-N.M.) countered that the military should pursue an evolutionary “shoot-look-shoot” approach to buying the system, implementing a Bush administration military procurement method called “spiral development.” The spiral development approach involves fielding systems before they are fully developed, with the idea that they will be improved over time. Critics say it risks expensive purchases of systems that may ultimately not work or be safe. The Republicans also defeated a challenge to that plan by Representative John Spratt (D-S.C.), who proposed redirecting tens of missiles of dollars for the second GMD fielding to programs intended to protect U.S. forces abroad from shorter-range missile threats: the Theater High-Altitude Area Defense program, the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 interceptor and the Navy Area Wide program. Spratt charged the administration is investing aggressively in uncertain missile defense concepts to the disadvantage of systems showing more immediate promise. “Many of the systems the Missile Defense Agency funds are birds in the bush. This is a bird nearly at hand,” he said of the U.S. Army THAAD system. Representative Curt Weldon (R-Penn.) said he opposed Spratt’s move, noting the committee added funds those three programs in previous years. He said further he trusted Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, who heads the Missile Defense Agency, to balance funding levels for the various missile defense programs. “I take Kadish’s word on where the levels of funding should be,” he added. PAC-3 and Navy Area Wide, though, are not MDA programs over which Kadish would have control. They are, respectively, Army and Navy programs. Space-Based Interceptors Democratic amendments to block funding for early development and eventual flight-testing around 2010 of space-based missile defense interceptors also failed. Language proposed by Representative Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) would have blocked development and eventual testing of new sea- and space-based models of the Kinetic Energy Interceptor (see GSN, April 20). The subcommittee’s language already required a $75 million reduction in the KEI program, the main component of which is a land-based system, but did not specify where cuts would be made.  Ryan’s proposal also would have blocked $21 million requested by the administration to help foreign corporations develop technologies for that interceptor. “This money would be the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent” for more than $1 billion budgeted over the next five years for funding for foreign corporations, Ryan said. “It is questionable why we would spend more than $1 billion on work that is not critical to the deployment of the initial system,” he said. NFIRE A similar amendment by Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) to block only the funding for the space-based KEI development also was defeated. Facing potential defeat, Sanchez proposed and then withdrew language that also would have prevented a possible space-launched intercept during a scheduled 2006 data-gathering test known as NFIRE. The planned test involves aiming a normally sea-launched interceptor, lacking a maneuvering rocket, from a satellite toward a missile-launched target. The Pentagon has said the two objects could collide, but that gathering data, not interception, is the point of the test. Sanchez said an intercept could be a step toward an arms race to dominate space. “The NFIRE could very well become the tipping point for the weaponization of space,” Sanchez said. Committee technical staff differed on whether Sanchez’s recommendation would measurably add risk to the success of the data-gathering objective. One said he was told by the Missile Defense Agency that by seeking to better avoid a collision, there was potentially a greater risk the target would not come close enough to the kill vehicle for sufficient data gathering. Representative Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) said the interceptor would not have the capability to act as a weapon, lacking a maneuvering rocket, but noted also “a fundamental disagreement [with Sanchez] on where we should go with defending space.” The congresswoman said she planned to draft new language for full committee consideration. Initial Space Weapons Debate Sanchez urged a committee and congressional debate over putting weapons in space, arguing weaponization could “compel other countries” to make the same effort. Defending the administration’s research and testing plan, Thornberry said it would be “shortsighted” to “not ever think about having a space-based system.” Weldon argued that putting defensive weapons in space should not be controversial. Critics have charged that defensive interceptors inherently have offensive capability. Subcommittee Chairman Terry Everett (R-Ala.) said, “The gentle lady’s correct that Congress should have this debate. Hopefully, all of us will be here next term to have this debate,” he said. The subcommittee did not address requests for continued funding of two other controversial Bush administration initiatives: to study modifying earth penetrating nuclear weapons and to conduct research and development of new low-yield and other nuclear weapons capabilities.  Reyes said those issues would be addressed at the full committee markup, which is scheduled for Wednesday. Back to top       Israeli-U.S. Laser Test Destroys Rocket In its first test against a large-caliber rocket, an Israeli-U.S. laser weapon destroyed the target this week at a U.S. test facility, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced today (see GSN, Feb. 17). “This is a significant step forward,” a ministry spokesman said of the May 4 test of the “Nautilus” Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. “The (Nautilus) project has the potential to fill an important operational need for Israel,” said Shmuel Keren, the Israeli military director of weapons systems and infrastructure development. “The (Nautilus) system can answer our need for a system which can intercept missiles and cruise missiles for which currently there is no effective solution,” he added (Reuters, May 7). An Army spokeswoman would not identify the target destroyed this week, or its range, but said the rocket was six inches in diameter and 11 feet long (Greg Webb, GSN, May 7). In earlier tests, the laser eliminated 28 short-range Katyusha rockets and five artillery shells in flight, as well as several “hostile objects” on the ground, according to Reuters (Reuters, May 7). So far, the laser program consists of a single testbed produced by Northrop Grumman, according to spokesman Bob Bishop. However, “we’re confident we could deliver a mobile prototype in the fiscal 2007-2008 time frame if adequate funding is secured,” he said (Webb, GSN). Back to top       Japan Considers Missile Defense Purchase The United States might sell up to $725 million worth of missiles and related equipment to Japan, Inside Defense reported yesterday (see GSN, March 25). “Japan is one of the major political and economic powers in East Asia and the Western Pacific and a key ally of the United States in ensuring the peace and stability of that region,” the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a May 5 statement to Congress. “It is vital to the U.S. national interest to assist Japan to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability, which will contribute to an acceptable military balance in the area,” it added. Japan has requested nine Standard Missile 3 systems, upgrades to one Aegis Weapon System and other services and equipment. The new purchases would replace aging and less reliable missiles in the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force, the U.S. agency said (John Liang, Inside Defense, May 6). Meanwhile, Japan and the United States have agreed to conduct their first joint missile interceptor flight tests in the second half of 2005, Kyodo News reported (Kyodo News/Japan Today, May 7). Back to top

375 Pounds of Radioactive Material Seized in Ukraine An apparent attempt to sell nearly 375 pounds of radioactive material that could be used in a “dirty bomb” has been foiled by Ukrainian authorities, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 25). Ukrainian police and state security agents received information that two men in Kiev were preparing to pay $120,000 for two containers of cesium 137. They seized the containers, arrested three men and detained a number of other people around Ukraine, AP reported. Authorities did not say where the cesium came from or how the three suspects were involved in the alleged sale attempt. Cesium 137 can be found in photoelectric batteries and vacuum valves, AP reported. It is believed likely to be a good material for a dirty bomb, which combines radioactive material with conventional explosives (Alexander Vasovic, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, May 6).     Back to top

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