The International Atomic Energy Agency wants to visit for a second time the Parchin military site in Iran, which the United States suspects is involved in nuclear weapons-related research. The U.N. nuclear watchdog released a report today pressing Tehran for more information on its nuclear program (AFP photo). IAEA Complains of Poor Iranian Nuclear Cooperation By Greg Webb Global Security Newswire VIENNA — The International Atomic Energy Agency piled more pressure on Iran today by complaining of a lack of information and by demanding Tehran make its nuclear activities more transparent (see GSN, Feb. 28). In a statement on recent IAEA actions in Iran, the agency repeatedly urged Iran to provide more information on its nuclear program and disclosed that Tehran has rejected an agency request to revisit a military facility suspected by the United States to be home to nuclear weapons research...Full Story

Experts Call for “Universal Compliance” With Improved Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. nonproliferation experts have called in a report set to be released this week for a new international strategy of “universal compliance” to help strengthen the global nuclear nonproliferation regime (see GSN, Feb. 24)...Full Story

French Interior Minister Calls For Agency To Track Potential Biological Weapons Materials French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin today called for creation of a U.N.-affiliated organization to track potential biowarfare agents and keep them away from terrorists, Reuters reported (see GSN, Feb. 23)...Full Story

	Tuesday, March 1, 2005

Bin Laden May be Seeking Top Iraq Terrorist’s Help in Attacks on United States, U.S. Intelligence Warns U.S. intelligence indicates that terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden is seeking to enlist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, his top operative in Iraq, to conduct attacks against the United States, the Associated Press reported today (see GSN, Dec. 20, 2004). “Credible but not specific” intelligence has been collected over the past several weeks, Homeland Security Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. The agency issued a classified bulletin on the information last weekend. The bulletin indicates that al-Qaeda wants Zarqawi to conduct attacks on U.S. citizens in the United States and elsewhere, a Bush administration official told AP. “The intelligence continues to be analyzed by the intelligence community and all appropriate information will be passed on to homeland security partners,” Roehrkasse said. “The department has no plans at this time to raise the threat level based on this nonspecific information.” Zarqawi has been linked to a number of terrorist acts in the Middle East, including the foiled chemical plot in Jordan (see GSN, Feb. 24; Jordan/Shrader, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, March 1). Back to top

French Interior Minister Calls For Agency To Track Potential Biological Weapons Materials French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin today called for creation of a U.N.-affiliated organization to track potential biowarfare agents and keep them away from terrorists, Reuters reported (see GSN, Feb. 23). “Why not create a joint database mapping sensitive labs, with an alert network for thefts, disappearances and suspect transactions, as well as a list of groups and individuals subject to special vigilance because they have tried to acquire sensitive materials,” he said during an Interpol bioterrorism conference in Lyon, France. Villepin did not propose giving inspection powers to such an agency, but said that biotechnology companies, laboratories, hospitals and universities need to better monitor themselves on issues of hiring, pathogen work and access to sensitive areas, according to Reuters. Interpol President Jackie Selebi warned of bioterror attacks on livestock or the food chain. “Major panic, temporary paralysis of government functions and private businesses and even civil disorder are all likely outcomes of a bioterrorism attack,” Selebi said. “In fact, bioterrorism appears particularly well suited to the small, well-informed groups. A bioterrorist’s lab could well be the size of a household kitchen and the weapon built there could be smaller than a toaster, and the range of options available to terrorists will continue to grow” (Mark Trevelyan, Reuters, March 1).  “There is no criminal threat with greater potential danger to all countries, regions and people in the world than the threat of bioterrorism,” Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said at the conference. “There is no crime area where police have as little training than in preventing — or responding to — bioterrorist attacks.” He added that al-Qaeda wants to use biological and chemical weapons and has posted manufacturing instructions on the Internet, according to the Associated Press. “Terrorists do want to use biological weapons,” said Noble. “The threat is worthy of immediate preparation” (Associated Press, March 1). Al-Qaeda conducted biological warfare experiments in the Republic of Georgia, Villepin said, according to Interfax “Several al-Qaeda cells have been trained in Afghanistan where they have learned to use biological agents including anthrax, ricin and botulism toxins,” Villepin said. “Later, after the fall of the Taliban regime, those groups continued their experiments in the Pankisi Gorge, on the territory of Georgia, bordering Chechnya” (see GSN, May 5, 2004; Interfax/Mosnews.com, March 1). Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili said he had no information on Villepin’s claim, according to Interfax. “Over the last year, no foreign secret service has given us information on terrorists in the Pankisi Gorge developing biological and chemical weapons,” he said (Interfax, March 1). More than 400 delegates — including scientists, police chiefs and experts — from about 120 countries are discussing bioterrorism and law enforcement preparedness during the two-day conference in Lyon, Agence France-Presse reported. Follow-up training workshops are scheduled for the end of this year in South Africa, and next year in Chile and China, according to AFP (Michel Moutot, Agence France-Presse, March 1). Meanwhile, Russian Federal Security Service Director Nikolai Patrushev today called for law enforcement and security agencies around the world to consolidate efforts at preventing terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction, ITAR-Tass reported (Alexander Shashkov, ITAR-Tass, March 1). Patrushev spoke at the fourth international conference of heads of security services held in Novosibirsk, which includes representatives from the former Soviet Union, the Group of Eight world’s leading industrial nations, the European Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, according to RIA Novosti (RIA Novosti/BBC Monitoring, March 1). Back to top

IAEA Complains of Poor Iranian Nuclear Cooperation By Greg Webb Global Security Newswire VIENNA — The International Atomic Energy Agency piled more pressure on Iran today by complaining of a lack of information and by demanding Tehran make its nuclear activities more transparent (see GSN, Feb. 28). In a statement on recent IAEA actions in Iran, the agency repeatedly urged Iran to provide more information on its nuclear program and disclosed that Tehran has rejected an agency request to revisit a military facility suspected by the United States to be home to nuclear weapons research. The statement came from the agency’s top nuclear safeguards official, Pierre Goldschmidt, who reported on inspectors’ recent efforts to investigate Iran’s nuclear program. His report to the agency’s Board of Governors described several areas of concern that inspectors need more information to clarify. Most contentious is the agency’s desire for a second visit to the Iranian military facility at Parchin. The United States has expressed concern that the site houses research into developing the conventional high-explosive components of nuclear weapons. Though not required by any formal obligation, Iran allowed agency officials to tour five buildings of their choice at the site in January (see GSN, Jan. 14). Today’s report, however, says that Iran rejected a subsequent agency request to visit another portion of the facility. Quoting an Iranian letter to the board delivered Sunday, the report says “the expectation of the [agency’s] safeguards department in visiting [the] specified zone and points in Parchin Complex are fulfilled and thus there is no justification for any additional visit.” Iran today reiterated its opposition to additional Parchin visits. “The agency for the time being has extensive information available to them. They need time to assess it,” senior Iranian delegate Sirus Naseri told reporters. “We have been transparent on this. We have gone beyond the obligations.” Goldschmidt’s report provides additional detail on recent reports that Iran mostly rejected a 1987 offer to purchase uranium enrichment and nuclear weapon technologies. In January, Iran provided agency officials with a one-page document describing the offer from a representative of the former nuclear smuggling network headed by top Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan (see related GSN story, today). “This document suggests that the offer included the delivery of: a disassembled sample machine (including drawings, descriptions, and specifications for production); drawings, specifications and calculations for a ‘complete plant’; and materials for 2,000 centrifuge machines. The document also reflects an offer to provide auxiliary vacuum and electric drive equipment and uranium reconversion and casting capabilities,” today’s report says. “Iran stated that only some of these items had been delivered, and that all of those items had been declared to the IAEA,” it continues. Naseri also rebutted a frequently stated U.S. basis of suspicion about Iran’s nuclear program, namely that the oil- and gas-rich nation has no need for alternative energy sources. “All forecasts and expectations are that consumption, the need for nuclear energy is on the rise within the next 10 years because of uncertainties in the price and availability of gas, because of the block trading price of oil, because of environmental issues, because of the greenhouse matters, there is a near consensus that nuclear energy will play a much more significant role and prominent role within the next 10-15 years,” he said. “There has been a very bad experience to rely on fuel supplies, and I think Iran and many other countries would certainly wish to be a nuclear fuel supplier for its own domestic needs and hopefully one day for others,” he added (see GSN, Feb. 2). The IAEA report also complains that the several agency requests have been refused for more information on Iran’s mid-1990s acquisition of uranium enrichment centrifuges On another key matter, Iran continues to deny the agency access to the construction site for a heavy water research reactor at Arak (see GSN, Feb. 14). Such access is not required by Iran’s safeguards agreement with the U.N. agency or needed to verify its agreed suspension of uranium enrichment activities while Tehran negotiates with European Union for a long-term resolution of the nuclear crisis. Nevertheless, last September the agency board asked Iran “as a further confidence-building measure, voluntarily to reconsider its decision to start construction” of the reactor. Today’s statement, however, reports, “No visit to the site of this reactor has taken place since the board adopted that resolution. Iranian officials have indicated that the Heavy Water Research Reactor (IR-40) project is progressing.” Many nonproliferation experts fear that such reactors are well suited for plutonium production and have questioned Iran’s need for heavy-water reactors as energy sources. Naseri, however, defended Iran’s research. “It’s a reactor for research as any other research reactor, and there are advantages to heavy water over light water,” he said. The report had one more positive note, as it indicates that the agency has successfully monitored Iran’s suspension of its uranium enrichment program. Iran has completed work, started before the suspension, to convert uranium ore to gaseous forms that could be used in centrifuges. That gas is now under agency seal, the statement says. Back to top       Experts Call for “Universal Compliance” With Improved Nuclear Nonproliferation Regime By Mike Nartker Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — U.S. nonproliferation experts have called in a report set to be released this week for a new international strategy of “universal compliance” to help strengthen the global nuclear nonproliferation regime (see GSN, Feb. 24). “The present nonproliferation regime needs fixing,” says the report, prepared by experts at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “This is a time that demands systemic change: a new strategy to defeat old and new threats before they become catastrophes.” The report, an advance copy of which was obtained yesterday by Global Security Newswire, sets out about 100 recommendations for improving the international nuclear nonproliferation regime. It was prepared over an 18-month-period involving consultations with more than 150 officials and experts from a number of countries. Many of the report’s recommendations were included in a draft version released last summer (see GSN, June 28, 2004). The report comes as members of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the linchpin of international nuclear nonproliferation efforts, prepare to meet in May for the treaty’s fifth review conference. The report’s authors selected 20 recommendations as being among the “top priorities” for improving the nonproliferation regime. These include making nonproliferation decisions irreversible, such as by restricting uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing technologies to those countries that already posses them in exchange for affordable nuclear fuel for civilian plants; an end to the production of highly enriched uranium; and a temporary pause in plutonium separation. The report also calls for new measures to prevent countries from withdrawing from the treaty, such as North Korea is believed to have done. The report recommends that the U.N. Security Council pass a resolution holding countries that withdraw from the treaty responsible for any violations they might have conducted as a member; and that the council bar those countries that withdraw from using the nuclear assets they obtained as treaty members. In addition, all countries should agree to suspend nuclear cooperation with those states that the International Atomic Energy Agency cannot verify are in compliance with their nonproliferation obligations, the report says. To help devalue the role of nuclear weapons, the five recognized nuclear weapons-states — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States — should disavow the development of new nuclear weapons, agree to maintain their moratorium on nuclear testing and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the report says. Of the five nations, only China and the United States have not ratified the test ban treaty. In addition, all nuclear weapons states should produce a “detailed road map” of the measures needed to verifiably eliminate their nuclear arsenals, the report says. Only the United Kingdom has begun to examine such a disarmament effort, the report states. The report calls on Russia and the United States specifically to increase the time officials would need to make a decision to launch nuclear weapons and to make their respective nuclear reductions, such as those carried out under the 2002 Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty, “irreversible and verifiable.” The Carnegie experts encouraged development of new measures to secure nuclear materials around the world, including the creation of a high-level contact group to prepare new standards for the protection of nuclear weapons, facilities and materials. In addition, the United States, Russia and other countries should seek to secure and remove vulnerable nuclear materials around the world within four years, the report says. It also recommends enhanced measures to prevent the illegal transfers of nuclear-related technologies, such as those conducted by the international network formerly headed by top Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. To do so, the report says, all countries must fulfill their obligations under Security Council Resolution 1540 to implement national measures to prevent proliferation. In addition, all countries should be required to ratify the Additional Protocol to their IAEA safeguards agreements, which gives the agency increased authority to monitor a country’s nuclear activities, the report says. The report further calls on the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a multilateral export-control regime that governs trade in nuclear-related technology, to make the Additional Protocol a “condition of supply” for all transfers. A senior U.S. State Department official said last month that the Bush administration believes the group will do so by the end of the year. The report also recommends that group members expand their voluntary data sharing with the International Atomic Energy Agency and require it for transfers of all controlled items, thereby making undeclared transfers “illegal on their face.” The experts also encouraged private corporations to block trade, loans and investments with those countries illegally seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Noting that many countries use regional conflicts are reasons for seeking nuclear, along with biological and chemical weapons, the report calls on the “major powers” to aid in the resolution of such disputes. In addition, the report seeks to address the so-called “three-state problem” — the possession of nuclear weapons by India, Israel and Pakistan, none of which have joined the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The experts recommended an end to the “unrealistic” demand that three countries give up their nuclear weapons and join the treaty as non-nuclear states. Instead, the three countries should be persuaded to accept the same obligations as those held by the recognized nuclear weapons-states, the report says. “The goal of persuading India, Israel and Pakistan to abandon their nuclear weapons would not be dropped, rather these three states would be expected to eliminate their nuclear arsenals as and when the United States, China, France, Russia and the United Kingdom eliminate theirs,” the report says. The report is set to be formally released Thursday during an event at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington. Back to top       Iran Tentatively Welcomes U.S. Role in Nuclear Talks Iran yesterday tentatively welcomed news that the United States is considering joining the European Union in offering incentives to resolve the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, Feb. 28). “The Iranian government believes any step that can help the negotiations and bring results is a positive step,” said government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh. “We have already said the U.S. is not part of the talks. But if U.S. pressure on the European countries obliges the Europeans to coordinate with the U.S., we certainly welcome it,” he said, adding that Iran was not seeking “more or fewer incentives” (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Feb. 28). European leaders last week reassured U.S. President George W. Bush that they shared the U.S. view of Iran’s nuclear weapons plans, and agreed that their negotiations were unlikely to succeed, a State Department official said yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reported. The official paraphrased the message from the Europeans as: “The Iranians have not shown a lot of goodwill and there’s a good chance that this is likely to fail. The problem is … you are going to be blamed for the failure unless you make an effort that looks like you are supporting our effort.” European diplomats said yesterday they were satisfied that the Bush administration was carefully weighing their proposal to offer Iran incentives. “It’s positive signals, they come at the right moment, and it makes us optimistic,” said Nathalie Loiseaux, spokeswoman for the French Embassy in Washington. “But we know that it’s not going to be easy [dealing] with Iran” (Efron/Rubin, Los Angeles Times, March 1). German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said U.S. support for Europe’s diplomatic efforts has improved the chances of a negotiated settlement over the dispute, AP reported. “My impression is that the chances of a settlement have risen,” Schroeder said while traveling in Kuwait, adding that Washington is “clearly supporting the approach of negotiations” (Associated Press, March 1). U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that President George W. Bush is “looking at what he thinks might be necessary to support European diplomacy, but he hasn’t made any decisions.” While Washington has for two years pressed other members of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors to send Iran’s case to the U.N. Security Council, France, Germany and the United Kingdom have indicated they would block such moves while negotiations continue, the Washington Post reported. “It is clear the Europeans have undertaken not to support a resolution against Iran unless things progress in a bad direction,” one U.S. official said. “So our position is based on trying to give the European initiative a chance to bear fruit or collapse.” Meanwhile, agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei confirmed a Post report that Iran had provided international investigators a copy of a 1987 offer from Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan’s nuclear network for technology and centrifuge components. “The offer was extensive, but [Iran] indicated that they did not, obviously, take these people up on the entirety of the offer,” said ElBaradei (Dafna Linzer, Washington Post, March 1). Russia is urging Iran not to develop facilities to produce nuclear fuel, arguing that doing so would not be economical, the head of Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency said yesterday. “In a country that has fewer than eight or 10 nuclear reactors ... developing an independent nuclear cycle is not only unfeasible, but wasteful,” said Alexander Rumyantsev. “This is what we are telling the Iranians and they are studying these materials with interest.” Rumyantsev said Russia would offer bids to build six additional nuclear reactors in Iran. He added, however, that Iran has the right to develop a complete fuel cycle. “As for the decisions they make ... because they are members of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, nothing forbids them from developing their own cycle,” he said (Maria Danilova, Associated Press/AberdeenNews.com, Feb. 28). Tehran’s priority in negotiating with the European nations is to obtain “the recognition of Iran’s legitimate right to master nuclear technology, notably the production of fuel. .. for 20 [reactors] of 1,000 megawatts,” Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said today, AFP reported (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, March 1). The European Union said yesterday it did not object to Russia’s signing Sunday of a nuclear fuel agreement with Iran for the Bushehr nuclear reactor, AFP reported. Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, whose country holds the EU rotating presidency, said the agreement “no negative influence” on Europe’s attempt to end the standoff with Tehran (Agence France-Presse/Middle-East.World.Designerz.com, Feb. 28). Back to top       Kim Reportedly Speaks of Pyongyang’s Nuclear Arsenal North Korean leader Kim Jong Il last week reaffirmed his country’s recent announcement that it has a nuclear arsenal, a diplomatic source said today (see GSN, Feb. 28). Kim told Wang Jiarui, head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Department, that the weapons were “not something new that happened yesterday or today,” the Kyodo News Service reported. However, he did not say when the weapons were manufactured or how many there are, the source said. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to comment on the matter, according to Kyodo (Kyodo News Service/BBC Monitoring, March 1). Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors is today preparing a resolution urging North Korea to return to resume negotiations on its nuclear program, Agence France-Presse reported. The summary was being drafted by the other nations in the six-party talks — China, Japan, Russia, South Korea, and the United States. The five differ on how strident their message to North Korea should be, according to AFP. “Do you condemn North Korea for allegedly having nuclear weapons or just ask them nicely to return to talks,” said a Western diplomat (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, March 1). Back to top       Russian Official Admits Nuclear Security Problems Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency Director Alexander Rumyantsev said yesterday that there were “problems with protection” at some Russian nuclear sites, according to Agence France-Presse (see GSN, Feb. 25). “Technical means for protection of Russian nuclear power stations are the best in the world,” he said. “But there are problems with protection of other nuclear sites.” Rumyantsev probably was referring to nuclear research sites, some of which encompass entire “closed” communities, AFP reported. “We are talking about very large areas and very large cities, so there are always problems,” Rumyantsev said. He added, though, that Russian nuclear sites were guarded enough “to repel any threat” (Agence France-Presse, Feb. 28). Back to top

Scientists Protest U.S. Focus on Bioterror Agents The U.S. government is focusing research funding on preventing bioterrorism at the expense of other serious public health issues, 758 scientists said yesterday in a petition submitted to the National Institutes of Health (see GSN, Feb. 8). Grants for research on anthrax and five other exotic pathogens have increased fifteenfold since 2001, the scientists said, while grants for studying nonweaponized diseases have dropped by 27 percent over that time, the scientists said, according to the New York Times. “A majority of the nation’s top microbiologists — the very group that the Bush administration is counting on to carry out its biodefense research agenda — dispute the premises and implementation of the biodefense spending,” said Richard Ebright, a molecular biologist at Rutgers University and primary organizer of the petition. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases manages about 95 percent of NIH biodefense research money, according to the Times. The $1.5 billion spent annually on biodefense research since 2003 was new money and not taken from existing programs, said NIAID Director Anthony Fauci said. In addition, research centers receiving biodefense funding are working on other public-health priorities, such as preventing a possible influenza pandemic, Fauci said. The biodefense money would have gone to similar work by the Defense or Homeland Security departments if the National Institutes had not taken the funding, Fauci said. Work in the other agencies would have occurred without input from scientists through the NIH grant-reviewing process, Fauci said (Scott Shane, New York Times, March 1). Back to top

U.S. Researchers Develop Nerve-Gas Sensors Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have developed a sensing device to be used in nerve-gas detectors, Bioterrorism Week reported yesterday (see GSN, Jan. 6). The new technology — a nanometer-thin crystal of tin oxide placed between two electrodes — is more sensitive and stable than previous sensors. The sensor potentially would able to detect a single molecule of sarin, researchers said (Bioterrorism Week, Feb. 28). Back to top

Rice Cancels Planned Canada Trip Because of Missile Defense Rejection, U.S. Official Says U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has canceled a planned trip to Canada because the Bush administration is angry over Ottawa’s decision to not participate in missile defense, a Bush administration official said yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 28). Rice had been scheduled to travel to Canada next month. The visit has not been rescheduled, the Associated Press reported (Associated Press/USA Today, March 1). Back to top

U.S. Judge Orders Padilla to Be Released or Charged The U.S. government must either release detained “dirty bomb” suspect Jose Padilla or charge him with a crime, U.S. District Judge Henry Floyd ruled yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 17, 2004). The government has detained Padilla as an enemy combatant since arresting him in 2002 on suspicion that he planned to detonate a radiological weapon in the United States. The Justice Department later reported that Padilla had been assigned to use natural gas to blow up apartment buildings, Bloomberg News reported. Padilla challenged his detention last year after the Supreme Court ruled that the Bush administration could not indefinitely hold suspects, according to Bloomberg News. In his ruling, Floyd wrote that the Bush administration “has not provided, and this court has not found, any law that supports the contention that the president enjoys the inherent authority” to hold Padilla. Floyd ordered the administration to release Padilla within 45 days, charge him with a crime or hold him as a material witness in a criminal case. The Justice Department plans to file an appeal, spokesman John Nowacki said (Laurence Arnold, Bloomberg News/Philadelphia Inquirer, March 1).   Back to top

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