 |
Even the treaty’s sole purported limit, on “operationally deployed strategic warheads” turns out to be hollow — a public relations stunt that expires the moment it enters into force.
—Christopher Paine, senior analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, on the U.S.-Russian Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty.
By Bryan Bender
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Congress this week cleared the way to spend the $400 million allocated for new projects to destroy strategic weapons in the former Soviet Union this year (see GSN, May 2)...Full Story 
The U.S. State Department yesterday named the 10 entities that it recently sanctioned for selling WMD components to Iran (see GSN, July 25)...Full Story
By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — A leading arms control group refused Tuesday to support ratification of the U.S.-Russian Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty unless the U.S. Senate attached several conditions to its approval (see GSN, July 24)...Full Story
 |
The Senate yesterday approved a $28.9 billion supplemental funding bill largely dedicated to the war on terrorism, following House approval Tuesday. President George W. Bush is expected to sign the legislation (see GSN, July 24).
Congressional approval for the bill, which includes funds for the Pentagon, New York recovery and FBI upgrades, ended four months of disagreement over the funding amount. An earlier Senate version had provided more than $30 billion, but the White House threatened to veto.
The money is for the remaining fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, but most of the funds will not be spent until later, according to the Associated Press. The bill is the second piece of legislation to provide major funding for anti-terrorism efforts since the Sept. 11 attacks. Congress approved $40 billion in the weeks shortly after the attacks (Associated Press/Miami Herald, July 25).
Canada has officially designated seven Islamic militant groups, including al-Qaeda, as terrorist organizations, the Toronto Star reported yesterday (see GSN, June 14).
Under the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act, which Governor General Adrienne Clarkson, signed into law Tuesday, the following seven terrorist groups have been added to the Canadian Criminal Code: al-Qaeda, Armed Islamic Group, Salafist Group for Call and Combat, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Vanguards of Conquest, al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya (Islamic Group) and al-Ittihad al-Islam (Tonda MacCharles, Toronto Star, July 24).
Canadian officials did not say whether any of the named organizations are known to be active within Canada, according to the National Post. Anyone discovered to be working with any of the seven named groups could be sentenced to up to life in prison, the Post reported.
“People might happen to be dealing with these entities and not be aware that they are terrorist groups,” said Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay. “What we’re saying today is these are terrorist groups. They’re listed under the Criminal Code. If you deal with them, assist them in any way, you’re breaking the law and we’re going to come after you” (Bill Curry, National Post, July 24).
|
 |
By Bryan Bender
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Congress this week cleared the way to spend the $400 million allocated for new projects to destroy strategic weapons in the former Soviet Union this year (see GSN, May 2). The money had been blocked when the Bush administration said earlier this year that it could not certify that Russia is complying with arms control obligations.
The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate each voted this week to eliminate a funding requirement for new projects in the Cooperative Threat Reduction program that stipulates the president must certify, among other things, that Russia is abiding by arms control agreements. U.S. President George W. Bush is the first president to have denied the certification since the program began in 1991 (see GSN, April 8).
The provision passed this week, however, lasts only through Sept. 30, and CTR supporters are calling for rapid expenditure of the remaining funds on new projects. They are also pushing for an extended or even permanent waiver to take advantage of billions of dollars in new funds pledged for threat reduction efforts over the next decade.
The creators of the CTR program outlined yesterday how to expand the program in future years, beginning with Russia’s thousands of chemical weapons.
Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and former Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) — co-authors of the original legislation that has led to $5 billion in funds to destroy former Soviet weapons and subsidize former Soviet weapons scientists — told reporters yesterday that a permanent waiver is needed to move swiftly ahead with new CTR projects. A freer hand is also necessary to implement the Moscow Treaty, recently reached by the United States and Russia to reduce deployed nuclear weapons, they said. Russia is expected to require significant financial assistance to live up to its part of the deal.
The final version of the fiscal 2003 defense authorization bill, currently under negotiation between the House and Senate, is expected to address a more extensive waiver.
Nunn, who now heads of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, said the certification process — originally created to ease concerns over Russian use of the CTR funds and to encourage a fuller accounting of Russia’s WMD inventories — is no longer practical. He said the Moscow Treaty is based primarily on faith and trust — there are no verification procedures such as there were in previous treaties.
Lugar’s Top Ten List
With a permanent waiver, Nunn and Lugar said the CTR program will be able to take full advantage of $20 billion pledged by the United States and the European Union at the G-8 summit earlier this month to address the proliferation threats emanating from the former Soviet Union (see GSN, June 28).
Lugar urged devoting those funds to a list of 10 critical threats, starting with Russia’s large stockpile of chemical weapons.
“The United States and Russia ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention in 1997,” Lugar said. “Today, some five years later, the U.S. is in the midst of a very expensive destruction process but the Russians have barely eliminated 100 pounds of their estimated 40,000 metric ton stockpile. The smallest of these, an 85 mm shell, can easily fit into a suitcase. Just one briefcase can carry enough agents to kill tens of thousands of people” (see GSN, June 18).
Russian biological weapons also need greater attention, according to Lugar.
“We have enjoyed great progress … but there are still some facilities in Russia who will not engage with us,” he said. “Specifically, there are four former military facilities that have not opened their doors. This is a mistake that must be corrected.”
Lugar plans to go to Russia next month in an effort to lift some of the “mystery of the biological situation.”
Lugar also urged expanding CTR programs to cover tactical nuclear weapons, the further engagement of former weapon scientists, material protection, control and accounting projects, radioactive sources for a “dirty bomb,” the shutting down of plutonium producing reactors, nonstrategic submarines that can carry nuclear-capable cruise missiles and nuclear reactor safety.
“The CTR program needs a lot of help,” Nunn added.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Sam Nunn is co-chairman and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative and Richard Lugar is an NTI board member. NTI is the sole sponsor of Global Security Newswire, which is published independently by National Journal Group.]
The U.S. State Department yesterday named the 10 entities that it recently sanctioned for selling WMD components to Iran (see GSN, July 25). The entities consist of eight Chinese companies, one Chinese individual and one Indian individual.
For violating both the Iran-Iraq Arms Nonproliferation Act of 1992 and the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991, the United States has imposed sanctions on the following:
* Jiangsu Yongli Chemicals and Technology Import and Export Corporation,
* China Machinery and Equipment Import Export Corporation,
* China National Machinery and Equipment Import Export Corporation,
* CMEC Machinery and Electric Equipment Import and Export Company Ltd.,
* CMEC Machinery and Electrical Import Export Company, Ltd.,
* China Machinery and Electric Equipment Import and Export Company,
* Wha Cheong Tai Company, Ltd., and
* Chinese national Q.C. Chen.
The United States also imposed sanctions on the China Shipbuilding Trading Company and Indian Hans Raj Shiv for violating the Iran-Iraq Act, State spokesman Richard Boucher said in a press briefing yesterday (U.S. State Department release, July 25).
Several of the Chinese entities named yesterday have been the target of previous sanctions for sales of WMD material to Iran, according to previous State Department reports. In May, the United States imposed sanctions on the China Shipbuilding Trading Company, Wha Cheong Tai Company and Chen (see GSN, May 16). Chen was also sanctioned in January — along with the China Machinery and Electric Equipment Import and Export Company — and again in May 1997 (see GSN, Jan. 24; Mike Nartker, GSN, July 25).
The latest round of sanctions does not apply to either the Chinese or Indian governments themselves, Boucher said. The United States plans to continue to work with China to reduce the spread of weapons of mass destruction, he said.
“Nonproliferation is a key issue in our bilateral relationship with the People’s Republic of China and we will continue to seek Chinese cooperation in resolving areas of concern,” Boucher said (State Department release).
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said yesterday that if the United States were to take action against Iraq, officials would then present evidence that the country is pursuing weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, no one should doubt that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is trying to acquire such weapons, particularly nuclear weapons, Blair said (see GSN, April 2).
There is a “certain scratchiness” between the United States and the European Union in regard to a potential U.S.-led military campaign against Iraq, Blair said (see GSN, July 24). He added, however, that some observers have exaggerated the disparity (Advertiser, July 25).
Meanwhile, British intelligence services have advised Blair that the United Kingdom should work to persuade Bush to obtain a U.N. mandate before attacking Iraq, the London Evening Standard reported today (see GSN, May 10).
Senior British intelligence officials and some military advisers have expressed concern that trying to create a link between the al-Qaeda organization and Iraq might create false expectations. Blair said last week that there are “rough linkages” between al-Qaeda and Hussein, but his arguments for action against Iraq have focused on the country’s programs for weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, June 21).
The intelligence services have said the main justification for attacking Iraq would be Hussein’s biological and chemical weapons programs and the threat Hussein poses to stability in the Middle East. Although intelligence agency MI6 is skeptical about a war against Iraq, it has decided that attempting to dissuade Bush from attacking would be futile and suggested that Blair use his influence in Washington to obtain a U.N. mandate, according to the Evening Standard (Anne McElvoy, London Evening Standard, July 25).
|
 |
By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — A leading arms control group refused Tuesday to support ratification of the U.S.-Russian Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty unless the U.S. Senate attached several conditions to its approval (see GSN, July 24). A senior analyst from the group, the Natural Resources Defense Council, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the third of a series of hearings on the agreement (see GSN, July 9 and July 18).
“As a legally binding agreement it [the treaty] is a sham, a mere ‘memorandum of conversation’ masquerading as a treaty,” said Christopher Paine, a nuclear program senior analyst with the council. “And that raises the question of whether the Senate can or should ratify the treaty in its present form, without the addition of significant binding conditions to cure the most serious defects.”
Paine said he “was not persuaded that the document which lies before you rises to the level of what the legal profession would call a “legally cognizable” treaty obligation — that is, an agreement with binding, self-evident reciprocal obligations, such that an impartial authority, or the parties themselves, can reasonably ascertain these mutual obligations and adjudicate compliance.”
“The present agreement brings to mind an old nostrum that was once very popular with some of our Republican friends: ‘A bad treaty is worse than having no treaty at all,’” Paine said in prepared testimony. “It may actually be quite apt in this case.”
The Moscow Treaty imposes no limits on current or future U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, Paine said. It also does nothing to improve storage and security of Russian nuclear weapons and nuclear materials, he said.
The treaty mandates that both the United States and Russia reduce their operationally deployed strategic nuclear arsenals to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads each, and the first article of the treaty sets a Dec. 31, 2012, deadline for both states to have done so. That date, however, is also the same date the treaty ends, Paine said.
“Even the treaty’s sole purported limit, on ‘operationally deployed strategic warheads’ turns out to be hollow — a public relations stunt that expires the moment it enters into force,” Paine said. “Truly, this is the kind of arms control ‘treaty’ that even [Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein could love.”
Paine outlined several conditions that the Senate should impose before giving its advice and consent on the treaty.
First, it should demand that the reductions be in place for a longer time than the treaty requires, by directing the president to accelerate the treaty reductions. The Senate should require the United States to reach the level of 1,700 operationally deployed strategic nuclear warheads by the end of 2007, Paine said.
Second, the Senate should require the reducing the number of active reserve strategic warheads to below 1,000 within five years, Paine said. Any warheads above this level should either be destroyed or stored in facilities to be monitored by Russia.
Third, Paine called on the Senate to require the United States to reduce its total warhead arsenal — including active and inactive warheads, both strategic and tactical — to below 3,500 within five years.
Fourth, the Senate should require that dismantled nuclear weapon materials be placed under international monitoring and that the president issue an annual report describing the status of all nuclear weapon materials that are not deployed on weapons, Paine said.
Finally, Paine urged the Senate to require its advice and consent if the president chose in the future to withdraw from the treaty (see GSN, June 12).
Only with these conditions would NRDC support the treaty’s ratification, Paine said. “Without them, we believe the treaty is, for all practical purposes, meaningless. In that case, in order to avoid further damage to the integrity of the U.S. treaty process, we could not support ratification of the Moscow Treaty.”
For further information, see:
U.S.-Russia Nuclear Reduction Treaty Text (U.S. State Department)
Bush Announces Moscow Treaty
U.S. State Department Fact Sheet on Moscow Treaty
The U.S Air Force’s fleet of B-2 stealth bombers currently has a mission-capable rate of 42 percent, meaning only eight aircraft are ready for use at any one time, Inside the Pentagon reported today (see GSN, March 20).
Of the Air Force’s 21 B-2s, one has been heavily damaged in an accident and an additional three are in depot, according to Inside the Pentagon sources. The remaining 17 bombers need replacement parts and must be put in “pristine condition” before they can contribute to a military operation, a defense expert said.
One of the main factors for the poor preparedness is an inability to meet stealth requirements, Air Force officials said. The B-2’s composite skin needs intensive repairs before it meets standards, according to Inside the Pentagon. If the stealth requirements were not a factor, then the fleet probably would have an 80 percent mission-capable rate, Air Force officials said.
A lack of Air Force specialists trained to repair the bombers’ composite skin is the main reason that stealth maintenance is lagging, according to experts. Specialists on the composite skin divide their time between maintaining the B-2s and maintaining the service’s fleet of F-117 stealth fighters, according to Inside the Pentagon.
Last week a representative from defense contractor Northrop Grumman discussed a proposal with an advisory board to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on how the company could supplement the Air Force’s maintenance capability, sources said. Only a few Air Force officials, however, were familiar with the proposal, Inside the Pentagon reported.
The Air Force itself has begun a B-2 “mission-capable rate improvement plan” developed by Northrop Grumman, according to service officials. The service plans to replace current composite skin repair methods — tape and caulking materials — with a spray-on radar-absorbing material that has already been tested, according to Inside the Pentagon. The new method is expected to save both time and money for the Air Force, and service officials have said they plan to begin using it over a period of seven years as B-2s move in and out of depot (Elaine Grossman, Inside the Pentagon, July 25).
|
 |
Researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Md., are working to develop vaccines for several diseases that could potentially be used as biological weapons agents, the Christian Science Monitor reported today (see GSN, June 27).
USAMRIID scientists are working to develop defenses against 40 known biological agents, the Monitor reported. Researchers have begun developing vaccines for 10 diseases with the potential to be used as biological weapons, including anthrax, Ebola and Marburg (see GSN, July 23).
“We know the Russians were looking at weaponizing Marburg,” said USAMRIID scientist Col. Erik Henchal (see GSN, May 8).
USAMRIID employs 120 scientists to develop countermeasures against biological weapons, according to the Monitor. They carry out research on diseases such as anthrax and plague in the facility’s 50,000-square foot biosafety level 3 laboratory. USAMRIID also has a 10,000-square foot biosafety level 4 laboratory, where research is performed on the most deadly pathogens such as Ebola, the Monitor reported.
The process for developing vaccines and other treatments against biological weapons can last from two to five years, USAMRIID scientist Lisa Hensley said. The work involves growing cell cultures, infecting them with a biological agent, determining which proteins the infected cells release and then performing tests on animals, she said.
USAMRIID research not only helps develop defenses but also has larger public health uses as well, Hensley said. “That’s what drives us to put in as many hours as we do” (Faye Bowers, Christian Science Monitor, July 25).
For further information, see:
CDC List of Bioterrorism Agents
CDC Frequently Asked Questions About Anthrax
CDC Ebola Fact Sheet
CDC Marburg Fact Sheet
|
 |
U.S. Defense Undersecretary Pete Aldridge has approved a federal committee’s recommendation to use a water-based method to destroy almost 800,000 mustard gas munitions stored at the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado. The decision removes a final obstacle to beginning construction of the plant to destroy the chemical weapons, the Pueblo Chieftain reported Friday (see GSN, March 28).
“The contract for the work should be awarded by early September,” Pueblo County Commissioner John Klomp said.
Klomp is chairman of the Citizens’ Advisory Committee that lobbied national officials to use a water-based disposal method rather than incinerating the weapons. The water-based process that Aldridge approved is “the safest, quickest disposal method that presents the least threat to the workers, community and environment,” Klomp said. “We have to destroy the weapons. This is the best process to do it” (Sword/Mora, Pueblo Chieftain, July 19).
For further information, see:
CDC List of Chemical Agents
Federation of American Scientists Information on Chemical Weapons
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Al-Qaeda is not attacking ships in the Strait of Malacca in an attempt to acquire radioactive materials, the International Maritime Bureau said Tuesday (see GSN, July 22).
The bureau refuted a Monday Bangkok Post report citing a university lecturer who said al-Qaeda was trying to steal “dirty bomb” materials from ships in the straits. The lecturer, Panithan Watthanayakorn of Chulalongkorn University, said he had obtained the information about al-Qaeda from a workshop organized by the bureau.
“There have been no al-Qaeda-linked piracy attacks or attempted thefts of radioactive materials from vessels in the Strait of Malacca. We totally disagree with the (Bangkok Post) report,” the bureau’s spokesman said, adding that the report was “wild” and “unsubstantiated” (Malaysian National News Agency Bernama, July 23).
|
About Newswire | Contact National Journal | Re-Use Guidelines
© Copyright
2002 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by the National Journal Group, Inc. Any reproduction or retransmission, in whole or in part, is a violation of federal law and is strictly prohibited without the consent of the National Journal Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
HOME | CONTACT US | SITE MAP
|
|
Back to top
