U.S. Response:  Congressional Negotiators Moving Forward on Defense Bill

CongressDaily

Staff-level negotiations are well under way in an attempt by the House and Senate Armed Services committees to resolve the differences between their competing versions of the fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill by the August recess, according to aides to both panels (see GSN, May 23).

The Senate named its conferees on June 4, but the House is not expected to appoint its negotiators until the week of July 7, a House Armed Services Committee spokesman said yesterday.

The spokesman suggested that more progress was needed on several “big issues,” such as the Pentagon’s proposed revamping of its civil service system, before House and Senate lawmakers would meet in a formal session.

Optimistic House committee members want to hold a closed-door conference markup with their Senate counterparts on July 16, with a report submitted to both chambers by July 18.  If everything goes according to this timetable, floor action on a final defense bill would occur the week of July 21.

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Pakistan I:  F-16s Will Not Be Included in Proposed Aid Package, Bush Says

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — A proposed U.S. economic and security aid package to Pakistan will not include the sale of F-16 fighter aircraft, U.S. President George W. Bush said today (see GSN, June 13).

After a meeting with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf today at Camp David, Bush announced that he would seek congressional support for a five-year, $3 billion economic and security assistance package.  Of that $3 billion, half would go to defense-related matters, Bush said.  The sale of F-16s though, which has long been a sticking point in U.S.-Pakistani relations, would not be included, he said.

“In the package that we discussed … half of that money goes for defense matters, of which the F-16 won’t be a part,” Bush said.  “Nevertheless, we want to work closely with our friend to make sure that the package meets the needs of the Pakistan people,” he added.

In the late 1980s, Pakistan ordered 28 F-16s, but the United States embargoed arms sales to Pakistan in the early 1990s because it could no longer certify that Islamabad did not possess nuclear weapons.  Improvements in U.S.-Pakistani relations following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and Islamabad’s increased role in the war on terrorism, however, spurred Bush to lift the embargo and increased speculation that the fighters would be provided.

Musharraf today praised the proposed aid package, saying it “exemplifies the U.S. commitment” to long-term involvement with Pakistan.

“We look forward to diverse programs of cooperation in the economic, commercial, political and the defense sector,” Musharraf said.  “We also expect greater people-to-people contact and close interaction between the parliaments of the two countries to promote the cause of democracy,” he said.

In addition to the new financial aid package, Bush and Musharraf discussed the need to stop cross-border terrorism in the disputed province of Kashmir — a potential flashpoint between India and Pakistan.  Bush praised both Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for recent moves to reduce tensions between the two nuclear-armed countries.

Both Bush and Musharraf said that the issue of Kashmir would have to be addressed in any larger Indian-Pakistani peace efforts, with Musharraf saying Kashmir was a “core issue.”  Musharraf reportedly last week criticized Indian suggestions that the topic of Kashmir be one of several issues discussed in any talks (see GSN, June 19).

In addition, Bush said, the United States would remain actively involved in seeking peace in South Asia.  “I assured the president that the United States will do all we can to promote peace,” he said.

Ultimately, however, peace and stability in South Asia will be dependent on India and Pakistan themselves, Bush said.  “The truth of the matter is, for there to be a final agreement, it’s going to require leadership from the both the Pakistan government and the Indian government,” he said.

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Iran:  IAEA Equipment in Place at Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility

The International Atomic Energy Agency has installed monitoring equipment at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in Iran, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday (see GSN, June 23).

The agency has asked Iran not to introduce uranium into the facility, which is at the center of U.S. allegations of nuclear weapons development.

“The IAEA has all its safeguards equipment in place (at Natanz), and if Iran did try to move anything in, they would see it,” said a diplomat in Vienna.

Iran has denied allegations that its nuclear development program is a cover for a nuclear weapons program.  The IAEA recently reviewed a report on Iran’s nuclear program.  Another report, due in September, is “likely to be more conclusive, and expectations are going to be much greater from (IAEA) member states,” a diplomat said.

The September report will probably investigate whether Iran has already used uranium to test enrichment centrifuges and why Tehran is building a heavy water nuclear plant at Arak (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, June 23).

Intelligence sources in the Middle East, however, said that Iran has already introduced uranium to four centrifuges at the Kalaye Electric facility, Jane’s Defense Weekly reported this week (see GSN, June 12).  The centrifuges were allegedly tested to prepare for the larger facility at Natanz.

The recent IAEA report says that 1.9 kilograms of uranium, previously imported from China, is missing.  Iranian officials said the uranium was lost through leaking valves on a storage container (Koch/Ben-David, Jane’s Defense Weekly, June 25).

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Pakistan II:  Authorities Arrest Two Found With Nuclear Documents

Pakistani military intelligence last week arrested two Italian nationals who were found with classified documents related to Pakistani nuclear facilities, authorities said Saturday (see GSN, June 19).

The two men were arrested in southern Pakistan on suspicion of collecting information about the Pakistan Atomic Energy Center in the city of Dera Ghazi Khan, said District Police Officer Qamar-uz-Zaman.  Since the arrest, all foreigners have been banned from entering the city without special permission, Zaman said (Agence France-Presse, June 21 in FBIS-NES, June 23).

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South Asia:  State Department Clarifies End of Sanctions

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department issued a notice in the Federal Register last week seeking to clarify export control policy toward India and Pakistan by reiterating that all U.S. sanctions against the two countries have been lifted (see GSN, June 13).

The notice re-expressed the department’s policy of considering export license requests for defense-related exports to India and Pakistan on a case-by-case basis, rather than the previous policy of denial established in 1998.  The notice does not represent a new shift in U.S. policy, but instead seeks to clarify lingering uncertainties about the status of U.S. sanctions against India and Pakistan, a State Department official told Global Security Newswire yesterday, calling the notice an “item of good government.”

In 1998, the United States imposed sanctions on India and Pakistan after the two countries each conducted nuclear weapons tests.  In 2001, soon after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, U.S. President George W. Bush waived those sanctions on the basis that they were no longer in the U.S. national security interest, according to last week’s Federal Register notice.  Last year, U.S. sanctions that were imposed on the Pakistani Defense Ministry and the Pakistani Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission for engaging in ballistic missile-related cooperation with Chinese entities expired, the notice said.

The State Department official said he was unaware of any particular significance to the timing of the issuing of last week’s notice, citing the time often needed to prepare such measures.  The official also said he was unaware of any requests from either India or Pakistan for such a clarification of U.S. policy.

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Smallpox:  Report Says Threat of Vaccine Was Exaggerated

By David McGlinchey
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — U.S. health officials crippled the national smallpox immunization campaign by exaggerating the threat of the smallpox vaccine, according to a report to be released this week by the CATO Institute (see GSN, June 23).

Beginning in late January, U.S. officials had hoped to immunize 10 million emergency first responders by the end of the summer.  As of early June, only 37,000 civilians had received the vaccine.

“The perception of vaccine risk by many medical and public health practitioners, as well as by the public, is far greater than the actual risk,” says the report from William Bicknell, a Boston University professor and an authority on immunization planning, and Kenneth Bloem, a former chief executive of Stanford University Hospital and a veteran of smallpox eradication programs in Central Africa and Bangladesh.

The report says the information distributed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was “inadequate and confusing.”  The CDC did not respond to Global Security Newswire’s requests for an interview by press time, but health officials have said that one or two people could die from the vaccine for every million that are inoculated.  Health officials also warned that up to 50 people per million could suffer serious side effects.  Many more were expected to suffer annoying but nonlife-threatening side effects.

Bicknell and Bloem say the U.S. vaccination effort — which focused on health workers and emergency responders — was primarily aimed at healthy adults.  The report says that the historical sickness rates used by the CDC include children, the elderly and those with illnesses.

The vaccine’s fatality rate for healthy adults is approximately one in 15 million, according to the report.

Since the program began in February, health officials have investigated several deaths among the 37,000 civilian volunteers, but none was found to be related to the vaccine.  In addition, about 10 vaccine recipients have suffered from cardiac inflammation that has been linked to the immunizations.  The Defense Department inoculated more than 450,000 military personnel, and no military deaths have been directly attributed to the immunizations.  Approximately 40 Pentagon personnel experienced the heart inflammation.

The report also criticized the lack of high-level leadership for the program and the absence of compensation for those sickened by the vaccine early on in the immunization process.  U.S. President George W. Bush signed a bill to provide compensation April 30, but the program was already floundering at that point and it has failed to be revived (see GSN, May 1).

Given the allegedly exaggerated threat, as well as the lack of compensation and leadership, the report says that “far too many people reasonably and understandably, but erroneously, are prone to conclude that vaccination before an attack is too dangerous, its complications may not be paid for, and it probably isn’t very important anyway.”

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U.S. Response:  Bush Asks for Lobbying Help on Project Bioshield

By David McGlinchey
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W. Bush appealed to the pharmaceutical industry yesterday to lobby Congress to support Project Bioshield, a $6 billion, 10-year effort to stockpile medicines and technologies to respond to a bioterrorist attack (see GSN, June 23).

In a speech to the Biotechnology Industry Organization convention here, the president called Project Bioshield a “great scientific effort” and “a key part of our all-out effort to prepare for the threat of bioterror.”

Bush proposed the plan during his January State of the Union speech, but the legislation is still being considered in the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.  Republican and Democratic lawmakers have criticized Project Bioshield as being ineffective, poorly structured and too narrowly focused (see GSN, May 16).

In May, Representative Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) said the $5.6 billion project is “chicken feed to this [pharmaceutical] industry.”

Bush asked conference attendees to lobby members of Congress, saying that under the plan Washington would spend more money on pharmaceutical research.

“If you’re interested in seeing more flexibility and more research dollars for the sake of national security, I need your help in lobbying the members of the United States Congress,” he said.

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United States:  Contract Awarded for Pine Bluff Disposal Facility

The U.S. Army has awarded a U.S. company a $20.4 million contract to build a facility at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas to dispose of binary precursor chemicals used in the production of chemical weapons, the Pine Bluff Commercial reported today (see GSN, May 21).

Teledyne Brown Engineering will convert a building at the arsenal to dispose of stockpiles of methylphosphonic difluoride (DF) and o-ethyl-o-2-diisopropylaminoethyl methylphosphonite (QL), which were designed to combine with other chemicals in a chemical weapon to produce sarin and VX.

The Pine Bluff Binary Destruction Facility will be housed in a building originally designed for DF production and will use some of the same equipment used to produce the chemical agent, according to the Commercial.  Construction of the facility is set to begin in June 2004 and is scheduled to be completed in January 2005 (Pine Bluff Commercial, June 24).

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CWC:  OPCW Executive Council Set to Begin Three-Day Session Today

The Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which oversees the Chemical Weapons Convention, is set to begin a three-day meeting today in The Hague (see GSN, June 3).

The meeting’s agenda includes discussion on Russia’s efforts to dispose of its chemical weapons stockpile, with a report on the operation of the Gorny chemical weapons disposal plant to be made public (see GSN, June 4).

Other items on the agenda include the conversion of former chemical weapons disposal facilities to civilian use, verification plans and various budgetary matters, according to Russian OPCW representative Gennady Lutai (Nikolai Teterin, ITAR-Tass, June 24).

For further information, see:

CWC Text

OPCW Main Page

CWC States Parties

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Japan:  Tokyo Seeks Domestic Production Rights to PAC-3

Japan’s Defense Agency is planning to ask the United States for permission to produce Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missiles domestically, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, June 23).

The award could go to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which already produces the PAC-2 missile, according to a report today in the Nihon Keizai.  Japan is planning to provide funding next year for a two-layered missile defense system.

“Nothing has been decided about the introduction of the PAC-3 and it is still under study as part of the missile defense program,” a Defense Agency spokesman said.  “Since the Patriot 2 is being made by Mitsubishi, I personally think that it would be difficult for other makers to get (the contract),” the spokesman added.

A Mitsubishi spokesman said the company does not yet have a contract to perform the work.

“The report is very speculative,” the spokesman said.  “We would be grateful if such a license comes to us as we take pride in our missile technologies,” he added (Agence France-Presse, June 24).

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European Plans:  MEADS Offer on Schedule for This Month

A proposal for the development of the multinational Medium Extended Air Defense System will be sent to defense departments on schedule this month, according to the system’s contractors (see GSN, June 9).

“The offer lays an important foundation upon which our customers can base their decision regarding the continuation of this major trans-Atlantic program as it will contain the first reliable estimations concerning the development, acquisition and operating costs,” said Werner Kaltenegger, chief executive of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. and missile-defense firm LFK.  “In addition, the first assemblies will be completed on schedule this year, including the prototype of the new-fire control radar and extensive simulations will be performed to demonstrate the capabilities of the ultra-modern MEADS air defense system,” he added.

The MEADS system is being developed by the United States, Germany and Italy.  Washington is slated to provide 55 percent of the funding, while Berlin and Rome will contribute 28 percent and 17 percent, respectively.

MEADS program officials said the impending offer marks an important step for the program, according to Defense Daily International.

The MEADS program has been adjusted to incorporate the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 missile from U.S. contractor Lockheed Martin.  The international system, however, faces uncertain funding, Defense Daily reported (Defense Daily International, June 20).

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NATO:  U.S. Air Force Space Command Opens New Early Warning Facility

The U.S. Air Force Space Command opened a new facility last week designed to provide early warning of ballistic missile launches to NATO members and other nations (see GSN, June 13).

The opening of the Shared Early Warning System Centralized Distribution Facility at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado marked the transfer of the early warning system from the developmental phase to the operational phase, a command spokeswoman said.  The system will provide missile launch warnings to NATO members, according to a command statement.

The system will also provide launch warnings to “six partner nations and multiple coalition forces,” the spokeswoman said.  While refusing to name the six additional nations, she said the defense secretary’s office would choose which additional countries would be covered by the system (John Bennett, InsideDefense.com, June 23).

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