Iraq I:  U.S. Sanctions Jordanian for Allegedly Aiding Iraqi WMD Programs

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The United States has imposed sanctions against a Jordanian national for allegedly making a “knowing and material” contribution to Iraq’s biological and chemical weapons programs, a U.S. State Department official told Global Security Newswire today (see GSN, March 12).

According to a notice published in the Federal Register today, the United States has imposed sanctions against Mohammed al-Khatib for biological and chemical proliferation activities in violation of the Arms Export Control Act and the 1979 Export Administration Act.  The sanctions, which took effect today, prohibit the United States from entering into any contracts with al-Khatib and prevent him from exporting goods to the United States for at least one year.

Today’s sanctions against al-Khatib were imposed for the same activities that resulted in sanctions being imposed against him earlier this year for violating the 1992 Iran-Iraq Arms Control Act, the State official said.  The official also said that Khatib was part of a network that included the Indian company NEC Engineers Private Ltd.  Earlier this year, the United States imposed sanctions against NEC Engineers and a second Indian company, Protech Consultants Private Ltd., for allegedly aiding Iraq’s biological and chemical weapons programs (see GSN, Feb. 20).  The United States could possibly soon announce new sanctions against NEC Engineers, the State Department official said.

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Iraq II:  Army Examining Possible Role of Vaccines in Pneumonia Outbreak

The U.S. Army is planning to examine the possible role of vaccinations against diseases such as anthrax as officials study recent pneumonia cases among U.S. soldiers in Iraq and southwestern Asia, an official said yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 6).

“Among all of the possible causes or contributing factors, we are looking at the immunizations that the soldiers received as well,” said Col. Robert DeFraites of the Army Surgeon General’s Office.  “It is premature to say that there is any relationship at all,” he said.

John Sever of the George Washington University’s medical school, a co-author of a study that examined the possible side effects of the anthrax vaccine, has also said the Army should examine if the vaccine has played any role in the pneumonia cases.  That study found that the vaccine might have been the cause of two earlier pneumonia cases, according to the Washington Times (Mark Benjamin, Washington Times, Aug. 7).

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Iraq III:  Hundreds of Radioactive Sources Still Missing From Tuwaitha

A spokeswoman for the International Atomic Energy Agency has said that hundreds of radioactive sources are still unaccounted for from the Tuwaitha complex in Iraq, the main center in former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program, the Glasgow Sunday Herald reported Sunday (see GSN, July 16).

As many as 400 sources are still missing from Tuwaitha, which was found in April to have been looted, according to IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.  A source for the Sunday Herald said he was approached to help sell uranium oxide in the southern Iraqi city of Basra for $250,000.  The source said he believed the material came from the Tuwaitha complex (Pratt/Arbuthnot, Glasgow Sunday Herald, Aug. 3).

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North Korea:  Pyongyang Wants Talks in Early September

North Korea wants to hold multilateral talks on the current nuclear standoff during the first week of September, Reuters reported today (see GSN, Aug. 5).

The talks, which will include the United States, China, South Korea, Russia and Japan, are set to be held in Beijing.  China, however, is pushing for the negotiations to begin on Aug. 21 or 25.

The United States also favors August talks, before the September U.N. General Assembly meeting begins in New York, according to a report in the Yomiuri Shimbun.

A senior Japanese official said Wednesday that negotiations could take place this month.

“Late August has not been ruled out,” he said (Reuters, Aug. 7).

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South Asia:  India, Pakistan Could Hold Talks After Next Month

Pakistan may soon suggest several dates for the resumption of peace talks with its South Asian rival India, the Times of India reported today (see GSN, July 10).

Pakistan could “shortly” propose two or three dates for talks between the Pakistani and Indian foreign secretaries, a diplomat said.  Such talks are expected to be held after a U.N. General Assembly session scheduled to begin next month, according to the Times.  A Pakistani newspaper has reported that India wants the talks to be held in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad (Times of India, Aug. 7).

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Russia:  Moscow to Construct Three New Ballistic Missile Submarines by 2010

Russia plans to build three new ballistic missile submarines by 2010, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Col. Gen. Alexei Moskovsky said Tuesday (see GSN, July 1).

Moskovsky said Russia plans to construct three new Borey-class submarines armed with Bulava sea-launched ballistic missiles (Interfax, Aug. 5 in FBIS-SOV, Aug. 5).  The Russian newspaper Pravda reported in May that the Borey-class submarine can launch missiles from a submerged depth of 55 meters while the submarine is moving at a speed of up to 6 knots.  The submarine can also operate for 100 days without docking, Pravda reported (Pravda, May 26). 

Last year, Russia completed work on the Dmitri Donskoi, a modified Typhoon-class submarine that was to serve as a trial platform for the Bulava missile, according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Nuclear Notebook.  The Bulava is the naval version of the Topol-M ICBM (Mike Nartker, GSN).

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Libya:  Russia to Increase Nuclear Cooperation

Russia plans to increase its nuclear cooperation activities with Libya, Interfax reported Monday (see GSN, Aug. 5).

The two countries have agreed that Russian experts will help resume work on the earlier-planned Sultan nuclear power plant at the Gulf of Sidra, as well as upgrade the Tajura nuclear research center, a diplomatic source in Moscow said.  Russia also welcomed Libyan leader Col. Muammar Qadhafi’s recent suggestions that he is willing to allow international inspectors to visit Libyan sites, a high-ranking Russian diplomat said (Interfax, Aug. 4 in FBIS-SOV, Aug. 4).

The Tajura facility houses a 10-megawatt light-water nuclear reactor and currently operates under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards, according to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Deadly Arsenals.  The Sultan nuclear plant was originally intended to be a 440-megawatt light-water nuclear reactor, but was suspended (Mike Nartker, GSN, Aug. 7).

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United States:  Many Hospitals Not Prepared for Bioterror Attack, GAO Says

By Joe Fiorill
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — Most urban hospitals in the United States lack adequate equipment for dealing with the large influx of patients that would result from a bioterrorist attack, the U.S. General Accounting Office said yesterday in a new report.

The report indicated most U.S. hospitals take part in basic planning and coordination but that there are important deficiencies in training and equipment.

American Hospital Association Senior Associate Director for Policy Development Roslyne Schulman told Global Security Newswire that U.S. hospitals’ preparedness for bioterrorism has improved in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but that much work lies ahead.  The GAO solicited comments on the report from the association, which generally agreed with its findings.

“The hospitals have made a lot of progress since Sept. 11.  They’ve made a lot of important steps, but there is a great deal that needs to be done,” Schulman said.

Responding to a GAO survey, most hospitals reported participation in basic planning and coordination for a biological attack; 80 percent reported having written emergency response plans that address bioterrorism; nearly all said they participate in interagency disaster planning committees; and most indicated they train personnel in identification and diagnosis of diseases, such as anthrax and botulism, caused by likely agents of biological warfare.

However, the hospitals said their equipment is insufficient for responding to a large-scale attack.  Half the hospitals have fewer than six ventilators per 100 beds, meaning they could find themselves seriously underequipped for a concentrated anthrax or botulism outbreak ― a finding, the GAO noted, that comes three years after the May 2000 TOPOFF terrorism exercise, in which ventilators and other equipment were found insufficient within three days of a simulated pneumonic plague outbreak.

In addition, hospitals’ written response plans often lacked key contacts, the GAO said, and most hospitals have not conducted bioterrorism simulation drills.

In its report, the GAO took note of new federal funding vehicles that could help improve bioterrorism preparedness in hospitals, including the Health and Human Services Department’s Bioterrorism Hospital Preparedness Program, which the department said in March will provide $500 million in fiscal 2003 to states and municipalities (see GSN, March 21).

Schulman said hospitals are “appreciative” of the federal funds but that the money is “just a drop in the bucket” and “a first step.”

“We’re pleased that they’re continuing that funding stream. … We do support a continued increasing investment in readiness,” Schulman said.  “The funding’s been very slow to get out, and … not very much of it has yet gotten to hospitals,” she added.

Schulman’s group reported to Congress after the September 2001 attacks that an estimated $11 billion would be needed to get U.S. hospitals ready for one potential bioterrorism scenario.

Besides distributing funds to state and local health officials, Washington has also created a stockpile of drugs and supplies in case of a biological attack.  Health and Human Services has announced plans to buy 2,700 ventilators by next month to bolster the stockpile, parts of which could be deployed within 12 to 36 hours of a declared emergency, according to the GAO.

Required under public health legislation passed in 2000, the GAO report was based on part of a survey conducted between May and September of last year.  Of 2,041 hospitals surveyed, 1,482 responded, a rate of 73 percent.  The other part of the survey formed the basis for a GAO report issued in March on general emergency room performance.

Yesterday’s report follows an April 7 GAO report indicating state and local officials around the United States display varying levels of preparedness for a bioterrorism attack, with significant deficiencies in capacity, communications and coordination (see GSN, April 8).  That report included references to a lack of guidance for hospitals about preparing for a biological attack.

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Ebola:  Researchers Develop Ebola Vaccine

U.S. scientists have developed a vaccine that protects monkeys from Ebola with a single shot and could be eventually used to defend humans against biological terrorism, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, July 17).

“In terms of what we need for countermeasures against terrorism, it’s highly significant,” said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.  “This could be a real advance in our ability to contain Ebola,” he added (Justin Gillis, Washington Post, Aug. 7).

Scientists at the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases collaborated to conduct the research over the past three years, the BBC reported yesterday.

The scientists gave eight monkeys a booster shot, then injected them with the Ebola virus. The single injection protected all eight monkeys against Ebola — even those who received high doses of the virus.

If the vaccine proves to be effective in humans, it could be used to stop the spread of Ebola through a strategy known as ring vaccination — vaccinating everyone who has been in contact with an infected person — the same technique that was successfully used to eradicate smallpox worldwide (BBC Online, Aug. 6).

Since the 1970s, Ebola has killed hundreds of people in Africa and possibly tens of thousands of endangered apes (James Janega, Chicago Tribune, Aug. 7).

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U.S. Plans:  Defense Officials to Brief Bush on Missile Defense Progress

U.S. Defense Department officials are scheduled to visit vacationing President George W. Bush at his Texas ranch this month and brief him on the developing national missile defense system, Defense Daily reported today (see GSN, Aug. 6).

Bush is not faced with any imminent missile defense decisions, but the Pentagon delegation will most likely bring the president up to speed on construction at Fort Greely in Alaska and flight test plans.

Construction on the first Ground-based Midcourse Defense System interceptor silo is set to be finished this month, and the sixth is due to be completed by February.  The Missile Defense Agency intends to station four interceptors at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.  The system is scheduled to be deployed by the end of next year.

Defense officials have not yet fixed a firm date to visit the ranch (Kerry Gildea, Defense Daily, Aug. 7).

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