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I would not count on reports. I suppose there may be interim reports. I don’t know when those will be, and I don’t know what the public nature of them will be.
—U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, on whether the United States would publicly report on its efforts to discover weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has discovered evidence of weapon-grade uranium at a second site in Iran, diplomats said today (see GSN, Sept. 24)...Full Story 
Confirming unofficial accounts, a draft report by the CIA’s top WMD hunter in Iraq indicates that U.S. investigators have found no weapons of mass destruction there, U.S. officials said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 24)...Full Story
A North Carolina man arrested Monday for allegedly operating a crystal methamphetamine laboratory has been charged with the manufacture, possession and storage of a chemical weapon, the Sylva [N.C.] Herald reported today...Full Story
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Thursday, September 25, 2003 |  | | |  |
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The U.S. prescription drug supply is a potential target for terrorist attack, according to a privately researched report that is set to be presented in Washington today (see GSN, Sept. 10).
“It would be very easy for terrorists to mount an attack,” said Bill Livingstone, director of analysis at GlobalOptions, the Washington research firm that produced the report.
According to the report, terrorist groups could send tainted drugs into the U.S. supply through small wholesalers or the Internet.
“The government understands that to protect the drug supply, they would have to do some really politically unpopular things, like banning people from getting drugs in the mail or closing down 80 percent of the wholesalers,” said Donald deKieffer, who represents drug, food and apparel companies.
Today’s conference, sponsored by the Institute for International Research, will explore potential solutions to track prescription drugs and ensure that tainted drugs are not sold (Julie Appleby, USA Today, Sept. 25).
By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission needs to improve its oversight of security at commercial nuclear power plants, according to a U.S. General Accounting Office report released yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 16).
The NRC supervises nuclear plant security through an annual inspection program and periodic “force-on-force” exercises that test how plant security forces respond to simulated terrorist attacks. The GAO found, however, that several aspects of the NRC security inspection program reduced the commission’s effectiveness in overseeing plant security, according to the report.
The report says congressional auditors found that NRC security inspectors often used a process that “minimized the significance” of discovered security problems by labeling them as “noncited violations” if they were not a frequent problem or if the violation did not have immediate adverse consequences. Noncited violations, according to the report, do not require a written response from the plant operator and do not require the commission to verify later that the problem has been corrected.
As an example of a noncited violation, the report describes a situation at one plant where guards failed to physically search individuals after metal detectors had detected metal objects in their clothing. The individuals were then allowed unescorted access through the plant’s protected area, the report says.
“By making extensive use of noncited violations for serious problems, NRC may overstate the level of security at a power plant and reduce the likelihood that needed improvements are made,” the report says.
In addition, the GAO also found several flaws in the force-on-force exercises. For example, more personnel were used to defend plants during the exercises then normally would have been on duty, the report says. It also says that simulated terrorists were not trained in actual terrorist tactics and that unrealistic weapons, such as rubber guns, were used during the exercises instead of those that would better simulate actual gunfire.
Responding the report in an attached letter, NRC Chairman Nils Diaz said the GAO failed to take into account “significant changes” made to the security inspection program following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The annual inspections and force-on-force exercises were suspended in 2001 to redesign them taking into account the heightened terrorist threat, according to the report. It says that five force-on-force exercises have been conducted so far this year through a pilot evaluation program, and that annual inspections are set to resume in 2004.
In his letter, Diaz defended the commission’s use of noncited violations, saying it helps to create “an environment that fosters licensee self-identification and correction of problems, an important organizational behavior the NRC encourages.” The commission requires that a sampling of the corrective actions undertaken to fix such violations be later reviewed during subsequent inspections, Diaz wrote.
Yesterday’s report was requested by Representatives John Dingell (D-Mich.), the top Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee; and Edward Markey (D-Mass.). In a statement released yesterday, Markey criticized the NRC for its lax oversight of security at nuclear power plants, which he called “facilities that are at the very top of al-Qaeda’s list for future attacks.”
“It is stunning that the NRC still isn’t assuring the safety of the millions of Americans who live near the 104 licensed nuclear reactors two years after the attacks of September 11,” said Markey, who has often been a critic of the U.S. nuclear industry and the NRC.
The U.S. Congress yesterday approved almost $30 billion in fiscal 2004 funding for the Homeland Security Department, according to the Associated Press (see GSN, Sept. 18).
The House of Representatives voted 417-8 to approve the $29.4 billion homeland security appropriations bill. The Senate approved the bill by a voice vote.
The funding in the bill is $1 billion more than the Bush administration’s original request and includes more than $4 billion for first-responder programs, $9 billion for border protection and more than $5 billion for the Transportation Security Administration and the Federal Air Marshall program, AP reported. The bill also funded the Bush administration’s Project Bioshield with $890 million next year and $5.6 billion over the next 10 years to help fund research and procurement of treatments and vaccines against biological weapons agents (Associated Press/Washington Times, Sept. 25).
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Confirming unofficial accounts, a draft report by the CIA’s top WMD hunter in Iraq indicates that U.S. investigators have found no weapons of mass destruction there, U.S. officials said yesterday (see GSN, Sept. 24).
The draft interim report was prepared by David Kay, the CIA’s representative on the 1,200-member Iraq Survey Group, responsible for looking for evidence of Iraqi WMD programs.
The draft report says that although no WMD stockpiles have been found, the survey group has found evidence of precursors and dual-use equipment that could have been used to produce biological and chemical weapons. The team also interviewed at least one Iraqi security officer who said he had been involved in a biological and chemical weapons program shortly before the United States invaded Iraq in March, the officials said (Jehl/Miller, New York Times, Sept. 24).
Kay’s analysis of recovered Iraqi documents is expected to prove that Hussein had the “intent” to resume production of biological and chemical weapons once U.N. sanctions were lifted and weapons inspectors were gone, a senior intelligence official said recently. Then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein “also had scientists working in small groups on nonweapons work who could quickly be shifted over if weapons were needed,” the official said.
CIA chief spokesman Bill Harlow said yesterday that Kay, who is now in Washington completing his report, is “still gathering information from the field.”
“Don’t expect any firm conclusions. He will not rule in or rule out anything,” Harlow said.
Kay is expected to present his report to Congress late next week, the Washington Post reported (Pincus/Priest, Washington Post, Sept. 25). U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that it would be up to the CIA to determine whether an unclassified version would be released.
Kay will turn over his findings to CIA Director George Tenet, Rumsfeld said. The White House had not established a deadline for Kay to do so, according to InsideDefense.com.
“It’s a matter of putting the pieces together, and then they do a judgment as to whether he (Kay) wants to wait for a final report, whether he wants to hand in some sort of interim report, whether it should be classified or not — all those are things that he and George (Tenet) are working out,” Rumsfeld said.
National security adviser Condoleezza Rice said that a version of the report might not be released at all.
“I would not count on reports,” Rice said. “I suppose there may be interim reports. I don’t know when those will be, and I don’t know what the public nature of them will be,” she said (John Liang, InsideDefense.com, Sept. 24).
Congressional support is increasing for the Syria Accountability Act, which would require sanctions against Damascus if it does not end the WMD development the Bush administration has recently accused Syria of pursuing, the New York Forward reported this week (see GSN, Sept. 17).
“What we have heard about the WMD programs of both Syria and Iran is alarming, and people here are eager to take action,” a House International Relations Committee staff member said.
Supporters of the bill, which would require sanctions against Syria if it does not end its suspected WMD efforts, support of terrorism and occupation of Lebanon, said they are close to bringing it up for a vote, according to Forward. While White House officials had previously said the bill would damage U.S. efforts in the Middle East, Undersecretary of State John Bolton told an International Relations subcommittee last week that President George W. Bush and his foreign policy advisers “do not have a position on the bill.”
The White House’s apparent decision to not vigorously oppose the bill should make it easier to pass, supporters said.
The Bush administration “went from opposing it to saying ‘we have no position,’” said a spokesman for Representative Elliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who co-introduced the bill earlier this year. “We think this change is very significant. We view this as maybe not a green light, but certainly a yellow light,” the spokesman said (Ori Nir, New York Forward, Sept. 26).
The U.S. House of Representatives yesterday approved a $368 billion U.S. Defense Department appropriations bill for fiscal 2004, including the $9.1 billion the White House had requested for ballistic missile defense (see GSN, July 18).
The bill does not include the $87 billion war supplemental requested by President George W. Bush for fiscal 2004, which begins next week (Council for a Livable World, Sept. 25).
The bill includes $75 billion for procurement, which represents a $2 billion increase. Procurement funding has increased each year since 1996, the Washington Post reported.
The House passed the spending bill 407-15, after seven minutes of debate, and the Senate is expected to take up the budget today, according to the Post.
Some lawmakers warned that continuing operations would make it difficult to provide sufficient funds for Pentagon modernization projects.
“We need to spend $15 billion to $16 billion just to refurbish equipment in Iraq,” said Representative John Murtha (D-Pa.). A major procurement budget increase in the future, he said, “is not going to happen” (Dan Morgan, Washington Post, Sept. 25).
Greek authorities this week are holding a two-day security exercise that includes biological and chemical weapons scenarios in preparation for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Xinhua News Agency reported today (see GSN, May 20, 2002).
A number of Greek and foreign security experts are set to take part in the map exercise, being held at the Athens 2004 Olympic Organizing Committee’s headquarters (Xinhua News Agency, Sept. 25).
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The International Atomic Energy Agency has discovered evidence of weapon-grade uranium at a second site in Iran, diplomats said today (see GSN, Sept. 24).
Inspectors discovered the uranium at the Kalaye Electric Company in Tehran, to which the IAEA had once been denied access.
Diplomatic officials were divided over whether the find validated Iran’s claim that it had imported previously contaminated equipment, or supported U.S. contentions that Tehran is attempting to secretly enrich uranium in violation of its Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty commitments (Louis Charbonneau, Reuters, Sept. 25).
Meanwhile, Tehran is willing to discuss its controversial nuclear development with Washington if U.S. officials “change their approach and bring in a new environment for cooperation,” Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said Tuesday.
Kharazi said also that Iran is willing to sign the Additional Protocol to its IAEA safeguards agreement — which would allow for more intrusive IAEA monitoring of Tehran’s nuclear activities — if U.S. President George W. Bush drops his objections to Iran’s nuclear program.
“We want to make sure the Additional Protocol would be enough and would solve the problem,” Kharazi said. “We don’t have anything to hide because we do not have a program for producing nuclear weapons. Therefore, we are ready to be quite transparent. But we cannot let others deny our rights,” he added (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Sept. 25).
Kharazi said that Iran would not be willing to abandon its nuclear power development.
“No, by no means, because this is right, it is legal, this is based on our commitment to the NPT,” he said. “This is a big difference — between having the technology to enrich uranium needed for power plants as fuel and the technology to actually make a bomb,” Kharazi added (Mable Chan, CNN.com, Sept. 24).
The Iranian foreign minister said Tehran would “hopefully not” withdraw from the NPT, as some Iranian officials have suggested (Peter Spielmann, Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle, Sept. 24).
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran is sending “worrying signals” about its nuclear program.
If Tehran pulled out of the nonproliferation treaty, “then the matter would go to a much higher level of confrontation,” ElBaradei said yesterday (Reuters/Planet Ark, Sept. 25).
By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire
Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf yesterday said he has proposed an “action plan” to help resolve the dispute between Pakistan and India over the region of Kashmir — a potential flashpoint between the two nuclear rivals (see GSN, Aug. 7).
During a press conference yesterday at U.N. headquarters in New York, Musharraf outlined his plan to resolve the issue of Kashmir, which he described as the “core dispute” between the two South Asian rivals. Musharraf’s plan includes a cease-fire on the Line of Control dividing the province; Pakistani aid in facilitating a cease-fire between the Islamic militant groups operating in the Indian side of Kashmir and New Delhi along with pledges by India to cease military action in the province; and the enlargement of the U.N. force currently deployed on the Line of Control.
Musharraf said yesterday that he was unsure if India would accept his proposal, which he hoped would begin a dialogue between India and Pakistan.
“I only can hope optimistically that good sense prevails, and they come forward, and we sit down and talk and move towards resolution of disputes to the benefit of not only the people of India and Pakistan, but also … to the benefit of the whole region, the south Asian region,” Musharraf said.
Musharraf also said he had asked U.S. President George W. Bush during a bilateral meeting yesterday for assistance in facilitating a dialogue between India and Pakistan. In addition, any such dialogue should also involve the people of Kashmir as well, Musharraf said.
“It should be a trilateral dialogue, if possible, between Pakistan, India, and people of Kashmir, representatives of Kashmiris,” Musharraf said. “In any case, the solution that we are talking of has to be a solution which is acceptable to India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir,” he added.
India has often accused Pakistan of providing support for cross-border terrorism in Kashmir, a charge Musharraf vigorously denied yesterday.
“There is no government patronage or anything that is happening across the Line of Control,” Musharraf said. “And this is the guarantee that I gave to [Indian] Prime Minister [Atal Behari] Vajpayee, and it should suffice. And therefore, we need to start talking,” he added.
Growing Military Imbalance
In addition to his proposal to resolve the Kashmir dispute, Musharraf said yesterday that he had also proposed a restraint regime between India and Pakistan on conventional and unconventional weapons. A number of recent reports have indicated India’s interest in purchasing several types of conventional weapons systems, including ballistic missiles and missile interceptors (see GSN, Sept. 22). Israel has often been mentioned as a possible supplier of military equipment to India, which Musharraf said yesterday was a “cause of concern” to Pakistan (see GSN, Sept. 11).
Musharraf said he discussed the growing imbalance between the Indian and Pakistani militaries during his meeting with Bush. The Pakistani newspaper DAWN reported today that Musharraf called yesterday for countries to restrain from supplying major military systems to India.
“Those powers which desire peace, stability and security in South Asia and oppose the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction must review their decisions to offer such major strategic weapons systems to India. They must contribute to maintaining arms restraint and a military balance in South Asia,” the newspaper quoted Musharraf as saying.
Musharraf yesterday pledged to maintain Pakistan’s strategy of deterrence, which includes the country’s nuclear arsenal, in the face of India’s arms purchases.
“If we want to prevent war in South Asia between India and Pakistan, through the strategy of deterrence, we create a no-win situation for India. And that is how war is deterred. And we maintain that level. We will always maintain this deterrence level, for our own security,” he said.
As part of that strategy, Musharraf indicated yesterday that he raised the issue of F-16 fighter purchases with Bush during their meeting. In the late 1980s, Pakistan paid for F-16s from the United States, but the planes were never delivered after the United States imposed sanctions on Pakistan for its nuclear weapons activities. While Bush has lifted the arms embargo to reward Pakistan for its assistance in the war on terrorism, there has been no indication that the F-16 sale will go forward. Aviation Week and Space Technology reported earlier this month that Pakistan has indicated an interest in purchase F-16s from Belgium, but such a sale would still require U.S. permission to proceed (see GSN, Sept. 3).
The topic of U.S. military assistance to Pakistan also came up last week during a meeting of the U.S.-Pakistani Defense Consultative Group in Washington, according to a U.S. Defense Department press release. During the three-day meeting, U.S. and Pakistani officials began initial discussions on the military component of a $3 billion, five-year U.S. aid program to Pakistan that Bush and Musharraf announced during a meeting at Camp David in June (see GSN, June 24). The United States confirmed at last week’s meeting its commitment to provide information on the availability of new weapons “as soon as possible,” the Pentagon statement said. Bush has said, however, that the aid package will not include the sale of F-16s.
A project to consider the next-generation U.S. strategic bomber is set to receive $45 million in the 2004 defense appropriations bill passed by the House and the Senate yesterday, Aerospace Daily reported (see related GSN article, today).
The House of Representatives initially proposed $100 million for the new bomber effort and the House-Senate conference committee later agreed on $45 million in its report publicly released yesterday. In that report, lawmakers suggest that the technologies developed for the new bomber “can also be demonstrated and incorporated in the existing bomber fleet” (see GSN, Aug. 22).
The conference report also provided an $80 million boost to the Missile Defense Agency’s $65 million request for the Israeli Arrow missile defense system (Marc Selinger, Aerospace Daily, Sept. 25).
The U.S. Navy Museum has received a training model of a Trident 1 sea-launched ballistic missile, which is set to be included in a planned submarine exhibit, the Navy newsletter The Dolphin reported today (see GSN, Aug. 20).
The Trident 1 Training Model of Missile, set to be put on display, will not have to be reported under the U.S.-Russian START agreement because it has been disabled according to treaty rules. The missile has a hole drilled through the aft dome of the first stage motor, according to the Dolphin, and museum personnel must ensure that the hole remains visible and not filled, the Dolphin reported.
A previous exhibit of a Poseidon missile was required to be reported under START as a static display because it had been similarly disabled, the Dolphin reported (Marie Dumontet, The Dolphin, Sept. 25).
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A North Carolina man arrested Monday for allegedly operating a crystal methamphetamine laboratory has been charged with the manufacture, possession and storage of a chemical weapon, the Sylva [N.C.] Herald reported today.
Danny Andrew Wilson was arrested after an anonymous tip led to a search of his home, according to Jackson County Sheriff Jimmy Ashe. Wilson was charged with the chemical weapons count after officers discovered two chemicals that have the ability, when combined, to cause serious injury, Ashe said. The charge was made possible by the USA PATRIOT Act, he added.
At the sheriff’s request, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency helped with the investigation and the site cleanup.
“DEA called the bio-hazard cleanup crew out of Johnson City, Tenn., to separate and store the chemicals,” Ashe said. “This could have been a big health hazard for the community, but since the chemicals have been removed there is no longer any danger,” he added.
Wilson has also been charged with an additional seven felony counts dealing with the possession and manufacture of crystal methamphetamine (Lisa Majors-Duff, Sylva Herald, Sept. 25).
The Associated Press reported last week that North Carolina resident Martin Dwayne Miller also was charged with the manufacture of chemical weapons after a separate methamphetamine laboratory arrest. If convicted, Miller could be sentenced to 12 years to life for a crime that usually results in a six-month sentence, AP reported (David Caruso, Associated Press/Salt Lake Tribune, Sept. 15).
Afghanistan yesterday deposited its instrument of ratification to the Chemical Weapons Convention (see GSN, Sept. 15). It will become the 155th party to the treaty when Kabul’s ratification takes effect in 30 days (Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons release, Sept. 25).
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The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is ahead of schedule in building the communications support system for the national missile defense system, Space News reported Monday (see GSN, Sept. 24).
Agency officials met Aug. 21 in Los Angeles with executives from Boeing, the lead systems integrator for the U.S. missile defense system, to mark the completion of a 32,000-kilometer fiber-optic network that will connect all command and management aspects of the program. The fiber-optic project is the largest in the world, according to the agency.
Lockheed Martin is the chief contractor for integrating missile defense information technology. Officials from both defense contractors are working to have the information system up and running in time for missile defense system’s scheduled 2004 deployment. The Bush administration hopes to have the first stages of a working missile defense system in Alaska and California by that time.
“We will be ready,” said David Kier, vice president and managing director of missile defense for Lockheed Martin (Randy Barrett, Space News, Sept. 22).
Six months after being launched, Japan’s first two spy satellites are monitoring nuclear activities and missile sites in North Korea, Asahi Shimbun reported today (see GSN, March 28).
The satellites, which were launched in March, are focusing on the Yongbyon nuclear complex and ballistic missile facilities on North Korea’s northeast coast. The satellites began taking pictures in May, and have also recorded images of WMD sites in Russia, China and the Middle East, according to Asahi Shimbun.
One satellite uses a telescopic optical sensor and the other is equipped to operate at night or in bad weather (Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 25).
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2002 by National Journal Group, Inc. The material in this section is produced independently for NTI by 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.
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