U.S. Response:  Pentagon Seeks Chemical Detection Standard

By Bryan Bender
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — As U.S. military forces prepare to better fend off potential chemical attacks, defense officials have acknowledged they lack a standard for determining the effectiveness of chemical detection systems, and they are seeking an independent assessment to help them establish a common set of objectives for field tests.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has asked the National Academy of Sciences to study “the issues surrounding the requirements for operational testing of chemical stand-off detection technologies,” the agency said this month.

“The results of this study will provide the basis for programmatic and other acquisition decisions on a number of chemical agent standoff detectors currently in the acquisition process” designed to detect chemical agents from distances ranging from five meters to 20 kilometers.

Officials said that the study’s findings will help determine which chemical detection technologies now being designed should be acquired in quantity and deployed in the field.

The military departments are developing a variety of new stand-off chemical detectors.  They include the M21 Remote Sensing Chemical Agent Alarm (RSCAAL), an automatic infrared sensor that detects Tabun, Sarin and Soman nerve gases and H and L blister agents from as far as five kilometers; the Joint Service Lightweight Standoff Chemical Agent Detector, which can detect nerve, blister and blood agents at ranges up to five kilometers; and the Artemis system, which is mounted on a vehicle and can detect, range and map chemical warfare agents at distances up to 20 kilometers.

Standards of effectiveness for field tests of such devices will vary according to each detection system, officials said.  “Testing could well depend on the technology used for detection,” DTRA said.

The National Academy of Sciences study will take six months, officials said.

While U.S. military forces are already considered the best equipped in the world to operate in chemical, biological or nuclear conditions, new technologies are being pursued as the threat of chemical warfare grows.

One novel idea that DTRA is pursuing involves outfitting a Predator unmanned aerial vehicle to disperse chemical detectors that can collect samples of chemical clouds or plumes.

“The probability of U.S. forces encountering chemical or biological agents during worldwide conflicts remain high,” the 2001 Defense Department Chemical and Biological Defense Program annual report to Congress says.  “An effective defense reduces the probability of a chemical or biological attack, and if an attack occurs, it enables U.S. forces to survive, continue operations and win.”

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Russia:  Withheld U.S. Funds Might Delay Weapons Disposal Plants

A lack of U.S. funding might delay construction on two Russian chemical weapons destruction facilities, Interfax reported Wednesday.  One plant is located near the Russian city of Shchuchye, and the other is located in the Udmurtia republic (see GSN, May 30; see GSN, April 12).  The United States has not said when it plans to resume funding, said Sergei Kiriyenko, chairman of the Russian State Commission for Chemical Disarmament (Interfax, Aug. 21).

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Colombia:  Prosecutors Charge FARC With Using Cyanide in Attack

Colombian prosecutors have charged senior officials in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s main rebel group, with the use of outlawed chemical weapons, the Associated Press reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 21).

The Colombian prosecutor’s office issued warrants Friday for the top leaders of the FARC for “using illegal warfare methods in utilizing chemical weapons,” a spokeswoman for the office said. 

The charges are based partly on a U.S. Defense Department investigation that detected traces of cyanide in the corpse of one out of four policemen killed in an attack last year.  Because cyanide was only found in one tissue sample, however, U.S. medical investigators could not be certain that the attack involved the use of a chemical weapon, the investigators said in a report.

If the FARC did use poison gas, it would be the first time they have done so in 38 years of civil war in Colombia, according to the AP (Andrew Selsky, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Aug. 21).

For further information, see:

CDC List of Chemical Agents

Federation of American Scientists Information on Chemical Weapons

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Russia:  Gorny Destruction Plant Launches First Phase

Russia has launched the first phase of the Gorny chemical weapons destruction plant, ITAR-Tass reported today (see GSN, Aug. 14).

Several European countries have helped build the plant, said Mikhail Margelov, chief of the Federation Council’s committee for international affairs.  Germany played a major role in the plant’s construction, while Italy and the United Kingdom have signed agreements to provide assistance, and France and Norway also have indicated a willingness to cooperate, Margelov said.

The work on the Gorny plant, Russia’s first chemical weapons destruction facility, will also help improve U.S.-Russian relations, Margelov said.  While the United States has pledged funds to help improve the security of Russia’s chemical weapons stockpiles, Margelov said he hopes the United States will also help fund their destruction (see GSN, Aug. 9; Anatoly Yurkin, ITAR-Tass, Aug. 22).

During a tour of the site, German envoy in charge of security and disarmament H.J. Dherr said he is impressed by the amount of work completed at the Gorny plant.

“This is the first step towards the destruction of Russian stockpiles of chemical weapons,” Dherr said.  “I hope, before the end of the year, the second phase of the facility will have been built and the real destruction of chemical weapons will begin” (Interfax/BBC Monitoring, Aug. 22).

Russian officials have notified the U.S. State Department that the Gorny plant will not be operational until December at the earliest, a State spokesman said yesterday (Mike Nartker, GSN, Aug. 22).

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Colombia:  FARC Used Cyanide, U.S. Defense Department Confirms

The U.S. Defense Department has confirmed that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebel group used cyanide in an attack on a police station in the town of San Adolfo in southern Colombia in September, the Colombian radio and television channel Canal RCN reported today.

U.S. officials have passed the results of a Defense Department laboratory test on to the Colombian prosecutor general’s office, according to Canal RCN.

RCN cited the report as saying the preliminary test for cyanide was positive.  The concentration of cyanide was placed at more than five milligrams (Canal RCN, Aug. 21, GSN translation).

According to the Cali El Pais, FARC forces fired cylinder bombs containing cyanide on the police station during the Sept. 3 attack.

The chemical poisoned the air the police officers were breathing, the U.S. Defense Department report said, adding that the rebels then forced four captured uniformed officers to consume a liquid.  The two together caused death (Cali El Pais, Aug. 21, GSN translation).

Europa Press has also reported that six other police officers were hospitalized for pulmonary problems.  Colombian generals Fernando Tapias and Luis Ernesto Gilibert earlier condemned the FARC for using chemicals in the attack on San Adolfo and said they did not rule out the possibility that three Irish Republican Army members arrested in Bogota before the attack could have given technical assistance to the rebels on how to use the substance.

FARC spokesman Raul Reyes said Tapias and Gilibert’s statements are “false and slanderous.”  The generals were attempting to justify the deaths of the soldiers, he said (EP/Agence France-Presse, Aug. 21, GSN translation).

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U.S. Response:  Washington Metro Installs More Toxin Sensors

By Mike Nartker
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The Washington Metro mass transit system has begun installing 10 additional toxic chemical sensors in underground stations this month, a Metro spokeswoman said last week (see GSN, Jan. 3).

It will probably take six months to install the additional sensors, Metro spokeswoman Cheryl Johnson said.  She declined to say in which stations the sensors would be installed, citing security concerns.  Metro plans eventually to install a toxic chemical sensor in each of the system’s 47 underground stations, Johnson said.  Technicians installed sensors in two Metro stations in January.

The sensors have proven to be effective in tests, Johnson said.  The last major test of the sensors was in December, she added.

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Iraq:  Kurdish Militant Group Experiments With Ricin

There is evidence a Kurdish militant group in Iraq suspected of ties to al-Qaeda has performed small experiments with crude chemical weapons, the Wall Street Journal reported today (see GSN, July 19).

The group, Ansar al-Islam, is believed to have produced ricin — a chemical toxin made from castor beans.  Intelligence reports have indicated one man and a few farm animals died after exposure to the toxin, the official said.  Several of the group’s leaders are believed to have trained with al-Qaeda operatives at camps in Afghanistan, the Journal reported (see GSN, March 19). There no signs, however, that al-Qaeda is involved in the ricin experiments, the official said (see GSN, March 26).

CNN has reported that Bush administration officials have been considering a covert U.S. attack to destroy the group’s camp in northeastern Iraq, according to the Journal.  ABC News recently reported, however, that U.S. President George W. Bush refused to approve such a plan, according to the Journal.

The group’s experiments are considered unsophisticated and some intelligence analysts have determined that Ansar al-Islam poses little threat to U.S. interests, the official said (David Cloud, Wall Street Journal, Aug. 20).

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Al-Qaeda:  U.S. Officials to Examine Recovered Videotapes

U.S. officials will examine a recently recovered collection of al-Qaeda videotapes, which includes footage of crude chemical weapons experiments, for intelligence information, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 19).

“Appropriate officials will take a look” at the videotapes, Fleischer said.  U.S. news organization CNN, which recovered the videotapes in Afghanistan, confirmed through a spokeswoman that it is sharing them with “appropriate authorities.”

A U.S. defense official said the footage of chemical weapons experiments corroborates what U.S. troops found in searches of more than 60 sites in Afghanistan believed to be associated with al-Qaeda attempts to acquire weapons of mass destruction (see GSN, March 26).  Those searches uncovered instructions on how to produce biological and chemical agents, the official said.  U.S. forces also found laboratory equipment and supplies of atropine — a nerve agent antidote — but no weapons, the official said (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo.com, Aug. 20).

The recovered al-Qaeda videotapes also appear to support the court testimony of Ahmed Ressam, who said he had witnessed al-Qaeda experiments involving poisoning dogs with cyanide (see GSN, Nov. 16, 2001).  Ressam has been convicted of attempting to bomb the Los Angeles airport (Barrie McKenna, Globe and Mail, Aug. 20).

For further information, see:

CDC List of Chemical Agents

Federation of American Scientists Information on Chemical Weapons

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U.S. Response II:  U.S. Troops Train to Attack Chemical Weapon Sites

U.S. military forces recently completed a three-week military exercise that included mock attacks on four sites containing chemical weapons or their delivery systems, the New York Times reported today (see GSN, May 20).

The $250 million joint combat exercise was the largest in U.S. history and involved 13,500 military and civilian personnel across the United States.  There were nine live exercise ranges included in the operation and twice as many computer simulations.  Preparing to deal with weapons of mass destruction was an important part of the exercise, according to the Times.

Military planners intend to use results from the exercise to shape war plans in the future, the Times reported.  It will take months to analyze the operation and implement its lessons throughout the armed services, according to Brig. Gen. James Smith, who directed the exercise (Thom Shanker, New York Times, Aug. 20).

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United States:  Depot Considers Off-Site Help to Dispose of Weapons

U.S. Army officials at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas said yesterday that they are considering working with an off-site facility to help destroy the site’s chemical weapons more quickly (see GSN, Feb. 14).

Work is almost complete on a chemical weapons incinerator at Pine Bluff, which houses 3,850 tons of chemical weapons, according to the Associated Press.  The Army, however, is looking at alternative disposal methods to meet a 2006 deadline, said John Gieseking, an Army project manager.  Officials might contract with an off-site commercial waste manager to handle disposal of some nonstockpile chemical weapons, he said (Associated Press, Aug. 19).

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Al-Qaeda:  Video Archive Documents Experiments

Videotapes included in a large archive made by al-Qaeda document experiments with crude chemical weapons agents, CNN reported yesterday (see GSN, July 19).

A CNN correspondent in Kabul obtained the al-Qaeda video archive, which includes 64 tapes (see GSN, July 24).  The tapes had been discovered in a house where suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden had once stayed, according to sources.

The archive includes a collection of videotapes that shows testing of a chemical weapons agent on three dogs, according to CNN.  The videotapes indicate that al-Qaeda had a strong desire to acquire the ability to use chemical weapons against humans, a senior Bush administration official said (see GSN, June 14).  Until the videotapes surfaced, there had been no signs that al-Qaeda or bin Laden had that capability, the official said.

“This tape is unquestionable documentation that he has some capability,” the official said.  The tape shows “some level of sophistication and indicates they were trying to get results” (CNN.com, Aug. 18).

One tape shows a man in Afghan attire entering a small room where a white Labrador-like dog is sleeping, according to the New York Times.  The man drops something on the floor and quickly leaves.  Shortly afterward, a white liquid moves across the floor, and a vapor starts to fill the room, the Times reported.  The dog starts to salivate and sneeze and then begins to shake.  Soon after, the dog struggles to stand, vomits and seems to have difficulty breathing before lying still, according to the Times.

Experts disagreed over what chemical agent might have been used on the dogs.  David Kay, senior vice president at Science Applications International Corp., said the dogs displayed symptoms that appeared to be those of exposure to sarin.

“That terrible racking sound of the dog in its death throes is a classic sound of a nerve agent like sarin,” Kay said.

Frederick Sidell, a chemical weapons expert who has worked at the U.S. Army Medical Institute of Chemical Defense, said he did not think that sarin or cyanide had been used on the dogs.  It was unclear from the video whether the dogs died, he said (Judith Miller, New York Times, Aug. 19).

Many experts agreed that the tapes demonstrate the use of a powerful chemical weapons agent and possibly al-Qaeda’s ability to produce such agents, according to CNN.

“It’s probably extremely significant, if not profound,” said John Gilbert, a chemical weapons specialist and arms control expert who advises the U.S. government.  “I know there’s been a lot of speculation about the state of technology and how far they may have advanced toward having a usable chemical weapon.  The fact that they were able to repeat tests or demonstrations on this tape indicates that they clearly have a way to produce a predictably lethal chemical” (CNN.com).

For further information, see:

CDC List of Chemical Agents

Federation of American Scientists Information on Chemical Weapons

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U.S. Response:  United States Assisted Iraq Despite Weapons Use, Officers Say

Senior U.S. military officers have said a covert Reagan administration program provided Iraq with battle planning assistance during its war with Iran in the 1980s while U.S. intelligence agencies knew Iraq was planning to use chemical weapons, the New York Times reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 16).

Several senior Reagan administration officials publicly criticized Iraq for using chemical weapons during the Iraq-Iran war, and such criticism intensified after Iraq attacked Kurds with chemical weapons at the Iraqi town of Halabja in 1998, according to the Times.

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and senior national security aides continued to support a program under which 60 Defense Intelligence Agency officers provided Iraq with information on Iranian military deployments, tactical battle planning and bomb damage assessments, the senior U.S. officers said.

Although Iraq did not admit using chemical weapons, it often shared military plans with the United States and Iraq’s use of chemical weapons became more visible as the war neared conclusion, the officers said.

In 1998, after Iraq recaptured the Fao Peninsula with U.S. planning assistance, defense intelligence officer Lt. Col. Rick Francona was sent to tour the battle site with Iraqi military officers, the senior U.S. officers said.  Francona reported that Iraq had used chemical weapons during the battle, noting the presence of zones marked for contamination and evidence that Iraqi soldiers had protected themselves for possible blowback, a former Defense Intelligence Agency official said.

Col. Walter Lang, the senior defense intelligence officer at the time, said that both Defense Intelligence Agency and CIA officials “were desperate to make sure that Iraq did not lose” the war to Iran.

“The use of gas on the battlefield by the Iraqis was not a matter of deep strategic concern,” Lang said.

The Defense Intelligence Agency “would have never accepted the use of chemical weapons against civilians, but the use against military objectives was seen as inevitable in the Iraqi struggle for survival,” he added.

A spokesman for U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, formerly Reagan’s national security adviser, said that Powell called the senior U.S. officers’ description of the program “dead wrong.”

A spokesman for Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, a senior defense official in the Reagan administration, said that Armitage denied that the United States had agreed to the use of chemical weapons.

Former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci, who was among those who publicly criticized Iraq for using chemical weapons, disagreed with the U.S. senior officers’ characterization of the program.

“My understanding is that what was provided” to Iraq “was general order of battle information, not operational intelligence,” Carlucci said. “I certainly have no knowledge of U.S. participation in preparing battle and strike packages and doubt strongly that that occurred.”

“I did agree that Iraq should not lose the war, but I certainly had no foreknowledge of their use of chemical weapons,” he said (Patrick Tyler, New York Times, Aug. 18).

For further information, see:

CDC List of Chemical Agents

Federation of American Scientists Information on Chemical Weapons

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United States:  Army to Treat Umatilla Wastewater on Site

The U.S. Army plans to treat the wastewater generated by the chemical weapons incinerator at the Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon at the site rather than transporting it to a Washington state facility, an Army spokeswoman said Friday (see GSN, Aug. 16).

The Army has decided to treat the wastewater at the site and will take the byproduct to an area dump for disposal, Army spokeswoman Mary Binder said.  The Army had previously said the depot’s treatment systems were ineffective.

“We’ve hired the crews, and we are funded to operate the facility,” said Don Barclay, Army project manager for Umatilla.  “Our plan is to have it ready for agent operations and to use the facility during agent operations” (Associated Press, Aug. 16).

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