Russian Needs $5 Billion for Chemical Weapons Destruction

The destruction of Russia’s remaining stockpile of chemical weapons will cost $5 billion, according to a report released yesterday by Moscow’s federal ammunition agency (see GSN, Sept. 19).

The report, which was submitted to Russian officials, termed the chemical disarmament program “unique in scale and political importance.”

Moscow has so far destroyed 1 percent of its stockpile, and intends to eliminate all chemical weapons stores by 2012 (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Oct. 2).

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Australia Holds Terrorism Drills Ahead of Rugby World Cup

Australian security officials staged a simulated cyanide attack on a Brisbane passenger train Tuesday as part of an exercise in advance of the Rugby World Cup (see GSN, Sept. 9).

“About 100 people posing as passengers on their way to the match were evacuated and placed in the care of paramedics and health workers,” Queensland state Premier Peter Beattie said.  “The train was secured and the surrounding area evacuated,” he added.

Officials are conducting a week-long security exercise that features simulated chemical, biological and radiological terrorist attacks on Brisbane.  The drills are due to conclude tomorrow (IAfrica.com, Sept. 30).

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Officials Discover Leaking Mustard Agent at Tooele

U.S. Army officials at a storage site in Utah this week discovered two leaking mustard agent chemical containers, according to Army spokesman Chuck Sprague (see GSN, Sept. 11).

On Monday, mustard vapor was found to have leaked at the Deseret Chemical Depot at Toeele, Utah.  On Tuesday, officials discovered about a cup of mustard that had seeped out of a 155 mm munition.

“Typically, mustard will ooze out near the warhead, and ooze out over the side and down the round side of the projectile,” Sprague said.  “This seems to be the time of year we have leakers with mustard emissions,” he added.

In the winter, he said, the chemical agent turns solid and is less likely to escape (Associated Press/Salt Lake Tribune, Oct. 1).

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United States CW Specialists Monitor Scottish Whiskey Distillery

The U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency has been found to have been monitoring a Scottish whiskey distillery for evidence of chemical weapons activity, BBC News reported last week.

DTRA’s interest in the Bruichladdich Distillery on the island of Islay was revealed after an agency worker informed the distillery that one of its webcams had stopped working, according to BBC News.  The distillery had installed webcams to illustrate its techniques for interested Internet users.

“They said they had been monitoring our webcams because the process of making something very innocuous and pleasant is close to making weapons of mass destruction, apparently,” said Mark Reynier, managing director of the distillery (BBC News, Sept. 27).

“Whiskey has been called many things, but never a weapon of mass destruction.  It makes you wonder if the Americans have any chance of finding anything if they are watching a little distillery on a Hebridean island,” he added (Auslan Cramb, London Telegraph, Sept. 27).

A DTRA spokesman said that monitoring webcams was not a critical agency activity.

“I am fairly certain that monitoring Scottish distilleries and checking webcams from time to time is not high on our list of missions,” the agency spokesman said.  “The United States is part of the Chemical Weapons Convention and as such we are committed to the process of destroying chemical weapons.  That includes monitoring and visiting commercial facilities where they would be able to make chemical weapons,” he said (Just-drinks.com, Sept. 30).

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Meth Lab Bust Brings Chemical Weapons Charge

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).

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Afghanistan Ratifies Chemical Weapons Convention

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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