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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China Conducts Anti-Terrorism Exercise With Chemical Weapons Scenario

China has conducted a large-scale anti-terrorism training exercise in its Inner Mongolia province in the northern section of the country, Agence France-Presse reported today (see GSN, Sept. 8).  More than 2,000 law enforcement officers took part in the exercise, which included a scenario involving terrorists attempting to conduct a chemical weapons attack (Reuters, Sept. 24).

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Pentagon Needs More Chemical Protection Suits, GAO Says

By David McGlinchey
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department has too few chemical protection suits to equip its personnel and the deficiency is growing larger, according to a classified report by General Accounting Office, which released a public summary yesterday (see GSN, April 29).

Although the rate of suit production has increased recently, the demand for suits is outpacing the supply, the report concluded.  Current production must replace suits used in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and older suits as they expire, the report says, all while overall demand is increasing simultaneously.  Currently, defense officials have about five million suits but the Pentagon estimates that it would need about seven million suits on hand to conduct two major wars at the same time — a standard measure of readiness.

“This requirement will likely increase to include counterterrorism, force protection and homeland defense contingencies,” the report says.

Last year, the GAO said that U.S. officials must focus more attention to chemical and biological defenses.

There is a “serious gap between the priority given to chemical and biological defense and the actual implementation of the program,” according to the 2002 report.

Today’s report encouraged the Pentagon to maintain a stockpile of essential suit components in case of conflict.  The GAO has also criticized inconsistent funding for chemical protection suits, which has led to an irregular and unreliable production pattern.

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Army Wants Full-Scale Anniston Incineration by November

U.S. Army officials have said they intend to begin full-scale chemical weapons incineration at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama by November, the Birmingham News reported Friday (see GSN, Sept. 12).

Chemical incineration at the Anniston facility has reportedly progressed faster than the previous startup of two other Army chemical weapons destruction sites, project managers said Thursday.  In its first seven weeks of burning sarin-filled rockets, the plant has experienced no safety concerns, they added.

Officials are currently destroying rockets at a rate of 24 per hour, and they will increase that to 40 per hour, according to Tim Garrett, the Army’s Anniston project manager.

“We have exceeded expectations as far as the other two facilities,” Garrett said.

In November, the Army also plans to place a sensitive monitor in the exhaust stack of the plant to test for dioxins, furans, PCBs and other dangerous chemical weapons byproducts.

Garrett said that based on previous testing, he expects the plant to easily pass the November monitoring.  During the initial chemical destruction, however, sensors have detected sarin leaks in the incinerator complex, but the Army has claimed that the leaks were not dangerous (Katherine Bouma, Birmingham News, Sept. 19).

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Panama Rejects U.S. Plan to Clean Up Abandoned Weapons

Panama has rejected a U.S. plan to clean up abandoned chemical weapons on San Jose Island off the country’s coast, Xinhua News Agency reported today (see GSN, May 28, 2002).

Last month, the United States agreed to provide Panama with $2 million, equipment and training to remove the weapons.  Panama rejected the U.S. proposal, however, because Washington would not admit its responsibility in polluting the island, according to Panamanian Ambassador to the United States Roberto Alfaro.

“The United States wanted to be freed from every responsibility, but that Panama could not accept,” Alfaro said (Xinhua News Agency, Sept. 19).

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Inadequate Funding Threatens Russian CW Destruction, Foreign Aid

A Russian lawmaker cautioned today that inadequate domestic funding for destroying Russian chemical weapons would not only slow the program but would jeopardize the contributions of other nations.

“The draft budget for 2004 allocates 5.36 billion rubles [$176 million] for implementing the presidential program of chemical weapons destruction in the Russian Federation, which is equal to this year’s allocations,” said Nikolai Bezborodov, deputy chairman of the Duma Defense Committee and a member of the state commission for chemical weapons destruction (see GSN, June 10).  “This amounts to 46 percent of the 11.58 billion rubles [$381 million] supposed to be allocated for this sector under the program in 2004,” he added.

“As a result, the U.S. will not resume the provision of $200 million for the construction of the chemical weapons destruction facility in the town of Shchuchye in Kurgan region.  The U.S. is ready to resume the funding if Russia and donor countries allocate at least $50 million for Shchuchye,” Bezborodov said (see GSN, June 9; Interfax/BBC Monitoring, Sept. 19).

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