U.S. State Department Reissues Worldwide Terror Alert

The U.S. State Department Friday released a “worldwide caution” alert warning of possible new al-Qaeda attacks that could involve biological or chemical weapons (see GSN, Sept. 12).

“We expect al-Qaeda will strive for new attacks that will be more devastating than the Sept. 11 attack, possibly involving nonconventional weapons such as chemical or biological agents,” the alert says.  “We also cannot rule out the potential for al-Qaeda to attempt a second catastrophic attack within the U.S.,” it says.

The alert repeats the State Department warning issued before the second-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and also warns of increased threats to maritime interests (U.S. State Department release, Sept. 26).

The purpose of the new alert is to remind Americans of the continuing threat of terrorist attacks past the Sept. 11 anniversary, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday, describing the alert as a “technical fix.”

“The same kind of threats, the same kind of caution needs to be exercised by American travelers, as it was around the period of Sept. 11.  So I think, basically, what we did is we reissued it without centering it on the September 11th date,” Boucher said.

Boucher also said that that the inclusion of threats to maritime interests in last week’s alert was not based on new information (U.S. State Department transcript, Sept. 29).

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Cheney Led U.S. Push to Link Iraq to Al-Qaeda, Officials say

As U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell prepared his February presentation on Iraq to the U.N. Security Council, members of Vice President Dick Cheney’s staff pushed for the speech to claim a link between Iraq and a hijacker involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the Washington Post reported today (see GSN, Sept. 17).

Although the link was disputed by the Czech government and U.S. intelligence agencies, Cheney’s office persisted in including the charge that the hijacker met an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague five months prior to the attack, U.S. officials said.  Ultimately, Powell did not make the charge in his presentation.

Cheney’s Chief of Staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby attempted to pressure Powell’s speechwriters to include the claim that Mohammed Atta had met with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague and other suspected connections between Iraq and terrorism, according to Bush administration officials involved in the speech’s preparation.

In late January, Libby outlined the case against Iraq, which included the Atta claim, during a presentation in the White House situation room, according to the Post.

“We read (their proposal to include Atta) and some of us said,  “Wow!  Here we go again,’” said an official who helped draft Powell’s speech.

Libby described the information in his presentation as a “Chinese menu” — the broadest range of options that Powell could consider, according to some Bush administration officials.  “The papers were designed to assist (Powell’s) preparation by organizing a lot of materials so that he could choose the order and evidence he found most compelling, although some of it, in the end, could not be declassified,” said an administration official.

Other officials who attended Libby’s presentation, however, said that the proposed wording was too aggressive and that most of Libby’s information could not be used in a public speech.  They also said that most of the Libby’s information was later discredited and discarded after further examination by intelligence analysts.

“After one day of hearing screams about who put this together and what are the sources, we essentially threw it out,” on official present at the presentation said (Priest/Kessler, Washington Post, Sept. 29).

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U.S. Homeland Security Department Awards Funding for Emergency Operation Centers, Communication Systems

The U.S. Homeland Security Department announced last week that 19 states have been awarded $74 million in grants for the construction and enhancement of emergency operations centers (see GSN, Sept. 18).

“We are extremely pleased to be able to provide these funds for the construction and operational help needed to improve and maintain these important emergency centers,” Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said in a press statement.  “It is essential that the emergency operations centers have the capabilities that they need to respond to any kind of potential emergency within their areas and that first responders have the vital resources that they may need at hand,” he said (U.S. Homeland Security Department release I, Sept. 25).

Homeland Security also announced last week that 17 cities and counties would receive portions of $80 million in funding to help develop interoperable communications systems.

The grant recipients will receive funding through a joint program being conducted between Homeland Security and the Justice Department, according to a Homeland Security press release.  In addition to the 19 grant recipients being awarded funding through Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency, an additional 14 communities will receive funding through the Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services program.  The maximum amount for each grant is $6 million.

“The grants made in this process are intended to uncover solutions that will guide future communications equipment funding so that all communities can meet an interoperability performance standard,” Ridge said in a statement.  “Providing funds that will help bring these technologies to the light of day directly support homeland security’s goal to make all of America safer,” he said (U.S. Homeland Security Department release II, Sept. 25).

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No Evidence of State-Sponsored WMD Proliferation to Terrorists, Former Israeli Official Says

By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The prospect of terrorists acquiring WMD materials from friendly governments or the black market poses no major threat to the international community, a former senior Israeli intelligence official said here yesterday.

The black market WMD supply “is a threat that should not be ignored, but it is not a major threat,” said Ilan Mizrahi, former deputy director of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service.

He said further that there are no significant signs of governments providing terrorists with chemical, biological, nuclear or radiological weapon materials.

“There is no hard evidence to suggest that states supply WMD to terrorist organizations,” he said.

Of all terrorist groups, al-Qaeda poses the greatest WMD threat, Mizrahi said.

That group already has the know-how and production capability to manufacture chemical and biological weapons from materials obtained within a targeted country, he said, and while interested in nuclear or radiological weapons, al-Qaeda would have difficulty acquiring, handling and smuggling them.

U.S. Maintains Its Threat Assessment

The Bush administration has asserted that some states might one day share WMD capabilities with terrorists and therefore could be justifiably attacked to prevent a WMD attack.

President George W. Bush reaffirmed the U.S. position Tuesday in his address to the United Nations.

“The deadly combination of outlaw regimes and terror networks and weapons of mass murder is a peril that cannot be ignored or wished away.  If such a danger is allowed to fully materialize, all words, all protests, will come too late.  Nations of the world must have the wisdom and the will to stop grave threats before they arrive,” Bush said.

Today, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Stephen Rademaker told Global Security Newswire that the potential for WMD proliferation to terrorists is real, even if past evidence of state sponsorship is lacking.

“First of all, many states with a track record of supporting terrorism up until now haven’t had weapons of mass destruction,” he said after addressing the conference.

In addition, Rademaker said, it would be a mistake “to count on the good will of state sponsors of terrorism to continue to exercise restraint and to continue to only provide only low-level support of terrorism and to not provide weapons of mass destruction once they have them.”

Incomplete Information Cited

Mizrahi acknowledged that “substantial and definitive information” on black market WMD activity is lacking.

He said that media accounts have described anywhere from 200 to 1,000 WMD material smuggling incidents from 1991 to 2003, but cautioned, “We have to remember that what was seized and exposed might represent only a fraction,” of the actual trade, he said.

Such uncertainty “reflects how problematic these statistics on these matters are,” he said.

He said, though, that the number of black market smuggling busts appears to have sharply decreased in the last four years, perhaps reflecting greater international law enforcement attention.

Describing the Smugglers

Some of the deals that authorities have successfully stopped were conducted by renegade state officials and former military personnel, he said.

“The sellers were ex-military and –KGB personnel, [and] senior corrupted officials in WMD sites who have ideological sympathy for certain states or certain organizations,” Mizrahi said.

He cited Russia (including Chechnya), Pakistan, Ethiopia and Kazakhstan as nations where such people had been identified.

Mizrahi also said some smugglers are motivated by a desire for cash and said suspected WMD materials in Iraq could be a potential source of black market proliferation.

“What did they do, destroy it or hide it?  If they hid it, there is a potential for reaching terrorist organizations,” he said.

Buyers have included “Chechens, underground terrorist organizations in Latin America, extreme cult sects, lunatics and of course al-Qaeda,” he said.

As the most advanced terrorist organization, al-Qaeda now has chemical and biological weapon capabilities, “so that there is no urgent need for [the] black market,” Mizrahi said.

As for nuclear or radiological weapon materials, he said al-Qaeda has tried and failed in recent years to acquire them.

“After all, it is a very complicated and risky job to buy, to transfer, and to store” those materials, he said, but warned that al-Qaeda has not given up such efforts.

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Terrorists Could Target Drug Supply, Report Warns

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).

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GAO Criticizes U.S. Supervision of Nuclear Power Plant Security

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.

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U.S. Congress Approves $30 Billion for Homeland Security Department

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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