U.S. President-elect Barack Obama (right), shown with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in July, could face obstacles to making major changes to U.S. foreign policy (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images). International Crises Await Obama Upon his January inauguration, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama would inherit the leadership of a nation threatened by terror groups and political instability in nuclear-armed states, the McClatchy News Service reported (see GSN, Nov. 5). "President Obama will be a wartime president from day one, and he will have to make immediate decisions and come to grips with immediate national security priorities," Anthony Cordesman, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote yesterday...Full Story

U.S. Boosts Funding for Last Two CW Disposal Sites By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department has received its highest-ever budget for preparing two chemical weapons disposal sites that hold the key to meeting the congressional demand to eliminate the entire U.S. stockpile by 2017 (see GSN, July 8)...Full Story

No Collection of Nuclear Samples, North Korea Says North Korea has apparently rejected nuclear sampling as part of a program to verify the scope of its atomic activities, Kyodo News reported today (see GSN, Nov. 5)...Full Story

	Thursday, November 6, 2008

DHS Readies $3 Billion for Terrorism Preparedness The U.S. Homeland Security Department yesterday announced plans to distribute more than $3 billion in terrorism and disaster preparedness grants to U.S. communities in fiscal 2009.  The latest tranche of funding would come with fewer restrictions than in past years, the Washington Post reported (see GSN, July 19, 2007). Among a number of loosened restrictions, state and local recipients would be allowed to use 50 percent of the funds for personnel expenses, a figure previously capped at 25 percent. The new guidelines appeared to recognize criticisms that the federal support focused too much on terrorism to the detriment of other crime-fighting activities, the Post reported. “The economic crisis is placing a great strain on local resources, forcing officials to decide between, say, a school-lunch program and cops on the street,” said David Heyman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.  “This sounds like the department being very responsive to years of deep-seated complaints from local authorities about the enormous federal funding bureaucracy.” “There is no more room for folks from state and local government to complain. They got pretty much what they wanted,” added a congressional aide to the House Homeland Security Committee (Spencer Hsu, Washington Post, Nov. 6). The new funding reflects an evolving readiness strategy, said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. “Several years of investment have taken us largely from capability building to performance-based planning and investment,” he said in a release.   “This year’s funding priorities are consistent with last year, and reflect a mature and disciplined grants program.  We are now in the position of being able to inform high threat urban areas of their target allocations ahead of time, which will go a long way in helping their applications” (U.S. Homeland Security Department release, Nov. 5). Back to top

International Crises Await Obama Upon his January inauguration, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama would inherit the leadership of a nation threatened by terror groups and political instability in nuclear-armed states, the McClatchy News Service reported (see GSN, Nov. 5). "President Obama will be a wartime president from day one, and he will have to make immediate decisions and come to grips with immediate national security priorities," Anthony Cordesman, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote yesterday. Richard Haass, head of the Council on Foreign Relations, added that whether or not international leaders immediately challenge the next president, "the one thing I'm sure of is, events will test him. …  There will be coups. … There will be genocide. … There will be terrorism." Obama is expected today to receive his first President’s Daily Brief, a confidential document authored by the country’s intelligence services, a high-level intelligence official said (Strobel/Linday, McClatchy News Service/Yahoo!News, Nov. 5). In a letter sent late on Tuesday, National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell said the president-elect’s advisers would probably establish a temporary liaison group at his office, the Washington Post reported today.  "We are prepared to brief the team on the (intelligence community's) capabilities as well as on significant intelligence issues," the note states. CIA Director Michael Hayden wrote in a memorandum to staffers that his agency now serves “two sets of customers,” Obama and President George W. Bush.  “Through expanded access, greater than what he had in his briefings as a candidate or as a senator, he will see the full range of capabilities we deploy for the United States,” he said (Kornblut/Cho, Washington Post, Nov. 6). As president, Obama is expected to contend with North Korea, where the health of leader Kim Jong Il has cast uncertainty on efforts to denuclearize the country (see related GSN story, today), with Iran, which has refused to halt nuclear activities that could aid nuclear weapons development (see GSN, Nov. 3), and with al-Qaeda, which maintains a solid base along the Afghan-Pakistani border (see GSN, Oct. 28; Strobel/Linday, McClatchy). He would also grapple with a resurgent Taliban, which has gathered strength in Afghanistan and allied with tribal militants in nuclear-armed Pakistan, the Associated Press reported. "We're on our way to failure in Afghanistan and the consequences of losing are tremendous," said Paddy Ashdown, former secretary general of NATO.  "It means Pakistan falling and nuclear weapons getting into the hands of an Islamist government and the widening of the regional conflict and Afghanistan reverting to a playground for al-Qaeda." Ashdown called on Obama to organize an international peace symposium early in his presidency with leaders from Iran, China and other nations. “There will be a honeymoon because the world is longing for a U.S. president to give them a reason to love the United States again," Ashdown said.  "If he makes some bold moves, he can really take advantage of it" (Gregory Katz, Associated Press/Google News, Nov. 6). According to the Americas editor for Jane’s Information Group, financial instability will probably limit Obama’s ability to dramatically shift the nation’s foreign policy, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. "Despite his accent during the election campaign on delivering change, Obama's foreign policy in practice is likely to be constrained by the effects of economic downturn and ongoing long-term commitments inherited from the Bush administration," Robert Munks said.  "The major difference from Republican foreign policy is therefore likely to be in presentation rather than substance.” "On many ‘big ticket' issues there will be broad continuity, such as drawdown from Iraq, increased engagement in Afghanistan, the containment of Iran's putative nuclear weapons ambitions and cautious engagement with Beijing based primarily on trade. "Countries where specific but nuanced policy shifts could be seen include Cuba, Colombia, Pakistan, Russia and Syria, and at the strategic level there is likely to be an increased focus on energy independence and environmental issues as factors affecting national security," Munks said (Agence France-Presse I/Khaleej Times, Nov. 5). Arab League chief Amr Moussa yesterday urged Obama to base his Middle East policy on "honest brokership." "We cannot talk about a Middle East free from nuclear weapons which applies to all but one,” he said, referring to Israel’s widely presumed possession of nuclear weapons.  “It's not serious, the policy of all but one has to come to an end" (Agence France-Presse II/Zawya, Nov. 5). Meanwhile, Israel noted concern about Obama’s stated willingness to negotiate with Iran over its disputed nuclear efforts, Reuters reported.  Tehran insists its nuclear program is strictly peaceful, a position doubted by Jerusalem and the West. "We live in a neighborhood in which sometimes dialogue — in a situation where you have brought sanctions, and you then shift to dialogue — is liable to be interpreted as weakness," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Israeli radio when questioned on Obama’s Middle East positions. Questioned on whether would endorse any U.S. talks with Iran, she said:  “The answer is no” (Jeffrey Heller, Reuters I, Nov. 6). Iran yesterday said it would not tolerate U.S. incursions into Iranian airspace, a warning that one Iranian political figure said was directed more at Obama than the U.S. military presence in Iraq "Recently it has been seen that American army helicopters were flying a small distance from Iraq's border with Iran and, because of the closeness to the border, the danger of them violating Iran's border is possible," state radio reported, referring to an Iranian army statement.  "Iran's armed forces will respond to any violation” (Parisa Hafezi, Reuters II, Nov. 5). Back to top       Report Warns of “Future Military Failure” By Bob Brewin Government Executive WASHINGTON — The Defense Science Board released on Tuesday a sobering report that called for the incoming Obama administration to focus on a small but complex set of defense issues, with protection of the country against weapons of mass destruction as the top priority of the new secretary of defense (see GSN, Nov. 5). Weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear and biological armaments, imperil both the safety of the United States and its military forces, according to the report, "Defense Imperatives for New Administration."  The board urged the new defense leadership "to do everything possible to prevent the worst people from acquiring and using the worst weapons." This must include a strongly stated and unambiguous policy of retaliation to punish any nation or group that launches a weapon of mass destruction attack against the United States, according to the report, whose lead author is Craig Fields, chairman of the Defense Science Board and former director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the late 1980s. The new administration cannot ignore the pressing issues outlined in the report, which "could lead to future military failure," the Defense Science Board said.  "We are at war in Afghanistan and Iraq, with over 180,000 military personnel and perhaps 30,000 contractors at risk. ... We cannot know how militant Islamic jihadist terrorism will develop or what it will do.  Nations of concern, both rogue states and the largest nations, are enlarging their armories.  We need to feel a sense of urgency and act accordingly." The science board also expressed strong concerns that terrorists could obtain supplies of the cesium 135 isotope, which is widely used in medical applications such as cancer treatments, to make a radioactive “dirty bomb.”  It urged the United States to encourage medical facilities to use another form of treatment to fight cancer. The National Research Council issued a similar report in February, which called for the federal government to promote replacing cesium chloride, which is used in medical applications, with lower risk alternatives because of the compound's potential use in dirty bombs. The science board said the new administration must mobilize forces worldwide to deter enemies and protect allies.  But the board emphasized that the United States' military and civilian information infrastructure remains highly vulnerable to cyber attack, which could deter force projection capabilities. Poor defense business practices undermine military capabilities as they raise costs and impede "modernization that they threaten to compromise America's technology lead and force capability," said the report, which was dated August 2008 but released on Election Day. The report also urged the new administration to focus on nation-building, stabilizing and reconstructing countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, and on thwarting terrorist threats at home and around the world. In addition, the Defense Department and other agencies such as the Homeland Security Department must devise better operational contingency plans to respond to domestic catastrophes, whether they are natural disasters such as hurricanes or attacks carried out by terrorist groups or foreign nations, the report said. The Defense Science Board forecasted a grim scenario if an attack larger than Sept. 11 occurs or if the United States is hit by a natural disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina and the government's response is slow and ineffective.  The consequences, the science board predicted, would be a breakdown of civil order, leading to riots, vigilante actions and gang violence. The new administration should reform "cumbersome business practices" within defense, which could cause a gradual long-term degradation of U.S. forces, "in effect a self-inflicted wound," the report said.  The Defense Science Board said a slow acquisition process limits ability of defense to take advantage of cutting-edge technology developed in the United States, and more agile adversaries can acquire technology quicker. The Pentagon needs to adapt the best practices of the commercial sector to its missions and have an authoritative business plan that enforces discipline in the allocations of resources by mission purpose: what is to be done, with what resources and by when. The Defense Department can no longer afford to perform its wide range of missions alone, the report said, and will have to work with other agencies and private sector partners at home and abroad.  Stabilization and reconstruction missions in foreign countries demand not only military skills to ensure public safety, but civilian skills needed to understand local cultures, histories and language, the report said. Back to top

No Collection of Nuclear Samples, North Korea Says North Korea has apparently rejected nuclear sampling as part of a program to verify the scope of its atomic activities, Kyodo News reported today (see GSN, Nov. 5). After another near-breakdown of the denuclearization process, the United States said last month that Pyongyang had agreed to a verification protocol by outside experts that involved “scientific procedures, including sampling and forensic activities.”  In return, the Bush administration removed North Korea from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. However, North Korean Foreign Minister Pak Ui Chun on Oct. 15 told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that sampling would not be allowed, sources said.  Also, no material discovered during verification could be removed from North Korea, Pak added. His statement seemingly led Beijing to slow its efforts to convene another full meeting of the nations involved in the six-party talks on the nuclear issue — China, Japan, Russia, the United States and both Koreas.  Diplomats expected at the session to produce a document setting out the details of verification. While Pyongyang and Washington intended to hedge in writing their sampling agreement, Tokyo wants it to be addressed explicitly in the document, Kyodo reported. Verification would be the next step in the process intended to strip North Korea of its nuclear sector and weapons in exchange for economic, diplomatic and security benefits (Kyodo News, Nov. 6). Meanwhile, North Korea’s official news agency reported today that regime leader Kim Jong Il attended a concert.  Pyongyang has issued three reports in recent days apparently intended to counter reports that Kim was in poor health after suffering a stroke in August and undergoing brain surgery, the Associated Press reported. Kim’s health problems coincided with North Korea’s temporary halt and reversal of disablement of facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.  The nation resumed work after being taken off the terrorism list. “I think this is a message to the United States," said professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.  "The message appears to be that: 'I make decisions on relations with the United States, the nuclear standoff and everything. I'm in control and I'm ready to have direct talks with"' U.S. President-elect Barack Obama (Jae-Soon Chang, Associated Press/USA Today, Nov. 6). Back to top       Mozambique Ratifies Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Mozambique on Tuesday ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, becoming the 146th nation to fully adopt the pact banning all nuclear explosions, the treaty’s implementing body announced today (see GSN, Sept. 25). Mozambique also ratified the African Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone Treaty this year (see GSN, March 27). While 180 nations have signed the testing treaty, it cannot enter into force without ratification by 44 specific nations.  Nine holdouts remain:  China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the United States (Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization release, Nov. 6). Back to top       U.S. Test-Fires Minuteman Missile The United States yesterday launched a nuclear-capable Minuteman 3 ICBM in a successful test of the weapon’s accuracy and dependability, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, May 23). The unarmed missile lifted off at 1 a.m. Pacific time from a silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.  After a flight of 4,190 miles, the missile’s re-entry vehicle struck its target off of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, the Air Force said. "The fact that we can randomly select an on-alert operational ICBM from any missile wing and launch it without making any modifications to the components to hit a bulls-eye target is a testament to the system's reliability," mission director Lt. Col. Lesa Toler said in a statement.  "I have complete confidence in our ICBM weapon system to perform as advertised” (Associated Press/International Herald Tribune, Nov. 5). The missile’s flight was tracked using an X-band radar, two F-16 fighter jets equipped with infrared sensors and other missile defense elements, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said. Data collected during the tracking drill is expected to help upgrade defensive sensor capabilities (U.S. Missile Defense Agency release, Nov. 5). Back to top

View of Disease Threats Unbalanced, Study Finds Canadian researchers have found that people feel more threatened by diseases that receive extensive media coverage, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy reported yesterday (see GSN, May 20). "When a certain disease receives repeated coverage in the press, people tend to focus on it and perceive it as a real threat," said Meredith Young, head author of the study conducted at McMasters University in Ontario. “This raises concerns regarding how people view their own health, how they truly understand disease, and how they treat themselves.” The study asked its subjects to give their impressions of 10 diseases that included thoroughly covered agents, such as anthrax and SARS, as well as obscure diseases, such as tularemia and Lassa fever.  Medical students and university undergraduates judged that the obscure agents were less dangerous and less likely to be real diseases. Still, public concern about well-known biological terror agents can trickle down to boost public preparedness for other diseases, said Peter Sandman, a Princeton-based threat communication specialist. "Newsworthy diseases often break policy ground that affects a society's preparedness for less newsworthy diseases as well," he said.  "Anthrax, for example, has had a big impact on bioterrorism preparedness policy — which certainly includes preparedness for a tularemia attack.” The study was published in the Oct. 29 edition of Public Library of Science One (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy release, Nov. 5). Back to top       Smallpox Vaccine Safe for HIV Carriers, Firm Says The Danish pharmaceutical firm Bavarian Nordic yesterday reported that its next-generation Imvamune smallpox vaccine is safe to administer to HIV carriers who cannot safely receive the conventional vaccine (see GSN, April 14). In a Phase 2 clinical study, the company administered the vaccine to 300 HIV-infected subjects and 86 people without the virus.  Researchers concluded that HIV carriers suffered no additional side effects, a finding that could potentially support the vaccine’s use to stem a biological weapon attack. The firm expects to submit its report to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration within several days and receive $25 million under a contract.  The company plans to release all data from the report in the second half of next year, including details on the vaccine’s ability to produce immune response and the reactions of additional HIV carriers who previously received another smallpox vaccine (Bavarian Nordic release, Nov. 5). Back to top

U.S. Boosts Funding for Last Two CW Disposal Sites By Chris Schneidmiller Global Security Newswire WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department has received its highest-ever budget for preparing two chemical weapons disposal sites that hold the key to meeting the congressional demand to eliminate the entire U.S. stockpile by 2017 (see GSN, July 8). The $427.5 million provided to the Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives program for fiscal 2009 is a step in the right direction toward providing the money that will be needed to meet the deadline, one longtime observer said. “We see the … budget request as a positive indication [against] the potential to shy away from what would be necessary to meet the shortened schedule; the heartburn that they would suffer would not be as great,” said Craig Williams, head of the Kentucky-based Chemical Weapons Working Group. Funding for the agency this year is up from $407.1 million in fiscal 2008 and $349.2 million in fiscal 2007. To meet the mandate set last year on Capitol Hill, the Pentagon is going to need to direct $450 million to $500 million annually in combined funding over the next nine years to the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and the Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado, Williams told Global Security Newswire.  The figures are based on discussions with informed sources, he said. A Pentagon spokesman said the necessary funding levels are still being assessed.  The existing schedule has disposal operations finishing in 2020 at Pueblo and three years later at Blue Grass. “While the DOD continues working to minimize the time to complete destruction of the remaining chemical weapons stockpile without sacrificing safety and security, the current approved [chemical demilitarization program] cost and schedule estimates are based on actual experiences, lessons learned, and adjustments associated with implementation of this most challenging program,” the Pentagon said in a June report to Congress. Current Operations The United States as of Wednesday had destroyed 57.5 percent of its total original stockpile of 31,500 tons of mustard blister agent and VX and sarin nerve agents.  Most of the weapons were produced in the World War II-era or later. The disposal program, when first envisioned in 1985, was expected to be finished within a decade and cost roughly $1.8 billion.  Instead, it remains a going concern that is set to require roughly $36 billion. As long as the lethal materials remain in existence, they present a potential danger to nearby communities and an attractive target for terrorists looking for a shortcut to a new capability.  Any stockpiles left after April 2012 would also violate the deadline set by the Chemical Weapons Convention, which requires full destruction of the U.S. chemical arsenal. All operations to date have been handled at seven sites by the Army Chemical Materials Agency.  It received the bulk of the more than $1.6 billion appropriated for weapons destruction operations in the budget year that began Oct. 1. The Army is not focused on meeting the congressional directive, but rather the deadline set by the international treaty. Three storage depots have already finished off their stockpiles.  The latest disposal schedule, dating from April 2006, has the Army completing operations between 2015 and 2017 at incinerators in Alabama, Arkansas, Oregon and Utah.  “We’re moving these schedules to the left,” with the goal being 2012, said CMA spokesman Greg Mahall. Paul Walker, security and sustainability program head for Global Green USA, estimated that the Army’s side of chemical weapons elimination is more likely to be finished in 2013 to 2014. Mahall acknowledged the potential for unforeseen delays caused by technical breakdowns or operational errors.  A May 2000 incident involving the release of a minute amount of sarin from the Tooele Chemical Agent Disposal Facility in Utah led to a nine-month shutdown, he noted. “Safety is our top priority.  We’re going to work that to the best of our ability.  And we get done when we get done,” Mahall said. Future Work More than 520 tons of mustard, VX and sarin agents contained in several types of munitions are stored at Blue Grass, while Pueblo holds 2,600 tons of mustard agent.  The ACWA weapons processing sites, operated separately from the Army disposal operation, are to use chemical neutralization technology to eliminate the weapons material. Plans for the actual work have been subject to major reversals of fortune in recent years.  While the Bush administration ordered preparation of the disposal plants to be accelerated following the Sept. 11 attacks, that mandate proved temporary in the face of expensive wars in two nations, cost overruns at operational chemical weapons incineration plants and orders for redesigns for the Colorado and Kentucky facilities. The Pentagon placed both sites on “caretaker status” for the 2004-2005 budget year, leaving just enough money to sustain operations at ACWA headquarters at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, Williams said:  “No money for design or construction, nothing that would move us forward toward the objective, which is to get rid of this material.  An ACWA spokeswoman said the agency received “limited” redesign funds that year and $70 million for “neutral site improvements” at Blue Grass and Pueblo. Community and political pressure led the Pentagon to increase ACWA funding to roughly $150 million in the following fiscal year, and appropriations have continued to rise in subsequent budgets, Williams said.  This year, the agency received $144.3 million for construction at the two plants, and $288.2 million for research and development, which encompasses design, management, testing and other costs. Design work on the Blue Grass Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant was 83 percent complete as of September, concrete was being poured for the main chemical neutralization plant and installation of equipment was under way. The Pueblo Chemical Agent Destruction Pilot Plant is fully designed and construction continued on the two primary facilities needed for weapons disposal (see GSN, Oct. 30). The agency in June submitted three options for addressing the 2017 deadline.  The first would simply maintain the existing schedule, while the second would involve moving the weapons from Colorado and Kentucky to states that have operating disposal facilities.  That plan would require changes to state and federal laws banning such shipments and has already proven extremely unpopular. The third option calls for boosting personnel to enable more rapid completion of construction, testing the operational capability of equipment earlier than planned and conducting disposal operations 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  All mustard-agent munitions at Blue Grass would be destroyed using an explosive detonation chamber, allowing that disposal project to be operated simultaneously with destruction of nerve agent weapons. “If implemented, destruction of the Colorado stockpile by December 2017 does appear possible; however, destruction of the Kentucky stockpile would require some additional time,” according to an ACWA document.  Work at Blue Grass is likely to continue into 2019, the agency told GSN. The Pentagon is preparing a schedule assessment for the third option, which is to be included in the presidential fiscal 2010 budget request, due to be submitted early next year. Assembled Chemical Weapons Alternatives has already sent a draft funding plan for that option to the Defense Department, Williams said.  “It is just a draft and I’ve been hearing some ugly rumors about how it’s being received over at the Pentagon,” he said. “The Pentagon probably will only agree to that if we see the war costs wind down, and Congress makes some tough choices between other [defense] priorities,” Walker said. The Pentagon stands to shave roughly $2.4 billion off the total cost for operations at Blue Grass and Pueblo if it can finish work by April 2017, Williams said.  The current cost estimate for the entire ACWA program, including construction, weapons elimination and plant closures, is roughly $8 billion. A revised estimate is being prepared, according to the agency. “If we can start operations at this [Kentucky] plant in 2016 or even 17 rather than 2021, that’s a significant reduction in risk to this community.  Because it’s that number of years less that we’re sitting on this stuff,” Williams said.  “Any way you slice and dice this thing … it’s much more reasonable to accelerate this project, and that’s what we’re pushing for.” Back to top       Umatilla Depot Eliminates All VX Weapons The Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon yesterday finished destroying its entire stockpile of munitions filled with VX nerve agent, the Hermiston Herald reported (see GSN, Oct. 15). "We plan to complete the VX land mines disposal campaign today, which means the end of land mines, all VX agent, all nerve agent, and all munitions with explosive or energetic components here in Oregon," said Mike Strong, site  project manager at the Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility (Hermiston Herald, Nov. 5). The U.S. Army has now eliminated 95 percent of its original arsenal of VX; the nerve agent remains in storage at only two U.S. locations (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency release, Nov. 6). Umatilla now must prepare to dispose of mustard agent. “We're not done yet, and we won't let our guard down," Strong said.  The facility is scheduled to be retooled over several months before it starts incinerating blister agent stored in 1-ton containers (see GSN, Nov. 4; Hermiston Herald). The mustard agent campaign is expected to last between one and two years, the Tri-City, Wash., Herald reported. Eliminating the VX munitions constitutes a significant safety improvement for the surrounding region, said depot spokesman Bruce Henrickson.  The base no longer has any chemical weapons with explosive parts and mustard agent is five times heavier than air, meaning it is not likely to travel off-base in vapor form, he said. That argument did not stop a group of activists from suing to stop mustard incineration.  The Sierra Club and other organizations claim the operation would release mercury and other contaminants into the air (Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald, Nov. 6). Back to top

U.S., Others React to Russian Missile Threat The United States yesterday led a chorus of disapproval to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s threat to deploy short-range missiles as a response to planned U.S. missile defense installations in Europe, the Voice of America reported (see GSN, Nov. 5). The Iskander missiles would be fielded in the Kaliningrad Oblast, a small region between Lithuania and Poland. “Certainly, the Russian action is disappointing," said U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.  "But I'll say it again, it bears repeating:  The missile defense sites in the Czech Republic and Poland are not aimed at Russia.  Certainly, the small number of interceptors that will be located at the missile defense site (in Poland) would easily be overwhelmed by the Russian forces.  This missile defense site is designed to protect against rogue states, for example Iran, who are working on long-range missile technology." The matter is likely to be raised when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sees Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a meeting in Egypt, McCormack said (David Gollust, Voice of America, Nov. 5). The Defense Department said the Russian threat had no impact on its plan to deploy 10 missile interceptors to Poland and a radar base to the Czech Republic by 2013, Agence France-Presse reported. “Nothing in today’s news changes our position with respect to trying to cooperate with our European partners on it,” said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman (Agence France-Presse I, Nov. 5). Medvedev’s warning, made in his first state of the nation speech, was the clearest indication yet of Moscow’s intention to use missiles to “neutralize” the U.S. initiative, the Washington Post reported.  The Iskander is capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads and has an official range of 170 miles, though observers say that might be well below the weapon’s actual flight capability. “This is just a demonstration of force inside Russia carried out in justification of an aggressive ambition,” said Lithuanian Defense Minister Juozas Olekas.  Lithuania, which like Poland and the Czech Republic is a NATO state, sought some form of intervention from the alliance to the threat, the Post reported (Philip Pan, Washington Post, Nov. 6). “We have seen the press reports on the statement of President (Dmitry) Medvedev regarding deployment of Iskander missiles to the Kaliningrad region," NATO spokesman Robert Pszczel told AFP. "If confirmed, it would raise serious worries concerning the conformity with existing arms control arrangements which are important for European security," he said.  "Moreover, placing of these Iskander missiles in the Kaliningrad region would not help NATO and Russia to improve their relationship” (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Nov. 5). “This is the first time in 20 years that Moscow has threatened to create a genuine military threat to the West.  This is definitely a cardinal change in the situation,” Russian defense analyst Alexander Golts told AFP. The threat is “an attempt to inflict maximum damage on U.S.-Russian relations,” he said. “I have no rational explanation for why this came less than 24 hours after the election of a new U.S. president,” he added (see related GSN story, today).  “Even in Soviet times they refrained from such harsh reactions.” Golts said that the Iskander could not reach the anticipated site of the radar base in the Czech Republic and expressed doubts about “rumors” that the missile can fly as far as 310 miles. Russia is attempting to extend the range of the missile, said analyst Pavel Felgenhauer (Agence France-Presse III, Nov. 5). Back to top

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

© Copyright 2008 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.