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NEWS BRIEFS
U.S. Plan Addresses Possible Spread of WMD
Expertise from Iraq
Political Fracas Stalls Senate's Iraq
Investigation
BWC States-Parties Meeting Yields
Little
Russian Site Completes Mustard Gas Disposal
GAO Covertly Buys Bioweapons Gear from Defense
Department
Joint U.S. Russian Nuclear Cities Venture
Launched
U.S. Plan Addresses Possible
Spread of WMD Expertise from Iraq
The Department of State is developing programs to address concerns
that Iraqi scientists, engineers, and technicians may assist other
countries with their weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs
in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. One such initiative,
the “Science, Technology and Engineering Mentorship Initiative
for Iraq,” was sketched out in a recent State Department draft
proposal obtained by Arms Control Today. The program would provide
grants to Iraqi scientists for research and development activities
at “institutions of higher education” and aim to lay the
groundwork for the development of Iraqi basic science research.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Nov. 17 that Washington
is “looking at programs to redirect [Iraqi personnel] with
expertise in [WMD] technology to peaceful civilian employment.”
Similar to existing programs the United States conducts with former
Soviet weapons scientists, these proposed programs are designed
to “keep Iraqi scientists from providing expertise to other
countries…[and] to enable them to serve the economic rebuilding
of Iraq,” Boucher said.
A State Department official interviewed Nov. 19 said the department
began planning for the programs shortly after the end of major hostilities
in Iraq, which President George W. Bush announced May 1.
Political Fracas Stalls Senate's
Iraq Investigation
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s investigation
into Iraqi intelligence has screeched to a virtual standstill after
a draft Democratic staff memo surfaced a few weeks ago. The memo
laid out a strategy for forcing an independent investigation into
whether the Bush administration misused intelligence to justify
the war in Iraq. No hearings have been held since the memo was leaked
Nov. 4, and Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said in comments
on the Senate floor that it will be impossible to return to “business
as usual” until the Democratic senators on the committee “clearly
repudiate the blatantly partisan strategy laid out in the attack
memo.”
Returning fire, the committee’s ranking member, Senator Jay
Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) called charges that the draft memo represents
a plan to discredit what the Intelligence Committee is doing and
to politicize the inquiry “inaccurate and unfortunate.”
He noted that “[i]t is disturbing that individuals are seeking
to score political points and that a draft paper describing the
rights of the minority to push for a full and fair review of these
issues is being so grossly mischaracterized to try to deflect attention
from the real issue.”
Meanwhile, on Nov. 6, President George W. Bush signed an $87.5 billion
package for military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan
that includes $600 million for David Kay’s continuing investigation
for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Congress approved the funding
measure in October.
Iran's Shahab-4 Denial Fails to Impress U.S.
A reported Nov. 5 Iranian Defense Ministry statement disavowing
a program to build a medium-range ballistic missile with an estimated
range up to 2,000 kilometers elicited little reaction from the United
States and Israel, the two most outspoken critics of Iranian missile
projects.
Published originally by the Iranian Students’ News Agency,
the Iranian Defense Ministry statement was quoted by Western press
reports as reading, “As we have said on several occasions and
contrary to certain statements, Iran has no programme to build a
Shahab-4 missile.” Iran recently announced that it successfully
completed testing an estimated 1,300-kilometer-range missile, the
Shahab-3, and started deploying the missile with its armed forces.
(See
ACT, September 2003.)
Noting that Iran has previously issued similar denials of a Shahab-4
ballistic missile program, Department of State spokesman Richard
Boucher responded skeptically Nov. 7 to the reported Iranian statement,
saying, “It remains unclear what tangible effect this will
have on Iranian missile development.” Another State Department
official said Nov. 12 that Washington still suspects Tehran is in
the “missile business” despite its protests to the contrary.
Because Iran’s newly fielded Shahab-3 is assessed as being
able to target Israel, the Nov. 5 report had no discernible change
on Israel’s threat assessment of Iran. Mark Regev, spokesman
for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C., said Nov. 14 that U.S.-Israeli
discussions about Iran during a mid-November U.S. visit by Israeli
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz were “not more relaxed” in
light of the Iranian statement.
Mofaz met with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld, in Washington before traveling to Fort Worth, Texas,
for a Nov. 14 ceremonial handover of the first of 102 U.S. F-16I
fighter jets that Israel is supposed to receive by 2008. The addition
of these new fighters will raise the total number of F-16s
purchased by Israel to 362. Only the U.S. Air Force possesses
more F-16s than Israel.
BWC States-Parties Meeting Yields
Little
States-parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) met in
Geneva Nov. 10-14 to discuss the wide variety of national legislation
that has been passed related to the convention, but they avoided
offering specific recommendations in their final report. The meeting
was the first of three annual “interim meetings” that
will be convened prior to the 2006 review conference.
The structure of the meetings—and the decision not to use them
to make any binding decisions—stems from the breakdown two
years ago of long-standing efforts to draft a protocol outlining
enforcement and compliance measures to the BWC. (See
ACT, January/February 2002.) After a year-long hiatus
following the suspension of the 2001 review conference, the U.S.
delegation last year strongly objected to the idea of states conducting
substantive work outside of the review conferences. Eventually,
the United States and other member states agreed to convene the
three “interim” meetings as a compromise. Results of the
discussions will be forwarded to the 2006 review conference, which
may decide on further action. (See
ACT, December 2002.)
Russian Site Completes Mustard Gas Disposal
Russian authorities announced Nov. 14 that the Gorny chemical destruction
facility completed disposal of the mustard gas stocks held there,
Interfax reported Nov. 17. More than 600 tons of the chemical were
destroyed at Gorny, which began operating in December 2002. (See
ACT, January/February 2003).
Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the state commission on chemical disarmament,
told Itar-Tass Nov. 11 that the Gorny facility is slated to begin
disposal of lewisite, another type of blister agent, on Nov. 25.
Gorny houses almost three percent of Russia’s 40,000-ton chemical
weapons stockpile and is expected to complete disposal of all of
the chemical agents stored there by 2005. Also in 2005, Russian
destruction facilities at Kambarka and Shchuch’ye are expected
to begin operations. Together, they will destroy almost 30 percent
of Russia’s chemical weapons stockpile.
Russia also announced that former chemical weapons-producing facilities
at Novocheboksarsk and Volgograd had been completely demilitarized,
Interfax reported Nov. 17.
Illegal Arms Found in Liberia
UN weapons experts in Liberia have revealed a cache of armaments
imported into the country during the final days of President Charles
Taylor’s rule in violation of a UN Security Council arms embargo.
The armaments were uncovered Nov. 1 after Jacques Paul Klein, the
special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Liberia ordered
the inspection of a 40-foot container previously immobilized by
Nigerian troops. Two members of the UN Panel of Experts, Atabou
Bodian and Damian Callamand, were also present as Klein took steps
to carry out Security Council Resolution 1478, passed on May 6,
which extended a two-year-old arms embargo on Liberia.
Resolution 1478 also created the Panel of Experts “to monitor
the arms embargo and take stock of all evidence available, including
the origin of the weapons,” said Bodian, the panel’s chairman.
To aid the panel, Resolution 1478 directs Liberia and its surrounding
West African neighbors to supply information regarding any aircraft
or vessel used to transport weapons during the ongoing embargo.
According to Callamand, the panel has “continued to receive
reports of brokers making deliveries of weapons to Liberia and violating
the arms embargo. This seizure is the first time real evidence of
an arms shipment has been discovered.” No member of the panel
elaborated on the origin of the weapons, and it is unclear whether
at this time the panel is receiving active cooperation from Liberia
or its neighbors.
Among the items found were two 60-millimeter mortars, 149 boxes
of mortar ammunition, 67 boxes of rocket-propelled grenades, and
299 boxes of AK-47 rifles accompanied by 699,000 rounds of ammunition.
Joint U.S.-Russian Nuclear Cities
Venture Launched
The first joint venture between a U.S. firm and a Russian company
in a closed nuclear city was officially launched Nov. 5 by U.S.
Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and Russian atomic energy minister
Alexander Rumyantsev. The project, between Numotech, Inc., a medical
devices company headquartered in California, and Spektr-Conversion,
LLC, a Russian start-up, will employ former Russian scientists to
manufacture medical equipment. It is expected to create more than
400 permanent local jobs. The Numotech/Spektr-Conversion joint venture
culminates three years of U.S. government support under the Department
of Energy’s Russian Transition Initiatives program.
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