CBR Weapons and WMD Terrorism News- September 8, 2006

Nebraska Health and Human Services receives $3,067,393

“U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) announced today that the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has received a $3,067,393 grant. The grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human services. The funds will be used for a Bioterrorism-Hospital Preparedness program.” (Southwest Nebraska News, 08Sep06)
http://www.swnebr.net
/newspaper/cgi-bin/articles
/articlearchiver.pl?159049

S.C. [South Carolina] to receive $17.4M to help deal with bioterrorism threat

“South Carolina's public health agency will get $17.4 million in federal money to bolster the state's ability to respond to a bioterrorism attack or other emergencies. The money, part of a $1.2 billion funding package from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was announced Thursday by the offices of U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint.” (charleston.net, 08Sep06)
http://www.charleston.net
/assets/webPages/departmenta
l/news/Stories.aspx?section=
stateregion&tableId=106888&
pubDate=9/8/2006

Judge Dismisses Photographers’ Anthrax Lawsuit

“A federal judge in Florida has dismissed a freelance photographer's lawsuit seeking more than $2 million for celebrity photographs contaminated in the anthrax attack on a tabloid publishing house in 2001. The Virginia-based photographer, Greg Mathieson, claimed to have lost about 1,400 photos stored at the Boca Raton, Fla., headquarters of American Media, Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, Star, and Weekly World News. The anthrax [Bacillus anthracis] contamination at American Media is believed to be linked to a series of anthrax-laden letters received in 2001 in Senate offices and by press outlets, including ABC, CBS, NBC, and the New York Post.” (New York Sun, 08Sep06, Josh Gerstein)
http://www.nysun.com
/article/39290

Big campus [Kansas State University] role foreseen

“Kansas State University President Jon Wefald said he knows a bioscience campus proposed for Olathe is going to play a critical role in securing the nation’s food supply. Wefald and others from Kansas State traveled to Johnson County on Wednesday to visit with business leaders and city officials promoting the bioscience facility. ‘This campus is going to be vital to America’s national security,’ he said. The proposed bioscience facility in Olathe, he said, would complement the $54 million Biosecurity Research Institute set to open on K-State’s campus this fall.” (The Kansas City Star, 07Sep06, Mike Ekey) http://www.kansascity.com
/mld/kansascity/news/politics
/15455370.htm

U.S. Postal Service, TaskForce 7 stage full-scale live exercise to simulate anthrax bacteria exposure
“At 1 p.m., the alarm sounded; a few minutes later, fire trucks were on scene; 25 minutes later, TaskForce 7 emergency response trailers arrived and began assembling decontamination units. The U.S. Postal Service and TaskForce 7 conducted a full-scale live exercise at the post office on Margaret Avenue near First Street [Terra Haute, Indiana] on Thursday, bringing together team members from as far away as Greencastle and Indianapolis to run the drill. The exercise simulated an event in which anthrax bacteria is detected in a mail room, setting off the highly sensitive Biohazard Detection System alarm.” (Terra Haute Tribune Star, 07Sep06, Deb McKee) http://www.tribstar.com
/news/local_story_250223737.
html?keyword=topstory

Hungary to send biological weapons detection lab to Beijing Olympics

“Hungary's army is sending a mobile biological laboratory to China to be used throughout the Beijing Olympics, said Defence Minister Imre Szekeres on Friday after meeting his Chinese counterpart in Budapest. The NATO-approved lab, designed to detect the agents in a biological terrorist attack, has already been deployed once -- during the Athens Olympics in 2004.” (Budapest Business Journal, 08Sep06) http://www.bbj.hu/main
/news_16478_hungary+sends+
biological+weapons+detection
+lab+to+beijing+olympics.html

Verification and the BWC [Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention]: Last Gasp or Signs of Life?

“At first blush, the outlook for cooperative, multilateral verification of compliance with the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) looks grim. In 2001-2002, ten years of work devoted to preparing for and then negotiating a draft protocol to establish a standing verification organization for the treaty collapsed. In subsequent meetings of experts and annual meetings of states-parties devoted to discussing, not negotiating, a variety of BWC-related topics, verification rarely featured. Meanwhile, national policies toward BWC verification appear to have remained static. The United States instigated the abrupt halt to the protocol negotiations at the treaty’s Fifth Review Conference. U.S. officials apparently remain steadfast in their view that effective verification of the BWC is impossible and that attempting it will be both delusional and dangerous to U.S. national security and commerce. Only a few Western states have been willing to hold aloft the banner of full-fledged verification. It is reasonable to ask whether, in these circumstances, as the BWC’s Sixth Review Conference approaches in November and December of this year, there is any hope for moving forward on verification measures. The short answer is that there will be no agreement to return to the protocol negotiations, no new initiative to create a standing verification body for the treaty, and no wholesale climbdown by the United States on biological verification. The v-word itself likely will continue to be avoided in any final document, as it has been for years in deference to U.S. sensibilities.” (Arms Control Today, September 2006, Trevor Findlay)
http://www.armscontrol.org
/act/2006_09/bwcverification.asp?print

Crucial Guidance: A Code of Conduct for Biodefense Scientists

“When representatives of up to 155 states-parties meet in Geneva from November 20 to December 8 to consider ways to strengthen the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), they are likely to express support for the promotion and creation of “codes of conduct.” These ethical principles are intended to increase scientists’ awareness and accountability and reduce the risk that biological research and development could be misused for biological weapons. Yet, producing concrete guidelines for scientists involved in such a broad research area has proved difficult. For example, a June 2005 BWC meeting of experts charged with addressing the adoption of codes of conduct for scientists did not produce any concrete actions. In fact, it is not realistic to believe that a single broad code can be enacted. States-parties negotiators would be better off focusing on creating a narrower set of guidelines and appropriate oversight mechanisms that would govern a far smaller group of scientists in national biodefense research and development programs, including programs for bioterrorism preparedness and protection. These guidelines could be incorporated into and complement an already existing set of politically binding confidence-building measures, an annual set of national declarations that seeks to build transparency in fields related to the BWC.” (Arms Control Today, September 2006, Roger Roffey, John Hart, Frida Kuhlau)
http://www.armscontrol.org
/act/2006_09/BWCconduct.asp
?print

Russia takes another step forward in WMD threat reduction

“Global Green USA, the U.S. affiliate of Mikhail Gorbachev’s Green Cross International, welcomes the official opening of the Russian Federal Agency for Industry’s third major facility for the destruction of its chemical weapons arsenal and urges safety and transparency as destruction gets underway. The facility, located near Maradikovsky in the Kirov Oblast (300 miles NE of Moscow), is the first to destroy nerve agents.” (Global Green USA, 07Sep06)
http://www.g
lobalgreen.org
/press/releases/2006_09_07_
maradikovsky.htm

[Umatilla Chemical] Depot detects traces of mustard chemical agent vapors

“A depot chemical operations monitoring crew detected mustard (HD) chemical agent vapors today inside a depot storage structure storing bulk storage containers. The trace of mustard chemical agent was detected during routine monitoring. The structure housing the chemical agent has a ‘passive’ filter system, which prevents chemical agent vapor from escaping outside the structure. However as a further protective measure, a powered filter system was installed.” (U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency, 07Sep06)
http://www.cma.army.mil
/docviewerframe.aspx?
docid=003675967


Quick reaction times for chemical weapons sensor

“A sensor that can rapidly detect the chemical nerve agent Sarin has been developed by US scientists.~Sarin, which is a liquid at room temperature, evaporates quickly to give a colourless and odourless gas.~ It attacks the nervous system of humans and was used in the terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995.~~‘In today’s political climate, the threat of terrorist activity is ever more prevalent…and the detection of chemical nerve agents is imperative,’ said Eric Anslyn, a chemist at the University of Texas, Austin. This prompted Anslyn and colleagues to design a molecule that reacts with a sarin surrogate, a chemically similar but safer proxy for sarin, in mere milliseconds. ‘The sensor is able to switch on a fluorescence signal very rapidly, upon the detection of chemical nerve agents,’ said Anslyn.” (RSC Publishing, 08Sep06)
http://www.rsc.org/Publishing
/ChemScience/Volume/2006/10/c
hemical_weapon_sensor.asp

Geoffrey [Thorne, former Porton Down volunteer] plans to sue MoD over test

“Ex-servicemen used as human guinea pigs in Ministry of Defence experiments at Porton Down have launched a bid for compensation. Veterans who were subjected to chemical warfare agents experiments, from the 1940s to the 1980s, have instructed lawyers to seek compensation from the MoD for the injuries sustained as a result of the experiments. Among those seeking compensation is 75-year-old Geoffrey Thorne, of Birstall. The retired engineer was a 23-year-old RAF mechanic when he volunteered to take part in MoD trials at Porton Down in Wiltshire. It was not until two years ago, at a second inquest into the death of Leading Aircraftsman Ronald Maddison, that he discovered he and hundreds of others had been exposed to the deadly nerve gas sarin.” (thisisbradford.co.uk, 08Sep06, Fiona Evans)
http://www.thisisbradford.co.uk
/news/tibnews/display.var.914465.0.ge
offrey_plans_to_sue_mod_over_test.php

Bhutan establishes OPCW [Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] National Authority

“In compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the Kingdom of Bhutan has informed the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that it has designated the Legal and Treaties Division, Department of Multilateral Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as its National Authority.” (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 07Sep06)
http://www.opcw.org
/pressreleases/2006/PR53_2006.html

OPCW Director-General Visits Indonesia; Meets Foreign Minister Wirajuda

“The Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, paid an official visit to the Republic of Indonesia on 5 and 6 September 2006. Together with H.E. Dr. N. Hassan Wirajuda, Foreign Minster of the Republic of Indonesia, Director-General Pfirter opened the Fourth Regional Meeting of Asian National Authorities in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 5 September 2006. In their meeting, Foreign Minister Wirajuda renewed Indonesia's offer to support the Organisation in its mission to rid the world of chemical weapons.”
(Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 07Sep06)
http://www.opcw.org
/pressreleases/2006/PR51_2006.html

Fourth Regional Meeting of National Authorities of States Parties in Asia Held in Jakarta, Indonesia

“The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) co-hosted with the Government of Indonesia the Fourth Regional Meeting of National Authorities of States Parties in Asia, which was held in Jakarta, Indonesia, from 5 to 7 September 2006. The meeting was attended by 73 participants from 28 States Parties, as well as by Myanmar, a Signatory State. The meeting served as a forum in which States Parties in the region presented their need for assistance and indicated what assistance they could offer to other States Parties. It also provided an opportunity to discuss issues relating to the identification of declarable Article VI activities and the enhanced quality of the declarations submitted by States Parties, as well as the role of custom authorities in carrying out the import and export provisions of the Convention.” (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 07Sep06)
http://www.opcw.org
/pressreleases/2006/PR52_2006.html

Nauru Establishes OPCW National Authority

“In compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), Nauru has informed the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that it has designated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade as its National Authority.” (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 07Sep06)
http://www.opcw.org
/pressreleases/2006/PR54_2006.html

Sierra Leone Establishes OPCW National Authority

“In compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the Republic of Sierra Leone has informed the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that it has designated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation as its National Authority.” (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 07Sep06)
http://www.opcw.org
/pressreleases/2006/PR55_2006.html

OPCW Director-General Meets CTBTO [Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization] Executive Secretary and UN Under-Secretary for Disarmament Affairs

“On 31 August 2006, Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, met in Vienna H.E. Ambassador Nobuaki Tanaka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs (UNDDA), and Ambassador Tibor Toth, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBO). In their discussions, they focused on issues of mutual interest, which are relevant to the OPCW, UNDDA and the CTBTO Preparatory Commission in their activities in the field of disarmament and the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.” (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, 07Sep06)
http://www.opcw.org
/pressreleases/2006/PR56_2006.html

U.S. Nuclear Security Agency Combats Nuclear Terrorism: Energy Department entity has expanded role in preventing nuclear terror

“Though fairly new and not well known, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) plays a key role in U.S. efforts to prevent nuclear weapons and materials from falling into terrorist hands. Since the terrorist attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001, NNSA has doubled spending on nuclear nonproliferation programs, according to a September 6 fact sheet from the agency. [Follow the link to see a summary of accomplishments included on the fact sheet.] (U.S. Department of State,
07Sep06)
http://usinfo.state.gov
/xarchives/display.html?p
=washfile-english&y=2006&m=September
&x=20060907161515adynned0.9757044

U.S. lawmakers reach port security pact

“U.S. senators have reached agreement on ports security legislation, hoping to approve bolstered protections to prevent nuclear materials from being smuggled into the country. The $835 million bill, which has languished in the Senate for years, resembles plans the House of Representatives approved in May. But it is not clear how Congress will pay for the security measures, including putting monitors at the 22 largest ports to screen for materials to make radiological ‘dirty’ bombs or nuclear weapons.” (International Herald Tribune, 08Sep06, AP) http://www.iht.com/articles
/2006/09/08/business/port.php

Nuclear Arsenal Gets Upgrade

“The military will complete security upgrades of its nuclear arsenal by late 2009 to further guard it against terrorists, a senior general said this week. ‘In the course of the next two to three years, we plan to complete the modernization of the security systems of nuclear weapons storage facilities,’ General Vladimir Verkhovtsev told Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. Verkhovtsev heads the Defense Ministry's 12th Main Directorate, which is responsible for storage and maintenance of the country's nuclear arsenal. Verkhovtsev said the security upgrade included all aspects of the storage facilities, including perimeter defenses. All such facilities will be equipped with intruder detection, surveillance and access-control systems, he said.” (The St. Petersburg Times, 08Sep06)
http://www.sptimes.ru
/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=18771

UN Assembly Takes Up Global Counter-Terrorism Plan

“The U.N. General Assembly president proposed on Sept. 7 a draft global counter-terrorism plan urging nations to crack down on terrorist abuse of the Internet and be more cautious in granting asylum. General Assembly resolutions, while not legally binding like Security Council resolutions can be, generally carry great weight as an expression of world opinion. It would back greater efforts to improve the security of identity and travel documents, improved border and customs controls and better global coordination in planning for a terrorist attack with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.” (DefenseNews.com; 08Sep06; Irwin Arieff, Reuters, UN) http://www.defensenews.com
/story.php?F=2090687&C=america