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-------- britain
BNFL's MOX issues
Sellafield sabotage 'was intended to divert Mox inquiry'
From: Kathy Crandall - kathycrandall@earthlink.net
The Independent
By Steve Connor, Science Editor,
The Independent - 20 June 2000
A worker at British Nuclear Fuels' Sellafield plant tried to sabotage the manufacture of nuclear fuel rods by adding debris to highly radioactive fuel pellets,an inquiry by the company has concluded.
The sabotage, which came to light earlier this year, was done to divert attention from an investigation into falsified safety data, the company believes. The inquiry was ordered to find out who was involved in the fabrication of quality-control data relating to plutonium fuel destined for BNFL's Japanese customers.
BNFL, which operates the nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria, has admitted that the sabotage attempt was potentially more dangerous than the data falsification because the debris - a screw and two pieces of flooring material - might have interfered with the safe operation of the fuel in a reactor. The debris was welded into the hollow stainless-steel tubes alongside the fuel pellets.
Although the contamination was detected in X-ray checks of the finished rods, the incident has added to the company's embarrassment over its lax production controls for mixed uranium and plutonium oxide (Mox) fuel.
BNFL's investigation into the incident found that a worker probably inserted the debris into the empty rods while they stood unattended for several hours in "annex G", an area off a corridor servicing the Mox demonstration facility's "laboratory G", where Mox fuel pellets are loaded into tubes.
The company said it has since changed its operating procedures so that empty fuel rods are no longer left unattended for long periods off a corridor. It admitted it had not been able to prove who was involved in the sabotage attempt, but said it was confident that whoever was responsible for the debris incident was no longer working in the Mox demonstration facility.
John Edwards, the head of Mox business technology development, said the company suspected the motive for the sabotage was to divert attention from the investigation into the data falsificiation. "We believe it was a deliberate act, but not to sabotage the system," Dr Edwards said. The worker must have known the debris would have been found during X-ray checks, he said.
Since the data falsification was revealed by The Independent in September, production of Mox fuel has stopped and BNFL has been told to enforce 15 recommendations by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) by the end of July. All Mox employees are being retrained. BNFL has to gain the NII's approval before restarting Mox production.
---
ILLEGALITY OF STAR WARS CHALLENGED BY DISMANTLING NEW TOP SECURITY ALARMED ANTI-INTRUDER FENCE AT MENWITH HILL, N. YORKS.
PRESS RELEASE - 19 June 2000
From: "Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space" globalnet@mindspring.com
Three women this morning cut their way into the U.S. National Security Agency Space-War Spy Base at Menwith Hill in an attempt to dismantle the new fence that serves to protect the new and illegal developments in which the base plays a key role.
Anne Lee, a local Otley woman who has been campaigning against the base for several years at the Menwith Hill Women's Peace Camp, Helen John, from the Menwith Hill campaign and also a member of Trident Ploughshares 2000, and Angie Zelter, also of the Trident Ploughshares 2000 non-violent direct action campaign, used bolt-croppers to get through a top security alarmed anti-intruder fence, which has been recently erected in advance of the new role the base will play in anti-ballistic missile (ABM) "defence", or Star Wars. The women were arrested at approximately 10.50 am and are currently being held at the police station on the base.
Angie Zelter said, "This base plays a key role in NATO military intelligence. Even if we get rid of Trident tomorrow, they are still planning to have new nuclear-powered weapons in space. Ballistic missile defence undermines the entire international legal order. The Americans are just running ahead without consulting anyone."
Helen John said, "I'm doing this because I oppose the threat that Star Wars poses to the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and the Outer Space Treaty. They say the system is for 'defence,' but it can just as easily be used as an offensive weapon against any nation which does anything the United States doesn't like. And they can find out what everyone is doing through the Echelon system, which sifts key target words through the computers here."
Anne Lee said, "There is a threat of terrorist attacks at Menwith Hill, and local people are concerned about this. They've just spent thousands on an anti-intruder system which isn't secure at all."
The women also pointed to the hypocrisy of pretending the decision on deploying the ABM system hadn't been made yet, when millions of dollars have already been spent preparing the ground base and its linked satellites for the new space-based weapons. Menwith Hill won an award for monitoring Iraqi troop communications during the Gulf War, in which over 100,000 Iraqis were killed, and after which thousands of Iraqi civilians and NATO veterans were struck with a multi-symptomed syndrome due to chemical and radiological exposures. Menwith Hill also plays a role in both economic and military espionage. The information it downloads from satellites can also be fed to targeting systems for cruise missiles and other weaponry. Members of Parliament are only allowed to ask very limited questions about the base's top-secret operations.
For More Information Contact the Menwith Hill Women's Peace Camp(aign): 01943-468593 Or the Trident Ploughshares 2000 Press Contact on: 01324 880744 or (07775711054)
-------- bulgaria
IAEA head in Bulgaria to see Kozloduy nuclear plant
BULGARIA: June 20, 2000
Story by Liliana Semerdjieva
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=7164
SOFIA - The head of the world's nuclear watchdog the IAEA said on Monday he was having talks in Sofia on how Bulgaria was implementing safety improvements at its Soviet-designed Kozloduy nuclear power plant.
"We have been very active here to help Bulgaria upgrade all its six reactors," Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the United Nations' nuclear body, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said after meeting Bulgaria's Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mikhailova.
Bulgaria, which started talks on joining the European Union in March, has bowed to EU pressure to close its two oldest 440-megawatt reactors at the Kozloduy plant before 2003, several years earlier than initially planned.
A final decision over closure dates of another two ageing blocks, three and four, will be taken by 2002 and Bulgaria hopes that their life may be prolonged if they are upgraded to internationally acceptable safety standards.
Apart from the four 440-megawatt reactors, the Kozloduy plant has two more modern 1,000-megawatt reactors, which went into operation after 1987 and will continue to operate, with a large-scale modernisation programme currently being carried out.
"By 2002 the terms for closing reactors three and four should be agreed which we think should be based on professional expertise," Mikhailova told a news conference with ElBaradei.
"In this content IAEA's mission in Bulgaria is extremely important to us," she added.
ElBaradei, who will visit Kozloduy on Tuesday, said a full IAEA mission would visit the site soon to check the implementation of the safety upgrading programme.
The plant, located on the bank of the Danube River, provides almost half of Bulgaria's electricity.
-------- china
http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/2000/6/21/7.text.1
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release June 20, 2000
STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY
MEETING WITH THE DALAI LAMA
His Holiness, the XIV Dalai Lama, met at the White House this afternoon with the President and the National Security Advisor to discuss Tibet. The President welcomed the Dalai Lama's commitment to nonviolence and declared his strong support for the Dalai Lama's steadfast efforts to initiate a dialogue with the Chinese government. The President pledged his continued support for the Dalai Lama's effort to encourage dialogue and expressed his hope that the Chinese government will respond favorably. The President reiterated the strong commitment of the United States to support preservation of Tibet's unique religious, cultural, and linguistic heritage and to the protection of human rights of Tibetans. The President and the Dalai Lama agreed on the importance of strong and constructive U.S.-China relations.
----
GAO Asked to Monitor China
Washington Post
Tuesday, June 20, 2000; Page A07
WASHINGTON IN BRIEF
Compiled from reports by the Associated Press and Reuters
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-06/20/114l-062000-idx.html
Lawmakers yesterday stepped up pressure on China to live up to the terms of a trade agreement with the United States, asking congressional auditors to conduct an annual review of Beijing's compliance.
The Senate Finance Committee asked the General Accounting Office to issue its first report on China's conduct no more than 10 months after that nation becomes a member of the World Trade Organization. The congressional watchdog agency would conduct similar reviews on an annual basis. China is expected to join the WTO later this year.
"It is vitally important that the United States take all necessary steps to ensure that China is fulfilling the commitments that it made to the United States and other WTO members as part of its accession," said Finance Committee Chairman William V. Roth Jr. (R-Del.) and Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (N.Y.), the panel's ranking Democrat.
China agreed last year to open a wide range of markets, from agriculture to telecommunications, as part of an agreement ushering it into the WTO.
-------- colombia
Stop military aid to Colombia -- One last call!!!
From: Lisa Haugaard [mailto:lisah@lawg.org]
Still looks like debate will begin with the Wellstone amendment at 11 for an hour and a half. I've just learned that we can expect that someone will raise a point of order challenging the Wellstone amendment because while leadership has declared that military assistance etc. within the Colombia bill is "emergency" and therefore does not need to be offset by cutting other programs within the foreign ops bill, drug treatment within the United States is not considered an emergency and does need to be offset by cutting programs other than those within the Colombia package. What this means about an actual vote on the amendment I do not know at this time; what I do know is that there will be an extensive debate.
Please keep me informed if you hear of additional amendments.
If you have grassroots that could do one last round of phone calls, activate them.
James C. Bridgman Research & Resource Coordinator Peace Action Education Fund mailto:jbridgman@peace-action.org http://www.peace-action.org 202.862.9740x3041 fax: 202.862.9762 1819 H St., NW, #425 Washington, DC 20006
-------- europe
http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/2000/6/20/12.text.1
THE WHITE HOUSE
(Office of the Press Secretary)
For Immediate Release
June 20, 2000
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
I welcome the progress the European Union made at the Feira Summit to develop a common European security and defense policy. It will strengthen Europe's ability - and responsibility - to act in times of crisis. It will improve cooperation between the European Union and NATO. It will advance European unity while maintaining the vitality of the transatlantic alliance. I look forward to early implementation of the agreed steps, including the establishment of NATO-EU working groups and regular meetings with non-EU Allies.
I also welcome the EU's commitment to create a standing roster of police officers who can be deployed to support peacekeeping missions. As we have seen in Bosnia and Kosovo, there is a critical need for international civilian police who can fill the gap between local police and military peacekeepers in countries emerging from conflict. We will continue to work with Europe to ensure such forces can deploy rapidly when they are needed.
-------- germ warfare
In Gamble, U.S. Supports Russian Germ Warfare Scientists
New York Times
June 20, 2000
By JUDITH MILLER
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/062000sci-russia-germs.html
OBOLENSK, Russia -- At this sprawling, rundown research complex where Soviet scientists once secretly worked to turn plague, tularemia, glanders and anthrax into weapons, the Clinton administration is taking what many consider a perilous gamble.
The administration has been financing research here and at other institutes throughout the former Soviet Union by scientists who only a decade ago manipulated genes to make deadly viruses and bacteria even hardier and resistant to vaccines and antibiotics.
Since 1994, the United States government has spent $20 million helping some 2,200 scientists at 30 institutes in the former Soviet Union turn their deadly skills to public health and other peaceful research. Administration officials say this money -- which, according to the General Accounting Office may increase to $270 million by 2005 -- is also intended to prevent the Soviet scientists from selling their expertise to Iran, Iraq, and other "rogue" states or terrorist groups trying to acquire germ weapons.
Until recently, most of the support came from the Departments of State, Defense, and Energy. But prompted by the threats of bioterrorism and naturally emerging diseases to American health and the nation's food supply, the Departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, and others have now joined the campaign.
Among the most intriguing newcomers is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, the military group that helped invent the Internet and which is known for supporting avant-garde research. Darpa has cautiously and quietly allocated more than $3 million since 1998 for work, including some here at Obolensk, that in many ways resembles research that was once the source of America's greatest fears.
The administration knows that this assistance could help Russia continue developing germ weapons, if, as some suspect, research continues at its four still-closed military labs. Can the Russians, who doubled the size of their vast covert germ warfare program after signing the 1972 treaty banning such weapons, now be trusted?
"No one really knows," Wendy Orent, an expert on the former Soviet program, concluded last month in American Prospect, a liberal magazine.
But in a report to Congress in January, the Pentagon concluded that the access gained to Obolensk through such assistance gave it "high confidence" that neither Obolensk nor Vector, the former Soviet viral weapons complex in Siberia, was now engaged in activities related to germ warfare.
In fact, the administration maintains that the risk of not helping Russian scientists far outweighs the risk of doing so. Darpa argues that tapping the knowledge of the Russian scientists, who continued making ever deadlier germ weapons two decades after President Richard M. Nixon ended America's program in 1969, will benefit science and strengthen American national security.
Still, the risks are obvious here at Obolensk.
In a way, the place is a monument of sorts to communism's failure. Many of its 90 buildings are half-built; several labs appear abandoned. Weeds have replaced the grass shown in photos of the installation in its prime.
Fifty miles southwest of Moscow but unlisted on Soviet maps, Obolensk until recently was closed not only to foreigners, but also to Soviet scientists who were not part of the germ warfare program. Last month, however, Gen. Nikolai N. Urakov, the institute's long-serving director, invited an American reporter to attend the first large open scientific conference Obolensk has ever sponsored.
The remnants of germ warfare research are still eerily evident: the heavy metal locks on doors on the third and fourth floors of Building No. 1, which confined the most deadly of Obolensk's collection of 2,000 strains of pathogens to air-tight rooms; giant pipes that carried breathable air to scientists in contaminated areas, emergency telephones, fire extinguishers, alarms and even the space suits on display at the building's entrance.
While such suits are still worn on the third floor where scientists still study the most dangerous agents, Russia says that these labs are now dedicated to preventing and curing disease.
American scientists with proper vaccinations have been permitted to visit the "hot" labs in Building 1, the nine-story, glass-and-metal heart of this vast complex.
Aid from the United States, much of it channeled through a multinational group known as the International Science and Technology Center, now pays roughly half of the institute's costs.
Obolensk now employs 1,125 scientists and technicians, about half its peak size.
With $3.45 million in grants from the multinational group, Obolensk has become the second largest recipient of American biological aid after Vector. Andy Weber, a special adviser to the Pentagon's Office of Threat Reduction, told conferees last month that aid to Obolensk rose sharply in 1997 after General Urakov rejected Iranian overtures to share his center's biological expertise with Tehran.
Still, few officials deny the potential danger in American financing of Obolensk's most advanced work. Consider Darpa's $175,000, two-year grant to Igor V. Abaev, a senior researcher and weapons program veteran. His goal is to isolate and compare genomes of Burkholderia, which causes glanders, an inflammatory disease that strikes horses, mules and other animals and sometimes people.
There is no human vaccine to prevent glanders, and once contracted, the disease is not always curable.
Dr. Abaev combines single strands of DNA from two different types of Burkholderia. The DNA parts that are identical, or extremely similar in both strands, then form a double strand with each other. The parts that do not pair up, or pair up poorly, are unique to those species. This process, called subtractive hybridization, enables scientists to identify, and later to clone the fragments that differentiate the two species. This, in turn, produces diagnostic markers that could lead to vaccines designed to emphasize those differences.
"As weapons, such organisms represent a serious potential biological threat," said Stephen S. Morse, program manager in Darpa's defense sciences office. "But because these two species primarily affected horses, American scientists stopped working on them decades ago. As a result, we now know all too little about them."
Only a month ago, he noted, a scientist at the Army's research lab at Fort Detrick, Md., who was trying to develop a glanders vaccine accidentally contracted the disease.
Officials in Washington are still trying to determine what happened.
Dr. Abaev enthusiastically displayed the new equipment that the American grant had enabled him to buy, including a hybridization chamber, which allows him to mix the DNA fragments. Though such machines are standard in the United States, they remain rare in cash-strapped Russia.
Another joint project generating excitement and concern is a $500,000 grant from the International Science and Technology Center to a collaboration that includes Nikolai A. Staritsin, an expert on anthrax, the former Soviet Union's germ weapon of choice, and American researchers at the Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, and at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The scientists are using DNA fingerprinting, molecular typing, plasmid profiling and other modern techniques of molecular epidemiology to identify anthrax strains by region and to help scientists distinguish among virulent and nonvirulent strains. They hope to improve their understanding of what specifically causes anthrax outbreaks.
Although the United States and Russia have vaccines to prevent the disease and antibiotics that supposedly cure it, Dr. Staritsin said much remained unknown about the DNA fragments already examined, including the reason some genes were latent and others were not.
While both the United States and Russia made weapons from anthrax, Ken Alibek, a senior scientist who defected from the Soviet secret program, argues that Russian scientists have produced anthrax strains that are hardier and more virulent than those from the United States.
Scientists from the United States first understood just how advanced the Russians were in the mid-1990's when Dr. Staritsin and Andrei Pomerantsev, another Obolensk scientist, reported that they had transferred genes from Bacillus cereus, a bacterium that normally does not cause disease in humans, into anthrax, which if untreated, is highly lethal.
Hamsters that were given this new agent did not respond to Russia's own vaccine against anthrax. This news caused furious debate among Western scientists, who wondered why the Russians were bothering to create such a strain, and deep anxiety over whether the United States' own vaccine would be able to block the new Russian creation. Washington has been eager to obtain a sample of the strain ever since.
Dr. Staritsin insisted in an interview that he and his colleagues had not tried to develop a modified disease impervious to anyone's vaccine or antibiotics when they performed the manipulation in 1993.
They decided to transfer the genes, he said, because the two organisms were "closely related and often found in soil in close proximity." They feared that one day the two organisms might naturally exchange genes without any external intervention. "We wanted to understand what the result might be," he said.
In any event, he said, the new strain was too unstable to be useful in weapons.
Some will view this work as evidence that Russian scientists "were trying to make an even nastier weapon," one American said. "Others will not. How do you gauge intent?"
Whether Russia is honoring President Boris N. Yeltsin's 1992 pledge to end the secret germ warfare program may never be known. But in Dr. Staritsin's case, concerns are diminishing, United States officials say. Shortly before the Obolensk conference, he and a Russian colleague traveled to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and to Fort Detrick to give American scientists samples of two rare Russian strains from Obolensk's collection of 3,000 anthrax strains, believed to be the world's largest.
Though the "Tzenkovsky" strains, named for their late 19th-century Russian inventor, are nonvirulent and hence, usable only in vaccines, the exchange established the legal and scientific precedents for future trades of virulent strains, like the genetically modified strain that American scientists have long coveted. The exchange will probably occur later this year or early next, Russian and American experts say.
"They didn't need us to do their research," said an American scientist as he sipped one of the endless tiny glasses of vodka that lined a dinner's banquet table during the conference.
"They were way ahead of us in many areas despite their obsolete equipment and bulldozer investigative techniques. So we have every interest in helping them overcome their past and join the world's transparent scientific community."
-------- imf / world bank
Economic reversal gives Putin a lift
Washington Times
June 20, 2000
By David Sands THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/world/default-2000620224254.htm
A string of upbeat economic reports has given Russia and its new president, Vladimir Putin, political breathing room after a decade of decline.
The nation said yesterday it will be able to meet its foreign debts without any new international loans this year, just the latest sign that the economy has reversed a 10-year economic skid.
Bolstered by oil and weapons sales abroad and a weak ruble at home, Russian domestic output increased 3.2 percent in 1999, and Prime Minister Vladimir Kasyanov told a St. Petersburg conference last week that growth this year was running at a 10 percent annual clip - twice the U.S. pace.
"To say that the Russian economy is ready to charge into the future would be a gross overstatement," said Stephen Gardner, an instructor in economics and Russia studies at Baylor University and head of the school's McBride Center for International Business.
"But I think most people who are watching the situation are more optimistic about the Russian economy than they have been for several years now," Mr. Gardner said.
"It's pretty clear that Russian industry continues to benefit very strongly from the [1998 ruble] devaluation," said Roland Nash, director of research in the Moscow office of Renaissance Capital, which sponsored the conference where Mr. Kasyanov spoke.
The positive economic news - in sharp contrast to the disastrous retreats of the Boris Yeltsin years - could prove a boon to Mr. Putin, extending his political honeymoon at home and increasing his options abroad.
While public health and personal consumption figures have not turned around, a number of key economic indicators are moving in the right direction, including unemployment, inflation and foreign-debt reserves.
The prime minister said Russia's hard-currency reserves have reached about $20 billion, their highest level since the August 1998 collapse, when the government let the ruble plunge and defaulted on some of its debts.
Mr. Gardner said that the economic boost has not reached the average Russian, but that companies in several sectors are displaying a new competitiveness.
"I don't know if you'd call it a leaner, meaner Russia, but you do get the sense that Russia has finally made the basic economic adjustments that it had to make if it was ever to take off," he said.
Mr. Putin has tried to walk a fine line on the economy, telling potential foreign investors that his country is an emerging Eurasian tiger while warning his constituents at home that Russia will need more than a decade of double-digit growth to achieve broad-based prosperity.
He told Spanish business leaders during a European tour last week that Russia had recouped all of the economic losses that followed the surprise ruble devaluation of 1998.
The 77-percent drop in the value of the ruble since 1998 has made Russian exporters more competitive abroad and Russian domestic producers better able to compete with foreign consumer goods. For example, Baltika, a Russian-made brand, has replaced imported rivals as the market leader in the booming Russian beer market.
Yesterday's announcement concerning Russia's foreign debts shows how the economy's surge has given Mr. Putin new leverage.
Relations between the Russian government and the International Monetary Fund have been notoriously prickly over the years, with Moscow desperate for foreign cash infusions even as multiple scandals broke out over the government's handling of IMF money.
But the Russian treasury has benefited from higher oil prices abroad and improved domestic tax receipts, giving Mr. Putin room to maneuver with foreign creditors that Mr. Yeltsin and his policy team never enjoyed.
Russian economic experts say the country's recovery remains fragile.
A much-touted economic reform program being drafted by Putin adviser German Gref has been repeatedly delayed and now is not expected to reach the president's desk until the end of this month.
The arrest of business "oligarch" Vladimir Gusinsky, chairman of the Media-Most media empire, sent prices falling on the Russian stock exchange as it raised doubts about the new president's commitment to democracy and free markets.
Even Mr. Kasyanov conceded in St. Petersburg last week that banks and other basic industries still face painful reforms if the Russian recovery is to be sustained.
Charles Frank, acting president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, told the St. Petersburg conference that the country's oligarch-dominated gas and electricity monopolies must be broken up, and that insolvent banks had to be closed down.
"Economic growth will not be sustained over the long term unless the government begins now to implement a credible program of reform in energy, banking and industry," Mr. Frank said.
---
More Money for Debt Relief
New York Times
June 20, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/editorial/20tue2.html
Last year the United States and other industrialized countries pledged to provide $27 billion to reduce the foreign debt of 36 of the world's poorest nations, if those countries adopt sound economic policies and use the savings for health, education and other basic needs. Debt relief has bipartisan supporters, including humanitarian aid groups and religious conservatives. Washington pledged to pay only 4 percent of the wealthy nations' total, or $920 million over four years, with most of the money up front.
But today in both the House and Senate, votes are scheduled that are likely to slash Washington's contribution to debt relief.
This imperils the whole project, as several other nations will meet their commitments only if Washington meets its own.
Debt relief is crucial because poor countries use up to 60 percent of their government budgets to service debt on loans taken out decades ago that will never be repaid.
The burden helps condemn these nations, which are mostly in Africa, to a cycle of poverty. In 1996 the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund began a limited program of debt relief that helped only four nations, but now the program is expanding. Wealthy nations have agreed to forgive their own debtors and chip in to cancel debt owed to regional banks like the African Development Bank. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led by Jesse Helms, authorized $600 million in debt relief for the next three years.
But Congress is now likely to approve far less. Alabama's Sonny Callahan, a Republican, has recommended that his House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations approve only $69 million. The Senate meanwhile will vote on a foreign operations package that includes only $75 million for debt relief.
These votes would leave the United States looking foolish at the next meeting of industrialized nations in July, where Washington could find scant support for its own initiatives.
More important, countries that have sweated to meet all the criteria for debt relief are waiting.
Bolivia will lose $35 million this year because of the delay. Some in Congress are counting on a last-minute deal at the end of the fiscal year to restore the money. This is a gamble the world's poorest nations cannot afford.
Congress should restore the administration's full request. If it does not, Mr. Clinton should veto the foreign operations bill, which is likely to contain other objectionable provisions worthy of a veto.
---
Russian money laundering case 'stymied'
USA Today
06/19/00- Updated 11:03 PM ET
By Jack Kelley, USA TODAY
http://usatoday.com/news/washdc/ncsmon15.htm
WASHINGTON - Despite promises to fight corruption, the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin is refusing to hand over to U.S. and Swiss investigators documents that detail possible money laundering by Kremlin authorities, U.S. officials say.
While Putin's government has granted interviews with mid-level Kremlin authorities, Russia's Interior Ministry, which oversees the police, has refused to deliver ledgers from Russia's Central Bank or allow bank officials to be interviewed. As a result, a federal probe into whether more than $7 billion was illegally diverted out of Russia is ''stymied,'' say U.S. officials directly involved in the investigation.
There is little chance the extent of the money laundering will ever be learned, they add.
''It will be extremely difficult to make this case without ample cooperation from the Russians,'' said Charles Intriago, a former federal prosecutor and publisher of the Miami-based Money Laundering Alert Newsletter. ''Usually, the higher the criminal activity extends, the greater the resistance.''
U.S., Swiss and British officials are investigating whether the Kremlin and Russian mafia may have directed more than $7 billion, including money from International Monetary Fund loans, out of the country through the Bank of New York and other institutions.
Bank of New York has not been accused of any wrongdoing and is cooperating with the investigation.
National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said, ''The anti-corruption issue is one we have raised repeatedly, one we take seriously and one we've asked the Russian government to take appropriate steps on.''
Russian Embassy spokesman Mikhail Shurgalin denied Moscow was not cooperating: ''Under no circumstances can I agree ... that officials of my government are refusing to fight corruption.''
Putin, who was elected March 26, said battling corruption would be a priority. But he has granted former President Boris Yeltsin immunity from prosecution.
Investigators need Russia's help to corroborate testimony from Lucy Edwards, a former Bank of New York vice president, and her husband, Peter Berlin. In exchange for a reduced charge, investigators say, Edwards and Berlin have detailed how Russian banks used Bank of New York to launder funds and named other Bank of New York employees who helped.
Investigators say they have established several ''SUAs,'' or specified unlawful activities, such as wire fraud, that are essential for a money-laundering prosecution.
Meanwhile, Swiss prosecutors say Putin's government is ignoring them also. They have indicted Kremlin official and Putin friend Pavel Borodin on their own money-laundering charges.
-------- iraq
Mass civil disobedience on tenth anniversary of sanctions on Iraq
Andrea Needham and Gabriel Carlyle
voices in the wilderness
http://www.ecn.org/freedom
From: "Viviane Lerner" vlerner@interpac.net
August 6th will mark the tenth anniversary of UN sanctions on Iraq. Sanctions have led to a humanitarian crisis in Iraq, with huge increases in child malnutrition and mortality rates. Last year, UNICEF reported that there had been half a million excess deaths of children under five during the period 1991-98. Most of these deaths were primarily associated with sanctions.
To mark the tenth anniversary, and to highlight our government's complicity in the ongoing suffering, voices in the wilderness and other groups are organising mass nonviolent civil disobedience in central London on Monday August 7th (see also back page of this issue of Freedom). This will take the form of a procession from Trafalgar Square, culminating in a die-in to represent the hundreds of thousands of people who have died in Iraq as a result of sanctions. The demonstration will be calling for an immediate lifting of economic sanctions on Iraq. Actions will take place on the same day in Washington DC, and at Faslane, Scotland. We are asking you to spread the word about this event. If you produce a newsletter, we would be very grateful if you could put in a listing about tile day, or tell your members at meetings. We are able to supply leaflets for inclusion in mailings, or could offer a speaker to talk about the issues around sanctions as well as the event on August 7th. In addition to the civil disobedience on Monday 7th, there will be a vigil in central London (venue yet to be decided) from 1pm to 4pm on Sunday 6th August followed by an evening of non-violence training, action planning and a legal briefing (accommodation will be provided). We would also welcome your input at organising meetings: the next one is on Tuesday 20th June at 7.30pm, at Conway Hall, Red Lion Square in London (nearest tube Holbom).
-------- korea
Talk of South Korea pullout discouraged
Washington Times
June 20, 2000
By Rowan Scarborough THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/national/default-200062022758.htm
Senior congressional and administration officials said yesterday that now is not the time to talk of withdrawing American troops from South Korea, noting North Korea still brandishes thousands of hair-trigger troops on the border.
Pyongyang's oft-repeated demand to remove 37,000 U.S. troops received some impetus last week after the North's Kim Jong-il and the South's Kim Dae-jung met in Pyongyang and agreed to a warming of relations.
Then on Saturday, Sen. Jesse Helms, North Carolina Republican and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, fueled the debate further by saying the administration should start considering a pullout.
But officials said yesterday such talk is premature.
"You keep them there to ensure success," said Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. "It's a long time between now and a less-dangerous, or a non-dangerous, peninsula. The North Koreans still have a massive military, and one meeting does not make a unified Korea.
"I would not move one troop until there was really substantial unification, and that would be sometime down the stream," he said.
Asked what the 50-year U.S. deployment has achieved, Mr. Skelton said: "It's achieved a democratic South Korea, and if North Korea comes around and a unification occurs, it will have achieved a new country. But that's way downstream.
"If we weren't there, North Korea would now be in Pusan again," added the congressman, referring to the early days of the Korean War, when North Korean forces pushed the South's army and U.S. troops down the peninsula to what became the Pusan perimeter.
A spokesman for Sen. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the senator opposes any withdrawal.
"He believes that U.S. troops should remain in Korea for the time being because of the threat posed there," the spokesman said. "We don't think there should be a precipitous change in our force structure in Korea right now."
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said: "I believe we should keep troops in South Korea as long as South Korea wants our troops in their country and as long as it is in our national interests to have them there. Both of these criteria are met at this time."
At the U.S. State Department, spokesman Richard Boucher said no forces change is anticipated.
"We very much welcome the change in atmosphere and the prospect for reduction of tensions on the peninsula," he said. "But our troops are there as long as we and the South Koreans think they're necessary for defense, and that situation hasn't really changed at this stage."
Last week, Gen. Henry Shelton, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, said, "it's probably premature to leap to any conclusions" about trimming troops there.
"For the foreseeable future, we do not see removing any troops from South Korea," said Lt. Cmdr. Terry Sutherland, a Pentagon spokesman.
Pentagon officials point to the sentiments of South Korea's president, who wants U.S. soldiers to remain even after any unification.
Mr. Helms seemed to go further than any other senior official when he endorsed at least a discussion of force reduction.
"Yes, sir, it's time to consider it," Mr. Helms told CNN. "And after deliberation, we can determine whether it's time to bring them out. It's too early for anybody to say we ought to bring them out now."
He added, "If it's a temporary lull, we'll have to leave the people there for a while. But if it's for real, then we ought to make plans to bring those folks home."
The United States is spending $3.2 billion this year to maintain the 37,000 troops in South Korea. The presence is principally made up of the 8th Army, headquartered in Seoul, the same component that waged war against North Korea and communist Chinese troops between 1950 and 1953. Its major units are the 2nd Infantry Division and the 19th Theater Army Area Command.
South Korea is also home for the 7th Air Force at Osan Air Base. The command is composed of 10,000 airmen and 100 operational units, including the 51st Fighter Wing.
The Americans there train on a razor's edge, poised for battle in terrain the Pentagon estimates is one of the most likely spots for war to break out. But even these forces cannot avoid readiness woes afflicting the armed forces, in the form of aging equipment and spare-parts shortages.
"Our readiness rate is pretty good. It's not as high as I like to see it," Lt. Gen. Charles R. Heflebower, the 7th Air Force commander, told The Washington Times.
Much of North Korea's million-man, active duty army is dug in close to the 38th Parallel dividing the reclusive, autocratic North and the democratic South. An invasion would be accompanied by a massive barrage of artillery fire that would reach the capital of Seoul and U.S. troops stationed along the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas.
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White House ends embargo on trade with North Korea
Washington Times
June 20, 2000
By Ben Barber THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/world/default-2000620222331.htm
The Clinton administration yesterday lifted a 50-year embargo on trade with communist North Korea just days after the first meeting of the heads of North and South Korea.
The decision will allow American individuals and companies to export and import consumer goods to and from North Korea and transfer money. U.S. ships and planes will now be allowed to dock and land in North Korea for the first time since the 1950-53 Korean War.
But since North Korea remains on the State Department's list of nations sponsoring terrorism, the United States will continue to oppose any loans by the World Bank or International Monetary Fund, said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher yesterday. Also yesterday, U.S. drug policy chief Gen. Barry McCaffrey, on a trip to China, cited growing evidence that North Korea produced opium and methamphetamines.
The announcement lifting the embargo leaves in place trade rules barring any exports of U.S. technology or equipment that could have a military application.
"The actual opportunity for trade may be limited by the state of the North Korean economy," said Mr. Boucher. Most North Koreans are too poor - there has been widespread famine and hunger for several years - to purchase American products.
And the shoddy state of North Korea's manufacturing facilities as well as infrastructure such as roads, power grids and ports, makes it unlikely it will be competitive in U.S. markets.
However, the easing of sanctions will allow South Korean firms to beef up their use of extremely cheap North Korean labor to manufacture products that they will now be able to export to the United States, said Selig Harrison, a Korea expert at the Century Foundation in Washington.
"The cost of labor in North Korea is one-tenth that of South Korea," said Mr. Harrison. "Two hundred and fifty South Korean companies already have production contracts with North Korea. They send parts to be assembled in the North and then shipped back to the South. These goods were previously barred from the United States."
North Korea has been furious over what it saw as a U.S. failure to live up to a promise it made in 1994 when the two countries signed a nuclear framework accord: North Korea agreed to freeze its suspected nuclear weapons program in return for an end to the U.S. trade embargo, said Mr. Harrison.
Then in September, President Clinton once more promised to end the trade embargo, this time in return for a North Korean moratorium on long-range missile testing.
Administration officials say the North Koreans have largely lived up to the freeze of their nuclear program and have not tested another long-range missile.
Asked yesterday why it took nine months for the trade embargo to be lifted, Mr. Boucher said it was because it required rewriting complex rules.
However Mr. Harrison said the delay was due to Clinton administration fears of Republican opposition on the Hill.
It was only after the summit of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and the thaw it produced that "the administration felt it had the cover to drop the sanctions," said Mr. Harrison.
"That makes sense," said a Republican congressional aide yesterday, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
"Those guys are chicken. They've muted the next-day reaction. No one wants to dump on good news" coming so close to the historic North-South summit meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea's capital.
"But the fundamental problems with North Korea are still there," said the Republican aide. "They still possess the capacity to hit us with a weapon of mass destruction, they still play brinkmanship and are still capable of very bad acts. They are not a reliable partner at all."
He also noted that the lifting of sanctions was due to take place after the visit of a high-level North Korean official to Washington.
"He never came, never showed up," said the Republican official, "but we gave them something when they haven't met the original condition."
The new trade rules published yesterday in the Federal Register require all importers of goods from North Korea to apply for a license with the federal Office of Foreign Assets Control and prove that their North Korean supplier is not linked to any military groups - a cumbersome task that could well put a damper on trade.
A previous U.S. agreement to allow imports of magnesite, a mineral used to produce high-quality steel, never got off the ground due to North Korea's poor infrastructure, said several experts.
The new rules also leave property and assets of North Korea in the United States that were previously blocked by the U.S. government still blocked for now.
Meanwhile, Gen. McCaffrey, during a visit to China, said over the weekend that there was "considerable" evidence the North Koreans were "manufacturing methamphetamines in serious amounts and have been smuggling it out to other nations, sometimes using official actors."
"Whether that is state-sponsored or individual criminal activity is hard to determine," he said Saturday in Beijing.
Methamphetamine, nicknamed "the poor man's cocaine," stimulates the nervous system and becomes quickly addictive with use.
Gen. McCaffrey said the drugs produced in North Korea and smuggled out of the country were a threat to Asia.
"Clearly, we want to be supportive of an attempt to eliminate that problem," he said.
Gen. McCaffrey also accused North Koreans of producing "a considerable amount of opium" although he admitted "on a world scale, it's sort of minor."
---
New (Friendly) Craze in South Korea: The North
New York Times
June 20, 2000
By CALVIN SIMS
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/asia/062000korea-summit.html
SEOUL, South Korea, June 19 -- Suddenly, South Koreans are enthralled with all things North Korean.
Since the two nations vowed to pursue peace and reconciliation last week, sales clerks at the vast Kyobo bookstore in central Seoul have been working overtime to meet an explosive demand here for books about North Korea and Communism.
Across the street, department stores and fashion outlets have been selling out of sunglasses and drab worker's uniforms similar to those that North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, wore at the talks in Pyongyang with the South Korean president, Kim Dae Jung.
And at a nearby Samsung consumer electronics store, the company's first color television assembled in North Korea went on sale today to rave reviews.
Recent public opinion polls show that a majority of South Koreans surveyed now have a good impression of North Korea and its leader after the talks.
Social commentators here are calling South Korea's new fascination with its estranged northern neighbor an unexpected case of "Kim Jong Il fever." But whatever the diagnosis, the summit meeting last week has forced South Koreans to reassess the decades-old cold war view of North Korea as a mortal enemy.
"In high school, we were taught that North Koreans were all Communists and therefore very bad and dangerous people," Cho Jae Hyung, 17, said as he flipped through titles like "Will Spring Come to Pyongyang?" "A Very Special Leader: Kim Jong Il" and "Che Guevara" at the bookstore.
"But I saw Kim Jong Il on television, and he seemed like a very modern, practical and intelligent man," Mr. Cho said. "Now, I'm not sure what to believe about North Korea, but I know that what I was told in the past is not exactly the truth."
For many South Koreans, especially older people who lived through the Korean War, overcoming a half century of deeply ingrained fear and animosity toward North Korea will not come easy. Many South Koreans were stunned and confused by the abrupt thawing of relations between the two countries, which agreed to cease aggression on the Korean peninsula and forge economic and other ties.
Especially puzzling for many South Koreans is Mr. Kim, the North Korean leader who they were long told was a reclusive, bellicose dictator. But for many, he came across on television as a warm, gracious and charismatic host during the Pyongyang talks. Many South Koreans remain uncertain whether to embrace North Korea as a long-lost brother or reject it as a charlatan preying on their sensibilities.
Overhearing a reporter's request to a shopping mall vendor for "Kim Jong Il" sunglasses, which have a half tint, Han Choon Ja, a 63-year-old homemaker, became enraged. "Why would you want to wear the same glasses as that evil man?" she said. "He was only putting on a show for the television cameras. We still can't trust him."
But Hwang Chang Seok, the sunglasses vendor, told the woman that South Koreans who imitate Mr. Kim's choice of eye wear were helping to reduce the fear and tension between the two countries.
"One week ago, people considered Kim Jong Il a monster, and now they think his glasses are really cool," Mr. Hwang said. "It might sound funny, but I think that's real progress toward reunification."
Still, opposition party leaders have expressed concern that the "euphoric unification fever" that is gripping the nation is leading to unrealistic expectations.
"The most undesirable effect of the inter-Korean summit is that the nation is now seized by a euphoria as if the threat of a war has disappeared and unification is already achieved, while there exist no real changes," said Lee Hoi Chang, head of the conservative Grand National Party.
Mr. Lee said that given the euphoria, South Koreans might start to question the need for the 37,000 American troops that have been stationed in the South since the end of the Korean War in 1953. And indeed such questioning has already started in the aftermath of the summit agreement.
But for now, it appears that most South Koreans have a favorable opinion of Kim Jong Il. In a survey conducted by the Chosun-Ilbo, a conservative daily, and Gallup Korea, 88 percent of those polled said they had a good impression of the North Korean leader.
A separate survey conducted by the Korean Broadcasting Institute last week showed that Mr. Kim had a 50.2 percent popularity rating for his political trustworthiness, compared with a 15.1 percent rating just before the summit meeting.
At Kyobo books, the manager, Cho Jae Hyung, said that after the summit meeting books on North Korea and Communism were in such high demand that the store had to reorder many titles and set up a special section to display them.
He said people of all ages had expressed interest in the books, which before the summit talks were not very popular but are now among the store's top sellers.
"I think people are very optimistic about the changes that are occurring in Korea, but they are also a little scared like I am," said Lee Kicheol, a graduate student, who was browsing the North Korea section. "For many of us, this is the first time that we've honestly thought of North Korea as a friend, and we want to read as much as possible about this place and this man."
A sales clerk for Samsung consumer electronics, Kang Kyung Hyung, said the store was flooded with customers today inquiring about the company's first television made in North Korea. "Customers mainly wanted to know if there was a difference in quality between models made in the North or here in the South," Mr. Kang said. "Some people were afraid to buy it, but others were very enthusiastic about purchasing something from the North."
"Some people said they were buying a piece of history, while others said they were trying to show their support for North Koreans, who are less fortunate than us," he said.
A sign posted above the 20-inch television, which sells for a little less than $200, read, "In honor of the successful South-North summit meeting, we are pleased to announce the sales of color televisions made in North Korea."
Samsung said the North Korean televisions were indistinguishable from models made in South Korea, except for a label on the back that indicates that the device was made in the Daedongkang plant in North Korea.
Cho Sung In, a Samsung spokeswoman, said that as part of a "corporate good will" program to increase economic ties with North Korea, Samsung ships the television parts to North Korea, where it pays a government-owned factory to assemble the sets.
So far, Samsung, which makes no money on the deal, has received 2,000 North Korean televisions, which were tested in the South to insure quality.
The company is considering investing as much as $1 billion in a fully integrated consumer electronics plant in North Korea to take advantage of the country's highly skilled, low-cost labor force.
---
S. Korea Cuts War Commemoration
New York Times
June 20, 2000 Filed at 1:15 p.m. EDT
By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Koreas.html
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Amid warming relations with communist North Korea, South Korea said Tuesday it had canceled a massive military parade and battle reenactments to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Korean War.
The plans were replaced by more benign ceremonies, such as seminars, wreath-layings, photo exhibitions, and luncheons and dinner parties for domestic and foreign veterans, said Seoul's Defense Ministry in a news release.
``We decided to change our plans in order to assure the successful implementation of the summit agreements,'' the ministry said, adding the change will help promote harmony and reconciliation with North Korea.
South Korea also will ship 23,000 tons of fertilizer to North Korea by midnight for arrival on late Wednesday, which is the last batch of 200,000 tons of fertilizer it promised to the hungry North last month as a goodwill gesture.
The moves followed a series of measures taken by both Koreas to improve ties after the historic June 13-15 summit in Pyongyang in which South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il pledged to work toward peace.
The official Korean Veterans' Association, headed by a former defense minister, endorsed the government decision, but some veterans angrily accused the Seoul government of trying too hard to please North Korea. ``It's as if the government were telling the people to forget the war without even getting an apology from North Korea for starting the war,'' said Choi Chong-tae, 70, leader of a group of decorated war veterans.
It would be ``shortsighted'' for South Korea not to properly recognize veterans' sacrifices because of political motives, said Manert Kennedy, 70, a former U.S. Marine sergeant from Boulder, Colo., who fought in the 1950-53 Korean War.
``As a person who saw considerable bloodshed and agony both on the part of worriers, veterans, and the civilian population, I think it is wrong to ignore that suffering without some sort of recognition,'' said Kennedy, a survivor of the 1950 Chosin Reservoir battle.
South Korea had originally planned to stage a military parade in downtown Seoul on June 25, the 50th anniversary of the Korean War's outbreak, and reenact major battles, including U.S. Gen. Douglas MacArthur's Inchon Landing in September 1950.
North Korea started the three-year war that claimed the lives of at least 36,900 U.S. soldiers and at least 58,000 South Korean troops. The war's total military and civilian casualties are estimated at more than 4 million.
Before the summit, North Korea accused Seoul and Washington of planning the events to drum up another war against the North. But Kim Jong Il said, during the summit, that North Korea's war anniversary programs were canceled in a peace gesture.
The two Koreas have since stopped loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across the Demilitarized Zone separating the two countries and Red Cross officials will meet Friday at a border village to discuss reuniting separated families.
Despite the thawing relations, the two Koreas still have sensitive issues to resolve such as suspect nuclear weapons development and long range missile of North Korea and the presence of 37,000 U.S. troops in South Korea.
Police on Tuesday detained six activists and two photographers on charges of trespassing on the Koon-Ni bombing range off the west coast despite red flags declaring the zone off-limits to civilians because of an impending bombing exercise.
The U.S. Air Force range has been a constant source of friction with villagers who claim that noise from the bombing exercises threatens their health. Villagers demand a closure of the range, but the Seoul government rejected it.
Meanwhile, the 8th U.S. Army in Seoul said it had not changed any plans for its own war anniversary events. Up to 1,000 U.S. and other allied nations' veterans were invited to Korea for ceremonies that will continue for three years.
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S. Korea scales down War commemorations
USA Today
06/20/00- Updated 12:06 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nw1.htm#taiwan
SEOUL, South Korea - In a gesture aimed at easing tension with North Korea, South Korea said Tuesday it has canceled a massive military parade and battle-scene reenactments to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. The decision followed a series of gestures from both Koreas to improve ties following their historic, three-day summit last week, which ended with pledges to work together to end half a century of hostilities. The official Korean Veterans' Association endorsed the government decision. But some veterans angrily accused President Kim Dae Jung of trying too hard to please North Korea, which they say has often repaid humanitarian aid from the South with armed infiltrations and a military buildup.
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North Korea Bans Eased
New York Times
June 20, 2000
By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/00/06/20/news/world/korea-sanctions-rts.html
WASHINGTON, June 19 -- The United States formally eased 50-year-old sanctions against North Korea today, in keeping with an announcement by President Clinton in September. The action was a reward for North Korea's agreement not to test long-range missiles.
Trade in most goods between the countries is now allowed, as are direct personal and commercial financial transactions, investments, cargo shipments cargo and commercial flights. Exporting military goods and sensitive technology to North Korea remains banned.
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Russian Agency Sells Close-up Images From Far Away
New York Times
June 20, 2000
Competition in the commercial spy business's outer-space satellite imagery sector is heating up as Russia enters the fray. A sample photo, showing New York harbor, was taken by a Russian military spy satellite hundreds of miles up and was just made available commercially in the United States by Central Trading Systems, in Huntington, N.Y.
Moscow is thus beginning to match in sharpness the images taken by the reconnaissance satellite of Space Imaging, a company based in Thornton, Colo.
The company launched its craft in September, offering the first close-up commercial images from space with a resolution down to one meter, or about three feet. At that resolution, cars, roads, buildings, tanks, ships, jets and missiles can be distinguished.
The Russians are now responding with data that they say goes from the present back to 1992. "Substantial areas of the U.S., Europe and the Middle East as well as selected areas in South America and the Far East are included in the archives and available," said a statement from Central Trading.
This is likely to affect American sales, too. In 1996, American supporters of Israel helped pass a law limiting the sharpness of American images of Israel to the best obtainable by any foreign company. Now the Russian entry is seen as likely to end the ban.
Supplying the Russian satellite imagery is an agency called Sovinformsputnik, which has a Web site, www.sovinformsputnik.com. The site offers samples of the one-meter imagery and allows customers to submit orders for images.
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A Warning From Putin and Schröder
New York Times
June 20, 2000
By JOSEF JOFFE
http://www.nytimes.com/00/06/20/oped/20joff.html
HAMBURG, Germany - For the "last remaining superpower," it is time to ask the Ed Koch question, "How am I doing?" The answer is, "O.K., but not great." Ten years after victory in the cold war, the United States is still No. 1 by any conceivable measure. But the lesser actors -- Russia, Europe, China -- are beginning to make true what history and political theory have predicted all along: Great power will generate "ganging up." Nos. 2, 3 and 4 will seek to balance against Mr. Big.
Just last week, President Vladimir Putin of Russia swept into Berlin, where he deftly executed a classic gambit of Muscovite diplomacy. This is the age-old attempt to forge privileged relations with Germany, the traditional holder of the European balance. He wooed, and he won. "Germany," Mr. Putin intoned, "is Russia's leading partner in Europe and the world." Chancellor Gerhard Schröder cooed back; he, too, was all for a "strategic partnership" with Russia.
One motive is obvious. Both Europe and Russia intensely dislike the American missile defense project, and for good reasons. If it works (which it won't for many years, if ever), the "Son of Star Wars" will further magnify American dominance by devaluing the nuclear arsenals of Russia, China and Europe. No wonder Mr. Putin and Mr. Schröder together trained their guns on the anti-missile bubble in the sky.
The more general thrust is obvious, too. The purpose is not to resume the old game of the 18th and 19th centuries, which was to harness alliances or even go to war to lay low the hegemonist du jour. It is to contain and constrain what the lesser powers see as excessive clout on the part of No. 1.
In the past, the United States was rarely mentioned by name. Russians and Chinese kept inveighing against a "unipolar world" and a "single model of culture." The enemy was "hegemonism" and "repeated imposition" by you-know-who. Now, as usual, it is the French who thunder where others grumble. Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine likes to call the United States a "hyperpower" given to "unilateralist temptation" because "there is no counterweight."
Last week, the European Union's external affairs commissioner, Chris Patten, made it explicit: Europe had to grow into a "serious counterpart" to the United States. In fact, that process is well under way. According to the German foreign minister, Joschka Fischer, monetary union, begun in 1999, was an "eminently political act" by which Europe had "opted for an autonomous path." Shamed by its impotence in the Kosovo bombing, the European Union last December vowed to field an intervention force of 60,000 capable of slugging it out without the United States.
None of this should come as a surprise. Subtly and cautiously, the lesser players are acting out the oldest game of nations. Primacy provokes, and power begets power. What is No. 1 to do?
The most critical item is a change of consciousness. America is so far ahead of the crowd that it has forgotten to look back. Yes, the president and his minions are diligently working the global diplomatic circuit. Public opinion, as the surveys keep demonstrating, remains internationalist. But Congress has come down a long way from the days of Senators Arthur Vandenberg and J. William Fulbright. Now, it is obliviousness with a dollop of yahooism. Why else would Congress have foisted Star Wars, the Sequel on President Clinton -- without looking at the feasibility (low), the costs (very high) and the toll on American leadership (soaring).
Sure, when you are eyeing that megamerger or I.P.O. bulging with zillions, the rest of the world looks both boring and ornery. But this world -- this wondrous system of open trade and collective defense that the United States built in the 1950's -- won't manage itself. Nor will it long withstand America's unilateralist reflexes like the missile defense system or the micromanagement of the Kosovo war by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Obsessive second-guessing by the brass back in Washington not only riled European souls, but also humiliated the NATO commander at the time, Wesley Clark, who happens to be an American. Why stick to the alliance if it becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of the Pentagon?
One assumes that the "last remaining superpower" will want to remain one. But if so, the United States might recall the best tradition of its postwar grand strategy. It wasn't just sheer size and weight that shaped this most brilliant chapter of American diplomacy. It was the bipartisan conviction that power comes with responsibility, and that responsibility must defy short-term self-interest or the domestic fixation of the day.
Hence that marvelous alphabet soup of international institutions from NATO to GATT and the I.M.F. that turned America into the "indispensable power" celebrated by Madeleine Albright. Why? Because this No. 1 was the first in history to lead rather than rule. Others followed because the United States was a supply-side hegemon -- it provided the world with essential public goods like stability and free trade.
To heed the needs (and sensibilities) of others is the best defense against "ganging up," and that is as true in domestic as in international politics. Great leaders shun both imposition and indifference.
The proper maxim for Mr. Big is: "Do good by others to do well for yourself." Great powers remain great if they promote their own interests by serving those of others.
Josef Joffe is co-editor of the German weekly Die Zeit.
-------- spying
Promotion at CIA Predicted
Washington Post
Tuesday, June 20, 2000; Page A07
WASHINGTON IN BRIEF
Compiled from reports by the Associated Press and Reuters
President Clinton's nominee for the number two position at the Central Intelligence Agency is expected to be John E. McLaughlin, a career agency official who currently heads its intelligence division, government sources said.
CIA Director George J. Tenet likes to refer to McLaughlin as "the smartest man in America." The White House declined to comment on its choice for deputy director.
The nominee would fill the vacancy left by Air Force Gen. John A. Gordon, who this month will take charge of the new semi-autonomous agency created in the Energy Department to oversee U.S. nuclear programs.
The Senate hastened its consideration of Gordon's nomination after two computer hard drives containing nuclear secrets went missing at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. They were found on Friday under questionable circumstances.
----
USA Today
06/20/00
http://usatoday.com/news/states/all50.htm
Officials at the CIA are mourning the death of an analyst described as a "rising star." John D. Muskopf Jr., 28, was fatally shot in the head and neck Saturday during a robbery. District of Columbia police believe he refused to surrender his money to the gunman. Muskopf was a nuclear engineer who joined the CIA almost three years ago.
-------- terrorism
U.S. Declares 'Rogue Nations' Are Now 'States of Concern'
New York Times
June 20, 2000
By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/global/062000state-concern.html
WASHINGTON, June 19 -- After years of directing sanctions and suspicion toward defiant governments from North Korea to Iran, the Clinton administration abruptly declared today that "rogue nations" no longer exist.
There are, instead, "states of concern." They are the very same states as before -- no less dangerous or unpredictable -- but possibly more easily swayed by gentler American terms, officials said.
Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright disclosed the change in the official lexicon today when she was asked about "the rogue state" of North Korea and its "rogue leader," Kim Jong Il. "First of all, we are now calling these states 'states of concern,' " Dr. Albright told a radio interviewer on the same day the administration moved to ease trade restrictions against North Korea, a former battlefield foe that is continuing to develop weapons that may one day be capable of striking the United States.
Richard Boucher, the department's spokesman, said the shift signaled a change in the administration's approach to an unofficial gallery of nations -- from Libya to Cuba -- where internal reforms might best be advanced by a more nuanced American vocabulary.
"What we see now is a certain evolution" among the nations formerly known as rogue, Mr. Boucher said. "Some places that were described that way have embarked upon a more democratic internal life. Others have been willing to address some of the issues that are of primary concern to the United States."
Mr. Boucher praised such developments as the sweeping victory by reformist candidates in Iran's parliamentary elections in February and Libya's decision to turn over two suspects for trial in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
And, most recently, there were the overtures by Kim Jong Il -- first to halt missile testing and, then earlier this month, to stage a summit meeting with his South Korean counterpart, Kim Dae Jung -- that sent American officials reaching for the thesaurus.
"If we see a development that we think is in the U.S. interest, we will respond," said Mr. Boucher, who went on to trip over his own new terms. "If we see states of concern that continue to be of concern because they are not willing to deal with some of the issues we are concerned about -- whew."
Richard N. Haass, the director of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, said the administration limited its options by referring to rogue nations. The term is often applied to the seven countries listed by State Department as sponsoring terrorism: Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
"It seemed willy-nilly to lead to a sanctions-dominated foreign policy, when the evidence suggested that sanctions are rarely effective," Dr. Haass said.
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'Rogues' out in parlance at State
Washington Times
June 20, 2000
By David Sands THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/world/default-200062022257.htm
Goodbye, rogues. Hello, "states of concern."
By semantic fiat, Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright yesterday disclosed that the U.S. government has banished "rogue" nations from the face of the earth.
Saying the evocative phrase had outlived its usefulness, the State Department declared that the nations formerly known as rogues -Iraq, Libya and North Korea prominent among them - would henceforth be known as "states of concern."
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, in an explication that took up a good-sized chunk of his daily briefing yesterday, said the shift was not intended to be "an enormous policy step."
Mr. Boucher said the change reflected the reality that not all rogue states are equally roguish.
Rogue nation Libya has made some tentative steps to address international concerns on terrorism and rogue nation North Korea just held a summit with archrival South Korea, Mr. Boucher noted. Rogue nation Iraq, by contrast, remains largely unrepentant in U.S. eyes.
"The point is not to categorize or re-categorize anybody," the department spokesman said, declining to itemize just which country qualifies as a "state of concern. "The point is to deal with each country on the basis of what we can accomplish in terms of what we care about."
But it remains to be seen whether "states of concern" will have the linguistic legs of rogue nation - a phrase that shows up in The Washington Times database 227 times since the beginning of 1999, or once every 1.92 days.
Even Mr. Boucher seemed to have a little trouble getting his tongue around the newly correct phraseology.
He said the United States was still prepared to respond forcefully "if we see states of concern that continue to be of concern because they are not willing to deal with some of the issues we are concerned about."
---
Punish Greece for terrorism
USA Today
06/20/00- Updated 08:16 AM ET
By Wayne Merry
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/ncguest1.htm
The brutal murder of British defense attaché Stephen Saunders in Athens on June 8 is a reminder that one of the most persistent and inexcusable terrorist nests in the world is in friendly Greece. Only 12 years ago, our own defense attaché, Navy Capt. William Nordeen, was murdered in the Greek capital in a crime that remains unpunished and, for practical purposes, uninvestigated.
In the aftermath of bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa, Congress created the National Commission on Terrorism to examine the worldwide threat. The commission's most courageous act was its blunt assessment that terrorism in Greece justifies sanctions against that country: denying its citizens visa-free U.S. entry and blocking arms sales. But Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hurriedly responded that no such actions would be taken.
What is the problem? For 25 years, an extreme nationalist group with left-wing rhetoric called "November 17" has conducted an unbroken campaign of killings and bombings against prominent Greeks, Americans and other foreigners.
For many years, U.S. taxpayers have spent more money on embassy security in Athens than in any other capital in the world. Our embassy in the Greek capital is a fortress; our diplomats live in justifiable fear for their lives.
November 17 is a skilled, determined and successful group of political assassins, but it could not survive without official tolerance. Greece has the undisputed worst counterterrorism record on Earth. In a quarter-century, not a single member of November 17 has been officially identified, let alone caught.
Not simple incompetence
The commission identified 146 terrorist acts against U.S. interests in Greece since 1975, with only one case solved. A record that bad is neither an accident nor the product of police incompetence. It is a policy.
Why would the "birthplace of democracy" accommodate domestic terrorists? Because arrests and public trials would expose skeletons in the closet of the ruling PASOK party, in power for 20 of the past 23 years. There is clear evidence of ties between PASOK and November 17 in their early years. Prime Minister Costas Simitis today certainly has no direct connections with the terrorists, but he is unwilling to face up to his party's ugly history. So Greece's terrorism policy is one of benign neglect, even appeasement.
For years, Washington has attempted to jawbone Greek authorities into action, without effect. The Clinton administration offered aid and joint efforts in counterterrorism without grasping that Athens does not want to catch the terrorists. Greek leaders also know how to read political signals from Washington and respond accordingly. When President Clinton visited Greece last November, he could have raised the terrorism issue, but did not. Albright's light-speed promise of no sanctions was received smugly in Athens.
Act against an ally
Now Saunders, another innocent victim, is dead, but he will not be the last, unless Greece pays a price for inaction. The commission has pointed the way: Designate Greece as "not cooperating fully on counterterrorism" under an existing law that would prohibit weapons sales. Such action against an ally would send the best possible message to other governments that America is serious about terrorism.
This would be bitter medicine for Athens, but the point of medicine is to cure a disease. Congress can do Greece no better favor than to administer a dose of effective counterterrorism. In parallel, London and Brussels must demand that Athens live up to its claim to be a European, rather than a "Balkan," country.
American friends of Greece, including Greek-Americans, should commit this act of true friendship. Would the United States be a villain in Greek eyes and vilified in the overheated Athenian media? Certainly, but the cancer would be rooted out - and lives saved.
Wayne Merry, a former State Department official who served in Athens, now is senior associate at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington.
-------- uranium
Uranium prices to firm: ABARE Source: AAP
Australian Financial Review
Published: Tuesday Jun 20, 1:33 PM
http://www.afr.com.au/update/20000620/A21494-2000Jun20.html
Uranium prices are expected to firm as global consumption of the mineral exceeds production, the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) said today.
"Consumption is forecast to remain steady because the rate of stock drawdown and supplies from secondary sources are expected to fall in 2001," ABARE said in its commodities report.
"The principal factors contributing to downward pressure on uranium prices are the steady release of product from the US Enrichment Corporation (USEC) inventory and the apparent continued running down of utility stocks."
However Russian weapons-grade material appears not to have had a significant impact on the market since an agreement was reached on its disposal in 1999.
Australia, Canada, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are expected to show a significant increase in primary production of uranium in 2000/2001, ABARE said.
"However action was taken last year by the major producers last year to restrict output, despite some having expanded production capacity," the report said.
Despite contract prices easing, Australian production is estimated to have risen by 30 per cent in 1999/2000, exports are up 35 per cent and earnings are up by as much as $360 million.
"In 2000/01, production and exports are set to rise further to 9,400 tonnes of uranium, with export earnings rising to $440 million," ABARE said.
"The increase in Australian production is the result of investment in expanded processing facilities at both Olympic Dam and Ranger mines and also of the benefits of long-term contracts being in place."
Uranium production rates for most major producers remained below capacity through the first half of 2000.
"Near term, no further producer cutbacks or buying activity is anticipated," ABARE said.
"Nor is discretionary buying expected from utilities seeking to boost stocks at low prices, despite their having run down stock levels significantly in recent years."
Although the uranium spot market remains depressed, ABARE said not all links in the nuclear supply chain have a long-term depressed outlook.
"Demand for medium term contract enrichment services was strong in mid-2000, consistent with robust projected nuclear fuel consumption rates by electricity utilities over the medium term," the report said.
-------- u.s. nuc facilities
Secret U.S. system detects nuclear tests
Tuesday, June 20, 2000
By David Ljunggren Reuters
http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2000/06/06212000/kreu_nmonitor_14050.asp
A monitoring station for the top-secret U.S. Atomic Energy Detection System, which has detected almost every nuclear test carried out in the world since 1949, is located at Cambridge Bay in the Canadian Arctic.
Over the last 50 years, the United States has detected almost every nuclear test carried out anywhere in the world, courtesy of an enormous yet largely secret global monitoring operation in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.
The U.S. Atomic Energy Detection System gathers and processes data from a vast array of underground, underwater, sonic and airborne sensors in 35 countries to ensure that nuclear-capable nations are sticking to the terms of three major test-ban treaties.
The AEDS network, which pays special attention to countries suspected of developing nuclear weapons, quickly spotted the tests Pakistan and India carried out in May 1998.
But few outsiders are aware of just how sensitive it is.
At one point China was so anxious to hide evidence of its testing that it tried to time the blasts to coincide with local earthquakes, assuming no one could ever tell the difference. But they did not fool intelligence officials at the innocuously named U.S. Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC), which runs the AEDS from Patrick Air Force Base in Florida.
"These guys know virtually everything. They can tell when a test was carried out properly, as it was in the case of India, or whether someone just dug a hole in the ground and set off a nuclear device, which is pretty much what the Pakistanis did," one North American security expert said.
According to "Spying without Spies," a 1995 book on the AEDS by U.S. academics Charles Ziegler and David Jacobson, Washington has benefited enormously from the system.
-------- kansas
Kansas City Area Schedule of Global Peace Walk
From: GPZONE2000@aol.com - June 20, 2000
In the middle of the country, we would like to pass on our schedule to you for the upcoming weeks inviting everybody to bring their knowledge of mind and symbol of peace to this walk.
On June 21st, we are walking into Lawrence, KS the City Hall by 11am and then to South Park for a drum circle at noon. 2pm we will make a ceremony at the medicine wheel at Haskell Indian Nations University.
June 22nd we walk 20 miles toward Kansas City, KS. We will stay with our friends at 1732 Oak St, Kansas City, MO, 816 471 1732 and will be based out of this large building for the next 2 weeks.
June 23rd @ Kansas City Kansas Community College, Performing Arts Center, 7250 State Ave from 12-3pm we have been invited to speak at an event with Ralph Nader presidential candidate of the Green Party, the last of a 50 state campaign tour before the Denver Convention. With perfect synchronicity, this event is right on our walking path. The peace walkers will be presented and Reverend Yamato, the Global Peace Walk initiator, will speak along with multi-cultural local activist people. Leonard Peltier is writing a letter that will be read.
June 25th @ Quindaro, KS (Underground Railroad Ruins, John Brown's statue) 10am we will walk across the river (9 miles) to make ceremony at the Liberty Memorial 2pm, Global Peace Prayer of Living on the Globe with all our friends.
June 28th @ Grand Emporium, KC, MO 8pm, the Global Peace Orchestra will open for Boukman Experanyans (Haitian Vodou Rock).
June 30th @ Haskell Indian Nations University Auditorium, Lawrence, KS, 7-10pm. Music, Discussion, Theatre, and Press Conference the night before 4 day fast begins. Topics: Why are we fasting? Why are we walking across the country? What is a Global Emergency? What is a Global Peace Zone? What are Spiritually United Nations? Speakers will be Reverend Yamato, Carter Camp (Ponca Indian Activist and former chairman of AIM), and representative from Leonard Peltier Defense Committee. Theatre by Casey Camp. Music by Adam Spak, Natalie Cox, others.
July1-4th @ Doherty Park, close to downtown Leavenworth on banks of Missouri River. Around 20-25 people will be fasting for Global Peace on Mother Earth and for Leonard Peltier, symbol of separation between our land and life. We have permission to have our teepee up for all four days.
July 4th @ Fort Leavenworth, Hunt Lodge, 12pm-12am. Protect our Land and Life Festival with 15 bands, including Blackfire (from Big Mountain, AZ) and Red Thunder (from Taos Pueblo).
July 7th @ Kansas City, MO, Infinite Sun, 1732 Oak St 10pm-5am. Peace Benefit Rave to raise money to transport and shelter elders for Washington, D.C. and New York events.
July 9th @ (yet to be fully confirmed) St. Marks Church, KC, MO. Interfaith prayer.
July 10th begin walk through Independence, visit Truman Library.
July 17th @ Winston Churchill Memorial.
July 23rd reach St. Louis Zoo.
July 25-August 11th, South Dakota.
August 12-15th, Peace and Love Gathering to walk to East Coast.
Global Peace Now. All our relations, Global Peace Walkers
-------- kentucky
Workers disapprove of USEC-union talks
By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 16:07:44 EDT
From: wheezin2@aol.com
Hourly workers at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and its sister plant near Portsmouth, Ohio, have balked at talks between their international union leaders and USEC Inc. senior managers regarding a deal to help employees after one of the plants closes.
In a letter last week to workers, officers of the plants' atomic workers' union locals accused USEC Chief Executive Officer William "Nick" Timbers of misleading the work force and Congress about requirements to keep both plants open. Amid the company's financial trouble, the USEC board, which meets Wednesday, is expected to decide to close one of the plants.
"We would make a deal with USEC (officials) only if they had something real to offer," the letter said. It explained that much of what Timbers has agreed to do to protect workers already is built into contracts and legislation that allowed USEC to be privatized.
"We are not giving up on our jobs or agreeing that we should allow a plant to close until after we have exhausted every effort to get the Energy Department and Congress to deal with the problem," the letter said.
James "Kip" Phillips, vice president of the Nashville, Tenn.-based Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers International Union, said Monday that the discussions with USEC have ceased because of the locals' views.
"There will not be negotiations, an agreement or anything else without the support and ratifications of the locals," Phillips said. "They seem to have no interest in it at all, and that's where it sits."
The letter summarizes a June 7 meeting in Louisville by the local committees with top PACE officials, including Phillips and Boyd Young, president of the 13,200-member union. It says Young had held a series of meetings during the past month with USEC senior managers to negotiate "a partnership" modeled after the Saturn plant agreement between General Motors and the United Auto Workers.
"President Young said that USEC will announce a plant closing after its board of directors' meeting (Wednesday)," the letter said. "He said that USEC will announce which plant will close at that time."
Phillips said the letter "was not entirely accurate" in characterizing the USEC discussions as negotiations.
"There were no negotiations," he said. "It's accurate to say that USEC did approach us about the possibility of coming to an agreement with the union. We did meet with them, and there were discussions as to what they wanted and a lot of things we wanted."
David Fuller, president of the Paducah local, said he wrote the letter, signed by himself and other officers. He said the local disagrees with many of the ideas outlined in the letter.
"We're still trying to come to a consensus on a path forward," Fuller said. "There's absolutely no doubt that the international and the local have the best interests of the membership at heart."
According to the letter, the proposed agreement:
Requires union leadership to start immediately negotiating a closure agreement at the plant that will be shut down. The deal would include enhanced severance, and USEC expects workers to "waive their rights to sue" if they accept those perks.
Gives PACE workers hiring preference and union recognition for cleaning up and shutting down facilities at the plants if the Energy Department awards USEC that work.
Guarantees USEC will offer hiring some of the displaced workers at a gas centrifuge plant the firm is considering building, probably at Portsmouth. The offer includes a successorship agreement with PACE.
Says USEC will negotiate a "minimum staffing level" and extend the collective bargaining agreement at the plant that remains open. For the plant to be closed, there will be no more job cuts during the time that elapses until closure.
The letter concludes that USEC has broken promises to the government to keep the plants running and the cleanup work already is contained in "an especially solid" collective bargaining agreement.
-------- maryland
Calvert Residents Wary Of Proposal for Retreat
Washington Post
Tuesday, June 20, 2000; Page B01
By Raymond McCaffrey Washington Post Staff Writer
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-06/20/085l-062000-idx.html
For centuries, Calvert County has been known for the farmers who work the land and the watermen who fish the Chesapeake Bay.
But if a nonprofit organization has its way, the county could become renowned for powerful minds furthering world peace--or perhaps, as some fear, yogic fliers darting about.
Representatives of the Institute for World Peace are scheduled to appear before the Calvert County Planning Commission to discuss building a home for a new "think tank," a 38-acre retreat that--according to the group's attorney--would be similar to the Eastern Shore's Wye River retreat, where the Middle East Peace talks were held in 1998.
However, residents of St. Leonard, a small rural community in southern Calvert near where the retreat is proposed, are concerned about the organization behind the Institute for World Peace. That would be the Maharishi University of Management's Institute of Science, Technology and Public Policy, the Fairfield, Iowa, school founded by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the transcendental-meditation proponent to whom the Beatles once turned.
"We don't want a cult in our neighborhood," said Gary Effers, a St. Leonard resident who lives near the property.
Representatives of the university in Fairfield have long denied that they are part of a cult or even any organized religion. On its Web site, the university describes itself as a "world-class center for research" into "the profound insights and technologies of consciousness developed by the University's founder, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi."
The university institute's director, John Hagelin, is the presidential nominee of the Natural Law Party, a political party founded by Maharishi University.
A call to Hagelin was returned by Bob Roth, a local writer who is a friend of Hagelin's. Roth said the Institute for World Peace is simply planning to develop "a small progressive research think tank."
"They would be drawing from scholars in the Washington, D.C., area to sort of identify, evaluate and promote peace initiatives," Roth said. "When you look at the university in Fairfield, you think, 'Oh, my goodness! Is this going to be taken here?' It's not."
Since the university moved to Fairfield from California a quarter-century ago, the small farming community of about 10,000 has been the scene of a highly publicized clash of eastern and western cultures.
There, the Maharishi's followers not only practice transcendental meditation and eschew meat and potatoes; they have built homes adhering to "Sthapatya Veda" architecture, which dictates that buildings face east to create positive energy. And they have entertained townspeople with exhibitions by their Yogic Flying Club, whose members claim to levitate--or some say hop--through proper meditation.
"I would say we coexist quite well, but the co-mingling is much more difficult," said Bob Rasmussen, the town's mayor for 27 years. "We've worked hard at it, but they just have different ways.
"You just don't invite them to your house for corn on the cob and a nice steak and a glass of beer. . . . They have yogic flying contests."
In fact, according to Rasmussen, residents still refer to those affiliated with the institute as the "rus"--short for "gurus"--and residents are categorized as meditators and non-meditators.
Recently, a dispute over the proposed demolition of a historic building on the university's campus "created a wedge again" in the town, Rasmussen said. Some townspeople wanted to preserve the structure, but the university demolished it anyway because it wasn't facing east.
Rasmussen said that he wouldn't call the university a cult--although he does say that members are a "close-knit group." However, he added that they have helped the local economy and that, all in all, their philosophy is anything but objectionable.
"Their biggest objective is to relieve stress, and how is that bad?" Rasmussen said.
Indeed, meditation and many other beliefs taught at the university are gaining mainstream acceptance in the United States. A transcendental meditation center inspired by the Maharishi opened in Rockville without controversy.
Though geographically closer to Rockville, Calvert County is probably nearer in spirit to Fairfield, Iowa, in that residents espouse what could be called traditional values. For example, a year ago, when local school officials backed a student's request that prayer be banned at a graduation, many in the audience prayed anyway.
And though some parts of northern Calvert are being populated more and more by commuters to the District, St. Leonard is located deep in the southern part, where the character is still as rural as the residents who congregate at sundown on the front stoops of stores to chat.
It's a place where rumors abound about the proposed "think tank."
"There's a lot of opposition to what they're doing," said Patrick M. Buehler, a Calvert County commissioner who owns a general store in St. Leonard. "I have no clue what that group is about, who they are, how they are formed."
In truth, though, the concern in Calvert, Maryland's fastest-growing community during the 1990s, is as much about falling trees as it is about yogic fliers. Although the county is promoting economic development--the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant, not far from St. Leonard, is by far Calvert's largest taxpayer--it also has mounted a vigorous campaign to curb growth.
Before the Institute for World Peace could build, it would need to gain some concessions from the Calvert County Board of Commissioners. The land falls in a "resource conservation area" in which development is sharply restricted by the state, an official said. Counties can permit more dense development on only 5 percent of the designated land.
In Calvert, that has mostly been done for public schools, the official said. Moreover, the county views the proposed retreat as a private university--a use not permitted in the conservation area--so the commissioners would have to change the county's zoning laws.
There's also concern about the impact the development would have on St. Leonard. Plans call for a conference center, an institute building, some dormitories and some faculty housing, cafeteria and classrooms, according to a county official.
"It's basically a small community that's serviced by one road, and there's going to be a lot of buildings . . . a 250-car parking lot," Buehler said. "I would say right now I'm not sure it's something that's going to have any support from anybody."
Earlier this year, a group connected with the Maharishi reportedly contended that it was being discriminated against and threatened to sue a New Jersey town that blocked a proposed development. But Roth says the Institute for World Peace is about exactly that: peace.
"They're not interested in upsetting the environment," Roth said. "They want to welcome people."
-------- new mexico
Former DOE Secretary Rejected Security Advice;
And May Have Enabled Los Alamos Theft
Fox News
06/20/00
By Brian Wilson Fox News
http://www.foxnews.com/national/062000/nukes.sml
The Department of Energy ignored security recommendations in 1997 that could have prevented the recent disappearance of two sensitive hard drives from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Fox News has learned.
According to documents obtained by Fox News, the DOE under Hazel O'Leary, who was embroiled in scandals that sent her packing soon afterward, ignored the recommendations of a 1997 review panel that called for more security around nuclear information.
Among the panel's recommendations was a suggestion that the DOE upgrade "Sigma 14" and "Sigma 15" nuclear information to "Top Secret." Two hard drives that contained information on U.S. and Russian nuclear weapons; and were classified at the Sigma 15 level; disappeared under suspicious circumstances last month, only to reappear last week stashed behind a photocopier.
The FBI is investigating the disappearance, which now focuses on several scientists who had access to the secure vault where the hard drives were stored.
Openness vs. Security
Under a policy of openness at the O'Leary DOE, the panel was establishing guidelines for declassifying previously overclassified information, some of it dating back to the Nevada nuclear tests in the 1940s. Declassified information included plutonium tonnage, the number of nuclear devices detonated by the U.S. and reports on human radiation experiments.
In a section of its January 1997 report; entitled, "High Fences Around the Most Sensitive Information"; the panel suggested that "strict, and perhaps higher, levels of security be maintained around the more sensitive material."
The committee agreed that tightening security around Sigma 14 and 15 information "is valid, and in fact should be treated as an imperative." The panel recommended "reclassifying this sensitive information to Top Secret."
Those recommendations were ignored, according to documents uncovered by Fox News.
Six months after the report, on June 4, 1997, Robert Vrooman, then the chief of the lab's counterintelligence office, issued a directive removing "Accountability Requirements for Sigma 15 Information."
"Classified matter containing Sigma 15 information may now be removed from formal accountability," Vrooman wrote. This meant it was no longer necessary to sign out and track Sigma 15 information; such as the hard drives, which were used by emergency response teams to disarm nuclear warheads.
Vrooman has been singled out before for security breaches. A Senate report and a DOE inspector general report cited him for failing to remove Los Alamos scientist Wen Ho Lee from his position in 1997 after FBI agents; who had told Vrooman not to tip Lee off that he was under investigation; later recommended the Taiwan-born scientist be fired. Lee has been charged with mishandling classified information in connection with the suspected transfer of nuclear secrets to China.
Vrooman, who had been a part-time consultant to the lab since his retirement, was barred by the DOE from doing consulting services for at least five years after the inspector general's report.
---
Breaches in national security all too familiar
USA Today
06/19/00- Updated 04:22 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/columnists/tmoran/tm10.htm
"I'd tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." We've all heard this cloak-and-dagger catch phrase from friends who choose not to divulge particulars. It's said as a joke, but some people actually have jobs that require keeping their mouths shut. They're not all spies, of course. Many work for defense contractors and government agencies. But all of them have security clearances, allowing them access to sensitive material.
Having a security clearance is an honor and a privilege, and though I'm sure most folks who carry those fancy badges recognize the importance of their work, there are a few who are making the whole lot of them look bad. Recent news reports point to many security failures in some of our most exclusive government buildings and research laboratories:
Two hard drives believed missing for weeks were found behind a copy machine in the Los Alamos, N.M., national laboratory. Staffers noticed that the drives were missing May 7 but did not inform their supervisors until May 31. The drives contained highly sensitive data, including information on how to arm and disarm nuclear missiles, and were used by a team that responds to nuclear accidents and terrorism. Despite the materials' sensitivity, the drives were classified only as "secret" rather than "top secret."
Los Alamos nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee was arrested in December 1999 and charged with mishandling classified information after downloading classified files onto his home computer. The FBI has failed to produce any evidence that Lee passed information to Chinese authorities, but prosecutors believe that was the intention. Some of the top-secret computer files have never been found. Lee faces a 59-count indictment and life in prison if convicted.
In April 2000, a laptop containing data on arms proliferation disappeared from a secured conference room at the State Department. The "classified" laptop was not password-protected.
In May 2000, the General Accounting Office revealed that GAO agents in plain clothes used phony identification cards to enter 19 of the government's most secure buildings and two airports. They were allowed access to offices of the CIA, FBI, State Department, Justice Department and the Pentagon. Their briefcases were not searched.
In May 2000, the State Department reported that 15 unclassified laptop computers had disappeared in the past 18 months.
In early May 2000, a section chief at the FBI's national security division said foreign intelligence officers were working in the news media at the State Department.
In December 1999, Russian diplomat Stanislav Borisovich Gusev was forced to leave the United States after being accused of eavesdropping with a listening device only doors from Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's office. An internal State Department audit in December 1999 found that visitors, contractors and maintenance workers were being allowed to roam the building unsecured.
In 1998, a man entered the office of the executive secretary to the secretary of state and removed sensitive documents. Neither the man nor the papers have been located.
In 1996, the CIA learned that former director John Deutch had mishandled classified materials by keeping them on as many as eight unsecured home and office computers - which also were used by Deutch's children to surf the Internet. The CIA didn't report the find to the Justice Department until March 1998, and congressional oversight panels were not notified until June 1998.
In April 1999, the Justice Department found that Deutch was sloppy but not criminal in his mishandling of the materials, and the former director's security clearance was revoked in July 1999. The case has since been reopened to ensure fair treatment in light of the Wen Ho Lee case.
If you've been watching the news lately, you know that Energy Secretary Bill Richardson is under fire for the lapses at Los Alamos. Some Republican lawmakers have asked for Richardson's resignation.
Richardson took over at the DOE in fall 1998 with the mission of ensuring security at the national research laboratories. When Wen Ho Lee fell under suspicion last year, Richardson was adamant that the labs needed to change their ways. "Security here has been treated with a low priority, and secretaries in the past have never tackled this because of constituencies, politics," Richardson said. "There's a lack of accountability and responsibility, and we're going to correct that."
This led to Richardson's Security Reform Package in spring 1999, which called for the creation of an Office of Security and Emergency Operations, better oversight, inventory accountability, cybersecurity improvements and a zero-tolerance security policy. In July 1999 Richardson ordered a security "stand-down," requiring all DOE employees to participate in a brief security training and education program. He also reversed his opposition to approve a controversial plan to create an independent oversight panel, leading to the establishment of the Office of Independent Oversight and Performance Assurance. Its first report came out in August 1999. Richardson established a position for a security "czar" to ensure that security programs at the labs are effective.
And in spite of these changes, a few staffers at Los Alamos failed to tell their supervisors about the missing hard drives for weeks. This scandal pushed the Senate last week to confirm Air Force Gen. John Gordon, the current deputy CIA director, to head a new nuclear weapons agency at DOE. Richardson wants Gordon to get to work immediately on a full review of the three nuclear laboratories.
It seems Richardson has become the fall guy for national security breaches not only at DOE but also at all "secured" government agencies. Problems have been cited at the State Department, FBI, CIA and the Pentagon. So the problem reaches far beyond Energy; and it stems from the fact that people disregard rules and regulations.
Some may argue that by claiming a need for accountability, Richardson should be prepared to fall on his sword over the security scandal at Los Alamos. Instead, that sword should be pointed at the levels where security was breached. Those at Los Alamos who failed to report the hard drives missing should be collecting unemployment. Guards at the various Washington agencies who admitted agents with phony identification cards should be dismissed. Former CIA director John Deutch, who should have been setting an example as a pillar of the intelligence community, should be punished severely for his audacity in copying classified files to his unsecured home computers.
You get the idea. Make those responsible for national security breaches account for their behavior, and make them pay for mistakes. Only by setting examples within the ranks can you change behavior. Besides, there are plenty of people who do observe the rules, and they should be allowed to take pride in the fact that they promote and protect national security. When colleagues lose classified hard drives, laptops and documents, it's a little hard for these folks to hold their heads high.
Tracy Moran is the opinion editor for USATODAY.com.
mailto:tmoran@usatoday.com
-------- new york
Indian Point: An Accident Not Waiting to Happen
THE RADIOACTIVIST
Issue 12 Serving Reactor Communities throughout the Northeast
The Indian Point nuclear station has been controversial for well over 30 years now. The debate has been driven by a long record of waste spills, chronic safety problems, and inefficiency. Hundreds of thousands of people would have to be evacuated in the event of a major accident.
Indian Point has been the site of two major emergencies in the last year. including the first ever stage ? alert. The question isn't, "Why should Indian Point close?" but, "Why aren't IP2 and IP3 closed, just like IP1?"
Like everything else, nuclear power plants have a life span, about 25 years. Both plants will eventually close -- the question is when. CAN believes the costs far outweigh the benefits and Indian Point should shut down now. Reactor communities suffer an epidemic of diseases related to low-level radiation exposure from the routine releases of radioactive waste. The risk of an accident puts 8% of the population of the United States at risk.
Safely and ethically cleaning up the Hudson Valley, and providing green energy alternatives could provide employment opportunities for the region. This requires the political will, and the action of the people to make it happen.
Profit over Safety: Systemic Mismanagement at IP
Con Ed and NOPE have postponed maintenance and reduced the work force to make the reactors look more profitable to Entergy and other potential new owners. This has eroded safety margins. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows the nuclear operators get away with so the reactors can be sold. The February 15 accident at IP2 is only the tip of the iceberg.
In early August, 1999, Public Citizen ranked Indian Point as the 8th most accident-prone nuclear station in the US, with 19 cases of design problems that violated safety guidelines in 2-1/2 years. Rather than issue violations, the NRC instituted an "amnesty" policy in 1996, allowing utilities to report violations without suffering fines. Instead of providing an incentive to fix problems, the record at IP shows that nuclear corporations have used this policy as an opportunity to postpone maintenance and cut costs, effectively passing on the legacy and the liability to whoever buys the reactors. Unfortunately for Con Ed, history is catching up with them at IP2 before it has been sold.
IP2 - Unsafe at Any Speed
On August 31, IP2 suffered an emergency due to a series of electrical failures. Faulty electrical equipment prevented an emergency generator from supplying energy to run safety systems. Backup batteries failed before they were supposed to, and operators lost 75% of the alarms in the control room for 3 hours. Due to inadequate training, procedures that hadn't been updated, and poor communication, workers had trouble shutting down the reactor safely and restoring power to backup systems. As a result, control room operators believed the situation was under control, but all the while conditions were worsening. The reactor was shut for weeks and the NRC sent an Augmented Inspection Team (AIT) to investigate.
The AIT report detailed a pattern of systemic mismanagement, inadequate attention to safety, and equipment problems Con Ed had not fixed, which went back several years. In a petition to NRC demanding more extensive repairs and operational improvements before the restart, the Union of Concerned. Scientists analysis revealed that the IP2 emergency repeated 5 of the 6 causes of the Three Mile Island meltdown. The NRC rejected the petition and the demands of local and national groups, saying that ConEd's plans were adequate. Nevertheless, things at IP2 worsened, resulting in the accident on February 15.
Two weeks after Con Ed announced its intent to sell IP2, a tube ruptured in one of the reactor's steam generators. The steam generators pass water cooling the reactor core through thousands of small tubes at high temperature and pressure. The heat passing through the tubes boils water outside to power a turbine. Problems with the Westinghouse generator were noted in the early '80s. They filed suit against the designer, and won. Con Ed bought new generators in 1988 at a reduced price, using rate payer money, but never installed them. While every other utility in the law suit replaced the original generators, Con Ed put the maintenance job off, repeatedly plugging bad tubes instead of replacing the generators.
During the last inspection in 1997, Con Ed used a flawed analysis that failed to identify a number of degraded tubes. NRC regulations required another inspection in 1999, but Con Ed applied for postponement to avoid shutting the reactor down. The NRC concurred, without independently reviewing the 1997 inspection data. The NRC now acknowledges that, given the data , it was possible to predicted a tube rupture around the same time it actually happened. The NRC and Con Ed are both at fault. The rupture required an emergency shutdown to isolate the leak and prevent a worse accident. However, this was no near miss! The leak continued for most of the next 24 hours, with an unmonitored release to the outside.
What's worse, equipment failures and mistakes by operators resulted in additional releases of radiation, and the possibility of a much worse accident. As workers scrambled to stop the leak in the steam generator, they violated safety parameters by cooling the reactor core too quickly, with the potential to damage the reactor vessel. Because of a backup system failure and rising water level in the damaged generator, operators had to choose between venting even more radiation to the outside and risking a waterline break which could have resulted in a meltdown. Operators finally managed to shut IP2 down, but not without significant release of radiation.
A second NRC inspection team investigated the accident and found the same problems as before. Systemic mismanagement runs so deeply at Indian Point that Con Ed has neither the will nor the financial interest to address it. The NRC could save Con Ed from themselves, impact the lives of people living near IP in a positive way and shut this nuke down.
IP3 - Sacrificing Workers to Cut Costs Workers at Indian Point have suffered harassment, intimidation, and excessive contaminations.
Routine Releases Pollute the Hudson River Valley
Routine operation of the IP nukes has released over 114,000 curies of radioactive waste into the air and water of the Hudson River Valley. (For 13 years, New York Power Authority (NOPE) underreported releases from IP3 by using a faulty model, so the actual numbers may be even higher.) This includes over 90,000 curies of Xenon, which decays into strontium, cesium, and other long-lived radioisotopes; and over 20,000 curies of tritium, a dangerous envirotoxin related to many forms of cancer and congenital disease, including Down syndrome. The Deerfield River Valley, home to the first commercial nuke in the US (Yankee Rowe) with the same design as the IP reactors, has suffered a 10-fold increase in Down Syndrome and statistical significance in many cancers, including non-Hodgkins lymphoma, breast cancer, and multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer only known to be caused by ionizing radiation.
Accidental releases of radioactive waste at IP have added much more pollution. In 1977 and again in 1980, IP spilled tens of thousands of gallons of primary coolant in the reactor building, thoroughly polluting the building, potentially leaking into the ground and the Hudson River. IP1, shut down but not decommissioned, has a leak in its spent fuel pool. The pool holds the reactor's used fuel rods, high-level radioactive waste that has to be isolated from the environment. Con Ed has known about the leak since 1990. It leaks on average 150 gallons of contaminated water each day, but Con Ed has no plans to fix it.
Nuclear utilities use jobs and property taxes to manipulate the community into an acceptance of inferior health and safety. Their press releases are treated as news. While only a portion of the affected communities receive the benefits, everyone suffers the risks. Now that the reactors are being sold, the benefits are dwindling away and the dangers increasing. It's time to shut them down.
Elie@highlands.com http://wescan.homestead.com/index.html www.nukebusters.org
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IP Postcard Campaign
From: elie@highlands.com (Elie)
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 01:24:08 -0500
Here is a simple anti-nuclear action everyone can take. You are invited to send this message and attachments on to any one who might be interested in this topic. Chances are that we won't get off so easily with the next accident...
Marilyn elie@highlands.com
Attached you will find copies of the postcard Mark Jacobs of WESPAC and I created to send to County Executive Spano and to show to other representatives. Hard copies can be requested from WESPAC by calling 914-682-0488. Even better, if you have the technology, you can use the preformatted word attachment to print your own postcards which you can then copy on 110 lb. postcard paper, or just print on normal paper and tap or glue to postcards which are available at any post office.
Distribute them to friends, co-workers, neighbors. Most people welcome a way to take a quick action and express their opinion. There are some important things to remember in getting people to fill these out.
1) People should write their name and address at the bottom of the card after "Sincerely," not in the return address space. It is important to write clearly or to sign the card and then print the name and address.
2) Send the signed postcards back to WESPAC in an envelope, not to Spano. (Please add a stamp to each postcard. WESPAC is operating on a shoestring.) That way we can know how many we have and make copies to show to other legislators. WESPAC's address is as follows:
WESPAC 255 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. White Plains, NY 10601
3) Some people may want to be put on our mailing list for more information in the future. If so, they should put their phone number or e-mail on the post card. Please assure people who just sign their name and put their address only that they will not be contacted in the future.
4) If someone strongly prefers to mail their own card directly to Spano, by all means they should do so. The most important thing is that he hears from as many people as possible.
We have a real opportunity to keep this dangerous plant shut down for good. Let's inundate Spano with our message.
If you prefer to send a letter that is even better. Your own words are best and ideally each letter is different. However, you are welcome to use this expanded verson of the post card in any way you like. Sending it to a local official, your local paper or to members of your local school board would be great! It is critical to ask every candidate who is running for any office where they stand on Indian Point. It is only when enough elected officials hear from many, many people that action is taken.
No nukes,
Marilyn Elie Westchester Citizens Awareness Network
Mark Jacobs Weschester People's Action Coalition
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The Honorable Andrew J. Spano, County Executive 900 Michaelian Office Building 148 Martine Avenue White Plains, NY 10601
Dear County Executive Spano,
The recent accident at Indian Point 2 demonstrates how ill-prepared we are in the case of a nuclear disaster. I understand that the current plans are tested and evaluated, however, residents who travel our congested roads know the current evacuation plan is not based in reality. Our roads would simply turn into parking lots and no one could escape.
The evacuation of the schools is especially troubling. Would bus drivers actually drive into an emergency zone? Are their enough seats for every child to be evacuated at the same time? Would parents allow their children to be taken to a reception center? If parents who live nearby come to school to pick up their children how will that affect the bus evacuation. Are all teachers aware that they are to accompany their class to a reception center? Are parents aware that siblings may be sent to different reception centers? Are families new to the area promptly alerted to the evacuation plan?
Indian Point 2 is an old plant that is only becoming more embrittled with age. I am concerned for my safety, and the safety of my family. The fact that Con Edison declined to replace old steam generators which are known to be prone to tube ruptures is a clear statement that the utility has chosen to gamble with the public safety. This type of generator has been replaced in every nuculear pwer plant except Indian Point 2. The fact that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is supportive of the utility, the notification plan and the evacuation plan is a clear indication that this Commission has abdicated its role in protecting public safety.
* I request that you insist that the NRC complete a comprehensive vertical slice inspection of all four of the steam generators at Indian Point 2.
* I request that you initiate a complete county wide reassessment of the evacuation plan to determine if the 8% of the population of this country who live within a 50 mile radius of Indian Point could be safely evacuated in the event of a nuclear emergency.
Sincerely,
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Followup message, June 2000:
Subject: Re(2): IP Postcard Campaign
From: elie@highlands.com (Elie)
prop1@prop1.org writes: >Is this still going on? What's the status on Indian Point?
We have moved on to a postcard campaign to gov. Pataki. It is the same one CAN uses. We are also asking folks to sign the petition developed by Representative Galef to have the steam generators replaced. The NRC is having an informational meeting on IP2 tomorrow (sunday) . There will be public comment and questions. The NRC report makes it clear that there are MANY major problems. We will be asking them some very pointed questions.
Right now IP2 is still down and IP3 is back on line.
Marilyn
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Centrifuge process
From: "Vina Colley" vcolley@earthlink.net
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 10:43:12 -0700
We started up the centrifuge around 1985 here in Piketon, Ohio and something was wrong with it and they shut in down. I did see a paper that said the lunch room that the worker ate in had high reading of Alpha daughters. The dispatch said that USEC is trying to negotiate its way out of having to pay for $290 million of environmental-compliance upgrades needed at the Ohio valley Electric Crop. which supplies Piketon;s extensive power needs. If the centrifuge didn't work in the 80's why are they now talking about it again?
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Decision on Piketon plant could be made Wednesday
Tuesday, June 20, 2000
Jonathan Riskind Dispatch Washington Bureau
http://www.dispatch.com/news
WASHINGTON -- Southern Ohio uranium-enrichment workers might find out as early as Wednesday that their days drawing a substantial paycheck are numbered.
And Clinton administration officials already are assessing the national-security impact of the bleak financial picture of USEC -- the privatized federal corporation that runs the country's only enrichment plants in Piketon, Ohio, and Paducah, Ky.
Everyone from the 2,000 workers at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant to Vice President Al Gore is waiting to see what USEC does after Wednesday's board of directors meeting. Whether to close a plant -- and which one -- is on the agenda.
USEC sent a letter to the U.S. Treasury Department yesterday confirming that the company's financial condition has slid to the point that a plant- closure could be imminent.
"As a result of market and economic considerations, the board of directors must contemplate the termination of enrichment operations at one plant,'' William Timbers, USEC president and chief operating officer, wrote.
Timbers also said USEC is "very concerned about our employees, their families and our communities in the event of a plant-closure decision.'' He expressed hope that many workers could be shifted to federally funded plant-cleanup jobs.
However, Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson sent a letter of his own yesterday to Timbers, expressing "serious concern'' about USEC's plans. Richardson wanted to know whether USEC plans to close a plant and how it can guarantee to protect the domestic uranium-enrichment industry.
"The domestic nuclear industry and plant employment are important issues as is the nonproliferation benefit'' of a key Russian arms-control deal USEC is charged with carrying out.
G