-------- NUCLEAR (by country)

Clinton Sees Passage of China Trade

Associated Press
September 08, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Clinton.html

NEW YORK (AP) -- Concluding a whirlwind week of diplomacy, President Clinton assured Chinese President Jiang Zemin the Senate will approve an agreement giving Beijing permanent normal trade relations in return for slashing tariffs on American goods sold in the vast Chinese market.

Clinton said Friday the accord was ``good for the development of democracy and human rights in China, and I know it's good for American-Chinese relationships over the long run.'' The Senate is to vote next week on the deal, the biggest trade bill of the year and one of Clinton's top foreign policy priorities.

The bill was approved by the House last May. Some senators who believe trade with China should be linked to its human rights and weapons proliferation record are pushing for amendments that would force the bill to go back to the House for further consideration. Bill proponents say that would kill the bill's chances for enactment this year.

``I believe the bill will pass and I'm pleased at the progress it's making in the Senate,'' Clinton said.

Jiang told U.S. business executives at a policy luncheon that the measure offers a ``win-win outcome'' for his country and the United States, both by opening China's markets to foreign products and by strengthening China's bid to join the World Trade Organization.

Meeting for the first time in a year, Clinton and Jiang talked on the final day of the U.N. Millennium Summit, a three-day gathering of about 160 world leaders. Clinton's attempts during the summit to salvage peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat came to naught.

``This Middle East thing, it's maddening,'' Clinton exclaimed at a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern. The president held his arms wide, as if to say the issue was too large to grasp. Clinton also met with Bolivian President Hugo Banzer.

Clinton and Jiang met a week after the president deferred a decision on whether to build an anti-missile defense system protecting the United States. China and Russia had argued that a missile shield would upset the strategic balance and lead to a new nuclear arms race.

``The missile defense issue will be resolved by my successor,'' Clinton said during a photo opportunity. Their 90-minute meeting was notable for its frank tone and the easy exchange between the two leaders, a senior administration official told reporters afterward.

The talks covered the strains between China and Taiwan, Beijing's missile sales, religious freedom in China and Tibet, trade, the thaw in relations between North and South Korea and North Korea's proposal for outside help with missile launches.

The senior official took issue with recent reports suggesting that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il was joking when he said his country would abandon its missile development program if other countries would put its satellites into space. U.S. experts have scrutinized the Korean language version of what Kim said and determined ``it was a positive discussion, not that it was a joke,'' the official said, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity.

The United States is prepared to take Kim's idea seriously if he is prepared to move forward, the official said. ``In broad terms, that is an idea worth pursuing.''

While Clinton delayed a decision on deploying missile defenses, China is pressing the United States to abandon the program completely. Clinton said he would urge his successor to engage in serious talks with China and other countries to explain the threat the United States believes makes such a system necessary.

``He said, `I don't know whether we're going to end up convincing people and reaching a common understanding but I will sure encourage my successor -- whoever it is -- to engage in that effort very seriously,''' the official said. ``And he said, `Jiang, I hope that you will engage in that effort equally seriously, that you'll think about this and you'll be ready to engage on it.'''

Jiang said Clinton's idea was good and that the Chinese take the issue seriously, the official said.

On Taiwan, the official said China is ``in a wait and see attitude'' about newly elected Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian. The official said the Taiwanese leader ``has made a number o moves to take the edge off the fact that he is from the democratic progressive party which has traditionally been a pro-independence party.'' China views Taiwan as a renegade province and vows it will use force if necessary to prevent its independence.

``The Taiwan question is the most important and sensitive question in China-U.S. relations,'' Jiang said at the luncheon. ``Our relations have experienced ups and downs over the decades, most of which can be traced to the Taiwan question.''

On the Net:
White House trade relations working group: http://www.chinapntr.gov

-------- czech republic

Czech CEZ sees Temelin N-plant launch after Sept 20

Planet Ark
September 8, 2000
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8090

PRAGUE - Czech state-controlled utility CEZ a.s. said yesterday it was going ahead with the launch of a nuclear power plant about 50 km (31 miles) from the Austrian border despite growing protests from its neighbour.

Frantisek Hezoucky, director of the Temelin power plant, told a news conference CEZ expected to apply for fuel activation after September 20 and would go ahead, if allowed by local regulators, regardless of foreign pressure to delay the launch.

The European Parliament was due to discuss a resolution later yesterday calling for a delay, pending further environmental impact assessments.

"According to our internal schedule, we may request activation of the reactor around September 20," Hezoucky said. "Any decision by the European Parliament cannot stop us. "It bothers us that the European Parliament is voting on something it does not have a clue about."

CEZ has slipped slightly behind schedule which planned activation around September 15 but said there were no significant problems in the testing process. The delay was caused by a minor leakage which has been fixed, Hezoucky said.

The Soviet-designed power station is equipped with a U.S. control system.

Austria, which is nuclear-free, has called on the Czechs to scrap the project or at least allow for new security checks, and warned it may link compliance with its demands to Czech negotiations on European Union membership.

The Czechs say the plant is safe, and that they have provided sufficient information to experts in Austria and Germany, as well as the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency.

Thousands of Austrian protesters staged a protest on the border last weekend, and plan to block several border crossings with the Czech Republic again on Friday.

-------- depleted uranium

Gulf War Syndrome? Jury's Still Out

Yahoo News
Friday September 08
By Neil Sherman HealthSCOUT Reporter
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/hsn/20000908/hl/gulf_war_syndrome_jury_s_still_out_1.html

THURSDAY, Sept. 7 (HealthSCOUT) -- There's not enough evidence to link Gulf War chemicals and vaccines to the collection of illnesses reported by thousands of veterans, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) reports today. But a veterans group criticizes the report as being too limited in not considering the full range of toxic exposures during the conflict.

"The bottom line is that we simply don't know enough," said Dr. Harold Sox, Jr. at a press conference today at the National Academies of Sciences in Washington, D.C. Sox, chairman of the department of medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., was chairman of the 18-member review committee.

This report on all published research looked at Gulf War exposures to only four of the 33 chemical or biological agents: the nerve gas sarin; pyridostigmine bromide (PB), the drug used to blunt the effects of Iraqi chemical attacks; depleted uranium; and vaccines used to prevent anthrax and botulism.

But a Gulf War veterans organization said the report didn't take into consideration the other 29 known substances, studies of which are still ongoing. The committee also did not analyze how being exposed to a mix of any of these 33 agents might affect health, the National Gulf War Resource Center said.

"We looked at 10,000 abstracts of articles and read in full 1,000 studies published in the available scientific literature," said Sox.

"At most, we found limited evidence that might suggest some long-term health effects from exposure to sarin that occurred in individuals who received a large enough dose to have an immediate, intense and widespread reaction. Clearly, it will take more research to establish a connection," Sox said.

The findings are too early, says Chris Kornkven, president of the National Gulf War Resource Center, a coalition of veterans organizations in Washington, D.C. "We are disappointed that such final conclusions are being drawn" before a planned 10-year study by the National Academies of Science gets started," he said. "There is a lot of research that needs to be conducted prior to ruling out any of these issues."

There is an ongoing debate as to whether a well-defined Gulf War Syndrome actually exists, but most experts agree that the health of as many as 80,000 of the 700,000 soldiers who began landing in Saudi Arabia in late 1990 has been harmed. Doctors have surmised that the cluster of illnesses -- nausea, fatigue, nerve problems and more -- may have been caused by exposure to chemical and biological weapons; depleted uranium; experimental drugs and vaccines; environmental poisons and infectious diseases.

The IOM committee, whose work was supported by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, also suggested further investigation into the long-term effects of PB. There are many studies that prove gastrointestinal and muscle problems are the short-term effects of PB, Sox said.

Sox said the research suggests no link between exposure to depleted uranium and "nonmalignant diseases of the liver, kidney disease or lung cancer." Similarly, the committee found little or no studies on the long-term effects of vaccination and said that studies should be done to figure out if the vaccines had long-term effects.

The committee's findings are not meant to dismiss the existence of Gulf War Syndrome, Sox insisted. "My personal opinion is yes, there are Gulf War-related illnesses, just as there are combat-related illnesses not found in textbooks related to all the other wars. There is one exposure that we do need to address and that is the careful investigation of the effect of combat stress on illness," he said.

Gulf War illness studies are hampered by the fact that researchers do not know what level of exposure to chemicals or biological agents soldiers encountered in the Gulf War theater, Sox explained. "And we looked, but found almost nothing that looked at the synergy of agents. It's a very important area of research."

"Gulf War vets have found that a weakness for the past five years," Kornkven commented. "There is absolutely no research that I know of that is looking at combinations of exposures, and that's a real flaw."

What To Do

If you're a veteran of the Gulf War and feel that your health was harmed by your service there, contact your local veterans group to see if it can connect you with any ongoing trials.

For an overview of the Gulf War, check out this extensive Frontline report. Or the American Gulf War Veterans Association has information on vaccines, illnesses, where to get help and more. You can also try GulfLink, the military's site for Gulf War veterans.

---

A Study Fails to Reveal the Causes of Gulf War Syndrome

New York Times
September 08, 2000
By PHILIP J. HILTS
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/08/science/08GULF.html

A panel of expert scientists reported yesterday that after studying what were regarded as the leading suspected causes, it could not say what had brought on the array of symptoms called gulf war syndrome in thousands of veterans of the war against Iraq.

The panel, which pored over studies of poison gas, uranium, drugs and vaccines, concluded that there was not enough reliable data to say whether exposure to any of those agents had caused the illnesses. The lack of data extended not only to the effects of the chemicals in question but also to the level of exposure that might have afflicted veterans of the Persian Gulf war.

The committee, of 18 members, was brought together by the Institute of Medicine, a body of the National Academy of Sciences. Its conclusions were announced yesterday at a Washington news conference, where Dr. Kenneth I. Shine, the institute's president, summed up the frustration of the panel's members and others seeking definitive findings.

"We would love to come up with remarkable new conclusions," Dr. Shine said, "but after careful analysis, if the data isn't there, we can't draw any conclusions from it."

The committee recommended more scientific research but also urged that the military improve its monitoring of what happens to soldiers and their environment in any future war.

Richard Weidman and William Frasure, officials of Vietnam Veterans of America, who have tracked the debate over gulf war syndrome for several years, said that given the scant data, they sympathized with the committee. What is needed, they said, is a thorough study of not only the existing scientific literature but also classified records on troop deployments and veterans' medical records, carried out not by military officials but by independent scientists.

The symptoms of gulf war syndrome vary, but veterans have complained chiefly of fatigue, skin rash, headache, muscle and joint pain, and memory loss.

The committee's search for a cause followed studies by both the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Those earlier studies both found that there was a group of gulf war veterans suffering from a variety of symptoms, but could find no cause.

After Congress mandated further study, the Institute of Medicine was asked by the V.A. to convene an expert impartial panel to look at 33 agents and try to determine whether any might be the cause. The committee began work early last year on what were considered the four most likely suspects among those 33 and, after a review of thousands of published, peer-reviewed scientific studies, addressed the four yesterday at the news conference and in a written report. (Under the Congressional mandate, the committee must now spend years looking at the 29 others.)

The committee left open the question of whether two of those four agents, the nerve gas sarin and vaccinations against germ warfare, might be the cause.

"There is inadequate/insufficient evidence," the panel wrote, "to determine whether an association does or does not exist between exposure to sarin at low doses" and any subsequent "long-term adverse health effects."

With regard to vaccinations against anthrax and botulinum, the committee's wording was identical.

The committee felt there was at least some evidence that the two other agents, depleted uranium and the chemical pyridostigmine bromide, were unlikely to be the cause, although again there was not enough evidence to be sure.

The committee's chairman, Dr. Harold S. Sox Jr., said he felt that its review did not "move the needle" toward any new conclusions on sarin or the vaccines. As for the depleted uranium and pyridostigmine bromide, Dr. Sox said, "we did move the needle" in that it now seems less likely that either was a cause of the syndrome. But he emphasized that the study had been unable to rule them out.

These four agents were studied first for a variety of reasons.

Sarin was suspected because it is a potent nerve toxin used in chemical weapons, some of which were destroyed during the gulf war, thus exposing soldiers to small doses.

Vaccines became suspect because soldiers received two of them - one against anthrax and one against botulinum toxin - before serving in the gulf.

Pyridostigmine bromide is a drug used to treat myasthenia gravis, but it can also blunt the effects of nerve gas, and so some soldiers were given preventive doses of it in the war.

So-called depleted uranium, a low- radiation form of uranium, came under suspicion because it is used as a layer in the armor of tanks to increase protection, and is also used in some ammunition rounds. Soldiers were exposed to it during the cleanup of damaged tanks and in munitions from "friendly fire."

Overriding all the committee's conclusions was the constant refrain expressed at the news conference by its members that there was very little evidence of the kind needed to make conclusions on two points: whether low doses of any of the agents might cause long-term illness, and just how much exposure to the agents any veteran got.

-------- india / pakistan

Uranium plant sought in Dharmapuri dt.

International Herald Tribune
Friday, September 08, 2000
http://www.indiaserver.com/thehindu/2000/09/08/stories/04082237.htm

MADURAI, SEPT. 7. The state unit of the BJP's yuva morcha has called for steps to locate a uranium plant in Dharmapuri district, utilising the molybdenum deposits available in the region.

In a resolution passed at its executive committee meeting here recently, the yuva morcha said a project report should be prepared immediately, taking into consideration the molybdenum deposits available around Harur. The uranium project, besides providing a vital component for national security, would also be a source of employment for local youth, it said. The meeting, presided over by Mr. S. Mohan Rajulu, state president, commended the state government for showing keen interest in youth welfare and said it should ensure that the money allocated for sports development reached the beneficiaries. It advocated express punishment for the guilty in the cricket scam so as to revive public faith in the innocent cricketers.

By a resolution, the yuva morcha suggested the starting of employment exchanges for professionals and post-graduates at Madurai, Tiruchi and Coimbatore on the lines of the one in Chennai. These exchanges should be linked to Chennai through computers.Expressing concern over the delay in the despatch of study material for the students of distance education programmes of the Madurai Kamaraj University, the meeting demanded immediate steps to rectify the ills of the system.

By other resolutions, the yuva morcha condemned the Kerala Government for its refusal to raise the storage level of the Periyar dam and called for immediate steps to take up the Ganga- Cauvery link scheme.

-------- iran

Iran set for another flight test of missile

Washington Times
September 8, 2000
By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/national/default-200098232959.htm

Iran is set to conduct another flight test of its new Shahab-3 missile soon after delaying a launch last week to avoid embarrassing its president during his visit to New York, The Washington Times has learned.

According to U.S. intelligence officials, the Iranians are expected to conduct the test of the new truck-mounted missile later this month. An earlier test was performed in July.

The launch preparations - setting up and taking down the missile and support components - were photographed by a U.S. spy satellite in the late stages of preparation, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

However, Iranian military officials scrapped the test late last week to avoid causing diplomatic complications for Iranian President Mohammed Khatami during his visit to the United Nations' Millennium Summit meeting this week.

"They are expected to conduct the test later," said one official who has seen reports on the test preparations. The flight test is expected later this month, the officials said.

A CIA spokesman declined to comment.

Disclosure of the Iranian missile-test preparations follows the announcement last week by President Clinton that he would not authorize deployment of a national missile defense system. The president said developmental problems and opposition from foreign governments were the reason for holding up deployment plans.

The intelligence officials said Mr. Khatami was scheduled to attend a meeting during the U.N. summit hosted by Chinese President Jiang Zemin that President Clinton would attend. The White House said yesterday, however, that the president would not be at any meetings with the Iranian leader.

On Wednesday, Mr. Khatami met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed strategic cooperation between the two countries. Moscow has been a major source of technology and materials for Iran's missiles, despite years of U.S. protests over the assistance.

The officials said the preparations for the latest Shahab-3 flight test followed the successful test launch July 15. Pentagon officials said that test showed Iran is stepping up efforts to develop long-range missiles.

The Shahab-3 has an estimated range of about 800 miles, enough to hit most nations in the region, including Israel and areas where U.S. military forces are based, such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

The missile is based on the design of the North Korean Nodong medium-range missile, which has a range of about 620 miles.

U.S. intelligence officials told The Times earlier this year that Iran purchased 12 missile engines for the Shahab-3 from North Korea in November. A senior CIA official told Congress in February the engines are critical components for the Shahab-3.

Because its accuracy is limited, the Pentagon views the Shahab-3 as a medium-range strategic missile capable of carrying high-explosive or chemical or biological warheads.

Iran does not possess nuclear warheads but is suspected of working on a covert program to develop them for its missiles.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said in July that the Shahab-3 is part of Tehran's strategic deterrent against Israel's nuclear missiles.

Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani told the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun last year that "a considerable number" of Shahab-3s are deployed. He denied Iran is building a longer-range Shahab-4 and insisted all more capable rockets will be used for space launches.

The Shahab missile series is mentioned frequently by U.S. intelligence agencies as a key reason for developing a national missile defense system. Iranian officials publicly have mentioned longer-range range systems dubbed Shahab-4 and Shahab-5. U.S. officials have said those missiles are intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen said shortly after the July flight test that the launch showed the Iranians have made significant strides in mastering the basics of ballistic missiles. He said more tests of the Shahab-3 and Shahab-4 are expected.

"It is one of the reasons why it is important for the United States to undertake to research, develop and eventually deploy an NMD system that would provide protection against countries such as Iran posing a threat to the United States," Mr. Cohen said. NMD is the Pentagon's term for National Missile Defense.

With several tests, missile development programs accelerate "almost exponentially once you get some of the fundamentals down," he said.

"I think there is absolutely the potential to accelerate development with each successful test," Mr. Cohen said.

Kenneth Timmerman, publisher of the investigative newsletter Iran Brief, said it would be unusual for the Iranian military to act in support of Mr. Khatami. The Iranian military favors Islamic fundamentalist hard-liners in the Iranian government who have clashed with Mr. Khatami over his reform-oriented policies, he said.

"It sounds to me like the Iranian regime is eager not to embarrass the business community, particularly the oil industry, who they see as their primary ally in getting sanctions lifted," Mr. Timmerman said.

Michael Eisenstadt, a specialist on Iran at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said flight tests are designed to improve the accuracy of the missile and to work out technical problems. The delay could be either "political or technical," he said.

"Politics within the Iranian military are very complicated," he said.

Mr. Eisenstadt said Iran's missile and weapons-of-mass-destruction programs are run by the Revolutionary Guards, whose leaders are allied with anti-Khatami conservatives but whose rank-and-file soldiers support Khatami.

A 1998 report by a special commission on missile threats headed by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stated that Iran is placing "extraordinary emphasis" on building missiles and weapons of mass destruction. Tehran could produce an ICBM "within five years of a decision to proceed," the report said.

An Iranian Defense Ministry official told Radio Tehran in announcing the July test that it was needed to "verify its compliance with international standards." The official announcement was criticized by some Iranian press commentators who called for greater secrecy to avoid attracting international criticism.

-------- iraq

Iraq Sanctions

Los Angeles Times
Friday, September 8, 2000
http://www.latimes.com/news/comment/20000908/t000084447.html

Re "We Must Break Out of the Failed 'Saddam Trap,' " Commentary, Sept. 5: In arguing for an end to crippling sanctions, Scott Ritter states that "Iraq no longer possesses meaningful quantities of weapons of mass destruction or the means to produce such weapons." But Khidhir Hamza, the highest-ranking scientist ever to defect from that country, has said that if Iraq were able to buy fissile material, an atomic bomb could be made in two to six months.

While the Clinton administration has shown little concern for the humanitarian tragedy brought on by sanctions, those who are concerned must also realize that ending sanctions would provide Saddam Hussein with the cash needed to build the bomb.

CHRIS NORLIN Los Angeles

* Ritter tells us that 1.2 million Iraqis have died directly or indirectly because of the sanctions but fails to mention that sanctions are led by the United States. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is on record that the price of sanctions, the deaths of 1.2 million, is worth it. Whatever happened to the phrase "never again"?

ROBERT PISAPIA Westlake Village

-------- russia

RUSSIAN OFFICIALS DENY SUB REPORT

New York Post
09-08-00
http://www.nypostonline.com/apstories/V0900.htm

MOSCOW (AP) . Russian officials on Friday hotly denied that a government investigation had concluded that the Kursk nuclear submarine was sunk by a missile fired by a Russian ship.

The Federal Security Service would not comment on the report, published Friday in Germany's Berliner Zeitung. But spokesmen for both the Russian Navy and the special commission investigating the Kursk disaster adamantly denied it.

``This is nonsense. Cruisers never carry real warheads, only training weapons, during military exercises,'' said Oksana Onishchenko, the spokeswoman for the special commission head, Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov.

Naval spokesman Igor Dygalo also denied the possibility, the Interfax news agency reported.

According to the Berliner Zeitung report, Russia's Federal Security Service concluded that the Kursk was hit by a new anti-submarine rocket fired by a nuclear-powered cruiser, the Peter the Great. Both vessels were taking part in naval exercises in the Barents Sea on Aug. 12 when the Kursk sank. All 118 men on board perished.

The Berliner Zeitung said the Peter the Great had fired a Granit rocket armed with a new target-seeking warhead and that the missile traveled 12 miles underwater. Then two underwater explosions were heard aboard the cruiser, the report said. The Kursk was later determined to have been within 1,312 feet of the rocket, the report said.

The scenario was among about a half-dozen theories advanced in the Russian media after the Kursk sank. But Onishchenko said Klebanov's commission had never even considered it.

Russian officials have speculated that the Kursk collided with another vessel, although they have also admitted that the powerful explosions that gashed the submarine's hull could have been caused by an internal problem. American officials believe an internal torpedo misfire was responsible for the tragedy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that technical data provided by the United States this week could help find the cause of the disaster.

``The information which we received yesterday comes from the technical monitoring of the area where the Kursk sank,'' Putin said during a news conference at the United Nations. ``It refers to explosions registered in the area, and will help us analyze the situation and make conclusions on what caused the catastrophe.''

President Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, provided the information to his Russian counterpart, Security Council Secretary Sergei Ivanov, during a meeting in New York. More details on the information were not released.

---

Russia Denies Missile Hit Kursk Submarine

Yahoo News
Friday September 8
By Peter Graff
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000908/ts/russia_submarine_dc_5.html

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia denied a German newspaper's report on Friday that the submarine Kursk, which sank last month killing all 118 crew on board, had been struck by a guided cruise missile fired by a Russian warship.

The German newspaper Berliner Zeitung reported that Russia's FSB domestic intelligence service had concluded that the cruiser Peter the Great had fired a ``Granit'' cruise missile which sank the Kursk during training exercises.

But Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, who led Russia's official investigation into the Kursk disaster, said there was no shooting under way at the time the Kursk sank, and no live ammunition was used at all during training.

Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo also said no live warheads were used, and the two ships would not have been in the same area.

Klebanov and Dygalo were both responding to Interfax news agency on the German report.

There have been previous reports that a Russian missile might have struck the Kursk. Admiral Vladimir Yegorov, head of the Baltic Fleet, which was not involved in the training exercises or the Kursk rescue, said in a television interview last Sunday this was one of the scenarios under investigation.

But the Berliner Zeitung was the first to report that this scenario had been confirmed by Russia's FSB itself, Gisbert Mrozek, the journalist who wrote the story, told Reuters.

``The source for this story is, as one traditionally says here in Moscow, from 'usually well-informed circles'. That means it is a source I consider solid,'' he said.

``We tried to check the story as best we could, we have checked it, and we have also put the views of other officials in the article...But the FSB report, which (President Vladimir) Putin was handed on August 31, corresponds to the truth.''

No Immediate Fsb Comment

The FSB press office said it had no immediate comment.

The FSB's report to Putin cited by the newspaper said that the Peter the Great, flagship of the Northern fleet, fired the Granit missile, and shortly afterwards two underwater explosions were detected, both visible from the ship's bridge.

Those on the ship apparently thought the second blast was part of the maneuver. It was established only later that the Kursk's position matched the location of the missile's impact, according to the report as quoted by the newspaper.

The newspaper said that both the head of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Vyacheslav Popov, and its chief of staff, Vice-Admiral Mikhail Motsak, had been on board the Peter the Great on August 12, the day of the disaster.

Russian and Western officials now agree that the Kursk sank after two explosions, a small first blast followed by a massive second blast, probably from ordinance on board the Kursk, which tore through the sub's front and killed most crew instantly.

But accounts have varied widely over the likely cause of the smaller first explosion, which would have triggered the deadly second blast. Russian officials say the first impact may have been caused by a collision with a foreign vessel, or even with a mine left over from World War Two.

Western countries have strongly denied that any of their ships collided with the Kursk.

Yegorov, in his interview with RTR state television last Sunday, said that if a Russian missile hit the Kursk during a training exercise, ``it would have had the effect of a mere mosquito bite on such a submarine, even less,'' as the missile would not have carried a live warhead.

But he said such a minor impact could still have caused a detonation of a torpedo on board the Kursk.

``If a strike occurs, conditions are created for detonation. Detonation is possible,'' he said.

(Additional reporting by Emma Thomasson in Berlin)

---

German Daily Says Russian Missile Hit Kursk Sub

Yahoo News
Friday September 8
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000908/ts/russia_submarine_dc_1.html

BERLIN (Reuters) - A guided missile from a Russian warship sank the Russian submarine Kursk, killing all 118 people on board, a German newspaper reported on Friday, citing a report from the FSB domestic intelligence service in Moscow.

The report, which the Berliner Zeitung daily said that FSB chief Nikolai Patruschev had handed to President Vladimir Putin, said the ``Granit'' missile had been fired by the Russian warship Peter the Great as part of an exercise that had been going on since August 2.

The newspaper said both the head of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Vyacheslav Popov, and its chief of staff, Vice-Admiral Mikhail Mozak, had been on board the warship on August 12, the day of the accident.

The report did not say why the missile had hit the Kursk, but the newspaper said it could have been an error in a new weapon system or that the Kursk was not recognized as a friendly craft. The two explosions caused by the missile were visible from the bridge of the Peter the Great, the paper said.

Russian officials have suggested a foreign submarine may have collided with the Kursk, causing it to sink with all 118 people on board. There was no immediate comment from the FSB in Moscow on the Berliner Zeitung report.

-------- ukraine

Greens add proviso to EU aid for Ukrainian N-plants

Planet Ark
September 7, 2000
Story by Janet McEvoy
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8085

BRUSSELS - The European Commission yesterday put a question mark over its plans to help Ukraine build two new nuclear power plants to replace Chernobyl, the scene of the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster.

Michaele Schreyer, a German and the only Green on the 20-member Commission, forced a change in a policy document adopted at its weekly meeting on how to help contribute to nuclear safety in the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe.

The paper drawn up by External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten outlines a commitment to helping Ukraine and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) complete two new nuclear plants at Rivne and Khmelnitsky.

EU sources said a phrase was added saying the EU would help Ukraine with alternative energy sources on the basis of the "least cost principle", a principle embodied in a 1995 memorandum of understanding struck on closing Chernobyl.

A Greenpeace spokesman said there were conflicting assessments of whether the two new plants would be cheaper than other energy sources, so the phrase introduced a possible obstacle to EU aid being granted.

A European Commission spokesman said a final decision by the EBRD on funding for the plants was expected in October.

Although he acknowledged that different assessments over cost existed, he said the EBRD itself considered the nuclear plants to be the most cost-effective energy source.

Ukraine has promised the west that on December 15 it will close the last remaining nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl plant, where the number four reactor exploded in 1986.

The ex-Soviet state relies on nuclear power to supply half of its electricity, and EU officials said it maintained a preference for nuclear power to prevent increased dependence on energy sources from Russia.

In its document, the Commission said that it remained concerned about nuclear safety in the former Soviet Union.

The EU has forced the early closure of Soviet-style reactors in three countries seeking to join the bloc, notably at Kozloduy in Bulgaria, Bohunice in Slovakia and Ignalina in Lithuania.

It admitted it had a harder task in cash-strapped former Soviet Union states like Russia and Ukraine.

"Safety levels...continue to give cause for concern in western countries and it will take time and considerable financial investment to raise them," the document said.

-------- us nuc facilities

US nuclear workers may have had Soviet-level risks

Planet Ark
September 8, 2000
Story by Deborah Zabarenko
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8100

WASHINGTON - American nuclear weapons workers may have been exposed to as much potentially deadly radiation as their Soviet counterparts in the early Cold War, and without knowing the risks they ran, a new report said yesterday.

Some of the U.S. workers were exposed to far higher levels of radioactivity in the 1940s and 1950s than prevailing standards prescribed - comparable to tens of thousands of times the radiation from a dental X-ray - and rather than being warned of the risk, were deceived about it, said the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, an environmental watchdog group.

"There is incontrovertible evidence that the (U.S.) government, putting production first, failed to adequately protect the workers or properly inform them," the institute's president, Arjun Makhijani, said at a news conference. "In fact, there's evidence that they deliberately misled them."

That exposure meant an increased risk of potentially lethal cancer and kidney damage, the institute said in a report released at the news conference.

In one case, at the Harshaw Chemical Co. in Cleveland, workers were told there was "no unusual hazard" to them, even as measurements showed radiation in the plant at up to 200 times the "most popular figure" of what could be tolerated, the report said.

At the Electro-Metallurgical plant in Niagara Falls, New York, workers routinely worked in areas with more than 500 times the allowable limit of radioactivity in the air, Makhijani said.

The institute was hired by USAToday newspaper to examine data about three of the approximately 150 privately owned plants that processed radioactive and hazardous materials to produce U.S. nuclear weapons.

Makhijani declined to estimate how many workers might have been affected, but USAToday put the number in the thousands.

WORSE THAN SOVIET UNION?

"Until we performed these calculations, all the work that I had done indicated that working conditions in the Soviet Union in the 1940s and 1950s were far worse than in the United States," Makhijani told reporters. "But the highest doses we found were so huge that this assumption needs to be questioned."

Without data from that time in the Soviet Union's history, Makhijani made no conclusive statements, but said that was a matter for new investigation by Russia and the United States.

Whatever the comparison with the Soviet risks, working conditions in the plants Makhijani's group studied were "appalling," he said.

"Data from all three factories show that the radiation protection standards of the time were routinely violated," he said.

Representative Nick Lampson, a Texas Democrat, called for hearings into the so-called "forgotten" nuclear weapons plants, and said he planned to introduce legislation this week to remedy the situation.

"It is atrocious that we would allow - even if it is for national security - our own citizens to become in greater jeopardy in order to protect ourselves, particularly when we have the knowledge of ... what the dangers were," Lampson said after the news conference.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, Lampson called for immediate public disclosure of information on the nuclear weapons history of the "forgotten" sites and a re-examination of the surrounding areas for possible contamination.

The third plant investigated by the institute was the Simonds Saw and Steel Co. in Lockport, New York.

---

Processing perils abound

USA Today
09/08/00
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000908/2625394s.htm

Early in the arms race, thousands of workers were exposed to radioactive materials. Among the most toxic:

* Uranium. Used as an explosive or to fuel reactors. Collects in the lungs and bones. Causes cancer, leukemia; associated with liver and kidney diseases.

* Polonium. Used to trigger chain reactions in weapons. Carried by the bloodstream throughout the body. Linked to cancer in soft tissue of organs such as liver, spleen, kidneys.

* Thorium. Used to enrich uranium and plutonium. Causes radiation sickness, lung and bone cancer, lymphoma.

* Radium. Produces radon, which is 10 times more carcinogenic than other substances. Causes lung, bone cancer.

---

Tainted rail cars put food at risk of being polluted

USA Today
09/08/00
By Peter Eisler USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000908/2625434s.htm

Environmental contamination was not the only health threat for people outside the walls of private facilities hired to process radioactive and toxic material for the nuclear weapons program in the 1940s and '50s.

Work at those sites posed risks, from food being polluted with radiation because it was transported in tainted rail cars to contaminated metal being sold for scrap.

Some examples:

* Transportation: The use of commercial rail cars and trucks to transport highly radioactive material between contracting sites was a constant source of problems. In some cases, the containers became highly contaminated, raising the possibility that they could transfer radioactivity to future cargo -- a particular concern with foodstuff.

''As you know, the material being (fabricated) by you for the Atomic Energy Commission is poisonous,'' read one memo sent in 1949 by top weapons program officials to managers at Simonds Saw and Steel in Lockport, N.Y. The company rolled uranium and thorium metal into rods. ''We are requesting, therefore, that you do not use railroad cars destined to be used for edibles. Reference is made specifically to the use of grain cars.''

Truckers and rail workers also were exposed to high levels of radioactivity as a result of the nuclear weapons program's shipments of contaminated materials between contracting sites. Records show that railroad personnel and drivers for private trucking outfits often were exposed to contaminated material, in some cases when it had been mislabeled to skirt federal shipping regulations.

* Contaminated equipment: Many of the weapons program's contractors converted their facilities back to commercial manufacturing operations between or after their nuclear weapons jobs for the government.

They often acted with little knowledge of the risks. Steel mills would switch from extruding radioactive uranium and thorium to manufacturing saw blades or other products.

Similarly, when they had finished their government work, contractors often sold contaminated equipment -- everything from drill presses to mixing vats used in uranium refining.

* Contaminated scrap: Records show that private contractors and the government itself frequently sold radioactively contaminated scrap metal to recyclers and other commercial users. There was no tracking of what ultimately became of the material.

In 1947, for example, Linde Air Products, a private firm in Tonawanda, N.Y., that processed uranium for the weapons program, sold more than 185,000 pounds of radioactively contaminated nickel to the McGean Chemical Co. of Cleveland for slightly less than $40,000.

* Construction workers: The government and its contractors often hired builders, maintenance companies and other outside outfits to do work that put their employees at substantial risk.

During a construction project at the government's Lake Ontario Ordnance Works in western New York in 1953, officials worried that ''all personnel on the construction project will be exposed to . . . a radiological count higher than normal background (levels).''

The facility was used as a storage area for radioactive waste.

Officials asked the AEC's medical division for advice on exposure levels because of ''the possibility of certain troublemakers claiming injury from work in this area.''

---

EurekAlert!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
8 SEPTEMBER 2000

Contact: Diane Banegas banegad@onr.navy.mil 703-696-2868
Office of Naval Research

Rad hard
http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/onr-rh090800.html

The Naval Research Laboratory recently received a patent for microelectronic devices built on silicon-on-insulator, or SOI, structures that can operate in harsh environments with greater speed and significantly reduced power needs.

The chips are intended for use in outer space, nuclear weapons, nuclear reactors, and particle accelerators. Improved radiation hardness is also essential for semiconducting processes such as X-ray lithography, plasma etching, and reactive ion etching.

The researchers achieve increased radiation hardness by eliminating the positive charge build-up in the buried oxide layer. NRL's innovative process implants ions, such as silicon, into an oxide layer to create electron traps and recombination centers in the buried oxide layer that will neutralize any radiation-induced positive charge. A subsequent heat treatment removes any defects caused by the process.

NRL is transferring this technology to the private sector through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement for space and missile applications.

---

Secret project carried hidden dangers

USA Today
09/08/00
http://usatoday.com/news/poison/cover.htm

In the 1940s and '50s, the U.S. government secretly hired scores of private companies to process huge volumes of nuclear weapons material. But the companies were not prepared for the hazards of handling nuclear material. Workers were not informed of the risks. Thousands were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. Government reports were classified and buried. The result is a legacy of poisoned workers and communities that lingers to this day. The full story of the secret nuclear contracting has never been told, until now.

Toxic legacy During the Cold War, the U.S. government secretly hired hundreds of private companies to work on America's nuclear weapons program - and never told the workers or communities of the dangers they might face from radiation and other hazards.

The workers Many of the surviving workers now have higher risks for cancer and other ailments, but there has been almost no effort to learn whether such problems have occurred. That oversight might cost those who have gotten sick a chance for compensation.

The environment Radioactive and toxic contamination at many of the contracting sites lingered for years, sometimes with serious health risks. Some still are not cleaned up, ignored by federal programs meant to address pollution from nuclear weapons production.

---

Hearings sought on toxic exposure

USA Today
09/07/00
By Tom Squitieri USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000907/2620437s.htm

Two key senators said Wednesday that they will examine the federal government's role in exposing thousands of workers to dangerous levels of radiation during the 1940s and '50s.

Responding to a USA TODAY report that detailed the government's secret use of private companies to build America's early nuclear arsenal, the top Republican and Democrat on a Senate panel dealing with workers' safety said they will seek hearings.

The report, which continues today and Friday, found that thousands of workers intentionally were left in the dark about their exposure to radiation and hazardous substances. Dozens of communities also were contaminated with toxic and radioactive waste.

''These facts sound an alarm beyond any doubt, and it is appropriate for our subcommittee to take a look at it,'' said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of a Senate appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over labor and health issues. ''The whole question of radioactivity is a very big one because it really can spread beyond those communities.''

Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, the ranking Democrat on the panel, and Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Texas, will call on the government today to disclose the history of the sites, re-examine surrounding areas and redress the damage done to workers and communities.

''The federal government must lift the veil of secrecy,'' Harkin said.

---

We aim to right past wrongs

USA Today
09/08/00- Updated 08:54 AM ET
By Bill Richardson
http://usatoday.com/news/comment/ncoppf2.htm

Every day, thousands of U.S. workers help dismantle the most vivid reminders of our nation's commitment to winning the Cold War: our aging nuclear weapons. It is dangerous, staggeringly expensive work, evidence of the tremendous security investments we made during uncertain times.

But beyond the billions of dollars we invested in building up our stockpile and now in taking it apart, there remains a lasting debt that the federal government hopes to repay: compensating thousands of workers who may have become ill from designing, testing and building those weapons.

It seems like a logical thing for us to do. But bureaucracy and the need to promote the U.S. weapons program have sometimes trumped logic, and so for many years the government actually opposed claims that workers' illnesses stemmed from their jobs.

Now, the Clinton-Gore administration is looking to close the book on that sad history and begin writing a new one of reparation.

Culminating a year-long series of actions to repair the breach between employees and employer, the administration in April announced a proposal that, if enacted by Congress, would compensate workers suffering from a broad range of work-related illnesses.

The legislation is designed to give benefits, including lost wages and medical expenses, to workers with pulmonary diseases caused by breathing particles of beryllium, and workers with cancers caused by workplace radiation exposure. In an effort to be open with workers and communities, the administration is working to create a publicly available database of facilities, public and private, involved in nuclear-weapons work.

If we find historic sites were neglected as a result of past national-security work, we are committed to tackling the problem.

This work will not be cheap or easy, and it won't make up for years of neglect nor guarantee a clean bill of health for so many workers. But it is something the government can and must do, especially considering its legacy of dishonesty in dealing with these veterans of the Cold War, many of whom are now out of work or enduring a retirement riddled with pain and suffering.

Now, it is up to Congress to make sure that it happens.

Bill Richardson is secretary of Energy, the department with jurisdiction over nuclear energy and weapons, safety and cleanup.

To comment

If you would like to comment on editorials, columns or other topics in USA TODAY, or on any subjects important to you: Send e-mail for letters to the editor to editor@usatoday.com. Please include daytime phone numbers so letters may be verified. Letters and articles submitted to USA TODAY may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms. To submit articles for consideration in The Forum, click here for more details.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/submit.htm

---

Ambivalence lets ill workers languish

USA Today
09/08/00- Updated 08:57 AM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/comment/nceditf2.htm

In 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), which was secretly hiring contractors to process material for the nation's fledgling nuclear-weapons program, cavalierly told workers in those plants that any radiation exposure would be "so slight that special instruments must be used to detect it."

Such pseudo-honesty - special instruments are required to detect even the potentially lethal doses that many workers received - has been almost as persistent as the contamination that still haunts those betrayed workers and their work sites.

A 10-month review of thousands of declassified documents by USA TODAY reporter Peter Eisler uncovered a pattern of deception and disregard that continues to place workers and communities at risk. In the 1940s and '50s, the U.S. government hired hundreds of firms to work with radioactive materials while regularly ignoring even basic protections against radioactive contamination. In the early years of the arms race, that might have seemed necessary. But what's the rationale today?

Until recently, the AEC and its successor, the Department of Energy, refused even to release a list of the private contractors who did the work. This made it impossible to find and warn workers in time for them to take preventive health measures.

Communities continue to suffer as well. Some factories released tons of radioactive material. Today, scores of industrial sites are contaminated, some of them too poisoned to be developed. But a program created in the 1970s to address that problem has so far finished cleaning up only 28 sites of 46 that are known to need remedial action.

Meanwhile, legislation in Congress to compensate some poisoned workers is scheduled for hearings next week. But the bill, which is under attack, promises help only to workers at federal plants. Workers employed by private contractors, mostly now in their 70s and 80s if alive at all, still are not assured compensation.

From the start, a cruel ambivalence about workers' welfare hung in the air like thorium dust. As many as 10,000 workers were laboring to supply materials for nuclear weapons, often without even gloves or masks. If they were examined, they weren't told why, nor given the results. Employers shirked the AEC's safety recommendations, and the AEC, fearful of supply disruptions, rarely insisted.

Indeed, the AEC was collecting health data from the workshops as early as the mid-1940s. But the research was used most effectively to design safer federal facilities. In essence, the early workers were guinea pigs.

At least two U.S. senators this week called for a hearing into the scandal. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson says his department is being "aggressive" about confronting this longstanding problem. But there's still no clearinghouse where ex-workers can check in, nor broad studies to assess their health.

Richardson also says the government must act in the "not-too-distant future" to address other worries. Yet compensation, cleanup and outreach programs should have been enacted years ago, and the Energy Department should be pushing loudly and urgently for them now. It's easy to talk about the "not-too-distant future." But for too many workers, the not-too-distant future is just another name for eternity.

To comment

If you would like to comment on editorials, columns or other topics in USA TODAY, or on any subjects important to you: Send e-mail for letters to the editor to editor@usatoday.com. Please include daytime phone numbers so letters may be verified. Letters and articles submitted to USA TODAY may be published or distributed in print, electronic or other forms. To submit articles for consideration in The Forum, click here for more details.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/submit.htm

----

DOEisms from DNFSB weeklies,
Hanford's laissez faire management, Oak Ridge's fait

Donald Moniak -- donmoniak@earthlink.net
Date: Fri, 08 Sep 2000 16:48:44 -0400

U.S.A. Today's three part series exposing more nuclear negligence in the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Program properly points out that today's nuclear weapons production activities are far safer than those found at commercial contractor sites. However, a casual review of recent Department of Energy Nuclear Weapons Complex oversight reports suggests that not as much has changed in terms of attitude since the 1950's as DOE would have us believe. At best, safety attitudes have certainly not kept pace with progress in safety technology.

The last month of weekly reports from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (http://www.dnfsb.gov/weekly.html) shows resistance to meeting safety criteria for storing plutonium, reluctance to incorporate undesirable data at Oak Ridge, nuclear safety oversight from cushy offices at Hanford,

From Hanford, 8/4/00, is a narrative that suggests that office safety is taken as seriously, or more seriously than nuclear safety, and engineers overseeing safety are comfortable with procedures that do not require hands-on safety checks:

"A Site Rep review of all the assessments, appraisals, and surveillances, performed by DOE-Richland over the last 3 quarters found that nearly all the reviews had been conducted by facility representatives. The Office for Engineering and Standards did not perform any reviews. The Analysis and Evaluation (A&E) division only conducted 11 reviews. Lack of resources is the excuse for the low number of reviews. With resources so tight, it was surprising that reviews of office safety and a safety leadership course were among the highest priorities. Many of the technical reviews were in response to Board inquiries (i.e., readiness reviews, welding quality assurance). The absence of field assessments is reflected in the scarcity of facility entries by DOE engineering staff. During the last 10 months, the average Engineering staff had only 1.8 entries, and the Occupational Health and Safety and the Nuclear Safety team members were considerably lower. Unfortunately, a review of Engineering procedures found that nearly all the responsibilities can be met without ever leaving the Federal building. The repeated response from the Engineering organization is that they will go to the field if asked, but will not do so on their own initiative to oversee their area of expertise. (1-B,1-C)"

go to http://www.dnfsb.gov/weekly/hanford/hd2000.htm

Also at Hanford, 8/11/00, it has been discovered that Transuranic Waste Drums that are unvented can reach explosive concentrations at a frequency more than ten times greater than Hanford's official estimates. The official estimate is 0.46% of drums while the real world shows 5%.

From Oak Ridge, The Defense Boad reported on July 28 in regard to the ongoing efforts to startup Enrich Uranium Operations (EUO) Reduction Operations that management "is practicing what can best be described as "faith-based management" and seems resistive to exercising technical inquisitiveness and operational formality...Underlying the above symptoms appears to be a deep-seated belief that there is no safety hazard associated with this operation and the above questions/concerns are superfluous." The Rep cites three instances where safety managers are only using data that supports their contentions while ignoring conflicting data.

From Savannah River Site is the ongoing saga of reduced efforts to make plutonium storage as safe as possible. On 8/11/00 the site rep reported that, "DOE-Savannah River is currently unwilling to commit to meeting the Interim Safe Storage Criteria (ISSC)" regarding the storage of plutonium metal and oxides at SRS. DOE jettisoned plans for new safe storage facilities about a year ago, and has pursued storing plutonium metals and oxides in shipping containers within the old K Reactor as well as upgrading a storage facility in the F Canyon (Building 235-F). The Defense board rep noted that "The long-term lack of a technical basis for current storage conditions was a DOE finding in the recent FB-Line Type B Investigation." SRS was just fined $222,000 for contaminating several workers with plutonium last year during FB Line plutonium operations.

-------- colorado

Shattuck report to be probed
Paper says company processed uranium for nuclear weapons at south Denver plant

Denver Rocky Mountain News
September 8, 2000
By Berny Morson Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
mailto:morsonb@rockymountainnews.com
http://insidedenver.com/news/0908shat1.shtml

Federal officials Thursday said they will investigate allegations that the defunct Shattuck Chemical Co. in Denver processed uranium for the nation's nuclear weapons program.

Washington-based USA Today reported Wednesday that the company extracted uranium from scrap metal for reuse in weapons during the 1960s. The single line was contained in a chart listing instances of weapons work carried out by the private sector during the Cold War.

Shattuck is known to have worked with radium and other radioactive materials in commercial applications. Company officials have said they attempted on one occasion to extract leftover uranium from ore that had already been processed by a weapons contractor, but gave up the project as uneconomical.

The USA Today allegation came as a surprise to local Environmental Protection Agency officials, who are coordinating cleanup of the heavily polluted Shattuck site, near West Evans Avenue and South Santa Fe Drive.

Richard Sisk, an attorney with the EPA's enforcement division, said he will ask for the documents the USA Today reporter relied on.

But Sisk said a weapons connection at Shattuck wouldn't alter the risk to the neighborhood.

Hugh Kaufman, an investigator with the EPA ombudsman's office, said he plans to look at material in federal archives that was the basis for the USA Today article.

Kaufman has previously speculated that Shattuck performed defense work, an allegation the company has denied. Under some circumstances, a weapons connection alters liability for cleaning up pollution, with the federal government picking up more of the tab, he said.

Local EPA officials said they provided documents to the USA Today reporter that showed only the unsuccessful effort to work the depleted ore.

The reporter, Peter Eisler, said he relied on additional information gathered from federal archives. He said the documents on Shattuck are among 100,000 pages he gathered in a 10-month investigation.

The materials were recently made public.

Eisler said that even if Shattuck worked for the weapons program, the company may not have produced weapons-grade uranium on site or shipped such materials through Denver's streets. The company could have been sending lower-level radioactive material on to federal facilities where they would be purified.

Contact Berny Morson at (303) 892-5072 or morsonb@RockyMountainNews.com.
mailto:morsonb@rockymountainnews.com

-------- michigan

Zirconate Material Will Resist Radiation, Improve Safety Of Long-Term Plutonium Storage

Science Daily
9/8/2000
University Of Michigan (http://www.umich.edu)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/09/000904130130.htm

ANN ARBOR --- An international research team, led by University of Michigan scientists, has found that gadolinium zirconate is much more resistant to radiation than the ceramic currently being considered for disposal of plutonium from dismantled nuclear weapons in the United States. This highly durable material---a zirconate pyrochlore---is calculated to resist radiation damage for up to 30 million years.

The research team performed a systematic study of the radiation resistance of gadolinium titanate, the ceramic currently proposed for plutonium immobilization, and zirconate compositions. Results indicate that the titanate will be damaged by radiation in less than 1,000 years. The zirconate will not sustain damage for periods up to 30 million years. Considering that plutonium is an environmental contaminant with a radioactive half-life of 24,500 years, the multi-million-year calculation of the zirconate's durability makes it a leading candidate for the immobilization of plutonium.

"This is a significant scientific discovery with major environmental impact for future generations," said Dr. Yok Chen, Program Manager in the Office of Basic Energy Sciences at the U.S. Department of Energy, which funded this research at the University of Michigan and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).

Rodney Ewing, professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences at the U-M College of Engineering, and William Weber, a senior staff scientist at PNNL, led the team of researchers that included scientists at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization and the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research in India.

The team's findings were first published in the December 1999 Journal of Materials Research (JMR). This past week, another international team of researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, working independently from the U-M team, announced similar results with an erbium zirconate ceramic.

The safe disposal of plutonium is a relatively new environmental problem. Both the United States and the former Soviet Union have agreed to dismantle nuclear weapons, resulting in 100 metric tons of plutonium, approximately 50 from each side. This plutonium is only a small part of a growing global inventory of plutonium that is already greater than 1,300 metric tons.

"What to do with this plutonium is a science and policy issue of great national and international importance," said Ewing. "Two independent research teams have shown that zirconate-based materials offer an excellent solution to the serious problem of this ever-increasing amount of plutonium. Taken together, these startling results confirm that there are radiation-resistant and chemically durable materials that can safely contain plutonium."

This new material is capable of incorporating a large variety of chemical elements in its structure, including plutonium. The zirconate withstands the radiation that results from the decay of plutonium. The ability to sustain high levels of damage without a disruption of the atomic structure accounts for the radiation stability of this material.

"The currently considered titanate became completely disordered at relatively low exposures to radiation," said Shixin Wang, a U-M postdoctoral fellow and lead author on the JMR article. Wang presented these findings at the Plutonium Futures 2000 conference on July 10 in Sante Fe, N.M.

"The disordered titanate material leads to an increase in the loss of plutonium when the material is in contact with water," added Weber at PNNL.

The team will continue to investigate the chemical durability of gadolinium zirconate by leaching tests. The radiation behavior of the zirconates with high concentrations of impurities will be studied to ensure a complete knowledge of the long-term performance of this material.

-------- new york

Con Edison Refunds Delayed for 4 Months

New York Times
September 08, 2000
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/08/nyregion/08BBRF.html

The New York State Public Service Commission yesterday postponed for up to four months refunds of more than $100 million that Consolidated Edison must give its customers as a result of an accident at one of its generating plants.

After Gov. George E. Pataki signed a bill last month requiring the refunds, state officials said they would result in an average $14 credit for residential customers in New York and a $21 average for residential customers in Westchester. The refunds were to make up for charges customers paid to reimburse Con Ed for the cost of replacement power after an accident in February shut down the Indian Point 2 nuclear-powered generator in Westchester.

Two consumer advocates in state government then disagreed on whether the refunds should be made this month, as the commission originally directed, or in December or January. The state's Consumer Protection Board urged a delay, saying it would be more beneficial to consumers to get the refunds this winter, when they might offset an expected increase in the cost of electricity. Attorney General Eliot L. Spitzer opposed a delay.

Mr. Spitzer said last night that he was considering a court challenge to the decision.

Joseph P. Fried (NYT

-------- us nuc politics

THE WHITE HOUSE
For Immediate Release
September 8, 2000

Office of the Press Secretary (New York, New York)

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT IN PHOTO OPPORTUNITY WITH PRESIDENT JIANG ZEMIN OF CHINA
Waldorf-Astoria New York, New York 10:40 A.M. EDT
http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/2000/9/8/8.text.1

Q Can you offer any assurances to President Jiang on the China trade bill, that it will eventually be passed, and on the national defense system that you deferred last week?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: I believe the legislation will pass, and I'm pleased at the progress it's making in the Senate. But, of course, we still have some work to do. The missile defense issue will be resolved by my successor, although I hope we get a chance to talk about it a little bit today.

Q Mr. President, will you make any requests of President Zemin on the question of human rights as attached to the permanent normal trade relations bill?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: We're going to discuss human rights issues, as we always do, but I feel very strongly that PNTR should pass. And I think over the long run it's good for the development of democracy and human rights in China, and I know it's good for America-Chinese relationships over the long run.

Q Mr. Clinton, I know that yesterday you were present at the P-5 summit which was a Chinese initiative. So as the President of the United States, also a permanent member of the Security Council, what would you say about the P-5 summit yesterday? And also, how do you see the role of China for international peace and security in this century?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, first of all, I think it was a very good idea by President Jiang to have the P-5 meet. I was amazed that they had never met, or hadn't met in a long time. And I think it was a very good idea. And we actually made a specific decision to, as a group, help the Secretary General implement his report on peacekeeping, and to continue to explore what else we could do together.

I think it might be a forum in the future that would provide an opportunity for Chinese cooperation with the other members of the P-5 in a way that would be very helpful to the rest of the world as well.

Q Could you describe your encounter with Fidel Castro yesterday?

THE PRESIDENT: What Joe said is right. It just happened. There were a whole lot of people in a line. I was talking to them. I turned around and he was standing there. He apparently had come up and waited, and we must have -- the encounter lasted just a few seconds. That's all that happened.

THE PRESS: Thank you.

----

Deferring NMD -- The President and the Chief Pentagon Tester Speak

Colonel Daniel Smith, USA (Ret.), Chief of Research, dsmith@cdi.org
September 8, 2000 [Weekly Defense Monitor] - Volume 4, Issue #36

Few Americans -- indeed few in the world who have access to CNN or the Internet -- can have missed the news about President Clinton's September 1 announcement deferring the start of construction work on the National Missile Defense (NMD) radar site in Alaska. News reports of the announcement, made in a speech at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, emphasized the technological unreliability of the proposed system -- one intercept in three tries.

Watching or hearing the President's address live could easily leave the impression that technology was the showstopper. While technology undoubtedly was a major factor, a careful reading of the transcript indicates that diplomatic considerations were at least of equal importance in Mr. Clinton's decision. The truly substantive beginning of his address focused on measures to control the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and the means to deliver them. He then briefly discussed deterrence before turning to NMD and its technological problems, which he introduced with the significant caveat that "no one suggests that NMD would ever substitute for diplomacy or even deterrence."

Having declared that he could not conclude that the experts had "enough confidence in the technology and the operational effectiveness of the entire NMD system" and would therefore not "authorize deployment of a national missile defense at this time," the President transitioned back to the diplomatic realm: "An effective NMD could play an important part of our national security strategy. But it could not be the sum total of that strategy....We must work with our allies and with Russia to prevent potential adversaries from ever threatening us with...weapons of mass destruction in the first place...."

This line of thought then expanded into a discussion of arms control measures both during the Cold War when they enhanced strategic stability and in the post-Cold War era when the U.S. and Russia are reducing their nuclear arsenals. As could be expected in this context, the President singled out the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty as a "key part of the international security structure...." He then spoke briefly about the position of the NATO allies on NMD and the need to consider the impact on Asian nations , particularly China, of going forward with NMD.

In one of his final paragraphs, after asserting that "no nation can ever have a veto over American security," Mr. Clinton summed up his view and his rationale for deferring deployment: "I am convinced that America and the world will be better off if we explore the frontiers of strategic defenses while continuing to pursue arms control -- to stand with our allies and to work with Russia and others to stop the spread of deadly weapons."

"Exploring the frontiers of strategic defenses" gets back to technology and the question of just how bad is the technology? That question was taken up in an August 9 segment of the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS). Among the interviewees was Philip Coyle, Director of Operational Test and Evaluation for the Pentagon. What was aired by "The NewsHour" was the following:

Coyle: The testing program has been slipping. All of these things have turned out to be more difficult than we thought. Just manufacturing the kill vehicle, preparing for the tests, and achieving success in the tests has taken longer than we thought.

NewsHour: So, can you say yet whether the system is technologically feasible?

Coyle: Aspects of the program have already shown, been shown to be technologically feasible. We've shown that we can make those radars work. We've shown that we can hit a bullet with a bullet. There are other aspects that we simply haven't even tried yet, let alone demonstrated.

NewsHour: So, it's a question mark as to whether it's technologically feasible from your standpoint?

Coyle: Yes.

The transcript of the entire interview with Mr. Coyle expands significantly -- and revealingly -- on these brief observations in a manner that leaves little doubt that Mr. Coyle believes that NMD has a long way to go before it can be considered technologically viable. Even the "successful" intercept was not clear cut as "it did not have what you would call a realistic decoy...."

Early in the interview, after observing that the first intercept test proved that hitting a bullet with a bullet was possible, Mr. Coyle said: "What we haven't shown yet is that we can do that in realistic, operational situations without warning and in the presence of likely countermeasures."

A few minutes later, Mr. Coyle says: "The targets need to be more realistic. In the...flight intercept tests that we've done so far, the target complex has consisted of a reentry vehicle, the bus [rocket] that carries the reentry vehicle up into space, and a large balloon. The large balloon has been called a decoy but it really isn't a decoy because it is quite large and bright and doesn't really fool the interceptor." When asked if he thought the NMD system will be able eventually to discriminate a real warhead from decoys, Mr Coyle responded: "That will depend on how sophisticated the decoys are....[A]s the decoys become more realistic it makes the discrimination task more difficult. And when pressed by the interviewer: "But it's not an impossibility?" Mr. Coyle responded: "I think it's too soon to say."

While observing that certain parts of the NMD complex have been shown to operate effectively and to be technologically feasible, Mr. Coyle repeated an analogy used by Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) to illustrate how much more needs to be done: "[I]n golf there is hitting a hole-in-one, which is hard to do. There is hitting a hole-in-one when the hole is moving but you know where it's going....We succeeded in doing that in the first flight intercept test....And then there is hitting a hole-in-one where the hole is moving and you don't know where it's going exactly, perhaps. And there may be other holes on the green with flags sticking out of them that are not the real hole and you have to discriminate between the real one and the fake ones, the countermeasures."

To which we would add, "and do it every time."

The text of the President's September 1, 2000 speech and the text of the PBS interview of Mr. Coyle are at: http://www.pub.whitehouse.gov/uri-res/I2R?urn:pdi://oma.eop.gov.us/2000/9/1/9.text.1 and http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec00/coyle_8-9.html respectively.)

-------- u.s. nuc weapons

House panel can't agree on missile defense

CNN
September 8, 2000 Web posted at: 10:40 p.m. EDT (0240 GMT)
http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/09/08/missile.defense.02/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A House subcommittee could not agree Friday on the merits of a national missile defense system -- despite assurances from the program's chief that it would be effective.

"There is no consensus," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Connecticut, chairman of a House subcommittee on national defense.

Shays said that while he is prepared to vote for "a very expensive system," he also said "the technology isn't there." Shays said he isn't prepared to set a spending limit for the program.

Of the three flight tests the program has undergone, two have failed, a point cited by Clinton last week when he announced that he would leave to his successor the decision on whether to proceed with deployment.

However, Air Force Lt. General Ronald Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, testified that multiple failures are commonplace in the development of new weapons systems.

"The Atlas ICBM program experienced twelve failures in its two-and-a-half year flight testing history. And the Minuteman One program suffered ten failures in a three-and-a-half year testing program," he said.

Pentagon underestimated, program chief says

Kadish, director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, said his office gave Clinton technical information about the project's status and prospects made no recommendation on whether to proceed with deployment.

But in his written testimony he made clear that he believes some critics of national missile defense are underestimating the Pentagon's technical prowess.

"There is no technical reason at this point, validated by independent review teams, indicating that we could not develop an effective NMD system," Kadish said, using the acronym for the national missile defense.

Members of the committee split along party lines on the issue.

Rep. Helen Chenowith-Hage, R-Idaho, said the failures do not justify delaying deployment.

"Failures to a certain extent are always expected," she said. "Now any fourth grade student learns in his science lessons that failures are central to the scientific process. But they are overcome, just as we are overcoming many of the technical failures we are now encountering."

Russia's opposition considered

But Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, called the whole missile defense proposal "a wacky idea that will never work. We're engaging in discussions that can actually create destabilization on the issue of peace."

Kucinich was referring to Russia's opposition to the system on the grounds that it would violate the arms limitation treaty.

An administration official defended plans for the program.

"We have made clear to Moscow that in deploying a limited NMD system, we are responding to a new threat from long-range ballistic missiles in the hands of states that threaten international peace and stability, and we are not seeking to change the core foundation of strategic stability with Russia," said Avis Bohlen, assistant secretary of state for arms control.

The United States has said it will not discuss deeper cuts in nuclear arsenals until Russia agrees to negotiations on missile defense.

In a telephone interview, Shays said it's clear the Russians won't move on this issue until Clinton's successor take office next year. But Shays said he believes the go-ahead should have been given to construct a radar installation in Alaska for a national missile defense system.

"That would have sent a message" to the Russians that this administration is serious about missile defense, Shays said.

CNN Producer Brad Wright and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

---

Clinton tables missile shield

Excite News
September 8, 2000
By Tim Sullivan The Hoya Georgetown U.
http://news.excite.com/news/uw/000909/politics-55

(U-WIRE) WASHINGTON -- President Clinton (SFS '68) speaking in front of a capacity Gaston Hall audience last week, said he would not authorize the immediate deployment of a national missile defense system in light of recent developments that led him to believe the system was not ready for use.

"I simply cannot conclude with the information I have today that we have enough confidence in the technology, and the operational effectiveness of the entire NMD system, to move forward with deployment," Clinton said in the speech in Gaston Hall last Friday.

He said that the U.S. should still pursue testing of the system, which has failed in several recent tests. "For me, the bottom line on this decision is this: because the emerging missile threat is real, we have an obligation to pursue a missile defense system that could enhance our security," he said.

Clinton said he had a particular reason for making the policy speech at Georgetown. "I was thinking when we came out here and (SFS Dean Robert) Bob (L. Galluci) talked about the beginning of the school year that it was 35 years ago when, as a sophomore, I was in charge of freshman orientation," he said. "So I thought I would come and help this year's orientation of freshman get off to a good start."

The speech marked Clinton's 12th visit to Georgetown's campus in his eight years as president. He appeared twice last year, delivering a foreign policy speech on European security and attending the memorial service for labor leader Lane Kirkland.

Clinton added that his decision, which leaves the ultimate decision about NMD in the hands of the next president, will not affect the date at which the system will be ready for deployment. He also cautioned that the United States should not ever rely entirely on NMD as its national defense policy, saying, "an effective NMD could play an important part of our national security strategy, but it could not be the sum total of that strategy."

The president said that although traditional methods of arms control and diplomacy have been effective in preserving American security, "the question is, can deterrence protect us against all those who might wish us harm in the future? Can we make America even more secure?"

He said that the nation needs to continue to maintain its previous policies that remain from the Cold War era, particularly deterrence. "Strategic stability, based on mutual deterrence, is still important, despite the end of the Cold War," he said, referring primarily to Russia, which still has a considerable nuclear arsenal. Clinton said that America still needs to be cautious in dealings with Russia, because, "while we are no longer adversaries, we are not yet real allies."

Clinton said that in order for the United States to adopt a missile defense system, previous treaties, including the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty of 1972, would have to be amended because they include provisions that specifically ban national missile defense systems. It does so because the development by one nation of a missile defense system would limit the deterrent power of the other nation's nuclear arms. He said that the development of a national missile defense would not threaten the deterrence outlined by the ABM, but would still require an amendment to the 1972 agreement.

Russian officials, Clinton said, have yet to embrace the idea of an American missile defense system because they fear such a system would be a threat to their deterrent power.

Clinton said that although Russian, Chinese and other countries' opposition to the NMD is strong, in the long run, the U.S. will pursue the policy which is best for America. "Let me be clear -- no nation can ever have a veto over American security," he said.

The president also said that the U.S. now faces new dangers from rogue states and terrorist groups that it has never faced before, and for this reason, a missile defense system will go beyond previous arms control policies.

Clinton emphasized that the U.S. is not abandoning its commitment to an NMD, but instead ensuring its viability in the long run. "We have made progress, but we should not move forward until we have absolute confidence that the system will work ... and maximize the benefit ... not only to America's security, but to the security of law abiding nations everywhere subject to the same threat," Clinton said.

The speech was attended primarily by students, who rushed to the Leavey Center on Thursday night when news of the speech spread across campus. Four-hundred eighty tickets for the speech were distributed after a last-minute announcement by the White House. Members of the press were only informed of the speech Friday morning.

Also in attendance at the speech were National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Henry Shelton and White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart (COL '81).

---

Missile Decision Deferred

Los Angeles Times
Friday, September 8, 2000
http://www.latimes.com/news/comment/20000908/t000084551.html

Re "Clinton Shelves Missile Defense," Sept. 2: Instead of spending $60 billion on a flawed missile defense system to protect the U.S. from the apocalyptic whims of the so-called "rogue" states, why not spend the money to ease the mass starvation in North Korea and cancel the inhumane economic sanctions on Iraq, thus eliminating any belligerent motives these troubled nations would have? At the same time we would avoid violating any arms treaties and triggering another Cold War.

Wouldn't that be better for everyone?

MATTHEW SKOMAROVSKY Los Angeles

---

Clinton tables missile shield

Excite News
September 8, 2000
By Tim Sullivan The Hoya Georgetown U.
http://news.excite.com/news/uw/000909/university-55

(U-WIRE) WASHINGTON -- President Clinton (SFS '68) speaking in front of a capacity Gaston Hall audience last week, said he would not authorize the immediate deployment of a national missile defense system in light of recent developments that led him to believe the system was not ready for use.

"I simply cannot conclude with the information I have today that we have enough confidence in the technology, and the operational effectiveness of the entire NMD system, to move forward with deployment," Clinton said in the speech in Gaston Hall last Friday.

He said that the U.S. should still pursue testing of the system, which has failed in several recent tests. "For me, the bottom line on this decision is this: because the emerging missile threat is real, we have an obligation to pursue a missile defense system that could enhance our security," he said.

Clinton said he had a particular reason for making the policy speech at Georgetown. "I was thinking when we came out here and (SFS Dean Robert) Bob (L. Galluci) talked about the beginning of the school year that it was 35 years ago when, as a sophomore, I was in charge of freshman orientation," he said. "So I thought I would come and help this year's orientation of freshman get off to a good start."

The speech marked Clinton's 12th visit to Georgetown's campus in his eight years as president. He appeared twice last year, delivering a foreign policy speech on European security and attending the memorial service for labor leader Lane Kirkland.

Clinton added that his decision, which leaves the ultimate decision about NMD in the hands of the next president, will not affect the date at which the system will be ready for deployment. He also cautioned that the United States should not ever rely entirely on NMD as its national defense policy, saying, "an effective NMD could play an important part of our national security strategy, but it could not be the sum total of that strategy."

The president said that although traditional methods of arms control and diplomacy have been effective in preserving American security, "the question is, can deterrence protect us against all those who might wish us harm in the future? Can we make America even more secure?"

He said that the nation needs to continue to maintain its previous policies that remain from the Cold War era, particularly deterrence. "Strategic stability, based on mutual deterrence, is still important, despite the end of the Cold War," he said, referring primarily to Russia, which still has a considerable nuclear arsenal. Clinton said that America still needs to be cautious in dealings with Russia, because, "while we are no longer adversaries, we are not yet real allies."

Clinton said that in order for the United States to adopt a missile defense system, previous treaties, including the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty of 1972, would have to be amended because they include provisions that specifically ban national missile defense systems. It does so because the development by one nation of a missile defense system would limit the deterrent power of the other nation's nuclear arms. He said that the development of a national missile defense would not threaten the deterrence outlined by the ABM, but would still require an amendment to the 1972 agreement.

Russian officials, Clinton said, have yet to embrace the idea of an American missile defense system because they fear such a system would be a threat to their deterrent power.

Clinton said that although Russian, Chinese and other countries' opposition to the NMD is strong, in the long run, the U.S. will pursue the policy which is best for America. "Let me be clear -- no nation can ever have a veto over American security," he said.

The president also said that the U.S. now faces new dangers from rogue states and terrorist groups that it has never faced before, and for this reason, a missile defense system will go beyond previous arms control policies.

Clinton emphasized that the U.S. is not abandoning its commitment to an NMD, but instead ensuring its viability in the long run. "We have made progress, but we should not move forward until we have absolute confidence that the system will work ... and maximize the benefit ... not only to America's security, but to the security of law abiding nations everywhere subject to the same threat," Clinton said.

The speech was attended primarily by students, who rushed to the Leavey Center on Thursday night when news of the speech spread across campus. Four-hundred eighty tickets for the speech were distributed after a last-minute announcement by the White House. Members of the press were only informed of the speech Friday morning.

Also in attendance at the speech were National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Henry Shelton and White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart (COL '81).

---

Missile defense deferred Clinton right to let Gore or Bush decide Editorial

Alabama Live
September 08, 2000
09/06/00
http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/Sep2000/6-missile.html

President Clinton was absolutely right to defer a decision on the still unproved missile defense system to his successor - either Democrat Al Gore or Republican George W. Bush.

Gore, as vice president, has fol­ lowed the matter for years and has a sound understanding of both the political ramifications and the technology behind missile defense. Bush, meanwhile, has surrounded himself with people extremely knowledgeable on defense matters - including his vice presidential running mate, former Secretary of State Dick Cheney. The public can be confident that either man can make an informed decision on whether to deploy a missile defense.

That can't be said for a hasty, in-the-heat-of-an-election decision by the outgoing Clinton administration.

The biggest problems, though, with making a decision now on a missile defense are that the two most crucial questions about it have not yet been answered: Will the system work in protecting Americans from a limited nuclear attack, say, from a rogue state like North Korea or an accidental launch by Russia or China? And what effect will such a deployment by the United States have on arms control, particularly the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty that forbids a national missile defense system?

So far, testing of a system using interceptor missiles to knock down in coming missiles has been disappointing. In two highly publicized tests this year, the interceptor failed to hit its target.

Plus, there is even disagreement about what type of limited missile defense system is best. Is it best to try to knock down long-range missiles while they're in outer space as the re cent tests tried to do? Is it more likely to be successful if the intercept missile is armed with a nuclear warhead itself that can create a large enough explosion to wipe out an incoming warhead and its decoys? Should the interceptors go after the threatening missile soon after it is launched when it is an easier target to hit but requires the interceptors to be based close to wherever the missile is launched?

Each of these options has its pluses and minuses, and it's not at all clear which is preferable.

Of course, the United States must also be careful not to ignite a new wave in nuclear arms development and testing by other countries. Particularly if the system we deploy doesn't work.

Remember, too, this isn't the "Star Wars" system envisioned by former President Reagan, in which satellite- based lasers would shoot down in coming missiles. The technology for such a system is even farther away.

Decisions about what system to employ - if, indeed, we decide to deploy one - should be made only when we're sure the system will work. At this point, we aren't.

The Birmingham News.
http://www.al.com/bhamnews/bham.html

---

Good defense policy politically dicey President Clinton's decision to not proceed with a costly anti-missile program is sound and sensible, Tom Plate says, yet may be a campaign liability for Vice President Gore.

Spokane Spokesman Review
September 8, 2000
Tom Plate - Special to the Los Angeles Times
http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=090800&ID=s848599&cat=

Give the outgoing president a hand for a domestically risky and internationally astute decision to delay, at least for the rest of his term, a mammoth national missile defense system that neither the United States nor the world needs. In Asia, a sprawling, politically and ethnically diverse region, many will have good reason to assess this as one of Bill Clinton's finest moments as a world leader.

Clinton did not bow to obvious election-year pressure to keep the Democratic defense posture tougher than nails with a costly new missile defense system, which would have more effectively shielded Vice President Al Gore from Gov. George W. Bush's political flak than Peoria from missiles.

Asia knew what was at stake. A presidential decision to go forward with the unproven missile shield system -- which would have cost anywhere from $60 billion to $100 billion and taken years to build -- would have triggered a new round of costly and destabilizing arms buildups.

China, rather than forgo its perceived nuclear leverage over Taiwan, would have upped the ante and added to its relatively puny arsenal of about two dozen nuclear missiles, especially if it appeared that the protective shadow of the large U.S. system would take in Taiwan.

In response, India, fearing China's domination, would have ordered new missile production. And, as quick as you can say Kashmir, Pakistan would have followed. Given such an Asian hothouse of nuclear one-upmanship, how could the Japanese, already showing signs of unease with a long postwar posture of pacifism, have remained quiescent? One thing is certain: Had Clinton gone the other way and authorized construction, Asia wouldn't have sat on its hands.

On the Korean peninsula, the impact of a presidential "go" would have been traumatic. A new regional arms race in Asia would have derailed the momentum of South Korea's peace initiative with heavily armed North Korea, which, if not kept in check, would probably have the wherewithal to launch a few nuclear-tipped missiles by 2005. North Korean ally China, along with Russia, had complained bitterly about a U.S. missile shield. From the South Korean perspective, then, a U.S.-supplied national missile defense system, even if it could be made to work, was looking like more trouble than it was worth.

There is no assurance that Bush, or even Gore, will prove as wise on the missile defense issue. Yet what the next president owes the world is not another missile buildup but a reaffirmation of the spirit of the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty. The key to international stability is the maintenance of limits, not the nuking of them. The ABM pact, signed by the equally hard-headed Richard M. Nixon and Leonid I. Brezhnev, sealed each side's defensive arsenal at a level guaranteeing a mutually fearsome nuclear deterrence. The proposed U.S. program would have violated the ABM treaty. That's why Moscow was howling.

The reaction in Asia to Clinton's turnaround also reflects an appreciation that, for once, an American president faced with a major foreign policy decision seemed to be listening to someone other than domestic lobbies.

There is, of course, a risk that Clinton's decision will offer Bush political advantage. Bush, despite the fact that he urged Clinton to defer a decision on NMD to his successor, immediately branded Clinton and Gore as weak on defense for doing exactly that. Leaving Gore to make the case that fewer missiles may actually mean more global safety will strike savvy Asians as a difficult challenge. Indeed, it is now hard to envision Gore surviving this campaign without hearing charges of a new "missile gap." The charge will be fraudulent, just as it was in 1960, when John F. Kennedy hurled a similar allegation at then Vice President Nixon. There was no missile gap then; there is no missile gap now. There are only good missile decisions and bad ones.

Clinton did his job as president and world leader, and made a very good call. Gore should proudly run on that. Bush, if elected, should sustain it.

Tom Plate is a Los Angeles Times contributing editor and a UCLA professor.

---

eBay-ed supercomputer may be put out to pasture

New York Times
September 08, 2000
By TROY WOLVERTON, CNET NEWS.COM
http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_0_4_2730428_00.html

A used supercomputer may have found a new home--out on a ranch.

Technology entrepreneur Steve Blank, who founded Ardent Computers and Epiphany and owns a 260-acre ranch on the Northern California coast, today won a Cray Research Y-MP C90 supercomputer on eBay with a bid of $45,100.70.

The computer was offered by the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, which put the C90 up for auction to make room for a new supercomputer.

I'm ecstatic, Blank said. In 50 years, people are just going to go, 'That was the pinnacle of military computing. These machines are going to be as important as the first PC or the first minicomputer.'

Although the C90 that Blank bought was used for nonmilitary purposes at the supercomputing center, the military used similar machines to design and develop nuclear weapons.

Blank said he has not decided what he is going to do with the machine, but one idea he has is to set it up on his ranch, next to the tractors.

It could be the only ranch on the coast with a supercomputer, he said.

Regardless of where the machine ends up, Blank said he plans to keep it in working condition. He said he was arranging with Cray and the supercomputing center to ship the machine in a climate-controlled environment.

Michael Schneider, a science writer at the supercomputing center, said the center was pleased with the auction result.

Before the auction, the center was planning on paying Cray $30,000 to haul the computer away. Instead, as part of the auction, Blank will pick up the tab on the packing and shipping for the C90.

We didn't know what would happen, Schneider said. We're basically about $75,000 ahead of where would have been if we hadn't done the eBay thing.

---

Tapes Reflect Ebb of '62 Cuba Missile Crisis
Kennedy Worried That a Pledge Not to Invade the Island Might Be Misperceived

International Herald Tribune
Friday, September 8, 2000
The Associated Press
http://www.iht.com/IHT/TODAY/FRI/IN/kennedy.2.html

BOSTON - Tape recordings recently released by the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum reveal tensions in the White House in the wake of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis as President Kennedy debated whether the United States should hold to a pledge not to invade Cuba.

Nine hours of recorded conversations in the Oval Office are the latest in a series made public at intervals by the library over the last 17 years.

The conversations took place between Nov. 7 and Nov. 16, 1962, after the Soviet Union had publicly agreed to pull missiles and short-range bombers out of Cuba.

Sheldon Stern, a former historian at the library who reviewed portions of the tapes, including excerpts made available to news organizations Wednesday, said the new tapes, while not as dramatic as those when the confrontation was at its height, shed light on the ebbing crisis.

They show a president who was firmly in charge, he said. ''He's making up his mind,'' Mr. Stern said. ''He's listening to input from his advisers. It's perfectly clear from these tapes and all the others that these decisions were made by the president.''

In a 20-minute segment of tape on the missile crisis, Mr. Kennedy and his advisers can be heard discussing whether a U.S. commitment not to invade Cuba would encourage the Soviet leadership to pull out its bombers, after it had agreed earlier to withdraw nuclear missiles.

''We're not planning to invade Cuba, anyway,'' the president said. ''We don't plan to invade Cuba. But we're ready to give that in a more formal way when they meet their commitments.''

He was concerned how the situation would be perceived if Moscow did not follow up and pull out the bombers, wondering if it would seem, ''We failed to get what we wanted; we've settled for less.''

But he also saw problems with reversing direction.

''I don't think we look very good to say, 'Well, we withdraw our commitment that we won't invade,''' he said.

Ultimately, said Mr. Stern, the Russians agreed to pull out the bombers and also agreed to draw back tarpaulins when the missiles were on the deck of ships on the way back to the Soviet Union.

This would allow the United States to verify the pullout.

President Kennedy formally lifted a naval blockade of Cuba on Nov. 20, putting an end to the crisis.

A total of 127 tapes were made in 1962 and 1963.

Ninety have now been reviewed and opened to the public or partly opened, while 34 still need to be reviewed to determine if they should remain sealed because they contain classified material, said Maura Porter, foreign policy archivist for the library. Three of the tapes are blank.

The tapes also include discussions about foreign aid, Congo, Laos and Thailand.

---

Kennedy Considered Invading Cuba

NewsMax.com
Friday, Sept. 8, 2000
UPI
http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/9/7/185602

BOSTON - President John Kennedy considered invading Cuba in the weeks after the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, according to the latest tape recordings released by the JFK Library and Museum.

In the three weeks after the United States and the Soviet Union backed away from the brink of nuclear war, Kennedy and his advisers discussed under what conditions U.S. troops would be sent to the communist-ruled island in the Caribbean.

Kennedy, meeting with advisers in the Oval Office and the Cabinet Room at the White House, said he would invade if the Soviet Union refused to remove all of its nuclear weapons.

"If they're not out," the president said, referring to the missiles, "then our posture is going to be about our commitment to invasion."

The president also considered invading Cuba if there was a "major upheaval" - a civil war - on the island, or if Cuban dictator Fidel Castro threatened his neighbors, the Boston Herald reported Thursday.

The nine hours of tape recordings released Wednesday by the library are the latest from thousands of hours of tapes of meetings between Kennedy and his advisers. The library said 143 hours of tapes remain to be reviewed for declassification before release.

Sheldon Stern, a former historian at the library, told the Herald the tapes show Kennedy's decisiveness after Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev agreed to withdraw 100 missiles from Cuba on Oct. 28, 1962.

"He was subtle; he was rational; he was cautious," Stern said. "And he always had his eye on the fact that once the shooting started, there was a good chance no one would be able to stop it."

The library said the recorded conversations took place between Nov. 7 and 16, 1962, and dealt with the political situations in the Congo, Laos and Thailand, and Kennedy's coming meeting with West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.

The tapes, with varied sound quality, were released without transcripts, and are available for research use or for sale at the library.

---

Bernard Gallagher Dies
Was Air Force Pilot During Atomic Testing

Washington Post
Friday, September 8, 2000; Page B08
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-09/08/194l-090800-idx.html

Bernard T. "Bud" Gallagher, 78, a retired lieutenant colonel who flew early jets for the Air Force during atomic testing and then was a federal emergency preparedness manager, died of congestive heart failure Aug. 22 at his Leesburg home.

He retired in 1965 as a representative to NATO on nuclear, biological and chemical defensive measures. His second retirement was in 1992 as site director of the emergency evacuation facility in Virginia at Mount Weather. He had also been acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under President Ronald Reagan.

Col. Gallagher was a native of New York who attended the University of Alabama. He served in the Army Air Forces during World War II, flying bombers over Germany. He was shot down over Kiel, Germany, early in 1944 and parachuted into Denmark.

He was later captured by German troops and held until May 1945 in a prisoner of war camp at Barth, Germany.

After he began flying jets in the late 1940s, he participated in a series of atomic tests in Nevada and the Marshall Islands. He flew through mushroom clouds after 12 detonations taking radioactive samples. His exploits were later described in an exhibit at the Museum of American History about the history of atomic testing, and his flight logbook and other equipment were put on display.

Starting in 1958, he commanded a helicopter squadron in Pennsylvania that was assigned to presidential rescue duty. In 1963, he was assigned to the Pentagon as advance agent for President John F. Kennedy's trips on Air Force One, and he accompanied presidential trips.

He was a technical adviser to the National Academy of Science on the protection of "national treasures," such as historic documents and art work.

Col. Gallagher was a member of Mensa, the National Defense Executive Reserve and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

His marriage to Catherine Brown ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife of 49 years, Stanley Gallagher of Leesburg; a son from his first marriage, Thomas Gallagher of New Lisbon, Wis.; two daughters from his second marriage, Shawn Hays of Rawlings, Wyo., and Marta Jewell of Lovettsville; and six grandchildren.

-------- MILITARY (by country)

Iranian president wants stronger ties with Russia

September 8, 2000
By David Jones
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/world/default-200098221822.htm

NEW YORK - Iranian President Mohammed Khatami said yesterday that he hopes to forge a stronger relationship with Russia that would "marginalize" outside powers in the region where U.S. energy interests are seeking to capitalize on Caspian Sea oil.

The Iranian leader, who met a day earlier with Russian President Vladimir Putin, also promised at a news conference on the margins of the U.N. Millennium Summit not to interfere in the Middle East peace process and to leave the door open to better relations with the United States.

Russia and Iran both oppose plans for a U.S.-backed pipeline that would carry potentially huge deposits of Caspian Sea oil from a terminus in Baku, Azerbaijan, through Georgia and Turkey to a site on the Mediterranean Sea.

Iran argues that it would be far cheaper to ship the oil through existing pipelines in Iran to the Persian Gulf, while Moscow, which has been accused of encouraging insurgencies near the pipeline route in Georgia, favors a route through southern Russia to the Black Sea.

"In the West, people still refuse to understand that the cheapest, fastest route to transfer energy resources from central Asia is through Iran," Mr. Khatami complained at his news conference yesterday.

"Nevertheless, there are objections to it. They want to spend more money to draw pipelines under the Caspian Sea. They want to endanger the ecological system of the Caspian Sea, only to put economic pressure on Iran."

Iran's state news service, IRNA, reported the issue was discussed at the meeting Wednesday with Mr. Putin, where the two leaders agreed to visit each other's capitals and "stressed expansion of ties in the economic, technical and industrial fields."

Asked about that meeting yesterday, Mr. Khatami said, "We share a lot of interests with Russia. We both live in one of the most sensitive areas of the world. I believe the two countries can engage in a viable and strong relationship.

"Russia needs a powerful and stable Iran," Mr. Khatami continued. "A stronger relationship would allow both countries to marginalize external powers that are seeking destructive ends and which do not belong in our region."

Despite that remark, he said, "The detente policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is open to all countries of the world."

Asked specifically about relations with the United States, Mr. Khatami said Washington should apologize for its role in a 1953 coup in Iran that installed the now-deceased Shah Reza Pahlavi.

"It will be a positive step through this confession," he said. "If the Americans accept to do it, I think it will be a very big step towards removing our misunderstandings."

Dismissing remarks to that effect by Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright in March, he said, "It is not a pure apology. It is about action."

Mr. Khatami commented with great care on the power struggle now raging in Iran, where hard-liners who control the police and judiciary have shut pro-reform newspapers backing the president, silenced the newly elected parliament, and beaten up protesting students in the streets.

"Freedom and security are both important," he said. "You cannot endanger security in the name of freedom and you cannot limit freedom of the people in the name of security. This is a very delicate line. In both camps, you have to have balance and moderation."

He added: "The demand for freedom especially among young people creates certain aspirations that are not in synch with the times. If this breeds hopelessness and despair, it could pave the way for hard-liners and extremists in either camp to come in."

On the search for peace in the Middle East, he said, Iran "will not interfere" in the process, but that what the region needs "is a viable peace" that will be achieved "only when all those involved who have stakes there are able to achieve their rights."

Maneuvering at the U.N. gathering to promote a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians appeared to founder yesterday.

The Associated Press reported that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat rejected a proposal by President Clinton for control of Muslim and Jewish holy sites in East Jerusalem, but Mr. Clinton refused to abandon his effort to bring about a Mideast peace accord.

Although Mr. Arafat's action further dimmed already fading hopes for an agreement, Mr. Clinton directed his senior mediator, Dennis B. Ross, to keep talking to Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.

Still, with no more meetings between Mr. Clinton and the two leaders scheduled - he met separately with Mr. Barak and Mr. Arafat on Wednesday - Mr. Clinton's No. 1 foreign policy goal appeared to be in deep trouble.

-------- arms sales

End-Use Monitoring Program in Shambles

Rachel Stohl, Senior Analyst, rstohl@cdi.org
September 8, 2000
Weekly Defense Monitor - Volume 4, Issue #36

A report issued by the General Accounting Office (GAO) last month has identified severe weaknesses in the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) end-use monitoring program. The GAO report, "Foreign Military Sales: Changes Needed to Correct Weaknesses in End-Use Monitoring Program," details the inability of the current system to adequately track the destinations and uses of U.S. arms sold abroad.

The report defines end-use monitoring as "the procedures used to verify that foreign governments are using and controlling U.S. defense articles and services in accordance with U.S. terms and conditions of the transfer. Verification measures, referred to as end-use checks, range from contacting the appropriate foreign government representative for information to physical inspection by U.S. personnel." FMS is defined as "a security assistance program to transfer U.S. defense articles or services to foreign governments and international organizations from Department of Defense (DoD) stocks or through Defense-managed contracts."

The report examined three aspects of the current FMS end-use monitoring program: "1) the implementation of the Department of Defense's requirement to observe and report on defense articles and services transferred under the Foreign Military Sales program, 2) the Department's implementation of requirements to perform end-use checks, and 3) the extent to which the Department has satisfied the reporting requirements of the end-use monitoring amendment to the Arms Export Control Act."

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) is responsible for carrying out DoD's end-use monitoring responsibilities. The Arms Export Control Act requires this monitoring to "provide reasonable assurance that the recipient is complying with U.S. government requirements on the use, transfers, and security of defense articles and services." To that end, DSCA has developed five criteria, called standards, when end-use checks are to be made: any indication that an Arms Export Control Act violation has occurred; discovery of substantial problems or weaknesses during DoD reviews of foreign government's adherence to U.S. requirements for protecting classified military information; impending or actual significant and unusual political or military upheaval in the host country; development of substantial defense interaction or other ties between the end user and another country whose interests are not compatible with those of the United States; or illicit attempts by countries unfriendly to the United States to obtain U.S. equipment of types held by the end user.

A limitation of the current system is that the United States must often rely on host country records to make sure that U.S. weapons are where they are supposed to be and are not being used for unintended purposes. For example, the U.S. relies on host countries to account for Stinger missiles, but the report notes that "the reliability of host country records varies." Further, other weapons such as the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles "have special monitoring provisions that are included in the terms of sale." But with regard to this particular weapon, the report found hat no monitoring has ever been performed by U.S. personnel.

The GAO found that there were several problems with the current FMS end-use monitoring program. In particular they noted that the Department of Defense "has not effectively implemented the requirements that its field personnel observe and report on foreign government's use of U.S. defense articles and services transferred through the Foreign Military Sales program,...has not issued guidance specifying what monitoring is required,....has not effectively implemented requirements for its field personnel to perform end-use checks in response to specific standards or for selected weapon systems,...did not establish procedures to ensure field personnel received the information needed to initiate end-use checks or provide guidance on how to apply the standards,...and has not complied with the reporting requirements of the end-use monitoring amendment to the Arms Export Control Act."

The report lists four recommendations to improve the current system: "issue specific guidance to field personnel on what activities need to be performed for the routine observation of U.S. defense equipment and issue guidance for the monitoring of specific weapons systems; develop procedures to provide field personnel with the information necessary to apply the five end-use check standards, including the information contained in Arms Export Control Act violation reports, and provide guidance on when to apply the standards; reconcile discrepancies in foreign governments' Stinger missile inventories where discrepancies exist; and comply with the 1996 end-use monitoring amendment by reporting required information to Congress."

The lack of prudent oversight of U.S. weapons is particularly troubling in light of the arms export reforms announced by the Clinton Administration earlier this summer. (For more information on U.S. export reforms, see "U.S. Changes Arms Export Reforms," Rachel Stohl, Weekly Defense Monitor, June 1, 2000 at http://www.cdi.org/weekly/2000/issue22.html#2). The new export process will reduce oversight and transparency and raises the probability of unauthorized retransfers, which means more U.S. weapons may end up in the hands of human rights abusers and others who wage war. The U.S. must more stridently monitor its arms exports to prevent such unintended complicity in conflict and violence.

---

Angry Israeli defense contractors see Boeing behind Phalcon disaster

World Tribune
Friday, September 8, 2000
By Steve Rodan, Middle East Newsline SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
http://www.worldtribune.com/tout-4.html

TEL AVIV - Let's call him Avi.

The head of a medium-sized Israeli defense contractor, Avi acknowledges mixed feelings to the news that Israel cancelled the sale of the Phalcon airborne early-warning system to China. One one hand, the cancellation freed up contracts with the United States his company has been bidding for.

On the other hand, Avi is certain the cancellation will have long-term effects.

Defense industries in Israel warn of thousands of layoffs

http://www.worldtribune.com/Archive-2000/me-israel-09-07.html

"This is clearly a huge blow to the Israeli defense industries," the executive said. "It means the United States can hurt us at any time anywhere. By caving in, we proved that U.S. pressure can work. It's just a matter of time before they use it again."

Avi and other leading defense executives dismiss Washington's assertions that the Phalcon could endanger U.S. troops in the Taiwan straits. As they see it, U.S. defense contractors - particularly Boeing - have launched a full court press to stop Israeli firms from winning military projects in Asia.

For Boeing, the focus is to stop the Phalcon and preserve the U.S. company's share of the airborne early-warning market in Asia. Defense industry sources said Japan, Singapore and South Korea have expressed interest in the Phalcon, which is cheaper than Boeing's airborne warning and control aircraft. [AWAC].

The Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS directed thousands of allied aircraft during the 1991 Gulf War and in last year's NATO offensive against Yugoslavia. Boeing has succeeded in selling the system to Saudi Arabia and NATO.

"We are talking about a very powerful lobby by Boeing in Congress," said Avraham Bar-David, president of Tamuz International Consulting. "Boeing simply doesn't want us to sell to Asia."

Defense executives said that, if anything, Washington's success in cancelling the Phalcon deal has led to more pressure on Israel and its traditional clients. Turkey is now under great pressure to cancel an M-60 upgrade contract awarded to Israel Military Industries as well as a satellite contract awarded to Israel Aircraft Industries. IAI's Elta Electronic Industries Ltd. is maker of the Phalcon reported net profit at $1.4 million for the first six months of 2000, an increase of 123 percent over the same period last year.

Another target by Boeing and other leading U.S. contractors will be other projects being sought by Israel in China. In some of these projects, Israeli contractors have teamed up with their Russian counterpart.

These include plans to upgrade China's MiG fleet and the F-10 fighter project. The General Accounting Office, Congress's watchdog, said in a 1998 report that Israel was then developing the F-10 by providing technology from the aborted Lavi fighter-jet project.

The Federation of American Scientists, a prominent Washington-based group, said the F-10 radar and fire-control system is the IAI ELM-2021 system. The system can simultaneously track six air targets and lock onto the four most threatening targets for destruction.

But industry sources and Israeli officials said Boeing needn't worry. They said the F-10 will not likely be manufactured because it is based on 1980s technology. They add that at this point Beijing is not interested in additional weapons deals with Israel.

"The Chinese have been burned badly and they are angry," an official said. "Right now, nobody from our side is talking to them."

At the same time, Israeli defense industry sources said they expect China to sue Israel for at least $500 million for breach of contract. IAI executives said they have not received any claims from Beijing in connection with the cancellation of the Phalcon deal.

The industry sources said Boeing and other U.S. contractors will urge Congress to press Israel to disclose other arms deals with China. Again, the sources said, Washington will claim national security concerns.

Mark Mandeles, a leading Washington defense consultant, said the U.S. pressure on Israel will continue as long as the Jewish state continues to receive massive amounts of military aid. He said Congress will follow the agenda of the U.S. defense industries if tension continues with such countries as China and India.

"The ability of the contractors to dictate policy is high," Mandeles, of the J de Bloch Group, said. They have lots of contacts in Congress."

Ilan Berman, a Washington strategist who completed a study on Israeli-U.S. strategic relations for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, goes further. He sees the Phalcon cancellation as being a watershed in U.S.-Israeli strategic relations.

As Berman sees it, if Congress could pressure Israel to cancel the Phalcon deal, it will try the same tactics in the future.

"In the long run, Israel's capitulation on the Phalcon sale is bound to adversely affect strategic ties," Berman said. "This is an important indicator of how dependent Israel has become on American strategic offsets for peace and other peace process incentives over the past several years. Given this dependence, Congress may get the message that it can intensify efforts to curtail future Israeli foreign military sales. This kind of active, interventionist agenda is likely to inflict lasting damage on the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship by reducing Israel's military capabilities and isolating it from other countries with which it has military contacts."

---

Saudis seek $2.7 billion in US arms, maintenance

Yahoo News
Friday September 8, 12:26 pm Eastern Time
By Charles Aldinger
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/000908/n08433254_2.html

WASHINGTON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is seeking $2.7 billion in U.S. arms and technical support to help modernise its National Guard and maintain a fleet of F-15 fighter jets bought from the United States, the Pentagon said on Friday.

One of the three military packages requested by the Gulf kingdom would include $416 million in light-armoured vehicles, anti-tank missiles and advanced communications equipment made by General Motors Corp. and Raytheon Corp. the Pentagon said.

A second deal valued at $690 million would involve parts, maintenance, training and modification facilities for the large Saudi fleet of F-15 jets built by Boeing Co. The prime contractor for that would would be Al-Salam Aircraft Co., which is 50 percent owned by Boeing.

The Defence Department said the prime contractor had not yet been determined for the biggest package, valued at $1.6 billion for flight simulators, parts and technical services for Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s.

``The prime contractor will be determined in joint negotiations as the programme proceeds,'' the announcement said.

The planned military deals, which require approval by the U.S. Congress were announced at a time when the Clinton administration is calling on Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to reduce high oil prices.

But such U.S. sales have been routinely approved in the past for one of Washington's biggest arms customers over the past two decades.

``Saudi Arabia remains a highly valued, friendly nation and continues to lead the way for improvements in U.S.-Arab relations,'' the U.S. Defence Department said in a statement.

``It's strategic location, proven oil reserves and moderate stance in the Arab world link its international interests and security with those of the United States. The Royal Saudi Air Force was a valuable participant in the Gulf War coalition and provides a tested deterrent force against aggression in the region,'' the statement added.

The request for 132 light armoured vehicles built by the Diesel Division of General Motors of London, Ontario, in Canada, along with 1,827 ``TOW'' anti-tank missiles and sophisticated radio communications equipment made by Raytheon are part of a major effort by the Saudis since the 1991 Gulf War to upgrade their National Guard ground forces.

The Pentagon said the high-frequency radio equipment would provide the Saudi guard ``with the modern command, control and communications needed to provide security throughout the region.''

---

Israelis: Boeing Shot Down Phalcon Deal

NewsMax.com
September 8, 2000
http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/9/8/94555

Frustrated defense contractors in Israel fear American arms manufacturers will grow even bolder in dictating where in the world they may sell their military wares.

According to a report by World Tribune.com:

Seattle-based Boeing makes the highly successful, highly popular E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control aircraft, known around the globe as AWAC.

A subsidiary of the state-owned Israel Aircraft Industries produces a competitive, somewhat-similar but less-expensive plane known as the Phalcon.

Israel was on the verge of selling Phalcons to Communist China when the Clinton-Gore administration used its leverage of massive military aid to Israel to block the sale.

The reason given: The Phalcons would endanger United States forces deployed in Asia to protect Taiwan from possible attack by China.

The actual reason, say Israeli defense-contractor sources, is that Boeing, through its extensive influence on Capitol Hill and in the White House, objected to this competition in Asia.

As Israel becomes stronger as a source of military hardware on the world market, its arms manufacturers are asking when Boeing and other U.S. defense contractors will strike again.

"We are talking about a very powerful lobby by Boeing in Congress," said Avraham Bar-David, president of Tamuz International Consulting. "Boeing simply doesn't want us to sell to Asia."

Ilan Berman, a Washington strategist who completed a study on Israeli-U.S. strategic relations for the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, said:

"In the long run, Israel's capitulation on the Phalcon sale is bound to adversely affect strategic ties.

"This is an important indicator of how dependent Israel has become on American strategic offsets for peace and other peace-process incentives over the past several years.

"Given this dependence, Congress may get the message that it can intensify efforts to curtail future Israeli foreign military sales.

"This kind of active, interventionist agenda is likely to inflict lasting damage on the U.S.-Israel strategic relationship by reducing Israel's military capabilities and isolating it from other countries with which it has military contacts."

And an unidentified Israeli official said, "The Chinese have been burned badly [by cancellation of the Phalcon sales], and they are angry. Right now, nobody from our side is talking to them."

Israeli defense-industry sources said China is expected to sue Israel for at least $500 million for breach of contract.

The Clinton-Gore administration has said it will tack onto its usual military aid to Israel an undisclosed specific sum, somewhere in the millions, to compensate for this loss of business - a precedent that has some congressional budget-watchers concerned.

-------- britain

Charm offensive needed at BAE's H1 results

Yahoo News
Friday September 8, 10:31 am Eastern Time
By Alessandra Galloni
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/000908/l08535556_2.html

LONDON, Sept 8 (Reuters) - British defence contractor BAE Systems faces no small challenge when it releases first half results next week: luring investors back to a sector they have fallen out of love with.

But analysts say it may take a more than a forecast 17 percent jump in pre-tax profit to please the market, which has punished BAE over the last two weeks amid general gloom about the ``old economy'' UK aerospace and defence sector.

``The market has been so skeptical about this company... But it's not sensible. Stocks like BAE and (aero-engine maker) Rolls Royce shouldn't be falling like this,'' said Harald Hendrikse, aerospace analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston.

BAE's shares have fallen more than 12 percent over the past two weeks as investors worried that the company might follow the lead of its peer Rolls-Royce Plc. BAE stock was trading nearly four percent down at 352 pence by 1405 GMT on Friday.

Shares in Rolls plunged more than 20 percent last month after the company warned that delays in sales would be partly to blame for flat earnings in 2001 -- news that came as a shock after four years of double-digit growth.

SECOND-HALF HEAVY

Analysts expect BAE's earnings per share to fall to about 12 pence from 14.2 pence last year, even though pre-tax profit will rise to about 495 million pounds from 358 million -- thanks to the acquisition of Marconi Electronic Systems (MES) last year.

Several factors have investors jittery about the upcoming results, to be released on Thursday.

It is the first set that includes MES, a defence electronics firm that BAE, then British Aerospace, bought from Britain's General Electric Co, now Marconi Plc.

While BAE is expected to exceed its savings target of 275 million pounds from the integration of MES, it may be three years before investors see evidence of those savings. Meanwhile, the cost of folding in the company is hurting margins and cash flow.

Defence budgets remain tight, with delays on high-profile programmes denting confidence in BAE, and while the market for commercial aircraft has been surprisingly strong many of the orders are not firm, brokers Williams de Broe said in a research note on Friday.

Moreover, only 40 percent of BAE's annual revenue comes through in the first half. Investors are generally reluctant to trust that a company with such a revenue profile will deliver the goods in the second half.

``But defence companies are contract driven, not cyclical... so they do not carry an economic risk in the short term,'' said Brian O'Keefe, aerospace analyst at Commerzbank.

Many analysts also agree that BAE is currently in a strong position with its firm embrace of the defence markets on both sides of the Atlantic.

Though continental Europe's leading aerospace firms have converged into the European Aeronautic and Defence and Space Co (EADS) , BAE is entwined with that firm through big joint ventures in missiles, fighters and defence electronics and, especially, their joint civil plane maker Airbus Industrie [ARBU.UL].

BAE's focus over the past year, however, has been on the United States. The company became the sixth biggest U.S. defence contractor after it took over MES.

If a recent deal to buy a defence electronics unit from U.S. contractor Lockheed Martin clears regulatory hurdles, BAE will have a U.S. operation with sales of $4 billion and 25,000 employees -- more than its staff in continental Europe.

BAE expects an earlier deal -- the purchase of Lockheed's controls-systems business -- to be approved by U.S. regulators by the end of this month and hopes to clear the electronics acquisition by year-end.

However, analysts say U.S. regulators could take much longer -- possibly until next spring -- to review the more recent deal as it places some of the most sensitive U.S. electronic warfare technology in the hands of a foreign-owned company.

Most observers say BAE could also flag closer cooperation with U.S. aerospace giant Boeing Co.

While many in the industry say the British company ultimately wants to merge with Boeing, both companies have denied that is currently part of their strategy and analysts say it would not happen in the foreseeable future.

``It is possible they will say something about closer integration with Boeing,'' said O'Keefe. ``Not a merger or corporate deal, but something to show that they are proceeding with their plans for integration with U.S. companies.''

-------- china

China Probes Massive Blast Amid Zhu Visit

Yahoo News
Saturday September 9
By Bill Savadove
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000909/ts/china_explosion_dc_2.html

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities said on Saturday they were investigating a massive explosion that killed 60 people in the western region of Xinjiang, which has a history of separatist violence.

Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji was in the city of Urumqi, site of the blast and the region's capital, Saturday for a meeting with a top official of U.S. financial services giant Citigroup, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

It was not known whether Zhu was in Urumqi when the explosion took place.

A truck carrying explosives blew up in the western suburbs of Urumqi Friday night, injuring 173 people, Xinhua said in a separate report. The agency had earlier said 309 were injured and it gave no reason for the reduction.

Xinhua said the explosives had been intended for disposal and described the blast as an accident.

Zhu met Robert Rubin, chairman of the executive committee of Citigroup and a former U.S. treasury secretary, Saturday, Xinhua said. A Citibank official said executives flew in on Saturday morning for a brief meeting with Zhu.

Hong Kong's independent Ming Pao Daily News reported that Zhu was in Xinjiang on an inspection tour of a planned east-west natural gas pipeline.

A police official, asked if ethnic minority Uighur separatists might have been involved in the explosion, said: ''We can't conclude that yet.''

State television showed ambulances and fire trucks lining the street as smoke rose in the distance. Soldiers in camouflage uniforms carrying stretchers and a group of nurses rushed toward the scene.

Analysts, noting that Beijing is keen to show it keeps a tight grip over the sensitive border region, said police would want to rule out the possibility that members of the Uighur agitating for a separate state played a role in the explosion.

History Of Separatist Violence

The Uighurs, who are Muslims, have carried out bombings, riots and assassinations in Xinjiang against the Chinese authorities since 1996.

``I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of the fundamentalist groups,'' said Bruce Esposito, professor of East Asian history at the University of Hartford in the United States and a specialist on the region.

``They're attempting to be noisier, they are certainly attempting to be more prominent in Soviet Central Asia.''

Xinhua said police and rescue workers had cleared the site of the explosion by shortly after 11 a.m. (0300 GMT) Saturday with all the injured sent to nearby hospitals.

The agency originally put the combined number of killed and injured at about 100 people.

``Initial analysis showed the truck was carrying explosives but the specific cause is not very clear,'' the police official said.

China maintains a heavy military presence in the vast, sparsely inhabited border region. Mining operations, which would use explosives, are also located in Xinjiang.

China has cracked down hard on the Uighur and in July executed three men it said were separatists linked to a ''reactionary Muslim organization'' involved in making bombs.

Uighur militants have been struggling for decades to establish an independent state they call East Turkestan in Xinjiang, which borders Afghanistan, Pakistan, three former Soviet Central Asian republics, Russia and Mongolia.

---

Battle Brews in Senate Over Chinese Arms Sales

Yahoo News
Friday September 8 5:44 PM ET updated 11:39 AM ET Sep 9
By Adam Entous
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000908/pl/china_congress_dc_8.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Monday will debate a controversial plan to combat alleged weapons proliferation by China, Republican Leader Trent Lott announced, despite White House warnings it threatened Sino-U.S. relations and a landmark trade pact.

After months of delay, the Senate is expected to vote by Sept. 15 on legislation that would grant permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to China.

But first, Beijing's critics get a chance to offer a wide range of amendments that could scuttle the trade bill, including the nonproliferation measure, which calls for the United States to impose trade sanctions on China for alleged weapon sales to Pakistan and other nations.

Supporters of the sanctions measure, proposed by Republican Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and backed by Lott of Mississippi, say it is needed to keep Beijing in check and to prevent nations like Iraq and North Korea from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

But China critics conceded they faced an uphill fight adding the nonproliferation amendment to the trade bill given stiff opposition from the White House and pro-trade business leaders. They warned that Thompson's plan could spark a backlash from Beijing and doom PNTR for the year.

``I'm quite confident it will be defeated,'' said Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat helping the White House line up votes against the amendment.

If Thompson's amendment or any other is adopted by the Senate, the China trade bill would have to be sent back to a bitterly divided House of Representatives. The House approved the trade bill in May but is unlikely to do so again so close to the November election, many lawmakers said.

``This is one (amendment) that is going to test the will of the Senate,'' Lott predicted. ``I think this is going to be the toughest issue that we have to face on China PNTR.''

President Clinton has made passage of permanent normal trade relations for China a top legislative priority for his final year in office.

Once approved by the Senate and signed into law by the president, the bill would end the annual ritual of reviewing Beijing's trade status and guarantee Chinese goods the same low-tariff access to the U.S. market as products from nearly every other nation.

In exchange, China has agreed to open a wide range of markets to U.S. businesses under the terms of an agreement setting the stage for Beijing to join the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO) later this year.

After the House vote in May, Thompson's proposal appeared to gain momentum amid new allegations China sold missile technology to Pakistan.

But in recent weeks, business groups have launched an intense lobbying campaign, prompting many senators to withdraw their support for the amendment.

Under Thompson's plan, the United States could impose trade sanctions against the Chinese government, companies and other groups if they help nations develop or acquire nuclear, chemical and other weapons of mass destruction. Like China, Russia could face similar sanctions under the measure.

To address the concerns of farm-state lawmakers, Thompson agreed to exempt agricultural products and medicine from the proposed sanctions. Thompson said his amendment would also give the president some discretion in imposing the sanctions.

But the White House and business groups said it was still unacceptable.

``The measure adopts a sledgehammer, one-size-fits-all approach to U.S. nonproliferation policy,'' the Business Coalition for U.S.-China Trade told senators in a letter on Friday. ``It will punish not Chinese proliferators, but American workers and farmers.''

By Adam Entous

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Monday will debate a controversial plan to combat alleged weapons proliferation by China, Republican Leader Trent Lott announced, despite White House warnings it threatened Sino-U.S. relations and a landmark trade pact.

After months of delay, the Senate is expected to vote by Sept. 15 on legislation that would grant permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) to China.

But first, Beijing's critics get a chance to offer a wide range of amendments that could scuttle the trade bill, including the nonproliferation measure, which calls for the United States to impose trade sanctions on China for alleged weapon sales to Pakistan and other nations.

Supporters of the sanctions measure, proposed by Republican Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee and backed by Lott of Mississippi, say it is needed to keep Beijing in check and to prevent nations like Iraq and North Korea from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

But China critics conceded they faced an uphill fight adding the nonproliferation amendment to the trade bill given stiff opposition from the White House and pro-trade business leaders. They warned that Thompson's plan could spark a backlash from Beijing and doom PNTR for the year.

``I'm quite confident it will be defeated,'' said Sen. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat helping the White House line up votes against the amendment.

If Thompson's amendment or any other is adopted by the Senate, the China trade bill would have to be sent back to a bitterly divided House of Representatives. The House approved the trade bill in May but is unlikely to do so again so close to the November election, many lawmakers said.

``This is one (amendment) that is going to test the will of the Senate,'' Lott predicted. ``I think this is going to be the toughest issue that we have to face on China PNTR.''

President Clinton has made passage of permanent normal trade relations for China a top legislative priority for his final year in office.

Once approved by the Senate and signed into law by the president, the bill would end the annual ritual of reviewing Beijing's trade status and guarantee Chinese goods the same low-tariff access to the U.S. market as products from nearly every other nation.

In exchange, China has agreed to open a wide range of markets to U.S. businesses under the terms of an agreement setting the stage for Beijing to join the Geneva-based World Trade Organization (WTO) later this year.

After the House vote in May, Thompson's proposal appeared to gain momentum amid new allegations China sold missile technology to Pakistan.

But in recent weeks, business groups have launched an intense lobbying campaign, prompting many senators to withdraw their support for the amendment.

Under Thompson's plan, the United States could impose trade sanctions against the Chinese government, companies and other groups if they help nations develop or acquire nuclear, chemical and other weapons of mass destruction. Like China, Russia could face similar sanctions under the measure.

To address the concerns of farm-state lawmakers, Thompson agreed to exempt agricultural products and medicine from the proposed sanctions. Thompson said his amendment would also give the president some discretion in imposing the sanctions.

But the White House and business groups said it was still unacceptable.

``The measure adopts a sledgehammer, one-size-fits-all approach to U.S. nonproliferation policy,'' the Business Coalition for U.S.-China Trade told senators in a letter Friday. ``It will punish not Chinese proliferators, but American workers and farmers.''

---

Clinton to Meet China's Jiang on Taiwan, Rights

Yahoo News
Friday September 8 1:51 AM ET updated 1:51 AM ET Sep 8
By Steve Holland
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000908/pl/clinton_china_dc_1.html

NEW YORK (Reuters) - President Clinton meets Chinese President Jiang Zemin for the first time in a year on Friday and is expected to renew U.S. appeals for China and Taiwan to open a peaceful dialogue.

Clinton and Jiang, both in town for the U.N. Millennium Summit, are also expected to discuss efforts by South Korea and North Korea toward reunification in the wake of an unprecedented summit in June in Pyongyang between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

Continuing U.S. concerns about human rights practices in China also figure to be high on the agenda.

The United States on Tuesday accused China of trying to stem a surge in religious activity by harassing, detaining and physically abusing believers.

The criticism of Beijing's treatment of Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong spiritual practitioners and members of unregistered groups came in the second annual report on religious freedom written by the State Department by order of the U.S. Congress.

The report cited a crackdown on the Falun Gong -- including thousands of detentions and what it called credible estimates that at least 24 practitioners had died in custody -- as having a spillover effect on non-registered faiths.

The Chinese-American relationship was clouded by NATO's bombing in May 1999 of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the allied air war against Yugoslavia.

But U.S. officials believe the storm has passed.

``They continue to question our account (that the bombing was accidental) but I think it's clear that we have moved past that incident in our relationship,'' said a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

``The fact is our cooperation with China on a wide variety of issues has never been better,'' the official said.

The meeting comes at a sensitive period in China-Taiwan political relations.

China said this week new Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian was showing a ``very dangerous'' drift toward separatism. Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province that must eventually be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

Zhang Mingqing, spokesman of the cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office, said China saw recent remarks by Chen as moving away from acceptance of the ``one China'' terms Beijing has set as a precondition for better relations and talks.

``Viewing his first 100 days, we think he is not moving toward accepting the one China principle and is instead moving in the direction of Taiwan separatism,'' Zhang told a news conference without mentioning Chen by name.

Despite the rhetoric, U.S. officials do not see the China-Taiwan relationship as collapsing.

``Notwithstanding there are always going to be comments made for domestic consideration on both sides, the reaction on both sides to this election has been relatively muted, and both sides are trying to sort through how to deal with their new relationship,'' one official said.

``We will continue to encourage both sides to engage in a cross-Strait dialogue to peacefully discuss and resolve their differences,'' the official said.

One irritant in U.S.-Chinese relations was eased last week when Clinton announced he would not take steps to deploy a national missile defense, but instead would leave it up to his successor. China bitterly opposes the plan as destabilizing.

---

U.S.- China Trade Bill Inches Closer to Passage in the Senate

New York Times
September 08, 2000
By ERIC SCHMITT
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/08/world/08TRAD.html

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 - The Senate took an important step closer today to a final vote on President Clinton's major trade bill with China, as momentum built for final passage next week after months of delay.

In a victory for the White House and the business community, senators voted, 92 to 5, to end preliminary debate and proceed to final consideration of a measure that would establish permanent trade relations with China and end Congress's annual review of Beijing's trade status.

The Senate then rejected the first of several amendments that threatened to undercut the bill. An amendment by Senator Paul Wellstone, Democrat of Minnesota, calling on China to increase religious freedom was defeated, 69 to 28.

"The Clinton administration is focused on trade, which it is now promoting as its human rights policy," Mr. Wellstone said. "But trade alone will never guarantee change."

A Republican, Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and one of most conservative senators, joined Mr. Wellstone, one of the chamber's leading liberals, in support of the amendment.

"We in America still stand for something - something other than profit," Mr. Helms said. "We don't believe China should be welcomed into international organizations such as the World Trade Organization while China continues to repress and to jail and to murder and to torture their own citizens."

Another amendment, this one by Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, to support the export of nonpolluting energy technology to China, lost by 65 to 31.

A third measure, by Senator Ernest F. Hollings, Democrat of South Carolina, to continue Congress's annual review of China's trade status, was defeated, 81 to 13.

The House approved the contentious trade bill in May, 237 to 197, and more than 70 senators are likely to support the measure in the final vote.

The only mystery left is whether senators will vote to link passage of the trade measure to concerns over China's record on human rights, religious freedom and the environment.

In any other context, many of the amendments would have broad support. But if the Senate adopts any amendments, the bill would have to be returned to the House, where supporters say there is not enough time to reconcile differences before the November elections.

Passage of the legislation is a necessary step for American companies to benefit fully from a deal reached last year by the United States and China that paves China's way into the World Trade Organization, the 135-member trade group that sets the rules for global commerce.

Regardless of how lawmakers vote, China will enter the W.T.O. But without the blessing bestowed by Congress, Beijing could withhold some trade benefits from the United States that it extends to other members of the group.

The biggest obstacle to passing a clean bill is a possible amendment by Senators Fred Thompson, Republican of Tennessee, and Robert G. Torricelli, Democrat of New Jersey.

It would require the administration to monitor China's record on the spread of nuclear, chemical, biological and missile technology, and would impose sanctions if there was evidence of certain types of prohibited weaponry.

President Clinton's top aides oppose the measure, arguing that the legislation would hamper the administration's efforts to combat proliferation.

Support for it as an amendment to the trade bill appeared to be eroding today. Senator Trent Lott, the majority leader, who backs the idea, met with supporters and opponents today to try to arrange a separate vote on it.

Spokesmen for Mr. Torricelli and another sponsor of the original legislation, Senator Michael D. Crapo, Republican of Idaho, said the senators had strong reservations about supporting it as an amendment to the trade bill.

Opponents of the Thompson measure expressed optimism they had enough support to defeat it..

"I'm hopeful that we've got the votes, and I'm reasonably optimistic that we do," said Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the Democratic leader. "But in any election or any vote, only the paranoid survive, and I think we've got to be sufficiently paranoid."

The Senate will debate other potentially crippling amendments through next week.

-------- colombia

SECRET COCAINE
Colombian police discover half-built submarine intended for drug trade

Miami Herald
Friday, September 8, 2000
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO jtamayo@herald.com
http://www.herald.com/content/today/docs/067100.htm

BOGOTA, Colombia -- High in the Andes mountains, 220 miles from the nearest ocean, Colombian police have made a stunning discovery: a half-built, 100-foot submarine, designed apparently by Russians to smuggle huge quantities of cocaine.

``This is unique. There are no precedents,'' Leo Arreguin, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration office in Colombia, said Thursday as he inspected the three sections of the submarine found in a warehouse 18 miles west of Bogotá.

Police estimated the submarine could carry 150 to 200 tons of cocaine in a single trip, or up to 25 times the single largest drug shipment ever seized in this country. However, other officials put the cargo capacity much lower, but they also said it could carry many tons.

``This seems like a fairy tale, but it's true,'' Police Chief Gen. Luis Ernesto Gilibert said as he showed reporters the sub's double-hulled sections, about 12 feet wide and 100 feet long when put together.

A list of Spanish-Russian phrases found in the warehouse indicated that Russians had designed and were helping to build the sub under contract to a pool of Colombian drug traffickers, Gilibert added.

Two Russian men living in a house near the warehouse, in the farming town of Facatativá, and all the warehouse workers disappeared before police raided the site Thursday and no arrests were made, the police chief said.

Arreguin said there were indications that two U.S. citizens were also involved in the scheme and promised the DEA would cooperate with Colombian police to press the investigation into the case.

Colombian police have captured two mini-subs in recent years designed for drug smuggling, but Gilibert said the 100-footer was the largest and most sophisticated underwater vehicle his agents had ever come across.

FIRST ATTEMPT

The first known attempt to use a submarine supplied by Russian criminals for drug smuggling was uncovered in Miami in the early 1990s, when federal agents arrested Ludwig Fainberg, an alleged Russian mobster who owned Porky's strip club in Hialeah.

Fainberg was accused of trying to sell a Soviet navy Foxtrot submarine to Colombian drug traffickers through a Cuban exile intermediary. He pleaded guilty in 1998 and the middleman, Juan Almeida, was convicted last year.

Colombian traffickers now supply an estimated 90 percent of the cocaine and up to half the heroin reaching U.S. markets -- about two-thirds through the Mexican border with the United States and one-third through the Caribbean.

Most of the Caribbean routes use airplanes or high-speed boats to deliver large loads to the waters off Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba, from where smaller boats smuggle the drugs to Puerto Rico or Florida.

Gilibert said the sub's builders had spent an estimated $5 million at the time of the raid and would have needed to spend another $5 million to finish it and equip it with motors capable of doing 8-10 knots underwater.

The three reddish steel sub sections were manufactured with top-quality materials and sophisticated welding equipment not widely used in Colombian industry, Gilibert added.

HASTY GETAWAY

The plain-looking warehouse, with red brick sides and zinc roofing, was equipped with remote controlled-cameras. Tools left inside the submarine's sections indicated that workers had made a hasty getaway.

Police said they also seized plans to transport the three sections aboard heavy cargo trucks, as well as maps of several possible highway routes to Colombia's Pacific coast. Facatativá stands at about 8,000 feet in altitude and 220 miles from the nearest spot on the Pacific Ocean coast.

``In 32 years, I've never seen anything like this,'' the DEA's Arreguin told reporters. ``This is huge.''

The sophistication of the design and the Russian language documents found in the warehouse indicated that the ``Russian Mafia'' had a hand in the operation, Gilibert told reporters.

Russian mobsters have established increasingly close contacts with Colombian drug cartels in recent years, smuggling cocaine into the former Soviet bloc for later transport to the growing Western European markets. Cocaine sells in Western Europe for 10-20 times the U.S. price.

Police believe the Russians often pay for the drugs with Soviet-bloc weapons that wind up in the hands of Colombia's 20,000 leftist guerrillas and 5,000 right-wing paramilitary fighters.

---

Colombia Seizes Drug-Running Submarine

Yahoo News
Thursday September 7
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000907/ts/colombia_submarine_dc_1.html

BOGOTA (Reuters) - A Russian-designed submarine in the process of being built to smuggle drugs out of Colombia was confiscated on Thursday outside Bogota, authorities said.

The National Police said the 100-foot sub was seized in a raid on a warehouse in a working-class neighborhood 18 miles west of the capital. No one was arrested.

Police chief Gen. Luis Ernesto Gilibert said Russian-language documents found alongside the partially completed vessel indicate that ``the Russian Mafia or Russian technicians'' were involved in its construction.

Gilibert said that once the drug sub had been completed, it would have been broken up and smuggled overland before being riveted back together and launched off Colombia's Pacific or Caribbean coast.

He did not speculate on why the vessel was being assembled in the landlocked Colombian capital perched in the Andes mountains some 8,530 feet above sea level.

Gilibert, who spoke to reporters while inspecting the sub in the suburb of Facatativa, estimated that it would have had the capacity to carry at least 150 metric tons of cocaine or heroin on any given voyage out of Colombia.

``This was undoubtedly going to serve to take a lot of this country's cocaine overseas,'' Gilibert said.

The case was reminiscent of the one in 1994 when two mini-subs used by Colombian drug traffickers were seized off the Caribbean port of Santa Marta.

Leo Arrequin, head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Colombia, said the documents found in the warehouse with the sub may implicate two Americans in the building of the vessel or in future smuggling operations.

``I've never seen anything like this in 32 years of police work,'' Arrequin said.

Colombia is estimated to supply about 80 percent of the world's cocaine and much of the heroin sold on U.S. streets.

---

Drug traffickers build high-tech submarine

Washington Times
September 8, 2000
By Andrew Selsky ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://208.246.212.80/world/default-20009822163.htm

FACATATIVA, Colombia - In a scheme worthy of Jules Verne, Colombian drug traffickers were building a huge, high-tech, drug-smuggling submarine, reportedly with help from American and Russian criminals.

Police stumbled upon the half-built submarine Wednesday night in a warehouse outside the capital, Bogota - 7,500 feet up in the Andes mountains and 210 miles from any port.

Even by smugglers' innovation standards, this was off the charts -the French fantasy novelist Verne might have called it "200 Tons of Cocaine Under the Sea."

The 100-foot submarine could have crossed an ocean, surfaced off Miami or other coastal cities, and surreptitiously unloaded its drug cargo.

"In the 30-some-odd years I have been in law enforcement, I have never seen anything like this," Leo Arreguin, the chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Colombia, said yesterday.

"This is huge," Mr. Arreguin said. "We're talking about being able to load up to 200 tons of cocaine in this submarine."

Top officials flocked to the warehouse yesterday to marvel at the lengths that Colombian drug traffickers, who supply more than 80 percent of the world's cocaine and a rising share of its heroin, go to export their illicit inventory.

Police were led to the find by suspicious area residents, who had seen Americans hanging around the warehouse, located in a cow pasture off a highway near the suburb of Facatativa.

When police arrived, there was no one around. Surveillance cameras had been placed on the roof. No arrests have been made.

"This is very high-tech," said Colombian Navy Capt. Ismael Idrobo, gazing up at the reddish sub, which stood in three sections on lengths of railroad track. "Look at the rudders and the pressurized double hull. This could easily travel 100 [yards] under the surface of the ocean."

Navy Capt. Fidel Azula, a former submarine captain and member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said even the Colombian navy lacked the knowledge to build such a vessel. "This is unmistakably of superb naval construction," he said.

Mr. Arreguin said seized documents, including blueprints, contained Russian- and American-sounding names. There were indications Russian engineers were involved, including "a very professional engineer who has constructed submarines before," Mr. Arreguin said.

The Russian Mafia has become increasingly involved in cocaine trafficking to Europe, the drug agent noted.

Scattered about the warehouse were welding tools, propane tanks, hard hats, toolboxes, and knee pads, and a Grainger Tools catalog from the United States. A no-smoking sign and calendars featuring bikini-clad models hung on the walls.

Previously, smugglers have outfitted passenger planes and ships to transport drugs, and even built some tiny fiberglass "submersibles" to ferry drugs to a mother ship. But they were mere contraptions compared to this sub, which measured more than 11 feet in diameter.

Years ago, Colombian drug traffickers reportedly tried to buy, through intermediaries, a military submarine from the Kremlin's fleet as the Soviet Union.

Theorizing why this sub was being built so far from the ocean, National Police Director Gen. Ernesto Gilibert said it was to conceal the operation and for easy access to high-grade construction materials.

Officials believe the traffickers would have transported the sub in three sections to the coast aboard tractor-trailers.

-------- drug war

Federal Marijuana Laws May Be Going Up in Smoke

Los Angeles Times
Friday, September 8, 2000
By DAVID F. MUSTO
http://www.latimes.com/news/comment/20000908/t000084452.html

Are our federal marijuana laws unraveling? There is reason to think so.

Early in the 20th century, each state had its own laws controlling habit-forming drugs, unaffected by federal statutes. In 1914, for example, it was legal in New York to be maintained on morphine, while in Massachusetts it was illegal for a physician to supply morphine to a habitual user.

After lengthy attempts to control morphine, heroin and cocaine, Congress in 1914 passed the Harrison Act, which imposed one rule on these drugs throughout the nation. The law was typical of Progressive Era legislation: A national problem that was being dealt with variously by the states was harmonized by one overriding federal law.

A similar patchwork pattern applied to marijuana in the 1920s when it first became a serious worry. Then in 1937, national control also was applied to marijuana. The Marihuana Tax Act made it illegal to buy, sell, barter, etc., marijuana anywhere in the United States unless you had purchased a marijuana tax stamp, and there were, for all practical purposes, no stamps to be bought. This held true until 1970, when the basis for the anti-marijuana law was shifted from the tax power of the federal government to interstate commerce powers, but the overriding control of marijuana continues to reside with the federal government.

Usually when a problem has been formulated into a national law, the several states accept this resolution; any alterations are argued in Congress.

But there are exceptions. Passing welfare from the federal government to the states is a major shift in the locus of control. A similar trend toward unraveling what long ago had been knitted into national law may be occurring with control of dangerous drugs. Even the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to prohibit sale of "medicinal marijuana" in Oakland, Calif., at least for the time being, may be just a skirmish in the devolution of drug control from Washington to the states. For example, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has taken the position that the "medical necessity" of marijuana outweighs the federal statute that makes marijuana illicit, an issue that may come before the Supreme Court this fall.

If enough of the judiciary were to follow suit, we would have in effect the repeal of the anti-marijuana statute. We would be moving toward an earlier era of variegated state regulations.

The marijuana question raises two issues: the value of marijuana as a medicine, and the right to use marijuana for simple recreation. Some of us may believe that those who want to exercise their right to smoke for any reason use the medical marijuana issue to achieve adoption of laws that loosen controls at the state level. Still, an important question remains: Does cannabis have some characteristics that give it unique healing or comforting properties? We do not have a good answer to this. The claims for marijuana are often anecdotal, not scientifically established.

Coincidentally, the day the Supreme Court made its latest pronouncement regarding Oakland, the University of California announced that it was opening two centers, in San Francisco and San Diego, to study the health value of cannabis. Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, has said--and reasonably so--that if cannabis were proved to have medical benefits he would favor its use in a medically approved delivery system. Several years ago, the FDA approved a liquid form of cannabis' active ingredient, tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, for physicians to prescribe, although it does not seem to have become a popular remedy.

Interestingly, the late Harry J. Anslinger, the legendary head of the federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs from 1930 to 1962, wanted to avoid a federal marijuana law: He urged the states to individually enact a uniform state narcotic act that included marijuana. He told me in the early 1970s that he felt this way because the task of eradicating marijuana was beyond his ability and also because he realized that he would be given neither more money nor more agents when he was given the task in 1937 of controlling marijuana.

If each state had a law, then each state could decide for itself how much of its resources it wanted to devote to the control of pot, and federal authorities could concern themselves with just opiates and cocaine.

California was one of the Western states that clamored for a federal anti-marijuana law in the 1930s. The perceived connection between Mexican immigrants and marijuana use lay behind some of the most insistent demands for action, but there were also more reasoned concerns about marijuana use, especially among youth.

Sixty-some years after pushing for the Marihuana Tax Act, California is pulling the nation toward a dismantling of a national consensus against marijuana.

-

David F. Musto Is a Professor at the Yale School of Medicine and Author of "The American Disease: Origins of Narcotic Control" (Oxford University, 1999)

-------- india/pakistan

Pakistani shelling kills five in border area

Washington Times
September 8, 2000
World Scene Combined dispatches and staff reports
http://208.246.212.80/world/worldscene-200098211251.htm

SRINAGAR, India - Five persons were killed when Pakistani troops fired artillery shells across the Himalayan region's military control line, Indian police said yesterday.

The renewed violence came as both countries braced for hard diplomacy at the United Nations Millennium Summit in New York.

"Pakistani troops resorted to heavy artillery shelling in Uri area Wednesday evening. An [Indian] army major, a jawan [soldier] and three civilians were killed in the shelling," a police official said in Srinagar, summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.

Indian troops retaliated, resulting in an exchange of fire, police said.

-------- iran

THE VISITING MULLAH
Skipping the Charm, President of Iran Chastises His Country's Reformers and the U.S.

New York Times
September 08, 2000
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/08/world/08IRAN.html

President Mohammad Khatami of Iran criticized his country's democratic reformers yesterday for their unrealistic expectations and urged his people to avoid extremes in the name of promoting either security or freedom.

At a news conference in a meeting room of the United Nations Plaza Hotel, Mr. Khatami also criticized the international outrage over his country's prosecution and conviction of a group of Jews as spies and ruled out an official dialogue with the United States until Washington changed its ways.

Mr. Khatami, a mid-level cleric trained in philosophy, was swept into office in an upset landslide victory in 1997 on a platform promoting tolerance and the rule of law. But between smiles, he was defensive as he fielded tough questions about the recent setbacks in Iran's fledgling reform movement.

Speaking in Persian and dressed in the turban, robe and cloak that identify him as a cleric, Mr. Khatami made little effort to charm journalists, as he did during his maiden voyage to the United Nations two years ago. Back then, he told journalists how he had started out as a journalist and editor, expressed his admiration for the American Puritans, summarized the definition of justice in Plato's "Republic" and said he wished he could be a tourist and spend up to a month in America.

Yesterday, he stressed that his country's moves toward democracy should not be compared with countries in the West with two to three centuries of experience, and he called for moderation.

"You cannot endanger security for the sake of freedom and you cannot endanger freedom for the sake of security," Mr. Khatami said. "This is a delicate balance."

Describing his people as "impatient," he said that "the demands of the people should not rise beyond possibilities." Complicating matters are the constant complaints about the country's inflation and high unemployment, especially among young people, which, he said, "add to certain expectations not in sync with the possibilities of the times."

He warned against extremism, which he said "in any form, any direction is unwanted, whether in the name of freedom and supporting people's rights or in the name of security and suppressing people's rights."

Mr. Khatami suggested that he might not run for re-election next May, although Iran's state-run television quoted him recently as saying he would run again. And he seemed to distance himself from the reform movement that was sparked after his victory, saying, "Let me remind you that I did not come in the name of reform."

The Iranian president is caught in the middle of an intense and dangerous power struggle between reformers and conservatives in Iran. Increasingly, conservative forces opposed to democratic reform who enjoy the financial backing of well- placed power brokers have been willing to use any means, including violence, to maintain a hold on various spheres of power.

Most recently, vigilantes, many of them armed with batons and other weapons, took over the airport and forcibly prevented two reformist leaders from speaking in the western industrial city of Khurramabad, sparking days of rioting with students in which a policeman was killed and more than 100 people were injured.

In addition, in the past several months, more than a score of Iran's reformist newspapers and magazines have been shut down, many of its reformist journalists and clerics have been put into prison, and its judiciary, dominated by ultraconservative clerics, is determined to punish any behavior it considers un- Islamic.

Mr. Khatami has struggled to prevent violent confrontations by calling over and over for calm. But since nationwide riots last year, students have become more organized and are beginning to say that passive resistance will no longer work.

In his news conference yesterday, Mr. Khatami also said the international reaction to the case of ten Iranian Jews and two Muslims convicted in July of espionage was overblown.

"Why do you never mention the Muslims convicted by the same court and who are still in prison for the same reasons?" he asked, adding, "If instead of these Jews they were Christians would the world still react as it did today?"

Asked why he did not intervene in the case, Mr. Khatami stressed that the executive branch should not interfere in the work of the judiciary. But he added that the cases are before the appeals court, and expressed the hope that "no one will be convicted beyond their actual guilt."

Mr. Khatami played down the importance of a recent meeting in New York between Iranian parliamentary deputies and American Congressman as "unplanned."

He also ruled out the possibility that the meeting might be a prelude to higher level meetings with American officials. Citing "serious issues" dividing the two nations, Mr. Khatami called on the United States to "confess" its involvement in the coup orchestrated by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1953 that overthrew the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and restored Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to power. "This confession will be a big step forward," he said.

When reminded that Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright essentially apologized for the 1953 coup in a speech on Iran last March, Mr. Khatami listed other grievances against the United States, including economic sanctions and the Clinton administration's opposition to the construction of a pipeline through Iran to ship oil and gas from the Caspian Sea.

"In the West, people still refuse to understand that the cheapest, fastest route transferring energy from the Caspian is through Iran," Mr. Khatami said. He also cited American "allegations" against Iran, a reference to American assertions that Iran is involved in sponsoring international terrorism and is developing weapons of mass destruction, including a nuclear weapon.

He called on the United States to offer "apologies" and "practical measures" to prove that the nature of the relationship has changed. "Unfortunately, the Americans have been less inclined to do that," he said.

Earlier in the morning, at a breakfast with a small number of journalists, many of whom Mr. Khatami knows, he was more relaxed. When Christiane Amanpour of CNN asked him a pointed question, just as he dug into his cornflakes, he replied: "Is this an interview or a friendly conversation over breakfast? Allow me to continue our friendly chat."

-------- korea

Does the U.S. Really Want Peace in Korea?

Los Angeles Times
Friday, September 8, 2000
By CHALMERS JOHNSON
http://www.latimes.com/news/comment/20000908/t000084450.html

Since peace started to break out in Korea last June, the United States has responded only with bitter carping. The U.S. does everything it can to produce a peace treaty--any treaty--between the Israelis and the Palestinians, but it downplays steps toward reconciliation between North and South Korea.

The United States still keeps 37,000 combat troops in South Korea. The South Korean people have become so irritated with the continued American presence in their country that the U.S. 8th Army has ordered U.S. troops and their dependents to use the "buddy system" when leaving their bases in order to prevent assaults on them.

North Korea is the United States' dream boogeyman, its justification for bases in South Korea and Japan and the most frequently cited reason why we need a national missile defense system. Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) has said that if the Republicans are elected, there would be an end to the offered rapprochement with the North. This would preserve the huge vested interests of the Pentagon and defense industry in keeping the Cold War alive in East Asia.

On Tuesday at Frankfurt Airport in Germany, a 15-member delegation from North Korea was en route to the United Nations Millennium Summit. The delegates had completed departure procedures and were about to board an American Airlines flight to New York when people the North Koreans referred to as "U.S. air security agents" stopped them. The Koreans said that after searching the delegates' baggage, the agents searched "every sensitive part of the body." When they came to the head of the North Korean delegation, Kim Yong Nam, who is also head of North Korea's Assembly, the North Koreans balked. The Koreans say the agents canceled their reservations to prevent them from departing. The delegation then canceled its trip and returned to North Korea.

The U.S. later offered as an explanation that North Korea was one of eight "rogue nations" (now called "states of concern") designated by the U.S. State Department and that the delegates had to undergo U.S.-defined search procedures to board a U.S. flag carrier.

North Korea is a member of the United Nations, and the delegation held visas to enter the U.S. as well as invitations to a reception hosted by President Clinton. It was expected that Kim Yong Nam would meet with South Korean President Kim Dae Jung in New York. It would have been the highest-level meeting between the two Koreas since Kim's journey to North Korea last June, which opened a peace process that has both sides declaring that "the threat of war on the Korean peninsula is over."

After the hassle at the airport, the North Korean deputy foreign minister, Choe Su Hon, said the airport incident was intended to derail the meeting between the two Korean leaders and frustrate the Korean peoples' desire to reunify their country.

In Pyongyang, North Korea asserted that "the U.S. will come to know what a dear price it will have to pay for having hurt our people's dignity" and that the United States' "hostile policy toward the DPRK [North Korea] has not changed even a bit." In Seoul, even the conservative English-language daily, Korea Times, demanded that Washington apologize and rejected its explanation that this was an "innocent mistake."

The Clinton administration waffled. White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said, "It was a combination of unfamiliarity with our procedures [presumably on the part of the North Koreans] and I think some unfamiliarity on the part there [in Germany] with the delegation coming through." The State Department's spokesman claimed that "this incident did not occur at the instigation or with the knowledge of anybody in the United States government." However, he added that, while diplomats accredited to the United States or the United Nations are exempt from searches, "this delegation did not qualify for that exemption."

This incident in Germany appears to be the diplomatic equivalent of the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade--an outrageous act explained by the flimsiest of excuses.

-

Chalmers Johnson's Latest Book Is "Blowback: the Costs and Consequences of American Empire" (Metropolitan Books, 2000)

---

North Korean danger

Washington Times
September 8, 2000
Embassy Row James Morrison News and dispatches from the diplomatic corridor.
http://208.246.212.80/world/embassy-200098211727.htm

The U.S. ambassador to South Korea remains worried about its Stalinist neighbor, North Korea, despite the recent warming in relations on the Korean Peninsula.

Ambassador Stephen Bosworth yesterday said South Korea and the United States must maintain a "strong, credible [military] deterrent against possible North Korean aggression."

"I suspect it will be some time before engagement can be a sufficient strategy by itself. It must still be bolstered by deterrence," he said in a speech in the South Korean capital, Seoul.

"It is important to recognize that at present, despite very encouraging developments in North Korea's policy toward the South and the outside world, the physical threat posed by its military has not diminished at all."

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il held a landmark summit in June, the first time leaders from both Koreas met since the Korean War 50 years ago.

South Korea, however, is enthusiastic about the results of the summit.

The South Korean Embassy here called it a "critical turning point" in relations between the two Koreas.

"The historic, first-ever meeting between the political leaders of the South and North had enormous and positive impact on the previously stalled South-North dialogue process," the embassy said in its latest newsletter.

"Furthermore, the visit resulted in a formal communique between the two sides that set a clear and substantive direction for further efforts toward inter-Korean reconciliation and eventual national reunification."

South Korea is also opening a "liaison office" in North Korea to help families separated by the division of the peninsula.

To contact James Morrison, call 202/636-3297, fax 202/832-7278 or e-mail morris@twtmail.com

---

U.S. 'regrets' search of N. Koreans

Washington Times
September 8, 2000
By Ben Barber THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/world/default-200098221936.htm

The United States sent a letter of "regret" to North Korea yesterday over a U.S. airline's search Tuesday of the North Korean delegation en route to the U.N. summit in New York, prompting the diplomats to return home in protest.

"I can confirm that the Secretary of State [Madeleine K. Albright] sent a letter but I would not characterize it as an apology," said a State Department official yesterday.

The letter was delivered "through our usual channels" to the North Korean mission to the United Nations, said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

The official would not go into any detail or release the contents of the letter.

The State Department said the U.S. government did not accept responsibility for the incident, which it blamed on overly diligent security staff at American Airlines in Germany, where the search was conducted.

The searches were performed because the diplomatic party headed by North Korean Supreme People's Assembly President Kim Yong-nam came from one of a half-dozen countries listed by the State Department as sponsors of terrorism.

Saying they were insulted by the search of their shoes, bags and outer garments, the North Korean officials canceled their flight to New York despite offers by the airline of passage on another flight.

The State Department official said that the department was unaware the North Koreans intended to enter the United States from Europe by a U.S. flag carrier.

Such airlines are required to conduct extensive security searches since the 1988 downing of the Pan Am flight by a bomb over Scotland.

While diplomats from countries on the terrorist list are exempt from extensive searches if they are based in the United States, the North Koreans "did not meet those criteria," said the State Department official.

Separately, President Clinton met yesterday with South Korea's President Kim Dae-jung at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York to discuss ways to end the North's missile program, according to White House spokesman P.J. Crowley.

Mr. Clinton also praised Kim Dae-jung for his peace initiatives, which led to the recent marked thaw in relations between the two Koreas.

The airline incident threatens to complicate the warming of North Korea's relations with the United States as well as other Western nations after 50 years of Cold War hostility.

However, North and South Korea have already said they will not allow the incident to disrupt their moves toward improved ties in the wake of the Pyongyang summit this summer between South Korea's President Kim and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

The official North Korean press service KCNA Wednesday blamed the pat-down search of the North Korean party on the "brazen-faced and brigandish obstructive moves of the U.S. administration authorities."

The State Department official said: "It is our feeling that this incident should not have an effect on our bilateral relations. There were no U.S. government personnel involved in this incident."

Since Kim Young-nam is formally the head of the North Korean state, he might have been able to meet with Mr. Clinton in New York.

While no meeting was arranged, if it had taken place it would have been the highest level contact between the two adversaries of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sum may still attend the U.N. General Assembly session, where a meeting with Mrs. Albright has not been ruled out, said a State Department source.

-------- russia

SAFETY UNDER THE SEA
Putin Proposes a System for International Help in Submarine Disasters

New York Times
September 09, 2000
By PATRICK E. TYLER
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/09/world/09RUSS.html

MOSCOW, Sept. 8 - With the loss of the nuclear submarine Kursk and its 118-member crew, President Vladimir V. Putin has begun consultations with other leaders on an international agreement in which nations that operate warships under the sea would come to one another's aid during disasters.

The proposals, drafted by a commission investigating the causes of the Kursk's sinking in the Barents Sea on Aug. 12, were discussed by Mr. Putin during this week's meeting of world leaders at the United Nations. Mr. Putin confirmed in a meeting with news media executives on Wednesday that he had carried the proposals to New York for discussion with other leaders, but the Russian plan has not been elaborated on in public.

In an interview in Moscow today, Deputy Prime Minister Ilya I. Klebanov, who heads the investigating commission, said that a decade after the end of the cold war, a "framework of relations" is needed along with a "general system of a provision of assistance" between submarine navies.

The Russian initiative follows a political outcry over Mr. Putin's delay in requesting foreign assistance to help rescue the crew of the Kursk.

But Mr. Putin made clear in comments this week in New York that he believed that most crew members died immediately in a powerful explosion that destroyed the forward compartments of the vessel as the ship prepared to fire a torpedo during an exercise.

He also said that tapping noises emanating from the sunken vessel just after the accident were not, as initially thought, made by crew members, but came from unknown "mechanical" sources. Initially, the noises had energized the rescue effort and riveted international attention on the plight of the crew.

By recommending that well- defined protocols be established for rescues during catastrophes, Mr. Putin may be seeking to blunt political recriminations from his domestic critics. But his proposals may also prompt an examination of how submarine commanders, engaged in silent reconnaissance missions near one another's fleets, conduct themselves when they detect disaster in another fleet.

Two United States submarines, the Memphis and, according to some reports, the Toledo, were monitoring the military maneuvers in which the Kursk was participating last month when two explosions disabled and sunk the Kursk, a 490-foot attack submarine. Senior American officials have said that the American vessels lingered in the area and monitored Russian radio transmissions in the frantic early stages of the search-and-rescue operation before leaving the area. A few American submarines on intelligence missions have been known to carry deep-sea divers and small submersibles, but these officials have said the American boats on this occasion were not equipped to help.

Officials in Washington said they were unaware of Mr. Putin's proposal, adding that Mr. Putin did not raise it during his meeting with Mr. Clinton in New York.

The Clinton administration has declined so far to publicly discuss the mission of the American submarines or how American forces might help a foreign submarine in distress. This week, Mr. Clinton's national security adviser, Samuel R. Berger, turned over an unclassified analysis of sonar data collected at the time of the explosions that scuttled the Kursk to Sergei Ivanov, his Russian counterpart.

Mr. Klebanov, speaking in the interview, said that the American information turned over in New York was "seismological" in nature and that it conformed with earlier information supplied by Norway. However, he said, Russian sonar specialists differ in their interpretation of the information, believing that the first of two explosions recorded on Aug. 12 could have been the sound of a collision or of a mine detonating. Russian specialists also believe that any vessel that collided with the Kursk, disabling it and sending it careering to the bottom, could have survived such a collision and then slipped away.

The deputy prime minister, an engineer who oversees Russia's huge military industrial complex, also confirmed reports that the force of the second explosion blew away much of the bow and torpedo compartment. Mr. Klebanov said a crucial problem of the investigation is that the second explosion may have obliterated some of the evidence of whether the Kursk was struck by another vessel or a mine.

"The second explosion greatly distorted the first cause," he said, adding, "we have elements of the inner hull bent inside" indicating an external blow, "and we have metal bent outside," indicating an internal explosion breaking through the hull.

"This is why we cannot abandon the version that a collision occurred," he said, "because we have parts bent to the inside."

He also elaborated on Mr. Putin's remarks in New York about the analysis of tapping noises. The navy's tapes of the tapping noises on the hull revealed "clear, rhythmic sounds," but when they were subjected to "multiple computer processing," he added, "we can say with a large degree of probability that it was mechanical tapping, not by a man, but it was noise from a mechanism whose nature we cannot establish, but almost for sure we defined that those signals were not emitted by live crew members." He said the noises stopped just before noon on Aug. 14.

Also today, Russian officials denied a report in a German newspaper suggesting that the Kursk was struck by a missile from the cruiser Peter the Great.

All weapons fired during Russian military exercises carry dummy warheads, Mr. Klebanov said. He also clarified that at the time of the accident, the Kursk was preparing to fire a standard torpedo that was equipped with a dummy warhead. However, he added, the Kursk was equipped with a normal complement of live torpedoes and other conventional missiles carrying high-explosive warheads.

The torpedo that the Kursk was preparing to fire was of the Squall type that has been in the fleet for 20 years and was equipped only with a new battery that had been subjected to earlier testing, he said.

American Navy officers have said that handling errors and flaws involving torpedoes have created dangerous situations on other submarines. Some former Navy officials believe that the explosion of a torpedo battery caused the loss of the American submarine Scorpion and its 99-man crew in 1968.

Mr. Klebanov also disclosed that Russian rescue vessels actually docked 18 times on the Kursk's rear outer hatch in vain attempts to create an air-tight corridor that would have allowed them to open the inner hatch to the submarine compartment below, but damage to the seal around the hatch and flooding inside the submarine doomed this final pathway into the submarine.

Crew recovery operations begin at the end of this month, with large holes to be cut in the Kursk's hull. But Mr. Klebanov said a decision on whether to cut into the reactor compartment is still under study. He said radiation levels remain normal on and around the wrecked vessel.

---

Russia's Military To Make Deep Cuts

Associated Press
September 09. 2000 Filed at 10:35 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Russia-Military-Reform.html

MOSCOW (AP) -- Russia will slash its forces by nearly one-third over the next 2 1/2 years, the defense minister said Friday -- a sign that Russian officials have decided they can't afford their vast but dilapidated military.

``A corresponding decision has been made, and now (we) are preparing suggestions for the president on how to carry it out,'' Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev told journalists.

The cuts will slash about 350,000 people from the 1.2 million-strong Russian military. Speaking at a ceremony at the headquarters of the Kantemirovskaya tank division outside Moscow, Sergeyev said the reduction would be complete by 2003.

The move appears to reflect Russian leaders' growing recognition that the nation can no longer afford a huge military.

The current Russian defense budget is just $5.1 billion, compared with annual U.S. defense spending of about $300 billion. Yet Russia's armed forces are among the world's largest, with about 1.2 million troops under the Defense Ministry and still more counted under the border guards, intelligence services and Interior Ministry.

The military's poverty has left troops underfed, ill-equipped and barely trained, while military hardware has been poorly maintained.

Following the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine last month -- a tragedy that underlined the armed forces' decline -- Putin said Russia should trim its military into a ``compact'' and modern fighting force.

But even before the disaster, Putin had made reviving the armed forces a top priority. One of his first actions as president was to approve plans to modernize Russia's arsenal of conventional weapons, and military spending has been increased -- though it is not known by how much.

Sergeyev has wanted to modernize Russia's nuclear capabilities even at the expense of conventional forces, while other generals have fought to have fewer missiles and more troops to fight wars like that in Chechnya.

Now it appears both missiles and men may be cut back, said Alexander Golts, military affairs writer for Moscow's Itogi magazine.

``They understand that the country, even with an economy that is more successful than it was a year ago, simply cannot support a military of 1.2 million,'' Golts said.

Golts warned that the cuts, while a step in the right direction, would have little meaning unless the military ends its emphasis on trying to counterbalance Europe and the United States. It must shift to regional conflicts like that in Chechnya, he said, where lightly armed guerrillas have bogged down Russia's forces on its own territory.

Russia has already cut its armed forces down from 5 million troops in the past decade under a reform program launched by former President Boris Yeltsin.

The program announced by Sergeyev would carry that reduction even further. The deepest cuts would come in land forces, with about 180,000 troops removed from active service, the Interfax news agency reported, citing an unnamed source in the Defense Ministry. The navy would lose 50,000 men and the air force about 40,000, the report said.

---

Russian Parliament Postpones Budget

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Russia-Politics.html

MOSCOW (AP) -- With a moment of silence for 118 lost submariners, Russia's parliament opened its fall session Friday by putting off debate on a 2001 budget that some lawmakers say skimps on the bedraggled military.

Deputies in the lower house, or State Duma, returning to work after a summer recess, stood silently in memory of the crew of the nuclear submarine Kursk. The sub sank in Arctic waters after two mysterious explosions Aug. 12.

Afterward, the deputies decided to debate President Vladimir Putin's 2001 budget on Oct. 6, instead of Sept. 26 as scheduled. While the budget was a key battleground under former President Boris Yeltsin, the approval process may be smoother this year with a pro-Kremlin majority in the Duma.

This fall's session is expected to consider bills Putin says are crucial to reviving Russia's flagging economy and its global clout.

The government has proposed a balanced budget for the first time since Russia emerged from the 1991 Soviet breakup. Revenue and spending are both targeted at 1.19 trillion rubles, or $39 billion at the forecast exchange rate of 30 rubles to the dollar.

Putin wants to streamline and modernize the 1.2 million-man armed forces, with many saying Russia can't afford such a large military. On Friday, Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev said Russia will slash its forces by nearly one-third over the next 2 1/2 years.

But the Duma's defense committee has said it wants to raise defense spending from $6.8 billion to $9 billion. The U.S. defense budget for next year is projected at $280 billion.

The Duma is scheduled to debate a land code that would open the way for the buying and selling of land, nearly all of which still belongs to the state. Also on the agenda are measures to reform cumbersome, oft-evaded customs laws and overhaul the pension system.

After a decade of decline, Russia's economy has enjoyed steady growth for the past several months. The change is largely the result of high world prices for oil, which Russia exports, and increased production by domestic industry after years of stagnation.

But Economics and Trade Minister German Gref predicted Friday that the growth rate would slow down in 2001 to about 4 percent, compared to 5.5 percent predicted for this year.

---

Putin Hints at Explosion Aboard the Kursk

By Robert G. Kaiser
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 8, 2000 ; A28
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29867-2000Sep7.html

NEW YORK, Sept. 7 -- The 118 sailors aboard the submarine Kursk probably died quickly after it sank, and they never sent any signals from the distressed sub after it went down, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking to media executives and journalists at a dinner here Wednesday, Putin made no attempt to blame Western submarines for the calamity--even though his minister of defense, Igor Sergeyev, has repeatedly claimed that the Kursk went down after colliding with a British or American sub in the Barents Sea.

Shortly after the sinking, Russian naval officials said that survivors trapped on board were tapping on the ship's hull. But Putin said flatly that this never happened. The signals that were picked up from the sunken sub came from "a mechanical device on board" that went off automatically, he said.

The United States this week gave Putin detailed information on the accident, including sonar data that U.S. listening devices picked up on two explosions that apparently doomed the ship. According to Pentagon officials, the United States timed the explosions precisely (at 7:28 and 7:30 a.m. GMT Aug. 12), and said the second was 45 to 50 times greater than the first. The second blast was equal to between one and five tons of TNT, the Pentagon said.

This information is consistent with the interpretation U.S. officials have offered for the accident--that a small explosion, probably of the propellant in a Russian torpedo, ignited a larger explosion of one or more warheads on torpedoes carried by the Kursk. If this is how the accident occurred, officials said, most or all of the crew probably perished with the second explosion.

At the dinner here Wednesday, Putin offered this as one of three plausible explanations for what happened. The others were that the Kursk collided with another submarine and hit the ocean floor so hard that a torpedo detonated; or that it struck a World War II mine still on the ocean floor. Putin declined to say on the record which of the three explanations he believed was most likely, but he gave no hint that he thought another submarine was involved.

The dinner with 20 media executives and journalists took place at New York's famous 21 Club. The gathering was hosted by Tom Brokaw, the NBC anchorman, who interviewed Putin in Moscow last June. Brokaw offered recently to host an event that would allow Putin to meet some American journalists, and the Russian president accepted. The group included Joseph Lelyveld and Leonard Downie Jr., editors of the New York Times and Washington Post, respectively; Peter Kann, publisher of the Wall Street Journal; Diane Sawyer of ABC; Katie Couric and Tim Russert of NBC; and top editors of Time, Newsweek and the New Yorker, Walter Isaacson, Richard Smith and David Remnick.

Putin was asked why he stayed on vacation at the Black Sea for days after the Kursk went down, a decision that caused political problems at home. He didn't answer directly but said his first instinct was to follow the example of medical doctors who respect the Hippocratic oath to first "do no harm."

He said he was told the submarine was designed with rescue mechanisms. And at first, he said, the Russian Navy was certain it "had everything they needed in their own hands to rescue this boat," which is why it didn't ask for foreign help.

According to Putin's account, within hours of discovering the Kursk on the sea floor, the Russian navy sent a "submersible vehicle" to examine it. When this vehicle was unable to attach to the sub, the first interpretation was that brisk currents were the problem. When a second attempt failed, navy officers realized there was something terribly wrong. Designers said that if the docking failed, that meant there was no air left in the sub, and no survivors on board, Putin explained.

This sequence of events differs substantially from accounts given earlier by Russian military officials, who for days after the accident said the crew might have remained alive. He didn't say so directly, but Putin's account suggested that he may have been told soon after the sinking that there would be no survivors.

Putin said his navy now believes that the big blast destroyed the bulkheads that separated the various compartments of the sub, allowing water to flood the entire vessel.

Putin also acknowledged that his government made mistakes in the way it disclosed information about the incident. "It could have been handled better--I agree with that," he said.

Correspondent Daniel Williams in Moscow and staff writer Robert Suro in Washington contributed to this report.

---

Russia to slash military forces

USA Today
09/08/00- Updated 08:28 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nwsfri01.htm

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia will slash its forces by nearly one-third over the next 2{ years, the defense minister said Friday - a sign that Russian officials have decided they can't afford their vast but dilapidated military.

''A corresponding decision has been made, and now (we) are preparing suggestions for the president on how to carry it out,'' Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev told journalists.

The cuts will slash about 350,000 people from the 1.2 million-strong Russian military. Speaking at a ceremony at the headquarters of the Kantemirovskaya tank division outside Moscow, Sergeyev said the reduction would be complete by 2003.

The move appears to reflect Russian leaders' growing recognition that the nation can no longer afford a huge military.

The current Russian defense budget is just $5.1 billion, compared with annual U.S. defense spending of about $300 billion. Yet Russia's armed forces are among the world's largest, with about 1.2 million troops under the Defense Ministry and still more counted under the border guards, intelligence services and Interior Ministry.

The military's poverty has left troops underfed, ill-equipped and barely trained, while military hardware has been poorly maintained.

Following the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine last month - a tragedy that underlined the armed forces' decline - Putin said Russia should trim its military into a ''compact'' and modern fighting force.

But even before the disaster, Putin had made reviving the armed forces a top priority. One of his first actions as president was to approve plans to modernize Russia's arsenal of conventional weapons, and military spending has been increased - though it is not known by how much.

Sergeyev has wanted to modernize Russia's nuclear capabilities even at the expense of conventional forces, while other generals have fought to have fewer missiles and more troops to fight wars like that in Chechnya.

Now it appears both missiles and men may be cut back, said Alexander Golts, military affairs writer for Moscow's Itogi magazine.

''They understand that the country, even with an economy that is more successful than it was a year ago, simply cannot support a military of 1.2 million,'' Golts said.

Golts warned that the cuts, while a step in the right direction, would have little meaning unless the military ends its emphasis on trying to counterbalance Europe and the United States. It must shift to regional conflicts like that in Chechnya, he said, where lightly armed guerrillas have bogged down Russia's forces on its own territory.

Russia has already cut its armed forces down from 5 million troops in the past decade under a reform program launched by former President Boris Yeltsin.

The program announced by Sergeyev would carry that reduction even further. The deepest cuts would come in land forces, with about 180,000 troops removed from active service, the Interfax news agency reported, citing an unnamed source in the Defense Ministry. The navy would lose 50,000 men and the air force about 40,000, the report said.

-------- space

Weather Question Mark for Shuttle Launch

Yahoo News
Friday September 8
By Brad Liston
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000908/ts/space_shuttle_dc_2.html

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Weather was the biggest question mark as crews made final preparations for the Friday liftoff of space shuttle Atlantis on a mission to ready the International Space Station for the arrival of its first long-duration crew in less than two months.

Thunderstorms blanketed the southeastern United States as ground workers pressed on toward their final tasks, which included loading the shuttle's mammoth external fuel tank and strapping the international crew of astronauts and cosmonauts into their seats for the eight-minute ride into space.

Weather officers at Florida's Kennedy Space Center forecast a 60 percent chance of clear skies at 8:45 a.m. EDT (1245 GMT), when a two-minute window of opportunity to launch the spacecraft opens.

The mission was announced last February, when delays in a Russian module forced NASA and the project's remaining partners in Europe, Canada and Japan back to the drawing boards.

That means the seven-member crew, commanded by U.S. Marine Corps Col. Terrence Wilcutt, have had just half the training time usually given shuttle crews.

But that was inevitable given the complexity of a project often compared to the Moon landing, NASA said.

``As the task grows and the details become more and more obvious, we'll always have to add missions. You'd like to keep that to a minimum, but there's just no way you can get around that,'' Wilcutt said in a recent preflight interview.

This is seat-of-the-pants flying by NASA standards, but flight managers say they are sacrificing none of the excruciatingly detailed planning and training designed to make the flights safe and successful.

``We know how to put flights together; we know what it takes to get ready and when it's ready. There's no pressure,'' said Ron Dittemore, the shuttle program manager.

The Atlantis crew will find a space station that has grown from seven stories to 13 stories since the last shuttle crew visited in May.

In July the long delayed Zvezda service module, headquarters for early station crews, was launched and made an automatic docking. It was followed by a Progress supply ship, which is now docked to the back end of Zvezda.

Altogether, the complex now looks like bottles and cans of various shapes and sizes laid end to end with solar panels and antennas jutting from the sides.

Astronaut Edward Lu and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko will perform a space walk during the mission, connecting power and data cables to Zvezda.

For the first time, the space walkers will use a Russian method of securing themselves while working outside a shuttle. They will scamper up and down using a pair of tethers in the manner of rock climbers, always held by one cable as they move to a new position and secure the other.

Inside the station, the crew will offload about 4,800 pounds (2,200 kilograms) from the pressurized cargo hold in Atlantis. They will also unload some 1,300 pounds (588 kilograms) from the Progress cargo ship.

Much of this cargo run is made up of Zvezda hardware stripped from the module before launch to lighten its weight. Some will be installed but most will be positioned for installation when the first three-person station crew, known as Expedition One, arrives in November.

Rounding out the crew are pilot Scott Altman and mission specialists Daniel Burbank, Rick Mastracchio and cosmonaut Boris Morukov.

The Atlantis mission is scheduled for 11 days but NASA has said it would like to extend that to 12 if enough fuel can be conserved after launch.

---

Atlantis hooks on to space station

USA Today
09/10/00- Updated 08:26 AM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/ndssun01.htm

SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) - Flying without one of its navigational eyes, the space shuttle Atlantis sped alongside and latched onto the growing international space station early Sunday.

Cmdr. Terrence Wilcutt and co-pilot Scott Altman sidled Atlantis up to the station for the linkup, which occurred some 230 miles above Kazakstan. The duo accomplished the docking with only one of two star trackers working, a handicap which required a few extra roll maneuvers.

Even with the flight complexities created by the failed star tracker, which broke down Friday, Wilcutt and Altman were able to save fuel toward an extra day in orbit. Shuttle managers want to stretch the mission from 11 days to 12, a luxury that can only be afforded by saving power and fuel.

''Congratulations on a fine rendezvous and docking,'' Mission Control told the crew once the spacecraft were latched together. ''That was letter-perfect. Great to watch.''

Shortly after the docking, Wilcutt popped the space station's outer hatch to capture an air sample. NASA scientists were to analyze it back on Earth, but an adapter Wilcutt was to use to grab the sample malfunctioned and station managers chose to forgo the task, considered non-critical.

Ground controllers had already fired up the heaters inside the U.S. segment of the station in advance of Wilcutt's brief foray, and flipped on scrubbers to clean the air inside before Atlantis' crew of five astronauts and two cosmonauts heads back inside late Monday.

Before then, astronaut Edward Lu and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko have several exterior tasks to complete during a 6 1/2 hour spacewalk. The pair will attempt the longest tethered spacewalk in NASA's history, venturing 110 feet along the station to connect power and data cables between the two Russian segments, Zvezda and Zarya. They'll also install a 6 1/2-foot boom for an instrument that measures Earth's magnetic field.

Once that's done, the crew can look forward to moving day - actually about five days of hauling and stowing thousand of pounds of gear aboard the still-uninhabited space station.

The orbiting complex is twice as large as it was when astronauts last visited in May, thanks to the July arrival of the Russian service module Zvezda. But all that new space is largely empty, since the module had to be launched without most its contents because of its heft.

Nonetheless, station managers were thrilled to take a good look at the station and its latest addition, which arrived two years late and delayed an ambitious construction schedule.

''It was really great to see that the station has changed since the last time we were there,'' station flight director Mark Ferring said. ''The assembly is really picking up and it's really exciting for us to see.''

Atlantis' crew will also unload an unmanned Russian supply ship which docked with the station last month. The equipment brought up by both spacecraft is for the station's first permanent residents, who are due in their new home in November.

-------- u.n.

MILLENNIUM FORUM CO-CHAIR ADDRESSES THE MILLENNIUM SUMMIT

NEWS FROM THE MILLENNIUM FORUM
8 September 2000
For more information, contact bpokorny@bic.org
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000 01:34:36 -0000

UNITED NATIONS (BWNS) ­ Speaking in his capacity as the Co-Chair of the Millennium Forum, Techeste Ahderom today addressed world leaders gathered at the Millennium Summit, urging them to join in a global partnership with civil society to create a peaceful and more prosperous world.

"This historic Summit may well be remembered as having opened the door to a long-awaited era of peace, justice and prosperity for all humanity," said Mr. Ahderom, who led the Millennium Forum, which brought together some 1,350 representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at the United Nations last May to consult about humanity's future in anticipation of this week's Millennium Summit of world leaders.

"This new era will, of course, require concrete deeds and not just words," Mr. Ahderom continued. "We in civil society stand ready to work with you and your governments, side by side, in a strong new partnership to create this new world. At the same time, civil society also stands ready to hold you to your commitments if you do not deliver on your words."

In his capacity as Co-Chair of the Millennium Forum, Mr. Ahderom was the only Summit speaker who represented civil society at large. The Summit drew more than 150 world leaders, making it the largest gathering of heads of state and government ever held.

In his address, Mr. Ahderom said that the Millennium Forum, which was organized by non-governmental organizations and held 22-26 May 2000 at the United Nations, was one of the most diverse and significant gatherings of civil society ever held.

"The Forum was significant for its attempt to accelerate the process among NGOs of networking and coalition building across issue areas that has proved to be such a powerful force for change and social action in today's world," said Mr. Ahderom. "The Forum's focus was on six main issues: peace and security, the eradication of poverty, human rights, sustainable development and the environment, the challenges of globalization, and "strengthening and democratizing the United Nations."

Mr. Ahderom asked Summit leaders to carefully review the Millennium Forum Declaration and Agenda for Action, a document that was drafted and adopted by NGOs and civil society organizations gathered at the Forum last May, who came from some 115 countries ­ including a large number from the developing world.

The Forum's Declaration, he said, "offers a bold vision for humanity's future and outlines a series of concrete steps that the United Nations, governments, and members of civil society themselves can take to address the global problems facing humanity today."

In particular, Mr. Ahderom told world leaders, the Forum's Declaration condemns global poverty as a "violation of human rights," urges the immediate cancellation of Third World debt, calls for a "strengthened and democratized United Nations" with a reformed Security Council, invigorated through an enlarged membership, more democratic procedures, and eventual elimination of the veto.

Mr. Ahderom also explained that the Forum's Declaration states that while globalization offers "significant opportunities for people to connect, share and learn from each other," in its currently unregulated form it increases "inequities between and within countries, undermines local traditions and cultures, and escalates disparities between rich and poor, thereby marginalizing large numbers of people in urban and rural areas."

The Declaration urges governments to make serious "commitments to restructure the global financial architecture based on principles of equity, transparency, accountability, and democracy...," stating clearly that the United Nations should be the preeminent international organization, overseeing the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO.

Mr. Aherdom was selected as the Co-Chair of the Forum early last year after heading up an interim planning committee that emerged from the Task Force on UN Reform of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (CONGO). In his position as Co-Chair of the Forum, he headed up the Forum's Executive Committee and directed the work of its Secretariat, all in the capacity of an unpaid volunteer. Mr. Ahderom is the principal representative of the Bahá'í International Community to the United Nations.

In addressing the Millennium Summit, Mr. Ahderom sought to tell world leaders about the Millennium Forum and its results, emphasizing the important role civil society has played in promoting positive social change.

"Throughout history, from the abolition of slavery to the recognition of the equality of women and men, most great social movements have begun not with governments but with ordinary people," Mr. Ahderom said. "In 1945, civil society again played an important role in shaping many of the key articles found in the Charter of the United Nations, especially in the area of human rights."

"More recently," he said, "NGOs have played a leading role in shaping and supporting an International Criminal Court, in the movement for debt cancellation, and in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines."

Mr. Ahderom called on world leaders to grant NGOs and civil society groups increased access to the UN General Assembly as a first step towards an invigorated partnership for the new century.

Speakers at the Summit were limited to heads of state and government, foreign ministers, along with a few leaders of international, intergovernmental organizations, such as the League of Arab States and the Commission of the European Community. A few international organizations with observer status at the United Nations, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, also spoke. Mr. Ahderom, however, was the only representative to speak who represented a wide association of civil society and non-governmental organizations around the world.

For more information about the Millennium Forum, visit http://www.millenniumforum.org
For more information about the Millennium Summit, visit http://www.un.org
Or contact Brad Pokorny at bpokorny@bic.org

----

Changing the global rulebook

World Net Daily
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 8 2000
By Joan Veon WorldNetDaily.com
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_excomm/20000908_xex_changing_brg.shtml

At the first Gorbachev State of the World Forum in October 1995, Zbigniew Brezezinski, former national security advisor under President Carter and director of the Trilateral Commission, said,

Finally I have no illusions about world government emerging in our lifetime ... (through) a process of gradually expanding the range of democratic cooperation as well as the range of personal and national security. A widening step by step, stone by stone (through) genuine globalization, (which) is progressive regionalization.

Five years later, world leaders have gathered in New York City for a special meeting called the "Millennium Assembly" where they will review and sign agreements to strengthen the entire United Nations system.

To set the stage for whatever the United Nations does, there is always a great number of actors raising ideas about its next move -- be it the International Criminal Court, global taxes, a standing army, or a People's Parliament which they hope are perceived by you and me to be innocent ideas -- as if their clamoring was a natural outpouring of the people of the world.

These groups and organizations which are catalysts for change include: international organizations, various commissions and agencies of the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Interestingly enough the NGO's constitute "foot soldiers of change" into your local community where they are actively telling the county zoning board and the school board what you want. These groups have been given great political power by the United Nations which has empowered them through to carry out their wishes; beyond that, they are supported financially by corporate foundations.

Catalysts for change

When I was at my first United Nations Conference in Cairo, I had the occasion to speak with Sir. Shridath Ramphal, one of the co-chairmen of the Commission on Global Governance which is the group that wrote the result of their findings on how to change the world and the United Nations to fit our "growing interdependence." Interestingly enough of all the members who served on the commission, the only ones who were not communist, socialist, or Marxist were those from the United States (maybe)!

Their findings and suggestions are radical, far-ranging, and geared to putting the final touches on a world government structure. Of course, they never use the phrase "government," preferring one of their own coinage: "governance." According to Ramphal and Ingvar Carlsson in their commission report, "Our Global Neighborhood," governance is "the sum of the many ways individuals and institutions, public and private, manage their common affairs. It is a continuing process through which conflicting or diverse interests may be accommodated and co-operative action may be taken. It includes formal institutions and regimes empowered to enforce compliance, as well as informal arrangements that people and institutions either have agreed to or perceive to be in their interest."

The following outlines some of the commission's many positions:

The security of people and the security of the planet should be goals of global security policy, along with the security of states. The Charter of the United Nations should be revised to allow the Security Council to authorize action in situations within countries, but only if the security of people is so severely violated as to require an international response on humanitarian grounds. A United Nations Volunteer Force should be formed and be available for rapid deployment under the authority of the Security Council. A Global Competition Office should be set up to provide economic oversight. The role of the International Monetary Fund should be enhanced by enabling it to oversee policy in major economies as part of a more active policy of seeking policy convergence. The Trusteeship Council should be given a new mandate: to exercise trusteeship over the global commons (oceans, atmosphere, space). All members of the United Nations should accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the World Court.

The commission report concludes by saying, "Global governance, once viewed primarily as concerned with intergovernmental relationships, now involves not only governments and intergovernmental institutions but also non-governmental organizations, citizens' movements, transnational corporations, academia, and the mass media. The emergence of a global civil society reflects a large increase in the capacity and will of people to take control of their own lives."

The 1999 Human Development Report

This report by the United Nations Development Programme-UNDP is one of a series which has been published since 1990. In 1994, they published a radical set of recommendations calling for world government and a world tax, among other things. In the 1999 report, they stated, even more radical things than "Our Global Government."

This report states, "Global governance with a human face requires shared values, standards and attitudes -- a wide acceptance of human responsibilities and obligations. Those values include respect for life, liberty, justice and equality."

The recommendations of the report include:

Developing a global code of conduct for multinational corporations and a global monitoring forum. Expanding international crime-fighting with greater power for global courts, and expanded cross-jurisdictional arrangements between nations. New partnerships between governments, corporations, private voluntary associations and other stakeholders should be developed. Redistributing world income. In the "Human Development Report 1994," they quote Jan Tinbergen, the first Nobel Prize winner in economics, "There should also be redistribution at the international level through development cooperation. As the world economy becomes increasingly integrated, so the redistribution of world income should be similar to that within well governed nations." Stronger U.N. with global central bank, global investment trust with redistributive functions and transfer mechanisms.

People's Millennium Assembly

In 1988, Gaia Publishing Ltd., London, published the Gaia Peace Atlas in which they printed a picture of what they expected the United Nations to look like at some point in time. The picture was called "New Models of Governance." It depicted the Security Council and two chambers. The first assembly is for the states of the world to be represented and the new chamber was called the Upper Assembly. In that publication veteran internationalist and U.N. supporter, Maurice Strong suggested that the U.N. needed "a bicameral system in which directly-elected representatives of peoples sit in one chamber and representatives of government in the other."

I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Strong on Wednesday and asked him about the fact that the U.N. was looking to add the second chamber he replied, "The very fact that more heads of state and governments have gathered here today than have ever gathered here before underscores the importance they attach to the United Nations. They realize how necessary it is, and I believe this assembly will re-ignite the flame which created the U.N. and give its members the sense of how much they need it, how much the future of their people and nations depends on a functioning global system because globalization is reducing the power of nations -- even great nations like the United States but there are the structures which the nations of the world can cooperate with each other and with other major stakeholders are very poorly developed. "Our challenge is to develop them to the point where this world and this process of globalization can function for everyone. There is no organization that can do it without the U.N. It is the centerpiece of our world system. It's got to be strengthened to do the job that we all need it to do."

Just who are the various actors of partnership which will sit in this "People's Parliament" besides those who might be elected from the local level? The cast of players include the Parliamentarians for Global Action, the World Economic Forum and various multinational corporations.

When I interviewed Dr. Noel Brown, former director of UNEP, in March 1997, in Rio de Janeiro, he said with regard to public-private partnerships nd a second U.N. chamber:

I believe that the future of the United Nations will rest on effective partnering with the private sector with business and industry. As we look at future (U.N.) revitalization, the success of the United Nations will depend on the success by which it brings in new power-holders of the world. I see the United Nations with a new chamber for the industrial community. The secretary-general must have around him the top business leaders. We need to create a second chamber for the United Nations.

The United Nations has been making overtures to transnational corporations. On June 24, 1997, ten CEOs from various transnational corporations met over lunch at the United Nations with the U.N. leadership and a number of senior government officials to chart a formation of corporate involvement in the affairs of the United Nations. In 1998, the United Nations established a special and new organization which has as its basis to make a profit and to interact with corporations.

The International Chamber of Commerce: Founded in 1919 by a group of international businessmen, the ICC represents 7,500 businesses and associations in 130 countries around the world. As a group they supported the creation of the United Nations in 1945, regional government or "New Federalism," Medicare, the voucher system for education, federal land use planning, the Equal Rights Amendment, and now sustainable development. They have endorsed many of the United Nations environmental agreements and conventions and are working to get them ratified. National and local chambers chapters are found throughout the Untied States and usually vote the way the international organizations instruct them. The ICC operates on the global level with governments, businesses, and international organizations to further the goals of the United Nations. They have consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations. The ICC, along with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, would comprise the second assembly.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development: WBCSD Is a coalition of 120 international companies from 34 countries and more than 20 major business sectors who are concerned about economic growth and sustainable development. The WBCSD was formed in January 1995 through a merger between the Business Council for Sustainable Development in Geneva and the World Industry Council for the Environment in Paris. WICE was originally established by the United Nations Environment Programme.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development promotes business leadership, policy development, best practice, and has a global outreach. Its aims are "to develop closer cooperation between business, government, and all other organizations concerned about the environment and sustainable development." Member companies include ABB (Asea Brown Boveri), ATT, British Petroleum, DAN Hotels, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Eastman Kodak, Fiat, Hitachi, Itochu, Johnson Matthey, Monsanto, S.C. Johnson & Son, Shell International, Texaco, 3M, Tokyo Electric Power, Volkswagen and many more.

As for the non-governmental organizations which factor into this grand scheme - including groups like the World Conservation Union, World Resources Institute and the Nature Conservancy - they can basically be divvied up into two primary groups: environmental and population reduction. There are thousands upon thousands of these organizations all over the world. They are set up as non-profits and most of them have special recognition at the U.N. Receiving support from various foundations and international groups like the World Bank, UNEP and the Earth Council, most of these groups opposed to any sort of national sovereignty.

Do any of these organizations represent your goals, values, or concerns? Will you be represented in this new international House of Representatives?

In a press briefing with Dr. Wally N'Dow, Mikhail Gorbachev, and George Soros at the Sixth Annual Gorbachev State of the World Forum, I asked Dr. N'Dow about partnerships because it is the various members of the public-private partnership who will sit around the table and at the Millennium Assembly. He replied,

There is going to be a greater convergence between the traditional sources of vision and the resources in terms of the U.N. The new sources of vision and advocacy and resources will be civil Society and NGO's affiliated with the U.N. transforming themselves in terms of what one may call, "U.N. Pilgrims" in terms of advocacy. Included in that is the private enterprise -- the private sector which does research and development and which creates industries which create the jobs. The third area is that the governance systems of these big places where humanity lives today -- cities and big towns. The people who run these cities, the mayors and city officials and city processes themselves have to have a new role because this is where humanity will live. Most people we are talking about will be residents of cities. How do they work? They have a contribution to make. I feel this idea of a partnership which enables these partners to walk through the front door and sit around the table and make a contribution.

We are seeing and experiencing the end result of almost one hundred years of planning. The United Nations is the core umbrella for world government. Using their term, global governance, we have entered a new era in which the freedoms and representative government which we have known are fading. This did not come as a result of wishing but as a result of treacherous planning.

In 1837 President Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in Springfield, Ill., in which he recognized that no foreign power or combination of foreign powers "could by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected?" Lincoln said, "If it ever reach us, it must spring from among us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freedom, we must live through all time or die of suicide."

Joan Veon has done extensive research on the United Nations and the organization's agenda and has attended dozens of U.N. conferences.

mailto:T7W7G7@aol.com

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Children of Iraq:
The Hijacking Of The United Nations Foreign Affairs Opinion

FreeRepublic "A Conservative News Forum"
09/06/00 by Miss Antiwar
Syria Times
Dr. Gazi Abdulghfour
http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/latest?t=8
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/perl/redirect?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.teshreen.com%2Fsyriatimes%2Fs-th%2Fapolitic-s015.htm
http://www.FreeRepublic.com/perl/profile?op=show&user=Miss%20Antiwar
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a39b717dc29e4.htm

The Present ferment-not only in Iraq, but in many parts of the world-raises critical questions about the role of the world powers in the post-cold war era.

The American barbarous aggression against iraq can be considered as an epoch-making events in the contemporary history of international relations in general and that of the United Nations in particular. The Anglo-American desert games demonstrate the arrant defencelessness of Iraq and the utter helplessness of the United Nations.

The aggressive acts of the new Axis defies reason to be told that it intended to degrade and diminish Iraq's capabilities and its infrastructure. But, how does one "degrade and diminish" Iraqi, capabilities by airstrikes when UNSCOM could not uncover one suspect facility or site after years of inspection?.

The despair expressed by the United Nations efficiales while commenting on the airstrikes against Iraq, raises basic questions to be faced and debuted relating to the delinquency of the Unite Nations in the unipolar geo- political world order. Indeed, the message, this one-sided war sentout is "might is right", and that the world powers of the post- cold war period can get away with blatant acts of aggression. Three permanent members of the security council were (are) impotent witnesses tot he attack. This makes it abundantly clear that the security council is only an convenient instrumentality of the United States and has forfeited all its legitimacy and credibility to act as the guardian of international peace and security. It is beyond doubt, that US and UK, have bombed the United Nations system itself into irrelevance.

How can the United States presumes to act on behalf of the United Nations, and that without any authorization? The provocations, the US claimed, was provided by the former UNSCOM thief, Richard Butler, and the other is the "Iraqi" "Violation" of the so-called demilitarized zone. It is a sad reflection that such puerile excuses have been brazenly advanced by the Clinton administration and accepted by some. "The NO Fly Zones" which were imposed by the United States,above 36th and below the 33rd parallel to the north and South of Iraq, remain one of the most blatant violations of the Iraqis national sovereignty and, therefore of international law itself. The post-war development proved the hypothesis that destruction of Iraq's military might, and infrastructure were the undeclared latent motives beneath the facade of liberation of Kuwait.

Certain point, in fact, need dispassionate consideration. Does Iraq, have the requisite infrastructure and technology to fabricate a nuclear device? why has there been such concentrated pressure on Iraq to laminate its armouring and weapons system? Is Iraq the only state possessing such weapons? Are Iraq's weapons potential being deliberately exaggerated for ulterior objectives? Is the pressure on Iraq a part of the orchestrated campaign of a group against selected state to disarm them? It the security council's stand a move towards genuine nuclear and general disarmament? Doesn't the United Nations attitude toward Iraq indicate the trust of much talked-about new world order? What does the apparent carelessness and indifference of the dominant international community towards the miseries of the Iraqi people bode for the teeming millions of the third world in times to come?.

In conclusion, one can merely state that the US acting independently-with UK cooperation in the hope of constitution a new axis in what is purely a political move for searing perceived US and British strategic solution to the dilemmas created by states that engage in intentional terrorism. Mean while, Iraq has the right to self- defence, which is an inherent right of every state neither the Kellogg Briand Pact, nor the United Nations impairs this right. However, one just can't blame the United Nations. It merely provides an apparatus; a formidable one indeed. The nations would function the way member states wanted it to function. Crucial occasions come and go but history keeps the record and that record does not follow the principle: Forgive and forget.

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Bill Clinton, Meet Fidel Castro

NewsMax.com
Friday, Sept. 8, 2000
UPI
http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/9/7/204641

UNITED NATIONS - Cuban dictator Fidel Castro had a close encounter with President Clinton at a U.N. luncheon, but the White House insists "there was no handshake."

Castro approached Clinton at the end of a luncheon Wednesday for 160 heads of state. There was "a momentary exchange" between the two leaders at the luncheon, said P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council.

Aw, No Handshake? Was There a Hug?

But White House press secretary Joe Lockhart later said, "There was no handshake."

When asked to comment on the episode at the regular press briefing Thursday, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard referred all questions to "the U.S. and Cuban missions."

Perhaps a Thank-You for Handing Over Elian Gonzalez?

There was no word on what Castro and Clinton said to each other.

During his visit to the U.N. headquarters, Castro showed disposition to poke fun at himself. Before beginning his speech at the Millennium Summit, he pulled out a handkerchief and covered the podium light that indicates speakers they are reaching their five-minute time limit.

That Dictator Is Such a Card

The unexpected gesture, an obvious reference to his reputation for hours-long speeches, made the audience at the General Assembly hall burst into laughter.

At the luncheon Wednesday, when he was shown to his seat, the 74-year-old dictator joked in Spanish: "I don't know where they are taking me."

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Calls Grow for U.S. to Leave U.N.

NewsMax.com
Friday, Sept. 8, 2000
CNSNews.com
http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/9/7/193628

As the United Nations Millennium Summit continues in New York, conservatives in Washington are increasing their calls for the U.S. to withdraw from the left-wing world body.

Thursday, in a press conference on Capitol Hill, supporters of H.R. 1146, the American Sovereignty Restoration Act, presented more than 300,000 signed petitions in favor of the measure, which calls for the U.S. to cut its ties to the U.N.

"We are putting a bright spotlight on those in Congress who don't support national sovereignty. And we've brought more than 300,000 signed petitions to show Congress that the American people want their sovereignty protected," said Tom DeWeese, president of American Policy Center, which organized the drive.

According to DeWeese, recent proposals to eliminate permanent veto power in the Security Council, the creation of international rapid response forces, and the plan to create an International Criminal Court point to a U.N. that is increasingly taking on the role of a world government.

"Obviously its focus is changing from its original purpose to be a place where nations can come together to discuss their differences," said DeWeese. "Clearly the United Nations is on a different track."

DeWeese's comments were echoed by Dr. Herb Titus, an attorney who wrote the legislation.

"What we've seen in New York is the unanimous mandate by world leaders and heads of state to go ahead and implement an agenda for global governance," said Titus.

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was also on hand to promote a recently introduced bill he has co-sponsored that would prohibit U.S. soldiers from serving under U.N. command or wearing U.N. insignias or uniforms.

"U.S. soldiers sign up to defend the interests of the United States," said Paul. "They should not be required to take orders from any nation or body except duly appointed representatives of the American people."

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Big Five Back U.N. 'Reforms'

NewsMax.com
Friday, Sept. 8, 2000
UPI
http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/9/7/203131

UNITED NATIONS - The five permanent members of the Security Council - veto-wielding Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - Thursday issued a joint declaration in support of the panel's "reform" and vowed to make the United Nations "more effective and more efficient."

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and presidents Jiang Zemin of China, Jacques Chirac of France, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Bill Clinton of the United States acknowledged their "special responsibilities" for the "maintenance of international peace and security."

Said the declaration, "The challenges facing the United Nations and the world community are daunting. To meet such challenges, the world community's response must be quicker, more targeted, and better coordinated than ever before."

They said in their statement the world organization "can only be as effective, as creative and as authoritative as its members will it to be." The P5, as they are referred to in the halls of the United Nations, worked out the declaration at the nearby Waldorf-Astoria Hotel after a rare meeting of the Security Council represented by the heads of state and government of member nations.

"Bearing primary responsibility under the Charter for the maintenance of international peace and security, the Security Council, in particular its Permanent Members, has an abiding interest in ensuring that the UN is equipped to meet the challenges it faces," said the statement.

By reinforcing their dedication to the U.N. Charter and by giving the world body the means to deliver on its many commitments, the members said they could fulfill "our obligations to ensure that the United Nations can achieve its full potential."

Money Makes the World Go 'Round

They promised to focus their efforts on enhancing leadership for peace and security, strengthening peacekeeping, revitalizing U.N. management, replenishing human resources in the organization - and reaffirming financial commitment.

"We pledge to support measures to broaden the resource base for this institution through financial structures that are equitable, transparent and reflective of current realities for the regular budget and the peacekeeping budget, and the financing of UN activities," the two-page statement said.

"We recognize the need to adjust the existing peacekeeping scale of assessments, which is based on the 1973 system, in light of changed circumstances, including countries' current capacity to pay." This is a reflection of Washington's campaign to lower its financial obligations and increase those of other nations.

"We commit to creating a more stable and equitable financial foundation for current and future U.N. operations, including through adjustments to the peacekeeping scale of assessment to reflect the role of all Member States, and especially the role of all Permanent Members in peacekeeping financing."

They pledged to work together in the future "to fulfill our obligations under the Charter and to commit to making the UN organization stronger and more effective" and "to have more regular exchanges of views on important international issues at all levels."

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U.N. Summit Closes With Resolution

New York Times
September 09, 2000 Filed at 2:33 p.m. ET
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/UN-MILLENNIUM.html

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- President Clinton met Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to see if the Middle East peace negotiations could be salvaged, as more than 150 world leaders headed home from the historic U.N. Millennium Summit.

Most of the top-level dignitaries left New York, armed with a challenge by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to use their power to give billions of people a better life in the 21st century. But a few leaders, like Barak and Clinton, kept up the diplomatic whirl, which included a meeting Saturday between Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Pakistan leader Pervez Musharraf at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

In deference to the Jewish Sabbath, Clinton went to Barak's midtown Manhattan hotel Saturday morning. The two leaders talked for 90 minutes, three times as long as planned, but did not go into the details of the negotiations.

Barak spokesman Gadi Baltiansky said the Israelis emerged from the meeting with the impression that there has not been a change in Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's positions. Talks are stuck because of rival claims to control over Jerusalem holy sites, though second-tier negotiators are to resume meetings Sunday in the Middle East, with U.S. mediators attending.

A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he had very low expectations that a peace treaty could be secured in the next four or five weeks, the informal deadline dictated by political realities in the United States and Israel, such as the U.S. presidential elections and the reconvening of an Israeli parliament hostile to Barak's peace efforts.

Emerging from a New York delicatessen Saturday, Clinton gave a thumbs up when asked about his session with Barak. White House officials said the meeting was friendly, but not substantive in nature.

In Gaza City, Palestinian lawmakers met Saturday to consider whether to move forward with a unilateral declaration of statehood on Wednesday, the deadline for a peace treaty. All signs pointed to a delay, because of the intense international pressure on Arafat not to disturb the delicate peace talks with a unilateral move that could provoke conflict with Israel.

The U.N. summit ended Friday night with the leaders approving an eight-page Millennium Declaration by acclamation.

``It is your responsibility to reach the goals that you have defined,'' Annan said in a call for action after the document was accepted.

Namibia's President Sam Nujoma, who co-chaired the largest gathering of heads of state and government in history, warned his fellow leaders that people around the world are watching to see what they do next.

``The declaration in itself will not put bread on their tables, heal the sick, arrest the ... HIV/AIDS epidemic, stop the wars, erase poverty and the burden of debt, enhance respect for human rights and guarantee their rights to development,'' he said.

In the declaration, the leaders vowed to send every child to primary school and deliver millions from destitution by 2015. By that date, they also pledged that the spread of HIV/AIDS and the scourge of malaria and other major diseases should be halted and reversed.

In an initial show of support, Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo said his country backs the creation of a national plan to achieve targets on education and health as well to promote jobs for young people and gender equality.

The other major document emerging from the summit was a Security Council resolution and declaration which pledged to make the United Nations more effective ``in addressing conflict at all stages.'' It also called for the U.N. system to look at economic and social causes of conflict, something Third World countries have long sought.

Although serious questions remain about whether the leaders will implement the pledges they made, Czech President Vaclav Havel and others saw significant changes in the last five years that gave them hope these were not just hollow promises.

Comparing the summit with the last major gathering of world leaders for the U.N.'s 50th anniversary in 1995, Havel said the presidents, prime ministers and kings who spoke this week displayed much greater awareness of humankind's problems -- and ``a more profound awareness of their urgency.''

A significant number of anniversary speeches five years ago were filled with sharp criticism of the international community and individual countries for interfering in the internal affairs of another state, but there was little of that at the Millennium Summit, he said.

By contrast, Havel said, summit speakers agreed ``that we are all co-responsible for the state of the world.'' And Havel, Annan, and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who chaired a round-table discussion, all said they were struck by the common agreement on the challenges -- and the need for the United Nations to play a prominent role in the solution.

``There is a new mood reflected in this summit,'' said South African President Thabo Mbeki, one of the continent's leaders.

What impressed Mbeki most was the change in attitude toward the Third World by some leaders of the seven richest industrialized nations.

Several said ``things that they've never said before'' -- like describing the challenge of combatting world poverty as the top global priority, he told a news conference.

``Before, they had different messages. They would have said issues of disarmament, a world safe from nuclear weapons, and weapons of mass destruction take precedence over this, that, and the other,'' Mbeki said.

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U2 star Bono presents debt relief petition to U.N.

Yahoo News
Reuters/Variety REUTERS
Thursday September 7 9:02 PM ET updated 6:19 AM ET Sep 8
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000907/en/people-bono_1.html

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Irish pop star Bono of U2 delivered a petition of 21.2 million signatures to the U.N. Millennium Summit Thursday calling on the world's wealthiest countries to forgive the debts of poor nations.

The signatures, collected at religious and other organizations in 155 countries, were delivered by Bono and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the second day of the largest gathering of world leaders in history.

``It's madness that a pop star has to be standing here ... somebody else should be doing this, somebody else more qualified,'' Bono told reporters on the street outside the U.N. headquarters. ``But you know what? They don't have time. They're not bad guys in Washington, they're just busy guys.''

Bono vowed to get debt relief ``up the list of priorities.''

Annan thanked Bono for his effort, saying ``we must understand people out there want something done.''

Leaders of the wealthy industrialized countries, but not the United States, have said they are willing to erase $100 billion in Third World debt, which would leave about $250 billion owed by poor nations.

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A Final Message Doomed American Aid Worker Sends Ominous E-Mail

Yahoo News
09/07/00
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/timor000907.html

U.N. peacekeeping forces look out into Indonesian-controlled West Timor near the border town of Batugade, East Timor. Dozens of foreign aid workers fled West Timor after a mob led by pro-Indonesian militia gangs killed three U.N. workers the day before. (Charles Dharapak/AP Photo)

Sept. 7 - The American killed in Wednesday's rampage in West Timor sent a dramatic e-mail to a friend shortly before he was killed.

"We are waiting here for this enemy, we sit here like bait, unarmed, waiting for wave to hit," Carlos Cacares-Collazo wrote to a friend from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' besieged compound in Atambua, about 1,200 miles east of Jakarta.

"These guys act without thinking and can kill a human as easily (and painlessly) as I kill mosquitoes in my room," the final message said.

One Day From Vacation He had been scheduled to leave Atambua today for a three-week break.

"I just hope I will be able to leave tomorrow," he wrote.

U.N. peacekeepers stationed in nearby East Timor quickly moved in - with Indonesian permission - to evacuate the compound, but they were too late to save Cacares-Collazo, who was from Puerto Rico, Ethiopian Samson Aregahegn and Croat Pero Simundza.

"The militiamen beat them to death inside the building. They then dragged the bodies outside, put on them a pile of wood, poured gasoline over them and set them on fire," said one witness, who was too frightened to give his name.

A military intelligence officer said the three "partly burnt" bodies had been taken to the Atambua public hospital.

A friend at a U.N. security office in Skopje, Macedonia, wrote to Cacares-Collazo just hours before the angry mob attacked.

Why Did It Happen?

It was not immediately clear why the violence flared or why the U.N. workers were targeted. However, witnesses said some crowd members accused the United Nations of ignoring their plight, and the attack came just after the funeral of militia leader Olivio Mendoza Moruk, who was killed by unknown assassins on Tuesday.

Residents said police and troops did not stop the attack.

"We sent most of the staff home, rushing to safety. I just heard someone on the radio saying they are praying for us in the office," Cacares-Collazo wrote to the friend.

"You should see this office," Cacares-Collazo continued. "Plywood on the windows, staff peering out through the openings in the curtains hastily installed a few minutes ago. We are waiting for the enemy."

But despite his fears, Cacares-Collazo told his friend in Skopje he would keep working.

"As wait for the militia to do their business, I will draft the agenda for tomorrow's meeting...," he wrote.

Robin Groves, a spokeswoman for the UNHCR, said Cacares-Collazo, 33, attended the University of Florida and later received a law degree from Cornell. He had worked with the UNHCR since 1987.

His e-mail was read to diplomats at a closed-door meeting by UNHCR chief Sadako Ogata, who roundly condemned the killings, the violence, and Indonesia's impotence to control it.

"As a result, the essential international assistance to an estimated 100,000 East Timor refugees has been suspended, putting that vulnerable population at risk," the council statement said.

A non-U.N. aid worker was also killed in the violence, and a Brazilian woman was badly injured in an axe attack.

Airlifted to Safety

More than 50 people were airlifted to safety by U.N. troops from Suai, the East Timor border town where Trevor Rees-Jones is deputy head of security. Rees-Jones was the only survivor of the car crash that killed Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed.

The deaths came just a week after the U.N. resumed aid work in West Timor after suspending operations because of brutal attacks on its staff there.

Diplomats said there had been warnings, including from the United States embassy, to aid workers not to return to the area without proper protection.

"You have to wonder what's going on here," said a Jakarta-based Western diplomat. "It could be directed at Wahid, or it could be TNI [the military] flexing its muscles."

"Indeed, it was quite a coincidence that the violence broke out while Gus Dur [Wahid] was overseas facing all these world leaders [at a U.N. summit]," said military analyst Salim Said. "He has to confront this very humiliating incident. [But] it's hard to prove it."

Authorities said they had arrested 15 people over the murders and were hunting more suspects. U.N. officials said they were trying to determine if the attacks were triggered by the funeral, or incited by groups hoping to discredit the government.

But they said it was too dangerous to raid a nearby militia camp. Militiamen, including those involved in this week's attack, are often armed with homemade and semiautomatic weapons.

Western officials believe the militiamen are heading out among the 125,000 East Timor refugees in camps. Wahid has promised to send two more battalions of Indonesian troops to West Timor to restore law and order, and help close the refugee camps where the militia are hiding.

Intense violence broke out last year after East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in a referendum.

ABCNEWS' Sue Masterman, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Summit Boosts U.N. Role, Peacekeeping

Yahoo News
Friday September 8 1:49 AM ET updated 1:49 AM ET Sep 8
By Ron Popeski
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000908/ts/un_summit_dc_17.html

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - World leaders bring down the curtain on a grandiose U.N. summit on Friday after pledging to uphold the prominence of the world organization and enhance its peacekeeping activities.

More than 150 leaders attending the largest gathering of its kind backed measures on Thursday to give the world body more clout to redeem setbacks in containing regional conflicts and preventing massacres.

Heads of the five permanent members of the Security Council staged a summit within a summit, pledging to inject new vigor into peacekeeping operations as sought by Secretary General Kofi Annan. This would involve altering the scale of payments in view of changed circumstances.

Leaders, which included presidents, prime ministers and monarchs, already began praising the meeting on Thursday as a turning point in efforts to revitalize U.N. activity.

``This summit has amounted to a new threshold not only for the United Nations but also for international relations in general,'' Russian President Vladimir Putin told a news conference.

``The U.N. has been confirmed as the key instrument in settling regional disputes.''

The closing day was to be marked by the final addresses of leaders assessing the U.N.'s role in the next millennium, as well as a long list of bilateral meetings.

Participants agreed the tasks facing the United Nations, particularly its peacekeeping, had altered considerably since the end of the Cold War, with elements like internal ethnic conflicts taking the place of superpower struggles.

But the gathering underscored differences in approach.

Western countries, including the United States, Britain and Canada, suggested changed circumstances required a broadening of the scope of peacekeeping missions.

Russia and China, wary of separatist movements on their territory, insisted that such missions could not allow the U.N. to interfere in countries' internal affairs.

Little Hope For Middle East Breakthrough

There was little ground for hope of forging an accord on Middle East peace. Though Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and President Clinton were available as mediators, time was running out in the peace process as a September 13 deadline loomed for an Israel-Palestinian accord.

Clinton made little progress in narrowing differences in separate meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Some encounters at the summit were ground-breaking, notably a two-minute chance meeting on Wednesday between Clinton and Cuban President Fidel Castro, during which they shook hands. But U.S. officials said Washington's policy of opposition to Castro's 40-year-old rule had undergone no modification.

In other instances, nothing at all had changed.

China and its supporters, for the eighth year in a row, blocked a bid to discuss U.N. membership for Taiwan, considered by Beijing to be a renegade province.

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said conditions were not yet ripe to open a dialogue with U.S. authorities. Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz accused Washington of hijacking U.N. resolutions to maintain economic sanctions against Baghdad.

In an eloquent address to the Security Council underscoring the U.N.'s dilemma over peacekeeping, Annan said the organization faced a crisis of credibility.

``Too many vulnerable communities in too many regions of the world now hesitate to look to the United Nations to assist them in their hour of need,'' he said.

After problems in finding forces for Sierra Leone, East Timor, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Eritrea-Ethiopia border, Annan called for measures to overhaul underfunded U.N. peacekeeping operations, with emphasis on Africa.

The killing of three U.N. refugee workers in Indonesia's West Timor threw a pall over proceedings and embarrassed Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid. The Indonesian government called a meeting on Friday to discuss the matter.

---

Taiwan U.N. Membership Bid Defeated for Eighth Year

Yahoo News
Friday September 8
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000908/wl/china_taiwan_dc_2.html

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - China and its supporters, for the eighth successive year, blocked a bid late on Thursday to get the General Assembly to discuss U.N. membership for Taiwan.

After a debate lasting more than three hours, the Assembly's steering committee decided without a vote not to include the topic on the Assembly's agenda.

The decision was taken after 19 delegations spoke in favor of putting the item on the agenda and 48 opposed it.

General Assembly President Harri Holkeri of Finland, who chaired the steering committee, said that as there was no consensus on the matter, it would not be included on the agenda of the session that opened on September 5.

The title of the proposed item, originally sponsored by 14 mostly African, Caribbean and Pacific countries, was: ``Need to examine the exceptional international situation pertaining to the Republic of China on Taiwan to ensure that the fundamental rights of its 23 million people to participate in the work of the United Nations is fully respected.''

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Millennium Summit wrapping up

USA Today
09/08/00- Updated 01:48 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nwsfri03.htm

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Millennium Summit comes to its historic close Friday with the adoption of a wide-ranging wish list that promises to cut poverty, protect planet Earth and improve the ability of the United Nations to keep the peace.

The summit declaration, negotiated for weeks but expected to be adopted by acclamation, also commits the 150 heads of state and government who gathered for the three-day meeting to promote democracy, strengthen respect for human rights and reverse the spread of AIDS.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has warned that he would not be satisfied unless the leaders actually implement the pledges in the document. He told a press conference on the eve of the summit that he expected every one of them ''to go back home and begin to do something about it.''

The last day of the summit opened Friday morning with a speech by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, at 35 the youngest African leader attending. The last scheduled speaker was Techeste Ahderom, who chaired a May summit of grass-roots organizations who gave their own advice on how the United Nations could remake itself to better address the challenges of the 21st century.

On Thursday, it was the Security Council's turn to take up that task, pledging an overhaul of U.N. peacekeeping operations so troops can respond more quickly and robustly to world trouble spots.

The council's pronouncement, however, was not in the typical form of a Security Council resolution - an indication that the 15 presidents and prime ministers weren't entirely comfortable with making such concrete, legally binding pledges to better finance peacekeeping operations.

But the document will nevertheless be one of the major outcomes of the summit, which featured a notable first - a chat and handshake between President Clinton and Cuban President Fidel Castro.

Another summit legacy will be the apparent failure to reach a Mideast peace deal. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Thursday rejected Clinton's proposal to split control of Muslim and Jewish holy sites in east Jerusalem.

The summit was also a platform for protest, though there was no proof that anyone was listening. On Friday, yellow-shirted supporters of Falun Gong handed out leaflets to commuters outside of Grand Central Station, warning of new crackdowns against their spiritual movement in China.

But the three-day meeting will likely be hailed as a success merely for having occurred, drawing more leaders together than ever before to discuss the challenges confronting the globe in the third millennium.

''What's the point of stepping foot on Mars if there is still hunger in several regions of our planet?'' asked Rene Preval, the president of Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.

Such questions were raised throughout the second day of speeches Thursday and continued Friday with a speech by one of Africa's most respected leaders, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who called for the world's wealthy countries to cancel all the debts of the developing world.

''This is the only way these countries can be given the chance to effectively plan for the improvement of living standards of their peoples,'' said Obasanjo, the current chair of the ''Group of 77'' developing countries, which actually includes 133 nations.

Clinton raised the issue of the disparities between rich and poor in his address to the council, saying it must address broader security issues related to disease, poverty, education and climate change if it wants to make a change in keeping the peace.

''Until we confront the iron link between deprivation, disease and war, we will never be able to create the peace that the founders of the United Nations dreamed of,'' he said.

The world body is currently engaged in 14 peacekeeping operations - most of them in the world's poorest countries - with more than 37,000 troops and civilian police deployed from East Timor to Cyprus and Sierra Leone at an annual cost of about $2.2 billion.

Nearly 1,000 U.N. civilian staff are engaged in 14 other political and peace-building missions from Afghanistan to Burundi and Guatemala.

Council members met against a sobering backdrop: the killing of three U.N. relief workers assisting refugees from East Timor; the rebel seizure of 500 U.N. peacekeepers in Sierra Leone; highly critical reports of the U.N. role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide and the 1995 slaughter of thousands of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica.

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid said Friday that Jakarta had sent in extra forces to restore calm in West Timor and would investigate the attack of the aid workers by pro-Indonesian militias. He blamed the rampage on ''criminals'' who had infiltrated the ranks of Jakarta's supporters in West Timor.

''Everything is under control,'' he assured the leaders, who resoundingly condemned the killings and demanded Indonesia do more to disarm the militias in the heads of state Security Council meeting on Thursday.

At the end of the two-hour meeting, the council leaders - from Argentina, Bangladesh, Canada, China, France, Jamaica, Malaysia, Mali, Namibia, Netherlands, Russia, Tunisia, Ukraine, Britain and the United States - vowed ''to strengthen the central role of the United Nations in peacekeeping.''

They underlined the importance of rapid deployment of U.N. peacekeepers and called for realistic mandates that the soldiers can fulfill, proper training and equipment for them, and an overhaul of the U.N. peacekeeping department.

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Promise for peacekeeping

USA Today
09/08/00- Updated 08:56 AM ET
http://usatoday.com/news/comment/edtwof2.htm

When President Clinton and other world leaders call today for reforms to United Nations peacekeeping, they need look back only two days, to the news from Indonesia's strife-ridden Timor, to bolster their point.

Three civilian U.N. workers, including one from Puerto Rico, were killed Wednesday by militias opposed to East Timor's independence. Two peacekeepers also were killed in recent weeks. Had the U.N. been able to step into the conflict sooner than last October, the militias might never have succeeded in gathering so much deadly strength.

Clinton, Britain's Tony Blair and other leaders have called for the U.N. to set up a rapidly deployable standing force with dedicated equipment. A U.N. reform plan further elaborates that the force would deploy in 30-90 days and have clear rules of engagement, allowing peacekeepers to protect themselves and the civilians in their charge.

In the past, critics have painted such proposals as calls for a world army that would trample national sovereignty without a care for soldiers or member-countries' finances.

But the proposed peacekeeping force is far from that. It would be composed of peacekeepers always ready to be sent from U.N. member-countries, commanded by their own officers but assisted by professional peacekeeping planners. They'd be deployed as peacekeepers are now - after the U.N. Security Council decides to do so.

The force also would address recurring problems of the lack of equipment, slow deployment and mealy rules of engagement. A few reminders of the sad record:

In 1994, a half-million Tutsis in Rwanda were slaughtered as U.N. members failed to agree to send enough peacekeepers. In the future, planners for a standing peacekeeping force would know the size of force and speed of deployment needed to stop genocide on the scale of Rwanda.

In 1995, in Bosnian Srebrenica, U.N. peacekeepers stood by while about 8,000 Muslims were massacred by Serbs. Tougher rules of engagement could give peacekeepers the means to fend off foes.

This year in Sierra Leone, 500 under-equipped U.N. peacekeepers were taken hostage by a rebel force. In the future, special equipment and trained peacekeepers could be used to carry out missions effectively.

At long last, the concept of a standing force has been broached more seriously. And in a world where 37,000 soldiers and police try to keep peace in 14 conflicts - assisted by only 32 military officers at U.N. headquarters - such change is vitally needed.

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Clinton pushes for more robust U.N. peace force

Washington Times
September 8, 2000
By Betsy Pisik THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/world/default-200098221013.htm

NEW YORK - President Clinton yesterday advocated a wider mandate and a more robust force for U.N. peacekeeping efforts, saying that "until we confront the iron link between deprivation, disease and war," peace will remain elusive.

"We must do more to equip the United Nations to do what we ask it to do," Mr. Clinton told a rare gathering of the 15 Security Council leaders.

"They need to be able to be peacekeepers who can be rapidly deployed, properly trained and equipped, able to project credible force."

President Clinton has sent U.S. troops on a peacetime record of 48 peacekeeping and war missions in the 1990s, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The hot pace has not only worn out weapons and equipment, it has taken a toll on the troops themselves. The U.S. Army has encountered problems in retaining enough captains - its future leaders.

In focus groups, one of their main complaints is that they did not join the Army to do peacekeeping, but rather to prepare for - and fight - a war.

At the council session, the president also stressed the importance of expanding the definition of security beyond traditional conflicts and emergencies.

"War kills massively, crosses borders, destabilizes whole regions. Today, we face other problems that kill massively, cross borders and destabilize whole regions," he said, noting that infectious diseases like malaria and AIDS cause one-quarter of deaths around the globe.

Washington also claimed a preliminary victory in its efforts to update the scale of peacekeeping assessments, which has not been updated since 1972.

Separate declarations by the whole Security Council and its five permanent members indicated a willingness to consider changes in the way contributions are assessed.

Currently, the United States is assessed 31 percent of the budget, which this year will top $2 billion, but it pays only 25 percent. Reducing the U.S. contribution is one of several conditions set down by Congress before it will release some $600 million in arrears money.

The council said yesterday it "agrees to support the provision of a more up-to-date and sounder foundation for financing peacekeeping operations."

The permanent members -Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States - went even further.

"Taking into account our special responsibilities as permanent members of the Security Council and the duty of all member states to meet their financial obligations to the U.N., we commit to creating a more stable and equitable financial foundation for current and future U.N. operations," the five permanent members said in a joint statement.

Decisions on assessments are undertaken by the entire General Assembly.

Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright said last night that the statement is significant "because adjustments in scale would go far to ease U.N. financial problems and put U.S.-U.N. relations on a solid footing."

There was general agreement yesterday that it is necessary to address the underlying causes of conflict - including poverty, disease and disaster. Also noted was the obligation of the richer nations to assist their poorer neighbors.

There was no consensus, however, on whether the council -theoretically the sole legitimizer of the use of force in the name of the United Nations - is morally obligated to intervene against massive human rights violations.

NATO's controversial air war over Kosovo divided the council along predictable lines, while U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's declaration one year ago that human rights were more important than national boundaries stimulated debate among the whole U.N. membership.

Russia and China - sensitive to accusations about Chechnya and Tibet - firmly opposed intervention without the approval of all parties.

"Only the Security Council has the right to sanction such an extreme measure as the use of force in the situation of crisis," said Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"It does so on behalf of and in the interests of the whole world community."

• Rowan Scarborough contributed to this report from Washington.

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Kofi Annan on globalization

Washington Times
EDITORIAL • September 8, 2000
http://208.246.212.80/op-ed/ed-house-20009819313.htm

Globalization. It's what brought a beefless McBurger to India and bilingual ATMs to the corner bank. Like it or not, private corporations are increasingly required to respond to international needs that bring vastly different cultures together through one technological medium or corporate venture. This progress has neither been easy nor uncontroversial, and though the World Trade Organization has been the focus of much of the debate, the world's countries could use another venue as well to discuss the impact of globalized trade. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said he wants to adapt his organization to this reality at the Millennium Summit in New York this week.

Among the major topics on the agenda is his "global compact," a platform promoting business partnerships with the United Nations within an atmosphere that promotes protection of human rights, the environment and good labor practices. Of course, there is always the danger that the general secretary could develop partnerships with corrupt business leaders taking advantage of developing nations. Third World countries have a right to be concerned. However, the United Nations is allowing small developing countries equal time to discuss environmental, cultural and labor concerns that such corporate partnerships bring to their countries.

At least in theory, the compact could ease their fears. Participating businesses would agree to support international human rights standards, collective bargaining, and the development of environmentally friendly technologies. It would fight against forced labor, child labor, human rights abuses and employment discrimination. Every year participating countries would post a progress report on a U.N.-sponsored web site.

Mr. Annan himself said Tuesday that "I have no illusions that a single summit in itself can change the world." The United Nations also states that the compact is not designed to be a "corporate shield from criticism." The compact is not a substitute for the responsibility of individual countries to keep companies accountable. The United Nations' new compact partnerships can create a foundation for this process by helping world markets open up, and help to reduce world poverty within an atmosphere of respect for human rights.

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The new millennium's agenda

Washington Times
September 8, 2000
Kofi Annan
http://208.246.212.80/op-ed/ed-column-200098191546.htm

This week's summit at the United Nations is the largest gathering of national leaders the world has ever seen. And its agenda - to chart a course for humanity at the start of a new millennium - is nothing if not ambitious.

I suggested this meeting back in 1997, when I became secretary general of the United Nations and laid out my plans for reform. I felt that the millennium year, with its potent symbolism, would be the right moment for world leaders to come together and take stock.

Much that has happened in the last three years confirms my view that more than the calendar is changing.

The Asian financial crisis showed that the effects of economic change anywhere in the world are now felt everywhere, but not in an even or equitable way.

The protests at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle last November showed that many people are unhappy about globalization, or at least about the way it is being handled. They feel too much attention is paid to commercial interests, not enough to social, cultural or environmental ones.

And several developments - including the events in Kosovo and the arrest of Gen. Augusto Pinochet - have shown that the way a state treats its own people is no longer considered a purely internal affair.

All this convinces me that we are indeed living in a new era. Globalization is real. It is highly beneficial to some. It is potentially beneficial to all - but only if states work together to put its benefits within reach of all their people.

Without that common effort, billions will be left in poverty and squalor, and even those who have begun to better themselves will be at the mercy of sudden economic change.

We face global challenges which oblige us to work together. If that is true in the economic and social sphere, it applies even more to the challenge of massacre and war. The instinct of human solidarity - which impels some states to come to the aid of each other's citizens, or to indict each other's former dictators - is laudable. But when such actions are taken by one or a few states on their own authority, they bring with them a danger of world anarchy.

The world will be safer as well as more just when there is an International Criminal Court to judge mass murderers whom their own national courts are unable or unwilling to try; and when people everywhere feel confident that, if they are threatened with mass destruction, the United Nations will take action. (Not always military action - that should be a last resort, for extreme cases - but effective preventive action, with diplomacy, good advice and, where appropriate, economic assistance or pressure.)

Even more obviously, we need to work together to preserve the natural resources on which the whole earth's population depends. We shall look culpably irresponsible, in our grandchildren's eyes, if we leave them a planet that is largely uninhabitable, or unable to sustain human life.

Am I suggesting that all these problems can be solved in three days, by 150 presidents and prime ministers making speeches at each other? Of course not. In fact, none of them can be solved by governments alone. States will need the help of other "actors," such as private corporations and citizens' groups, whose role in the international system is growing.

But a start on global action has to be made somewhere, and if not at the United Nations, where?

Already we are forging new partnerships with business, with philanthropic foundations and with nonprofit groups on a wide range of projects - bringing medical information to developing countries via the Internet; providing communications equipment and expertise for use in emergencies; increasing vaccine coverage among the world's children; and more.

And in the last 10 days, to prepare for the summit, we have brought a remarkable variety of groups to the U.N. headquarters -civil society organizations, presiding officers of the world's parliaments; and for the first time, religious and spiritual leaders.

The United Nations is the universal forum, where all the world's peoples are represented. The very fact that so many national leaders are in New York this week to consider "the role of the United Nations in the 21st Century," shows that they still regard it, potentially at least, as the indispensable instrument for tackling our shared problems. But they need to adapt it to the tasks at hand. This is a working summit, not a celebration.

The leaders will adopt a declaration reaffirming our shared values and setting goals for the next 15 or 20 years.

A declaration by itself is of little value, I know. But a declaration containing firm pledges and precise targets, solemnly accepted by the leaders of all nations, can be of great value to the world's peoples, as a yardstick by which to judge their rulers' performance.

I hope it will be seen not as a mere statement of principles, but as a plan of action. And I hope the whole world will be watching to see how it is carried out.

Kofi Annan is secretary general of the United Nations

---

U.N. patrol seizes Kosovo arms cache

Washington Times
September 8, 2000
World Scene Combined dispatches and staff reports
http://208.246.212.80/world/worldscene-200098211251.htm

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia - A United Nations police patrol yesterday seized a large haul of weapons and bomb-making equipment in a car near Kosovo's frontier with Albania, a force spokesman said.

Officer Paul Hilley said that the driver of a blue Opel Kadett abandoned his vehicle when he spotted a patrol of Spanish special police accompanied by troops from the NATO-led Kfor peacekeeping force.

"He ran off the road into an area which the patrol did not know and may well have been mined, so they decided not to follow him," the officer said.

-------- u.s.

Air Force Jet, United Jet Nearly Collide

NewsMax.com
Friday September 8, 2000
UPI
http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/9/8/02029

LOS ANGELES - A United Airlines 757 en route to Boston from Los Angeles nearly collided with an Air Force jet that strayed into its normal flight path five minutes after take off, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The pilot of the airliner reported he took off at 8:38 am local time and was climbing to 15,000 feet when, at 10,800 feet, he was almost in a "near mid-air collision" with what appeared to be a "stealth-type" aircraft at 8:43 am, according to the FAA.

The FAA has only received a report from the United pilot thus far.

The Air Force jet was most likely a radar-evading F-117 attached to Edwards AFB, Ca. Most F-117s fly out of Holloman AFB, N.M., but base officials say their aircraft were not involved.

Edwards' officials have not yet made a statement.

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Powell, Schwarzkopf Storm to Back Bush

NewsMax.com
September 8, 2000
http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/9/8/102054

America's two greatest living war heroes have taken up election-year battle positions alongside Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush, under whose dad they served.

Retired Gens. Colin Powell, who directed the Persian Gulf War as President George Bush's chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and "Stormin' Norman" Schwarzkopf, who defeated Iraq's Saddam Hussein in battle, blasted the Clinton-Gore administration for allowing United States military forces to decline.

In its Friday issue, the Washington Times reported that:

Powell told a group of veterans at a VFW post in Westland, Mich., that the GOP candidate is more committed than his Democratic opponent, Vice President Al Gore, when it comes to maintaining a viable American military deterrent.

"It's time to face the reality that we have given our wonderful military force too many missions that we are not prepared to fund them for," Powell said Thursday.

"I was shocked and deeply disappointed when the president's spokesman attacked Dick Cheney [Bush's vice-presidential running mate who was secretary of defense during Desert Storm] because he dared to tell the truth about the state of readiness.

"Dick Cheney has never attacked the military. The ones who are attacking the military are those who pretend everything is OK.

"They want to pretend junior officers are not leaving at an alarming rate.

"They want to play 'let's pretend' that our aircraft operating levels haven't been dropping precipitously in recent years.

"They want to play 'let's pretend' that Army training centers are not complaining that they can't do the mission anymore because they're under-resourced.

"The time for pretending is over. The ones you can't fool are the troops.

"We recognized that we could responsibly cut the size of our armed forces, and we did that.

"We put our armed forces in a decline to go down to a new level that was appropriate for the times.

"The new administration went below that level and continued cutting.

"It's too late, and they're not investing enough."

Schwarzkopf, the general whom Cheney and Powell sent to the Gulf to turn back Saddam's troops invading Kuwait, backed up Powell's changes, blasting a "draconian downgrade" in the military after Desert Storm.

He told an audience at Wright State University at Dayton, Ohio:

"Readiness is not just equipment. Readiness is people. And we have somebody [in George W. Bush] who is going to step up, and has clearly recognized the problem."

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Ambassador talk
Joseph Prueher, U.S. ambassador to China, is under fire again.

Washington Times
September 8, 2000
Inside the Ring Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough Notes from the Pentagon.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/inring-200098212325.htm

The retired four-star admiral was in town this week and met with members of Congress. According to congressional aides, Adm. Prueher told lawmakers that he has been working in Beijing to convince Chinese leaders to pull back the mobile short-range missiles being deployed in large numbers opposite Taiwan, in Fujian province.

Our sources say the ambassador has been telling the Chinese the removal of the missiles "would make the people in the United States feel like they were actually backing off the Taiwan issue."

Adm. Prueher, the aides say, also suggested to the Chinese how they could carry out a bit of threat-reduction-by-deception: "And besides, if anything happened, the missiles could always be moved back quickly," he was quoted as saying.

The ambassador provided another curious explanation for urging the Chinese to move their missiles: "It would undercut American hard-liners who think China is a threat," he was quoted as telling lawmakers.

The remarks raised eyebrows from several aides who called Adm. Prueher a "panda hugger" - critics' term for pro-China officials and their acolytes in academia. The corresponding label for the anti-Beijing crowd from the huggers: "alarmists."

Asked about the remarks, a State Department spokesman said Adm. Prueher "didn't think it was appropriate to discuss his private conversations with folks on the Hill."

The Chinese in the past have rejected U.S. appeals to pull back the missiles. The Defense Intelligence Agency warns in secret reports that the missiles could reach most of Taiwan's major military bases with little or no warning.

Adm. Prueher had his nomination held up temporarily last year by Sen. Robert C. Smith, New Hampshire Republican, over questionable contacts with the Chinese military. And in April, he was criticized for hosting a dinner at his Beijing residence with three U.S. satellite makers and Chinese satellite companies who were under federal investigation for improperly sharing missile technology.

Navy transformed

Adm. Vernon Clark, the new chief of naval operations, is living up to his reputation as a revolutionary thinker who will shake up the orthodoxy.

Navy officers tell us that Adm. Clark is preaching, in so many words, "it's the requirements, stupid," as the sea service participates in the Pentagon's second quadrennial defense review (QDR). The officers said the chief wants planners to justify any bid for new ships or sailors with a concrete requirement, not a fuzzy scenario.

Adm. Clark already has ordered a shake-up of his Pentagon staff effective Oct. 1. He has established the new positions of deputy chief of naval operations for warfare requirements and programs, and deputy CNO for fleet readiness and logistics.

Unlike before, the newly configured warfare office will deal strictly with the needs of the fleet, leaving budgeting concerns to another office. He wants a constant dialogue between his staff and the force, which suffers shortages of ships, sailors, spare parts and training hours. A Navy memo from the top also promises changes in readiness and training.

"A flag-level study group will be established . . . to examine the appropriate alignment for Navy training responsibilities and resources," the memo states. "This group will report its recommendations to the Chief of Naval Operations coincident with the results of the full-time effort to be charted at the Naval War College to determine how to initiate and implement a revolution in Navy training."

Adm. Clark's appetite to shake things up may mean he is receptive to new ideas from the outside.

The boldest proposal yet comes from Rep. Ike Skelton, Missouri Democrat, who would become House Armed Services Committee chairman if Democrats win back the House in November.

Earlier this week, as top admirals and Marine Corps generals dined on asparagus and pine-nut salad, salmon, and filet mignon, Mr. Skelton called on the Navy to transform itself into a lighter, more mobile fleet.

"I'm not much given to dramatic statements, but let me say this clearly: America should rebuild its Navy. And we should begin now," Mr. Skelton said of a fleet that has dipped to 316 ships, about 30 below a floor set by President Clinton in 1993. His appearance was sponsored by the Washington-based Business Executives for National Security.

The Navy is building seven ships each year, an insufficient rate to sustain even a 300-ship force, experts said.

Mr. Skelton said the Navy should continue to build large-hull ships to patrol the open oceans - the so-called "blue-water Navy." But it also needs to develop a new generation of smaller attack ships that could operate in coastal waters, such as enforcing the oil embargo against Iraq.

"I know that some find it hard or even distasteful to imagine a Navy with smaller ships," he said. "But it is hard or even distasteful to imagine a Navy rendered irrelevant by a focus on yesterday's missions or shrunken to Lilliputian proportions by a tunnel-vision fealty to large platforms."

Numbers scrub

The Pentagon is deep into the process of writing a new national military strategy and a force structure to match contained in the congressionally mandated Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR).

The Joint Staff - the Joint Chiefs of Staff's planners and functionaries - are leading the search for the right mix of strategy, force structure and weapons.

War games are to begin shortly. The strategy is due out in June, with the QDR out in September. Officers at the Pentagon say they expect the reports to retain the primary military requirement of being able to fight two "major regional contingencies" (MRC) nearly simultaneously.

Officers say they expect the QDR to endorse a ramp-up in weapons research and development and in procurement to replace equipment worn out by a decade of miniwars and peacekeeping.

The two most likely flash points are South Korea and the Persian Gulf. But last year, the Air Force itself fought the equivalent of a major regional conflict in the skies over Serbia. So, even if tensions ease on the Korean Peninsula, QDR number-crunchers would be hesitant to change the two-MRC scenario.

In this regard, Gen. Henry H. Shelton, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, is required to submit his independent assessment. Pentagon planners say that if the general decides the two major regional conflicts present an unacceptable risk to his troops, he will say so.

The risks of increased casualties in a second war has shot up the past year because of combat-readiness shortfalls. Not all units have sufficient weapons and men to carry out their missions.

• Bill Gertz can be reached at 202/636-3274 or by e-mail at gertz@twtmail.com. Rowan Scarborough can be reached at 202/636-3208 or by e-mail at scarbo@twtmail.com.

----

Navy Aviation Is in Bad Shape, Service's Inspector General Says

New York Times
09/09/00
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/09/national/09NAVY.html

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 -- Naval aviation is suffering from serious training and financing problems, and many aviators think their service's leaders are afraid to admit or address the matter, the Navy's inspector general said in a report released today.

"From captains to airmen, we heard grave concern that Navy leadership is either out of touch or uninformed, or just does not care enough to address the plight of our people in meaningful ways," the inspector general, Vice Adm. Lee F. Gunn, wrote of his findings from surveying naval aviators.

The study was completed on April 28 but was not released until today.

Admiral Gunn said the problems stemmed from money shortfalls and a mismatch between resources and requirements.

He also said there was evidence of "self-inflicted wounds" from internal Navy decisions.

The study found that the overall combat readiness of naval aviation was "largely being maintained at acceptable, albeit declining, levels." To maintain this readiness, aviators and sailors were being overworked, the study said.

One of the most serious problems was a decline in training, the study said. This has resulted in part from a shortage of replacement parts, which means that squadrons have fewer airplanes in working order when they are training.

A lack of training with advanced weapons, like precision-guided missiles, has taken a toll on Navy aviation missions, the inspector general concluded.

The rate of successful strikes on targets in Iraq and in Kosovo during last year's air campaign was "far below those that should be achievable," the report said.

Because of shortages of advanced weapons available for training, some air crews used them for the first time in combat.

---

United 757, Military Jet Nearly Collide Over Calif.

Yahoo News
Thursday September 7
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000907/ts/airlines_united_dc_3.html

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A United Airlines pilot avoided a mid-air collision over Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday by maneuvering his Boeing 757 jet with 173 people on board out of the path of a stealth F-17 fighter, federal aviation and airline officials said.

The pilot of Boston-bound United Flight 174 descended to avoid colliding with the military jet after receiving an alarm from on-board anti-collision equipment, said Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesman Eliot Brenner.

He said the pilot had estimated the distance between his aircraft and the F-17 fighter as 500 feet vertically and 6/10ths of a mile horizontally.

Near airports, aircraft must normally keep at a distance of three miles. Outside the airport zone, that distance widens to five miles, Brenner said.

``United Flight 174, a Boeing 757 coming out of Los Angeles, reported that the aircraft had a close call with ... an aircraft that the pilot reported to us as a stealth fighter,'' Brenner said.

``The pilot got the warning in the cockpit. He was climbing and then descended a few hundred feet. He then reported that the Air Force plane passed 500 feet above him,'' Brenner said, lauding the pilot's handling of the situation.

Most of the air space above the Los Angeles airport is under FAA control, he said. The FAA was reviewing the F-17's flight plans, and the Air Force was cooperating fully.

``The equipment on the United plane worked exactly as designed and the pilot did the right thing,'' Brenner said.

He said the FAA had confirmed that the F-17 was based at a U.S. Air Force test and evaluation facility at Palmdale, Ca.

The United pilot continued on to his destination without further incident and informed federal authorities about the incident on his arrival, Brenner said, adding that the delayed report was standard procedure in such cases.

Chris Nardella, a spokeswoman for United, which is owned by UAL Corp, said the plane was carrying 166 passengers and seven crew members.

The FAA said the incident happened at 8:43 a.m. PDT, just moments after the flight took off in Los Angeles at 8:38 a.m. The plane landed safely in Boston.

FAA spokesman Jerry Snyder said the Boeing 757 was climbing to cruising altitude and was at 10,800 feet when the pilot told officials he was in a direct path with a ``stealth type military aircraft.''

Nardella said the Boeing 757 had been cleared to climb to 15,000 feet when on-board equipment detected an approaching aircraft and advised the crew to level off and allow the F-17 to pass overhead.

A second United spokesman said passengers might not have noticed anything was wrong.

The FAA and United have each launched an investigation, and officials at the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates air traffic control problems, said they were also looking into the matter.

U.S. Air Force officials had no immediate information or comment on the incident.

---

Powell, Schwarzkopf back Bush on military

Washington Times
September 8, 2000
By Dave Boyer THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://208.246.212.80/national/default-200098234251.htm

DAYTON, Ohio - Retired Gens. Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf, war heroes from the presidency of George W. Bush's father, campaigned with the Republican nominee yesterday and criticized the Clinton-Gore administration for a decline in military readiness.

"Readiness is not just equipment," Gen. Schwarzkopf told an audience at Wright State University. "Readiness is people. And we have somebody [Mr. Bush] who is going to step up and has clearly recognized the problem."

Gen. Powell told a group of veterans at a VFW post in Westland, Mich., earlier yesterday that Mr. Bush is more committed than Vice President Al Gore to rebuilding the U.S. armed forces.

"It's time to face the reality that we have given our wonderful military force too many missions that we are not prepared to fund them for," Gen. Powell said.

Mr. Bush has made increased military spending a cornerstone of his campaign. In recent weeks, Mr. Bush and his running mate, former Defense Secretary Richard B. Cheney, have emphasized the military's lack of preparedness, raising accusations from the White House that the Republican ticket was disparaging U.S. troops.

Gen. Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who served under Mr. Cheney in Desert Storm, came to his defense yesterday.

"I was shocked and deeply disappointed when the president's spokesman attacked Dick Cheney because he dared to tell the truth about the state of readiness," Gen. Powell said to loud applause. "Dick Cheney has never attacked the military. The ones who are attacking the military are those who pretend everything is OK.

"They want to pretend junior officers are not leaving at an alarming rate," Gen. Powell continued. "They want to play 'let's pretend' that our aircraft operating levels . . . haven't been dropping precipitously in recent years. They want to play 'let's pretend' that Army training centers are not complaining that they can't do the mission anymore because they're underresourced. The time for pretending is over. The ones you can't fool are the troops."

The news of underfunded Army training centers was first reported last week by The Washington Times.

While the heroes of Desert Storm agreed on their choice of presidential candidate, they appeared to differ slightly on when military cutbacks started.

Gen. Powell said reductions in military spending began under his watch, during the administration of former President George Bush and Mr. Cheney.

"We recognized that we could responsibly cut the size of our armed forces, and we did that," Gen. Powell said. "We put our armed forces in a decline to go down to a new level that was appropriate for the times. The new administration went below that level and continued cutting. It's too late, and they're not investing enough."

Gen. Schwarzkopf simply cited a "draconian downgrade" in the military after Desert Storm without laying blame at either administration's feet.

Mr. Bush told the audience in Dayton that the signs of erosion in military power are "disturbing."

"Recruitment goals are not being met," he said. "There's a shortage of equipment."

He pledged to increase military pay by $1 billion, as well as spend more on military housing and veterans' benefits. And he said if elected, he would order a task force to review immediately the overseas deployments of U.S. armed forces.

"We cannot be all things to all people," Mr. Bush said. "We must be peacemakers, not peacekeepers."

-------- OTHER
-------- environment

Opening Eyes to Ocean

Los Angeles Times
Friday, September 8, 2000
http://www.latimes.com/news/comment/20000908/t000084442.html

What a delight to read John Balzar's elegant Column One (Sept. 4). "Shoring Up Little Slices of the Seas" was beautifully and intelligently written and matched perfectly by Rebecca Perry's graphic.

There is nothing more important on Earth than the well-being of our great ocean. We in California are responsible for our proximate salt waters. Our marine sanctuaries should be the recipients of lavish attention and concern. The abalone and the rockfish are no less magnificent than the great blue whale, which slowly, barely returns and reminds us of the fragility of life and diversity.

As Balzar suggests, the waters from surface to deep bottom are largely beyond our consciousness but nonetheless crucial to the health of our entire world and of ourselves. I hope, through the beauty and clarity of his prose, Balzar will open all our eyes. NANCY N. SIDHU San Bernardino

* After being thoroughly enveloped with the refulgent two-part series covering the nation's marine sanctuaries (Sept. 4-5), I recalled what the ever-venerable Arthur C. Clarke once succinctly wrote concerning our oceans: "How inappropriate to call this planet Earth, when clearly it is Ocean." STEVE SAYER Rolling Hills Estates

---

LADWP General Manager Hails Air Resources Board's Decision to Keep Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate

Yahoo News
Friday September 8, 7:41 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000908/ca_dept_wa.html

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 2000--S. David Freeman, DWP general manager, hails today's unanimous decision of the California Air Resources Board to maintain the Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate.

``I applaud the farsighted decision of the Board to keep the mandate which has been essential to the development of new clean vehicle technology. We will work closely with the Air Resources Board's staff to provide the electric vehicle infrastructure for a clean car future for L.A.''

Contact:

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Walter Zeisl, 213/367-1342 213/367-3227 (after business hours) or Fleishman-Hillard Inc., Los Angeles Marylou Ferry, 213/489-8230

---

ARB Maintains Drive to Zero Emissions

Yahoo News
Friday September 8, 8:13 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000908/ca_air_res.html

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 2000--The California Air Resources Board (ARB) Friday held fast to its mandate requiring automakers to market thousands of zero emission vehicles (ZEVs) in the state starting in 2003.

ARB Chairman Dr. Alan Lloyd said, ``We have to think not just of 2003 but also of protecting the state's air quality far into the future.'' He said California could lose the battle against air pollution unless its motor vehicle fleet moves toward zero emissions.

The 11-member Board, after listening to testimony Thursday and Friday, unanimously decided to keep the ZEV mandate in place.

Currently, there are about 2,300 electric vehicles on the road in California as part of a demonstration fleet of ZEVs the automakers were required to produce prior to 2003. Automakers satisfied their demonstration fleet requirements and then stopped making ZEVs.

A number of technological innovations have resulted from the ZEV mandate. Automotive breakthroughs such as hybrid and fuel cell vehicles, and cars free of evaporative emissions are now realities as a result of efforts to meet ZEV requirements. ZEVs have won over a large number of supporters who like the quiet ride and efficient operation of zero emission vehicles.

In addition to eliminating tailpipe and evaporative emissions, ZEVs also reduce greenhouse gases and toxic emissions. Dependence on petroleum products and the emissions associated with drilling, refining and transporting those fuels are also reduced with ZEV technology.

The ZEV mandate is an important air pollution control tool since more than half of the state's smog-forming pollutants come from motor vehicles. California is required by the federal government to reduce air pollutants or face federal sanctions. The ARB received about 75,000 letters in support of maintaining the ZEV mandate.

While automakers claim there is little demand for ZEVs, the ARB hearing drew testimony from many consumers who said they were turned away when they went to auto dealerships and tried to get ZEVs.

While upholding the ZEV mandate, the Board expressed concern at several issues:

Current lack of ZEV availability. Market demand. Cost and incentives.

Staff was directed to review the regulation and propose appropriate modifications to address these issues and assure successful penetration of ZEVs into the market.

``Even the cleanest internal combustion engine will pollute more as it ages,'' Dr. Lloyd said. ``California needs ZEVs to help offset emissions from the growing number of vehicles on our roads and rising number of miles they are driven each year,'' he added.

The ZEV mandate was first adopted in 1990. It was modified in 1996 and again in 1998 to provide additional flexibility to automobile manufacturers and to accommodate the growing number of zero and near-zero emission technologies.

The Air Resources Board is a department of the California Environmental Protection Agency. ARB's mission is to promote and protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain health based air quality standards.

Contact:
California Air Resources Board Jerry Martin, 916/322-2990 Richard Varenchik, 626/575-6730 www.arb.ca.gov

---

Zero Emission Vehicles Here to Stay, Says CARB

Yahoo News
Friday September 8, 8:53 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000908/ca_america_2.html

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 2000--The California Zero Emission Vehicle Alliance applauds the California Air Resources Board for its strong vote of confidence for the state's ZEV program.

``Today's unanimous vote puts us back in gear and on the road to a zero pollution transportation future,'' said Cecile Martin, Deputy Director of the California Electric Transportation Coalition.

In reaffirming the vision for clean air established in 1990, the board has said the ZEV program is here to stay and is part of our long-term vision.

The decision followed a day and a half of testimony from approximately 75 people representing environmental, health and public interest groups, state agencies, local governments, electric vehicle drivers and the auto industry. All but the automakers supported the ZEV program. Board members peered over a mountain of letters, which staff noted were overwhelmingly in favor of preserving the ZEV program.

``The ZEV program is a down payment on a pollution-free transportation future,'' said Bonnie Holmes-Gen, Assistant Vice President of Government Relations, with the American Lung Association of California.

The board acknowledged the lack of available electric vehicles, the need for a range of EV models, environmental impacts of gasoline, and a need for fuel diversity. The board also stressed the need to build a public/private partnership to bring California the clean air future it deserves. The board expressed the desire to take a leadership role in a team effort with automakers in building the market for ZEVs, and to ensure ongoing success of the program.

``Today's vote will have positive national and global repercussions,'' stated Sandra Spelliscy, General Counsel, Planning and Conservation League.

``It ensures that the ZEV program will continue to deliver the clean car technology that we've only just begun to enjoy,'' said Roland Hwang, Transportation Programs Co-Director, Union of Concerned Scientists.

Contact:

American Lung Association of Ca. Bonnie Holmes-Gen, 916/492-1639 Andrew Weisser, 818/757-1440 or Union of Concerned Scientists Roland Hwang, 510/334-0804 or Planning and Conservation League Sandy Spelliscy, 530/758-7862 or CalETC Cece Martin, 916/600-8437

---

Senate Sides with Farmers in River Plan

Yahoo News
Thursday September 7 8:58 PM ET updated 1:51 AM ET Sep 8
By Vicki Allen
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000907/pl/environment_river_dc_2.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Courting a possible White House veto, the Senate on Thursday sided with farmers over environmentalists and voted to block federal agencies from raising the spring flow on the Missouri River to benefit wildlife.

The Senate voted 52-45 to delay a plan to increase the river's spring surge to more nearly mimic the river's natural flow before it was controlled by dams and reservoirs.

Lawmakers on a 93-1 vote then approved the overall $22 billion bill to fund energy and water programs as well as nuclear defense operations in the next fiscal year starting Oct. 1.

President Clinton, who has been at odds with the Republican-led Congress over most of its budget bills, has threatened to veto this one if it blocked changes in the management of the Missouri River.

Critics say the plan for years has sacrificed wildlife and recreation to protect flood-prone farms and barge operators in the state of Missouri.

Arguing against senators from states up the river, Missouri and Iowa lawmakers said plans to increase the river's spring flow to create more natural habitat for fish and birds would jeopardize farms and towns near the river.

They also said it could worsen flooding on the Mississippi River, into which the Missouri feeds.

Once the water flow was increased, Missouri Republican Sen. Christopher Bond said farmers and townspeople would just have to hope heavy rains would not raise the river to flood stage.

Potential for flood damage also would deter investment in the river's barge industry centered in Missouri to ship grain to the Mississippi River, which the Missouri River joins at St. Louis, Bond said.

But Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said declining wildlife and tens of millions of dollars worth of recreation were being imperiled to save the river's small $7 million barge industry.

``Unequivocally, all river science indicates the need for increase flows in the Missouri River in the spring,'' the U.S. Public Interest Research Group said in a statement.

The environmental group said higher water was essential to ''provide a critical reproductive cue for the endangered pallid sturgeon and to build sandbars for the endangered interior least tern and the threatened piping plover.''

Daschle told reporters he had assurances from the White House that President Clinton would veto the bill if he lost this vote.

But some environmentalists and congressional aides said politics could change that as Democrat Clinton might not want to run afoul of lawmakers in Missouri, a pivotal state in the presidential race and site of a tight Senate race.

They also noted that Clinton has signed four previous bills that included the Missouri-backed language to block higher spring river flow.

Clinton has threatened to veto about half of the 13 bills Congress must pass to fund the government next fiscal year.

Republicans, hoping to adjourn Congress for the year by mid-October in time to campaign for Nov. 7 national elections, have acknowledged they will have to accept many of Clinton's demands for additional spending and policies to complete the budget.

-------- imf / world bank

EU expects to go back to WTO over U.S. export plan

Yahoo News
Friday September 8, 10:22 am Eastern Time
By Adrian Croft
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/000908/l08438166_2.html

BRUSSELS, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The European Union on Friday accused the United States of merely tinkering with a multi-billion dollar programme of tax breaks for its exporters after a ruling that it breached world trade rules.

It said it expected to mount a new challenge at the World Trade Organisation if Washington's proposed changes, which were little more than window-dressing, were enacted.

It was the clearest official statement yet by the EU that it plans to take the dispute back to the Geneva-based WTO -- a step which could lead to it seeking to impose billions of dollars of sanctions on U.S. exports.

U.S. congressional leaders agreed on Thursday to quickly overhaul the programme which the WTO found earlier this year to be an illegal export subsidy.

But the reforms do not satisfy the EU, which originally challenged the Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) scheme at the WTO. The deepening row has provoked fears of a trade war between the two giants of world commerce.

``We have said clearly that the legislation as it is currently worded does not address the principal problem that we have with the FSC regime and that is that it constitutes an export subsidy and is export contingent,'' European Commission trade spokesman Anthony Gooch said.

``The system that is being proposed by Congress at the moment continues to be contingent on exporting. If that legislation is put into place by October 1, then no doubt we will take this up with the WTO again speedily to ask them whether they agree with ... our view that the system is export contingent,'' he said.

``Up to now the efforts that the U.S. side has made -- though they consider them to be strenuous -- we consider that they do not amount to much more than window-dressing,'' he added.

OCTOBER DEADLINE

The United States has been working to come up with a replacement to the FSC scheme since the WTO gave Washington until October 1 to bring it into line with world trade rules.

The existing plan covers hundreds of billions of dollars of exports and provides U.S. companies, including many leading multinationals such as Boeing Co and Microsoft Corp, with up to $4 billion a year in tax breaks.

The EU last week rejected U.S. proposals to reform the FSC programme but U.S. officials insisted the proposals complied with global trade rules and said they would press ahead with enacting them.

U.S. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer said that the House of Representatives planned to vote on Tuesday on the legislation. It would then move to the Senate for final approval later this month.

The current FSC programme gives tax breaks to companies exporting through subsidiaries in tax havens such as the Virgin Islands, Barbados or Guam.

The U.S. reform proposals would also provide tax benefits to U.S. companies, but firms would receive the breaks directly rather than through special offshore subsidiaries.

Under WTO rules, if the EU feels the United States has not complied with the WTO's ruling, it can return to Geneva after October 1 and ask the dispute panel that originally struck down the FSC scheme to rule on the legality of the new programme.

If the panel found against the reformed U.S. scheme, the EU could seek compensation from the United States or ask for WTO permission to impose sanctions on U.S. goods which could run into billions of dollars.

The United States followed a similar procedure after winning WTO rulings against the EU's banana import policies and its ban on the import of hormone-treated beef. It imposed more than $300 million of sanctions on EU goods last year in those disputes.

Writing in the Financial Times on Friday, Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Stuart Eizenstat said he regretted that the European Commission had not accepted the U.S. proposals on FSC.

``We continue to believe that negotiation rather than confrontation is the better way forward,'' he wrote.

---

Government of Canada Opposes Further Harassment of Canadian Wheat Board

Yahoo News
Friday September 8, 8:42 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/000908/canadian_g_2.html

OTTAWA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 2000--The Government of Canada is very disappointed by the announcement of yet another American trade action against Canadian farmers.

The North Dakota Wheat Commission announced that it intends next week to petition the U.S. government to initiate an investigation under U.S. Trade Act Section 301 against Canadian trade practices and the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) in particular.

The Commission is seeking to have the U.S. government impose unwarranted barriers to Canada's market access to the U.S. Canada is making it clear it will hold the U.S. to its obligations under the WTO and NAFTA.

Canadian Wheat Board Minister Ralph Goodale, International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew and Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lyle Vanclief affirmed that the Canadian government will aggressively defend Canada's trade agreement rights. They condemned the plan calling it a counter-productive attempt to interfere with the flow of market-driven trade between Canada and the U.S.

``This opportunistic and groundless call for a trade action is clearly an attempt by the Commission to sling mud at the CWB,'' said Mr. Goodale. ``It will fail, as eight others have failed in the past, because the CWB is not attempting to capture more market share by undercutting prices or dumping grain in the international market.''

``We are disappointed by the North Dakota Wheat Commission's attempts to discredit a trading agency that has been proven time and again to be operating above board and within international trading rules,'' said Minister Pettigrew. In a recent WTO Panel proceeding, the U.S. affirmed it would not act under Section 301 in a way that would be inconsistent with its WTO obligations.``

``It is really hard to believe that some in North Dakota cannot see that trade actions, like those called for by the Commission, don't help anyone and, in fact, cause more harm than good by turning attention away from the real causes for low prices,'' said Mr. Vanclief. ``We should be working together within the WTO negotiations on agriculture to solve the fundamental market access and subsidy problems, rather than blaming each other for current low prices.''

Once a petition has been filed, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has 45 days to decide whether to launch an investigation.

Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 provides authority for the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) to take action against foreign trade practices alleged to be 1) inconsistent with a trade agreement with the U.S. or 2) an unjustifiable burden or restriction on U.S. commerce. A Section 301 investigation may be initiated after receipt of a petition by an interested person or may be self-initiated by the USTR. Once an investigation is initiated, the USTR requests consultations with the foreign government involved.

Eight separate U.S. investigations and audits since 1990 have confirmed that the CWB operates in compliance with international trade rules.

BACKGROUNDER

List of Investigations of the Canadian Wheat Board

1) A U.S. Section 332 International Trade Commission (ITC) investigation entitled Durum Wheat: Conditions of Competition Between the U.S. and Canadian Industries (June,1990). Regarding market prices, the ITC declared that ``... it is not apparent ... that prices paid for Canadian durum are significantly different than prices paid for U.S. durum.'' Also, with respect to freight rates, the ITC stated that ``the subsidized portion of the Canadian rates, while reflecting a decreased cost to the producer shipping the grain, does not appear to have a significant effect on the delivered price of Canadian durum in the United States.'' It should be noted that subsidized freight rates were eliminated in 1995.

(2) A General Accounting Office (GAO) Report on marketing boards (June, 1992). The report titled Canada and Australia Rely Heavily on Wheat Boards to Market Grain failed to find evidence of unfair trade practices as alleged by some U.S. trade officials.

(3) A dispute settlement panel with respect to Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Article 701.3 and durum wheat sales (February, 1993) agreed with Canada's interpretation of the Article regarding the definition of ``acquisition price'' and the costs to be included in determining this price. The Panel concluded that ``... the acquisition price of the goods referred to in Article 701.3 includes only the initial payment; or, in the event of an upward adjustment, the acquisition price for goods sold after the adjustment is the initial payment plus such adjustment.''

(4) Pursuant to the recommendations of the Dispute Settlement Panel in (3), an audit of CWB durum wheat sales to the U.S. cleared the CWB of wrongdoing (January, 1994). The first audit covering the period January, 1989 to July 31, 1992 found that, except for three contracts in violation during the FTA transition period (January - July 1989), the CWB has complied in all material respects with Article 701.3 of the FTA.

(5) An ITC Section 22 investigation was held to determine whether imports of Canadian wheat, wheat flour and semolina undermined the operation of the U.S. farm program for wheat. As well, the U.S. decided to initiate action under General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Article XXVIII (July, 1994). This GATT action, after a 90-day consultation period, would have allowed the U.S. to impose a tariff rate quota for wheat and barley imports. Discussions in 1994 lead to the Memorandum of Understanding on Wheat. The report of the Joint Commission on Grains (September, 1995) included recommendations to facilitate trade and assist governments in resolving existing problems in the grains sector.

(6) A GAO Report on the Potential Ability of Agricultural State Trading Enterprises to Distort Trade (June, 1996) reviewed the Canadian Wheat Board, the Australian Wheat Board and the New Zealand Dairy Board. The study does not allege the CWB or Canada violates international trade rules. The GAO also recognized that the CWB is unlikely to cross-subsidize wheat export sales from domestic sales due to the relatively small domestic market.

(7) A GAO Report on U.S. Agricultural Trade, Canadian Wheat Issues (October, 1998) found no evidence that Canada or the CWB violated any international agreement. It noted the CWB operates like other private sector grain companies that also do not reveal their sales prices and that by revealing contractual data, the CWB would violate its confidentiality agreement with customers.

(8) In December, 1998, a petition by a U.S. lobby group, R-CALF, regarding Canadian beef/cattle exports to the U.S. included allegations the CWB pricing policies for feed barley constituted a subsidy to Canadian cattle producers. The U.S. Department of Commerce conducted an exhaustive investigation and determined that the allegation was not founded.

Contact:

Minister Vanclief's Office Ottawa, Press Secretary 613/759-1761 -or- Minister Goodale's Office Ottawa, Press Secretary 613/996-3738 -or- Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Media Relations Office, 613/995-1874 -or- Office of the Minister of International Trade Sylvie Bussieres, 613/992-7332

-------- police

Building a Boom Behind Bars

By Lynne Duke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 8, 2000 ; A01
http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50327-2000Aug7.html

MALONE, N.Y. -- Mayor Joyce Tavernier and Police Chief Gerald Moll can't recite chapter and verse about the crime that rages far, far away, down in New York City. But the perpetrators of big-city crime have sparked a rural growth industry here. If crime doesn't pay, punishment certainly does, at least for isolated small towns like Malone.

"We've benefited from somebody else's mistakes," Moll says with a shrug.

He is referring to the "mistakes" of about 5,000 convicted criminals. That's the population of the three state prisons here, built over the past 14 years during the national prison construction boom. Fifteen miles from the Canadian border, in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, Malone's prisons have sparked new economic life in this once-withering Salmon River hamlet that had spent decades on the skids.

Call it salvation through incarceration--a prison-based development strategy that small towns all over America are pursuing, and changing economically and culturally because of it.

Nestled out of sight on a pine-covered plateau that has become a penal colony just north of the Malone village center, the prisons have brought new and expanded businesses, created jobs, broadened the tax base and bolstered the real estate market. Based on a U.S. Census count made dramatically higher because of the men behind bars, Malone stands to gain more in state and federal dollars than it otherwise would, with one-third of this town's population of 15,000 being inmates.

Prisons have transformed American small towns from New York's North Country around Malone to the Colorado plains and from the Texas panhandle to south Georgia, from the massive penal colonies of California to the southern coal fields of eastern Kentucky and the Virginias, where new prisons are being planned.

It's an old phenomenon that has surged in recent years: About 200 state and federal prisons have been built in small towns across the United States since 1980, and fierce competition breaks out when a new prison project is announced. In Missouri recently, 31 towns competed for one prison that ultimately was awarded to the town of Licking. In Arizona, Biga and Buckeye fought in court over which town had the right to annex a nearby prison and harvest the federal dollars it would bring.

Prison expansion has been "a major source of growth, of jobs, of economic development, yet it's almost sort of a symbiotic relationship," said Calvin Beale, senior demographer of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service. Beale began researching the small-town prison phenomenon a decade ago when he and a colleague saw how dramatically some rural populations had grown because of the prison inmate influx.

"Roughly speaking, you'll have 10 jobs for every 30 or so prisoners," Beale said. "So if you have a prison come in with 1,400 prisoners, you're probably going to get 400 jobs out of that, and in a rural setting that's a lot of jobs. . . . So they welcome these jobs, and they bid for them."

That's what happened in Malone.

"This town has the opportunity, if not to recapture its past, it has the opportunity to reshape its future," said Stephen T. Dutton, executive director of the Franklin County Industrial Development Agency.

But people who are not converts to the salvation of incarceration speak privately and anecdotally of the high-stress subculture of the prison guards that has begun to infuse the town, including an increase in domestic troubles. Folks with an appreciation for Malone's 200-year history of timber, farming, manufacturing and a spell as a regional rail hub find it difficult to watch the advent of Malone's new service economy, based on fast-food shops and discount stores that arrived with or after the prisons.

Others in this virtually all-white town speak of their fear that prison inmate families--most of whom are black and Latino, like an overwhelming majority of the inmates--will begin moving into town, not just coming to visit. That possibility has some locals on alert when they see a new, nonwhite face. Independent of one another, three middle-aged residents volunteered to a reporter that the only black person they'd ever known growing up was a local deaf-mute named "Snowball." "When you have a small community and suddenly you have that infiltration from outside, issues of diversity come," said Moll, who also said there had been no reports of trouble associated with inmate families. No such families live in the town, he said. Mandatory Sentencing

Towns such as Malone are the latest link in the chain of factors that influence criminal justice policies, experts say. Here in New York, advocates for reforming what they call disproportionately harsh sentencing laws said their efforts are being thwarted by some lawmakers whose small-town constituents don't want to stop the flow of inmates.

The debate over prison sentences is especially pointed now in New York, as the push to reform the state's so-called Rockefeller drug laws gathers steam. Under those laws, in place since the 1970s, even first-time, nonviolent drug offenders are subject to 15-year sentences. Some newspapers have editorialized in favor of reforming drug sentences, and advocates have pushed the issue. But the state legislature has not acted.

Reform of mandatory sentencing statutes has been impeded by "the vested interests that Republican state senators have in keeping the spigot flowing and keeping the prisoners flowing into the system," said Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, which co-sponsored a report released earlier this year on prison placement and spending in New York. State Sen. Ronald B. Stafford, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee whose district hosts more prisons--12--than any other in the state, did not respond to a request for comment.

New York prison commitments have tripled under the Rockefeller laws; 62.5 percent of those cases were nonviolent drug offenders. New York has built 36 prisons since 1980 and now has 69, most of them in rural areas.

Gangi emphasizes that most of New York's prison expansion has occurred in Republican districts. But Democrats also approved the new prisons, and then-Gov. Mario M. Cuomo (D) kicked off the prison construction boom.

Catch a Falling Star

The boom came to Malone in 1986, after years of decline in the local economy. Once known as the "Star of the North" because it was a rail junction and a regional shopping magnet, the town had lost its Sears, Roebuck and Co. store and its J.J. Newberry. Factories were shut or had been downsized. Local dairy farms had collapsed.

Mired in hard times on Main Street was the grand old Flanagan Hotel of regional legend. Mobster "Dutch" Schultz stayed in the hotel during his 1933 tax evasion trial (moved to Malone because it was remote), lavishing locals with such quantities of gifts and liquor that jurors acquitted him and tried to hoist him on their shoulders. Of Main Street's many shuttered premises, the Flanagan is the largest.

When prisons emerged as an option for Malone, Molly McKee, then president of the local Chamber of Commerce, was dismayed.

"If they said we'd get a four-year college campus, I would have loved that," said McKee, now head of the local prison advisory board. "I thought: a prison. Ugh."

But soon, realizing the town's desperation, she came to see it as a "great idea."

McKee and others were concerned that Malone not become another Dannemora. That town about 40 miles away grew up around the Clinton Correctional Facility. And there, towering over Dannemora's main street, are prison walls with shotgun-toting guards standing sentry.

However prison development played out in Malone, said McKee, "We didn't want it to define the town."

Franklin Correctional opened here in 1986, followed two years later by Barehill Correctional. Both are medium security and both, today, have more than 1,700 beds each. Last year, Upstate Correctional opened just down the road. It is a "supermax" prison that houses about 1,450 of the state's worst disciplinary problems in double-bunk cells.

The three prisons brought 1,600 well-paying jobs to Malone. A third of those prison workers live in the town, the rest in nearby towns in the same county.

With a total annual payroll of about $67 million, "it attracts people who think they're gonna get a piece," Dutton said, reciting a few small firms that have moved to town, mostly from Canada, including a furniture assembly plant and a textile firm. And there are new and expanded pharmacies, discount stores and fast-food outlets. Moll, Tavernier and McKee think the general prison-inspired upswing has spurred the expansion of the local hospital, which now has a dialysis unit and a cancer treatment center, and the golf course, which has doubled in size to 36 holes.

Taken together, the prisons and the new businesses in Malone in particular and Franklin County in general have dropped the county unemployment rate to about 7 percent, nearly its lowest level since 1975.

But while desperate small-town officials tout the obvious and proven benefits that prison development can bring, others bemoan what is being lost: the small-town life, the possibility for other kinds of development and local autonomy. While the town lobbied to get its first two prisons, the state decided unexpectedly to place the third one here. It was not altogether welcome, even by staunch advocates of prison development.

"People feel they can't fight it because they feel it's a done deal," Cindy Durant McNickle, a local activist, said of prison development in general. "But we do have to stand up and look very carefully at the institutions that are running the community." By that she means the state.

Malone Village, which provides water and sewage services for the new Upstate prison, had to unexpectedly raise water and sewer rates this year to cover debt service on an expansion project undertaken to accommodate the prison. The state was supposed to pay for the project, but had not done so by the time the town needed to decide on its water and sewer rates.

A village official who criticized some aspects of the prison expansion here nearly lost his job earlier this year for speaking out. Boyce Sherwin, Malone's director of community development, spoke critically in the newspaper Newsday of the water-sewer rate hike, the pollution of the Salmon River because of the prison expansion and the general tenor of life in a town with three prisons.

Outraged residents accused Sherwin of smearing the town and Mayor Tavernier mounted an investigation. Sherwin kept his job only through the intervention of other angry citizens who spoke in his defense. He refused to be quoted for this article.

Indeed, a variety of people interviewed here spoke only guardedly about the prisons. Experts on rural America say it is common for prison towns to experience more domestic violence and alcohol problems because of the stress experienced by prison guards. But Moll, the village police chief, said the slight upswing in domestic abuse and alcohol-related driving offenses that occurred after the first prison opened couldn't necessarily be attributed to prison stresses.

On a visit to the Pines, a bar between the Franklin and Barehill prisons, an off-duty prison guard chatted briefly over a beer about the stresses of the job and its unpredictability. He stopped talking, however, when a higher-ranking corrections official glared at him disapprovingly. The officer left a short time later, telling a reporter, "Watch yourself."

Asked why, he said, "You just have to watch yourself."

---

Man too smart for police loses appeal

USA Today
09/08/00- Updated 10:19 AM ET
Slightly off center . . .
http://usatoday.com/news/nweird.htm

NEW LONDON, Conn. - A man whose bid to become a police officer was rejected after he scored too high on an intelligence test has lost an appeal in his federal lawsuit against the city. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a lower court's decision that the city did not discriminate against Robert Jordan because the same standards were applied to everyone who took the test. Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took the exam in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125. But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training. The average score nationally for police officers is 21 to 22, the equivalent of an IQ of 104, or just a little above average.

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Japan Military Officer Arrested in Spy Scandal

Yahoo News
Thursday September 7 11:29 PM ET updated 1:48 AM ET Sep 8
By Elaine Lies
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000907/wl/japan_spy_dc_1.html

TOKYO (Reuters) - A senior Japanese naval officer was arrested on Friday on suspicion of passing military secrets to a person believed to be a Russian embassy employee, prompting doubts about Japan's military security practices.

The incident came just days after a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin failed to resolve a territorial row that is keeping Tokyo and Moscow from signing a peace treaty formally ending World War Two and could affect ties between the two.

Shigehiro Hagisaki, a 38-year-old lieutenant commander in the Maritime Self Defense Forces who is currently posted at a defense research institute, was arrested for allegedly giving classified information to the Russian embassy employee, a police spokesman said.

Police also raided four locations, including the institute and Hagisaki's apartment.

Wining And Dining

Japanese media reported that the Russian was a defense attache and that Hagisaki received money in addition to being wined and dined in return for handing over classified documents.

The two met around 10 times from September 1999 until late last month, Kyodo news agency quoted police sources as saying.

Hagisaki has basically admitted to the allegations, they added.

The police spokesman, though, declined to give details.

``All we know at this point is that he met a person we believe was from the Russian embassy in restaurants several times,'' he added.

The government said it was taking the incident seriously, although the potential diplomatic impact remained unclear.

Chief government spokesman Hidenao Nakagawa told a news conference: ``This incident took place in an area where high security must be maintained.''

``It could lower people's trust in national security.''

Defense Agency Chief Kazuo Torashima said the agency was currently investigating which documents had been leaked.

``Once we have the details, we will have to consider what we are going to tell the Russians about this issue,'' he told reporters.

First Incident In 20 Years

Japan's last military spy incident occurred in 1980, when several army officers and their retired superior passed secrets to a defense attache at the Soviet embassy.

During the Cold War, the passage of Soviet submarines near Japan created an atmosphere of tension in naval defense circles, but this has eased since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Analysts said it was not immediately clear if the incident would have an impact on relations between Japan and Russia.

``This depends on exactly what information was leaked,'' defense analyst Kensuke Ebata told the Mainichi Shimbun.

``At this point, it is hard to tell.''

--------

Japanese Navy Officer Arrested

New York Times
September 08, 2000
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Japan-Espionage.html

TOKYO (AP) -- Police on Friday arrested a senior Japanese naval officer suspected of passing secrets to a Russian embassy official -- a move that comes just three days after Japan and Russia pledged to cooperate in regional security.

The 38-year-old officer, a researcher at Japan's National Institute for Defense Studies, is accused of handing over classified documents to a Russian military attache in Tokyo on several occasions, said Masatoshi Konomi, a spokesman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.

Japanese Defense Minister Toshio Torashima called the charge ``inexcusable'' and promised to launch an internal investigation.

Russia reacted testily, calling the allegations ``provocative'' and speculating that some in Japan were attempting to poison the warming relationship between Tokyo and Moscow.

Without citing sources, national broadcaster NHK said the leaked information included material related to the U.S. Navy, which maintains bases in Japan.

Metropolitan police and defense agency officials, however, refused to confirm the report, and representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo were unreachable Friday night.

The accused officer, Lt. Cmdr. Shigehiro Hagisaki of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, was placed under arrest early Friday, Konomi said. Police raided Hagisaki's home and workplace Friday morning in search of evidence in the case.

The Russian attache had refused a request by police to make himself available for questioning, citing diplomatic immunity, the police spokesman said.

Konomi refused to name the attache. Japanese media identified him as Victor Bogatenkov, 44. The spokesman also would not say what Hagisaki, a Russian-language specialist, received in exchange for allegedly passing secrets.

The arrest made front-page news in Japan, coming after a series of agreements were signed at a summit in Tokyo on Tuesday between Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Japan promised to help Russia dismantle its nuclear arsenal, and the nations agreed to increase cooperation in patrolling their borders.

According to Japanese media reports, police believe the Russian military attache was an intelligence operative who wined and dined Hagisaki more than 10 times over a one-year period in exchange for information.

The two men were meeting at a Tokyo restaurant on Thursday night when police took Hagisaki into custody for questioning, the reports said. Police raided Hagisaki's home and workplace Friday morning in search of evidence.

The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement Friday indicating a belief that the charges were meant to stall the talks between the nations.

``Unfortunately, the incident leads to thoughts that in Japan there are forces unhappy with the present positive tendencies in Russian-Japanese relations,'' it said. ``It is clear that these forces are trying ... to cast a shade on this constructive work which is under way to build partnership between our countries.''

In 1980, a former Japanese major general was arrested on charges of leaking information to an official at the Soviet Embassy in Tokyo.

Penalties for releasing military information in Japan are light. Under Japan's Self-Defense Forces law, those convicted of leaking military secrets face up to only one year in prison or a fine of about $285.

-----------

Japanese Navy Officer Arrested as Russian Spy

Reuters
Friday, September 8, 2000
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36055-2000Sep8.html

MOSCOW, Sept 8-Russia said on Friday the arrest of a Japanese naval officer in Tokyo on suspicion of spying for Moscow was an attempt "to cast a shadow" over relations, but it hoped the two countries' improving ties would not be harmed.

Japanese police said they had arrested the officer, posted at a defence research institute, on suspicion he was passing classified information to a Russian embassy employee.

Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded statement, decrying the arrest as a provocation by "forces" in Japan seeking to harm relations only days after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Tokyo.

"Unfortunately, what has happened spreads the idea that there are forces in Japan which are unsatisfied with the recent positive moves in Russo-Japanese relations," it said.

"It is obvious that these forces are trying, with the help of provocative means, to cast a shadow on such constructive work," the Foreign Ministry said.

But, in a live interview with ORT public television from New York later on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov appeared to tone down the remarks, saying he hoped no long-term damage had been done by the spy row.

"We are proceeding on the basis that this episode has no relation at all to the Russian president's visit and hope that it won't in any way harm the growth of bilateral ties," he said.

Ivanov was accompanying Putin at a Millennium Summit of world leaders which was wrapped up at the United Nations on Friday. Ivanov said Russia still supported Japan's bid to become a permanent member of the Security Council.

Earlier, Interfax news agency quoted Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev as saying reports about Russian intelligence work in Japan "had no foundation." He was quoted as saying the arrest would have no impact on Russo-Japanese relations in the defence sphere.

During Putin's visit the sides failed to resolve a territorial dispute over four small islands that has kept them from signing a peace treaty formally ending World War Two.

Despite failing to achieve a breakthrough on the islands, Moscow and Tokyo agreed to work together on the peace treaty and promote economic and political cooperation.

Interfax quoted a Russian official as saying the arrest was "an extremely unfriendly and provocative move." The agency said the official, whom it did not identify, was expressing Moscow's formal stance on the issue.

The incident was the first military spy scandal between Moscow and Tokyo in 20 years.

-------- activists

No end to French fuel protests

BBC News
Friday, 8 September, 2000, 02:07 GMT 03:07 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_914000/914710.stm

Police trying to prevent farmers blockading the tunnel After late-night talks between French haulage unions and Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot, there is little sign of an early end to protests over fuel prices that have caused huge disruption on the roads.

One of France's two largest haulage unions, the FNTR, said the talks had made "very important steps forward", but the other, Unostra, said talks would need to continue.

FNTR said it would hold consultations and give the government a response by 1100 (0900 GMT) on Friday, but Unostra gave no deadline for its response.

The protests, now in their fifth day, have led to fuel rationing in many parts of France, as truck drivers blockade refineries and depots, and numerous attempts, joined by farmers, taxi drivers and others, to block major roads.

French farmers at one point evaded police cordons and blocked the main entrance to the freight terminal serving the Channel Tunnel - later lifting the blockade.

Huge traffic jams blocked access routes to the French side of the tunnel all day on Thursday as farmers joined the escalating protest against high fuel prices.

The focus of the protests on Thursday was the main Paris-Calais motorway, the A16, which was blocked by taxi and ambulance drivers.

Adding to the pressure on the French Government earlier on Thursday, the European Commission gave France 24 hours to explain what it was doing to stop the disruption.

The Commission said France could be breaking European Union law by preventing the free movement of goods and people.

The unrest looks set to spread, both in France and elsewhere in Europe, as other groups of workers demand protection from the soaring costs of fuel.

In Italy, the transport minister has already invited truck drivers' representatives to discuss the crisis.

Talks resume

The French protesters want the government to cut its fuel tax, with oil prices at their highest level since the Gulf War.

On Wednesday, the French Government offered to cut fuel taxes by between 35 centimes this year and 25 centimes in 2001.

This was accepted by one of the three main freight unions, the TLF.

But the FNTR and Unostra, rejected the proposal as "insufficient".

On Friday Unostra president Daniel Chevallier said the late-night talks had brought "clarifications", but did not elaborate.

Government ministers had earlier said there would be no further concessions.

The dispute has caused rifts within the French coalition government, as the Green Party regards any reduction in fuel taxes as damaging to the environment.

Rationing

The ongoing blockade has led to widespread fuel shortages and rationing. More than three-quarters of the country's petrol stations are reported to be dry.

Farmers also cut railway connections between Strasbourg and Paris near the north-eastern town of Saverne by placing about 15 tractors across the track and setting alight bales of straw and tyres.

At two regional airports - Nantes and Rennes - the fuel tanks are dry, while supplies are low at Nice, Lyon and Marseilles.

---

French Truckers See Progress in Talks, to Meet

Yahoo News
Friday September 8
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000908/wl/france_petrol_dc_13.html

PARIS (Reuters) - Representatives of French truck owners protesting against high fuel taxes consulted their members on Friday after late-night talks with the government clarified parts of a compromise deal Paris has offered.

``We've made considerable progress toward meeting our demands,'' Rene Petit, head of the FNTR owners association, said after meeting Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot.

``But we have to make sure a mandated group of professionals takes the decision (to end the blockades),'' he said.

Truckers, farmers, ambulance drivers and other groups went into their fifth day of protest, keeping a tight clamp on refineries and depots to ensure fuel supplies are blocked to all but about one fifth of the country's petrol stations.

Taxi drivers quit the movement after winning the right to raise fares by four percent, thereby passing the burden of higher fuel prices on to their customers.

But the truckers and other transport groups want a cut in the fuel taxes they pay, a concession only the government can give them. Paris has offered a 15 percent cut in diesel rates for heavy lorries, but the protesters are demanding 20 percent.

---

Largest French Truck Group Urges End to Blockade

Yahoo News
Friday September 8 7:56 AM ET updated 10:01 AM ET Sep 8
By Thierry Leveque
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000908/wl/france_petrol_dc_14.html

PARIS (Reuters) - France's National Road Hauliers Federation (FNTR), the largest truck owners' group protesting against high fuel prices, urged its members on Friday to lift the blockade strangling fuel supplies around the country.

But Unostra, the other group manning the barricades, said its members appeared to want to continue the five-day protest aimed at winning a 20-percent cut in diesel fuel taxes for large lorries. Unostra was due to announce its position later on Friday.

Both groups emerged from late-night talks with Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot saying progress had been made, but consultations with their membership apparently produced different assessments of the compromise deal.

FNTR represents the larger hauliers, while Unostra is made up of small firms that say they are threatened with failure if they cannot get their fuel costs under control.

The government has said it would not go beyond the 15 percent tax cut if offered on Wednesday.

An opinion poll showed a surprisingly high 88 percent of the French were sympathetic to the protesters, who have choked off fuel supplies to four-fifths of all petrol stations in France and disrupted air traffic, school buses and garbage collection.

France, meanwhile, was under pressure from the European Union to respond on Friday to questions about whether it was violating EU law by not ensuring the free movement of goods.

``Considerable Progress On Demands''

FNTR President Rene Petit said after meeting Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot: ``We've made considerable progress toward meeting our demands.''

But the FNSEA farmers' union said they had made no progress in talks with Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany on their demands for a cut in fuel taxes for the farming sector.

FNSEA head Luc Guyau has demanded direct negotiations with Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin.

``We are totally determined to stay at the barricades,'' an FNSEA spokesman said.

With the truckers and farmers split, French media were unsure whether the protest movement would fade during Friday. Commentators said much depended on how protesters on the barricades reacted to any deal made in Paris.

The Paris region has been spared the worst and more than half its petrol stations operated normally. Commentators said the protesters apparently wanted to avoid a backlash in the capital which could turn public opinion against them.

The protest, which began on Monday after fishermen won tax concessions last week following a ports blockade, has been joined by private ambulance firms, driving school instructors, barge operators and other groups hit by soaring fuel prices.

Taxi drivers went back to work after winning the right to raise fares by 4.5 percent, thereby passing the burden of higher fuel prices on to their customers. Tour bus drivers also reached a deal with the government and ended their protest.

Fuel shortages reduced air traffic at Lyon, Nantes, Nice and Rennes airports to a minimum and airports were advising pilots to stop in neighboring Switzerland to fill up their tanks.

Diesel fuel in France costs 2.16 francs ($0.29) a liter before tax and 5.65 francs per liter including tax, a fraction below the EU average of 5.75 francs.

---

UK Farmers Threaten to Widen Fuel Protests

Yahoo News
Friday September 8 5:50 AM ET updated 10:01 AM ET Sep 8
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000908/wl/britain_fuel_dc_1.html

LONDON (Reuters) - Leaders of a British demonstration against high fuel prices threatened on Friday to widen their protest to follow their counterparts in France after blockading an oil refinery in England overnight.

But their first demonstration was short-lived. They backed down before dawn after police ordered an end to the protest at Stanlow, in northwestern England.

Some 200 farmers and truckers with 75 vehicles had brought the distribution operation at a Shell oil refinery in Stanlow to a standstill by blocking access to the plant with a wall of tractors and trucks.

But at 4:00 a.m. on Friday police gave orders to end the action under the Trade Union and Labor Relations Act, the protesters moved and the road reopened.

David Handley, chairman of the Farmers for Action group which staged the protest, said the action was far from over unless the Labor government took action to curb rising fuel prices, which include the highest tax on fuel in Europe.

``Last night was just a token to show what we are capable of,'' he told BBC radio's Today program.

``We will obviously have an escalating program to follow on from that. It will continue until someone actually does something about it. I can assure you this will be going throughout the whole of the United Kingdom...in various strategic points.''

But Lord Macdonald, Britain's transport minister, cautioned protesters against mimicking their counterparts in France, where truck owners, farmers and others have been blocking fuel supplies around the country in a protest against rising prices.

Sympathy For Farmers

``One has every sympathy with the plight of people in farming and in the countryside but we have to ensure that we keep the free movement of goods and services, not just here, but we are keeping up the pressure for that to happen in France as well,'' Macdonald told the BBC.

``People have the right to peaceful demonstration but they don't have the right to interrupt the vital supplies in the country or to put the livelihood and convenience of other people at risk.''

Earlier on Friday British police said they had to protect a tanker driver after he had tried to cross the protest line at the refinery at Stanlow, near Liverpool.

``The tanker attempted to mount the pavement and was surrounded by protesters,'' a police spokeswoman said.

``The police stepped in and helped the driver get out of the cab and removed him to a place of safety.''

A Shell spokeswoman said operations at Stanlow had been halted during the protest. The refinery has a capacity of 262,000 barrels per day.

Handley warned there would be ``a winter of unrest'' unless the Labor government paid attention to protesters' demands.

``We do not want to do this and we do not do it with a light heart but unfortunately no one seems to listen to us so we have decided to follow our counterparts in France,'' he told the BBC.

British fuel prices are the highest in Europe, with tax and duties accounting for 75 percent of the cost of premium unleaded petrol. Prices rocketed by more than 40 percent between January 1999 and June 2000.

---

French Crisis Talks Bid to End Fuel Strike

Yahoo News
Thursday September 7 6:58 PM ET updated 1:48 AM ET Sep 8
By Caroline Brothers
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000907/wl/france_petrol_dc_11.html

PARIS (Reuters) - Crisis talks between truckers and the French government dragged into the early hours on Friday, with little prospect of an immediate end to protests over fuel taxes that have brought much of France to a standstill.

Pressure mounted after the European Union on Thursday gave France 24 hours to respond to questions about whether it was violating EU law by not ensuring the free movement of goods within the 15-nation bloc.

Four days of protests have caused widespread traffic chaos and severe fuel shortages. Farmers joined the protest and tried to block the Channel Tunnel freight train entrance on Thursday, while cab drivers blocked roads by traveling at a snail's pace.

Yet despite the disruption, a survey for Le Parisien daily published on Friday showed almost nine out of 10 French people sympathized with the truck drivers.

Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot, who talked with the leaders of France's two main haulage unions for 90 minutes late on Thursday, was meeting them again overnight.

The leaders had left to consult their supporters, but were back to meet separately with Gayssot at 1900 GMT and 2100 GMT respectively. The talks were still going on past midnight (2300 GMT).

``We are making progress on important points. The thinking is still going on,'' said Rene Petit, president of the National Road Hauliers' Union (FNTR), the biggest of the truck owners' groups.

No Early Order To End Blockade

But he told reporters as he left the earlier meeting on Thursday he would consult union officials early on Friday and no order would go out to dismantle the blockades before then.

The FNSEA farmers' union also held firm, refusing to move their tractors from around the refineries and fuel depots they have cut off with truckers and ambulance and tour bus drivers.

Several hundred taxis turned out to protest at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, 600 in Bordeaux and 1,000 each in Lyon and Marseille, taxi union chief Alain Estival said. But he promised cabs would be back at work on Friday.

Premier Lionel Jospin's government drew the line at a 15 percent cut on Wednesday, but angry truckers blocking petrol stations and refineries seemed bent on forcing the government into a 20 percent reduction in diesel fuel taxes.

Diesel fuel in France costs 2.16 French francs ($0.29) a liter before tax and 5.65 francs per liter including tax, a fraction below the EU average of 5.75 euros ($0.50) a litre.

Although officials insist an accord hammered out overnight Tuesday to Wednesday will not be renegotiated, Petit said other measures were under discussion -- including a mechanism to help truckers mitigate the effects of fuel price rises.

In Brussels, the European Commission sent a request to Paris for information on whether the road blocks -- the Interior Ministry tallied 167 of them at midday on Thursday -- were obstructing the free movement of goods within the trading bloc.

Eu Could Take Legal Action

If the Commission, the EU's executive body, does not receive a satisfactory answer, it could take legal action against France.

France's Green Environment Minister Dominique Voynet kept up pressure on Jospin's left-wing government on Thursday, warning it against caving in to truckers and farmers.

Farmers scuffled briefly with riot police in Calais when security forces barred protesters from closing the freight entrance to the Channel Tunnel. A dozen tractors later cut off the access road to the entrance.

``There is no chance right now of the farmers lifting their blockades,'' Luc Guyau, head of the FNSEA farmers' union, said after meeting Agriculture Minister Jean Glavany. ``This was a fake negotiation. We call for real negotiations.''

About 80 percent of all petrol stations in France were reported to be either dry or under tight rationing. Stations were also shutting in Paris, the area least hit by the protest.

Frustrated motorists in eastern France were driving across the border to Germany to fill their tanks. Nantes and Rennes airports in western France ran out of aviation fuel and Lyon had to cancel some flights. Nice airport on the Riviera expected to run dry by Friday evening.

Voynet, angered at not being consulted about the fuel tax cuts, asked to meet Jospin to discuss how concessions on fuel taxes squared with the government's environmental policies. She warned him he had gone too far and the Greens would react if concessions continued.

Meanwhile, France's Association for the Users of Freight Transport (AUTF), wrote to the unions on Thursday expressing ''the great concern of industrial and commercial clients in the face of the ongoing blockage of fuel supplies that is paralyzing the country's economic activity.''

-------

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1. DOE TROJAN HORSE BILL: Letter to White House Chief of Staff John Podesta
From: easlavin@aol.com

2. Angry Protesters Adopt French Tactics
From: ivan buchbinder <pentaske@memes.com>

-------------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000 18:03:59 EDT
From: easlavin@aol.com

DOE TROJAN HORSE BILL: Letter to White House Chief of Staff John Podesta

Dear Janet and all: I just sent the following E-mail to the White House Chief of Staff, John Podesta, with copies to all of the members of the Council of the ABA Individual Rights Section. Will call Karen shortly. Hope that was fast enough. With kindest regards, Ed Slavin

DOE's Victims Want Full and Fair Compensation -- Not a Trojan Horse Bill
Date: 9/8/00 5:53:40 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Dear Mr. Podesta: I am writing you urgently, in your capacity as White House Chief of Staff. You may recall that I met you some ten years ago when I was on the Council of the ABA Individual Rights Section, as the Liaison representing the Young Lawyers Division, and working on resolutions on security clearance Due Process and protection of whistleblowers. You are all doing fine work. I was proud to shake the President's hand at ATLA last month in Chicago and appreciate the Administration's commitment to a fair civil justice system. This commitment must apply to ALL of DOE's nuclear weapons plant victims, not just a few. Unfortunately, a Trojan Horse bill was passed by Senator Thompson, written by DOE -- an embarassment.

It is crucial to assure full and fair remedies, independent fair procedures, and independent lifetime medical benefits for all victims of DOE toxicants. Without these essential elements, legislation would not be a victory but a defeat for the sick workers and residents. This is a matter of fundamental human rights. This needs to be a campaign issue, not a hastily drafted compromise.

I am a public interest lawyer who represents DOE site environmental whistleblowers, sick workers and residents in East Tennessee. They need your help today. I am writing to express my serious concerns about the inadequate DOE-drafted bill passed by Senator Fred Dalton Thompson, Senate Amendment 3250 to S. 2549.

The Thompson-DOE bill is an insult and a disaster, not covering all DOE sites, not covering children, genetic damage and offsite residents (Downwinders). Worse, we understand the White House is now raising a trial balloon about lump sum compensation with no lifetime medical care. This is a betrayal of the Administration's commitment to justice. Please say no.

This would not be an accomplishment for President Clinton -- it would be a sellout, and it would adversely affect Tennesseans and other nuclear weapons workers and residents perception of the Administration. Please tell whoever raised the trial balloon to drop it. Giving sick workers a few crumbs would be bad public relations, bad legislation and and bad campaigning.

It would be far better to pass a truly meaningful bill during the first days of the Gore Administration, with a Democratic House -- with full remedies and fair procedures -- than to pass a Trojan Horse Bill that covers few workers, few toxicants, and rewards DOE and its contractors for their coverup. We need independent hearings before independent ALJs, not decisions by DOJ lawyers. We need benefits comparable to Black Lung and Longshore, not a onetime cash payment to people who are sick and dying due to toxicants. We need a bill that makes the polluters pay.

Unfortunately, DOE ldragged its heels for years and proposed its defective-by-design bill too late to pass this year. Please don't support a Trojan Horse bill.

See urls below regarding this issue, about which I would be happy to talk to you.

Coalition for a Healthy Environment
http://www.che-or.org/"

My written testimony before Senator Thompson (some 140 pages):
DOE's Toxic, Hostile Working Environnment Violates Human Rights
http://www.downwinders.org/slavinhtml.htm

Fifty questions Senator Thompson has not answered on his illusory compensation legislation, Senate Amendment 3250 to S. 2549,
http://www.downwinders.org/questions.htm

I have drafted with help from sick workers and residents from across the country, meaningful omnibus legislation that would treat workers, atomic veterans and residents equally -- a principled approach that the Gore and Clinton Administrations should evaluate and support:

Summary of discussion draft
http://www.downwinders.org/summary.htm

Revised Discussion Draft, subject to further revisions, suggestions, etc
May 21, 2000
http://www.downwinders.org/new_draft.htm

Victims' Testimony, Legislative Proposals, News and Commentary
http://www.downwinders.org/victims.html

Thompson blasted on sick worker bill
http://www.downwinders.org/ed4.htm"

DOE's Strategy in dealing with sick workers
http://www.downwinders.org/joyce.htm

Articles on DOE's environmental pollution and coverup, starting with contaminated drinking water at K-25, where unsanitary water was joined to sanitary water supplies for decades:
http://www.tennessean.com/sii/00/07/30/mynuke30.shtml

Deadly Alliance: How government and industry chose weapons over workers
http://www.toledoblade.com/deadlyalliance/intro.html

Secret project carried hidden dangers
http://www.usatoday.com/hphoto.htm

(USA Today series this week) THE TENNESSEAN Special Report
http://www.tennessean.com/special/oakridge/part3/

I look forward to hearing from you. Please direct your staff to drop their ill-advised "no health care, just compensation" trial baloon, as this would be a colossal embarassment to the Administration, with execrable timing two months before the Election.

This Administration is committed to better health care for all Americans. Passing a "CONpensation" bill without health care would be contrary to the national interest. Better no bill than a Trojan Horse bill.

Thank you.

With kindest regards, I am Sincerely yours, Ed Edward A. Slavin, Jr. Box 3084 St. Augustine, Florida 32085-3084 (904) 471-7023 (904) 471-9918 (fax) http://www.downwinders.org/victims.html (victims' testimony) http://www.downwinders.org/ed.htm (Ed's column on nuclear compensation) http://www.downwinders.org/slavinhtml.htm (Ed's U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs testimony, "DOE's Toxic, Hostile Working Environment Violates Human Rights.")

------------

Message: 2
Date: Sat, 09 Sep 2000
From: ivan buchbinder <pentaske@memes.com>

Angry Protesters Adopt French Tactics

Y'all, The fuel strike in Europe is speading, while here in the USA, WE just pop more Prozac. The Drug War... Ha! Later

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/UK/Transport/2000-09/blockade090900.shtml


----------------------------------------------------------

DOEWatch List ----A Magnum-Opus Project
Subscribe online: http://www.onelist.com
DOEWatch page: http://members.aol.com/doewatch

1. US Faces An 'Environmental Health Gap'
From: magnu96196@aol.com

2. Ambivalence lets ill workers languish
From: magnu96196@aol.com

3. We aim to right past wrongs
From: magnu96196@aol.com

4. Silence still shrouds Cold War-era weapons plant
From: magnu96196@aol.com

5. 1-Workers left in the dark about risks
From: magnu96196@aol.com

6. 2-Workers left in the dark about risks
From: magnu96196@aol.com

7. 1-Contaminated communities remain
From: magnu96196@aol.com

8. 2-Contaminated communities remain
From: magnu96196@aol.com

9. Study shows that hundreds of Michigan workers may have been exposed
From: magnu96196@aol.com

10. Document must be released Agency provides letter on former Energy offials
From: magnu96196@aol.com

11. When do the studies of sick workers stop?
From: magnu96196@aol.com

12. DOE does not owe Oak Ridge anything
From: magnu96196@aol.com

13. Justice: no buried poison Dig ends; mountain of drums all but gone
From: magnu96196@aol.com

14. Senate pushes DOE site cleanup funds
From: magnu96196@aol.com

-----------

Message: 1
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

US Faces An 'Environmental Health Gap'

September 7, 2000
Reuters Health

WESTPORT - Chronic disease ranks as the No. 1 cause of death in the US today, yet the nation's public health professionals are being denied the most basic tools to prevent life-threatening and disabling health problems, a blue-ribbon commission charged in a report issued on Wednesday.

To reduce the human and financial toll of chronic diseases, such as asthma, birth defects, cancers, and neurological disease, communities need to know when and where disease is striking and what environmental factors may be causing or contributing to the problem, the commission said.

More than half of the states lack ongoing tracking and monitoring of asthma, "even though it is a rapidly growing national epidemic," according to the report by the Pew Environmental Health Commission at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland. Most states, it said, do not track autism and mental retardation despite an estimated 50% surge in these developmental disabilities in the last decade and evidence of environmental links.

Furthermore, the report shows that less than half of the population is covered by birth defect registries, although birth defects are a leading cause of infant mortality. Only four states--Arizona, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and South Dakota--track autoimmune disease, such as lupus.

"This is Public Health 101, and as a nation we are flunking," Louis Stokes, a former member of Congress who serves on the commission, said in a statement released on Wednesday.

The commission called on Congress to establish a nationwide health tracking network to fill the information gap at an estimated cost of $275 million annually. That is less than 0.1% of the $325 billion annual cost of chronic disease in the US measured by healthcare expenditures and lost productivity, it said.

Former US Senator and Connecticut Governor Lowell Weicker, Jr., the panel's chairman, added that the issue should command the attention of every presidential and congressional candidate.

"We responded quickly to the threat of West Nile virus, tracking and monitoring every report of infected birds and people," he noted, "but 20 years into the asthma epidemic this country is still unable to track where and when attacks occur and what environmental links may trigger them."

The network that the commission has proposed would include a number of components, such as a nationwide baseline tracking of priority diseases, monitoring of immediate health crises, such as heavy metal and pesticide poisonings, and state pilot programs to keep tabs on regional environmental health concerns.

According to Dr. Neil Schlackman, Aetna US Healthcare's senior corporate medical director and a commission member, such a program will refocus the nation's attention and resources on the prevention of diseases that cause the most suffering and death.

Comments: With a cancer incidence and a chronic disease incidence data base------situations like DOE toxic emissions would not have been allowed to exist, nor any other toxic emissions that produce disease.

---------------

Message: 2
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Ambivalence lets ill workers languish

09/08/00
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/nceditf2.htm

In 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), which was secretly hiring contractors to process material for the nation's fledgling nuclear-weapons program, cavalierly told workers in those plants that any radiation exposure would be "so slight that special instruments must be used to detect it." Such pseudo-honesty â€" special instruments are required to detect even the potentially lethal doses that many workers received â€" has been almost as persistent as the contamination that still haunts those betrayed workers and their work sites.

A 10-month review of thousands of declassified documents by USA TODAY reporter Peter Eisler uncovered a pattern of deception and disregard that continues to place workers and communities at risk. In the 1940s and '50s, the U.S. government hired hundreds of firms to work with radioactive materials while regularly ignoring even basic protections against radioactive contamination. In the early years of the arms race, that might have seemed necessary. But what's the rationale today?

Until recently, the AEC and its successor, the Department of Energy, refused even to release a list of the private contractors who did the work. This made it impossible to find and warn workers in time for them to take preventive health measures.

Communities continue to suffer as well. Some factories released tons of radioactive material. Today, scores of industrial sites are contaminated, some of them too poisoned to be developed. But a program created in the 1970s to address that problem has so far finished cleaning up only 28 sites of 46 that are known to need remedial action.

Meanwhile, legislation in Congress to compensate some poisoned workers is scheduled for hearings next week. But the bill, which is under attack, promises help only to workers at federal plants. Workers employed by private contractors, mostly now in their 70s and 80s if alive at all, still are not assured compensation.

From the start, a cruel ambivalence about workers' welfare hung in the air like thorium dust. As many as 10,000 workers were laboring to supply materials for nuclear weapons, often without even gloves or masks. If they were examined, they weren't told why, nor given the results. Employers shirked the AEC's safety recommendations, and the AEC, fearful of supply disruptions, rarely insisted.

Indeed, the AEC was collecting health data from the workshops as early as the mid-1940s. But the research was used most effectively to design safer federal facilities. In essence, the early workers were guinea pigs.

At least two U.S. senators this week called for a hearing into the scandal. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson says his department is being "aggressive" about confronting this longstanding problem. But there's still no clearinghouse where ex-workers can check in, nor broad studies to assess their health.

Richardson also says the government must act in the "not-too-distant future" to address other worries. Yet compensation, cleanup and outreach programs should have been enacted years ago, and the Energy Department should be pushing loudly and urgently for them now. It's easy to talk about the "not-too-distant future." But for too many workers, the not-too-distant future is just another name for eternity.

------------

Message: 3
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

We aim to right past wrongs

09/08/00
By Bill Richardson
http://www.usatoday.com/news/comment/ncoppf2.htm

Every day, thousands of U.S. workers help dismantle the most vivid reminders of our nation's commitment to winning the Cold War: our aging nuclear weapons. It is dangerous, staggeringly expensive work, evidence of the tremendous security investments we made during uncertain times.

But beyond the billions of dollars we invested in building up our stockpile and now in taking it apart, there remains a lasting debt that the federal government hopes to repay: compensating thousands of workers who may have become ill from designing, testing and building those weapons.

It seems like a logical thing for us to do. But bureaucracy and the need to promote the U.S. weapons program have sometimes trumped logic, and so for many years the government actually opposed claims that workers' illnesses stemmed from their jobs.

Now, the Clinton-Gore administration is looking to close the book on that sad history and begin writing a new one of reparation.

Culminating a year-long series of actions to repair the breach between employees and employer, the administration in April announced a proposal that, if enacted by Congress, would compensate workers suffering from a broad range of work-related illnesses.

The legislation is designed to give benefits, including lost wages and medical expenses, to workers with pulmonary diseases caused by breathing particles of beryllium, and workers with cancers caused by workplace radiation exposure. In an effort to be open with workers and communities, the administration is working to create a publicly available database of facilities, public and private, involved in nuclear-weapons work.

If we find historic sites were neglected as a result of past national-security work, we are committed to tackling the problem.

This work will not be cheap or easy, and it won't make up for years of neglect nor guarantee a clean bill of health for so many workers. But it is something the government can and must do, especially considering its legacy of dishonesty in dealing with these veterans of the Cold War, many of whom are now out of work or enduring a retirement riddled with pain and suffering.

Now, it is up to Congress to make sure that it happens.

Bill Richardson is secretary of Energy, the department with jurisdiction over nuclear energy and weapons, safety and cleanup.

------------

Message: 4
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Silence still shrouds Cold War-era weapons plant

9/8/2000
By Dave Moniz / USA TODAY
http://www.tennessean.com/sii/00/09/08/nubases08.shtml

It was something Peter Tyler might have expected from the Cold War-era Soviet Union.

Watching a promotional video at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Burlington two years ago, the former aide to Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, listened as the narrator briefly mentioned the plant's history of making parts for nuclear bombs.

It was the first Tyler or virtually anyone in Iowa had heard of Burlington's link to the nation's once-sprawling nuclear weapons network. The reason: The Defense Department won't talk about its long-ago role in making nuclear bombs. No matter that the Burlington plant had stopped doing that work nearly three decades ago. And no matter that the Department of Energy, which managed the bulk of Cold War nuclear weapons production, recently opened records related to its many nuclear weapons plants.

The Pentagon steadfastly refuses to comment on or release any information about Burlington or other places that once made bomb parts for atomic weapons.

Tyler and others say they are concerned that workers were exposed to radiation and other environmental hazards. In its heyday, the "IAAP," as the plant was known to locals, employed several thousand people, many of whom worked with radioactive materials, solvents, explosives, heavy metals and potentially harmful dusts.

"If you're a former worker, you need to know what you can do about this," Tyler said.

The Burlington plant, which still produces conventional weapons for the Army, was one of a few military facilities that manufactured nuclear weapons parts during the Cold War. It's known that the Pentagon operated at least three such large facilities. The others were in Clarksville, Tenn., and San Antonio. But experts say it's unclear how many military production plants might have existed in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. Some documents show that as many as 23 Defense Department sites played some role.

This summer, Harkin introduced legislation that would require the Defense Department to disclose information about its Cold War weapons making.

"This (Burlington) is a nuclear weapons plant the federal government simply forgot," Harkin said.

"These are workers and families that devoted their lives to our national security. Now I believe the government has to devote itself to their health and safety."

The issues that Harkin and others find troubling: Were workers at military plants subjected to deadly hazards? Should they have to remain silent about their jobs, even after the Energy Department has relaxed its secrecy rules?

Bob Anderson, 60, who worked as a security commander at Burlington from 1968-73, said he fears that workers at the plant might have been exposed to harmful radiation or chemical carcinogens. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1988 and said he knows of three co-workers who either have developed the disease or died from it.

Because of the secrecy oath they signed, Anderson said, even the sick workers didn't talk to others about the dangers of the plant. "We just kept our mouths shut and went about our business," Anderson said.

Piecing together the history of the plant is difficult. There is no way to consult old rosters of workers, Anderson said, because they aren't likely to exist.

The legacy of the Defense Department's role in weapons making is also a puzzle. Because the Pentagon remains mum about the plants, researchers say it's difficult to pinpoint how many people worked in the plants and how many might have been exposed to environmental dangers that at the time were not well understood.

Anderson ultimately was responsible for illuminating the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant. He sent a letter to Harkin in 1997, outlining his health problems and the work that was done at the plant during the Cold War. When Harkin initially asked the Department of Energy about the plant, he was told that nuclear weapons production hadn't been done there.

As it turned out, IAAP was one of the handful of military sites that manufactured nuclear weapons parts during the Cold War, but its work was unknown to the Department of Energy.

"None of my people ever wore film badges or were ever checked for radiation," Anderson said. "We spent eight hours a day around weapons."

Anderson was in charge of 63 guards who received large drums of nuclear materials that arrived by rail and truck. The shipments contained warning labels for radioactivity, Anderson said, but none of the guards wore any type of protective gear. "I don't think at the time any of us knew the depth and extent of the problems," he said.

In an effort to determine the extent of health problems related to the plant, the University of Iowa recently announced it will begin studying the health of former Burlington workers. Among its goals: identifying the thousands of workers who built and took apart nuclear weapons there from 1945-75.

------------

Message: 5
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

1-Workers left in the dark about risks; uranium dust far exceeded safety limits

9/7/2000
By Peter Eisler
Gannett News Service
http://www.tennessean.com/sii/00/09/07/nuclear07.shtml

CLEVELAND -- In January 1948, Bernard Wolf came here to assure workers at Harshaw Chemical Co. that the uranium they secretly processed for the government's nuclear weapons program posed no threat to their health.

In fact, Wolf, a medical director with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, had evidence of serious dangers. His staff had done classified studies at Harshaw's restricted "Area C" plant and found that concentrations of radioactive uranium dust in the air reached 200 times the safety limits of the day.

Having alerted Harshaw to the problems, Wolf wanted workers' urine checked for signs of kidney damage. But company officials worried that the tests might alarm employees, so they asked that he come out first to allay any fears among the men.

"It is easy to understand that extensive sample-taking of this character may cause (workers) to wonder about their health," Wolf's boss wrote to Harshaw executives just after the doctor's trip. "It was for this reason that Dr. Wolf (visited) to explain to them that all of our records indicated that no unusual hazard existed."

Actually, the severe hazards already documented at Harshaw were getting worse.

By late 1948, medical officials in the nuclear weapons program were reporting that nearly all of the 100 workers at Area C were overexposed to radioactive dust, with a third of them breathing 140 to 374 times the safety limit. Wolf, who is now deceased, raised concerns that the exposures could cause cancers, kidney problems and other illnesses that might not show up for decades.

"Workers (at Harshaw) will have to be followed medically very carefully in the future to detect the earliest signs of any damage," Wolf's staff reported.

But after Harshaw's work for the nuclear weapons program ended in the mid-1950s, no one returned to check the workers' health or tell them of their risks.

Here and elsewhere, thousands of workers were left in the dark about the often severe hazards they faced while working for private companies that were hired secretly in the 1940s and '50s to process radioactive and toxic material for nuclear weapons. Fifty years later, many of the survivors have increased chances of cancer, as well as kidney, lung and other diseases as a result of their work. But there's been almost no effort to learn whether such illnesses have occurred or contributed to any deaths.

Now, with Congress and the Clinton administration trying to account for illnesses among nuclear weapons workers, people who labored at commercial facilities employed by the arms program in its early years may be missed again. Congress is expected to vote in coming weeks on legislation to provide special compensation to men and women with health problems linked to nuclear weapons jobs, but that legislation promises mainly to cover those who were employed at government-owned sites that ultimately assumed most weapons-production operations.

"The people at these (private) places have essentially been forgotten," said Michael Sprinker of the International Chemical Workers Union, which represented people at some companies.

"They paid a huge price for fighting the Cold War," he said. "It would have been one thing if they'd made the choice: 'OK, I'll take the risk because this is important for the country or because it's a good job that can support my family.' But they didn't make that choice. They were told this stuff wouldn't hurt them. The government has to take some responsibility."

As USA TODAY reported yesterday, hundreds of companies quietly shifted their plants, mills and shops to nuclear weapons work under classified contracts and subcontracts with the weapons program in its early years. Many of the sites did only limited work, but dozens handled large volumes of material, sometimes for a decade or more before the government finally had its own weapons-making facilities ready to take over in the mid-1950s.

The newspaper conducted scores of interviews and studied 100,000 pages of records on the operations, many of them recently declassified and never before made public. Findings:

- For decades, the government suppressed classified reports on dozens of contracting sites where workers faced extreme levels of radiation and airborne toxins from beryllium, fluorides and other dangerous chemicals. One 1949 survey of hazards at seven firms processing uranium in St. Louis and Cleveland and at facilities outside Pittsburgh and Buffalo found high radioactive dust levels at every one. Of 648 workers at those sites, the partially declassified survey noted, 40 percent had average exposures at least five times the safety limit; 10 percent were at least 125 times the limit.

- Federal officials and executives at contracting companies often misled workers about their risks because of fears that they would seek hazard pay, sue for damages or demand safer conditions. The weapons program repeatedly killed plans to give workers details on their radiation exposures. "It is necessary to consider whether (such a policy) would serve merely to alarm employees unnecessarily, invite baseless claims, and complicate collective bargaining," noted a 1956 memo circulated to top program officials.

- Recommendations for reducing workplace dangers often were shelved because the government thought they might interfere with production and the contractors didn't want to spend the money. In a 1949 report, medical officials in the weapons program urged that hazards be cut "despite existing operational pressures." But noting the need "to keep costs to a minimum," they suggested that an incremental approach "seems more logical than assuring safe results by over-designing" protections.

The lack of medical follow-up on people who did nuclear weapons work at private facilities makes it impossible to say how many of the 10,000 or so people those facilities employed over the years may have gotten sick.

But experts hired by USA TODAY to review some of the old health studies estimate that workers in the most hazardous jobs have substantially higher risks for cancer and other illnesses.

"Most all the guys are dead now. Cancer, kidneys, lung problems, you see a lot of that," said John Smith, 87, a Harshaw retiree who worked on the uranium-processing operation. "I feel lucky to be alive, but I'm worried. It makes you bitter, them knowing about the risks and not telling. If I'd known, I would have quit." Yesterday, USA TODAY revealed the untold story of the role played by private companies in the Cold War. This is the story of what happened to the workers.

Calculated risks

Soon after the first private companies were hired during World War II to help build the first atomic bombs, the government launched a highly classified effort to measure workers' exposure to hazardous substances and monitor the effects. Plants were checked for radiation and air quality; workers got urine tests and physicals. Later, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), which took over the weapons program in 1947, also collected tissue samples.

"All we did was pass the word among the physicians in the hospitals, if they run across any surgical cases or postmortem (exams on) uranium workers, that we would like to have kidney, lung, bone," Merril Eisenbud, a top AEC health official, said in an interview with federal officials before his death in 1997. "Did they get permission? I don't know."

By the late 1940s, workers at some of the companies were showing signs of kidney damage and respiratory ailments from breathing air laced with uranium, thorium, beryllium and fluoride compounds. Suspicious cancers also were surfacing. The numbers, while relatively small, bolstered concerns that more serious and widespread problems lay ahead.

But the immediate demand for more weapons tended to overwhelm such long-term worries.

"People doing health (oversight) were caught in the middle," said Gilbert Whittemore, a lawyer and senior researcher for a presidential panel set up in 1994 to investigate revelations that the weapons program did secret Cold War radiation studies on unknowing subjects. "They were trying to establish enough authority and credibility to enforce (safety) standards and on the other hand not interfere with the weapons-production effort."

Initially, the balancing act was a wartime necessity.

In June 1945, just two months before U.S. planes dropped atomic bombs on Japan, the weapons program's medical chief more than tripled the "maximum allowable concentration" of radioactive dust in air at contracting plants. Studies suggested the higher exposures would be tolerable, his directive said, and "given the extreme difficulty in maintaining (the prior limit) in industry, such a change will be of definite benefit in expediting the war effort."

The war's end in August did little to ease the demand for weapons, particularly once the Soviets' first atomic bomb tests kicked off the arms race in 1949. By 1951, more than 150 private facilities had received contracts to do nuclear weapons work. Violations of safety codes remained common, and the limited efforts to protect unwitting workers often fell short.

At Electro Metallurgical Co. in Niagara Falls, N.Y., which processed uranium from 1943 to 1952, radioactive dust levels often soared to hundreds of times the prevailing safety limits. (The company failed to even vacuum work areas, despite being "persistently instructed," a 1949 AEC memo noted.) But when AEC medical officials suggested that the commission could pay for new ventilation, higher-ups balked at the cost. It would be only a few more years, they reasoned, before federal facilities would be built to take over the work.

The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, which was hired by USA TODAY to review the records, estimates that during peak years workers' annual lung doses of radiation ranged from 50 to 6,000 rem -- measurements up to hundreds of times the limits of the day. Based on conventional risk formulas, exposures toward the high end of that range, even for just a few years, translate into a "very high probability" of cancer and kidney ailments, the institute reports.

The cost concerns that stymied action at ElectroMet were not unusual. But more often, the major obstacles were operational.

At Monsanto Chemical plants in Dayton, Ohio, for example, urine tests on workers processing polonium often showed levels of the radioactive element many times the "maximum tolerance." Health officials reported in 1946 that the plants could not meet quotas "without having certain individuals go above (the) tolerance level."

Con't to part 2

---------

Message: 6
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

2-Workers left in the dark about risks; uranium dust far exceeded safety limits

The Dayton project, run in an old playhouse and other leased facilities through much of the 1940s, was the sole source of polonium used to trigger nuclear weapons. So it was decided that workers with up to twice the allowed level of contamination in their urine would still be assigned to "hot" areas whenever necessary.

While big operations such as Dayton and ElectroMet tended to have the biggest problems with worker exposures, their troubles weren't unique.

Smaller steel mills and metallurgy shops that cut and pressed uranium and thorium metal into nuclear fuel rods -- places such as Joslyn Manufacturing in Fort Wayne, Ind.; Bridgeport Brass plants in Connecticut and Adrian, Mich.; and William E. Pratt Manufacturing in Joliet, Ill. -- often exposed workers to radioactive dust levels that were tens of times the safety limits.

Other companies had problems with nonradioactive but highly toxic chemical compounds such as beryllium, which causes lung disease. At Hooker Chemical in Niagara Falls, N.Y., which made additives for uranium refining, weapons program officials noted in a 1944 report that fluoride and chlorine vapors filled the air "to such an extent that breathing was difficult."

Most contractors "were supposed to do a certain amount of production work and be done with it, but it ended up being much more," said Alfred Breslin, 76, a health physicist in the weapons program from 1948 to 1980 and a co-author on many of the old studies of private facilities. "The initial controls were not always adequate. For the most part, (upgrades) were done, not as fast as we would have liked in many cases."

The federal facilities built in the 1950s to take over the work boasted special ventilation, mechanized operations and other safety features absent at private sites. At the government's Fernald complex in Cincinnati, which assumed uranium and thorium processing, new worker safeguards reflected "experiences encountered at the old (commercial) plants," a 1951 AEC memo noted.

Even so, in 1994 Fernald workers won a broad government settlement that included health monitoring, arbitration of disputed worker compensation claims and $15 million in compensation after charging in a class-action suit that they had higher risks of cancer and other illnesses from radioactive and toxic exposures.

Hidden dangers

The frontline workers at Harshaw were practically the only ones involved in the weapons operation there who didn't know about the risks they faced.

By 1948, the plant was one of the weapons program's two biggest producers of uranium compounds. The other was Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in St. Louis. Both were notorious among AEC health officials for safety problems.

As radiation levels at Harshaw soared, commission officials repeatedly warned the company, but their recommendations for corrective action were ignored. "No significant progress has been made in correcting the hazardous conditions," one top AEC manager wrote in a testy 1949 letter to Harshaw executives. The AEC official added that the company "could correct all of these conditions (if) management were seriously concerned."

But such worries had no effect on the AEC's production quotas. By 1950, the plant was running up to 24 hours a day, and workers' radiation and fluoride exposures continued to climb.

It wasn't until the early 1950s, almost 10 years after Harshaw began doing weapons work, that new, dust-catching ventilation hoods were installed in the plant and the air quality problems began to subside. Records suggest the change was driven as much by the AEC's desire to recoup precious uranium as by health concerns.

Some workers suspected that their jobs might be more dangerous than they were led to believe. Suspicions grew as men were mysteriously taken out of the plant after urine tests. In one 10-month period spanning 1950 and 1951, nine workers were dispatched with kidney ailments diagnosed as uranium poisoning. But there were no explanations.

"No one ever told us there was a problem," said Smith, the Harshaw retiree. "The guys who got pulled out, we thought it was because there was something already wrong with them, maybe they were drinking too much and it showed up in their urine."

The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, based in Maryland, estimates that workers with the worst cumulative radiation exposures at Harshaw got the equivalent of a whole-body radiation dose of about 1,000 rem. That level corresponds to a 40 percent chance of dying from cancer over a lifetime and a 200 percent increase in cancer risk compared with unexposed persons. Their chances for kidney and respiratory problems are also substantially higher.

Surviving workers recall dust coating the plant floor. It stung their faces, gave them rashes.

The men were told to wear respirators during some tasks, but "they were uncomfortable," said James Southern, 76, who worked on Harshaw's uranium operation in the late 1940s and '50s. He noted that many men used the masks only sporadically and rarely bothered to change the filters. "They never told us why we needed them. If they had, they wouldn't have had anyone working there."

Providing detailed information to workers was never seen as an option. Reports on operational hazards, like most weapons program documents, were "born secret": automatically classified unless specifically censored for release.

In 1949, when AEC medical officials sought to publish a paper generally discussing hazards at weapons-making sites, declassification officers directed that mentions of worker exposures at specific sites be deleted. The cuts "do not necessarily involve (secret) data," they wrote, "but (were suggested) on the basis that they are unnecessary references or might be bad from a public relations and an insurance point of view."

Filed and forgotten

The secrecy surrounding the nuclear weapons program's early contracting operations has resulted in a paucity of research on whether employees at Harshaw and other sites suffered any harm from their risky jobs. Many workers still are reluctant to talk about those days, recalling the background checks and loyalty oaths that were a condition of their employment. Few know of the hazards they faced. There have been no lawsuits, no organized efforts to come forward with their stories.

"We never thought much about the risks. I think we're paying for it today," said Joseph Krall, 79, who worked at Vitro Manufacturing in Canonsburg, Pa. The company processed millions of pounds of uranium compounds from 1942 through 1957.

In 1951, an AEC health survey at Vitro found work areas where radiation was "dangerously high." Krall, who now has kidney disease, was among the men sent into the big mixing vats, 25 feet wide and 10 feet deep, to sponge up radioactive residue at each day's end -- a job done with no respirator.

"I have to take all these pills now, and that's probably why," he said. "They never said anything about risks. They didn't want us talking about it." Most of the old reports on the contracting operations sit under decades of dust at scattered federal archives. They are among millions of pages of documents declassified under openness initiatives launched by the Clinton administration. But they have been obscured by a flood of revelations about unsafe practices at big federal weapons plants and secret radiation experiments on human subjects. USA TODAY has been among the first to examine them.

"It's amazing that these individuals (employed by private contractors) have never been tracked down and considered (for study)," said John Till, a nationally known expert on radiation's physiological effects. "Some (exposures) appear to have been very, very high."

Few modern studies

Academics and federal scientists have done volumes of research on illnesses and deaths among workers at more than a dozen federal weapons plants and labs, in some cases finding sharp increases in rates of cancer, kidney disease and pulmonary problems. Yet only two modern-day studies have been done on employees from private contracting sites.

Each of those studies, which covered workers involved in uranium processing at Mallinckrodt Chemical and Linde Air Products in Tonawanda, N.Y., found significantly higher rates of several of the same illnesses found at some of the government weapons facilities.

Now workers from the old contracting operations are getting passed over again.

This year, the Clinton administration made the first government acknowledgement that the nuclear weapons program made workers sick. But statements have focused on workers at federal facilities.

The compensation bill now before Congress reflects that limited focus. It would provide $200,000 payments to nuclear weapons workers with various illnesses linked to radioactive and toxic exposures. In cases where a worker has died from such a disease, the money would go to survivors.

But the legislation promises mainly to cover people from federal installations. Workers from most private contracting sites would not be eligible unless the Department of Energy specifically "designated" that their companies had been involved in weapons work.

"From the start, our goal has been to include everybody," said Assistant Energy Secretary David Michaels. "We've written this legislation knowing there are lots of (private) places out there. We think eventually we'll get to all of them, but we didn't want to write specific sites into the bill because ... we'd just find more next year."

Perhaps, workers' advocates say, but the lack of any deadline for getting sites designated leaves no guarantees that workers from private facilities will be covered.

"Depending on how friendly an administration is to this compensation idea, that (designation process) allows for a lot of foot-dragging," said Richard Miller of the Paper and Allied Chemical Workers Union, which represented workers at some contractors.

"It's really come down to a matter of cost," said Miller, who is lobbying to expand the bill to cover the private workers. Opponents "say we know almost nothing about these (contracting sites) because there have been no studies. But we know people were put in harm's way, that they weren't told, that these were conscious decisions. It's all about where (Congress and the administration) draw a line. But these people are old, more die every day without receiving one iota of justice."

Many of the workers agree, wondering aloud why their role in the Cold War seems to have been forgotten once again.

"The government should have made sure we knew the risks; they should have made sure the company told us," said Allen Hurt, 77, a Harshaw retiree who worked on the company's uranium processing operation. "They were passing the buck. They still are."

USA TODAY research by Jean Simpson, Susan O'Brian. Peter Eisler writes for USA TODAY.

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Message: 7
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

1-Contaminated communities remain

9/8/2000
By Peter Eisler
Gannett News Service
http://www.tennessean.com/sii/00/09/08/nuclear08.shtml

Private companies in dozens of communities across the country pumped radioactive and toxic waste into the local air, water and soil while doing secret work for the U.S. nuclear weapons program during the Cold War. In some cases, contamination risks persist even now, hidden from neighbors who've been left uninformed for 50 years about dangerous work done in their back yards.

The hundreds of commercial plants, mills and shops hired by the government to help build America's early nuclear arsenal in the 1940s and '50s often lacked the knowledge or ability to safely handle the poisonous byproducts of their work. Federal officials knew of the problems, but reports raising public health concerns were classified, buried in government vaults.

Some sites remain contaminated, the damage unpublicized and unaddressed by federal programs set up to deal with waste from nuclear arms production.

"People have a right to be informed about what went on in their communities, to understand what the potential risks may be," said Susan Gordon of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, a coalition of citizen watchdog groups. "We need to know a lot more about these places in terms of monitoring (contamination), health concerns, etc."

A USA TODAY investigation found that private facilities used to process uranium, thorium, polonium, beryllium and other radioactive and toxic substances for the nuclear weapons program often caused serious and lasting environmental harm.

The contracting, which ran mainly from the early '40s to the mid-'50s, was done nationwide, but mostly in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan. Many of the companies did limited work and posed little if any ecological risk. But dozens of others handled vast amounts of hazardous material and caused substantial contamination.

USA TODAY visited 10 states, interviewed scores of people and reviewed more than 100,000 pages of declassified federal documents on the operations of companies secretly employed in nuclear weapons work. Thursday, the workers' stories were told. This story looks at the environmental consequences from the nuclear weapons work. Key findings:

- Long-classified safety studies done at dozens of private contracting sites show that dust and ash laced with radiation or toxins frequently drifted into adjacent neighborhoods from exhaust stacks and waste-burning pits. Similarly, contaminated sludge poured into waterways, lagoons and open trenches. In most cases, the government's incessant hunger for nuclear weapons left little time or money for safely disposing of hazardous wastes.

- Contamination left at the sites by commercial facilities employed in weapons work often was not contained or cleaned up. In dozens of cases, environmental hazards persisted for decades before being cleaned up by federal programs set up in the '70s and '80s to remediate pollution from nuclear weapons production. Some sites remain contaminated; some have never been checked thoroughly for radioactive or toxic waste.

- Many communities were not told of the risky weapons work done by their local businesses. Federal reports that documented radioactive and toxic releases by private contractors were shared only with executives at the companies involved, even when operations were known to be putting neighbors at risk. The government has never provided a public accounting of commercial facilities hired for nuclear weapons work and the jobs they did.

Federal officials who oversaw the contracting "never really addressed the radioactive (and toxic) waste," said Arthur Piccot, 81, a health physicist with the weapons program in those days. "Now it's a tremendous problem at a lot of these places. But we didn't think too much about it then. We didn't know it would be such a problem."

As environmental threats at many sites became increasingly clear, the long-term risks were seen as subordinate to the immediate demand for expanding the nation's nuclear arsenal. "Health issues could be overridden by management," Piccot said. "There was a war on. That's the way they decided to do it, period."

Most weapons work at private facilities ended by the late '50s, when it moved to big, new government complexes. No one can say whether the radioactive and toxic waste that was left behind made people sick.

Virtually no medical study has been done on people who lived -- or still live -- near even the messiest of the old contracting operations.

Yet the government has sponsored all sorts of epidemiological research in communities around the federal plants that took over the work. In some cases, researchers found increased rates of cancer, kidney ailments and heart and lung disease among people in the surrounding areas.

"It could be very worthwhile to do some mortality and cancer-incidence studies" in places where private companies did nuclear weapons work, said Evelyn Talbott, a University of Pittsburgh professor who studies the health effects of radiation.

"You'd at least be able to get some information about what the (public) risk is," Talbott said. "You'd be able to tell people if they have a higher than normal risk of becoming ill."

Contamination questions

No one really knows how much radioactive waste remains at the site of the former Blockson Chemical Co. in Joliet, Ill., and that could be a problem.

In 1951, the Block brothers, who took over their father's business in the '30s and renamed it accordingly, signed a secret federal contract to set up a plant to extract uranium from phosphate ore that the company processed for commercial use. In the next decade the plant, bought along the way by Olin Mathieson Chemical Corp., produced about 2 million pounds of radioactive uranium concentrates for the nuclear weapons program.

Yet state officials had no record of the work until 1995 -- four decades after the fact. Even now, they know just enough to be concerned.

"It's unclear whether there's (still) any contamination there," said Richard Allen of the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety.

A survey done in 1977 by the federal government's Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) found dozens of places where uranium and radium contamination in the Blockson plant and surrounding soil exceeded federal limits. But officials in the program, set up a few years earlier to examine environmental hazards at old weapons-making sites, deemed the site ineligible for federal cleanup, citing a lack of congressional authority to deal with waste that could not be pegged specifically to weapons production.

"It cannot be determined whether (contamination) was the result of uranium recovery activities or of the phosphate operations" run for commercial purposes, the FUSRAP report said. "Also, because of the type, location and configuration of the contamination, the potential for exposure and, consequently, the (health) risks associated with use of the site, (are) very low."

Eighteen years later, in 1995, the state received a copy of the report.

"They kind of dropped it in (our) lap," Allen said. "This is a federal responsibility and a letter from them saying they don't think it's a federal responsibility just doesn't do any good."

It's possible, Allen said, that Olin might have cleaned up the site, but the state has not been able to find or obtain any documentation on it.

"With no disturbance of the area, we don't have a problem," said Clarence Smith of the state EPA, which was unaware that any weapons work was done at Blockson until informed by a reporter. "Once you start disturbing it, creating dust ... it's possible people could have exposure to all kinds of ... radiation. We need to know from a liability point of view, and from a future land use point of view, what's there."

During the 1970s and '80s, dozens of contracting sites were eliminated from FUSRAP, which was run by the Department of Energy (DOE), the modern-day steward of the nuclear weapons program, and has since been turned over to the Army Corps of Engineers. In most cases, officials concluded that the operations conducted at those sites posed little or no risk of environmental harm. But USA TODAY found at least a dozen properties where officials walked away from obvious evidence of contamination.

At some, such as Blockson and several Florida sites also involved in large-scale efforts to extract uranium from phosphate, potential problems were passed over because it was unclear how much of the damage was tied to weapons work. At others, contamination was left untouched based on "hold harmless" clauses in companies' original contracts with the weapons program -- provisions that shielded the government from liability.

In 1985, FUSRAP officials used an old "hold harmless" clause as part of the basis for ruling out cleanup at the Cleveland site of the now-defunct Horizons Inc., which processed radioactive thorium for the weapons program in the '40s and '50s. A federal survey at the time found contamination "exceeded applicable guideline limits" for cleanup. General radiation readings were 10 times normal background levels in some buildings that were still in commercial use.

"In terms of the concern that sites have fallen through the cracks over the years, the (Energy) department is going to go back and actually has gone back at some sites to take another look at the activities that were conducted," said Ellen Livingston, a top environmental adviser at DOE.

At most private contracting sites where lingering contamination has not been cleaned up, the waste is "fixed," as it is at Blockson, so there's little threat of it migrating off-site by seeping into water supplies or becoming airborne. But some of those sites have faded from the government's institutional memory. So, there's no guarantee that future users would be warned about the risks of disturbing or redeveloping the property in ways that could "liberate" dangerous material.

Unsafe practices

During World War II, when the government began hiring contractors to help develop the atomic bomb, convenience was the driving factor in disposing of radioactive and toxic waste. Pollution concerns typically had more to do with public relations than public health.

"The main goal was to get (bombs built)," said James Maroncelli, an industrial historian who has been researching the contracting operations to write a "traveler's guide" to nuclear weapons-making sites. "If someone could get the work done, that's who they used."

After World War II ended, when the newly created Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) took over the weapons production effort, health and safety officials overseeing the program's contractors grew increasingly concerned about waste the companies' facilities generated.

"We should make careful appraisals of the type and extent of any hazard which does or may exist and develop ways and means of eliminating or minimizing these hazards," the AEC's top sanitary engineer wrote in 1948 in a memo sent to top commission officials.

"If long-lasting isotopes are discharged into the ground, the (AEC) has the responsibility of recording where they go and who might be affected," the memo said. "If (neighbors) may be affected by the contamination of the underground water supplies, we have a responsibility of warning those persons or critics and possibly making an equitable settlement."

The commission did document waste flows from many of the private facilities. But the studies often were aimed mainly at measuring the loss of valuable material that might be captured and reused. Reports at the time often noted that scientists had no long-term solution to the question of how to deal with the new and unique wastes spawned by weapons making -- wastes that would remain radioactive and toxic for hundreds or thousands of years.

"Whether local officials may be of great assistance is doubtful," one AEC engineer wrote in a secret memo in 1948. But "serious consideration should be given as to whether this problem should not be made public and lifted of its security veil."

Ultimately, though, the notion of slowing operations until the problem could be solved, or of informing affected communities and risking a public outcry for halting the work, was not seen as feasible. The burgeoning arms race with the Soviet Union began shortly after the AEC inherited the weapons program, spurring the same production-at-all-costs mentality that had prevailed during the war. Reports on waste problems at contracting sites were classified as a matter of policy and almost never shared with affected communities.

Con't to part 2---

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Message: 8
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

2-Contaminated communities remain

Examples of some contractors' pollution and its effects:

- Big uranium refineries, such as Mallinckrodt Chemical in St. Louis and the Linde Air Products and Electro Metallurgical plants near Buffalo, spewed thousands of pounds of radioactive dust from stacks each year. Weapons work at Cleveland's Harshaw Chemical from 1942 into 1953 vented up to 4,000 pounds of radioactive uranium-fluoride particles annually, making it a "major contributor" to local air pollution, AEC officials reported in 1949. When the city sought information, the report was heavily censored. AEC officials noted that the city was not given "any data over and beyond the immediate needs for public relations."

- Radioactive sludge poured into waterways at dozens of sites. Mallinckrodt pumped up to 3 million gallons a day of uranium-laced waste into the Mississippi River, according to an AEC report from 1949, and surveyors with the weapons program later measured noticeable increases in radiation levels 15 miles downstream. Polonium plants run by Monsanto Chemical in Dayton, Ohio, released radioactive waste into the Miami River. "Contamination of the water at the outlet rises quickly after dumping but drops off again at a good rate," a federal memo in 1945 said. "The mud is highly contaminated all the time."

- Toxic chemical wastes also caused major environmental harm at contracting sites in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and other states. In 1949, a weapons program report noted at least 10 cases of chronic beryllium disease, an often-fatal lung ailment, among people living near the exhaust stacks of a Brush Beryllium plant in Lorain, Ohio. The plant produced the compound for arms work. In the mid-'50s, a zirconium-refining operation at Carborundum Metals in Akron, N.Y., pumped up to 12,000 gallons a day of poisonous thiocyanate wastes into a sewer that emptied into the Niagara River. Endorsed by officials in the weapons program as a short-term, "emergency" disposal measure, the dumping ran at least a year.

In summarizing pollution risks at various facilities during a meeting of the AEC's medical advisory board in 1949, one of the commission's health officials remarked, "All of these (contracting) units present a problem of the storage of contaminated materials (and) the disposal of contaminated materials."

How clean?

In 1967, when Vaughn Crile bought the old Vitro Manufacturing site in Canonsburg, Pa., with an eye toward building a small industrial park, AEC officials gave him a letter. Contamination from uranium processing the company did for the weapons program back in the '40s, the letter said, was all cleaned up. When federal officials got in touch again 12 years later, they wanted the property back so they could clean it up again.

It took five years of legal wrangling and a $40 million federal/state cleanup before the Vitro land and 150 or so nearby homes and lots that had been contaminated by the radioactive wastes finally were made safe. The 15 businesses in Crile's industrial park never were allowed to return.

"I had no control over what was going to happen, no control over my fate," he said now.

Crile, 68, wanted about $3 million to sell back the land, roughly the value if it hadn't been contaminated. The DOE, threatening to have it taken by eminent domain, argued for $650,000. Its argument was that the pollution killed the property's worth.

Ultimately, the courts split the difference. Crile got $1.4 million.

The AEC had every reason to suspect the Vitro site was a mess when Crile bought it. Through the late '40s and early '50s, when the company was processing thousands of tons a year of radioactive uranium compounds for the nuclear weapons program, the commission's safety staff documented enormous pollution.

In 1949, an AEC report noted that radium and uranium wastes were pumped daily into Chartiers Creek, where the banks emitted substantial radiation. In 1950, another weapons program survey noted that the plant's stacks pumped out about 200 grams of uranium dust an hour -- more than 1,000 pounds in a typical work year. A year later, officials reported that the emissions caused "an increase of background (radiation) by about 10 times" in the plant's immediate vicinity.

"They used to do (water) samples from the creek ... and they would tell us to make sure to take the samples upstream, above where they dumped everything," said Joseph Krall, 79, who worked on Vitro's uranium operation in those years.

When the government came back to clean up the damage, much of the community was affected.

"People never worried about what we were doing up there, not until they put a fence around it; then we started worrying," said Albert Chesnik, 80, also a veteran of Vitro's weapons work. Not long after, a federal cleanup crew "came and replaced my workbench because it was built out of (contaminated) tank staves" from the giant uranium processing vats.

Many of the dozens of homes near the old plant had bigger problems. At Krall's house, workers came to replace his garage roof (also built from tank staves) and scrape the top few feet of soil off his entire lawn.

Today, the Vitro site is a grassy, fenced-off hill covering a specially designed pit holding thousands of cubic yards of radioactive waste.

The magnitude of the health risks faced by people who lived amid Vitro's waste for 40 years is tough to gauge, but many wonder.

"We used to play softball in that field" where Vitro dumped much of its waste, said Ed Progar, 72, whose 10 years as a Vitro employee spanned part of the time the company was doing weapons work. "We'd wrestle in the mud, get covered with it. They should have said something about that stuff they were messing with."

After the federal cleanup, Pennsylvania's health department did a crude study and found no obvious rise in cancer cases among people living in areas near the plant.

Two academic studies also were done: One found no increase in heart problems; the other showed that women had a higher than normal rate of thyroid abnormalities -- a problem that can be caused by low-level radiation exposure.

"For an environmental study involving so few people, that (thyroid anomaly) was very important," said Talbott, the University of Pittsburgh professor and the thyroid study's author. "We think it was from the shine from the plant, the gamma radiation."

The long-classified Vitro reports uncovered by USA TODAY showed that radiation levels around the site in the late '40s were three times or more above what Talbott assumed in her study. "That changes all the assumptions," she said. "It would be very worthwhile to update it. I think there was a low-level effect but a notable one."

Awaiting action

As the weapons work done at private facilities began winding down in the mid-1950s, the government typically did little to clean up leftover contamination before the properties were returned to commercial use.

The AEC had a mandate to ensure that all the contracting sites carried no public heath risk, but the standards were far less strict than those that came into play in later years. And records show that the commission's decontamination crews often did only the minimum work necessary to get sites clean enough for "release."

In many cases, considerable pollution remained for years, even decades, while the sites stayed in use, raising substantial public health risks.

At the old Linde Air Products plant in Tonawanda, N.Y., now the site of a federal cleanup, workers who spent considerable time in contaminated buildings in the years after they were deemed safe by the AEC have long contended that their exposures caused health problems.

"The people who worked in that building (where weapons work was done), there's been a whole rash of cancers, just a tremendous number, but we could never prove it was from the contamination," said Joe Sebastian, 69, a longtime Linde worker and union official.

It wasn't until the early '70s, as leftover waste problems at many properties became increasingly evident, that Congress created FUSRAP to assess and clean up the damage. "There were a couple of embarrassing situations where sites identified as clean had not been cleaned up to (modern-day) standards," said Brian Quirke, a spokesman for the Energy Department's Chicago field office.

Today, FUSRAP remains the lead program for identifying and cleaning up contamination at sites where private facilities did nuclear weapons work. But the program has finished work at only 28 of the 46 sites it has deemed eligible for remedial action in its 25-year existence. What's more, some of the contamination assessments used to rule out cleanups in FUSRAP's early years have proved to be incomplete or inadequate.

Now, some sites that were deemed ineligible for the program are starting to be put back in, and more are likely.

For example, the Harshaw site, eliminated from FUSRAP in 1978, was put back into the program this summer. In the interim, it has sat idle, fenced off and plastered with radiation hazard signs.

The situation at other sites is murkier.

The Joslyn Manufacturing Co. in Fort Wayne, Ind., which rolled tons of uranium metal into rods and bars for the weapons program from 1944 through 1949, was declared safe by FUSRAP in 1987.

The decision was based on a partial survey, coupled with the fact that Joslyn did work similar to that performed at another steel mill, Simonds Saw and Steel in Lockport, N.Y., that had been eliminated from the program. But substantial contamination has since been discovered at Simonds -- cost estimates for cleanup range up to $80 million -- and no one has gone back to check for problems at Joslyn.

It's not entirely clear what agency would even be responsible for determining whether newly discovered weapons sites -- or those deemed ineligible for cleanup decades ago -- should be slated for federal action.

Congress gave FUSRAP to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1998, partly out of frustration over the slow pace of the program's cleanups. But the Corps' responsibility is to clean up sites already identified as needing action. The Department of Energy can recommend additional sites, but it lacks any authority to ensure that they will be added.

"I don't know what the motivation was for the people running FUSRAP back in the '70s and '80s when so many private sites were deemed ineligible for cleanup," said the DOE's Livingston. "Some of (the sites) probably have been forgotten ... basically (FUSRAP officials) archived their documents and moved on.

"So it does take a fair amount of work to go back and reconstruct what happened at these places. We can do it, and we will. We just have to do it right."

Additional reporting: Scott Hillkirk in Pennsylvania; Debbie Howlett in Illinois; USA TODAY researchers Jean Simpson and Susan O'Brian. Peter Eisler writes for USA TODAY.

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Message: 9
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Study shows that hundreds of Michigan workers may have been exposed

September 8, 2000
http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/sw19221_20000908.htm

DETROIT (AP) -- A recent study shows that hundreds of Michigan workers may have been exposed to hazardous radiation levels while nuclear weapons were being manufactured for the Cold War.

Arsenals in the arms race with the former Soviet Union were listed among 150 sites nationwide deemed unsafe for workers during the 1940s and 1950s. In addition, the study says there are at least 10 private contractors in Detroit, Farmington, Flint, Saginaw, Adrian and Battle Creek.

"Working conditions were appalling. Many, many workers were badly exposed to radiation," said Dr. Arjun Makhijani of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, a nonprofit consulting group based in Takoma Park, Md.

Scientists from the Institute released the study this week, published as part of a USA Today investigation into health damages among private nuclear workers. The scientists said they don't know whether all the facilities are still operating.

Detroit sites listed are Carboloy, Wolverine Tube Division and Revere Copper and Brass. Others include Star Cutter in Farmington, AC Spark Plug in Flint and Oliver Co. in Battle Creek.

Saginaw sites are Baker-Perkins and Mitts & Merrel. Two Adrian companies, Gerity-Michigan and Bridgeport Brass/General Motors, also made researchers lists.

Most of the companies handled radioactive metals for nuclear bombs. That kind of work often produced metallic dust that could be inhaled or ingested easily, Makhijani told The Detroit News for a story Friday.

Radioactive metals can cause different types of cancer, tumors, liver problems and permanent genetic damages that health experts say can be passed to future generations.

"The true, long-term effects of that kind of exposure we still don't know," said Dr. John Lee, chairman of the University of Michigan's department of nuclear engineering. "One thing is for sure, fifty years ago, civilian worker exposures to radiation were significantly higher than would be tolerated today."

The study doesn't track workers' health histories after exposure and can't link worker diseases and deaths to poor safety standards at production sites, a situation that had some health experts calling for a national database to study nuclear workers.

Although some states and universities keep limited records for workers, Michigan does not.

Saginaw resident Jack W. Ranous worked for Mitts & Merrill for 42 years, including eight as president. Ranous, 79, told The Saginaw News he was unaware the company processed radioactive chemicals, saying workers were not trained to handle such substances.

Doctors diagnosed him with cancer in 1994, but he said he does not believe working in the factory caused his condition.

The illness has remained in remission for two years, he said.

State officials said Cold War workers who have been exposed to radiation should have a medical evaluation. Workers that contact the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality may then be referred for diagnosis at a federal radiation facility.

"Cancers caused by radiation usually appear in the first 20 years after exposure," said David Minnaar, DEQ health physicist. "The bright side is that a Cold War worker who hasn't already succumbed probably wasn't affected."

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Message: 10
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Document must be released Agency provides letter on former Energy official

Sept. 8, 2000
By JAMES MALONE
The Courier-Journal
http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2000/0009/08/000908uranium.html

A community agency given $8.4 million in federal money to find jobs for workers displaced by downsizing at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant improperly withheld a letter from The Courier-Journal, the Kentucky attorney general's office said in an opinion released yesterday.

The letter from a U.S. Energy Department lawyer gave Jimmie Hodges, the department's former site manager at Paducah, guidelines for working for a consulting firm that won a $200,000 contract from the Paducah Area Community Reuse Organization. The contract was to find ways to sell radioactive scrap nickel stored at the plant.

Assistant Attorney General Amye Bensenhaver wrote that PACRO and its administrative support agency, the Purchase Area Development District in Mayfield, had to make the letter available to the newspaper.

When informed of the ruling, John Anderson, director of PACRO, released the letter yesterday afternoon.

The Courier-Journal reported 10 days ago that the firm that hired Hodges -- ELR Consultants LLC of Oak Ridge, Tenn. -- identified him as a deputy program manager in a proposal sent to PACRO Sept. 10, 1999. That occurred three weeks before Hodges' resignation from the Energy Department became effective. Hodges' employment with ELR was officially disclosed Oct. 20.

The Courier-Journal asked for the letter after PACRO minutes showed Hodges attended meetings at which Energy Department officials were present after he went to ELR.

In denying the newspaper's original request for the letter, PACRO lawyer Todd Elmore of Mayfield said it was a "preliminary document" exempt from release under the Kentucky open-records law. PACRO officials said, however, that they would follow the attorney general's recommendation on releasing the letter.

PACRO officials said they withheld the letter from dozens of pages of records released to the newspaper at Hodges' request.

Hodges could not be reached for comment yesterday.

In the letter, Energy Department Assistant Chief Counsel Wendy Bryant told Hodges that he was "not precluded from behind the scenes work" or advising others who are in communication with the government. The letter also said Hodges could not participate in any activities that would place him in conflict with matters in which he was "personally and substantially involved" as the department's site manager and had to wait two years before acting as another's representative to the government on matters that were pending while he was site manager.

In ordering the Purchase Area Development District to release the letter, Bensenhaver said any claim to it being a preliminary document was forfeited when it was used to hire ELR Consultants. "The courts and this office have long recognized that predecisional documents that are incorporated into final agency action no longer enjoy the protection" of exclusion under the open-records law, she wrote. Making such documents available "promotes the goal of agency accountability by enabling the public to monitor PACRO's conduct in discharging its official duties, and in ELR's conduct of providing consulting services that do not invade the zone of prohibited conduct identified by DOE in its letter to Mr. Hodges," Bensenhaver wrote.

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Message: 11
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

When do the studies of sick workers stop?

September 8, 2000
Your Views Letters to the Editor
To The Oak Ridger:
http://www.oakridger.com/

I think most agree it was necessary to perform the research into past exposures that was performed by the Oak Ridge Health Agreement Steering Panel (ORHASP) -- if for no other reason than as a catharsis and the fact that lack of knowledge breeds fear of the unknown.

However, we have to ask ourselves just how much study is enough and how much about past exposures do we need to know. We must be careful to consider at what point does research into the past move from the practical, useful stage to an academic exercise that is not necessarily useful (don't forget this is an engineer speaking as opposed to a scientist).

To this end, for example, we must carefully evaluate proposals to study the K-25 site (e.g., elaborate hydraulic studies), as well as proposals to perform more in-depth research on the ORHASP project.

It is important for members of the public, who ultimately pay for these studies, to ask exactly what will be gained from such research projects and to not just passively sit back while millions of additional dollars are spent on things that will not really help those who have been impacted.

We know people have been impacted by past practices and that it usually takes many years for their symptoms to materialize. Therefore, I believe it is more important to spend our dollars on diagnosing and treating the sick, preventing future exposures through worker and public education and safety programs, and by cleaning up the messes that exist at these facilities in order to prevent further releases so we don't have continued health problems due to new and ongoing exposures.

It is my opinion that hydraulic studies and other elaborate academic exercises simply siphon off money that could and should be spent on helping those who are and eventually become sick, on programs to screen the legitimate cases from the fraudulent ones, and on working with state and federal governments to make the workman's compensation and other assistance programs work for these people, which currently don't due to the lag time between exposure and the onset of symptoms.

Again, as I've stated in other articles, it is my belief that if the health-care and workman's compensation systems worked properly, Oak Ridge would not be in the sad state it finds itself in.

This country is fortunate to have record surpluses -- and I think it is criminal to not use some of those extra funds to help those legitimate cases where workers and members of the public sacrificed their health in exchange for our winning the wars.

Why don't we just get on with it and stop wasting everyone's time and money talking about it and studying it to death?

Susan Arnold Kaplan 4121 Guinn Road Knoxville (Solway) 37931

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Message: 12
Date: Fri, 8 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

DOE does not owe Oak Ridge anything

http://www.oakridger.com/

To The Oak Ridger:

I don't live in the city, but I work there. I read with disbelief that the city wanted to sue the Department of Energy for more in-lieu-of-tax money.

DOE owes Oak Ridge nothing. Any money that Oak Ridge gets means less money for the chronically understaffed Y-12 Plant or for Oak Ridge National Laboratory which will soon have a staff reduction.

In the past, unabashed greed led Oak Ridge to annex the entire DOE reservation, thousands of uninhabited acres which required no services and provided an income. An income which allowed the city to have lots of nice things that citizens of the county did without. Nice things which led many Oak Ridgers to a superior attitude toward their country cousins. And now they want more!

I have a better idea for DOE. Let's take all that unused property and rather than give it to a group of greedy Yankee imports, give it back to the people from which it was taken!

My grandfather, Curt Hendrix, lost his 60 acres, two houses and two barns and was reimbursed $850. Before the war was over he was murdered by local ruffians in his new neighborhood and my grandmother had to raise eight children alone. Of course they are all county residents and I am sure they don't deserve any of the DOE largesse.

Dennis Aslinger 2209 Lawnville Road Kingston 37763 (former Anderson County resident)

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Message: 13
Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Justice: no buried poison Dig ends; mountain of drums all but gone

By Bill Bartleman bbartleman@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650
http://www.paducahsun.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?/200009/09+01J8_news.html+20000909+news

BARKLEY THIELEMAN/The Sun--Nearly done: As a clamshell grappler picks up crushed drums from the remaining part of ‘drum mountainâ€(tm) Friday, the crusher (left) fills a scrap container with the processed drums.

U.S. Department of Justice officials say they find no evidence of illegally buried drums of contaminated water in or near a closed landfill at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The search for contaminated drums was conducted in response to wide-ranging allegations in a federal whistle-blower lawsuit that past plant operators falsified records and disposed of contaminated waste improperly in order to earn millions of dollars in operating bonuses. One former worker told investigators that contaminated drums were buried in the landfill, which was designated for nonhazardous waste.

In an unrelated matter, the task of removing 85,000 rusted drums from a scrap pile known as "drum mountain" should be completed early next week, according to Greg Cook, spokesman for Bechtel Jacobs Co., which has the contract to remove the drums.

The shredded drums have been placed in more than 130 containers that, beginning Oct. 1, will be shipped to a hazardous waste landfill in Utah.

The removal of drum mountain is the first visible sign of the U.S. Department of Energy's effort to clean up the almost 50-year-old uranium enrichment plant.

The drums were once used to store hazardous, mildly radioactive uranium tetrafluoride, or UF4. The barrels were crushed and moved to the scrap yard after the plant stopped the manufacturing process that produced UF4, also known as "green salt." Water runoff from the drums is suspected to be the cause of groundwater contamination.

Removal of the drums is costing DOE about $7 million.

The Department of Justice investigation into claims of falsified records is to determine if there is evidence to prove the allegations of misdeeds by the former contractor, Lockheed Martin, and its predecessors. If there is evidence, the federal government would become a party in a lawsuit that is seeking to recover millions of dollars from the former operator.

Justice officials have until Nov. 1 to decide whether to join the suit. Hancy Jones, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Louisville, said investigators are continuing to review thousands of pages of documents. "The investigation is a long way from being over," Jones said.

The investigation involves reviewing plant records, interviewing current and former workers, and digging at locations on the plant grounds identified in allegations as sites of illegal dumping. Some digging was done last year, but was halted when investigators weren't finding evidence of any problems.

The digging resumed last month in new areas where there had been claims of illegal dumping.

"We have finished with that dig, and I can confirm that we found a railroad tie and some fence posts," said Jones said. "If we have new allegations, we will consider looking into those."

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Message: 14
Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2000
From: magnu96196@aol.com

Senate pushes DOE site cleanup funds

http://www.paducahsun.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?/200009/09+01Jf_news.html+20000909+news

Senate pushes DOE site cleanup funds Two area lock and dam projects are also in the bill, as well as extending Paducah plant lung screening.

By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com--270.575.8650

Legislation containing nearly $160 million for cleanup of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant and two area lock and dam projects passed the Senate on Friday and is headed to a conference panel to resolve differences with the House version. The funding, part of the 2001 Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill, includes $78 million for environmental work at the gaseous diffusion plant, $27.7 million to expand the Kentucky Lock at Gilbertsville, and $53.1 million for continued construction of the Olmsted Lock and Dam.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Louisville, said the bill includes his request for $33 million for new facilities to convert nearly 60,000 cylinders of uranium hexafluoride waste at the Paducah plant and its sister plant near Portsmouth, Ohio, into safer material. The funding is $9 million more than requested by the Department of Energy and would go toward having the facilities completed by 2004, he said.

The bill also contains $1.75 million for the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky School of Public Health for epidemiological studies of workers at the Paducah plant.

McConnell inserted language urging DOE to extend its current screening for early detection of lung diseases until all Paducah plant workers and former workers are tested. The project is in the fourth year of a five-year contract and will fall short without the extension, he said.

McConnell and Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Southgate, said the bill has funding for many river transportation needs, notably the two lock and dam projects.


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NUCLEAR POWER CONTENTS

1 DOE loses ad money for Yucca tours
2 Berkley calling for more Yucca research
3 Study shows that hundreds of Michigan workers may have been
4 Citizen Groups Denounce Proposal for Nuclear Waste
5 Worker hurt in mishap at Oyster Creek nuclear power plant
6 Nuclear waste survey misleading, Bryan says
7 Shattuck report to be probed
8 Bryan wants UNLV to stop survey about nuclear waste
9 FPL acquisition buys nuclear-service firm
10 Entergy Buying Nuke Specialist
11 Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Management Program
12 European Parliament Not Linking Temelin With Czech EU Entry
13 Letter: Debate over nuke waste filled with scare tactics
14 Uranium plant sought in Dharmapuri dt.
15 MCRAE'S NUKE TRANSPORT COMFORT LEVEL HIGHER AFTER WIPP TRIP

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NUCLEAR POWER ARTICLES

1 DOE loses ad money for Yucca tours
September 08, 2000
BY MARY MANNING
LAS VEGAS SUN

The Department of Energy can no longer spend $3,000 a year to advertise tours of Yucca Mountain, the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The Senate Thursday night passed an appropriations bill amendment that removes the advertising money from the DOE's Yucca Mountain budget. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., introduced the amendment after he noticed a newspaper ad for a public tour of the mountain. The ads amount to federal lobbying for a project, which is unpopular with Nevadans, he said.

Reid stripped the Yucca ad funds and advocated a freeze in the DOE's total budget at $351 million, the amount of last year's allocation. The state of Nevada would also receive $2.5 million to oversee the federal project.

The overall Yucca budget and the Yucca ad money amendment are still subject to negotiations between House and Senate leaders. The final version of the bill is due by the end of the month, which marks the end of the federal fiscal year.

Nevada got its oversight money back after it was stripped in 1995 when a congressional audit said the state had used the cash to lobby against the nuclear dump.

"Turnabout is fair play," Reid said.

While it costs the DOE $3,000 for advertising the tours, the total cost amounts to an average of $8,310 per tour, a DOE spokeswoman said. There have been dozens of tours for the public, teachers, congressmen and their staffs since 1989.

The free tours of the mountain are part of the DOE's community outreach program. Each tour includes up to 150 people and advertisements had been placed twice a year.

While nuclear ratepayers contribute the bulk of funds, more than $15 billion, to support Yucca work, taxpayers have contributed more than $500 million. Reid objected to taxpayers paying for tour ads. Sun reporter

Benjamin Grove contributed to this story.

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2 Berkley calling for more Yucca research
September 08, 2000
BY MARY MANNING
LAS VEGAS SUN

Molecular biologist Jacob Paz has raised questions about the safety of containers that would be used to contain high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, prompting Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., to call for more research.

Paz is questioning whether lead and other heavy metals in the containers could somehow chemically react with the nuclear waste, causing the containers to degenerate and leak radiation.

The issue needs to be addressed before the government's final environmental impact statement is released next year, said Paz, who added he has worked with both the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.

"I am interested in the science and not the political aspect of science, " Paz said after announcing he reviewed more than 500 scientific papers on the subject.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., after meeting with Paz last month, became involved. She sent a letter on Tuesday to the heads of the DOE, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency, asking that research be done before Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is recommended as a high-level nuclear waste repository.

"I am particularly concerned about the potential consequences of mixing toxic heavy metals and nuclear waste, as would be required for the transportation and storage of high level nuclear waste," Berkley wrote.

Berkley called for comprehensive research to examine the question.

Nuclear engineer Anthony Hechanova said the problem of chemical toxicity from 77,000 tons of nuclear waste during transit and while buried at Yucca is worthy of more research.

Current laws passed by Congress to manage radioactive wastes from commercial reactors and weapons development do not consider chemical reactions from containers, the Harry Reid Environmental Center researcher said.

"It's a real issue, we've known about it for awhile," Hechanova said.

Abe Van Luik, a DOE technical advisor on Yucca Mountain, said that Paz's scientific view makes good sense to him.

"But from an agency perspective, we have to respect the roles carved out by the Congress for its agencies and departments," Van Luik said. "Therefore, it is not the Department of Energy's and especially the Yucca Mountain Project's job to do basic research to call into question the regulations imposed on it by law and through the legally prescribed rule processes."

UNLV's William Culbreth, associate professor of mechanical engineering, said Paz has some good ideas for further research into the problem.

It would be a scientifically sound idea to examine chemical reactions of exotic metals or metal alloys proposed for nuclear waste containers, Culbreth said.

UNLV health physicist Bill Johnson said one of the metals that could become a potential problem is chromium, which is used in the containers and radioactive shields.

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3 Study shows that hundreds of Michigan workers may have been exposed
September 8, 2000, 8:58 AM

DETROIT (AP)--A recent study shows that hundreds of Michigan workers may have been exposed to hazardous radiation levels while nuclear weapons were being manufactured for the Cold War.

Arsenals in the arms race with the former Soviet Union were listed among 150 sites nationwide deemed unsafe for workers during the 1940s and 1950s. In addition, the study says there are at least 10 private contractors in Detroit, Farmington, Flint, Saginaw, Adrian and Battle Creek.

"Working conditions were appalling. Many, many workers were badly exposed to radiation," said Dr. Arjun Makhijani of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, a nonprofit consulting group based in Takoma Park, Md.

Scientists from the Institute released the study this week, published as part of a USA Today investigation into health damages among private nuclear workers. The scientists said they don't know whether all the facilities are still operating.

Detroit sites listed are Carboloy, Wolverine Tube Division and Revere Copper and Brass. Others include Star Cutter in Farmington, AC Spark Plug in Flint and Oliver Co. in Battle Creek.

Saginaw sites are Baker-Perkins and Mitts & Merrel. Two Adrian companies, Gerity-Michigan and Bridgeport Brass/General Motors, also made researchers lists.

Most of the companies handled radioactive metals for nuclear bombs. That kind of work often produced metallic dust that could be inhaled or ingested easily, Makhijani told The Detroit News for a story Friday.

Radioactive metals can cause different types of cancer, tumors, liver problems and permanent genetic damages that health experts say can be passed to future generations.

"The true, long-term effects of that kind of exposure we still don't know," said Dr. John Lee, chairman of the University of Michigan's department of nuclear engineering. "One thing is for sure, fifty years ago, civilian worker exposures to radiation were significantly higher than would be tolerated today."

The study doesn't track workers' health histories after exposure and can't link worker diseases and deaths to poor safety standards at production sites, a situation that had some health experts calling for a national database to study nuclear workers.

Although some states and universities keep limited records for workers, Michigan does not.

Saginaw resident Jack W. Ranous worked for Mitts & Merrill for 42 years, including eight as president. Ranous, 79, told The Saginaw News he was unaware the company processed radioactive chemicals, saying workers were not trained to handle such substances.

Doctors diagnosed him with cancer in 1994, but he said he does not believe working in the factory caused his condition.

The illness has remained in remission for two years, he said.

State officials said Cold War workers who have been exposed to radiation should have a medical evaluation. Workers that contact the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality may then be referred for diagnosis at a federal radiation facility.

"Cancers caused by radiation usually appear in the first 20 years after exposure," said David Minnaar, DEQ health physicist. "The bright side is that a Cold War worker who hasn't already succumbed probably wasn't affected."

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4 Citizen Groups Denounce Proposal for Nuclear Waste
[I] SEPT. 6, 2000

Transport Through Iowa Radioactive Roads and Rails Campaign Arrives in Des Moines

Des moines, IA.--If nuclear waste is transported through Iowa to Nevada for permanent storage as proposed, Des Moines could experience serious threats to public health, the environment and the economy in the event of a crash or a radiation leak, public interest groups said today.

Environmental groups, concerned citizens and elected officials joined Public Citizen at a news conference held in Nolan Plaza to call attention to the dangers associated with transporting high-level radioactive waste through Iowa. A public workshop on the topic of high-level waste transportation will be held tomorrow evening at the Thoreau Center, in Des Moines.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is preparing to recommend Yucca Mountain, located near Las Vegas, Nev., as a "permanent disposal site" for high-level radioactive waste generated by atomic weapons facilities and commercial nuclear reactors across the country. A new analysis prepared by the Clark County Comprehensive Planning Division in Nevada found that the waste would have to travel through 734 counties with a total population of 138 million people.

"Members of Congress are under intense pressure from the nuclear power industry to force the construction of a dump at Yucca Mountain, " said Lisa Gue, a policy analyst with Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "If the nuclear industry prevails, Americans in 43 states will have the risks of nuclear waste transportation imposed on them and their communities for at least 25 years while the waste is being shipped to Yucca Mountain."

DOE has refused to specify which routes would be used to ship waste. However, potential routes evaluated in the draft Environmental Impact Statement include I-35 and I-80 through Iowa, as well as rail lines.

Participants raised concerns about the transportation scheme' s safety during today's news conference held in front of a full- sized, inflatable model of a nuclear waste transport cask. A 1987 study sponsored by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission used computer modeling to predict how the casks, which would be used to transport nuclear waste, would perform in the event of an accident. But the casks themselves have never been subjected to full-scale testing. DOE risk analysis data indicate that between 70 and 310 accidents could be expected involving waste shipments to Nevada.

"Iowans do not wish to place such a terrible burden on this state. Over 450 local communities would be along the highway and rail routes projected. What assurance for safety can we count on?" asked Jane Magers of EarthCare, a Des Moines area environmental group.

Amber Hard, campaign director for the Iowa Public Interest Research Group (Iowa PIRG), expressed concern about the impact of high-level waste transport on property values for homes and businesses along I-80. Evidence suggests that even without an accident, property values are likely to drop along nuclear waste transportation routes due to a public perception of danger.

Transportation hazards are not the only risks associated with the proposal to build a permanent nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Scientists in Nevada have pointed to the danger of groundwater contamination if waste were to leak. Further, if an earthquake occurs, the storage canisters themselves could break open. The chance of an earthquake is far from remote; Nevada ranks third in the country for seismic activity.

"There is no safe way to dispose of nuclear waste," Gue said. "A repository at Yucca Mountain would have a regulatory period of 10,000 years, but the waste will remain dangerously radioactive for much longer. No one can guarantee the integrity of the storage casks so far into the future."

"The proposal to build a permanent storage facility at Yucca Mountain does not address the nuclear waste problem," Magers said. "It merely transfers the risk to the state of Nevada and to communities like Des Moines, which are unlucky enough to be located along transportation routes targeted for the large-scale shipment of nuclear waste."

This week's events were held as part of the Radioactive Roads and Rails Campaign, sponsored nationally by Public Citizen and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, and in Iowa by EarthCare,

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5 Worker hurt in mishap at Oyster Creek nuclear power plant
Asbury Park Press
SEPTEMBER 8, 2000
By KAREN SUDOL MANAHAWKIN BUREAU

LACEY--Two employees at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant dropped two new fuel assemblies being stored for future use, injuring one of the workers.

The employee, whose name was not released by plant officials, went to an area hospital on his own and was treated and released on Aug. 26, authorities said yesterday.

The employee returned to work the next day, said Deb Piana, Oyster Creek's public affairs representative. The extent of the worker's minor injuries could not be determined.

The plant operators are investigating the incident, Piana said.

The two employees were removing the fuel assemblies from a shipping container to a stand for inspection, said Laura A. Dudes, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's senior resident inspector for Oyster Creek. The assemblies were to be placed in a dry storage hold.

"In the process of removing it from the box to the stand, there was a failure to follow procedures that led to dropping of the assemblies, " she said.

The assemblies were not radioactive because they had not been placed in the reactor core and had not become part of the fission process, officials at the plant said.

The assemblies didn't break, but plant operators didn't know if they were flawed and decided not to use them.

The fuel assemblies, which each hold 64 fuel rods, were going to be placed in the reactor core in October. Every two years, operators shut down the plant to refuel and replace some of the assemblies and perform maintenance work.

As the October shutdown approaches, the potential for "these type of things" increases because there is more activity at the plant and more people on site, Dudes said.

However, the NRC hasn't come across "any significant issues or increase in significant accidents" there, Dudes said.

As part of an understanding with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the NRC monitors industrial safety at the nuclear plant.

AmerGen Energy Co., of Wayne, Pa., bought the nuclear plant last month for $10 million from GPU Inc.

AmerGen plans to operate the plant until 2009, when its current operating license from the NRC expires.

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6 Nuclear waste survey misleading, Bryan says
September 08, 2000
BY BENJAMIN GROVE
LAS VEGAS SUN

A survey gauging public perception of risk created by storing nuclear waste in Nevada is raising eyebrows even before the results are tallied.

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., on Thursday obtained a copy of what he considered a questionable UNLV survey after one of the survey respondents called him, he said.

Bryan said the survey interjects topics that have never been a part of debate and discussion about Yucca Mountain, thereby confusing respondents. Congress has proposed to bury 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste at the site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"The risks are underplayed" in the survey, Bryan said. "It tends to be skewed in terms of the approach it takes. I just think it's misleading."

For instance, one hypothetical survey question asks respondents if they would move away because of perceived health risks created by waste storage, assuming the federal government would pay for them to move. It also asks respondents if they would stay in Nevada if they got certain amounts of money in tax rebates. But no one has ever suggested the government would pay such costs, Bryan said.

"That just comes out of left field," Bryan said. "Are they going to move the whole state? Any compromise that would surrender health and safety standards for Nevadans for some transitory financial gain would be unconscionable."

Bryan on Thursday fired off a letter to UNLV President Carol Harter looking for answers.

UNLV Interim Provost Ray Alden said the survey, being conducted by Mary Riddel, a new associate professor of economics, had been misunderstood.

The risks presented to those surveyed are hypothetical. "That doesn't mean they are going to happen," he said.

"It's a standard way for quantifying the public's reaction to risk, a way to quantify people's perceptions of risk," Alden said of the survey. "The public's perception of risk is much more important than the DOE's quantification of risks."

Riddel is an environmental economist, who specializes in putting values on non-market goods, like the environment, she said.

"This is a scientific exercise that is just trying to put a value on this non-market good--safety," Riddel said.

The survey began in June and will be complete in November, surveying 500 people randomly chosen by phone number.

Respondents agreed to participate well before answering questions and have time to review a Yucca information packet. Riddel said seven of her students are asking the questions.

Riddel received a university grant called a New Investigator Award worth $8,500 to run the survey.

Alden said the survey was not sponsored by Center for Business and Economic Research at UNLV, although Riddel is a professor with the center.

Riddel plans to research and write an academic paper about the results. The information could be used by agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency.

"It's just for people to get an idea about costs," Riddel said. "It's not at all a political exercise."

The Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, a state organization in charge of overseeing the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository studies, was unaware of the survey.

"I haven't heard anything about it," Agency Executive Director Robert Loux said.

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7 Shattuck report to be probed
Paper says company processed uranium for nuclear weapons at south Denver plant
SEPTEMBER 8, 2000
DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS STAFF WRITER

Federal officials Thursday said they will investigate allegations that the defunct Shattuck Chemical Co. in Denver processed uranium for the nation's nuclear weapons program.

Washington-based USA Today reported Wednesday that the company extracted uranium from scrap metal for reuse in weapons during the 1960s. The single line was contained in a chart listing instances of weapons work carried out by the private sector during the Cold War.

Shattuck is known to have worked with radium and other radioactive materials in commercial applications. Company officials have said they attempted on one occasion to extract leftover uranium from ore that had already been processed by a weapons contractor, but gave up the project as uneconomical.

The USA Today allegation came as a surprise to local Environmental Protection Agency officials, who are coordinating cleanup of the heavily polluted Shattuck site, near West Evans Avenue and South Santa Fe Drive.

Richard Sisk, an attorney with the EPA's enforcement division, said he will ask for the documents the USA Today reporter relied on.

But Sisk said a weapons connection at Shattuck wouldn't alter the risk to the neighborhood.

Hugh Kaufman, an investigator with the EPA ombudsman's office, said he plans to look at material in federal archives that was the basis for the USA Today article.

Kaufman has previously speculated that Shattuck performed defense work, an allegation the company has denied. Under some circumstances, a weapons connection alters liability for cleaning up pollution, with the federal government picking up more of the tab, he said.

Local EPA officials said they provided documents to the USA Today reporter that showed only the unsuccessful effort to work the depleted ore.

The reporter, Peter Eisler, said he relied on additional information gathered from federal archives. He said the documents on Shattuck are among 100,000 pages he gathered in a 10-month investigation.

The materials were recently made public.

Eisler said that even if Shattuck worked for the weapons program, the company may not have produced weapons-grade uranium on site or shipped such materials through Denver's streets. The company could have been sending lower-level radioactive material on to federal facilities where they would be purified.

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8 Bryan wants UNLV to stop survey about nuclear waste
Friday, September 8, 2000
BY ANGIE WAGNER, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

LAS VEGAS - Sen. Richard Bryan wants UNLV to stop conducting a survey on nuclear waste storage that he says is based on false assumptions and unrealistic scenarios.

''Why in the world they would ask questions about issues that have never been in the same orbit of debate is completely beyond me,'' Bryan, D-Nev., said in a statement Thursday.

UNLV's Center for Business and Economic Research has been conducting a telephone survey on the nuclear waste storage since June. It is expected to be completed in late November.

One of the questions asks residents to rate the risk factor of a nuclear waste dump using terms such as weed killer, fire or motor vehicle accident.

In a letter to UNLV President Carol Harter Wednesday, Bryan said comparing the threat of nuclear waste to weed killer or a traffic accident ''grossly underestimates the potential threat of nuclear waste transportation and disposal.''

Bryan asked Harter to review the survey and expressed his hope that the university will end the survey.

Harter wasn't available for comment Thursday because she was attending the Board of Regents meeting.

But, university Provost Ray Alden said the survey is a research tool to determine how people perceive risk.

''I think the purpose of the survey has been somewhat misunderstood, '' he said.

Alden said the university is unbiased and is certainly not trying to take a position on the nuclear waste issue.

He said the survey is a matter of academic freedom. It wants the opinions of about 400 or 500 people.

The survey also asks residents if they would stay in Nevada if they were compensated - in the form of a federal tax rebate - for being willing to accept the transportation and disposal of nuclear waste. The survey says the federal government would pay moving costs of residents who decide to leave the state because of the nuclear waste.

''The proposal of such a rebate or federally funded relocation program makes the whole premise of the questions misleading to the public and inaccurate in the posting or publishing of any survey results, '' Bryan said.

David Lemmon, spokesman for Bryan, said UNLV should be able to conduct surveys but not base them on false assumptions that ''don't have a chance of ever coming true.''

''It could really skew the potential viewpoints of people,'' he said.

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9 FPL acquisition buys nuclear-service firm
SUN-SENTINEL.COM
Sep. 7, 2000

NEW ORLEANS--Entergy Corp., a New Orleans utility that's buying U.S. nuclear plants, said it agreed to buy TLG Services Inc., a closely held company that dismantles power plants and related equipment, for an undisclosed price.

TLG specializes in the decommissioning of nuclear and fossil-fuel-fired plants and equipment, providing cost estimates, engineering, and waste management. Entergy said Bridgewater, Conn.- based TLG has worked on 85 percent of U.S. nuclear plants and all the nuclear plants in Canada.

The acquisition will expand its decommissioning business, Entergy said. Entergy is dismantling and disposing of reactors and other equipment at the Maine Yankee plant in Wiscasset, Maine, and the Millstone plant in Waterford, Conn.

Entergy is being bought by FPL Group Inc., Florida's largest power company, for almost $13.9 billion in stock and assumed debt. Entergy owns nuclear plants in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and has utilities with 2.5 million customers in those states and Texas.

The New Orleans-based utility bought the Pilgrim nuclear plant in Plymouth, Mass., last year and is buying the No. 3 reactor at the Indian Point nuclear plant and the FitzPatrick nuclear plant from the New York Power Authority.

Shares of Entergy rose 44 cents to a 52-week closing high of $33.63 on the New York Stock Exchange.

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10 Entergy Buying Nuke Specialist
LAS VEGAS SUN
September 07, 2000
ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW ORLEANS (AP)--Entergy Corp. agreed Thursday to buy TLG Services Inc., which specializes in the decommissioning of nuclear power plants, for an undisclosed price.

Entergy said the purchase of the Bridgewater, Conn.-based company would reduce the risk of taking apart its existing nuclear plants and plants it may acquire in the future after the active life of the plants.

Already the owner of five nuclear power reactors at four sites in Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas, New Orleans-based Entergy bought the Pilgrim Station nuclear plant at Plymouth, Mass. in 1999. The company also has pending purchases of the Indian Point 3 plant and the FitzPatrick plant from the New York Power Authority.

Entergy also is managing the decommissioning of two nuclear power plants: Maine Yankee at Wiscasset, Maine, and the Millstone Unit I at Waterford, Conn.

Founded in 1982, TLG has prepared engineering and cost studies for the decommissioning of 128 nuclear power units and about 200 fossil- fueled units.

TLG's president, Thomas LaGuardia, will remain as president after the company becomes an Entergy operating unit, the companies said.

If Entergy's pending merger with FPL Group Inc. is approved, the new company will be the largest utility in terms of customers, surpassing Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power Co., which has 4.8 million customers. Entergy had 1999 sales of $8.8 billion.

Shares of Entergy were up 43.7 cents to close at $33.63 on the New York Stock Exchange.

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11 Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Management Program
9/6/2000

The Department of Energy has issued a draft DUF6 Materials Use Roadmap and requests interested parties to review it and provide suggestions for improvement. The Roadmap is intended to be used to guide any future research and development (R&D) activities for the materials associated with its depleted uranium hexafluoride inventory. On August 2, 1999, the Department of Energy issued a Record of Decision (ROD) for Long-Term Management and Use of Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride.

This ROD indicated that the Department has decided to promptly convert the depleted UF6 inventory to a more chemically stable form. The Department is committed to conduct a program to effect this conversion as rapidly as is practical. In addition, the Department plans a parallel effort to conduct appropriate R&D to assure the most effective disposition of the converted depleted uranium product. This activity will include appropriate investments in the exploration of potential beneficial use of the DU and other materials resulting from the conversion of the DUF6, i.e., fluorine and empty carbon steel storage cylinders, to achieve cost savings to the Government, contrasted to simply disposing of the materials. However, the Government also intends to assure the direct disposal of these materials if cost-effective and realistic- beneficial uses are not found. The Roadmap characterizes and analyzes the paths for the eventual disposition of these materials, identifies the barriers that exist for those paths, and proposes research, development, and other activities in order to eliminate the barriers. The Department invites all interested parties to review the draft Roadmap and to submit comments. The draft DUF6 Materials Use Roadmap is available pdf/DURoadmap.pdf

Comments can be submitted via electronic mail by sending them to DUF6.comments@hq.doe.gov. Please use "Comments on DUF6 Materials Use Roadmap" as the subject line. Comments can also be submitted by sending a fax with name and address to (301) 903-4905, or sending a card or letter to the Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Management Program (NE-30), U.S. Department of Energy, 19901 Germantown Road, Germantown, MD 20874. To be considered for incorporation into the final Roadmap comments must be received no later than October 20, 2000. For more information, please contact:

Director, Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride Management Program (NE-30)

Office of Nuclear Energy, Science, and Technology U. S. Department of Energy 19901 Germantown Road Germantown, MD 20874 E-mail: DUF6.comments@hq.doe.gov Fax: 301/903-4905

7/28/2000

The Department of Energy is preparing to convert approximately 700, 000 metric tons of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) to a form more suitable for long-term storage or disposal. If worthwhile beneficial uses cannot be found for the depleted uranium conversion products, they will need to be disposed. The Department has recently completed and issued a report on Assessment of Preferred Depleted Uranium Disposal Forms. The objective of this study was to assess the acceptability of potential depleted uranium conversion products at potential disposal sites. You may view and/or download the report at this site or NE site.

Archived News Items:

3/23/2000

Extra efforts to ensure worker and environmental safety delay issuance of the next draft of the Department of Energy's Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF6) Conversion Services Request for Proposals (RFP).

The Department of Energy (DOE) earlier had announced plans to release its Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Depleted Uranium Hexafluoride (DUF6) Conversion Services Project by the end of 1999. However, in response to concerns raised about the possibility that the DUF6 inventory could contain trace amounts of transuranic materials such as plutonium and neptunium, the Department decided to delay the RFP process and take time to assess the extent of any such contamination.

DOE management, National Laboratory experts, and potential industrial bidders all believe that more precise knowledge about this possible contamination should be obtained before the procurement process proceeds. Experts indicate that if significant traces of contamination are found in the DUF6 inventory, ensuring the protection of workers and the environment could affect the design and operation of the proposed conversion facilities. Consequently, DOE commissioned experts at its National Laboratories to analyze currently available information about the DUF6 inventory and recommend to DOE a science-based strategy for characterizing that inventory. As a result of that study, DOE has now launched a program to sample the inventory and assess the extent of contamination. We expect that the assessment activities will continue into the middle of FY2000.

As soon as possible, the Department will issue an amended schedule reflecting the impact this development will have on the procurement strategy. The Department currently plans to issue its final RFP later this calendar year.

Comments or questions concerning this announcement can be sent via to: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology, ATTN: Antonio Tavares, 1000 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20585.

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12 European Parliament Not Linking Temelin With Czech EU Entry
Central Europe Online Daily News
CTK - Czech News Agency
Sep 8, 2000

STRASBOURG, The resolution of the European Parliament about the Czech nuclear power plant in Temelin demands that its environmental impact should be examined and that the Czech Republic provide as much information about its safety as possible.

It does not demand that it should not be set into operation or link it with the Czech Republic's EU candidacy.

"Sovereign countries have a right to decide about their energy," writes the text which reflects a long-standing debate about nuclear energy in the EU.

"We've been called on to do what we have been doing for a very long time or to do we don't have to do under the law," Czech ambassador to the EU Libor Secka told CTK.

Most deputies voted for the resolution because they are opposed to nuclear energy in general. This suited the Austrian deputies who had placed the draft resolution on the agenda of the session and want to continue with this.

"Right now we are not linking the affair with the Czech Republic's EU entry. That would be premature," Johannes Swoboda, the deputy chairman of the Socialist deputies' group, told CTK.

"However, the Czech government must know that if it's proved that Temelin does not meet the highest safety standards, it will become an obstacle to admission. The final word should be spoken by experts. If, based on scientific data, Austria arrives at the conclusion that Temelin is a threat, it will not agree with the Czech Republic's admission. It is clear. I think that Germany will follow suit," he added.

This kind of EP resolution is not binding and other European institutions do not have to react to it. ((C) 2000 CTK - CZECH NEWS AGENCY)

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13 Letter: Debate over nuke waste filled with scare tactics
Friday, September 8, 2000

TO THE EDITOR:

The debate on nuclear waste continues. I am responding to the letters of both Rory Reid and Lou deBottari published on Aug. 22 in this paper.

Scare tactic number 1: Reid declares that nuclear waste shipments will be speeding to Nevada. Speeding means unsafe and illegal driving. I haven't seen the DOT plan for the transportation of nuclear waste; however, because of security concerns they have no choice but to make shipments by convoys, at or below the speed limits, escorted by the military or state police.

You can bet on the fact that DOT will select drivers with good records, mountain driving experience, who are not drug addicts or alcoholics. If I were a truck driver, I would feel insulted to think Mr. Reid would consider me reckless if given the responsibility of transporting nuclear waste.

Bush has taken a stand on storage of nuclear waste. He has stated he would base his decision on the collective judgment of the scientists working on the Yucca project. You don't like it, Mr. Reid, because it is not a black or white answer. It takes a good leader to admit he doesn't know everything and depends upon experts for advice.

Scare tactic No. 2: Instill fear in our minds that the EPA will not protect the public and water supplies from deadly radiation. Yucca Mountain is in the Nevada Nuclear Test Area that has been in use for over 50 years. Hundreds of underground nuclear tests have been made there which, I am sure, have made a lot of the surrounding ground highly contaminated.

What a logical choice! Store encapsulated and shielded nuclear waste in a place that is worthless for public use. Whoever controls the storage site will not permit the public to enter the storage chambers to pet the canisters. How about the danger to bystanders watching the trucks, carrying nuclear waste passing by? Not much. To become irradiated, a person would have to stand close to a shielded source of radiation for a considerable time, depending upon the flux density. A truck going 50 mph is moving about 73 feet a second. Thus, the time of exposure would be too short to be dangerous. Solar radiation and naturally occurring radon gas are more dangerous to public health than Yucca Mountain would be.

Regarding water supplies, I have never heard or read about water wells outside the Nevada test area being radioactive. Mr. Reid, in your position you should be able to find out. Why don't you do this and let the public know? If all of the nuclear bombs exploding deep underground have not contaminated wells, then it is unlikely radioactive material stored in Yucca Mountain would either.

Mr. deBottari is concerned that his computer model of the metal containers may be in error. His analogy of comparing the stress calculations for a supersonic airplane and a metal drum is very inappropriate. It's almost like comparing an eagle and a pet rock. The half life of radioactive elements is very well known.

The U.S. government has had over 50 years to observe and test the effects of nuclear radiation on all types of metals. I admit that there can be errors in calculations; however, that's why safety factors are added. So what if the drums only last 95,000 years? Another ice age could occur in that length of time and rearrange the landscape.

The nuclear waste storage problem will not just fade away! Vice President Gore has still not revealed to us what his better and alternate plan for nuclear waste storage will be. Is he keeping this a secret until after the election?

DENNIS CUNNINGHAM
Carson City

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14 Uranium plant sought in Dharmapuri dt.
The Hindu on indiaserver.com
Friday, September 08, 2000
By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, SEPT. 7. The state unit of the BJP's yuva morcha has called for steps to locate a uranium plant in Dharmapuri district, utilising the molybdenum deposits available in the region.

In a resolution passed at its executive committee meeting here recently, the yuva morcha said a project report should be prepared immediately, taking into consideration the molybdenum deposits available around Harur. The uranium project, besides providing a vital component for national security, would also be a source of employment for local youth, it said.The meeting, presided over by Mr. S. Mohan Rajulu, state president, commended the state government for showing keen interest in youth welfare and said it should ensure that the money allocated for sports development reached the beneficiaries.It advocated express punishment for the guilty in the cricket scam so as to revive public faith in the innocent cricketers.

By a resolution, the yuva morcha suggested the starting of employment exchanges for professionals and post-graduates at Madurai, Tiruchi and Coimbatore on the lines of the one in Chennai. These exchanges should be linked to Chennai through computers.Expressing concern over the delay in the despatch of study material for the students of distance education programmes of the Madurai Kamaraj University, the meeting demanded immediate steps to rectify the ills of the system.

By other resolutions, the yuva morcha condemned the Kerala Government for its refusal to raise the storage level of the Periyar dam and called for immediate steps to take up the Ganga- Cauvery link scheme.

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15 MCRAE'S NUKE TRANSPORT COMFORT LEVEL HIGHER AFTER WIPP TRIP
Pahrump Valley Times
Friday 8 September, 2000
By: Henry Brean,Reporter

NEW MEXICO LOW-LEVEL WASTE STORAGE FACILITY, LOCATED IN MASSIVE SALT CAVERNS, WILL START RECEIVING NTS SHIPMENTS AS EARLY AS NEXT YEAR

For Cameron McRae the county commissioner, the tour of the federal Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico in July provided answers to a number of questions about the transportation of radioactive waste.

For Cameron McRae the assistant fire chief, it provided peace of mind.

McRae and six other county officials traveled to Carlsbad in southeastern New Mexico July 19-21 to tour the U.S. Department of Energy's new storage facility for low-level radioactive waste. Approximately 76 shipments of low-level waste are expected to travel through Nye County in 2001 or 2002 on their way to WIPP from the Nevada Test Site.

"I wanted to see how the waste was handled, and how serious they were about it," McRae said of the tour. "It left me with a higher comfort level overall with regard to the transportation and handling of nuclear waste. A lot of my questions were answered."

Among McRae's biggest questions regarded the durability of the casks used to ship low-level waste to WIPP. McRae said he wanted to know what would happen to one of the casks if it tumbled down a cliff in an accident or was captured by terrorists.

The answer, apparently, is not much. McRae said the casks have been subjected to a number of extreme stress tests, including being dropped from a height onto a sharp spike in an effort to puncture them and being hit by a train in an effort to smash them apart. And any terrorist who might get his hands on some of the casks will need some pretty sophisticated equipment and a whole lot of technical expertise to get them open. McRae said they are sealed with an internal vacuum lock and will not open unless they are perfectly level and have just the right amount of a vacuum applied to them.

The casks are also expensive, costing perhaps as much as $2 million each, McRae said. So far, DOE is using only two or three dedicated trucks to bring waste to WIPP, so the facility is filling up very slowly.

"If they keep the same level of safety margins when they start talking about high-level waste shipments, transportation will be one of the least dangerous parts of the process," he said.

Yucca Mountain, 30 miles east of Beatty, is the only site in the country currently under consideration as a permanent repository for the nation's high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.

But while he was encouraged by what he saw at WIPP, it isn't likely to make the county any less diligent when it comes to monitoring federal waste management activities here. For one thing, McRae noted, not everything that is being done in New Mexico applies to Yucca Mountain or to the low-level waste shipments currently arriving at the NTS on Nye County roads. For example, the low-level shipments to the test site are not contained in the casks the tour group saw at WIPP, although McRae said the waste coming here is significantly less dangerous than the waste going there.

As for WIPP itself, McRae said he was impressed by the way it was "over-engineered" to deal with almost any kind of disaster imaginable -and even several disasters at once.

Those on the tour watched as waste canisters were placed inside the underground salt caverns, tour the off-loading facility, see the manufacturing plant where the transportation casks are made, and monitor a shipment of waste that was on its way to WIPP from the Northwest. For security reasons, they were not allowed to observe a shipment while it was offloaded.

McRae said the area where the waste is stored is roughly 2,150 feet below the surface in salt caverns that are expected to slowly compress and naturally seal themselves. WIPP is slated to accept waste for the next 35 years, and there are plans in the works to develop automated systems so that more toxic shipments in the future can be offloaded and placed inside the storage area by robots.

Technology already plays a large role in the transportation of the waste. The shipments to the site are monitored closely, with electronic position checks made every five minutes. Additionally, drivers carry radio satellite phones that keep them in vocal contact at all times, and they are required to report in every time they stop.

McRae said WIPP officials told him there have been no accidents involving shipments to the site since the facility began accepting waste.

This was McRae's second trip to WIPP. He said the facility was ready to begin accepting waste when he was there 10 years ago, but a series of legal battles kept its underground tunnels empty until last fall.

Also representing the county on the trip were: County Commissioner Jeff Taguchi; County Manager Jerry McKnight; Les Bradshaw, manager of the county's Department of Natural Resources and Federal Facilities; Susan Moore, director of emergency management; Mark Quinn, county safety officer; and county consultant Don Watson.

For Watson, the tour was something of a homecoming. McRae said Watson helped the town of Carlsbad secure some of the economic benefits that come along with having a large federal facility nearby. For example, the cask factory has brought a number of highly skilled manufacturing jobs to Carlsbad, and the community has also benefited from the Environmental Monitoring and Research Center and employee training center that were built along with WIPP.

It was Watson's work for Carlsbad that led Nye County to hire him, McRae said. He has since helped the county secure grant money for a proposed industrial park near Lathrop Wells in the Amargosa Valley and for the Community College of Southern Nevada's high-tech center, due to be constructed in Pahrump this year.

McRae is hoping to see another tour to the WIPP site, this time for local emergency response personnel.

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NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTENTS

1 Radiation Exposures to Early Nuclear Workers
2 Chapter 1: Contamination lingers on
3 Chapter 2: Questions