NUCLEAR
TREE CORES COULD REVEAL RADIOACTIVITY
Anthrax fears fade, nuclear fears loom
Green challenge on UK nuclear plant reaches Court
Q&A: Sellafield's Mox plant
British Energy interested in Czech nuclear plants
These photographs require investigation and compensation.
Fifteen thousand German police to guard nuclear convoy
Vulnerability of Castor-type HLW casks
Putin says he's 'flexible' on U.S. missile defense
U.S., Russia Seek to Cut Nuke Arms
U.S., IAEA see risks from disused Russian subs
Bush won't save ABM Treaty
EBRD head backs loan for Ukraine nuclear plants
Radioactive memories
real video containment test
Nuclear Plant's Test Sirens Not Heard in Surrounding Calvert
Constellation Energy Group purchase of Nine Mile Point
DOE to extend Battelle's PNNL contract
Abraham orders cleanup review
Bush Decides on Nuclear Weapons
Adviser: Bush to Scrap Some Nukes
Rice Downplays Hope for Russia Pact
Today in Congress
Nuclear Solutions and Washington Nuclear Sign Contract
MILITARY
Coalition Maintenance
Army unit wages propaganda war
Opposition claims to advance on Mazar-e-Sharif
Afghan opposition claims major advances
US sends in special forces as offensive in north fades
Cave Redoubts Are Formidable, Rebel Leader Says
Taleban retreat could take war across border
Decades-old smallpox vaccinations may still protect
FBI: Anthrax did not come from known U.S. lab
New Tools Emerging to Speed Anthrax Detection
3 Smaller Companies Say Their Vaccines Are Cheaper
Excerpts From Postal Worker's 911 Call
Supreme Court to decide on school drug testing
DEA resources are stretched thin
US could turn attention to Iraq after Afghanistan: Powell
Japan commits ships to support war on terror
Pakistan orders Taliban to close consulate
Pakistani leader pushes for 'short' war
Musharaff Urges Bombing Halt for Ramadan
Russian forces kill Chechen rebel leader
UN fears 'disaster' over strikes near huge dam
Text of President Bush's Speech
General: Capturing bin Laden is not part of mission
Sailor falls overboard from carrier in Arabian Sea
Lawmakers: Bad time to close bases
A Month in a Difficult Battlefield
ENERGY AND OTHER
Solar power wins big in San Francisco
British Energy in UK onshore wind power projects
Alaskans shocked by Exxon Valdez ruling
Negotiations continue at climate conference
Down-to-earth plans for CO²
Court Overturns Jury Award in '89 Exxon Valdez Spill
Cancer Regimen Is Backed
SMALLPOX VACCINATION COULD COST BILLIONS
POLICE / PRISONERS
Safety Becomes Prime Concern at Ground Zero
In Desperate Times, Talking of Torture
Sedition Law Used to Hold Suspects
Commission to propose restructuring of agencies
Senate approves intelligence bill
Using truth serum an option in probes
U.S. raids offices of "terror-supporting" networks
U.S. Explores Indicting a Possible Member of the Hijackers' Squad
Police and the Economy
Prince: Saudis Monitored Weapon Claims
Defectors Cite Iraqi Training for Terrorism
Spending War With White House Focuses on Countering Terrorism
ACTIVISTS
Woman slaps Prince Charles with rose
Greenpeace in muted globalisation protest in Qatar
Letters to Editor
Oden--and IMF protest only a week away, across the Canadian border
Action Alert! We need letters!
-------- NUCLEAR
TREE CORES COULD REVEAL RADIOACTIVITY
Environmental News Service(ENS)
November 7, 2001
http://www.ens-news.com/ens/nov2001/2001L-11-07-09.html
CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina, Monitoring uranium contamination by drilling wells costs a lot, but a new study suggests it may be possible to do the same monitoring far more cheaply by coring trees on potentially radioactive sites.
Dr. Drew Coleman, assistant professor of geologic sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his graduate student Michael Bulleri conducted the study. They presented their results Monday at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Boston.
"Based on work I did earlier, we set out to determine if we could monitor near surface water contamination around a depleted uranium weapons manufacturing site outside Concord, Massachusetts, by measuring uranium concentrations in the living parts of trees growing nearby," Coleman said.
Bulleri took all their samples on public and private lands surrounding the facility, which used to be owned by Nuclear Metals Inc. and has been owned by the Starmet Corp. since 1997.
Trees suck up water beneath the ground and store the radioactivity it contains for many years, said Bulleri. Comparing isotopes allows researchers to pinpoint the radioactive contamination's source and level.
"We found there's not much contamination outside the Concord site, and there's never been very much, which we know from looking at earlier water samples," Bulleri said. "What's interesting and potentially very important is that we don't have to drill wells, which are extremely expensive, to determine what the uranium concentrations are in the ground."
"Mike's results have been fantastic," added Coleman. "By testing the sapwood - the living parts of oak trees he cored close to the site - he has found a definite bull's eye pattern around the site where the concentration goes up the closer one gets to it."
----
Anthrax fears fade, nuclear fears loom
Agence France Presse,
November 8, 2001
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/011108/1/1pxwy.html
As fears of widespread anthrax deaths faded this week fears of an imminent nuclear terrorist attack mounted, fed by a chilling warning from US President George W. Bush and reports of missing uranium.
But experts were divided over just how possible it would be for a radical like Osama bin Laden to get his hands on nuclear weapons and to use them. "They're seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Given the means, our enemies would be a threat to every nation and eventually, to civilisation itself," Bush said Tuesday.
American experts warned that since the break-up of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War export controls have become increasingly lax and nuclear scientists have become free to sell their expertise.
And Pakistan's arms race with India has left a potentially deadly nuclear arsenal in the hands of a military regime some of whose personnel have close links to bin Laden's Taliban allies.
"In the extreme case, should extremists take over the Pakistani government -- control over Pakistan's nuclear explosive materials and weapons could be lots irrestrevably," warns David Albright, head of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
This doomsday scenario -- a nuclear armed rogue state -- has long worried US military planners and generated calls for the controversial missile defence shield that Bush has vowed to build.
Perhaps even more worrying is the idea, raised in numerous press reports, that Pakistani nuclear weapons could be handed to bin Laden's al-Qaeda network of Islamic radicals for future bomb attacks on US cities or interests abroad.
Pakistani analysts dismiss this scenario.
"It is accurate to say that there are a number of individuals within the establishment, both civilian and military, who are sympathetic to the Taliban, said defence expert Mohammad Afzal Niazi.
"But whether this could ever translate into the sort of action being proposed in these doomsday scenarios is at best extremely doubtful.
"It is one one to protest that there in not enough evidence to bomb bin Laden, but quite another to hand over the nuclear keys to al-Qaeda."
Other analysts argue that Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf as purged radical generals from the army and reinforced his grip on power.
But even if al-Qaeda can not get access to a complete nuclear bomb, two other threats remain.
Terrorists could attack a nuclear installation such as a power station a create an explosion that would release radioactive contamination -- a threat that has seen France, for one, deploy troops and anti-aircraft missiles around its nuclear sites.
Otherwise, the gangs could create a so-called "dirty bomb" in which conventional explosives are used along with nuclear materials to spread a cloud of dangerous radioactive debris.
Fears that criminals or political extremists could get their hands on nuclear material were increased further on Thursday by a report that Italian police were attempting to trace seven missing bars of enriched uranium.
-------- britain
Green challenge on UK nuclear plant reaches Court
8/11/2001,
Reuters
http://www.planetark.org/avantgo/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=13189
LONDON - Environmental groups today will begin legal arguments against the British government's decision to give the go-ahead for a plant to begin manufacturing nuclear fuel, Greenpeace said yesterday.
"A High Court Judge will judicially review the decision allowing BNFL (British Nuclear Fuels) to start up the MOX plant," a Greenpeace spokesman told Reuters, adding the legal action was a joint effort between Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
A month ago the government decided to give the go-ahead to allow state-owned BNFL to start up the 472 million pound ($691.1 million) mixed oxide (MOX) fuel plant which mixes plutonium, which can be used in nuclear weapons, recycled from the THORP reprocessing complex with uranium.
The plant has lain idle since 1996 because regulatory approval was witheld over fears of insufficient customers for the mixed oxide fuel.
Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace will argue on Thursday the government decision is unlawful because the 472 million pounds spent so far on SMP were discounted from the decision-making which declared the plant could be economically viable.
BNFL yesterday said the plant had not yet started operations because the group was awaiting the results of the judicial review.
The environmental groups say MOX does not have a real market since it is more expensive than uraninium - the fuel most reactors burn - and requires modifications to most reactors before it can be used.
Both groups also said there were genuine safety and security concerns about allowing MOX production to start.
"The decision to go-ahead with the manufacture of MOX is highly controversial because it will perpetuate the production of plutonium at the Sellafield site with all the attendant problems of pollution, security and nuclear proliferation," Greenpeace said in a statement.
They say that many nuclear experts believe it is relatively easy to extract plutonium from MOX rods which raises security issues post the September 11 attacks in the U.S.
BNFL says the MOX plant can be profitable and that it already boasts a healthy order book from overseas customers. The group dismisses suggestions it would be easy to extract plutonium from MOX to make a nuclear device.
--------
Q&A: Sellafield's Mox plant
BBC News Online: UK
Thursday, 8 November, 2001
http://news.bbc.co.uk/low/english/uk/newsid_1643000/1643435.stm
One legal challenge has been lost to block the UK's decision to allow the Mox plant at Sellafield to open, but with others outstanding, BBC News Online looks at the issues at stake.
What is Mox?
Mox (mixed oxide) is a way of re-using otherwise useless plutonium - a small part of what is left over when waste nuclear fuel is reprocessed.
The plutonium can be combined with uranium and turned into a new fuel source.
And it is an extremely powerful source of electricity. Each six-gram pellet holds the same energy as a tonne of coal.
British Nuclear Fuel (BNFL) - the government-controlled firm that runs the Sellafield plant - says three pellets can provide a family's needs for an entire year, and the process also reduces the amount of highly toxic radioactive waste that must be stored.
Where is Mox produced?
Not at Sellafield - yet. The Mox plant there was completed in 1996, but has yet to start work, mired as it is in controversy.
The first consultation process began in February 1997. Another was launched in 1998 and it was not until the following year that the government announced the £470m plant could start work.
But BNFL was then caught up in controversy over its safety culture and the embarrassing falsification of documents for a shipment to Japan.
Fresh doubts over the reputation and economic potential of Sellafield put Mox back on hold.
In October 2001, Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett finally gave the go-ahead for the plant, a decision which was immediately subject to calls for a judicial review.
Who is against the plant?
Environmental groups Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth joined forces to challenge the government's decision in the High Court.
But Mr Justice Collins, sitting in London's High Court, ruled the Government had made "no error of law" in granting approval.
The campaigners claimed the plant was unnecessary, not economically viable, and could make it easier for terrorists to obtain nuclear materials.
They are against the increase in nuclear power, arguing for sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives.
The Irish Government is also against the plant, arguing that building it in Cumbria on the Irish Sea coast broke international laws on sea pollution.
Ireland has begun a challenge to ask the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to order an immediate suspension of the plant's authorisation.
Norway is also reported to be considering legal action, again citing water pollution.
Could terrorists get hold of Mox fuel?
Mox fuel would be transported all over the world, but theft or sabotage is almost impossible, says BNFL. The guards used to escort Mox shipments are heavily armed with rifles, gas masks and grenades.
The ships have double hulls to guard against being rammed or running aground, and there are even naval cannons on the deck.
But the fear, heightened by the recent terror attacks in the US, is that terrorists could get hold of Mox and extract the plutonium - though there are conflicting opinions about the ease with which this could be done.
The plutonium could be used in nuclear weapons or in "dirty bombs" - conventional devices containing the substance. These do not explode like a nuclear bomb, but can spread radiation over a large area.
Charles Secrett, director of Friends of the Earth, says: "The decision makes the world an even more dangerous place."
Would the Mox plant make money?
Greenpeace argues there is insufficient evidence the plant will attract enough customers, and the plant will never pay for itself.
Consultants say the plant's operation will be worth £150m to the UK over its lifetime, but Greenpeace says this profit is distorted because the huge cost of building the plant has already been written off.
Also, it says, BNFL claims that economic powers such as Japan - a BNFL customer since the 1960s - will play a major role in making the plant a success do not stand up to examination. Greenpeace says Japan has an effective moratorium on orders from Sellafield following last year's falsification incident.
BNFL counters by saying it has customers who already use its reprocessing facilities that want Mox fuel. It says it has a bulging order book.
It also says the plant will directly support more than 300 jobs and indirectly benefit hundreds more in a part of west Cumbria highly dependant on BNFL for jobs. Local unions have already given their backing to the plant.
-------- czech republic
British Energy interested in Czech nuclear plants
8/11/2001
Reuters
http://www.planetark.org/avantgo/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=13174
LONDON - Nuclear power group British Energy said yesterday it is interested in the nuclear assets of Czech state-owned power producer CEZ, which is up for privatisation.
"We are interested in the CEZ nuclear plants," British Energy's executive chairman Robin Jeffrey told a news briefing in London after the release of interim results.
But he said the Czech government so far had reacted negatively to British Energy's interest, which covers the CEZ nuclear plants but not the other assets the government wants to sell.
The Czech government is selling off CEZ in a package of generation, transmission and distribution assets.
CEZ owns the 2,000 megawatt Temelin nuclear power station and the 1,600 megawatt Dukovany nuclear plant.
Electricite de France (EdF) is widely viewed as the front runner in the tender.
"EdF is the head and shoulders front runner for CEZ," said Jeffrey.
Other shortlisted bidders are a tie-up of Italy's Enel and Spain's Iberdrola; and a group combining U.S.-based NRG Energy and Britain's International Power.
Belgium's Electrabel last month pulled out of the tender citing a lack of transparency in the sale process.
-------- depleted uranium
These photographs require investigation and compensation.
http://www.answering-christianity.com/iraqi_torture.htm
Be sure to support U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney's legislation against depleted uranium: HR 3155 - http://prop1.org/nucnews/2001nn/0110nn/011017nn.htm#135
You can easily contact Congressional leaders at the Proposition One Lobby Center, http://prop1.org/prop1/letter.htm.
-------- germany
Fifteen thousand German police to guard nuclear convoy
Thursday November 8, 9:11 AM
Reuters
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/reuters/asia-70878.html
BERLIN - German police said on Wednesday they will provide 15,000 officers to ensure the safe transport next week of nuclear waste from France to a storage site in northern Germany.
A shipment of six containers carrying German nuclear waste reprocessed in France is due to return by rail to the site in the northern town of Gorleben.
Earlier this year, anti-nuclear activists briefly held up shipments of waste from reprocessing in France by chaining themselves to the tracks.
Activists have already vowed to disturb the passage of the rail convoy, which is due to leave La Hague in northern France on Monday and will reach an unloading station in Germany on Tuesday evening.
From there, the cargo is to be taken by road for the final 20 kilometres (12 miles) to Gorleben.
Two weeks ago, a fire in trailers under an iron bridge on the transport route damaged parts of the rails. The fire, believed to have been caused by anti-nuclear activists, caused a million marks ($460,000) worth of damage.
The waste shipments were stopped for several years due to safety concerns but were resumed after a deal was reached gradually to phase out nuclear power in Germany over the next two decades.
--------
Vulnerability of Castor-type HLW casks
Date: Thu, 08 Nov 2001
From: "Peter Diehl" <uranium@t-online.de>
Verwundbarkeit von CASTOR-Behältern bei
Transport und Lagerung gegenüber terroristischen und kriegerischen Einwirkungen sowie zivilisatorischen Katastrophen
Verfasser: Dr. Helmut Hirsch Wolfgang Neumann Unter Mitarbeit von Oda Becker
Hannover, im November 2001
Summary:
The main subject of this study are possible consequences of terror attacks or other external events directed against casks for transport and storage of spent fuel and high activity waste, in particular against CASTOR casks.
A review of possible threats shows a large number of hazards: Attack with an armour-piercing weapon; collision with a tanker during transport, followed by a long fire; crash of a commercial aircraft onto an intermediate storage facility as well as shelling or aerial bombardment of a storage facility. On the other hand, there is a large number of potential targets.
Transports are occurring frequently, some of them over large distances. In addition to three central intermediate storage facilities, stores for spent fuel are to be erected at almost all nuclear power plant sites. The storage buildings' design against external events is absolutely inadequate. The proof of safety for the casks themselves is insufficient. It is not even guaranteed that they can withstand the loads assumed hitherto.
There is even less safety in case of terror attacks as they have to be assumed as plausible today. Two possible scenarios of terrorist attacks are investigated in detail. If a cask is shot at with a modern armour-piercing weapon during transport, the cask wall will be penetrated. The radioactive releases lead to radioactive contamination of a zone around the place of the attack; this contamination is so severe that entering this zone will be virtually impossible. Furthermore, a cloud of radioactive aerosols is released, possibly necessitating countermeasures at distances as far away as several kilometres.
If a large commercial aircraft crashes on an intermediate storage facility, a fire lasting several hours can result. In this case, a considerable number of casks will lose their leak tightness. Releases of the nuclide Cesium-137, which is of high importance radiologically, can be more than one percent of the amount released during the Chernobyl catastrophe. Thousands of square kilometres of land can become contaminated to a degree, which renders agricultural use impossible.
A special section deals with the problems arising from the public availability and discussions of sensitive information. All data, which have been used for the present study, are publicly available without prohibitive effort. The problem lies just in the fact that a wealth of information, which can be 'useful' to terrorists, has been publicly available for decades - in the last years, increasingly via the internet.
That all this data can be used by terrorists does not imply that a more restrictive policy towards information is required. Rather, it should be regarded as an argument against the use of a technology which is, at the same time, hazardous and complex to a large degree, creating a conflict between the necessary societal discussion on the one hand and the protection of society from terrorist attacks on the other.
The possibilities to reduce the hazards through engineering measures are limited. As an immediate counter measure, transports should be stopped, and the further production of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel limited as much as possible, in order not to further increase the vulnerable inventories in intermediate storage facilities. The advantages and disadvantages of intermediate storage below ground should be investigated.
Download full text of the report (160k in German): http://www.bund.net/themen/energiepolitik/Studie_CASTORTerror.rtf
View related news release of BUND (FOE Germany): (in German) http://www.bund.net/presse/msg00474.html
-------- missile defense
Putin says he's 'flexible' on U.S. missile defense
USA Today
11/08/2001
By Judy Keen, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/attack/2001/11/08/putin-usat.htm
WASHINGTON -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview aired Wednesday that he's "quite flexible" in his stance on allowing President Bush to proceed with development of a national missile defense.
Putin's comments, in an interview on ABC's 20/20, were another signal that Bush and Putin are likely to close the deal when they meet next week in Washington and at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Senior administration officials said Wednesday that they are optimistic an agreement allowing the United States to develop and test a missile shield will be reached. They expect the two presidents to reach that agreement without moving to amend or nullify the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972. Politically, Putin can't afford to agree to amend or abolish the treaty, which bars testing and deployment of national defense systems. But the agreement he and Bush are expected to reach would in effect set it aside.
"We have a negotiating platform starting from which we could reach agreements," Putin said in the interview. "At least I hope so."
If Putin has "some interesting suggestions on how to make the ABM Treaty not outdated and not outmoded, I'm more than willing to listen," Bush said Wednesday. "But ... this terrorist war says to me more than ever that we need to develop defenses to protect ourselves against weapons of mass destruction that might fall in the hands of terrorist nations."
The deal may include pledges by both nations to reduce their offensive nuclear arsenals, although administration officials said those details may not be finalized next week. As of July, the United States had 7,013 nuclear warheads and Russia had 5,858.
Bush said he'll tell Putin next week how many nuclear weapons he's willing to dismantle. "We don't need an arms-control agreement to convince us to reduce our nuclear weapons down substantially, and I'm going to do it," he said.
Next week's summit will be the fourth Bush-Putin meeting. They hit it off in their first meeting, in June in Slovenia, and administration officials say their personal connection is a key factor in progress toward the agreement.
Some critics called Bush naive after he said he had looked into Putin's soul in their first meeting and decided that he could trust his Russian counterpart. Asked about those remarks, Putin said of Bush, "I believe it's not accidental that he became the president of the United States. He sees better and deeper and understands the problems more accurately."
The deal would enhance Putin's warmer relationship with NATO members. Russia would also benefit from increased trade with the United States and more foreign investments in Russia's struggling economy.
The administration officials, who once feared that Russia would form a strategic partnership with China, said they are encouraged by Putin's growing alliance with the West. "This is a choice that Russia made for itself quite a long time ago," Putin told ABC.
In the interview, Putin also said:
• He had a feeling of "guilt" after the terrorist attacks Sept. 11. "It was a pity that our special services didn't get the information on time and warn the American people ... about the tragedy that came to pass," he said.
• The United States is losing the war of words with Osama bin Laden. The terrorists, he said, "are acting more aggressively and more offensively, and they're presenting opposition in terms of emotions."
• No portable nuclear weapons have been stolen from Russia's arsenal, despite reports that bin Laden and other terrorists may be trying to acquire such weapons from renegade Russian scientists or military personnel. "These are just legends," Putin said.
-------- russia
U.S., Russia Seek to Cut Nuke Arms
By Barry Schweid AP Diplomatic Writer
Thursday, November 8, 2001; 10:05 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A64658-2001Nov8?language=printer
WASHINGTON -- Less than a week before their summit, President Bush and President Vladimir Putin are moving closer to an understanding that would meet Russia's desires for deep cuts in nuclear arsenals and give the United States more leeway to test missile defenses.
Two-thirds of the American nuclear arsenal would be consigned to the scrap heap, a senior U.S. official said Thursday. Russia has said it wants to do the same, as well, with its storehouse of long-range warheads.
Even if there is no formal accord, Bush intends to get rid of hundreds of weapons the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff have concluded are superfluous, said Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser.
Seizing on a post-Cold War relationship in which the United States and Russia do not eye each other warily as adversaries, Bush is approaching his talks with Putin with a strategy that bypasses the formal and tedious negotiations of the past.
Based on the Pentagon review, Bush has concluded how many warheads the United States should retain, and Putin has taken a more agreeable stance on a U.S. anti-missile defense.
Even if the Russian leader backtracks on a shield against missile attack, Bush intends to go ahead without letting a 1972 ban on nationwide defenses get in his way, senior U.S. officials said this week.
The cuts in offensive arms on both sides could be as deep as two-thirds. The United States and Russian now have about 6,000 warheads each in their arsenals.
Rice played down prospects for an accord calling for mutual cutbacks and a green light for Bush's anti-missile defense program. "Not every meeting has to be accompanied like the old summits were with the Soviet Union by arms control agreements," she said.
"This is a normal relationship that's moving forward progressively," Rice said.
It is not a question whether the level of warheads Bush has decided upon is acceptable to the Russians, Rice said.
"His desire to cut offensive nuclear forces comes from his belief, which has now been confirmed by a study by the Joint Chiefs of Staff ... that the number of weapons in the U.S. arsenal exceeds the number of nuclear weapons needed for America's deterrent needs in this particular time," she said.
A senior Bush administration official said the president was willing to agree with Putin to reduce both the U.S. and Russian stockpiles to fewer than 2,000 - a reduction of two-thirds of the current level of 6,000 warheads apiece. For his part, the Russian leader is flexible about Bush's plan for a defense against missile attack, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Russia has suggested a level as low as 1,500.
"We could reach quite quickly mutual agreements," Putin said in an ABC interview Monday at the Kremlin. He also said the Russian position on a missile shield "is quite flexible." But he also cautioned that a settlement "can only be found as a result of very intense negotiations."
Last winter, Putin warned that the entire fabric of arms control could unravel if Bush went ahead with a nationwide anti-missile shield in violation of a 1972 U.S.-Soviet treaty. Putin has since muted his opposition, leading to speculation he could be agreeable to a limited defense not banned by the treaty.
But senior administration officials said this week at the White House that Bush inevitably would have to exercise a right to withdraw from the accord in order to go ahead with its testing program.
"He is not prepared to permit the treaty to get in the way of doing that robust testing," Rice said.
Her admonition that expectations for an agreement were too high is traditional before U.S.-Russian summits, even during the Cold War. But Rice was emphatic about it.
"One should not expect one defining moment," she said.
She said the two leaders would work on a new strategic framework for a number of years.
Bush said Wednesday he was prepared to make a substantial cut in the American arsenal whatever happens in the talks in Washington on Tuesday and at his Texas ranch on Wednesday and Thursday.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov planned to meet Saturday in New York, on the sidelines of a U.N. General Assembly session, to help prepare for the talks, the Russian Mission to the United Nations said.
----
U.S., IAEA see risks from disused Russian subs
Thursday, November 08, 2001
By Eva Sohlman,
Reuters
http://enn.com/news/wire-stories/2001/11/11082001/reu_45517.asp
STOCKHOLM -- The United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Wednesday that a floating cemetery of nuclear submarines off Russia could be a target for terrorists seeking parts for nuclear bombs.
Moscow played down the risks, saying it had stepped up security around the submarines off the northwestern Kola peninsula. And it said the nuclear waste could be cleaned up within a decade with about $200 million.
"Of course it's possible that a terrorist could make a 'dirty nuclear bomb' from the nuclear fuel on board the submarines," said Michael Bell, head of the IAEA's waste technology section, at a conference in the southwestern Swedish city of Oskarshamn.
Dieter Rudolph from the U.S. Defense Department, who was also attending the conference, agreed there were risks but said they were small. "In theory it is possible, but it would be a tough and heavy task to handle the radioactive fuel," he said.
The three-day conference, ending Thursday, is about Russia's problems with treating nuclear fuel waste and missiles aboard a fleet of some 150 disused submarines around the Kola peninsula.
Rudolph said that there were easier ways to find nuclear material to build a 'dirty bomb' from radioactive material. Such a crude bomb could cause serious damage -- although not as extensive as a properly built atomic bomb.
Last week, the IAEA warned the world that the threat of attacks on nuclear power plants had increased and urged countries with such stations to boost security. It said the risk of airplane attacks and theft of nuclear material had increased in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 suicide hijacker attacks on the United States.
RUSSIA CRACKS DOWN
"Russia has taken emergency security measures because we know there is a real threat from international terrorism,'' Russia's deputy Atomic Energy Minister Valery Lebedev said.
He also played down fears of leaks from the aging submarines. "At the moment there's not much leakage going on. What we are looking for is help to handle and reprocess the solid radioactive waste and spent fuel from the atomic submarines," he said. "It will take about 10 years and cost about $200 million to remove and secure the waste," he said.
Rudolph said that Washington was most concerned about the nuclear missiles aboard the submarines. "The U.S. focus is to pay the Russians to dismantle weapons of mass destruction but also to help remove, store, and reprocess the radioactive nuclear fuel on the peninsula," he said.
The United States is planning to assist Russia in improving the capacity at a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in the city of Mayak and to clean up buildings around the plant which are believed to be radioactive. It will also assist in removing weapons and fuel from several submarines at a former military base in Andrejeva Bay.
But Rudolph and Bell agreed that, although the submarines posed a threat to the environment, should they sink and leak, the worst case scenario could never compare with that of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986.
-------- treaties
Bush won't save ABM Treaty
November 8, 2001
By Nicholas Kralev
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20011108-13705276.htm
In the most specific language to date, the Bush administration said yesterday it is not considering any amendments that would keep the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in place when Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the United States next week.
During a series of recent meetings in both capitals, a "stark" change in Moscow's view of the 1972 accord has crystallized, a senior administration official said. The pact, which Russia had called the cornerstone of strategic stability, prevents both parties from building comprehensive nationwide missile defenses.
"I don't know that the amendment route is one we would consider," the official said, calling the ABM Treaty "dangerous" and "an impediment to better relations with Russia."
In February, Mr. Putin was predicting the "unraveling of arms control" if Washington went ahead with tests that conflicted with the accord, but now he acknowledges that "the United States has a right" to withdraw from it and "that won't be the end of the world," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Although the two sides have made progress over the past several months, an agreement lowering the limits on U.S. and Russian nuclear stockpiles, which Moscow has linked with any deal on missile defense, may not be completed during Mr. Putin's Tuesday-through-Thursday summit with President Bush, another senior official said.
The leaders are unlikely to impose either equal or precise limits on U.S. and Russian long-range warheads, he said, but they could set ranges far below the current totals of about 6,000 each, "possibly but not certainly" with different ranges for the Cold War foes.
Russia has proposed levels as low as 1,500 warheads on each side, while the Bush administration is reportedly considering 1,750 to 2,250 warheads apiece.
A final decision will be made by the presidents, but talks on weapons cutbacks could go on for some time, the officials said.
Mr. Putin is scheduled to arrive in Washington late Monday and meet with Mr. Bush on Tuesday at the White House. He will travel to Mr. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, the next day.
This will be the two presidents' fourth meeting.
Even though the White House has played up the comfort and chemistry the two men share, that's not enough to build a solid relationship between the two countries, the U.S. official said.
The relationship, he added, "was moving in a positive direction" from the beginning, but that trend has accelerated with Russia's cooperation in the U.S. campaign against terrorism.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Putin also will discuss what the White House called "particularly difficult issues": freedom of the media, the breakaway republic of Chechnya and Russia's relations with some of its neighbors.
Mr. Bush will also take up with Mr. Putin the technological assistance that the administration is convinced Russia has provided to Iran's nuclear weapons program, the official said.
"Russian transfers of sensitive nuclear technology concerns us very much" and it will be addressed, he said, noting that Mr. Bush will make the point that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose serious dangers.
Mr. Putin insisted in an American television interview taped Monday in the Kremlin that Russia was not providing dangerous weapons technology to Iran, calling such allegations a "legend."
But Ephraim Sneh, a former Israeli general and now transportation minister, said yesterday that he was certain "the central support for the Iranian nuclear project is provided by Russia."
-------- ukraine
EBRD head backs loan for Ukraine nuclear plants
Reuters:
8/11/2001
http://www.planetark.org/avantgo/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=13173
KIEV - Ukraine edged closer yesterday to securing vital funding for its troubled nuclear power industry after the head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development backed proposals for a $215 million loan.
"Today the president of the EBRD (Jean Lemierre) recommended to the board to confirm its decision to give a credit to complete two nuclear reactors as all four conditions for the loan had been met," the EBRD said in a statement.
The EBRD said that if the board confirmed Lemierre's recommendation, the credit agreement could be signed next month.
The EBRD last year approved the loan in principle to finance completion of two new reactors in western Ukraine being built to replace the ill-fated Chernobyl nuclear power plant, closed last December.
But the bank attached tough conditions to the loan, including a resumption of aid from the International Monetary Fund - approved two months ago - and improving safety at the ex-Soviet state's nuclear stations.
The project stirred controversy as environmentalists insisted the two plants were the wrong option for the country which suffered from the world's worst civil nuclear disaster in 1986 after a reactor exploded at Chernobyl.
But officials said completion of the two reactors was vital for the country's ailing energy sector, which lost about four percent of its generating capacity after the Chernobyl closure.
Power outages are common in the country of 49 million people, which does not have sufficient energy resources to fully meet demand and depends heavily on energy imports.
-------- u.s. nuc weapons
Radioactive memories
World War II shaped America's most controversial scientist
Christian Science Monitor
November 08, 2001
By Robert C. Cowen
http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1108/p19s1-bogn.html
<http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1108/csmimg/1108p19a.jpg>
MEMOIRS: A Twentieth-Century Journey in Science and Politics
By Edward Teller with Judith Shoolery
Perseus Publishing 628 pp., $35
Edward Teller - widely known as the "father" of the American hydrogen bomb - has been a controversial guy. To his detractors, he represents the archetypal Dr. Strangelove, with an unnatural passion for nuclear weapons and "star wars" antimissile systems. His fans see a champion of US national defense who punctures arms-control hype.
Forget those stereotypes. Dr. Teller's best critic is Teller himself. He long ago warned us to take his defense policy advocacy with a grain of salt. Its wisdom has been colored by a passionate determination to ensure that what Nazis and Communists did to his native Hungary will not happen to America. Now, he has given us the whole salt shaker in this fascinating, introspective memoir.
Teller's account of growing up in a culture that was rough on Jews, of surviving hardships after the arbitrary partition of Hungary after World War I, and of losing friends and family to Nazi and Communist oppression explains his passion to protect the freedom he found in the United States. Those challenges stiffened his backbone when his vision of an adequate defense clashed with what many arms-control-oriented colleagues considered appropriate. Add to that his self-confessed penchant for speaking bluntly, and it's understandable that the heated policy debates that ensued turned even some of his friends into adversaries.
Teller regrets the acrimony, but makes no apology for his convictions. Cherished colleagues felt the destructiveness of a hydrogen bomb made it "an evil thing considered in any light," to quote a report of atomic scientists who opposed the weapon. How would you answer Teller's counter-question: Would it have been better for humanity if the United States had held back while the Soviet Union proceeded?
The case of J. Robert Oppenheimer is different. Oppenheimer, the brilliant World War II leader of the Los Alamos atomic bomb lab, was challenged as a security risk in the mid-1950s. Old communist associations were revisited, even though the government had overlooked them during the war. More important, opponents to Oppenheimer's positions on weapons policy claimed that he gave dangerously bad advice.
Hearings were held to decide whether to continue Oppenheimer's security clearance. Teller was a key witness. He testified that he had no doubt about Oppenheimer's loyalty, but was ambivalent as to the trustworthiness of Oppenheimer's advice. When Oppenheimer's clearance was revoked, many American physicists blamed Teller. He felt ostracized for a time by his own scientific community, and some of his colleagues from those days may have yet to fully forgive him. It's obvious from Teller's retrospective account that he still feels the pain of that episode and has yet to make peace with it himself.
There's much more to this memoir than policy battles. In the 1930s, Teller studied at the feet of the creators of modern quantum mechanics. His vignettes of those scientists are delightful. He worked under Heisenberg, one of the greatest physicists. The question of whether Heisenberg supported the Nazi atom bomb project or just gave lip service and dragged his feet lingers. Teller says that, given his knowledge of the man, he can't believe Heisenberg would have willingly served Hitler. But he admits that is speculation.
The memoir also gives vignettes of Teller the family man, Teller the musician - never far from his piano - and Teller the wannabe academic research scientist. He shares some of the enthusiasm of being caught up in the creation of quantum physics - his "most satisfying years." He laments that he couldn't get back into the game after the war. Whenever he tried to settle down to an academic career, he was pulled back into the world of weapons-making and research administration. While he became an outstanding scientist, he never achieved scientific greatness.
Teller has done posterity an invaluable service in publishing his memoirs. Objective historians and living participants in the recorded events may pick bones with them. But there is one assertion I think we can take at face value. Teller says that, while he could sometimes have been more gracious, he always tried to speak his mind honestly even when it made him unpopular with friends. It's hard to hate a guy like that.
• Robert C. Cowen writes about science for the Monitor
-------- u.s. nuc facilities
Subject: real video containment test
From: "Scott D. Portzline" <sportzline@home.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 19:35:46 -0500
impact by fighter jet video clip attached
The block moves more than 1 foot
http://us.f139.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter/containment%5ftest.rm?box=Inbox&MsgId=9910_1954782_39501_1860_286773_0_0&bodyPart=2&filename=containment%5ftest.rm&download=1&YY=35935&order=down&sort=date&pos=0
-------- maryland
Nuclear Plant's Test Sirens Not Heard in Surrounding Calvert
By Raymond McCaffrey and Steven Gray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, November 8, 2001; Page SM02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A51853-2001Nov6?language=printer
Monday's regularly scheduled annual test of the emergency sirens within 10 miles of the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant did not get a passing mark -- at least not in the facility's home county.
At noon, each siren was to sound for three minutes. However, of the 72 sirens within the 10-mile radius, the 49 in Calvert County failed to sound. The remaining ones -- 17 in St. Mary's County, as well as 6 in Dorchester County across the Chesapeake Bay -- worked as planned, according to Karl Neddenien, a plant spokesman.
"The sirens in St. Mary's and Dorchester County were fully operational, but the sirens in Calvert County did not sound," Neddenien said. "And we have been working with Calvert County to diagnose the problems."
Calvert County Commissioners President David F. Hale (R-Owings) reported at a meeting Tuesday that the sirens failed because of a computer problem at the county's Emergency Operations Center.
"That's why we run tests," Hale said.
The county and the plant will schedule a retest.
Neddenien also said, "We're going to take a look at what could have caused the computer malfunction. As is our custom, we're going to look at the problem a level or two deeper as to the root cause."
The plant conducts weekly and quarterly testing of different degrees to discover individual sirens that might need maintenance, according to Neddenien. The majority of them have been working properly, he said.
The last full activation was one year ago on the first Monday of November 2000, and it was a success, he added.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which mandates the tests, was informed of Monday's problem, officials reported.
The sirens are intended to alert the public in an emergency to tune to a particular radio station for information.
Reassurance From Schools
St. Mary's County education officials sent a letter home with students this week intended to reassure parents that the system is prepared to maintain the safety and security of schools in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The letter, signed by Superintendent Patricia M. Richardson, details the school system's communication with emergency agencies as well as various in-school measures to keep children safe and to deal with their concerns about the ongoing threat of further attacks.
"We are committed to maintaining the safety and security of our children," Richardson says. "This is an ongoing task. In the end, it is our school community who will keep our children safe. We invite you to work with us on this task."
Also in the letter is a warning that the situation is no joking matter.
"We ask that you be very clear with your children," Richardson says to parents, "that jokes or pranks about bombs or bioterrorism are not acceptable and will not be tolerated."
She says students attempting such pranks should expect "severe disciplinary measures" and possible referral to law enforcement agencies.
-------- new york
Constellation Energy Group has completed its purchase of the Nine Mile Point
Washington Post
November 11, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59066-2001Nov7?language=printer
Constellation Energy Group has completed its purchase of the Nine Mile Point nuclear power plant outside Syracuse, N.Y., including the plant's nuclear fuel, for $762 million. Most of the plant's electricity output will go to upstate New York customers. The Baltimore-based company also owns the Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant.
-------- washington
DOE to extend Battelle's PNNL contract
Hanford News
Thu, Nov 8, 2001
By Annette Cary Herald staff writer
http://www.hanfordnews.com/2001/1108-2.html
The Department of Energy will extend Battelle's contract to operate Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for another five years, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced Wednesday after getting a look at some of the research there.
"Battelle has done an extraordinary job operating PNNL over the years," Abraham said.
More than 40 percent of the work at the Richland lab is related to national security. It's work that's critical to the nation since Sept. 11, Abraham said.
Technology being developed at the lab includes an automated system to isolate bacteria from soil, water and air samples, which the lab demonstrated to the Energy secretary during his tour of the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory there.
Biodetection Enabling Analyte Delivery System, or BEADS, can clean samples so micro-organisms can be identified in places such as food processing lines and water treatment plants. It also can be coupled with a detector to identify agents of biological warfare without requiring samples to be manually purified for identification.
Battelle Memorial Institute has held the contract to operate the laboratory since 1965. The lab now employs about 3,500 people and has an annual budget of about $540 million.
Abraham could have requested proposals from other corporations to operate the lab. However, citing three years of "outstanding" ratings of the national laboratory, Abraham authorized DOE's Richland office to start contract negotiations with Battelle.
In addition, the Richland lab was the first DOE Office of Science to win Gold Star status in DOE's voluntary Protection Program, lab Director Lura Powell pointed out.
The laboratory also has signed three major partnerships to collaborate with universities. That included an alliance formed in September with researchers at public and private universities across Washington.
Powell said she was pleased with the strides the laboratory has made in three initiatives, she said. Those include computational science and engineering, nanoscience and technology and biomolecular networks, which include research of cell behavior that advanced knowledge gained from the mapping of the human genome.
Abraham also used his visit to Hanford to announce DOE grants of $8.4 million for another research focus of the laboratory, cleanup of nuclear sites such as Hanford.
DOE is awarding $39.6 million over three years to universities, national laboratories and other research institutions for 45 research projects to solve complex environmental cleanup challenges.
The Richland lab won grants to lead 11 of the projects and collaborate on five others.
Projects include developing technology to remove plutonium from steel and concrete surfaces and to better predict consequences of various scenarios in handling high-level waste in Hanford's tanks.
Such research could help the nation speed up cleanup of its nuclear sites, possibly at less cost, Abraham said.
---
Abraham orders cleanup review
Hanford News
Thu, Nov 8, 2001
By John Stang and Annette Cary Herald staff writers
http://www.hanfordnews.com/2001/1108-1.html
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham plans to overhaul the Department of Energy's nationwide nuclear cleanup program to make it faster and cheaper.
How?
The answer to that question has not been figured out yet, Abraham indicated on his first trip to Hanford on Wednesday.
That unanswered question also covers Hanford's future cleanup efforts.
During his 412-hour visit to Hanford and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Abraham repeatedly said that when he took over DOE last January, he was shocked to find that the agency expected to take 70 years and $300 billion to clean up all of DOE's Cold War contaminated production sites.
Consequently, he ordered a review of all of DOE's cleanup programs to see how they could become faster and more efficient.
Also Wednesday, Abraham was noncommittal about whether the dormant Fast Flux Test Facility should be revived or shut down. However, FFTF supporters became more optimistic after listening to Abraham.
Abraham toured the FFTF, a tank farm and PNNL's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, where he also held a news conference. He also gave a 25-minute speech in the Federal Building on DOE refocusing its defense, science and energy missions. The speech included five minutes of generic support for nuclear cleanup with no new details.
Abraham's statements Wednesday about faster and cheaper cleanup were not new.
He first publicly voiced shock at the 70-year, $300 billion estimate April 9 -- the same day he ordered the review to see how to speed up cleanup nationwide.
However, on that same day, DOE also told Congress that it wanted less nationwide cleanup money in 2002 than it spent in 2001, that it wanted to trim Hanford's funding for 2002 and that it wanted to allocate $500 million to Hanford's top-priority tank waste glassification project in 2002 even though DOE's calculations said $690 million would be needed to keep it on schedule.
On Wednesday, Abraham contended that the original $500 million glassification request did not translate to slowing the project enough that it would miss its 2007 legal deadline to begin converting wastes into glass.
He declined to say specifically how cutting $190 million from a project trying to meet a 2007 deadline would help trim DOE's 70-year master cleanup schedule.
Instead, Abraham addressed the topic in general terms. He said he inherited a nationwide nuclear cleanup program from the Clinton administration and did not want to lock irreversibly into any major project before all of DOE's cleanup programs are reviewed.
Harry Boston, manager of DOE's Office of River Protection said 2002's trimmed $190 million could have been added on top of the glassification project's 2003 budget to catch up.
But the state of Washington has disagreed strongly with Abraham's contention that $500 million in 2002 would not further slow down construction of the glassification plants, which already are 16 months behind schedule. So since last spring, the state has threatened to sue DOE if the 2002 glassification budget ends up underfunded.
Despite that threat, Abraham and the Bush administration in May and June opposed increasing the $500 million to $690 million.
However, Congress ignored those objections and recently increased DOE's nationwide cleanup budget above the administration's request. That included bumping Hanford's overall budget from DOE's original request of $1.4 billion to slightly more than $1.8 billion, which fills all the site's legal 2002 obligations including $690 million for glassification.
That congressional action appears likely to eliminate the state's lawsuit threat.
Meanwhile, DOE expects to finish its nuclear cleanup review by Dec. 31.
Abraham said it is unknown whether the review will lead to changes in Hanford's cleanup efforts or funding plans.
And he declined to comment on the possibility that DOE's review's conclusions might not fit with the Tri-Party Agreement, the legal pact that governs Hanford's cleanup, or if DOE might use the review to seek changes in the Tri-Party Agreement.
Instead, Abraham emphasized that DOE wants to work closely with the state and the Environmental Protection Agency to hammer out speedier and cheaper cleanup plans for Hanford.
The review's conclusions are due two months before the Bush administration is scheduled to send its fiscal 2003 federal budget request to Congress in late February. That request will include a proposed 2003 DOE budget. Until last year, that request also included a detailed breakdown of Hanford's spending plans for the upcoming year.
Last year's switch in presidents led to DOE's overall figures for fiscal 2002 going to Congress last February with details on Hanford being unveiled last April.
Abraham's press aide Joe Davis said some, but unlikely all, of the review's recommendations might make it into next February's DOE fiscal 2003 budget request to Congress.
Also Wednesday, Abraham toured the FFTF with former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., but said he would not be rushed on making a decision on the reactor's future.
However, supporters of restarting the reactor liked what Abraham had to say about DOE's overall goals, saying the Hanford reactor could play a role.
Last January the Clinton administration ordered the reactor permanently shut down. But the Bush administration is considering a proposal to lease the reactor for commercial production of isotopes for medicine.
"Obviously, a huge investment has been made in FFTF -- a long-term one that's already expended," Abraham said. Before dismantling the FFTF, it's prudent for DOE to look at any possible uses for it, he said.
Gorton said before the tour that the nation's new security issues since Sept. 11 may make a restart of the reactor more likely.
The reactor could be used to make isotopes able to kill anthrax or other bioterrorism agents in mail or food. It also would make the nation less dependent on foreign sources of isotopes for nuclear medicine.
"What's more important to national security than making sure there is no shortage of medical isotopes?" asked Bob Schenter, a regional officer of the National Association for Cancer Patients.
Abraham also discussed the Bush administration's energy policy, which includes a push for more nuclear energy.
"In the national energy policy, all roads lead to FFTF," said Benton County Commissioner Claude Oliver. The reactor could be used for research on the next generation of nuclear power reactors in addition to producing medical isotopes.
-------- us nuc politics
Bush Decides on Nuclear Weapons
By Barry Schweid
AP Diplomatic Writer
Thursday, November 8, 2001; 5:57 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A60196-2001Nov8?language=printer
WASHINGTON -- President Bush says he has decided on a new, lower level of nuclear armaments for the United States and will take up his decision next week with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Bush said he could make a substantial cut in the American arsenal whatever happens in the talks in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.
"We don't need an arms control agreement to convince us to reduce our nuclear weapons down substantially, and I'm going to do it," Bush said at a joint news conference with visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The president said he could not reveal the new and lower ceiling before meeting with Putin. Other U.S. officials have said the Bush administration anticipates a range of 1,750 to 2,250 warheads - a deep cutback from the current level of about 6,000 warheads on each side.
"I am not going to tell you until I tell him," Bush said.
U.S. officials earlier played down the probability of signing a major agreement during Putin's stay in the United States. Three officials said the United States and Russia were making progress, but an agreement may not be completed when the leaders meet.
"I have reached a decision, and I spent time thinking about the issue," Bush said. "The United States will move to reduce our offensive weapons to a level commensurate with being able to keep the peace."
On his quest for a missile defense system, Bush said he was going into the talks with Putin still convinced that a 1972 treaty banning national defenses is outdated.
The war on terrorism underscores the need for a defense, Bush said. If Putin has "interesting suggestions" on how to go ahead despite the treaty, he said was willing to listen.
The U.S. officials, who held a news briefing on condition of anonymity, said the two leaders were unlikely to impose either equal or precise limits on U.S. and Russian warheads.
They are more inclined to set ranges far below the current totals, possibly with different ranges for the United States and Russia, the officials said.
High-level meetings in Washington and Moscow already have produced substantial progress toward an agreement, they said. Parts of the 1991 Strategic Arms Limitation treaty that set up verification procedures to guard against cheating may be adapted to any new pact.
Putin has shifted his position on Bush's plan for an anti-missile shield, they said. They described his change as a startling turnabout.
Last winter, Putin was predicting the unraveling of arms control accords with the United States if Bush went ahead with tests that conflicted with the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
Now the Russian leader acknowledges that the United States has a right to withdraw from the treaty, and Bush will have to do it to proceed with his program, the official said.
The meeting will be the fourth held by Bush and Putin. Their relationship was on the upswing before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. That trend accelerated with Russia's cooperation in the U.S. campaign against terrorism, the officials said.
On a sensitive subject, Bush will take up with Putin the Russian technological assistance that the administration is convinced Iran has used in its nuclear weapons program, the official said.
Putin insisted in an American television interview taped Monday in the Kremlin that Russia was not providing dangerous weapons technology to Iran.
But Ephraim Sneh, a former Israeli general now that country's transportation minister, said Wednesday he was certain "the central support for the Iranian nuclear project is provided by Russia."
On the Net: State Department's arms control desk: http://www.state.gov/t/
----
Adviser: Bush to Scrap Some Nukes
By Barry Schweid AP Diplomatic Writer
Thursday, November 8, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A62835-2001Nov8?language=printer
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's national security adviser said Thursday that Bush intends to scrap unneeded U.S. nuclear weapons whatever the outcome of his meetings next week with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The cuts could be as deep as two-thirds, a senior official said.
Condoleezza Rice played down prospects for an accord calling for mutual cutbacks and a green light for Bush's anti-missile defense program. "Not every meeting has to be accompanied like the old summits were with the Soviet Union by arms control agreements," she said.
"This is a normal relationship that's moving forward progressively," Rice said.
It is not a question whether the level of warheads Bush has decided upon is acceptable to the Russians, Rice said.
"His desire to cut offensive nuclear forces comes from his belief, which has now been confirmed by a study by the Joint Chiefs of Staff ... that the number of weapons in the U.S. arsenal exceeds the number of nuclear weapons needed for America's deterrent needs in this particular time," she said.
A senior Bush administration official said the president was willing to agree with Putin to reduce both the U.S. and Russian stockpiles to fewer than 2,000 - a reduction of two-thirds of the current level of 6,000 warheads apiece. For his part, the Russian leader is flexible about Bush's plan for a defense against missile attack, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Russia has suggested a level as low as 1,500.
"We could reach quite quickly mutual agreements," Putin said in an ABC interview Monday at the Kremlin. He also said the Russian position on a missile shield "is quite flexible." But he also cautioned that a settlement "can only be found as a result of very intense negotiations."
A longtime Russia analyst, Dimitri Simes, said he did not think there would be a formal agreement next week.
"There is a good chance that essentially will allow the United States to proceed with whatever the administration wants and is feasible and also provides Russia with some specifics of the nature of offensive cuts," said Simes, president of the Nixon Center, in an interview.
Rice said relations with Russia have advanced to a point that a major arms control agreement is not expected at every summit, as was the case during the Cold War.
On anti-missile defenses, Rice said she would not expect "any particular arrangement to come out of any particular meeting."
Last winter, Putin warned that the entire fabric of arms control could unravel if Bush went ahead with a nationwide anti-missile shield in violation of a 1972 U.S.-Soviet treaty. Putin has since muted his opposition, leading to speculation he could be agreeable to a limited defense not banned by the treaty.
But senior administration officials said this week at the White House that Bush inevitably would have to exercise a right to withdraw from the accord in order to go ahead with its testing program.
"He is not prepared to permit the treaty to get in the way of doing that robust testing," Rice said.
Her admonition that expectations for an agreement were too high is traditional before U.S.-Russian summits, even during the Cold War. But Rice was emphatic about it.
"One should not expect one defining moment," she said.
She said the two leaders would work on a new strategic framework for a number of years.
Bush said Wednesday he was prepared to make a substantial cut in the American arsenal whatever happens in the talks in Washington on Tuesday and at his Texas ranch on Wednesday and Thursday.
"We don't need an arms control agreement to convince us to reduce our nuclear weapons down substantially, and I'm going to do it," Bush said at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian Foreign Minister Ivan Ivanov planned to meet Saturday in New York, on the sidelines of a U.N. General Assembly session, to help prepare for next week's talks, the Russian Mission to the United Nations said.
----
Rice Downplays Hope for Russia Pact
By Barry Schweid AP Diplomatic Writer
Thursday, November 8, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A62186-2001Nov8?language=printer
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's national security adviser, playing down prospects of a new arms control agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Thursday that Bush would move independently to reduce the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal and to clear the way for an anti-missile shield.
It is not a question of whether the level of warheads Bush has decided upon is acceptable to the Russians, Condoleezza Rice said.
"His desire to cut offensive nuclear forces comes from his belief, which has now been confirmed by a study by the Joint Chiefs of Staff ... that the number of weapons in the U.S. arsenal exceeds the number of nuclear weapons needed for America's deterrent needs in this particular time."
A senior Bush administration official said the President was willing to agree with Putin to reduce both the U.S. and Russian stockpiles to fewer than 2,000 - a reduction of two-thirds of the current level of 6,000 warheads apiece. For his part, the Russian leader is flexible about Bush's plan for a defense against missile attack, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Rice told reporters at the White House that relations with Russia have advanced to a point that a major agreement is not expected from every summit, as occurred during the Cold War.
"Not every meeting has to be accompanied by arms-control agreements," she said.
On plans to erect a missile defense system, Rice also said she would not expect "any particular arrangement to come out of any particular meeting."
"One should not expect one defining moment," the White House official said.
She said the two leaders would work on a new strategic framework for a number of years, and "we all have to get out of a particular frame of mind" that the two sides match weapons cutbacks exactly.
Bush said Wednesday he could make a substantial cut in the American arsenal regardless of what happens in the talks in Washington on Tuesday and at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas on Wednesday and Thursday.
"We don't need an arms-control agreement to convince us to reduce our nuclear weapons down substantially, and I'm going to do it," Bush said at a joint news conference with visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The president said he could not reveal the new and lower ceiling before meeting with Putin. Other U.S. officials have said the Bush administration anticipates a range of 1,750 to 2,250 warheads - a deep cut from the current level of about 6,000 warheads on each side.
"I have reached a decision, and I spent time thinking about the issue," Bush said. "The United States will move to reduce our offensive weapons to a level commensurate with being able to keep the peace."
Regarding his quest for the missile defense system, Bush said he was going into the talks with Putin still convinced that a 1972 treaty banning national defenses is outdated.
The war on terrorism underscores the need for a defense, Bush said. If Putin has "interesting suggestions" on how to go ahead despite the treaty, Bush said, he is willing to listen.
The U.S. officials, who held a news briefing on condition of anonymity, said the two leaders were unlikely to impose either equal or precise limits on U.S. and Russian warheads.
They are more inclined to set ranges far below the current totals, possibly with different ranges for the United States and Russia, the officials said.
High-level meetings in Washington and Moscow already have produced substantial progress toward an agreement, they said. Parts of the 1991 Strategic Arms Limitation treaty that set up verification procedures to guard against cheating may be adapted to any new pact.
Putin has shifted his position on Bush's plan for an anti-missile shield, they said. They described his change as a startling turnabout.
Last winter, Putin was predicting the unraveling of arms control accords with the United States if Bush went ahead with tests that conflicted with the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
Now the Russian leader acknowledges that the United States has a right to withdraw from the treaty, and Bush will have to do it to proceed with his program, the official said.
The meeting will be the fourth held by Bush and Putin. Their relationship was on the upswing before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. That trend accelerated with Russia's cooperation in the U.S. campaign against terrorism, the officials said.
On a sensitive subject, Bush will take up with Putin the Russian technological assistance that the administration is convinced Iran has used in its nuclear weapons program, the official said.
Putin insisted in an American television interview taped Monday in the Kremlin that Russia was not providing dangerous weapons technology to Iran.
But Ephraim Sneh, a former Israeli general now that country's transportation minister, said Wednesday he was certain "the central support for the Iranian nuclear project is provided by Russia."
----
Today in Congress
Thursday, November 8, 2001
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59106-2001Nov7?language=printer
SENATE
Meets at 10 a.m.
Committees:
Armed Services -- 9:30 a.m. Nominations of R.L. Brownlee as undersecretary of the Army; Dale Klein as assistant to the secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical & biological defense programs; and Peter Teets as undersecretary of the Air Force. 222 Russell Office Building....
HOUSE
Meets at 10 a.m.
Committees:
Transportation and Infrastructure -- 10 a.m. Water resources & environment subc. Requirements that facilities and community emergency planning officials publicly disclose information about chemical inventories & emergency plans, & the need to keep such information out of the hands of potential terrorists. 2167 RHOB.
Ways and Means -- 9:30 a.m. Oversight subc. Hearing on charitable organizations' distribution of funds after terrorist attacks. 1100 LHOB.
-------- us nuc waste
Nuclear Solutions and Washington Nuclear Sign Contract
Nov. 8 2001
E-WIRE PRESS RELEASE
http://www.ens-news.com/e-wire/Nov01/08Nov0108.html
MERIDIAN, ID, Nuclear Solutions, Inc. (OTCBB:NSOL) and Washington Nuclear Corporation (WNC) have signed a contract under which WNC will provide consulting services and identify market opportunities leading to demonstration, financing, and commercial deployment of NSOL's HYPERCONTM ADS process for transmutation of nuclear materials and generation of electricity.
WNC is an international consulting and information services company. Based in suburban Washington, D.C., the company provides services to all segments of the commercial nuclear power industry and the international political arena and has clients in the United States, Asia, Australia, Canada, and Europe.
"We are excited to have WNC on board as we look to the possibilities for our technology," said Nuclear Solutions President Dr. Paul M. Brown. "We are confident that WNC's international experience in the nuclear arena will position us well."
WNC Director Eric Lindeman added, "We believe the Nuclear Solutions technology holds tremendous promise for the safe handling of nuclear materials-particularly radioactive waste- while at the same time generating electric power."
This press release may be deemed to contain forward-looking statements that could affect the financial condition and results of operations of the company and its subsidiaries. Further information on potential factors that could affect the financial condition, results of operations, and expansion projects of the company are included in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
NOTES TO THE EDITORS:
1. The Nuclear Solutions technology is an electron accelerator-based photodisintegration process that reduces the atomic mass of radioactive materials, thereby rendering them non-radioactive or radioactive with a short half-life. These processes involve accelerator-driven technology and photo-nuclear reactions, incorporating the most recent advances in the photo-nuclear industry.
2. The technology could be developed into new applications for remediation of nuclear waste. Industrially, it would operate at a sub-critical level, so the heat produced by the process could also be used to generate electricity in a safe and environmentally benign manner.
SOURCE: Nuclear Solutions, Inc.
CONTACT: Dr. Paul M. Brown, 208/846-7868/
Web site: www.nuclearsolutions.com/
-------- MILITARY
Coalition Maintenance
New York Times
November 8, 2001
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/08/opinion/08THU2.html
By welcoming French, German, Italian and Turkish troops to the war against terrorism, the United States is shoring up international support for its campaign against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. The addition of these forces, some of which may be involved in combat operations, will render military decision-making more cumbersome. That is an acceptable price for ensuring the diplomatic solidarity needed to sustain an extended and difficult armed campaign.
After barely a month of bombing in Afghanistan, signs of public unease have already appeared in several European countries. Involving European NATO members directly in the conflict will make it harder to portray it as a purely American war.
Germany has agreed to contribute nearly 4,000 soldiers, the first German military units to operate outside Europe since World War II. Italy is offering 1,000 ground troops and an aircraft carrier. France has 2,000 commandos in the region whom it is willing to make available. Poland and the Czech Republic are ready to send military units, and Turkish special forces are already on the way. These European contingents will join the American, British, Canadian and Australian forces already operating in or near Afghanistan. This Saturday at the United Nations, President Bush is planning to exhort more countries to contribute directly to the military effort.
Some American strategists, recalling the restraints placed on NATO targeting in Kosovo by the political concerns of participating governments, would have preferred relying almost entirely on American and British forces in Afghanistan. That approach might prove militarily adequate. Yet if the world came to see this conflict as pitting a narrow set of English-speaking allies against a Muslim Central Asian foe, battlefield successes could be undermined by growing diplomatic isolation. A wider coalition mitigates these dangers, particularly when it includes countries like Turkey, NATO's only Muslim member. There will be some politically sensitive missions in which only American and British forces are likely to participate. That does not require excluding other countries from broader military operations.
Washington also sensibly looks to NATO to supplement food deliveries to Afghanistan, beyond the current system of American air drops. Ideally, food distribution would be left to independent humanitarian organizations, not armies. Current conditions in Afghanistan do not allow this, and six million Afghans near starvation from the effects of more than two decades of warfare urgently need relief as winter approaches.
After the frustrations of Kosovo and the fiasco of Somalia, Washington is understandably wary of waging war by international committee and of entangling military tasks and famine relief. Yet there can be no lasting military victory in Afghanistan without corresponding successes on the diplomatic and humanitarian fronts.
-------- afghanistan
Army unit wages propaganda war
'Psyops' group opens a new front: the Afghan mind, heart
By Greg Jaffe
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
http://www.msnbc.com/news/654592.asp?cp1=1
FORT BRAGG, N.C., Nov. 8 -- How do you explain the World Trade Center, the Sept. 11 terrorist attack and U.S. bombs falling from the sky to millions of Afghans -- many of whom have never seen a city, much less a skyscraper?
WITH THE TRADE towers still smoldering, three members of the Army's psychological-warfare unit gathered here to search for an answer. Each had spent big chunks of his life in Afghanistan. Two were native speakers.
All three, though, were initially dumbfounded.
"We were just trying to find a word for terrorist or terrorism in Dari or Pashto. But there was no such word," says David Champagne, an Army civilian analyst and former Peace Corps worker in Afghanistan who has been a critical player in crafting a campaign.
Says another of his colleagues: "The entire campaign has been a tough nut to crack."
The 4th Psychological Operations (Psyops) group is the only active-duty unit in the U.S. military dedicated to psychological operations, an Orwellian-sounding term for a strategy almost as old as war itself. Using leaflets, loudspeakers and four airborne radio stations, their job is to persuade enemy fighters to quit and to convince civilians that U.S. bombs raining down on their country will result in a better future for their families. In Afghanistan, where the population is spread out, largely illiterate and lacking even basics such as batteries for transistor radios, the unit's job is particularly daunting.
Housed in a complex of squat cinder-block buildings with leaky roofs, rusty window casings and fraying carpet, the group consists of about 35 civilian analysts and some 1,200 Army soldiers. The civilians are some of the most eclectic in the Defense Department. Two-thirds have doctoral degrees in anthropology or history, and a quarter are Peace Corps veterans. The active-duty soldiers are among the Army's brightest, all testing in the top 10 percent on Army intelligence tests.
'SOMEWHAT MISUNDERSTOOD'
"Psyops soldiers are somewhat misunderstood by the rest of the military," says Sgt. Maj. Dana Jumper, the unit's top enlisted officer. "They are much more likely to ask, 'Why, Sergeant Major?' than they are to salute and say, 'Yes, sir.'"
In Afghanistan, their role is critical. Reluctant to commit large numbers of ground troops to the fight, U.S. military planners are counting on Taliban soldiers to defect to the U.S., and on ordinary Afghans to take up arms to back American troops. To help make that happen, the 4th Psyops Group already has dropped more than 16 million leaflets on Afghanistan. The most recent shows a Taliban soldier using a metal rod to beat several women, covered head to toe in their Islamic robes, called burkhas. "Is this the future you want for your women and children?" it asks in both Dari and Pashto, the two most common Afghan languages.
Four EC-130 Commando Solo aircraft, lumbering planes that carry sophisticated broadcasting equipment, have been circling the country for 10 hours a day, beaming radio broadcasts. In the first U.S. commando raids in Afghanistan, psyops soldiers parachuted in with Special Forces troops to broadcast messages over loudspeakers.
Behind virtually every pamphlet and broadcast are three members of the unit, who have met almost every day since the Sept. 11 attack. Dr. Champagne, a civilian analyst with the group, spent three years in a village 100 miles from Kandahar as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching at a coeducational high school before writing his doctoral dissertation on Afghan/Iranian relations. "Afghanistan changed my life," he says. "I went to work for the Army in 1982 because I wanted to help kick the Russians out of Afghanistan," says Dr. Champagne, now middle-aged with a receding hairline and wire-rim spectacles.
His assistant, an Army civilian who favors immaculately tailored pinstripe suits, taught at Kabul University before moving to the U.S. in the 1980s. The third member of the group is a 29-year-old Army sergeant who fled Afghanistan with his parents, both civil servants, just before his 12th birthday. Both are fluent in Dari and Pashto, Afghanistan's main languages, as well as many of its 70 dialects. The college professor and the sergeant asked not to be named out of fear that their lives or their families' lives could be endangered.
"We don't have an intellectual understanding of Afghanistan," the professor says. "Afghanistan is a part of us."
Based on their time spent in the country, the three have often provided technical advice. Because they had been involved in mine and ordnance awareness campaigns in Afghanistan, they realized that humanitarian food rations being dropped by the U.S. were colored the same shade of yellow as cluster bombs and the markers used in mine fields. In the future, the humanitarian rations' packaging will be light blue.
Past psyops campaigns in Kosovo and Somalia frequently quoted the Quran. This time, the three-member team lobbied hard to ensure that none of the radio scripts or leaflets mentioned the Muslim holy book. "It would sort of be like a Christian lecturing a Jew on the Old Testament," the professor says.
Afghanistan's tumultuous history
None of the three team members have set foot in Afghanistan since the mid-1980s. At times they have been haunted by the worry that they have lost touch with their native country. And they have wondered if their message is even getting through to Afghanistan's shellshocked and hungry populace.
'FREE PASSAGE'
History has shown that psyops campaigns have mixed success. In the Gulf War tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers surrendered to U.S. forces clutching "free passage" leaflets, dropped from the sky, promising them food and shelter. The North Vietnamese sapped the spirit of U.S. troops with leaflets that featured antiwar protests.
But psyops efforts were disappointing in Kosovo, where leaflet campaigns did little to drive a wedge between Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and his people. "We tried telling the Serbian people this wasn't about them, it was about stopping Milosevic," says retired Col. Charles Borchini, who led the campaign. "But the minute we started dropping bombs on Belgrade, we had a hard time getting that message through to people. Everyone knew Milosevic was a bum. But he was their bum."
Afghanistan presents plenty of unique problems. Because the illiteracy rate is so high there, the 4th Psyops Group members quickly concluded that any leaflets they produced would have to convey their message through pictures. But explaining the terrorist attacks without any words proved impossible. One early leaflet that the group prepared and then rejected showed a picture of wreckage from the World Trade Center next to wreckage from a building in Kabul.
The intent was to show the damage the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist organization had done in the U.S. and in Afghanistan. But the team members worried that few people in Afghanistan would recognize the World Trade Center. An even greater concern: Those who recognized the photo wouldn't understand the text and would think the U.S. was trying to exact retribution for its loss by destroying Afghanistan's capital.
To explain the Sept. 11 attacks, team members decided they would have to rely on radio. One early radio message that sought to explain the attacks began with an Afghan poem. "Just as the blood stains the apron of the butcher, unjustly shed blood remains on the hands of the murderer," begins the script, broadcast dozens of times from an EC-130 aircraft.
Asked where he found the poem, the professor explains, "It was in my head. It is not as good in English. You should hear it in Farsi. You would love it." The script never mentions skyscrapers, the Pentagon or even New York City. Instead it explains, "Thousands of people were killed in the U.S. on Sept. 11, among them a 2-year-old girl, barely able to stand or dress herself. Did she deserve to die? Was she a thief? She was merely on a trip with her family to visit her grandparents." It goes on to say that she was killed by "deluded fighters that prey upon the unsuspecting and the innocent."
Initially, senior military officers at the U.S. Central Command, who are overseeing the war in Afghanistan, wanted the radio broadcasts to consist of nothing but propaganda explaining why the U.S. was bombing and urging defections. The team from the 4th Psyops Group, however, was convinced that using music, which has been banned by the Taliban, would send a stronger message than words.
When their bosses at Central Command headquarters balked, their group commander intervened. "I told them I could fight that battle for them," says Col. David Treadwell.
Today, about three-quarters of the radio broadcasts consist of Afghan music with the remaining one-quarter devoted to tips for surviving the bombing campaign, basic news and propaganda. "We started with a few personal things," says the 29-year-old sergeant, who mined his own CD and tape collection. One early broadcast included a song by Ustad Awalmir, written in the early days of the Soviet invasion. As a 9-year-old boy in Afghanistan, the Army sergeant remembers, he heard it playing on the radio in his home. "Ustad sings about our national pride, our unity, our history and our monuments," the sergeant says. There is even a reference to the massive Buddha statues the Taliban destroyed.
A second song that has received heavy play was recorded six months ago by an Afghan expatriate in the U.S. Set to the tune of an Afghan lullaby, the song describes how with the onset of winter the children of Afghanistan are feeling the first pangs of hunger. The sergeant, whose voice is included on many broadcasts, often follows the song with a radio script that asks, "Do you enjoy being ruled by the Taliban? Are you proud to live a life of fear? ... The Taliban are not concerned with leaving your families fatherless and your mothers begging in the streets in order to feed their children."
Since Sept. 11, the sergeant, who normally favors Phil Collins ("He's really my absolute favorite") over Afghan pop star Khalid Nasiri, has listened to dozens of compact discs. He has downloaded hundreds more tunes from Internet sites that specialize in Afghan music. Some he picks for their message, others just because they are upbeat. "Sometimes I pick a song because it is good to dance to," he says.
In Afghanistan, even those songs carry a powerful message. "Music gives the Afghans a chance to capture their culture again," says Dr. Champagne. "It gives them hope for the future."
The psyops team also has lost some battles in the information war to headquarters officers in Washington, D.C., and Tampa, Fla., where the U.S. Central Command is based. Senior defense officials wanted them to produce a radio broadcast and a leaflet urging Taliban and al-Qaida fighters to surrender or face certain death. Because any sign of cowardice is so scorned in Afghan culture -- "you cannot tell an Afghan to desert or surrender," says the professor -- the group initially balked.
Asking the Taliban fighters to surrender to Northern Alliance troops, with whom they have been locked in a bitter civil war involving ethnic grudges that go back thousands of years, made even less sense. "We can't give people choices that seem totally unreasonable or impossible," the college professor argued.
----
Opposition claims to advance on Mazar-e-Sharif
USA Today
11/08/2001
http://www.usatoday.com/news/attack/2001/11/08/afghan-attacks.htm
JABAL SARAJ, Afghanistan (AP) -- Afghan opposition forces said Thursday they were advancing steadily toward the key northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif with the help of round-the-clock U.S. bombing. The ruling Taliban, however, said they pushed back several opposition attacks. Both sides said fighting was intense south of Mazar-e-Sharif, which the Taliban seized from the opposition Northern Alliance in 1998. An opposition victory would allow it to open a supply corridor from Uzbekistan, and direct troops toward Taliban strongholds further south.
Also Thursday, witnesses said U.S. jets and at least one B-52 bomber dropped dozens of bombs on Taliban lines at the front north of the capital, Kabul. Opposition spokesman Bismillah Khan said, however, there were no immediate plans to launch an offensive in that area.
Huge plumes of smoke billowed from Taliban positions, which did not fire anti-aircraft guns as they have done on past bombing runs. It was unclear whether the guns had been knocked out or whether the Taliban were saving their ammunition.
Most of the military activity, however, has now shifted to the far north of the country around Mazar-e-Sharif and northeastern Takhar province on the border with Tajikistan.
Pentagon officials reported Wednesday that the opposition Northern Alliance appeared to be making gains south of Mazar-e-Sharif in fluid and chaotic fighting, in which anti-Taliban troops charged tanks and armored personnel carriers on horseback.
Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. special forces troops are with opposition units coordinating airstrikes, which alliance commanders said helped them breach some Taliban defenses south of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Speaking Thursday by satellite telephone, opposition spokesman Ashraf Nadem said his forces had captured another district, Sayyat, southwest of Mazar-e-Sharif.
The Taliban denied losing the district and told the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press that three opposition attacks south of Mazar-e-Sharif had failed.
The Taliban's Bakhtar news agency said the Northern Alliance was still 15 miles south of Mazar-e-Sharif and that opposition claims that they were within four miles were false.
U.S. jets also bombed in eastern Kunar province Wednesday, killing three civilians and injuring six, Bakhtar claimed. An empty school was also flattened, it said.
The reports could not be independently verified. The Pentagon has denied Taliban claims that more than five weeks of bombing have inflicted widespread civilian casualties.
Along the Kabul front, Khan, an opposition commander, said U.S. bombing there overnight had been "very effective" and that two Taliban tanks and an anti-aircraft position were destroyed.
Most front line Taliban installations have been destroyed and Taliban troops were moving around to evade U.S. bombs, Khan said.
Meanwhile, the Afghan Islamic Press also reported that the Taliban have arrested 15 Afghans on suspicion they were spying for the United States. An unidentified Taliban intelligence official told the agency that the suspects included Abdul Manaf, a former Afghan army colonel.
Investigations were underway and any punishment will be carried out according to Islamic Sharia law, the official said. The system does not include such institutionalized forms as arraignment, indictment and other procedures traditional under Western law.
President Bush launched airstrikes against Afghanistan on Oct. 7 after the ruling Taliban militia refused to hand over Osama bin Laden for his alleged role in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was in France Thursday on his first international trip since Sept. 11. Musharraf, who planned to also travel to Britain and the United States, supports the U.S.-led anti-terrorism campaign despite opposition from Muslim groups at home.
---
Afghan opposition claims major advances
USA Today
11/08/2001
By Tim Friend, USA TODAY
http://usatoday.com/news/attack/2001/11/06/attacks.htm
KHOJA BAHAUDDIN, Afghanistan -- Commanders of forces battling the ruling Taliban in northern Afghanistan claimed progress in the ground war Tuesday. They said they had captured three districts near the key city of Mazar-e Sharif. They also claimed that hundreds of Taliban troops had surrendered and that half a dozen Taliban commanders had been captured.
None of the claims by commanders of the Northern Alliance forces could be verified independently. At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wouldn't comment on the reports.
"You know, there are so many reports about this village or that village. I like to let the dust settle and see where it is at the end of some period of time after there has been a pause," he said.
Abdullah, the Northern Alliance's foreign minister, said the reported victories are an "important beginning" for what is likely to be a long and difficult campaign over the next weeks and months in northern Afghanistan.
Anti-Taliban forces appear to be preparing for major ground offensives across a 100-mile swath of front lines stretching from Mazar-e Sharif to Kalakata, about 20 miles from the Northern Alliance's military headquarters here. But Abdullah stressed that an all-out assault cannot be made without more intensive U.S. airstrikes and better coordination between the United States and the alliance.
Abdullah said one example of how coordination could be improved is better communication of the timing and intensity of airstrikes to facilitate follow-up action by rebel ground troops.
Despite more than a week of bombing in this part of northeast Afghanistan, Taliban troops have not retreated from their strongholds. Abdullah said the hard-line Islamic militia's front lines near Kalakata are among the strongest in Afghanistan. He said he came to the military headquarters here to assess the Taliban's stronghold and the rebels' ability to recapture the region.
Hashmattullah Moslih, a military analyst and member of the Northern Alliance, said he met here Monday night with key officials, including alliance President Burhanuddin Rabbani, to discuss military strategies. He said Rabbani echoed Abdullah's desire for more intensive airstrikes and better coordination from the United States.
Moslih said the goal here is to retake the Taloqan district before winter sets in. He said Taloqan is crucial to creating a direct supply pipeline from the front lines in the far north to the capital, Kabul.
Now, supplies to Northern Alliance ground forces near Kabul must be routed far to the east through Afghanistan's highest mountains. Taloqan is near a mountain pass. Control of that city and the pass would make it far easier to move supplies of arms and aid from Tajikistan and Northern Alliance territory in the northeast to troops near Kabul.
Mazar-e Sharif, which is now controlled by Taliban forces, is also an important battleground. The largest airfield in northern Afghanistan is there. Control of that airfield could give U.S. and Northern Alliance forces a key staging point for bringing in troops, equipment and supplies.
Control of the city and roads leading in and out could also encourage neighboring Uzbekistan to open its border at Termiz, allowing easier movement of humanitarian aid and military supplies into Afghanistan from Uzbekistan.
Questions have been raised here about whether the rebel forces are equipped well enough for a sustained battle against Taliban positions on the front lines. But Monday afternoon, 20 truckloads of munitions provided by the Russians were transported across the Tajik border to northern Afghanistan and taken to the front lines near Kalakata, sources said.
The shipments reinforce the likelihood that a ground attack on Kalakata could begin in the next week.
---
US sends in special forces as offensive in north fades
The Scotsman
Chris Stephen In Jabal u Saraj
Thursday, 8th November 2001
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/text_only.cfm?id=121565
UNITED STATES special forces are to go into action on the ground near the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to a senior defence official in Tajikistan, where the units are based.
The move, the first overt combat role for US ground forces, comes amid mounting frustration in Washington about the failure of Northern Alliance troops to make progress.
Tajikistan agreed last weekend to open three bases to the United States, and also to British, Turkish and French special forces. Italy meanwhile became the latest nation to offer troops, with 3,000 men pledged.
Yesterday saw the most intense raids so far by US planes against Taleban units on the Shamali plain north of Kabul. From just before dawn until dusk, the plain echoed to the sounds of US jets and the explosions of bombs. A total of five strikes by B-52s were made.
US planes dropped tens of thousands of propaganda leaflets urging ordinary people to rise up against the Taleban. The leaflets showed a photograph of one of the Taleban's notorious "religious police" beating a crowd of women, with the slogan: "Do you want in the future such a bad life for your wife and children?"
On the back of the leaflet, playing on Afghanistan's extreme xenophobia, was a picture of an Arab member of the Taleban forces, with the slogan "Get these foreigners out of Afghanistan" superimposed.
"Don't worry, they don't mean you," said a soldier on the Northern Alliance front line yesterday. "We love the Americans."
They certainly love the US bombs. Yesterday's strikes made use of specially hardened "bunker buster" bombs, designed to delay their explosion while they pass through the topsoil to detonate in underground bunker complexes. But despite a big increase in US bombing raids, with 120 daily sorties, there is no sign of the Northern Alliance making a breakthrough against the Taleban.
For several days Northern Alliance officials have been assuring news agencies that a series of towns and villages have fallen to their troops. The truth is that the Alliance force nine miles from Mazar has not budged an inch in two weeks, despite US air strikes directed by forward air controllers.
The Alliance has failed to find a way to ship in artillery and shells to smash through the front line, and is still fighting skirmishes with Taleban units in the rear. At least one unit which had defected to the Alliance has now defected back again and there is no sign yet of the inspired generalship needed to bring off a victory either In Mazar or on the Kabul front.
And, like the Serbs in Kosovo two years ago, the Taleban troops have withstood the hammering they are getting from the air without cracking. Yesterday they opened fire on Russian army troops guarding the Afghan border with Tajikistan at Kupletin.
Nevertheless, the coalition keeps growing. Italy is to supply paratroopers and support troops, plus the aircraft carrier Garibaldi, with eight jump jets and four helicopters aboard and one or two escort frigates capable of carrying helicopters.
Britain's envoy to Afghanistan, retired diplomat Paul Bergne, was spotted by The Scotsman in Northern Alliance territory north of Kabul, meeting senior Afghan officials.
While Washington's special forces fly in and out of the forward airfield of Golbahar in choppers and a light plane, Mr Bergne has retired to a Northern Alliance guest house buried in the mountains of the Hindu Kush.
Steeped in the history of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan where he was ambassador in the mid-90s, Mr Bergne, 63 - who declined to speak to this correspondent - speaks fluent Tajik and Russian, along with passable Uzbek. Now an Oxford don, he is regarded as unorthodox, a skill that will come in handy as he gets to grips with the various warlords who make up the Northern Alliance.
----
BATTLEFIELDS
Cave Redoubts Are Formidable, Rebel Leader Says
November 8, 2001
New York Times
By DAVID ROHDE
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/08/international/asia/08TUNN.html?searchpv=nytToday
PARAKH, Afghanistan, Nov. 7 -- Talking about the tunnels and caves that line the walls of the Panjshir Valley, Gen. Abdul Hafiz of the Northern Alliance sounds like a proud father. "They are resistant to bomb attack," he said today. "No bomb or missile can destroy these caves."
He referred to four man-made caves on the military depot he runs here and to dozens of others that line the valley, the mountain stronghold of the anti-Taliban forces. Built to store ammunition, the caves here are similar to those in southern Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden and the Taliban leadership are believed to be hiding.
While the general went out of his way to say that American bombing had been effective in destroying, by his estimate, 40 percent of the Taliban's ammunition stock, he was less sanguine about caves and tunnels.
There is only one way to be sure they are eliminated, the general said: "The best solution is ground troops."
The cave in back of General Hafiz's command post is nearly undetectable from a distance. From just 50 feet away, the entrance, a small 8- feet by six-feet doorway in a wall of solid granite, is barely visible. A nondescript mud brick wall hides it from view on the ground. An outcropping of rock above the door hides it from the air.
Caves and tunnels are a military tradition in Afghanistan. The ones here were built by mujahedeen forces fighting the Soviets in the 1980's.
Ahmad Shah Massoud, the former leader of the alliance, expanded them after alliance forces retreated here in 1996.
General Hafiz said that the mujahedeen built an extensive network of tunnels around the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in the 1980's and that the Taliban have likely expanded them. All that was needed, he said, was heavy equipment, explosives and cash. "It's easy for the Taliban," he said. "They can bring in equipment from Pakistan and Osama bin Laden has many dollars."
The United States has used 5,000- pound bunker-busting bombs, for instance, and other precision-guided ordnance. But even with advanced satellite intelligence, it is difficult to pinpoint cave locations and have bombs and missiles strike them at exactly the right angle.
The cave entrance, protected by a padlocked gate with iron bars, is slightly larger than the front door of an American home.
A rack holding dozens of small cases of ammunition for Kalashnikov assault rifles stood outside. Inside, long, narrow wooden boxes holding tank ammunition and rockets lay on the floor.
General Hafiz, whose immaculate office is filled with empty mortar ammunition boxes turned into flower pots, said that the cave was 50 yards deep. He refused to open the gate or describe the location of the three other caves, saying he would be arrested by his superiors for revealing military secrets.
A Taliban jet last tried to bomb the cave three months ago, but missed, he said. The bomb hit the ridge high above it. General Hafiz ordered his soldiers to build a mud brick wall in front of the entrance to protect the ammunition from bomb shrapnel. In other raids, Taliban forces have bombed the top of the mountain in an effort to get the cave to collapse. Those failed too, he said, because the tunnel is "very deep" and strong.
He said electrical and water lines could easily be installed in a cave to make it habitable.
----
Taleban retreat could take war across border
FROM OLIVER AUGUST IN BEIJING
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 08 2001
UK Times
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2001380018-2001385494,00.html
EMBATTLED Taleban forces in northern Afghanistan are trying to cross into Tajikistan, threatening to spread armed conflict in Central Asia.
Russian guards along the Tajik border have been involved in intense fighting with retreating Taleban units after recent US bombing raids.
A group of armed men approached one border point at midnight on Sunday and opened fire in an attempt to cross into Tajikistan. They retreated 30 minutes later when Russian guards called in reinforcements, but an eventual mass exodus could endanger US bases in the region.
Taleban commanders are said to have held regular talks with their Tajik counterparts over possible escape routes. The remote Afghan-Tajik border is practically impossible to seal, even with almost 20,000 Russian soldiers deployed.
Taleban forces in northern Afghanistan are led by Juma Namangani, a notorious Central Asian guerrilla, who maintains a fiercely defended base on Tajik territory and enjoys considerable support in parts of the country. Namangani, an Uzbek national and fundamentalist Muslim, fought for five years in the mid-90s Tajik civil war. He is Central Asia's most wanted man after Osama bin Laden having carried out several failed assassination attempts against President Karimov of Uzbekistan.
Namangani commands about 10,000 non-Afghan fighters, including Tajiks, Pakistanis and Chechens, near the city of Taloqan in northern Afghanistan. He is said to be part of the Taleban high command, but his troops have recently been cut off from supply routes, making defeat and a hasty exodus more likely.
The departure of thousands of Taleban troops from Afghanistan to Tajikistan would signal a momentary victory for the Northern Alliance but could destabilise neighbouring countries with large Muslim populations.
Encouraged by the influx of Taleban fighters, extremists in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are likely to oppose American use of local air bases. It is also feared that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), led by Namangani and listed by the White House as a terror group, would trigger violent clashes and undermine the safety of US servicemen in the region.
The BBC Monitoring Service reported from local sources this week: "Representatives of the IMU are holding talks with Tajik field commanders on the possibility of returning to their detachments in Tajikistan. It looks as if the darkest predictions of the Central Asian special services on how the situation could develop are coming true."
Tajikistan is fast emerging as one of the hottest military prizes in the region. The Northern Alliance has long received supplies from the former Soviet republic. Now, Taleban forces are keen to use the country as a possible escape route.
Simultaneously, the US is seeking to base fighter aircraft at three Tajik air bases. Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, visited the country last week as Washington seemed to lean towards the eventual deployment of ground troops in Afghanistan.
Land-based airstrikes would be easier than using carrier-based warplanes and long-range bombers, the Pentagon said this week.
-------- biological weapons
Decades-old smallpox vaccinations may still protect
USA Today
11/08/2001
By Rita Rubin, USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/news/attack/2001/11/08/smallpox-usat.htm
While many Americans worry that bioterrorists will strike with smallpox before the USA has enough vaccine, studies suggest that people immunized 50 years ago or more still have some protection. Researchers also say mass immunization probably wouldn't be necessary because smallpox is not as contagious as other bugs such as measles or the flu. "It's not going to be the Armageddon that some would have you believe," says smallpox expert James LeDuc of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In some countries, smallpox was eradicated after less than two-thirds of people were immunized, LeDuc says.
When it comes to smallpox vaccine, the immune system appears to have a long memory. "Even if you're over 50 years old and saw the vaccine when you were a child, the risk of dying from infection is much less than if you've never seen the vaccine," LeDuc says.
The United States stopped giving smallpox vaccinations in 1972, but the government wants to stockpile doses in case of an attack.
LeDuc says the CDC this month will rewrite a section of its Web site to better explain the issue of residual immunity. Currently, the Web site states that smallpox vaccine protects for only three to five years.
A 1913 report about a 1902-03 outbreak in Liverpool, England, provides the earliest clues about the vaccine's legs. The study analyzed the severity of disease in 1,163 people.
There were 55 cases among people 50 and older who had been vaccinated in their childhood. Only four were severe, and only three died, says Frank Fenner, co-author of Smallpox and Its Eradication and researcher at the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Canberra, Australia. By comparison, Fenner says, the disease killed six of the 12 victims 50 and older who had never been vaccinated.
In 1996, scientists from the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester reported that immune cells from healthy volunteers recognized the vaccinia virus -- used to immunize against smallpox -- as a foe. Yet up to 50 years had passed since the volunteers' smallpox vaccinations.
It's not clear how the immune response seen in the lab would translate into real life, says study co-author Francis Ennis. While immunity persists for decades, Ennis says, it most likely does wane over time.
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FBI: Anthrax did not come from known U.S. lab
USA Today
11/06/2001
By Laura Parker and Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
http://usatoday.com/news/attack/2001/11/07/anthrax.htm
WASHINGTON -- None of the anthrax mailed to government and media offices recently was stolen or misplaced from a registered American lab, a top FBI official told a Senate panel Tuesday.
That assessment by James Caruso, deputy assistant director of the FBI, was the most definitive public statement yet about the source of the anthrax that has killed four people, infected 14 others and forced the closure of key government buildings here.
But Caruso cautioned against concluding that if the anthrax wasn't missing or stolen, then it must have been privately cultivated in an unknown location somewhere in the USA.
"There is insufficient information" to support that, Caruso said of an investigation that has involved 7,000 federal agents and so far not identified any suspects.
Caruso was questioned sharply by senators who clearly were impatient with the lack of results so far.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the panel, said she was "very surprised that the FBI has not made more progress."
But Caruso said that many people had worked in US labs over the past several decades who could have learned about anthrax or had access to it.
"It's a very big population and universe to look at," he said.
The most perplexing part of the investigation is tracking how a New York City hospital worker was exposed. Kathy Nguyen, who died of inhalation anthrax on Oct. 21, did not fit the profile of previous victims, who were associated either with the media or the mail system. On Tuesday, investigators were using Nguyen's subway fare card to try to trace her steps around the city during the 2 weeks before her death.
As the investigation grinds on, the frenzy that accompanied the beginning weeks of the attacks has largely subsided:
- The Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, where Nguyen worked, reopened 6 days after it was closed.
- Post offices in Princeton and West Trenton, N.J., where traces of anthrax were found, reopened Tuesday after they were cleaned.
- No new spores were found at the government buildings being tested, although a small number of spores were detected on a diplomatic mailbag sent from Washington to the U.S. Consulate in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.
- No new cases of infections were reported. A New Jersey postal worker hospitalized for inhalation anthrax was discharged from a hospital after a 3-week stay.
Meanwhile, the Postal Service announced that it has hired a second private contractor to speed up efforts to decontaminate mail that was quarantined after the anthrax attacks. Postal officials warned that they will ask Congress to finance the entire cost of their agency's response to the anthrax attacks, now estimated to be several billion dollars.
"We strongly believe these costs should not be borne by our customers through increased rates," said Robert Rider, chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors.
The Postal Service's revenue was down $300 million from Sept. 5 to Oct. 8, spokesman Azeezaly Jaffer said. Now the agency faces the expensive new chore of sanitizing the mail before it is delivered.
The Postal Service says it spent $2.4 million to hire a Chicago firm, Ion Beam Applications, to sterilize mail that had been quarantined when Washington's Brentwood mail-processing center was closed Oct. 21.
Two postal workers there died of inhalation anthrax. The company will supplement the work of a Lima, Ohio, company that has been cleansing the mail.
Jaffer said the backlog of mail quarantined after the closure of the Brentwood facility, which handles nearly all of the capital city's mail, will last 2 or 3 more weeks. He said the delivery of cleansed mail from that facility should begin within 2 days.
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THE DIAGNOSTIC TESTS
New Tools Emerging to Speed Anthrax Detection
New York Times
November 8, 2001
By KENNETH CHANG
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/08/national/08DETE.html?searchpv=nytToday
An ideal test for anthrax -- fast, sensitive, infallible and cheap -- does not yet exist. But drug companies say they have developed new tools that will greatly speed detection and diagnosis.
The Roche Diagnostics Corporation of Indianapolis announced on Monday that it would begin shipping test kits to laboratories this week for use in buildings and the mail, and that it would seek government approval for use of the kits to diagnose anthrax in humans. A competitor, Cepheid of Sunnyvale, Calif., said it had been offering a similar product for a year and a half.
Because early treatment of anthrax greatly increases the chances of survival, prompt detection of spores and diagnostic tests that pick up the earliest signs of the disease would blunt its lethal potential.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., developed the Roche test, which multiplies any genetic material in a sample and then looks for snippets of DNA that are unique to Bacillus anthracis, the germ that causes anthrax.
"We had been looking at anthrax in the past, but it was definitely on the back burner," said Dr. Franklin R. Cockerill III, who led the team.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Cockerill said, "we jumped right into the fire here, and all our research time was devoted to the ramping up of this test."
Dr. Cockerill said the test, which gives results in about 35 minutes, as compared with several hours for most current genetic tests, was highly accurate and had not generated any false positives. It can also detect hard anthrax spores, not just the germinated bacteria.
The results of the Roche test, like other quick anthrax tests, need to be verified by biochemical tests on bacterial cultures, which are considered to be the most reliable but take a couple of days.
Initially, the Roche test is to be used to determine the presence of anthrax in a letter or a building. Roche said it would provide the kits free of charge until the test received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for analyzing blood and tissue samples.
Cepheid, meanwhile, seemed unimpressed by the attention given the Roche announcement. Thomas Gutshall, the company's chief executive, called it "a nice press release," but added, "It doesn't really bring anything unusual."
Cepheid has sold a similar quick genetic test for anthrax since May 2000, and other companies will soon offer similar products.
"A lot of us have the same chemistry," Mr. Gutshall said.
Cepheid is also looking for F.D.A. approval for the test to be used as a diagnostic tool for disease.
Another test, which looks for signs of the body's counteroffensive against the attacking bacteria, is to be tested at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
The hospital will examine up to 500 people who may have been exposed to anthrax recently. Researchers will inject an antibody designed to hook up to certain infection-fighting white blood cells. This study will probably be less a clinical study than a trial run for testing in a possible future outbreak, since many of the participants are already taking antibiotics that would have killed off the infections.
Dennis Earle, director of clinical affairs at Palatin Technologies Inc. of Princeton, N.J., the maker of the test, said the antibody "attaches to white cells that are circulating and also white cells that are already at the site of the infection." The antibodies are labeled with radioactive atoms, which shoot out easily detectable gamma rays as they decay.
If anthrax bacteria are multiplying, the white blood cells should start clustering around the infection days before outward symptoms appear.
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THE TREATMENTS
3 Smaller Companies Say Their Vaccines Are Cheaper
New York Times
November 8, 2001
By KEITH BRADSHER
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/08/business/08VACC.html
WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 -- Three small vaccine manufacturers that lost out in the first round of bidding for a government contract for smallpox vaccines complained today that they could supply the vaccines for a price that large drug makers still in the running say they cannot meet.
The dispute over vaccine pricing reflects a split in the pharmaceutical industry. Some small biological research companies that have done considerable work on smallpox vaccines over the last two years say that they have the viral seed stock to produce the vaccines and could do so quickly and cheaply by renting space at larger laboratories.
Two of the three finalists in the bidding for the vaccine contract, Merck (news/quote) and GlaxoSmithKline (news/quote ), have done little work in recent decades on smallpox vaccines, but have their own big laboratories. The third finalist is a partnership between Acambis (news/quote), a small British biological research company, and Baxter International (news/quote), a large pharmaceutical company with many labs.
Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, told reporters on Tuesday evening that the three finalists' bids were "much higher than I had anticipated." He added that he had just warned the Office of Management and Budget that the contract could cost more than the $509 million he had previously predicted.
Mr. Thompson said this evening that the government was not just looking for the lowest bidder, but for the company or companies that could provide the safest, most effective vaccine earliest. "As far as the price is going, I hope it's going to go down," he said.
Louis Potash, the director of vaccine technologies at Novavax (news/quote), one of seven companies that sought the vaccine contract and were eliminated in a first round of bidding a week ago, said his company could have met the government's target price of about $2 a dose for 250 million doses. "Our price was around $2 a dose, and when I look at this, I'm sick," he said.
An official at Dynport, a company developing a smallpox vaccine under an Army contract, was equally critical. "We've already produced some, so we know how to do it, we can do it under the budget, under the $509 million," said the official, who insisted on anonymity.
The big drug companies "are going to have to spend a couple months figuring out what to do," the official said, adding that Dynport had just been told by the Army to hand over to Merck the viral seed stock it had developed.
Bavarian Nordic, based in Copenhagen, said that it could have provided a different, European kind of smallpox vaccine for $2 or less a dose. But Peter Wulff, the company's chief executive, said that he thought it was "reasonable that the U.S. would like to take one of the larger pharmaceutical companies."
The controversy over the price coincides with a partisan rift in Congress over drug makers' liability for the smallpox vaccines. The vaccines had a high rate of side effects before their civilian use ended in 1972. Doctors predict that inoculating every American now would kill hundreds of people and leave another 1,000 or more with brain damage. Drug makers want complete immunity from liability, with any lawsuits directed at the federal government instead. Representative Billy Tauzin, the Louisiana Republican who is the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, endorsed the drug makers' position in an interview today. Shifting any and all liability to the federal government is the fastest and simplest appr