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Weapons of Mass Destruction
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Report Cites U.S. Budget Increase for WMD Security
Thursday, March 11, 2010The Obama administration's $3.1 billion fiscal 2011 budget request for worldwide WMD security activities would provide a "significant boost" for efforts in the nuclear and biological sectors, the Partnership ...
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Legislation Seeks to Employ Former WMD Scientists
Thursday, March 11, 2010U.S. Representative Howard Berman (D-Calif.) yesterday announced a new bill aimed partly at employing former weapons of mass destruction scientists in civilian enterprises (see GSN, Feb. 4). ...
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Homeland Security Must Pursue Cargo Screening Mandate, Senator Says
Tuesday, March 9, 2010U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) on Friday urged the Homeland Security Department to renew its efforts to complete in the next two years the goal of scanning all cargo that is shipped by sea to the ...
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British Foreign Secretary Defends Logic For Invading Iraq
Monday, March 8, 2010Another top-level British official today defended the United Kingdom's rationale for participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the London Guardian reported (see GSN, March 5). ...
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Screening Of All U.S.-Bound Air Cargo Still Years Away
Friday, March 5, 2010 WASHINGTON -- It could take the Homeland Security Department another two years to ensure that all cargo is screened for weapons of mass destruction before being flown into the United States on passenger airplanes, much longer than originally estimated, a senior department official told lawmakers Thursday (see GSN, March 19, 2009). A 2007 law that Democrats wrote as soon as they took over Congress required the Transportation Security Administration to ensure that all cargo aboard passenger flights is screened for weapons of mass destruction by August 2010. The deadline applies to flights originating inside the United States and those from other countries. But the deadline for incoming international flights will be missed, Gale Rossides, TSA's acting director, told the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. -
British PM Defends Iraq Invasion
Friday, March 5, 2010 British Prime Minister Gordon Brown today said his country was right to participate in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Reuters reported (see GSN, Feb 19). “I believe this is the gravest decision of all, to make a decision to go to war. It was the right decision made for the right reasons,” said Brown, who served as the United Kingdom's top finance official for much of the conflict. One hundred seventy-nine British troops were killed in the war before the United Kingdom pulled its military forces out of Iraq in 2009. Speaking before an official panel examining the United Kingdom's involvement in the Iraq war, Brown emphasized late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's lack of cooperation with U.N. investigators. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's testimony had primarily addressed the threat that Iraq's alleged WMD activities were believed to pose (Michael Holden, Reuters, March 5). -
House Panel Plans Authorization Bill To Address Homeland Security R&D
Thursday, March 4, 2010WASHINGTON -- The Homeland Security Department does not have an effective way to measure the success of research and development projects, as most efforts never blossom into proven new technologies, according ...
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Bush Did Not Intentionally Mislead U.S. on Iraqi WMD, Ex-Adviser Says
Wednesday, March 3, 2010Former President George W. Bush did not intentionally provide misinformation to the U.S. populace on prewar Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction, ex-presidential adviser Karl Rove wrote in a ...
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Terrorists Could Use Drones, Expert Says
Wednesday, March 3, 2010No fewer than 40 nations are seeking to develop or acquire unmanned aerial vehicles, which raises the specter that the proliferation of the technology could enable extremists to obtain the drone aircraft and ...
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Israeli Citizens Begin Receiving New Gas Masks
Tuesday, March 2, 2010Israel has started allocating new gas masks to its citizens in an effort to combat the threat of future chemical or biological warfare, Agence France-Presse reported Sunday (see GSN, Jan. 6). ...
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Iraq Pressed to Ratify IAEA Additional Protocol
Monday, March 1, 2010The U.N. Security Council said Friday it could eliminate sanctions on Iraqi nuclear energy work and other programs if Baghdad ratified the Additional Protocol to its nuclear inspections agreement with the ...
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Senators Oppose Coast Guard Budget Cut
Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010WASHINGTON -- Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and ranking member Susan Collins (R-Maine) yesterday urged the Obama administration to reverse a decision to ...
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Nunn-Lugar Program Deactivates Three Warheads
Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010The U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction program last month rendered inoperable three strategic nuclear warheads from the former Soviet Union, Senator Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) announced yesterday (see GSN, Jan. ...
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Australian Report Calls WMD Attack "Feasible"
Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010 Terrorists have the potential to use a weapon of mass destruction in an attack on Australia, the government in Canberra said in a report released yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 27, 2008). The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States "highlighted how creative and ruthless terrorist attack planning can be. The potential for terrorist use of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) weapons is of particular concern," according to the report, Securing Australia, Protecting Our Community. "We know that a small number of terrorists seek CBRN weapon capabilities and would use them if they could. While the risk is small, the consequences of any such attack would be devastating." It adds: "The acquisition of a nuclear weapon is currently beyond terrorist capability though a crude, low-yield nuclear device is possible. An attack with a radiological dirty bomb, biological materials or industrial chemicals is feasible and could have a significant impact even if it only succeeded in generating widespread panic. But obtaining, producing, handling and deploying such weapons is difficult. Domestic and international efforts to secure CBRN materials are crucial to limit the risk of a CBRN attack." -
U.N. Inspection Violations by Iraq Caused War, British PM Says
Friday, Feb. 19, 2010British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he supported his nation's involvement in the Iraq war as a result of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's noncompliance with U.N. weapons inspectors and not because ...