-------- depleted uranium
Troops' cancer timebomb fear
BY GREG SWIFT December 16, 1999
http://www.lineone.net/express/99/12/16/news/n0820cancer-d.html
TERRIFYING cancer death rates will affect British troops exposed to radiation poisoning during the Gulf War, an expert warned the Government yesterday.
Professor Hari Sharma, a radiologist who researched illnesses among ex-soldiers, told MPs that as many as 12 per cent of the veterans could die from the disease.
Despite the Ministry of Defence's insistence that British servicemen were not exposed to potentially lethal amounts of depleted uranium, Professor Sharma said he had irrefutable evidence that veterans inhaled the radioactive substance.
He told a Commons defence select committee: "The authorities keep telling us it is pointless to test for DU because it is not there - but it is.
"I have done a lot of soul-searching before making this statement so that I did not mislead anyone. There is no cause to say my results are wrong. I am convinced DU is present."
Despite the overwhelming evidence, the MoD has persistently refused to test Gulf veterans for DU exposure.
Last month The Express revealed that the ministry had lied when it claimed to have tested between one and five people and that the results were negative.
The truth was that only one person, civilian Paul Connolly, was tested - and he was put through a Government-approved procedure which could not detect DU.
Thirty British veterans have paid for their own tests. They have been found to be still excreting high levels of DU nine years after the end of the war.
As a result the MoD has offered new testing to those 30 ex-servicemen. But yesterday the ministry was subjected to stinging attacks from veterans' representatives and eminent scientists - including one of the Government's own advisers - concerning its handling of Gulf veterans.
Professor Malcolm Hooper, who is on the independent panel advising the MoD, said: "There has been a policy of denial that beggars belief.
"I am concerned about the spin being put on things which means there is denial after denial about DU. We need the truth and we need the facts. We cannot have the constant denial that these things never happened."
The health care provided for sick veterans was described as "woefully inadequate".
The Government's medical assessment programme, which monitors their health, was labelled ineffective and was said to have lost the trust of former soldiers. Dr Doug Rokke, who suffered massive DU poisoning when he headed the US Army's clearing-up team at the end of the war, also criticised the lack of care for the veterans.
Now one of the world's leading experts on radiation hazards, Dr Rokke said: "We have seen absolute failure to provide care.
"Individuals are still being denied medical care. They have asked for help but it has still not been provided. There has been complete failure of the system."
Shaun Rusling, head of the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association, told the committee his members have cut off contact with the MoD because they no longer had faith that it was interested in the truth.
He said: "When a serviceman goes to war he has a right to expect that should he be injured, he will receive proper care."
Prof. Sharma said that even at the lower levels of DU excretion, 24 in 1,000 vets exposed to depleted uranium and found to still have it in their bodies years later, would die from cancer.
More than 53,000 British personnel served in the Gulf but the number exposed to DU would only be revealed by extensive testing.
The Allies fired 700,000 DU-tipped rounds during the Gulf War - the first time the ammunition had been used in combat.
It was used so extensively because its extraordinary hardness gives it powerful armour-piercing capabilities.
Upon impact, however, DU dust particles were baked onto the sand which was then inhaled by the troops.The subsequent radiation poisoning leaves them at risk of developing cancer and even passing on genetic defects to their children.
---
Documentary on depleted uranium- Info Request
From: Roger Trilling [mailto:rst@primenet.com] S
ent: Sunday, December 12, 1999 8:15 AM
Greetings! My name is Roger Trilling, and I am co-producing, with some colleagues in Paris, a documentary on depleted uranium which will air on the French "Canal+" channel in mid-January. Obviously we have been monitoring the situations in Bosnia/Serbia/Kosovo, where armaments made with depleted uranium have been used by the US and, to a lesser extent, UK military.
What's already been in the French and English-language media I think we're fairly familiar with, but getting information directly from these areas has been, because of my ignorance of the Serbian language and media, as well as government sensitivity to environmental degradation, more difficult. In asking after this subject with a Serbian doctor friend of mine, she suggested that I post a message to this discussion group, so that's what I'm doing now.
If anyone reading this might know of any information, whether scientific, geographic, anecdotal, etc., on the deposition, use, or effects of depleted uranium in these territories, or especially about any research being done on either the weapons or their victims, I would greatly appreciate it if they could get in touch with me. My e-mail is
rst@primenet.com
I can assure everyone that this program will not be an apologia or whitewash, that we are trying as hard as we can to get all the information available, and as such responses would be welcomed. Thank you in advance for your consideration, and wishing the best to all,
Roger Trilling.
---
Excerpt from notice in Federal Register Dec. 16, 1999, p. 70294-70295:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=1999_register&docid=fr16de99-115
"The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of a license amendment to Materials License No. SUB-1435 issued to the U.S. Army (licensee), to authorize decommissioning of its Jefferson Proving Ground (JPG) site in Madison, Indiana.
From 1941 to 1994, the licensee conducted ordnance testing on the JPG site, and fired more than 24 million rounds of conventional explosive. From 1984 to 1994, the licensee conducted accuracy testing of depleted uranium (DU) tank penetrator rounds at the site. An NRC license was issued to authorize the U.S. Army to use, store, and perform testing of DU munitions at JPG. The DU penetrator rounds vary in size but can be generally described as rods comprised of a DU titanium alloy with a diameter of approximately 2.5 centimeters (cm) (1 inch) and a length as much as 61 cm (2 feet). The DU munitions testing contaminated approximately 5.1 x 10<SUP>6</SUP> square meters (m<SUP>2</SUP>) (1260 acres) of the site with an estimated 7 x 10<SUP>4</SUP> kilograms (1.5 x 10<SUP>5</SUP> pounds) of DU. In accordance with the Defense Authorization Amendments and Base Realignment and Closure Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-526), the licensee was required to close the JPG base on September 30, 1995. Currently, the licensed material is kept onsite in the restricted area known as the ``Depleted Uranium Impact Area.'' This area under Materials License No. SUB-1435 is located north of the firing line, and consists of approximately 12 x 10<SUP>6</SUP> m<SUP>2</SUP> (3,000 acres)."
---
A conference on DU weapons will be held on January 21-23, 2000, at the Evangelische Akademie in Muelheim/Ruhr in Germany. (the place is located between Duisburg and Essen)
The conference will be mainly held in German language.
Presentations: Roland Wolff: What are DU weapons? Where and how have they been used? Peter Diehl: Depleted uranium - a waste of the nuclear industry Goetz Neudeck: Aspects of military technology Henk v.d.Keur: DU arms as a New Weapon: Military-Strategic Aspects Xanthe Hall: DU weapons: consequences for man and environment Horst-Siegwarth Günther: Civilian victims - health effects in Iraq Horst Kuni: Alpha radiation: radiation biology and risk assessment Henk v.d.Keur: DU as a New Poison: Scientific Consequences Renate Reupke (inquired): DU weapons: aspects of international law
Further information from:
Evangelische Akademie Muelheim an der Ruhr Uhlenhorstweg 29 45479 Muelheim an der Ruhr Germany
Tel. +49-208-59906-0 Fax: +49-208-59906-600 email: hans-juergen.fischbeck@ev-akademie-muelheim.de
-----------
Greenpeace asks Argentina to axe nuclear plant
ARGENTINA: December 16, 1999 http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=5107
BUENOS AIRES - The environmental group Greenpeace lobbied Argentina's new centre-left Alliance government yesterday to drop from its 2000 budget plans to build a $132 million nuclear reactor prototype.
"Greenpeace considers this measure to be irrational from an environmental, energy and economic point of view," it said in a statement. "The government hasn't spent a cent on 'clean' energy and insists on subsidising 'dirty' energy sources."
Argentina has two nuclear power plants, Embalse in Cordoba province and Atucha-1 in Buenos Aires province and a third under construction in Buenos Aires province called Atucha-2.
Article 67 of the 2000 budget being debated in Congress late Wednesday earmarks $132 million for the Carem Project for the construction of a nuclear reactor prototype.
Nineteen lower house deputies fully endorsed Greenpeace's plea to scrap the project and 15 others partially backed the request, according to Greenpeace. There are 257 deputies in the lower house of Argentina's Congress.
The World Wildlife Fund has also singled out "clean" energy as an issue it wants to promote in South America.
---------- australia
Protesters arrested in anti-uranium rally
ABC News Thu, 16 Dec 1999 16:08 AEDT
http://www.abc.net.au/news/state/qld/archive/metqld-16dec1999-13.htm
Two protesters have been taken into custody during a rowdy anti-uranium mining rally in central Brisbane.
The rally is part of a national day of action against the Westpac Bank which protesters say is lending mining company ERA $200 million to build a uranium processing mill at the Jabiluka site.
Up to four people handcuffed themselves inside Westpac's Brisbane headquarters.
-----------britain
Britain, Russia Say Missiles Safe From Y2K Bug
Reuters December 16, 1999 Filed at 11:37 a.m. ET By Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-yk-missiles.html
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1009-200-1498858.html?tag=st
LONDON (Reuters) - The Russian and British defense ministries are confident there is no risk of any accident involving their military nuclear weapons systems as a result of the millennium bug, Britain said Thursday.
``Detailed exchanges of information on computer systems associated with nuclear weapons took place at meetings in Moscow and in London last week,'' Britain's defense ministry said in a statement.
``Both sides agree that there is no risk of an accidental missile launch as a result of the year 2000 date change or any other computer failure,'' it said.
The two ministries, which were due to keep up contacts over the millennium period, also exchanged assurances on their conventional forces.
``They both have comprehensive programs in place and agree that as a result the risk from Y2K is negligible,'' the statement aid.
The commander of Russia's nuclear forces said last week the country's huge arsenal of atomic weapons was immune to the Y2K computer problem and guaranteed there would be no accidental millennium missile launches.
The United States and Russia have been cooperating closely on millennium nuclear safety even though bilateral relations have reached a post-Cold War low in recent months.
Russian and U.S. experts are due to sit side by side at a base in Colorado over the New Year period to ensure no nuclear mishaps arise from the millennium bug, which may affect computers around the world if they mistake 2000 for 1900.
----------- china
China Ambassador Assails Critics
Yahoo News 04:57 PM ET 12/16/99 By TOM RAUM Associated Press Writer
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2562658407-ba7
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) _ China's U.S. ambassador said Thursday that his country's entry into the World Trade Organization would benefit both nations.
Opponents of the move ``don't know what they're talking about,'' said Li Zhaoxing, speaking at the University of Maryland. He denied that China is a threat to the United States and ridiculed allegations of Chinese nuclear espionage.
But he applauded the agreement with the United States on China's WTO entry and predicted increasing economic cooperation between the two countries despite their lingering differences.
``This is good news for China, for America and for the whole world,'' Li said.
He said ``very useful discussions'' had come from the recent WTO meeting in Seattle, ``despite the tear gas'' and inability to agree on an agenda.
But Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., a top Senate advocate of closer ties with China, suggested the unproductive Seattle meeting was souring support in Congress for giving China permanent normal trade status.
Baucus, who was recently in Beijing, said he urged Chinese leaders to do more to win congressional support for next spring's vote on its trade status.
``I urged them to be positive rather than negative. Honey attracts more than vinegar,'' Baucus said. He said many Chinese leaders ``think sticks work better than carrots.''
As a goodwill gesture, China should move quickly to fulfill the commitment it made in the WTO deal to import more U.S. wheat and other commodities, Baucus said.
As part of the U.S.-China agreement, Congress must vote on legislation next year that would grant the permanent trade status, previously called ``most-favored-nation'' status.
The United States routinely extends this status of lowest-possible tariffs to nearly all of its trading partners, but China's must be renewed each year.
This year, in addition to the usual opposition from conservative critics of China, the measure is being opposed by organized labor, which sees the WTO-China deal as a threat to the jobs of U.S. workers.
Li said the road to improved U.S.-Chinese relations is being made harder by certain members of Congress who are outspoken in their criticism _ and who portray China as a military threat.
During the Cold War, ``They were happy to wake every morning and see the enemy still there,'' Li said. But since the collapse of the Soviet empire, ``they want to find a new enemy and they point their finger at China.''
That is a poor reason to oppose improved trade ties, he said.
``Those people who are spreading the fallacy of a China threat don't know what they're talking about,'' he said.
Li also criticized what he said was an American ``double standard of duplicity'' in condemning the Chinese government's crackdown on the banned Chinese meditation group Falun Gong.
``American people don't like cults,'' either, he said.
Li compared the group's tactics to the sometimes violent protests at the WTO meeting in Seattle.
``I had the adventure of smelling the smell of tear gas,'' Li said. He said the demonstrators infringed on his own personal liberties, delaying meetings and requiring him to walk instead of using a car.
Likewise, Falon Gong demonstrators have ``on many occasions disturbed the social order in China,'' he said.
``This is not a religion. These people have violated the law,'' he said.
---
Presenting credentials
Washington Times 12/16/99
http://www.washtimes.com/world/embassy-19991216.htm
Joseph Prueher went from gunboat diplomacy to striped-suit diplomacy yesterday, when the retired admiral presented his credentials as the new U.S. ambassador to China.
He handed his formal diplomatic documents to Chinese President Jiang Zemin during a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People.
Mr. Prueher is the former commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, who ordered U.S. warships to the Taiwan Strait in 1996 when China tried to intimidate Taiwan with war games and missile tests.
Now he must try to help mend U.S.-Chinese relations, following U.S. charges of the Chinese theft of nuclear secrets and the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia during the war over Kosovo.
Elsewhere yesterday, Carol Moseley-Braun watched bare-chested Maori tribesmen put on a traditional war dance and then presented her diplomatic credentials as the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand.
She was welcomed by Governor General Sir Michael Hardie-Boys, representing the head of state, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.
Mrs. Moseley-Braun said, "I am delighted to be here and look forward to the opportunity to play a role in strengthening the strong and friendly relations between us."
----------- india
India declares atomic energy plants Y2K compliant
NEW DELHI, Dec 16 (Reuters) - via Global Deactivation of Radiation
http://www.gdr.org/environment.html
India on Thursday reported the computer systems and electronic hardware in its atomic energy sector were Y2K (Year 2000) compliant after mock tests were successfully carried out.
``The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has reported Y2K compliance, successfully tested its systems and put in place a contingency plan,'' P.V. Jayakrishnan, the senior official in the Ministry of Information Technology, told a news conference.
He declined to elaborate on the contingency plan.
India's Nuclear Power Corporation, which has a power generating capacity of 1,840 megawatts, is administered by the DAE, which also oversees five atomic energy research establishments.
A senior government official said most computing and electronic hardware in the nuclear power stations comprised digital modules mounted on older analog systems.
``None of the stations are new, and have analog systems. In cases where some digitisation has taken place, the (digital) modules have been replaced for Y2K compliance,'' said the official who did want to be identified.
The government also said India's defence and space systems were among 11 sectors compliant with the Y2K or Millennium bug, which threatens computers which recognise only the last two figures of the year and may therefore be confused when 1999 gives way to 2000.
Other compliant sectors include power, civil aviation, telecom, banking, insurance, railways, petroleum and natural gas, and ports.
09:59 12-16-99
3 Cents Long-distance environment savings
To Subscribe to GDR's free email news reports,
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-----------
World Briefings ASIA
INDIA: PAKISTAN'S MISSILES
New York Times December 16, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/99/12/16/news/world/world-briefing.html
India's foreign minister, Jaswant Singh, told Parliament that Pakistan was receiving Chinese and North Korean help for its missile program. Mr. Singh said that he believed North Korea was helping Pakistan with technology, fuel and long-range missiles, and that Pakistan had also received M-11 solid fuel missiles from China, along with technology and components. (Agence France-Presse)
----------- iraq
Barring of Uranium Inspectors Raises New Concern Over Iraq
By BARBARA CROSSETTE New York Times December 16, 1999
Related Articles
France Calls for More Talks Before U.N. Vote on Iraq (Dec. 15, 1999)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/121599iraq-un.html
Security Council Backs Off Again on Vote on Inspections for Iraq (Dec. 14, 1999)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/121499iraq-un.html
U.S. Is Trying to Put Teeth in Inspections of Iraq Arms (Dec. 11, 1999)
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/121199iraq-un.html
UNITED NATIONS -- Iraq's refusal to admit inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency who are required to check the country's uranium stockpile once a year raises questions about what President Saddam Hussein may be trying to hide and what the Security Council will do about the rebuff, arms control experts said on Wednesday.
A deadline passed on Wednesday for the agency, which had planned to send a team of four inspectors and a technical-support expert to Iraq this week, exactly a year after the agency's last inspectors left before American and British air strikes. Because Iraq did not issue visas to the team, the trip will be canceled, and Iraq will be in violation of the 1968 treaty to halt the spread of nuclear weapons. The treaty requires annual checks on materials that could be transformed into bomb-grade elements.
The inspection of Iraqi uranium stockpiles is unrelated to broader arms inspections in Iraq that are a condition of lifting economic sanctions imposed with the 1991 Persian Gulf war. Those are the subject of a Security Council resolution now stalled by a French request for more discussion by foreign ministers of major industrial nations meeting in Berlin later this week.
David Kyd, spokesman for the atomic energy agency, said on Wednesday that the agency's director general, Mohammed el-Baradei of Egypt, is expected to decide on a course of action by Thursday. He had informed both the council and Secretary General Kofi Annan of his intention to conduct an annual check in Iraq.
Iraq's history of secret nuclear research and work on nuclear weapons "is something that has always been preying on the minds of the inspectors," said Paul L. Leventhal, president of the independent Nuclear Control Institute in Washington.
According to the atomic energy agency, Iraq has 1.8 tons of low-enriched uranium and 13 tons of natural uranium that it could use to create bomb-grade uranium if it had a hidden centrifuge, which no one so far is sure that Iraq possesses.
"The agency has no way of determining now whether this material is still where it is supposed to be," Leventhal said. He estimates Iraq could make four or more bombs with its uranium, if it had all other parts.
Richard Butler, the former head of the United Nations Special Commission, or UNSCOM, which had been responsible for monitoring Iraq's biological, chemical and missile systems in cooperation with the atomic agency, said on Wednesday that beyond the question of what Iraq may have been doing with the uranium, there is the question of whether it intends to withdraw from the treaty.
"If this is a firm refusal to allow inspections, Iraq's action raises most serious concern about what its intentions now are with respect to its adherence to the nuclear nonproliferation treaty," Butler said.
---
UN Vote May Lead to Iraq Inspection
By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press Writer Yahoo News 08:09 PM ET 12/16/99
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2562661062-8c4
UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ For the third time this week, the Security Council scheduled a vote on a new U.N. Iraq policy that could restart weapons inspections, but it was unclear whether French concerns would delay Friday's vote.
Britain and the United States have pressed for a vote, after eight months of negotiations. Britain currently holds the council presidency and determines its agenda.
The vote was scheduled for Monday, but was postponed to try to address Russian and Chinese concerns. Voting was delayed again Tuesday because of French concerns.
France said Wednesday it wanted key ministers attending a meeting in Berlin this week to clarify certain points in the resolution so it could be more easily implemented.
The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and Russia _ all permanent Security Council members _ are attending the G-8 meeting in Berlin, along with fellow ministers from Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada.
The meeting started Thursday, but U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright isn't arriving until Friday, and it was not known whether the four ministers planned to meet.
France's U.N. Ambassador Alain Dejammet said Wednesday the Berlin meeting provided an opportunity to get all 15 council members behind the resolution to send a united message to Iraq.
The resolution would resume U.N. weapons inspections, which stopped a year ago, and offer Iraq the possibility of having sanctions suspended if it cooperates with the weapons inspectors.
Iraq claims it has already disarmed, and demands that sanctions imposed after its 1990 invasion of Kuwait be lifted _ not suspended _ in exchange for allowing inspectors back in the country.
The Russians and Chinese want sanctions suspended soon after Iraq allows inspectors to return, and would not require Baghdad to complete specific disarmament tasks. The United States and Britain want Iraqi answers to questions about its disarmament, and they want a longer waiting period before sanctions could be suspended.
The head of the U.N. humanitarian program in Iraq said the Security Council should separate Iraq's humanitarian needs from its disarmament. Sanctions, he said, had reduced the country's 22 million people to dire conditions.
``The situation is so serious that very special attention has to be paid to the civilian side of the discussion as distinct from the disarmament discussion,'' Hans von Sponeck said in an interview with The Associated Press Television News in Baghdad.
Washington and London protested when Von Sponeck made a similar comment last year.
---
Iraq Studies U.N. Inspection Letter
The Associated Press Thursday, Dec. 16, 1999; 6:09 p.m. EST
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991216/aponline180904_000.htm
UNITED NATIONS -- Iraq is studying a letter from the International Atomic Energy Agency asking that U.N. nuclear experts be allowed to perform an annual inspection of the country's uranium stockpile, Iraq's U.N. ambassador said Thursday.
"The Iraqi side received the letter a few days ago and we are studying it," said Ambassador Saeed Hasan. "We didn't refuse it."
The energy agency had planned to send a team to Iraq this week to perform the annual inspection, as required under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but never received a reply so it postponed the trip, spokesman David Kyd said in Vienna, where the agency is headquartered.
He said Wednesday was the deadline for the annual survey to have been conducted.
But Hasan said that under agency procedures, the uranium stockpile should be monitored "in a period of 12 to 14 months - so we still have two months."
Since the Iraqi government did not answer the first letter requesting visas and other assistance for U.N. inspectors, Kyd said a second letter was sent Thursday reminding the Iraqis of their obligations under the non-proliferation treaty.
"It is imperative that we conduct this investigation as soon as possible," Kyd said. "Otherwise, we may have to refer the matter to our board of governors."
The inspection of Iraq's uranium stockpiles is unrelated to the inspections of Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological programs under U.N. Security Council resolutions approved after the 1991 Gulf War.
The council has demanded Iraqi disarmament as a condition for lifting economic sanctions imposed on Baghdad after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which led to war the following year.
Iraq is believed to have 13 tons of natural uranium and 1.8 tons of low-enriched uranium which could be used to manufacture nuclear weapons.
---
French Stalling on Iraq
New York Times December 16, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/99/12/16/editorial/16thu3.html
Negotiations have dragged on for months on a United Nations Security Council resolution to send an international inspection team back to Iraq, while Saddam Hussein takes advantage of each delay. This week, as the council prepared to vote, France balked at the plan, asking for more time to see if new language could be crafted that would move Russia and China from abstention to support. The French tactic is mischievous and dangerous. The Security Council can and should act immediately and get inspectors back into Iraq.
The pending resolution has been watered down already, but it has acceptable provisions establishing a new inspection commission to replace the one Iraq barred last December. The new monitoring group would not only re-establish inspections but also would set up a new system of electronic sensors and checks on stocks to ensure that Iraq is not building biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. Passage of the resolution would also clear the way for re-entry of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency. If Iraq carries out its disarmament tasks, the Security Council can ease sanctions, while monitoring the uses of oil export revenues.
Russia and China, which have long looked after Iraq's interests at the council, were prepared to abstain on the new resolution, allowing it to pass. That is why France's last-minute delaying tactic, apparently dictated by President Jacques Chirac, is dismaying. French disarmament experts have been vigilant in identifying Iraqi abuses, but Mr. Chirac is sensitive to Iraq's threat to cut off commercial ties with France. The French president wants the foreign ministers of the Western democracies to discuss the measure in Berlin later this week.
Since the resolution is the product of painstaking negotiations, there is no reason to think that acceptable new provisions can be added that are favorable to Russia and China. Further delays risk unraveling the consensus already backing the measure. The composition of the Security Council changes next month, and the resolution would have to be redrafted to win approval of the new members.
France ought to stop temporizing and get behind a resolution allowing for resumption of a tough monitoring system in Iraq. Any further delay gives Mr. Hussein new opportunities to pose a threat to his neighbors.
---
Iraq Fails To Respond on U.N. Visas
New York Times December 16, 1999 Filed at 11:58 a.m. EST By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-UN-Iraq-Nuclear.html
VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Iraq has not responded to a request for visas for U.N. nuclear experts who must perform a required annual inspection of the country's uranium stockpiles, a U.N. official said today.
The International Atomic Energy Agency had planned to send a team to Iraq this week to perform the yearly inspection, which is required under the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Wednesday was the deadline for the annual survey to have been conducted, but IAEA spokesman David Kyd said the Iraqi government did not answer a letter requesting visas and other assistance so the visit had to be postponed.
Kyd said a second letter was sent to the Iraqis today reminding them of their obligations under the treaty, which is aimed at stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.
``It is imperative that we conduct this investigation as soon as possible,'' Kyd said. ``Otherwise, we may have to refer the matter to our board of governors.''
The inspection of Iraq's uranium stockpiles is unrelated to the arms inspections that were required as a condition for lifting economic sanctions imposed on Baghdad after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which led to the Persian Gulf War the following year.
Those inspections were halted a year ago after Iraq claimed it had already disarmed. President Saddam Hussein's government demanded that the sanctions be lifted in exchange for allowing inspectors back in the country.
Iraq is believed to have 13 tons of natural uranium and 1.8 tons of low-enriched uranium which could be used to manufacture nuclear weapons.
----------- japan
MOX fuel use postponed / BNFL admits to data falsification
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 1999 18:28:26 +0900 Citizens' Nuclear Information Center
http://www.jca.ax.apc.org/cnic/
British Nuclear Fuel plc (BNFL) admitted that 3 lots of MOX fuel with falsified quality control data were included in the 8 MOX fuel assemblies that were recently shipped to Japan for Takahama 4 (Fukui Prefecture), and KEPCO (Kansai Electric Power Co.) has reported to Fukui prefecture that it has given up on the use of all 8 assemblies.
Citizens' Nuclear Information Center 1-58-15-3F, Higashi-nakano, Nakano-ku,Tokyo, Japan Phone: +81-3-5330-9520 Fax: +81-3-5330-9530
cnic-jp@po.iijnet.or.jp
-----------
Police raid company responsible for Japanese nuclear disaster
ABC News Dec. 16, 1999
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/weekly/newsnat-16dec1999-103.htm
More than 100 Japanese police have raided the offices of the owner of the uranium plant which caused the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
National television showed dozens of dark-suited investigators emerging from the headquarters of Sumitomo Metal in Tokyo carrying cardboard boxes full of confiscated documents.
Another 40 officers searched the firm's technology centre near the scene of the accident in Tokaimura, seeking evidence related to the nuclear leak.
A police spokesman says Sumitomo Metal is suspected of professional negligence and of violating a law regulating nuclear power plant operations.
On September 30, three workers at the uranium processing plant triggered a critical reaction that exposed at least 69 people to radiation.
---
Police Raid Japanese Nuclear Firm
WORLD In Brief rom News Services ASIA
Washington Post Friday, December 17, 1999; Page A31
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/17/103l-121799-idx.html
TOKYO--Police raided the headquarters of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. as part of a criminal investigation into the cause of Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident.
Three workers were severely injured Sept. 30 when they set off an uncontrolled nuclear reaction at a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant operated by JCO Co., which is owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining.
An investigation found that the workers at the plant in Tokaimura, 70 miles northeast of Tokyo, violated safety procedures by mixing uranium in buckets to get the job done quickly. JCO executives could face criminal charges of professional negligence.
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Japan Investigates Nuclear Accident
Associated Press December 16, 1999 Filed at 11:38 a.m. EST http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Japan-Nuclear-Investigation.html
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2562654215-fde
TOKYO (AP) -- Police entered the headquarters of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Thursday as part of a criminal investigation into the cause of Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident.
Some 110 police officers raided the company's headquarters in central Tokyo to gather records related to the Sept. 30 accident, police spokesman Kenji Tanimura said.
Another 40 investigators are searching the company's technology center in the state of Ibaraki, he said.
Three workers were severely injured when they set off an uncontrolled atomic reaction at a nuclear-fuel reprocessing plant operated by JCO Co., which is owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining.
An investigation found that the workers at the plant in Tokaimura, 70 miles northeast of Tokyo, violated safety procedures by mixing uranium in buckets to get the job done quickly.
The resulting reaction continued for almost a day, sending the three workers to the hospital and exposing 93 other people to radiation. Thousands of people were forced indoors or evacuated.
JCO executives could face criminal charges of professional negligence.
---
Japan To Hold Talks With N. Korea
New York Times December 16, 1999 Filed at 6:55 a.m. EST By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Japan-NKorea.html
TOKYO (AP) -- Japan and North Korea will resume talks on normalizing diplomatic relations for the first time in two years next week, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said today.
The countries' Red Cross Societies will meet in Beijing on Sunday and Monday, and government officials from the two sides will hold talks at the same site on Monday and Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement.
Japan announced earlier this week that it would lift its freeze on food aid to North Korea, reflecting a recovery in ties damaged when the communist state fired a missile over Japan in August 1998.
A Foreign Ministry official speaking on condition of anonymity said the upcoming talks were aimed at setting an agenda for subsequent negotiations.
The Red Cross talks will include discussion of humanitarian issues, such as Japanese food aid to the famine-stricken nation, said Yoshiki Noguchi, an official of the Japanese Red Cross Society.
Talks on normalizing ties between Tokyo and Pyongyang began in January 1991, but collapsed after eight rounds in November 1992 over allegations that North Korean agents had kidnapped Japanese and taken them to the North. Pyongyang denies those charges.
Tokyo and Pyongyang agreed in August 1998 to resume preparatory talks, which were held in August 1997, but Tokyo froze the initiative after North Korea tested the missile.
Japan has diplomatic relations with South Korea.
Koreshige Anami, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian Bureau, will lead the Japanese delegation, while the North Korean side will be led by O Ui Rok, a director general of North Korean's Foreign Ministry
----------- korea
Pact signed for North Korean reactors
December 16, 1999, in the San Jose Mercury News BY CHOE SANG-HUN Associated Press
http://www7.mercurycenter.com/premium/world/docs/nuke16.htm
SEOUL, South Korea -- A U.S.-led consortium signed a $4.6 billion deal Wednesday to build two nuclear reactors in North Korea, a reward to Pyongyang for its promise to freeze and eventually dismantle its suspected nuclear weapons program.
The contract was the final phase of preparations to build the U.S.-designed reactors in Kumho, a rural village in North Korea's northeast.
Improving climate
``Today's event reflects the improving political climate surrounding the Korean Peninsula,'' said Desaix Anderson, the consortium's executive director, after signing the contract in Seoul with Choi Byung Soo, the president of the South's state utility company, Korea Electric Power Corp.
The South Korean company will be the main builder of the reactors and other key facilities for the power plants. It has been doing ground-leveling and other preparatory work since 1997, but the main work has been delayed because of funding and other problems.
The consortium's three main members -- the United States, Japan and South Korea -- recently agreed on details of the funding.
South Korea will assume 70 percent of the cost, or $3.2 billion, with Japan providing $1 billion, the United States $115 million and the European Union $80 million. The balance has yet to be filled.
The funding will be made through the consortium, called the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization.
Under a 1994 accord, the consortium members promised to build the two reactors -- each with a rated capacity of 1,000 megawatts.
The light-water reactors will replace North Korea's Soviet-designed graphite-moderated reactors, which experts say produce greater amounts of weapons-grade plutonium.
Opening in 2007
U.S. experts say that before freezing its nuclear program, North Korea was suspected of having extracted enough plutonium to make one or two atomic bombs. The North claims its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
At a normal pace of construction, the first reactor will be built by 2007, four years behind schedule. The second reactor will be completed a year later. Under the accord, North Korea is also supposed to receive an annual shipment of 500,000 tons of fuel oil until the first reactor is built.
The delay -- caused by funding problems and international concern over North Korea's long-range missile development -- could complicate future negotiations on delivery schedule, performance, safety and North Korean repayment.
Japan welcomed the signing of the contract but urged North Korea to clear up lingering suspicions about nuclear weapons development by accepting the demands by the International Atomic Energy Agency to account for its past nuclear activity.
---
Consortium Signs North Korea Nuclear Deal
Washington Post Thursday, December 16, 1999; Page A30 Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/16/255l-121699-idx.html
http://www7.mercurycenter.com/premium/world/docs/nuke16.htm
SEOUL, Dec. 15-A U.S.-led international consortium signed a $4.6 billion contract today to build two nuclear reactors in North Korea, part of a 1994 deal under which the communist country froze its suspected nuclear weapons program. The contract was the final phase of preparations to build the U.S.-designed reactors in Kumho, a rural village in northeastern North Korea.
"Today's event reflects the improving political climate surrounding the Korean Peninsula," said Desaix Anderson, the consortium's executive director, after signing the contract here with Choi Byung Soo, the president of South Korea's state utility company, Korea Electric Power Corp.
The South Korean firm will be the main builder of the reactors and other facilities for the power plants. It has been leveling ground and making other site preparations since 1997, but the main work has been delayed because of funding delays and other problems.
The consortium's three main members--the United States, Japan and South Korea--have recently agreed on funding details. South Korea will assume 70 percent of the cost, or $3.2 billion, with Japan providing $1 billion, the United States $115 million and the European Union $80 million. The balance has yet to be apportioned. The funding will be made through the consortium, called the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization.
Under the 1994 accord, the consortium members promised to build the two light-water reactors, each with a rated capacity of 1,000 megawatts. The reactors will replace North Korea's Soviet-designed graphite-moderated reactors, which experts say produce weapons-grade plutonium. U.S. experts said that before freezing its nuclear program, North Korea was suspected of having extracted enough plutonium to make one or two atomic bombs. The North says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
At a normal pace of construction, the first new reactor would be built by 2007, four years behind schedule. The second reactor would be completed a year later. Under the accord, North Korea is also supposed to receive an annual shipment of 500,000 tons of fuel oil until the first reactor is operational.
The delay--caused by the funding problems and international concern over North Korea's long-range missile development--could complicate future negotiations between the consortium and North Korea on delivery schedules, performance, safety and repayment. "This is an enormously complicated and challenging project," Anderson said.
Negotiations with North Korea on the nuclear reactors began after it threatened to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1993. As part of the deal, North Korea retracted that threat.
---
N. Korea's Y2K Preparation a Myster
December 16, 1999 Filed at 3:07 a.m. EST y By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-Y2K-NKorea.html
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- The world is often at a loss about what goes on in reclusive, militarized North Korea. How the communist country is preparing for the millennium bug is no exception.
The prevailing school of thought: North Korea isn't ready for Y2K glitches and will suffer damage, but is so low-tech that there won't be major disruptions.
That's a relief to South Korean military officials who say it's very unlikely that a weapons system in the heavily armed North will accidentally swing into action. The two countries have been at odds since they fought a war a half-century ago.
But some in South Korea remain disturbed about their northern neighbor's Y2K-preparedness.
``We know so little about what's going on there. How can we not be worried, knowing that one accident, such as a missile firing, could lead to a war?'' said Baek San-hum, a shipping company executive.
Earlier this year, the U.S.-led U.N. military command in South Korea proposed that experts from both Koreas get together to discuss Y2K problems that could affect the North Korean military.
North Korea dismissed the offer, saying it was slander aimed at denigrating its armed forces. Pyongyang has spent lavishly on its 1.1-million member military despite the famine and floods of recent years that forced it to appeal for outside food aid.
In a November report, South Korea's defense ministry said the chance of an inadvertent missile launch in the North was minimal, partly because Pyongyang's military hardware is outdated.
``There is little possibility that North Korea will fire a missile by accident because of the Y2K problem,'' a ministry official said on customary condition of anonymity. A Pentagon official, who also did not reveal his name, said human error would have to be a factor.
Most sophisticated weapons in North Korea, such as Scud missiles, were imported from the former Soviet Union or, like the Nodong and Taepodong missiles, were based on Soviet technology and built locally.
The South Korean report cited a recent letter from the Russian government to Seoul which says Soviet weapons in North Korea's arsenal do not have Y2K problems because most are not computerized.
``Based on the letter, we assume that North Korea's weapons system mostly depends on manual operation, not computers,'' the report says.
The millennium bug stems from programming in older software that expresses only the last two digits of a year. Uncorrected systems cannot distinguish between 2000 and 1900 and might suffer complications after Dec. 31.
North Korea's civilian computer technology is believed to be outdated because of a lack of imports, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is more susceptible to Y2K failures.
South Korea says the North can annually produce 30,000 personal computers and has held annual computer exhibitions since 1990. It runs several computer engineering schools and institutions, including one with 800 researchers that is developing Korean word processors and other software.
International Monitoring, a British technology consultant, said North Korea was ``moderately prepared'' for Y2K. South Korea, which is far more dependent on computers, was said to be well prepared.
---
NORTH KOREA: A NUCLEAR DEAL
World Briefings ASIA New York Times December 16, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/99/12/16/news/world/world-briefing.html
A consortium led by the United States signed a $4.6 billion deal to build two nuclear reactors in North Korea, a reward for Pyongyang's promise to freeze and eventually dismantle its nuclear program, which the West suspects of trying to develop nuclear weapons. South Korea will assume 70 percent of the cost, or $3.2 billion, with Japan providing $1 billion, the United States $115 million and the European Union $80 million. The balance has yet to be filled. The funding will be made through the consortium, the Korean Peninsula Energy Organization. (AP)
---
North Korea to get 2 nuclear reactors
Seattle Post Intelligencer Thursday, December 16, 1999 By SANG-HUN CHOE THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.seattlep-i.com/national/nkor161.shtml
http://www.spokane.net/news-story-body.asp?Date=121699&ID=s719915&cat=
SEOUL, South Korea -- A U.S.-led consortium signed a $4.6 billion deal yesterday to build two nuclear reactors in North Korea, a reward for the communist nation's promise to freeze and eventually dismantle its suspected nuclear weapons program.
The contract was the final phase of preparations to build the U.S.-designed reactors in Kumho, a rural village in North Korea's northeast.
"Today's event reflects the improving political climate surrounding the Korean Peninsula," said Desaix Anderson, the consortium's executive director, after signing the contract in Seoul with Choi Byung-soo, the president of the South's state utility company, Korea Electric Power Corp.
The South Korean firm will be the main builder of the reactors and other key facilities for the power plants. It has been doing site preparation and other tasks since 1997 but the main work has been delayed because of funding and other problems.
The consortium's three main members -- the United States, Japan and South Korea -- recently agreed on details of the funding.
South Korea will assume 70 percent of the cost, or $3.2 billion, with Japan providing $1 billion, the United States $115 million and the European Union $80 million. The balance has yet to be filled.
The funding will be made through the consortium, called the Korean Peninsula Energy Organization.
Under a 1994 accord, the consortium members promised to build the two reactors -- each with a rated capacity of 1,000 megawatts.
The light-water reactors will replace North Korea's Soviet-designed graphite-moderated reactors, which experts say produce greater amounts of weapons-grade plutonium.
U.S. experts say that before freezing its nuclear program, North Korea was suspected of having extracted enough plutonium to make one or two bombs. The North claims its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.
At a normal pace of construction, the first reactor will be built by 2007, four years behind schedule. The second reactor will be completed a year later. Under the accord, North Korea also is supposed to receive an annual shipment of 500,000 tons of fuel oil until the first reactor is built.
The delay -- caused by funding problems and international concern over North Korea's long-range missile development -- could complicate future negotiations on delivery schedule, performance, safety and North Korean repayment.
---
Japan, N.Korea to Hold Talks in Beijing Next Week
Reuters December 16, 1999 Filed at 3:45 a.m. ET http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-korea-j.html
TOKYO (Reuters) - Historic foes Japan and North Korea will hold talks in Beijing early next week in a step toward establishing diplomatic relations, Japan's top government spokesman on Thursday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Mikio Aoki said the Japanese and North Korean foreign ministries would hold two days of director-level ``preliminary'' talks in Beijing from Monday.
On Sunday, Red Cross organizations of the two countries will kick off two days of talks in Beijing to discuss ``humanitarian issues'' between the two countries, Aoki said.
The director-level meeting is widely seen as paving the way for Tokyo and Pyongyang to restart full-scale talks for the first time in seven years on normalizing diplomatic ties.
Japan said on Tuesday it would lift all remaining sanctions imposed against North Korea last year after the reclusive communist state test-fired a long-range missile over Japanese airspace.
Tokyo halted food aid, suspended charter flights and broke off talks on establishing diplomatic relations with North Korea after Pyongyang launched the missile over Japan in August 1998.
But Japan said the lifting of the punitive measures did not mean Tokyo would immediately resume food aid to the famine-hit Stalinist state.
Resumption of food aid would depend on progress in the preliminary talks, Japanese officials said.
The lifting of the sanctions and meeting in Beijing followed a rare joint statement issued earlier this month by the ruling parties of Japan and North Korea, urging the resumption of talks on establishing diplomatic relations.
Japan normalized relations with capitalist South Korea in 1965, but has kept its distance from the communist North.
The two countries began normalization talks in early 1991, but they were suspended in November 1992 after Japan raised the issue of a Japanese woman who Tokyo believes was kidnapped and murdered by North Korean agents.
Analysts say a number of thorny bilateral issues stand in the way of normal relations, including Japanese allegations that North Korean spies abducted at least 10 Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s.
North Korea, which has angrily denied the abduction allegations, recently warned Japan not to raise the issue again if Tokyo wanted to strengthen bilateral ties.
Nevertheless, Aoki said this week that Japanese negotiators would discuss the issue during the talks in Beijing.
---
Japan To Hold Talks With N. Korea
Yahoo News 06:55 AM ET 12/16/99
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2562650406-b7d
TOKYO (AP) _ Japan and North Korea will resume talks on normalizing diplomatic relations for the first time in two years next week, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said today.
The countries' Red Cross Societies will meet in Beijing on Sunday and Monday, and government officials from the two sides will hold talks at the same site on Monday and Tuesday, the ministry said in a statement.
Japan announced earlier this week that it would lift its freeze on food aid to North Korea, reflecting a recovery in ties damaged when the communist state fired a missile over Japan in August 1998.
A Foreign Ministry official speaking on condition of anonymity said the upcoming talks were aimed at setting an agenda for subsequent negotiations.
The Red Cross talks will include discussion of humanitarian issues, such as Japanese food aid to the famine-stricken nation, said Yoshiki Noguchi, an official of the Japanese Red Cross Society.
Talks on normalizing ties between Tokyo and Pyongyang began in January 1991, but collapsed after eight rounds in November 1992 over allegations that North Korean agents had kidnapped Japanese and taken them to the North. Pyongyang denies those charges.
Tokyo and Pyongyang agreed in August 1998 to resume preparatory talks, which were held in August 1997, but Tokyo froze the initiative after North Korea tested the missile.
Japan has diplomatic relations with South Korea.
Koreshige Anami, director general of the Foreign Ministry's Asian Bureau, will lead the Japanese delegation, while the North Korean side will be led by O Ui Rok, a director general of North Korean's Foreign Ministry.
---
Koreas Use Sports To Help Relations
Associated Press December 16, 1999 Filed at 1:28 p.m. EST
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/s/AP-Korean-Sports-Diplomacy.html
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- On Christmas Eve, a North Korean basketball team, including 7-foot-9 Ri Myung-hoon, will visit Seoul for a game of hoops with their South Korean neighbors -- the latest attempt to use sports to stoke goodwill between the longtime rivals.
The game, which follows a September match-up in the communist North, will be the last in a decade of sports exchanges that have yielded mixed results at best. Nearly 50 years after fighting a war, the two heavily armed Koreas remain extremely leery of each another.
``Distrust between the two sides is too wide to be bridged through one or two goodwill games,'' said Lee Su-mok, a 38-year-old high school teacher.
Witness the fuss surrounding the South's recent offer to let the North stage a couple of matches in the 2002 soccer World Cup, which South Korea is hosting with Japan.
No thanks, said North Korea, citing political tension on the divided Korean peninsula. Sepp Blatter, president of FIFA, the international soccer federation, said he would support the idea if the two sides agreed.
Sports diplomacy between Seoul and Pyongyang began with a flourish in 1990, just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, a source of aid for North Korea since the end of World War II.
At that time, the Koreas let their national soccer teams travel to each other's capitals to play goodwill games. That led to the formation of two inter-Korea soccer and table tennis teams for international competition in 1991.
In March 1991, a unified Korean team won one gold, one silver and two bronze medals in the World Table Tennis Championships in Japan.
In the mid-90s, however, the politics of the world's last Cold War conflict took over. Tensions soared over Pyongyang's suspected nuclear weapons program, and sports was out. Then North Korea secluded itself from the rest of the world to observe a three-year mourning period for the death of leader Kim Il Sung in 1994.
Now, nudged by South Korea, the North is opening up more to the outside world. That is partly because it has to -- years of famine, bad weather and economic mismanagement has forced the government to seek outside food aid.
As the North's stance has softened, sports exchanges have increased. In August, South Koreans went to Pyongyang for a series of friendly soccer matches. And plans are underway for a car rally next year from the South to the North. Barred from staging a cross-border rally, organizers plan to transport cars to the North aboard ferry boats.
On Dec. 23 and 24, men's and women's basketball teams from the two Koreas will play in Seoul. The South Koreans are players from Hyundai, a major conglomerate trying to expand business in North Korea.
The North Korean team will include the world's tallest known basketball player, Ri, who has drawn interest from NBA teams.
Sports can also be the source of conflict, however.
In 1988, South Korea played host to the Summer Olympics in a major political triumph that gave it an international stage and drew athletes from North Korea's traditional allies, China and the Soviet Union.
North Korea, which had rejected Seoul's proposal to co-host some of the competitions, allegedly tried to sabotage the games in 1987 by exploding a South Korean airliner in flight with 115 people on board.
A captured North Korean agent said she planted a bomb on the plane to disrupt the Seoul Olympics
-----------nato
NATO Meets on European Plan for Strike Force
New York Times December 16, 1999 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.nytimes.com/99/12/16/news/world/nato-eurpoe-force.html
BRUSSELS, Dec. 15 -- The United States and other non-European Union members of NATO sought assurances today that the European Union's decision to develop its own military arm will not eventually split the alliance.
At their year-end meeting, the NATO foreign ministers also condemned Russia for its military campaign in Chechnya.
And the European NATO members pressed the United States for more information on its plans for a missile defense system to guard against attacks by rogue states.
Much of the meeting, however, focused on the decision the 15 European Union countries made last week to give the body a military capability.
The Europeans want a military capability separate from NATO so they can respond to security crises that the United States wants to stay out of.
At their meeting last week, European Union leaders set a deadline of 2003 to develop a rapid-reaction corps of 50,000 to 60,000 troops.
The 19-nation NATO alliance generally approves of the plan, believing that anything that increases military power is good for NATO. The United States also accepts the idea. But there is concern in Washington that a European military arm could grow away from NATO, splitting the alliance.
Eight NATO members are not members of the European Union -- the United States, Canada, Turkey, Norway, Iceland, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Most of the non-European Union members from Europe are concerned that they could be left out of decision-making on European security.
Washington has been pressing the European allies to increase their military capabilities. The allies have declared their willingness to do so, but that has yet to be translated into expanded military budgets.
"Intentions are all very good, and new institutions are very useful, but it's results that count," said NATO's secretary general, Lord Robertson.
Also today, European NATO members expressed concern about how they will be affected if the United States deploys the limited ballistic missile defense system it is now developing.
The United States has told its allies that with the new system, it would be just as ready to come to Europe's aid.
----------- puerto rico
Senate Legislation Proposes to Close Puerto Rico Base
New York Times December 16, 1999 By ELIZABETH BECKER
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/washpol/puerto-vieques.html
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 -- The Senate will hold hearings next month on a bill to close the $3 billion naval station in Puerto Rico, a move that would clearly hurt the Puerto Rican economy, if the commonwealth refuses to allow live-fire exercises to resume on the island of Vieques.
The governor of Puerto Rico today called the legislation a "petty political move" that would cause major economic damage to the commonwealth, his spokesman said. But the bill's sponsor, Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, said naval operations in Puerto Rico would not make sense without use of the Vieques range.
And in a sign of the Clinton administration's concern over the diminishing prospects for a settlement, John Podesta, the White House chief of staff, will meet a top official in the administration of Puerto Rico's governor, Pedro J. Rosselló, on Thursday to prepare for a meeting next week between Governor Rosselló and President Clinton, Puerto Rican officials said. The Clinton administration declined to answer questions about the base closing proposal or the upcoming meetings.
Senator John W. Warner, Republican of Virginia and chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said in an interview today that it made sense to close the Roosevelt Roads naval station on the main island of Puerto Rico if the commonwealth refused to allow training on the smaller island of Vieques.
"We're clearly of the view that if the range is lost, it is highly likely that we would close Roosevelt Roads," Senator Warner said.
That naval station serves the Navy battle groups and marines that train in Vieques and open waters around Puerto Rico. Roosevelt Roads provides $300 million to Puerto Rico's economy each year and employs 2,500 civilians and 2,400 military personnel.
Earlier this month, President Clinton ordered a halt to live-fire military training on Vieques to help resolve an eight-month dispute between the Navy and Puerto Rico. In April, a Puerto Rican civilian guard was killed in a bombing accident, leading to political protests that have united Puerto Rico as no other issue has.
Since then, the Navy and Marine Corps have been prevented for the first time since 1941 from using the range for exercises they consider essential training for combat readiness.
Governor Rosselló rejected Mr. Clinton's compromise offer, which included restricting exercises on Vieques to non-explosive, or inert, ordnances, reducing by half the number of days that exercises would be held and ending all exercises within five years unless the local residents agreed to an extension. Mr. Clinton also offered Vieques a $40 million economic revival package to demonstrate that the Navy understood it must "repair relations" with the people of Vieques.
Angel Morey, Puerto Rico's secretary of state, will meet with Mr. Podesta on Thursday to arrange a meeting as early as next week among the governor, Mr. Clinton, and Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen, said Alfonso Aguilar, press secretary for the governor.
"Just the fact that the White House is receiving Mr. Morey, and eventually the governor, shows the president is making a great effort to look out for the welfare of the people of Vieques," Mr. Aguilar said. "This is a positive first step showing the president and the White House are still in the dialogue and willing to compromise."
But, senior administration and military officials said, a settlement has to be reached in the next several weeks to allow the Navy to plan for alternatives if the battle groups can no longer train on Vieques.
Even without the pending legislation in the Senate, the Navy would automatically examine closing Roosevelt Roads station if Vieques was lost, a senior Naval official said.
"The relationship between Roosevelt Roads and the mission of Vieques range is very close," the official said. "If we lose Vieques, it would be cause for a review of the value of keeping Roosevelt Roads."
This year the Pentagon failed to persuade Congress to approve a new round of base closings at installations around the country that have lost their use in the post-cold-war era but continue to cost billions of dollars to maintain. Now several senators are proposing to close Roosevelt Roads if there are no more exercises at Vieques.
"Put yourself in the position of a senator or representative who closed a military installation," Senator Inhofe said. "Politically, you can't resist closing down Roosevelt Roads. It's a no-brainer."
Governor Rosselló was not surprised that the Senate is threatening to close Roosevelt Roads, Mr. Aguilar said, adding, "The governor has known for some time that this argument would be used against him."
Puerto Rican officials said that Roosevelt Roads was important even without Vieques and was used in the war against drugs as well as other military training.
Since this summer, the Navy has been searching for alternatives to Vieques for training exercises. But military officials say they have yet to find anything to duplicate the "unique qualities" of Vieques.
Earlier this month, the Navy and Marine Corps put together a "patchwork" of training for the aircraft carrier Eisenhower and its battle group, including a Marine detachment, which leaves for its next assignment to the Mediterranean in February without training at Vieques. Instead they used bases in Florida and North Carolina for pilots to drop bombs and marines to storm the beach, as well as temporary naval artillery training on Cape Wrath in Scotland.
---
U.S., Puerto Rican Aides Meet
Yahoo News 03:56 PM ET 12/16/99
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2562657608-84f
WASHINGTON (AP) _ An aide to Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Rossello met Thursday with White House aides to discuss the dispute over military training exercises on Vieques island.
Angel Morey, Rossello's chief of staff, met with John Podesta, President Clinton's chief of staff, as part of an ongoing effort to try to find a solution suitable to both the United States and Puerto Rico, said White House spokesman Joe Lockhart.
``I have nothing specific to report out of the meeting, except that that effort continues,'' Lockhart said.
The Navy has a training ground on Vieques, which it uses for ships and aircraft that deploy abroad from East Coast bases. Some aspects of training there involve use of live bombs, which the Navy argues is necessary to prepare for actual combat. Puerto Ricans say it makes living nearby dangerous.
President Clinton has proposed resuming Navy training on Vieques next spring using dummy bombs, eventually closing all Navy operations on the island within five years. Puerto Rico wants the Navy to give up the Vieques bombing range now and abandon plans for even limited bombing next spring.
Lockhart dismissed talk of legislation in Congress to close the Roosevelt Rhodes naval base altogether, a move that would devastate Puerto Rico economically. He said the president wants to continue to pursue an acceptable compromise.
``I don't believe that this kind of legislation, at this point, falls under the category of constructive,'' Lockhart said.
----------- russia
Russia fires new missile, warns West
Amid more tough talk on Chechnya, the Topol-M missile
hit its test target 3,400 miles away.
Philadelphia Inquirer December 15, 1999 By Vladimir Isachenkov ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/99/Dec/15/national/RUSS15.htm
MOSCOW - Russia launched a new strategic missile yesterday and used the occasion to warn the West against criticizing its campaign in the breakaway republic of Chechnya.
Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin, who witnessed the test, said Russia "will use all diplomatic and military-political levers in its disposal" to confront Western opposition.
Putin's comments came in a speech to military officers at the Plesetsk launch pad in northwestern Russia, after the successful test-firing of a Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile.
The missile was launched from Plesetsk and flew across Russia, hitting its target on the Kamchatka peninsula, some 3,400 miles to the east.
Putin's warning followed last week's tough statement from President Boris N. Yeltsin, who reminded President Clinton that "Russia is a great power that possesses a nuclear arsenal."
Yeltsin was reacting to U.S. criticism of the Chechnya campaign.
Putin sought last week to moderate Yeltsin's statement, saying that Russia and the United States have good relations, but his statement yesterday sounded as harsh as Yeltsin's.
"No one can accuse the government of inappropriate use of antiterrorist measures in Chechnya, call Russia an aggressor or an occupier," Putin said, according to Russian news agencies.
The United States and other Western nations have accused Moscow of excessive use of force in Chechnya, causing civilian casualties and the exodus of 230,000 refugees.
"Some nations and blocs under cover of international organizations are interfering into affairs of independent states, and trying to speak to them in the language of force," Putin said. "We are not used to such language, since Russia has a nuclear shield."
Putin also warned the United States against trying to modify the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty to build antimissile defenses.
Washington says such a defense system is intended to protect the United States from possible missile attacks by rogue nations and would not be capable of deflecting a massive nuclear attack of the kind Russia is capable of launching.
The Russian military has said that fitting multiple warheads to the Topol-M missiles would be a part of Moscow's response if the United States walks out of the treaty.
---
Soviet-Built Nukes Not Y2K Ready, Experts Say
Reuters December 16, 1999 Filed at 11:15 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-yk-nucl.html
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many Soviet-designed nuclear power plants are unprepared for the Year 2000 but no systems with immediate impact on safety are in danger of failing because of the Y2K computer glitch, a United Nations-backed international clearinghouse for Y2K data said Thursday.
Of the 68 reactor units in the nine countries of the former Soviet Union, ``many ... contain non-safety related systems that are not yet Y2K compliant,'' the International Y2K Cooperation Center said.
Bruce McConnell, the center's director, cited the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency as saying 14 of the plants of greatest concern are in Ukraine and one is in Armenia.
The report did not spell out exactly how many were lagging nor their locations but referred to ``the urgent need for (upgrade) work to continue and for adequate funds to be made available.''
``Contingency plans are in place,'' said the report on the readiness of nuclear plants worldwide for the century rollover.
At issue are possible automated system mix-ups when 1999 ticks into 2000 on Jan. 1. Many computers were engineered to handle only two digits for the year in date fields and could err or crash when ``00'' arrives.
Soviet-designed nuclear power plants have been a constant focus of international Y2K concern, partly because of the 1986 accident at Chernobyl's No. 4 reactor. The world's worst nuclear disaster, it spewed radiation over large parts of Europe.
In advanced nuclear power plants, digital systems control operations and monitor temperature and possible leaks. Soviet-designed models involve ``very few'' date-sensitive components, the International Y2K Cooperation Center said.
The center, which is based in Washington and funded by the World Bank, said Y2K-related errors could ``reduce the ability of operators to analyze and respond'' to equipment problems and ''degrade overall plant performance in the weeks following the date change.''
``Over time, such a degradation in performance would reduce the margins of safety and efficiency in these plants,'' it said.
The report -- which billed itself as having been reviewed by nuclear experts around the world -- described grass-roots calls for a general Y2K shutdown as ``understandable.''
But, it said, ``We do not believe this step is generally necessary.''
``Shutdowns create their own risks. In addition, we note that keeping plants on-line increases the stability of the electrical distribution grid.
``Because of the extensive Y2K work that has been done and the increased staffing and monitoring of nuclear power plant operations over the date change period, we do not believe there is a net safety benefit to a general shut down ... during the period,'' the report said.
Overall, it said nuclear power plants worldwide ``will operate as safely as they normally do'' during the date change and the days following.
The Vienna-based IAEA, the world's nuclear watchdog, will enhance its normal warning and emergency notification system during the date change. It will poll its contacts in member states shortly after each country enters the new year.
In addition, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have developed a Y2K Early Warning System, dubbed YEWS.
YEWS is designed to let nuclear regulators share information on the status of nuclear facility operations, local grid stability and telecommunications during the date transition.
---
Russia Soothes Foreigners' Fears Over Y2K Bug
December 16, 1999 Filed at 2:19 p.m. ET By Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-yk-russia.html
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian officials lined up Thursday to calm foreigners' fears that New Year's in Moscow would be no fun at all because of energy and electricity failures caused by the Y2K computer bug.
Officials from the Defense, Atomic Energy, Air Transport, Telecommunications and other ministries attempted to dismiss the worries, which have prompted some Western embassies to send their non-essential staff home over the holiday season.
``Over the last few months, specialists have said Russia is not ready for the year 2000 problem and some have said that foreigners should not come here or should leave,'' Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Sergeyev told a meeting of embassy staff.
``There will be no serious disruptions in Moscow or Russia, Russia has always taken Y2K seriously.''
The West has criticized Russia for being slow in waking up to the millennium bug, which could scramble systems that do not recognize the two final zeros when the date changes to 2000.
It has expressed concern that Russia could be plunged into computer chaos when the clock strikes midnight on Dec. 31, shutting off energy and electricity supplies.
The United States has offered tickets home to non-essential embassy staff.
``There will be no problems with any of Moscow's systems when we move into 2000,'' said Yuri Roslyak, deputy prime minister in Moscow's government, shrugging off concerns over the capital's water, electricity and gas supplies.
``There has also been serious work on the tax bodies in Moscow, they have been fully equipped with new technology, and so foreigners and Russians don't need to worry, tax will be collected without mistakes,'' he joked.
FLY TO MOSCOW FOR NEW YEAR'S
Other ministers laughed-off so-called ``bad press'' over Russia's preparations for Y2K, saying there was nothing for foreigners to fear -- including flying to Moscow to enjoy planned celebrations in Red Square.
The State Department said Americans should consider delaying travel to Russia because of Y2K disruptions.
``There are no doubts that Russian air transport will fly safely when the date changes,'' Vladimir Andreyev, head of the Federal Aviation Service, said.
``I am not planning to fly to prove their safety because I am convinced everything will be all right,'' he said.
Valentin Ivanov, first deputy minister at the Atomic Ministry, also said Russia's nuclear power plants were prepared.
``We can say that dangerous incidents in the sphere of nuclear energy will not happen,'' he said, echoing the words of Russia's Defense Ministry and Ministry for Telecommunications.
But Russia also said it was ready for the worst.
``We have emergency plans, they always exist, but I cannot imagine having to put them into practice,'' said Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov, charged with dealing with the Y2K bug.
``We have solved the Y2K problem.''
----------- ukraine
Chernobyl insists it's Y2K-safe
USA Today 12/16/99- Updated 03:01 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nw1.htm#terrorism
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine - Ukrainian officials say Chernobyl, scene of the world's worst nuclear accident, has been purged of the Year 2000 computer problem. But, international monitors say they do not expect all systems at Soviet-era nuclear power plants in Ukraine, Armenia and Lithuania to be Y2K compliant by the New Year, creating the possibility of widespread blackouts - or perhaps worse. No one is sure what Y2K glitches might do in this former Soviet republic of 50 million people, which is among the world's least-prepared nations.
---
Chernobyl insists it's Y2K-safe
12/15/99- Updated 11:08 PM ET USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/nwswed04.htm
CHERNOBYL, Ukraine (AP) - Rainer Goehring spends his days helping ensure the Chernobyl nuclear plant is safe, but he plans to be far away when the New Year rolls around.
Just in case.
Ukrainian officials say Chernobyl, scene of the world's worst nuclear accident, has been purged of the Year 2000 computer problem.
Goehring, a civil engineer who manages a project on storing spent nuclear fuel, says he's heard the assurances and decided to leave.
''I'm not convinced,'' said Goehring, a Belgian. ''I propose everybody decide for themselves.''
International monitors say they do not expect all systems at Soviet-era nuclear power plants in Ukraine, Armenia and Lithuania to be Y2K compliant by the New Year, creating the possibility of widespread blackouts - or perhaps worse.
Goehring's office is a few hundred yards from the towering concrete-and-steel structure known as the sarcophagus - a haunting reminder of what happened at Chernobyl in April 1986 when its No. 4 reactor went up in flames and exploded.
The blast spewed radiation over much of Europe.
The Ukrainian government has blamed at least 8,000 deaths on the accident - including those killed immediately, workers who died in the massive cleanup operation and people who died later of radiation exposure.
No one is sure what Y2K glitches - the result of unfixed older computers and embedded circuits mistaking 2000 for 1900 and going haywire - might do in this former Soviet republic of 50 million people.
Western analysts say cash-strapped Ukraine is among the world's least-prepared nations.
At Chernobyl, a wall separates the crumbling sarcophagus that covers the ruins of the No. 4 reactor from the plant's only functioning one, No. 3.
It is scheduled to be operating during the Dec. 31 rollover, with a normal shift of 178 workers on duty.
Chernobyl officials insist the Y2K glitch will not cause a repeat catastrophe.
''Of course, we guarantee that,'' said Anatoliy Iliichev, Chernobyl's Y2K expert, adding that all problems have been fixed.
Foreign observers say chances are slim of Y2K-induced nuclear accidents at Chernobyl or others of the 57 Soviet-era reactors in Russia and elsewhere in the old Soviet bloc.
But they say bug-triggered failures are possible in some plant systems.
''The primary headaches are Ukraine which has 16 (reactors), Armenia which has only one and to a slightly lesser degree two Chernobyl-type reactors in Lithuania,'' said David Kyd, spokesman for the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. body that monitors the industry.
Kyd said the IAEA expects some secondary Ukrainian reactor systems, including computers designed to detect radiation leaks, to not be Y2K compliant by year's end, though primary systems may be ready.
Nor are all systems at the Lithuanian reactors expected to be ready, he said.
In addition, Y2K problems may not only be confined to the New Year. Because 2000 is a leap year, Feb. 29, March 1 and Dec. 31 could also be problematic, Kyd said.
In any case, the 14 working reactors at Ukraine's five nuclear plants experience problems almost every week, frequently shutting down.
Chernobyl officials say reactor No. 3 underwent extensive Y2K tests before resuming operation on Nov. 26 following months of repairs.
The plant has two computer systems, a more than 20-year-old Soviet-designed Skala and a new Western backup system.
Although the new computer is not date-sensitive, it has been tested for Y2K risk and the Soviet system was tested by simulating the Year 2000 changeover, officials say.
''The central control's main computer was found to be Y2K-sensitive.
It controls all the reactor's parameters and that was our main headache,'' Iliichev said.
''But we have conducted tests and are certain now the main computer will pass the changeover.''
Both computers supply operators with information on the reactor, but the reactor itself is run by analog systems that are not susceptible to the Y2K glitch, said Borys Baranov, a Chernobyl shift manager.
Ukraine had pledged to shut down Chernobyl by 2000, but now says it needs foreign aid to complete two new reactors to compensate for Chernobyl's lost power and to find new jobs for most of the plant's 9,561 workers.
Ukraine's economy is in tatters and it depends on nuclear power.
Overall, Ukrainian officials say they don't expect Y2K to cause major problems.
But as in much of eastern Europe, there may be a problem with non-nuclear power stations and the country's electricity distribution grid, officials say.
If a power station crashes, it could cripple the grid by overloading some of the nuclear power plants and knocking them off line.
''We have no questions regarding the generating systems,'' said Nuclear Regulation Administration chief Oleksandr Smyshliayev.
''But nobody can give a 100-percent guarantee of the entire energy system's reliability.''
----------- us nuc weapons facilities
Laser Scientist Resigns in Calif.
Associated Press December 16, 1999 Filed at 6:18 a.m. EST
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Laser-Expert-Resigns.html
LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) -- A scientist who led a project to build the world's most powerful laser has announced his official resignation, four months after it was revealed he doesn't hold a doctorate.
Michael Campbell's departure from the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory was announced on Wednesday.
He had stepped down as associate director of the lab's laser program in August after acknowledging he never finished writing his dissertation at Princeton University more than 20 years ago.
Campbell oversaw a $1.2 billion project to build the National Ignition Facility, and has been on personal leave since August.
The exact date of his resignation won't be determined until after reviews of the troubled project, said Bruce Tarter, the lab's director.
``Mike has been a very dynamic and creative leader in developing and leading programs in the laboratory, and I regret that he is leaving,'' Tarter said.
The lab has completed an internal investigation into whether Campbell concealed his lack of a doctorate, but the details are confidential, said spokeswoman Susan Houghton.
Days after he stepped down from the laser program, managers revealed difficulties that could put the $1.2 billion project up to $300 million over budget and delay its completion by two years. Completion was expected by 2003.
Shortly thereafter, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson castigated the lab and the University of California for being slow to report cost overruns and construction delays.
The National Ignition Facility is a keystone of the Department of Energy's stockpile stewardship program, which aims to monitor its nuclear weapons stockpile through laser experiments rather than testing.
---
Laser Expert to Quit Lab Over His Credentials
New York Times December 16, 1999 By JAMES GLANZ
http://www.nytimes.com/99/12/16/news/national/lab-expert.html
E. Michael Campbell, who led an effort to build the world's most powerful laser until it was recently disclosed that he did not have a Ph.D., will be resigning from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, according to a statement issued yesterday by the laboratory's director.
Until early September, when Mr. Campbell took a personal leave, he was the laboratory's associate director for laser programs, including the $1.2 billion National Ignition Facility, which is under construction but faces cost overruns and technical difficulties. Mr. Campbell had falsely allowed the laboratory to believe that he had a Ph.D. from Princeton University.
He has been a Livermore employee for 23 years, said Susan Houghton, a spokeswoman for the laboratory.
Mr. Campbell "has been a very dynamic and creative leader in developing and leading programs in the laboratory," Dr. C. Bruce Tarter, the laboratory's director, said in a statement.
"I want to personally thank him for his dedication and loyalty to the laboratory and its people," Dr. Tarter said, "and wish him well in his new endeavors."
The National Ignition Facility is the centerpiece of the nation's effort to ensure the safety and reliability of its aging nuclear stockpile in the absence of actually testing the weapons. Eliminating nuclear tests is mandated by the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the Senate rejected in October but which the Clinton administration still supports.
The laser installation is intended to create conditions similar to those in nuclear weapons, allowing scientists to study their properties without the tests. In early September, Bill Richardson, the Secretary of Energy, said that he was "deeply disturbed to learn of projected cost overruns and scheduling delays" associated with the project, but that the overall concept remained sound.
The resignation of Mr. Campbell could raise further questions about the project, which has been fiercely opposed by some environmental and antinuclear groups.
But Ms. Houghton said his resignation was "a very personal situation" that had nothing to do with the project.
---
The Indictment of Wen Ho Lee
Washington Post Thursday, December 16, 1999; Page A38
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/16/122l-121699-idx.html
THE SERIOUSNESS of the charges filed against Wen Ho Lee last week adds an additional layer of confusion to the already murky Chinese nuclear espionage scandal. Mr. Lee, the scientist fired from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, was initially suspected of passing information on the W-88 warhead to the Chinese. The FBI, however, was ultimately unable to substantiate this allegation, and the bureau has since expanded its search for the W-88 spy beyond Mr. Lee and Los Alamos. In the process of investigating Mr. Lee, however, the government found evidence that he had mishandled classified information by downloading it onto his unclassified computer. And the wide expectation was that Mr. Lee would be prosecuted not for espionage but for these comparatively minor security breaches.
The indictment that came down on last week, however, alleges far more than simple security infractions. The government did not charge Mr. Lee with spying; in fact, the U.S. attorney who brought the case--John Kelly of New Mexico--specifically stated that the government does not allege "that Lee passed classified information to any particular foreign government, including the People's Republic of China." At the same time, the charges suggest far more than mere carelessness. Many of the 59 counts against Mr. Lee charge that--in assembling sensitive weapons information, downloading it to unclassified systems and then copying it onto portable tapes--he acted "with intent to injure the United States and with intent to secure an advantage to a foreign nation." The combination of these intent allegations and the disturbing fact that most of the tapes in question have not been recovered suggests that the government believes worse of Mr. Lee than prosecutors are prepared to allege in court.
Mr. Lee is, of course, innocent until proven guilty--a presumption that he has been largely denied in the public arena throughout much of the investigation. But the seriousness of the allegations against him should give pause to those convinced in advance of Mr. Lee's innocence, just as surely as the shifting nature of the allegations against him should give pause to those convinced he is a nuclear spy. Given the poor handling of this investigation to date, it is well worth reserving judgment until the government proves the very grave accusations it has now leveled.
---
Senate Hearings Called Off in Light of Lee Case
Washington Post Thursday, December 16, 1999; Page A10 By Walter Pincus
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/16/179l-121699-idx.html
A Senate panel called off hearings this week on the FBI's investigation into Chinese espionage after FBI Director Louis J. Freeh warned that the testimony could hinder the prosecution of physicist Wen Ho Lee.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the special subcommittee that had planned to conduct the hearings, said Freeh objected that questions relevant to the trial could be asked at the hearing and the answers could "be subject to discovery by [Lee's] defense."
Lee was arrested by the FBI last week and pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that he mishandled nuclear secrets by downloading data from a classified computer system at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico to his desktop computer and to cassette tapes, seven of which are missing. A federal magistrate ordered him to remain in jail pending trial.
Specter said his subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee still plans to hold hearings at some future date. In the meantime, he said, the subcommittee will continue to review FBI files on an investigation that began in 1996 into China's alleged theft of information about the design of the most advanced U.S. nuclear warhead, the W-88. The subcommittee already has obtained documents indicating that Lee quickly became the subject of that investigation, even though the FBI had been told that some 250 individuals has access to the same information. Lee has not been charged with passing secrets to China. But his arrest grew out of the espionage investigation; when agents searched his office computer earlier this year, they found evidence that the 59-year-old, Taiwan-born scientist had downloaded classified information and then tried to delete it.
---
Asian-Americans Defend Wen Ho Lee
By MICHELLE LOCKE Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Asian-Americans lent their support to Wen Ho Lee, the nuclear scientist under indictment for mishandling U.S. weapons secrets, saying the government is using him as a scapegoat.
``The Chinese-American community feels that ... one of our members has been put on trial, put on a media trial in particular, without due process,'' San Francisco Supervisor Mabel Teng said Thursday at a news conference to announce her support for the Wen Ho Lee Defense Fund.
She was joined by representatives of the Asian Law Caucus and Chinese for Affirmative Action.
``We are here to call for justice and fair treatment to Dr. Wen Ho Lee,'' she said.
Lee, 59, has been charged with illegally downloading secret data from computers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. He has pleaded innocent and is being held without bail.
A trial date has not been set, but if convicted, the Taiwan-born Lee faces life in prison.
Lee has acknowledged the transfers of ``legacy codes'' that provide a history of nuclear weapons development from a highly secure Los Alamos' computer system to his less-secure personal office computer. He has said he was creating a backup in case of a computer crash.
Supporters note that although Lee was the focus of a lengthy probe into allegations that nuclear secrets leaked to China, the government hasn't charged him with espionage.
``Shame, shame, shame _ that is what we Americans and Asian-Americans have to say to the FBI, the Department of Justice, (Attorney General) Janet Reno and (Energy Secretary) Bill Richardson,'' said Helen Zia, an author and civil rights activist.
Government officials deny they singled out Lee because of his race.
Richardson sent out a memo recently that said, ``At this juncture it is appropriate that I reiterate emphatically my policy of zero tolerance of any form of racial profiling within the DOE workplace.'' It did not mention Lee by name.
Lee's defense attorneys have been volunteering their services, doing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work so far, said Cecelia Chang, a longtime Lee family friend and lead organizer of the defense fund.
A defense to the complex charges will take money that Lee, who was fired in March, doesn't have, she said.
Supporters, who have created a Web site at wenholee.org, have raised about $20,000 so far. Another fund-raiser is planned next Tuesday, Lee's birthday.
``I just feel we as Asian Americans have got to do something,'' she said. ``Every concerned citizen of the United States should come in and help.''
---
Freeh against hearings in spy case
USA Today 12/16/99- Updated 02:29 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/nc1.htm#syria
WASHINGTON - In a rare plea, FBI Director Louis Freeh has asked Congress to avoid hearings that could divulge internal disputes in the government's espionage investigation of a former Los Alamos laboratory scientist, concerned that airing such information could harm prosecution, documents show. Senate investigators recently gathered memos showing FBI agents doubted more than a year ago that Wen Ho Lee had leaked nuclear secrets to China and that Energy Secretary Bill Richardson had rebuked the FBI more recently for suggesting Energy officials were to blame for focusing too narrowly on Lee, government officials told The Associated Press.
---
Senate Atomic-Spying Panel Cancels Hearings at Freeh's Urging
New York Times December 16, 1999 By JAMES RISEN
http://www.nytimes.com/99/12/16/news/washpol/nuke-china.html
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 -- A Senate Judiciary subcommittee investigating the government's handling of evidence of Chinese nuclear spying has canceled two closed hearings scheduled for this week because the F.B.I. director, Louis J. Freeh, feared that testimony there might harm the prosecution of Wen Ho Lee.
The review by the Senate panel involves the way investigators approached evidence that the Chinese had stolen data concerning America's most advanced nuclear warhead, the W-88, and is not directly related to the case against Dr. Lee.
But Mr. Freeh feared that hearings on the W-88 case would include testimony by officials also involved in the Lee case and so would create documents to which Dr. Lee's lawyers might gain access in the pretrial discovery process.
As a result, the subcommittee, headed by Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, agreed to cancel a hearing scheduled for Tuesday and a follow-up session set for Thursday. It will continue its investigation and has not agreed with the F.B.I. never to hold hearings on the matter, but at present it has no other hearings planned.
"Director Freeh made a reasonable request based on national security issues, and so Senator Specter and I agreed to defer to those needs," said Senator Robert G. Torricelli of New Jersey, the panel's ranking Democrat.
Dr. Lee, a nuclear engineer who formerly worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, was indicted and arrested last Friday, charged with downloading nuclear secrets from a classified computer at Los Alamos and copying the data onto portable computer tapes, some of which have not been recovered.
He pleaded not guilty on Monday, when a federal magistrate in Albuquerque
ordered him held without bail until trial.
Dr. Lee has not been charged with passing the downloaded information to China or any other country.
But the downloads were discovered only after he had drawn attention from federal agents exploring evidence that China might have stolen data related to the W-88 warhead, which was designed at Los Alamos.
Now many officials say the government's initial inquiry into the possible theft of W-88 data focused prematurely on Dr. Lee as a prime suspect, inasmuch as the information might have been available from other government agencies and from military contractors.
In September, Mr. Freeh and Attorney General Janet Reno ordered that federal agents broaden the espionage investigation, which is continuing.
The closed hearing on Tuesday that had been planned by the Senate subcommittee would have involved officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Justice Department and the Energy Department, which runs Los Alamos and other national weapons laboratories.
One issue of interest to Dr. Lee's lawyers is the degree to which government officials dissented from the way the W-88 investigation was handled. Officials now say that a scientist dissented from an initial administrative inquiry conducted by the Energy Department and the F.B.I. into the possibility of W-88 data theft.
That inquiry, conducted in 1995, came up with a list of 12 potential suspects at Los Alamos, but pointed to Dr. Lee as the most likely suspect, officials say.
----------- us nuc weapons
Pentagon confident on Y2K readiness
USA Today 12/16/99- Updated 02:29 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/nc1.htm#syria
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has ''100% confidence'' that the computers that operate critical military systems such as nuclear forces and missile warning radars will not fail at year-end, senior defense officials said Thursday. As a precaution, U.S. troops stationed abroad will operate at a slightly higher alert level at the millennium rollover than those in the United States, a Pentagon Y2K planner said Thursday. A group of 18 to 20 Russian military officers will join a like number of American officers at a Center for Y2K Strategic Stability in Colorado Springs, Colo., starting Dec. 28, to reassure both Washington and Moscow that neither side misinterprets any missile-related activity or radar failures, officials said.
----------- us nuc facilities
U.S. Power Industry Ready for Y2K
Associated Press December 16, 1999 Filed at 3:25 p.m. EST
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Y2K-Energy.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's gas and electric utilities are ready for the new year, having made the last of the corrections necessary to avoid the Y2K bug, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said Thursday.
``The nation should be ready for the Y2K rollover'' without widespread power outages, Richardson said. He offered this advice: ``Stay cool, don't panic, plan as for a winter storm -- and that's it.''
Richardson and the executives of the American power industry said, however, that they are ready for any contingency and will have hundreds of thousands of workers in place or standing by when the clock hits midnight on Dec. 31.
Except for accidents and winter storms, they expect a normal, uneventful, stress-free New Year's Eve with no widespread loss of light or heat.
``We expect this to be a non-event,'' said John M. Derrick Jr., president and chief executive officer of Washington-based PEPCO, the Potomac Electric Power Co.
The millennium bug, or Y2K, stems from older computer coding that identified dates with the last two numbers only -- ``99'' for 1999, for example. When the year switches to 2000, some computers with that coding will think it's 1900, causing them to malfunction or crash.
Over the last two years the federal government has led a nationwide crash prevention program to prepare for the changeover, spending billions of dollars in the effort.
Meanwhile, the United Nations-organized International Y2K Cooperation Center said Thursday that the world's more than 430 nuclear plants were ready for the new year. They ``will operate as safely as they normally do,'' the report said.
The report cautioned, however, that some support systems in the world's nuclear plants are not Y2K-ready.
Those computers don't have a direct bearing on safety, but failures ``can reduce the ability of operators to analyze and respond to degraded equipment conditions,'' which ultimately could reduce safety and efficiency, the report said.
The report said potentially date-sensitive systems in modern nuclear plants can control plant operations, including initiating a reactor shutdown. But it added that, ``nuclear plants have multiple layers of procedures and systems to enable safe operation or shutdown, even if primary systems fail to operate correctly.''
There are nuclear plants in 31 countries, generating about 17 percent of the world's electricity. The first nuclear plant to experience the date rollover -- at 7 a.m. EST Dec. 31 -- will be in eastern Russia, followed by nuclear plants in Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan.
Richardson said it's a good idea to take normal precautions for a long winter weekend in which storms are possible over large regions of the country. He advised stocking a flashlight, a battery operated radio and a weekend's worth of food.
His final advice: ``Do not listen to rumors.''
Related Information From Hoover's Inc. Potomac Electric Power
http://www.nytimes.com/partners/quote/hoovers.cgi?ticker=POM
---
Gas, Electric Firms Said Y2k-Ready
December 16, 1999 Filed at 3:55 p.m. EST By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/f/AP-Y2K-Energy.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The nation's gas and electric utilities are ready for the new year, having made the last of the corrections necessary to avoid the Y2K bug, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said Thursday.
``The nation should be ready for the Y2K rollover'' without widespread power outages, Richardson said. He offered this advice: ``Stay cool, don't panic, plan as for a winter storm -- and that's it.''
Richardson and the executives of the American power industry said, however, that they are ready for any contingency and will have hundreds of thousands of workers in place or standing by when the clock hits midnight on Dec. 31.
Except for accidents and winter storms, they expect a normal, uneventful, stress-free New Year's Eve with no widespread loss of light or heat.
``We expect this to be a non-event,'' said John M. Derrick Jr., president and chief executive officer of Washington-based PEPCO, the Potomac Electric Power Co.
The millennium bug, or Y2K, stems from older computer coding that identified dates with the last two numbers only -- ``99'' for 1999, for example. When the year switches to 2000, some computers with that coding will think it's 1900, causing them to malfunction or crash.
Over the last two years the federal government has led a nationwide crash prevention program to prepare for the changeover, spending billions of dollars in the effort.
Meanwhile, the United Nations-organized International Y2K Cooperation Center said Thursday that the world's more than 430 nuclear plants were ready for the new year. They ``will operate as safely as they normally do,'' the report said.
The report cautioned, however, that some support systems in the world's nuclear plants are not Y2K-ready.
Those computers don't have a direct bearing on safety, but failures ``can reduce the ability of operators to analyze and respond to degraded equipment conditions,'' which ultimately could reduce safety and efficiency, the report said.
The report said potentially date-sensitive systems in modern nuclear plants can control plant operations, including initiating a reactor shutdown. But it added that, ``nuclear plants have multiple layers of procedures and systems to enable safe operation or shutdown, even if primary systems fail to operate correctly.''
There are nuclear plants in 31 countries, generating about 17 percent of the world's electricity. The first nuclear plant to experience the date rollover -- at 7 a.m. EST Dec. 31 -- will be in eastern Russia, followed by nuclear plants in Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan.
Richardson said it's a good idea to take normal precautions for a long winter weekend in which storms are possible over large regions of the country. He advised stocking a flashlight, a battery operated radio and a weekend's worth of food.
His final advice: ``Do not listen to rumors.''
----------- us plutonium
Group asks study of nuke shipment
Activists want to halt plutonium headed for Canada on trial basi
Detroit News 12/16/99s Associated Press
http://detnews.com/1999/metro/9912/15/12150138.htm
MACKINAW CITY -- The federal government should conduct a comprehensive study of possible environmental consequences of shipping a small quantity of plutonium through Michigan, activists say.
Anabel Dwyer, an attorney who last week won a court order temporarily blocking the shipment, said she hoped to win a permanent ruling that would require the U.S. Department of Energy to have public hearings as part of an environmental impact study
Dwyer was among a group opposed to the shipment who attended a strategy session Sunday in Mackinaw City.
The restraining order expires Friday. A hearing on whether to extend it is scheduled for this week in U.S. District Court in Kalamazoo.
The Energy Department plans to truck 4.25 grams of weapons-grade plutonium from Los Alamos, N.M., to a reactor in Canada. The shipment would enter southwestern Michigan on Interstate 94 and eventually would head north on Interstate 75, crossing the Mackinac Bridge and the International Bridge at Sault Ste. Marie. It would end up in Chalk River, Ontario, west of Ottawa.
The shipment is part of a test to determine whether commercial reactors in Canada can use material from decommissioned Russian nuclear weapons as fuel.
Critics contend the shipment is part of a larger plan to process U.S. and Russian weapons-grade plutonium at nuclear power plants worldwide. The Energy Department says the shipment is the only one planned, although officials have refused to rule out future transfers for other projects.
Doris Shaller Vernon, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit and a Petoskey resident, said Sunday that she had received a number of resolutions from Canadians opposing the shipment.
"This is being shoved down their throats, just like it is ours," Vernon said.
The shipment foes said using the spent fuel in reactors would create more nuclear waste. Instead, they said, the plutonium should be immobilized in glass or ceramic casks and isolated from humans and the environment.
"It's certainly not a commodity to be shipping around on the highways and using it in nuclear reactors," said Kevin Kamps of the Nuclear Information Resources Service in Washington, D.C.
He arrived at the meeting with his car pulling an 18-foot-by-7-foot mock nuclear fuel cask labeled, "Stop Mobile Chernobyl."
---
Plutonium OK'd To Ship Through Mich.
Washington Post Friday, Dec. 17, 1999; 11:44 p.m. EST By Lisa Singhania Associated Press Writer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991217/aponline234433_000.htm
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Department of Energy indicated on Friday that it will ship a small quantity of plutonium from New Mexico to Canada after a judge rejected a request by environmentalists to block the transport.
Chief Judge Richard Enslen ruled that although the plaintiffs' contentions that the government violated the law appeared to have merit, the government's assertions that an injunction would hurt nuclear disarmament talks were more important.
"We are pleased by the judge's decision to allow ... this important, non-proliferation initiative," a Department of Energy spokeswoman said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "We are currently working with our Canadian government counterparts to finalize the shipment details."
The transport is part of the Parallex Project, a joint American-Russian experiment to determine whether commercial nuclear reactors in Canada can use material from decommissioned Russian nuclear weapons as fuel.
As part of the experiment, the United States is shipping a sample of radioactive material from New Mexico to Canada. The sample, which contains about 4.2 ounces - or 119 grams - of plutonium, will be transported on an armored truck.
The truck's itinerary is not being publicly released. But when it does occur, the transport is expected to pass through Michigan.
The Energy Department says the test is a key component in its nuclear disarmament efforts with Russia. It is picking up the $20 million tab for the entire experiment.
But the six individuals and environmental group that sued the government had argued the law required the agency to conduct an environmental impact statement, instead of the less-exhaustive assessment the department did.
Verna Lawrence, mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, the last Michigan community the shipment will pass through before entering Canada, was upset with the ruling.
"I'm mad as hell," said Ms. Lawrence, who said she will stop the shipment's passage through her community if she can figure out a way to do it. "It is too risky. The Great Lakes basin will be contaminated for years and years if there's an accident."
---
The Plutonium Files:
America's Secret Medical Experiments in the Cold War
The New England Journal of Medicine
December 16, 1999 -- Vol. 341, No. 25
By Eileen Welsome. 580 pp. New York, Dial Press, 1999.
$26.95. ISBN 0-385-31402-7
http://www.nejm.org/content/1999/0341/0025/1941.asp
Amid the embarrassments of Monicamania and of multiple public mea culpas, the past few years have not been exemplary ones for American journalism. This fact makes the triumph of The Plutonium Files all the sweeter, because this superlative book is a reminder of the purpose of investigative journalism.
This richly detailed, subtly nuanced history of government-engineered radiation experiments on unwitting Americans is based on the Pulitzer-prize-winning series Eileen Welsome wrote for the Albuquerque Tribune. Welsome's tenacious and resourceful detective work has unveiled the saga of a sordid, tragic, yet fascinating chapter in the history of American medical science. The book succeeds on many levels. It is a gripping expose of governmental exploitation and of medicine's moral failures in an era in which blind trust defined the normal relationship between physicians and patients.
Between April 1945, scant months before the bombing of Hiroshima, and July 1947, the scientists of the Manhattan Project followed the construction of the atomic bomb with a chilling second act: medical experimentation on hundreds of unsuspecting Americans. Pioneers of nuclear science, such as J. Robert Oppenheimer, Louis Hempelmann, and Stafford Warren, masterminded the experiments from the headquarters they carved out of the New Mexico desert, in Los Alamos. Doctors working with the Manhattan Project initially injected plutonium into 18 men, women, and children. They acted without obtaining the consent of these people, informed or otherwise, and without therapeutic intent. Their mission was to study dispassionately the "fiendishly toxic" effects of plutonium on selected groups so that physician-scientists would know how best to protect American researchers, soldiers, and citizens exposed to atomic weapons.
But the radiation experiments did not end there, nor even with the end of World War II. The malignant flowering of curiosity about the effects of radiation on humans continued for three more decades. Until the 1970s, government scientists and physicians made use of unwitting Americans in order to discover the effects of exposure. Scientists already knew that radiation was dangerous. Newspaper accounts had graphically detailed the radiation poisoning of women in New Jersey who painted the dials of watches with radium, who died horribly while they were still young. The hands of Nobel laureate Marie Curie, the discoverer of radium, were chronically covered with radiation burns, and she died of radiation-induced leukemia in 1934. Many people who worked with x-rays died of various forms of leukemia.
But scientists wanted to know more. What types of physiologic damage were caused by specific levels of radiation? So, in hospitals, schools, and other institutions across the nation, they administered amounts of plutonium, x-rays, gamma rays, and radium that far exceeded established tolerance limits.
Each of the book's 47 chapters takes us on a tour of a subsidiary program, usually illustrated by the experiences of the research subjects. In one such program, soldiers were shipped to the desert for deliberate exposure to the detonation of nuclear bombs. In another program, unsuspecting patients in private and public hospitals -- from Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York, to Vanderbilt University Hospital's prenatal clinic in Nashville -- were injected with plutonium or otherwise used as subjects in experiments. The moribund ill, pregnant women and their fetuses, the poor, the middle class, the mentally ill, and children in institutions all risked attracting the fatal attention of the doctors of the Manhattan Project. The results, including data on the resultant cancers and even radioactive body parts, were forwarded to Los Alamos. Welsome not only tells each of these stories and more, but she also gives each of them a human face.
Such outrages strike our post-Tuskegee world as positively diabolical. But the medical Wunderkinder and politically savvy scientists who designed these experiments thought it necessary and logical to expand the boundaries of scientific medical knowledge beyond the new radioactive frontiers. Welsome presents their points of view without editorial comment and without apparent irony. Fleshing out the human drama around medical malfeasance has rarely been done so well. The coolly amoral scientist is a stock figure borrowed by journalism from science fiction, but like all stereotypes, such a depiction is one-dimensional and therefore false. As in Who Goes First? (New York: Random House, 1987), Lawrence Altman's study of self-experimentation by researchers, Welsome conveys the researchers' motivations and their capacity for moral anguish -- where it exists.
In doing so, she evokes the mores of a vanished age in which the physician-scientist was God. Sometimes, she finds unexpected complexity. She recounts how, as a young physician, Stafford Warren had been horrified to discover that the patients on whom he performed autopsies had died not of Hodgkin's disease but of the radiation treatments they had been given. He felt driven to quantify radiation's dangers. But unlike Altman's heroes, these scientists cagily declined to experiment on themselves. Researcher Wright Langham observed, "We considered doing such experiments at one time, but plutonium is considered to be sufficiently potentially dangerous to discourage our doing absorption experiments upon ourselves."
Then there is the horrifying reality that these experiments were taking place in the shadow of Nazi Germany; some of the scientists involved in the radiation experiments were the very men whose earlier experimental designs had tormented prisoners of concentration camps. Welsome describes Operation Paperclip, conducted under the auspices of the U.S. government. Paperclip imported Nazi scientists and supported their work, helping to confer, in the words of scientist Joseph G. Hamilton, "a little of the Buchenwald touch" on American medicine.
Welsome's achievement is a triumph of science, art, and morality. The book's copious detail will make it valuable to medical historians and medical ethicists. The book contains notes, listed by chapter; it also contains lists of major sources, including scientific articles, oral histories, videotapes, and government documents.
Journalists will find that The Plutonium Files is a perfect example of investigative medical reporting. Ethicists should be especially intrigued by the lack of consensus within the panel that was charged with investigating the experiments. Venerable giants in the field of medical-research ethics -- such as Jay Katz, Patricia King, and Ruth Macklin -- looked at the documents, and each saw very different issues. In The Plutonium Files, Welsome slashes the moral Gordian knot by unabashedly caring about the people described in its pages as individuals. She skillfully spins out their personal histories to create a richly colored tapestry that captures the full costs -- scientific, social, and personal -- of the radiation experiments. She also captures the moment when an important group of physician-scientists ceased to view themselves as healers and benefactors first, with disastrous results for their victims and for American medicine. Welsome dissects that sea change for the sake of history, without rancor but with a sense of ineffable loss.
This valuable work represents an elegy to lost ideals, lost health, and lost trust. One can only hope it will serve as a cautionary tale.
Harriet A. Washington New York, NY 10031
----------- nuc other
World News Year in Review
Associated Press December 16, 1999 Filed at 8:51 a.m. EST
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/i/AP-World-In-1999.html
NEW YORK (AP) -- History's bloodiest century ended in grimly fitting fashion: a year of brutish ethnic conflicts and staggering natural disasters that kept luckier nations improvising awkwardly with attempts to help.
Uprooted civilians streamed by the hundreds of thousands from Kosovo, East Timor and Chechnya, fleeing from modern weaponry and old-fashioned hatreds.
Earthquakes killed some 18,000 people in Turkey, and more than 3,600 in Taiwan, Colombia and Greece. A cyclone killed 10,000 people and left 2.5 million homeless on India's densely populated east coast.
It was, in sum, an appropriate year for a motivated and mobile humanitarian agency -- Doctors Without Borders -- to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
For the West, Kosovo was the biggest trauma. Once again, a single defiant leader -- this time Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic -- was able to create havoc and orchestrate oppression in the face of widespread foreign condemnation.
Milosevic became the first sitting head of state indicted for war crimes by an international court. But like Saddam Hussein after the Gulf War, he retained power despite a 78-day bombing campaign that battered Yugoslavia and tested NATO's solidarity.
Most of the 850,000 ethnic Albanians chased from Kosovo by the Serb crackdown were back in their homeland. But so were 45,000 foreign peacekeepers, struggling to protect the dwindling clusters of remaining Serbs.
As with Kosovo, the international community initially groped for a response to rampages in East Timor by pro-Indonesian militias enraged by a vote for independence. By the time an Australian-led peacekeeping force was approved and deployed, hundreds of thousands of people had fled their homes.
In Chechnya, throngs of civilians were displaced by intensive Russian attacks ostensibly aimed at Islamic rebels. Western leaders decried the bombardments and pushed to provide humanitarian aid, but in this crisis there was no serious talk of a foreign intervention force.
``What Chechnya teaches us is -- if you're a big country, with nuclear weapons, you can get away with it,'' said Michael Mandelbaum, an expert on East-West relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Across Africa, less-publicized wars dragged on in Angola, Congo, Sudan and along the Ethiopia-Eritrea border. Nelson Mandela stepped down as South Africa's president, leaving his successor, Thabo Mbeki, with formidable economic and political challenges.
In the Middle East, Israeli voters ousted hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and new government agreed to peace talks with Syria while inching toward a settlement with the Palestinians.
Two of the region's long-reigning moderate monarchs died, Jordan's King Hussein and Morocco's King Hassan, each succeeded by a son who moved quickly to win popular affection.
The Asian subcontinent was uneasy, with a military coup in Pakistan and fighting along the Pakistan-India border in Kashmir.
Peace and democracy made a few notable advances. A barbaric civil war ended in Sierra Leone. Nigeria emerged from 15 years of military rule. Indonesia had its first truly free election in 30 years, and Northern Ireland's rival parties formed a Protestant-Catholic government requiring them to share power for the first time.
Even the natural disasters had some hopeful consequences. Greece put aside longtime enmity to offer help after the devastating earthquake in Turkey on Aug. 17; Turkey reciprocated after a quake hit Athens on Sept. 6.
Kathleen Newland, an expert on refugees with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said nations and relief agencies were becoming increasingly skillful with the logistical responses to far-flung crises. But the political aspects of humanitarian intervention remains complex.
``There has been a lot of learning over the course of the '90s. But a lot of the lessons have been negative,'' Newland said. ``We're condemned to a certain amount of experimentation.''
Mandelbaum, of Johns Hopkins, said future variations of the ethnic conflicts in Kosovo, Bosnia or Rwanda will be difficult to prevent as long as the United States and other leading nations remain wary of dispatching ground troops.
``That means the next best thing you can do is cobble together an inadequate volunteer fire department through the auspices of the United Nations, since that's all we have,'' he said.
The United States was at odds throughout the year with China, arguing over alleged Chinese nuclear spying and the accidental U.S. bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade. One major strain finally eased when the two countries agreed on terms for China's entry into the World Trade Organization.
China was among many nations upset when the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and Beijing joined Moscow in assailing a U.S. plan to create a protective shield against nuclear missiles.
Russia's often-ailing president, Boris Yeltsin, fired two more prime ministers but won widespread backing for the war in Chechnya. His government blamed Chechen rebels for cross-border skirmishes and for apartment-building bombings that killed about 300 Russians in September.
Disasters struck elsewhere in many forms: the EgyptAir jet crash off the Massachusetts coast that killed 217 people; train crashes in India, Kenya and Britain that killed about 350. The Alps seemed strangely cursed: Avalanches killed 50 in France and Austria, a cable-car plunge killed 20 in France, and a huge fire in the Mont Blanc tunnel between France and Italy killed 45.
Two intrepid travelers embarking from the Swiss Alps were blessed by good luck. Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first aviators to fly a hot-air balloon nonstop around world.
``Below us it wasn't paradise. Below us there were wars, suffering of all sorts, and we had to ask why we had the right to be so happy,'' Piccard said later. ``There is plenty of room on this earth to realize a more harmonious destiny.''
-----------
Remembering Those Who Died in 1999
Associated Press December 16, 1999 Filed at 8:43 a.m. EST
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/a/AP-Deaths-1999.html
Glenn Seaborg, who discovered plutonium and other elements, including one that bears his name.
Glenn Seaborg, 86. Nobel Prize-winning chemist who discovered 10 atomic elements including plutonium and seaborgium. Feb. 25.
----------- wto
Youth groups point to Seattle as evidence young people care
Washington Times December 16, 1999 By Natalia A. Feduschak
http://web4.washtimes.com/culture/culture1-19991216.htm
Rafe Bemporad says the recent demonstrations that rocked Seattle reaffirmed that young people do care, even though they may not be as vocal as their parents were three decades ago.
Rafe Bemporad didn't learn anything in Seattle, but he thinks many Americans did.
Mr. Bemporad, of the New York-based youth group Do Something, says the recent demonstrations that rocked Seattle merely reaffirmed what his organization has known all along - that young people do care, even though they may not be as vocal as their parents were three decades ago.
"In this generation, you can apply the same questions and challenges that would have happened in the 1960s, like injustice or poverty and suffering," said Mr. Bemporad, spokesman for Do Something, which encourages youth to get involved in their communities.
"Now [young people] say, 'I'm going to be active in my neighborhood. In the 1960s, they joined a national campaign.'. . . What you saw in Seattle may be the first time in a while the entire nation was focused on activism nationally in scope."
While a significant number of protesters in Seattle were middle-aged, the vast majority of those who defied Seattle police and were showered with pepper gas and rubber bullets were teen-agers or 20-somethings.
Two weeks after 30,000 demonstrators shut down Seattle for four days, observers are still gauging the importance of the protests -among the largest the United States has seen since the 1960s. But the event has focused renewed attention on the nation's younger generation, reputed to be apathetic and self-absorbed.
A Do Something study funded by Pew Charitable Trusts found that three-quarters of young people between the ages of 15 and 29 have been active in community organizations at some point in their lives, with 37 percent participating within the last year, Mr. Bemporad said. The issues that concerned them most included the environment and health.
Only 3 percent were involved in political organizations. Although the question of how young people feel about politics was not addressed, Mr. Bemporad said he felt young people tended to shy away from politics because they feel that they are disconnected from the political process, and that their activism wouldn't make a big difference nationally.
"For the last four or five years, young people have been more disconnected from politics and national issues and have seen no reason for getting involved. But all are intuitively interested in making a difference and getting involved locally," he said. "Historically, national movements have always been politically connected. Seattle might be an example where activism and the national get involved together again."
Habitat for Humanity, the organization founded by former President Jimmy Carter to build homes for the underprivileged, has seen a plethora of young people get involved, said Michelle Pittman, volunteer coordinator for the Atlanta affiliate.
"It speaks to the work that Habitat offers them," she said. "Young people do need to be given activities that keep them engaged. It's a team atmosphere. There's a lot of positive reinforcement."
The organization has partnered with local schools to create Habitat clubs, and because of the community spirit it embraces, young people even get more satisfaction from the work than do older people.
"The role of the nonprofit and community group is to meet the young person and engage them," said Miss Pittman.
The Atlanta affiliate, which is the largest in the nation, builds between 60 and 65 homes a year and has constructed 500 houses since its founding in 1983.
Eric Rozenman, a spokesman for B'nai B'rith International, a volunteer Jewish organization, said his organization has also noticed that more people are active locally than nationally, including young people.
"If all politics is local, so is activism, in a way," he said. B'nai B'rith's members have tended to be active in their communities since the group was founded 157 years ago.
One program, Cares About Kids, strictly focuses on getting young people involved with local hospitals. Youth collect stuffed animals for distribution through hospitals to children who might not otherwise be able to afford them.
"Cares About Kids has become an established program," Mr. Rozenman said. "By themselves, these may not seem like great things, but they touch other people. What would it be like if they didn't exist? From the standpoint of Seattle or not, activism is alive and well."
Other young people have taken their activism abroad. Since the 1991 breakup of the former Soviet Union, children of U.S. activists have relocated to former Soviet countries to help in the transition from Communism to democracy. Today, countries like Ukraine, Lithuania and Russia are ripe with young people who are helping establish domestic crisis centers to local businesses.
"The focus has shifted reflecting the changed reality," said Orest Deychakiwsky, staff adviser for the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe. "The Ukrainian-American community is less active. . . but reflects a new focus on other issues like assistance to Ukraine. It's engaged in concrete assistance projects to Ukraine. Now if they lobby the U.S. government, it's more for increasing assistance than defending human rights like in the past when Ukraine was part of a brutally repressive empire."
While those who work with youth are convinced that the WTO protests was only a different manifestation of how younger generations are dedicated to causes they care about, the ultimate impact of the WTO protests is heavily contested by different camps.
"Seattle is a defining event for the end of this century, and you're going to see a new wave of strong activism on basic issues," said Brent Blackwelder, president of the environmental group Friends of the Earth. "I would predict you're going to see more participation in electoral work. People aren't going to sit on the sidelines and watch what happens."
Some aren't so sure.
"I don't think it's a gauge for activism," said George Sigalos, a spokesman for Illinois Republican Philip M. Crane, who chairs the trade subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. "You need more of an indicator than just one event."
----------- spies
Report: State Department security lax
USA Today 12/16/99- Updated 02:29 PM ET
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washdc/nc1.htm#syria
WASHINGTON - While visitors are screened on entry into the State Department building, they are not routinely escorted to the offices in which they claim to have appointments, a department official told The Associated Press Wednesday. Despite attacks on U.S. embassies abroad and the sensitivity of its work, the department has let visitors roam its building unescorted. As a result, the official said, visitors were able to go elsewhere. The report surfaces amid an investigation into the planting of a listening device - allegedly by a Russian diplomat who has since been expelled - where Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's office is located.
---
Anyone minding the store?
Washington Times December 16, 1999 By Kenneth Timmerman
http://web3.washtimes.com/commentary/comment1-19991216.htm
Neither the FBI nor the Bureau of Diplomatic Security have bought on to the politically correct line of the Clinton-Gore administration that Russia has become America's best friend, and that the days of Cold War spying are over.
Last week, the State Department announced it had discovered a listening device planted in a secure top floor conference room by Russian intelligence agents. The bug had been concealed in a piece of chair rail molding, carefully crafted to look like the original, and was placed by an intruder who had repeated access to the room, which requires special security codes and is used by senior State Department officials to discuss the most sensitive matters.
The Bureau of Diplomatic Security discovered the bug when a Russian diplomat, Stanislav Borisovich Gusev, was caught roaming the streets just outside. U.S. counterintelligence officers discovered a receiver hidden beneath a box of facial tissues in his official Russian Embassy car, which he had carelessly parked down the street.
These revelations are disturbing enough in themselves, since they reveal a serious breach in our defenses against foreign spies. The White House is going to pin the blame on the FBI and the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security. They also undoubtedly will blame the Republican Congress, for cutting the State Department's overall budget in the past. Both accusations are not only wrong; they are an attempt to cover up the real responsibilities of the White House and administration appointees at the State Department.
Neither the FBI nor the Bureau of Diplomatic Security have bought on to the politically correct line of the Clinton-Gore administration that Russia has become America's best friend, and that the days of Cold War spying are over. On the contrary, in the years since Boris Yeltsin came to power in 1991, they have witnessed a resumption of Russian spying against the United States, and have kept a watchful eye on the activities of Russian intelligence agents operating in Washington and elsewhere around the country.
Intelligence operatives do not like to get caught, even if punishment is limited to getting expelled from their host country. Planting a bug inside a secure conference room at the State Department shows a brazenness on the part of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) that suggests they knew they could get away with it.
On Saturday, The Washington Times reported that changes in security procedures at the State Department a year ago had left the building "wide open" to any intruder who possessed a card with a properly coded magnetic stripe. Quoting State Department sources, The Times reported that the department had dropped a requirement that people entering the building on weekend and after hours on weekdays had to show their picture identification cards to a guard before swiping them through the electronic lock.
That seemed to point in the direction of an inside job; after all, not just anyone can get a properly coded State Department access card. Right?
Wrong. On "Meet the Press" last Sunday, the former head of counterespionage at the Central Intelligence Agency, Paul Redmond, revealed the stunning fact that the State Department had given Russian diplomats "no escort" magnetic cards, allowing them to enter the building by themselves, without identifying themselves to guards, and to roam the building at will. "There was a spasm of naivete at the end of the Cold War that we're now all friends," Mr. Redmond said politely. If that's not enough of a shocker, Mr. Redmond added that the Defense Intelligence Agency had taken a similar move, issuing magnetic passes to Russian military attaches that allowed them free access to DIA headquarters at Bolling Air Force base.
Rep. Porter J. Goss, Florida Republican and a former CIA officer who now chairs the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, added that security inside the most sensitive areas of the State Department building was so deplorable that someone had gained access to the personal office of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright two years ago and swiped her classified daily briefing book "right off her desk."
Mr. Goss vowed to hold hearings to determine who was responsible for such grotesque security lapses. But if the case of the suspected Chinese nuclear spy, Wen Ho Lee, is any example, the administration will use every stalling technique in the book to frustrate congressional inquiry, and will use sympathetic journalists to spin the story into other, less dangerous areas.
Congress needs to find out who gave the order to issue magnetic access badges to Russian diplomats, and who was aware of it. They need to find out whether this order came from the White House or from the State Department. If the State Department alone was involved, why did the DIA issue a similar order? They need to find out how many badges were issued, and whether they can now be forged. A total reassessment of security at all U.S. government facilities must now be undertaken. This will be time-consuming, and costly. But it must be done.
Only someone at a very senior level could have issued such an order. Was that official acting out of naivete? Or did he or she have a more sinister purpose?
In September, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott told a Russian journalist that the future of U.S. national missile defense would be decided by Russia, not the U.S. people. Earlier last year, he noted that the United States would not exist in the coming century, because world government will make the nation-state a thing of the past.
These are not cavalier or incautious statements: They reflect the mindset and underlying philosophy of this administration. In such an atmosphere, issuing permanent security badges that allow Russian spies to roam secure government offices at will must seem like a natural thing to do. In a previous era, Americans would have called it treason. Today we just wring our hands, and say it's time for grown-ups to return to government.
Kenneth R. Timmerman is a contributing editor for Reader's Digest magazine.
---
U.S. Military Ready for Y2K After $3.4 Billion Fix
New York Times December 16, 1999 Filed at 1:08 p.m. ET By Reuters
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/technology/tech-usa-military.html
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. military computers and weapons are now ready for high-tech war after the critical Y2K roll-over on Dec. 31, thanks to a $3.6 billion fix over the past 18 months, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
``I think it was nearly miraculous,'' Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre told a news conference to announce that more than 7,600 U.S. military computer systems had been fixed, tested and were ready to advance to the year 2000 without major confusion.
``This is a war-fighting issue for us. This isn't a computer geek issue. We are ready. We anticipate absolutely no problems in the Department of Defense,'' Hamre said.
He also echoed a statement from the British Defense Ministry on Thursday that no nuclear missile warning crisis was expected between the western allies and Russia because of possible computer glitches in Moscow.
Hamre and other officials said the Pentagon had provided Russia with about $10 million to help secure its nuclear weapons system and they were confident there would be no missile warning crisis between Moscow and Washington as the new year dawned.
He told reporters the Russian Defense Ministry had assured the Pentagon that its computers would not precipitate a crisis by perhaps mistakenly indicating a U.S. nuclear attack and that a U.S.-Russian military team to be set up in Colorado next week would help avert such a problem.
``We really do not worry about Russia missiles going off or early-warning systems giving false reports or anything like that,'' said Hamre.
``When they tell us that their radar systems are not going to suddenly plot trajectories of incoming U.S. missiles, we believe them.''
The Pentagon said all but two of its 2,101 ``mission critical'' military computer systems such as those involved with missile warning radars had been upgraded over the last 18 months at a cost of $3.6 billion. Those two systems are used internally by the Defense Mapping Agency and will be fixed in January.
A total of about 5,500 military computer systems ranging from bookkeeping to payroll have also been updated and are ready to go, said Hamre.
``People will get paid,'' he told reporters.
Navy Rear Admiral Robert Willard, deputy director for current readiness and capabilities on the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. defense computers had been repeatedly tested worldwide and were ready to go.
Both Hamre and Willard also said the military computers of NATO allies were generally prepared for the new year although that readiness varied from country to country.
Some U.S. military families could be affected overseas if local power and other systems fail, Hamre said, but U.S. troops and weapons would not be affected by such problems.
Hamre said there was some concern that computer hackers might try to take advantage of confusion in the new year period and that viruses might be planted in defense computers that would be triggered by the roll-over.
He said that special precautions were being taken to detect and neutralize such viruses.
----------- y2k
Pentagon Confident on Y2K Readiness
New York Times December 16, 1999 Filed at 1:42 p.m. EST By The Associated Press
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-Y2K-Military.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pentagon leaders have ``100 percent confidence'' the far-flung network of computers controlling U.S. nuclear forces, early warning radars and other vital defense systems will operate normally in the new year, a top Pentagon official said Thursday.
``We anticipate absolutely no problems in the Department of Defense,'' John Hamre, the deputy secretary of defense, told a news conference. He said the Pentagon spent $3.6 billion to make 99.9 percent of its thousands of computer systems Y2K ready.
He and other Pentagon officials were less certain, however, about the potential for Y2K-related problems in other countries that could affect U.S. troops overseas.
``I think you can anticipate there are going to be some problems'' with computer systems abroad, Hamre said. He added, however, there is little likelihood these problems would lead to military hostilities.
``I think we're going to be fine,'' Hamre said.
As a precaution, as 1999 ends, all U.S. troops stationed abroad will operate at a slightly higher alert level than those in the United States, said Adm. Bob Willard, a Y2K planner for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The Pentagon counts 2,101 of its computer systems as ``mission critical,'' meaning their operation is vital to the military carrying out its duties around the globe. Of those, only two are not ready for Y2K, Hamre said. Those two, which operate intelligence systems, will not be needed until May.
Another 5,488 Pentagon computers are ``non mission critical.'' All but 10 of them have been made Y2K compliant.
There is no way to be sure if the Russian military will have significant problems come Jan. 1, Hamre said. Russian officials have assured Washington they expect no major problems.
``We have 100 percent confidence on our side,'' Hamre said, and are reasonably confident the Russians are ready, too.
A group of 18 to 20 Russian military officers will join a like number of American officers at a Center for Y2K Strategic Stability in Colorado Springs, Colo., starting Dec. 28, to share missile early-warning radar data. The purpose is to reassure both Washington and Moscow that neither side misinterprets any missile-related activity or radar failures around the globe during the Y2K rollover, Hamre said.
Also, the Washington-Moscow ``hot line'' communication system to be used in time of crisis has been made Y2K ready, Hamre said.
``We really do not worry about Russia's missiles going off,'' Hamre said. He acknowledged, however, the Pentagon has very little firsthand knowledge of the degree of Russian preparations for Y2K.
``A lot of our confidence is based on what they tell us,'' Hamre said, as well as the knowledge that Moscow historically has taken great pains to ensure the Kremlin has firm control over its military forces.
``Russia is a society and a military establishment that has placed an enormous premium on positive control of the forces from the central leadership,'' he said.
The Y2K bug stems from programming in older software that expresses only the last two digits of a year. Uncorrected systems cannot distinguish between 2000 and 1900 and might suffer complications after Dec. 31.
Hamre said the Pentagon anticipates encountering computer viruses that have been set up by hackers to activate at midnight Dec. 31. ``We're apprehensive enough about it that we put special watch procedures in place,'' Hamre said.
---
U.S. military finishes costly Y2K fixes
CNET News December 16, 1999, 5:30 p.m. PT By Reuters Special to CNET News.com
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1009-200-1498896.html?tag=st
WASHINGTON--U.S. military computers and weapons are now ready for high-tech war after the critical Y2K rollover on Dec. 31 because of a $3.6 billion fix over the past 18 months, the Pentagon said today.
"I think it was nearly miraculous," deputy defense secretary John Hamre told a news conference to announce that more than 7,600 U.S. military computer systems have been fixed, tested and are ready to advance to the year 2000 without major confusion.
"This is a war-fighting issue for us," he said. "This isn't a computer geek issue. We are ready. We anticipate absolutely no problems in the Department of Defense."
He also echoed a statement from the British Defense Ministry that no nuclear missile warning crisis is expected between the western allies and Russia because of possible computer glitches in Moscow.
Hamre and other officials said the Pentagon has provided Russia with about $10 million to help secure its nuclear weapons system and they are confident there will be no missile warning crisis between Moscow and Washington as the New Year dawns.
He told reporters that the Russian Defense Ministry has assured the Pentagon that its computers will not precipitate a crisis by perhaps mistakenly indicating a U.S. nuclear attack and that a U.S.-Russian military team will be set up in Colorado next week to help avert such a problem.
"We really do not worry about Russian missiles going off or early-warning systems giving false reports or anything like that," said Hamre.
"When they tell us that their radar systems are not going to suddenly plot trajectories of incoming U.S. missiles, we believe them."
The Pentagon said all but two of its 2,101 "mission critical" military computer systems, such as those involved with missile warning radar, have been upgraded over the last 18 months at a cost of $3.6 billion. Those two systems are used internally by the Defense Mapping Agency and will be fixed in January.
A total of about 5,500 military computer systems--ranging from bookkeeping to payroll--have also been updated and are ready to go, said Hamre.
Navy rear admiral Robert Willard, deputy director for current readiness and capabilities on the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. defense computers have been repeatedly tested worldwide and are ready to go.
Both Hamre and Willard said the military computers of NATO allies are generally prepared for the New Year although readiness variesfrom country to country.
Some U.S. military families could be affected overseas if local power and other systems fail, Hamre said, but U.S. troops and weapons will not be affected by such problems.
Hamre said there was some concern that computer hackers might try to take advantage of confusion in the New Year period and that viruses might be planted in defense computers that would be triggered by the rollover.
He said that special precautions are being taken to detect and neutralize such viruses.
---
U.S. Power Industry Ready for Y2K
Associated Press Thursday, Dec. 16, 1999; 3:25 p.m. EST By Larry Knutson
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991216/aponline152542_000.htm
WASHINGTON -- The nation's gas and electric utilities are ready for the new year, having made the last of the corrections necessary to avoid the Y2K bug, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said Thursday.
"The nation should be ready for the Y2K rollover" without widespread power outages, Richardson said. He offered this advice: "Stay cool, don't panic, plan as for a winter storm - and that's it."
Richardson and the executives of the American power industry said, however, that they are ready for any contingency and will have hundreds of thousands of workers in place or standing by when the clock hits midnight on Dec. 31.
Except for accidents and winter storms, they expect a normal, uneventful, stress-free New Year's Eve with no widespread loss of light or heat.
"We expect this to be a non-event," said John M. Derrick Jr., president and chief executive officer of Washington-based PEPCO, the Potomac Electric Power Co.
The millennium bug, or Y2K, stems from older computer coding that identified dates with the last two numbers only - "99" for 1999, for example. When the year switches to 2000, some computers with that coding will think it's 1900, causing them to malfunction or crash.
Over the last two years the federal government has led a nationwide crash prevention program to prepare for the changeover, spending billions of dollars in the effort.
Meanwhile, the United Nations-organized International Y2K Cooperation Center said Thursday that the world's more than 430 nuclear plants were ready for the new year. They "will operate as safely as they normally do," the report said.
The report cautioned, however, that some support systems in the world's nuclear plants are not Y2K-ready.
Those computers don't have a direct bearing on safety, but failures "can reduce the ability of operators to analyze and respond to degraded equipment conditions," which ultimately could reduce safety and efficiency, the report said.
The report said potentially date-sensitive systems in modern nuclear plants can control plant operations, including initiating a reactor shutdown. But it added that, "nuclear plants have multiple layers of procedures and systems to enable safe operation or shutdown, even if primary systems fail to operate correctly."
There are nuclear plants in 31 countries, generating about 17 percent of the world's electricity. The first nuclear plant to experience the date rollover - at 7 a.m. EST Dec. 31 - will be in eastern Russia, followed by nuclear plants in Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan.
Richardson said it's a good idea to take normal precautions for a long winter weekend in which storms are possible over large regions of the country. He advised stocking a flashlight, a battery operated radio and a weekend's worth of food.
His final advice: "Do not listen to rumors."
---
Gas, Electric Firms Said Y2K-Ready
Washington Post Thursday, Dec. 16, 1999; 5:26 p.m. EST The Associated Press
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991216/aponline172654_000.htm
WASHINGTON (AP) - The nation's gas and electric utilities are ready for the new year, having made the last of the corrections necessary to avoid the Y2K bug, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson said today. Richardson and the executives of the American power industry said, however, that they are ready for any contingency and will have hundreds of thousands of workers in place or standing by when the clock hits midnight on Dec. 31. "The nation should be ready for the Y2K rollover" without widespread power outages, Richardson said. He offered this advice: "Stay cool, don't panic, plan as for a winter storm - and that's it."
Pentagon Confident on Y2K Readiness
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon has "100 percent confidence" that the computers that operate critical military systems such as nuclear forces and missile warning radars will not fail at year-end, senior defense officials said today. They add, however, that they cannot be certain that U.S. forces stationed abroad will not encounter some difficulties. Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre said there may be some problems, but there's little likelihood they would lead to military hostilities.
---
Y2K LOG: A Millennium Potpourri
Washington Post Thursday, December 16, 1999; Page C01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/16/271l-121699-idx.html
The approach of the millennium has caused the following to happen:
* MOSCOW--The head of Russia's strategic missile forces has invited reporters to spend New Year's Eve in his main command bunker near Moscow to dispel fears that Y2K computer glitches might send up a nuclear missile by mistake.
* BERLIN--Two city officials have charged that the centerpiece of the city's millennium celebration, a huge, animated "light sculpture" beaming 250 floodlights 44 miles into the sky, is reminiscent of the spectacles put on at Nazi rallies in the 1930s.'
---
Agencies Get Message Out To 'Stay Cool' About Y2K Defense, Energy Confirm Readiness, Urge Public To Prepare
Washington Post Friday, December 17, 1999; Page A39 By Stephen Barr and Peter Behr
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-12/17/104l-121799-idx.html
Clinton administration officials launched a Y2K blitz yesterday, offering a message that Energy Secretary Bill Richardson neatly summarized as, "Stay cool, don't panic."
Richardson spoke at a Potomac Electric Power Co. control center in Montgomery County, where he said the nation's electric and gas utilities have made the repairs to avoid any computer disruptions at the start of the new year.
"We'll be ready to celebrate with the lights on," he said.
At the Pentagon, Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre declared, "We're ready." In case anyone doubted how seriously the Defense Department views vanquishing the so-called millennium bug, he said, "This isn't a computer geek issue; this is a war-fighting issue."
Over the last month, the White House has quietly encouraged officials to get out and talk about how agencies fixed their computer systems and remind the public that federal officials will be on duty during the holiday weekend to guard against any Y2K glitches. The administration hopes the drumbeat will prove reassuring to Americans in the closing weeks of 1999.
Two years ago, computer experts and some members of Congress doubted that some large government agencies, such as the Defense Department, would be able to sift through millions of lines of codes and make the fixes before Jan. 1. But virtually all agencies repaired the bulk of their systems before autumn.
"I think it was nearly miraculous," Hamre said of the Pentagon's effort. Only 18 months ago, he said, 25 percent of Defense Department systems were Y2K-ready, but yesterday only two minor intelligence systems awaited fixes.
The Pentagon spent $3.6 billion to fix 2,101 "mission critical" systems and several thousand "non-mission critical" computers, and to test for hidden or overlooked problems. The systems included global communication networks, nuclear weapons systems, battlefield command systems, hospital equipment and payroll.
Hamre said he would probably be at the Pentagon at midnight on New Year's Eve but he discouraged most staff members from coming in.
"The one thing I don't want to create is a story with 500 cars in the parking lot at the Pentagon, and then you all report that the Pentagon is worried and working overtime. We're not worried," he said.
Richardson and James Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, urged the public to approach New Year's weekend as they would a three-day winter storm, just in case some local areas suffer electronic disruptions.
"Have enough food and supplies, have enough fresh batteries and flashlights and clothing. And then stay cool," Richardson said.
The Year 2000 computer problem, known as Y2K, stems from the use of two-digit dates in many older systems. Those systems might misinterpret '00' as 1900, not 2000, and could malfunction or shut down.
Despite efforts to fix the systems, administration officials cautioned that they cannot guarantee that all computers will work on Jan. 1. The White House has set up a command center, which will start operating at year's end, to watch for any Y2K problems.
Yesterday, Clinton's chief Y2K adviser, John A. Koskinen, announced the creation of a new industry group that will join the federal monitoring effort. The group, called the Y2K Cyber Assurance National Information Center, will be on guard to protect the Internet from Year 2000 glitches, computer hackers and viruses.
The Justice Department also plans to operate a Y2K command center during the holiday weekend. Special teams will be on alert to spot any terrorists attempting to take advantage of Y2K and to monitor major electronic systems for signs of cyber-attacks.
"The world as we know it is not going to end," Koskinen said. "But on the other hand, there are certainly going to be some glitches. This is a unique problem. Everybody as a minimum should be prepared for a long winter weekend."
----------- terrorism
Jordan Seizes 13 and Links Them to Afghan Explosives Training
New Yok Times December 16, 1999 By REUTERS
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/world/jordon-terrorists.html
AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 15 -- Jordan said today that it had arrested 11 Jordanians, an Iraqi and an Algerian who were planning terrorist attacks here after having trained with explosives in Afghanistan.
United States officials in Washington said that the suspects were believed to be followers of Osama bin Laden and that the case was one reason why Washington issued a worldwide warning on Saturday to American citizens about a terrorist threat.
A spokesman for the White House, Joe Lockhart, said, "We certainly believe these were members of bin Laden's organization that posed a threat to Americans."
Jordan made its announcement a day after the United States said about 12 followers of Mr. bin Laden who were planning to attack Americans this month had been arrested in the Mideast.
Prime Minister Abdel Rauf Rawabdeh told Parliament that the suspects were returning from Afghanistan and were planning "to carry out operations on the Jordanian arena."
Mr. Rawabdeh made no reference to Mr. bin Laden or the targets here, but said those arrested had received military training in camps in Afghanistan and had entered Jordan on forged passports. Three members of the ring were at large outside Jordan, he said.
Information Minister Ayman al-Majali told Reuters Television that those arrested included 11 Jordanians. He refused to say to what their group was or detail their targets, saying that the men were being interrogated and that more information would be released after the investigation had been completed.
A United States official in Washington who insisted on anonymity said the arrests "were not the only ones in connection with suspected terrorist threats in recent weeks, and arrests have taken place in other places."
He would not announce where other than to say they were mainly in the Mideast nor give a number of those detained.
In Amman, the official news agency, Petra, said the group had been arrested in the early stages of planning terrorist attacks. The agency added that suspects had been trained with explosives and weapons and that they had possessed forged Jordanian and foreign passports, as well as other fake documents and stamps.
American officials said on Tuesday that Washington had told the Taliban governors of Afghanistan that it would hold them responsible for attacks on Americans by Mr. bin Laden's followers. A spokesman for the State Department, James Foley, said the United States sent the warning on Monday, after law-enforcement authorities abroad had arrested followers of Mr. bin Laden in connection with a threat to attack Americans around Dec. 31.
The Taliban dismissed the warnings today as baseless and said that the warnings were part of worldwide American propaganda against the group. Mr. bin Laden, the Taliban added, was not allowed to carry out political or military acts against any country.
Mr. bin Laden, accused by Washington of being behind the destruction of its embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in August 1998, lives in Afghanistan under Taliban protection.
Diplomats based here Amman have said they voiced fears recently that Arab Afghans were increasingly using Jordan as a transit route to other countries in the region.
---
FBI Veteran To Lead Terrorism Unit
Associated Press December 16, 1999 Filed at 2:59 p.m. EST
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/w/AP-FBI-Terrorism-Chief.html
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dale Watson, a 21-year veteran of the FBI, was appointed Thursday to run the bureau's new counterterrorism division.
Watson has considerable experience in counterterror investigations. He also served in 1996 as deputy chief of the CIA's counterterrorism center in a widely praised program of CIA-FBI personnel exchanges designed to replace the longstanding rivalry between the two agencies with cooperation.
Consolidating offices from the national security and criminal investigative divisions, the new division was established last month to put all FBI counterterrorism work under one senior executive.
Bureau executives, the Justice Department inspector general, congressional and other outside investigators had said the growth of terrorism often preoccupied national security division executives, distracting them from catching foreign spies.
Several panels blamed this workload in part for what they called an ineffective investigation of alleged Chinese nuclear spying.
``Dale Watson brings to this critical assignment a wealth of counterterrorism experience and successes,'' said FBI Director Louis J. Freeh. ``He has distinguished himself in a number of other investigative, supervisory and leadership positions.''
Watson, who will be an assistant director in his new post, has been deputy assistant director for the national security division, responsible for counterterrorism. In the new division, he will oversee domestic and international terrorism sections, the National Infrastructure Protection Center, which guards against computer crime, and the National Domestic Preparedness Office, which trains local units to respond to chemical, biological or nuclear attacks.
Watson joined the FBI in 1978 in Birmingham, Ala., and later served in New York, Washington and Kansas City.
During 1991-94, he was chief of the Iran unit of the counterterrorism section and in 1997-98 was chief of the international terrorism section.
A native of Florida, he was graduated from Florida State University in 1972 and served more than 5 years as a U.S. Army infantry officer.
-----------
Public opinion poll shows Congress is out of step
December 16, 1999
http://insidedenver.com:80/jensen/1216jense.shtml
Every year since 1955 the nonpartisan Foreign Policy Association has polled Americans in every state of the union to see how their views jibe with those of their representatives in Washington.
And every year Congress seems out of step with public opinion, at least that portion which pays attention to foreign affairs.
The 1999 National Opinion Ballot Report is based on 27,525 ballots, with roughly 3,500 participants responding to each of eight topics. The five states that submitted the largest number of ballots were California, Florida, Arizona, New York and Illinois.
Highlights of the survey:
85 percent favor ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which the Senate refused to ratify.
83 percent favor further reductions of U.S. nuclear weapons, 82 percent want to increase aid to Russia to help dismantle its weapons and 86 percent want to include China in future START treaties. The Senate ratified START II in 1996, but some of its members object to a ceiling of 3,500 warheads and recoil at the thought of START III, whose suggested ceiling would be 2,000 warheads.
67 percent oppose abandoning the 27-year-old Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, which Sen. Jesse Helms wants to consign to "the dustbin of history." They also oppose a missile defense shield strongly advocated by Congress and belatedly embraced by the Clinton administration.
81 percent believe the new global economy is good for the United States. This runs contrary to the violent protests we witnessed at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle and the pronouncements of protectionists in Congress who believe globalization erodes American jobs and degrades the environment.
79 percent want to lift the U.S. embargo on Cuba and recognize Fidel Castro's regime. They oppose the Helms-Burton Act, designed to punish foreign firms that do business with Cuba, and express great annoyance with congressional Cold Warriors who continue to cater to hardline Cuban exiles in Miami intent on keeping the 37-year-old embargo in place.
80 percent want to lift sanctions on Iran and allow American firms to do business there. Not only do they oppose the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, they want Washington to be more conciliatory toward the moderate regime of President Mohammad Khatami and make "concrete concessions" that would permit a renewal of normal diplomatic relations with Iran. Neither Congress nor the Clinton administration seems inclined to do so.
72 percent want the United States to pay its United Nations arrears immediately, and only 20 percent favor payment in accordance with strictures imposed by the Helms-Biden Act, which requires U.N. cost-cutting and other reforms. Contrary to congressional critics and those who fear a "one-world government," the United Nations is greatly admired by most of the poll respondents.
56 percent oppose letting Congress veto U.S. participation in U.N. peacekeeping operations. "A U.N. hamstrung by national intrusions and at the beck and call of affected members would be crippled," they say.
The only questions where Americans showed even partial agreement with Congress was on NATO enlargement -- 54 percent favor expanding the Atlantic alliance but 53 percent do not want Russia included -- and a distaste for the International Monetary Fund, with 50 percent opposed to increased U.S. funding for the IMF.
A majority of poll respondents thought strict conditions attached to IMF loans aggravate rather than solve the economic problems of countries in crisis, and 69 percent said IMF assistance creates a "moral hazard" where well-intentioned efforts aimed at ameliorating financial difficulties often end up encouraging reckless behavior by the countries involved.
Helmut Norpoth, director of studies for the FPA, cautions that "these are the opinions of attentive and informed people interested in foreign affairs -- not necessarily representative of Americans at large." But more Americans pay attention to foreign policy than Congress gives them credit for, and they have one final criticism that hits home.
More than half believe television newscasts "trivialize" international issues and object to newspapers cutting back on coverage of foreign affairs just as our international responsibilities are growing.
Holger Jensen is international editor. E-mail: hjens@aol.com. His column also appears on the Internet atwww.rockymountainnews.com/jensen/
------- wto
The World Trade Organization and War: Making the Connection The World Trade Organization has become the most powerful international institution in the world. Its power over governments is undermining peace and human rights, and promoting military spending and the arms trade.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a 134-country organization that governs international trade by facilitating trade agreements and then enforcing them when member governments have trade disputes. The WTO administers the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and many other agreements covering services, government procurement, intellectual property, investment measures, and more.
But the WTO's power goes far beyond trade. It sets limits on how governments may regulate national economies on behalf of their citizens and in doing so affects almost every aspect of people's lives.
The WTO views many government services and policies - such as public education, public health care, environmental regulations and industrial programs -- as unfair interference in the free market. When governments challenge other governments' policies before WTO dispute panels, the WTO rules on whether the policies are unfairly interfering with trade. If they are, member governments must change or eliminate the offending laws, or face billions of dollars in WTO-authorized trade sanctions.
The WTO undermines social justice, the environment, jobs and food safety through its power over governments. At the same time, the WTO bolsters military spending, weapons production and the international weapons trade.
GATT Article XXI: The Security Exception
The WTO is based on the premise that the only legitimate role for governments is to provide for a military to protect the country, and a police force to ensure order within it, And so while the WTO attacks social and environmental policies, it protects the war industry through a "security exception" in the GATT (Article XXI).
The security exception allows governments free reign for actions taken in the name of national security. It states that a country can not be stopped from taking any action it considers necessary to protect its essential security interests; actions "relating to the traffic in arms, ammunition and implements of war and such traffic in other goods and materials as is carried on directly for the purpose of supplying a military establishment (or) taken in time of war or other emergency in international relations."[1] Article XXI is the most powerful exception in the WTO because governments define for themselves their "essential security interests" and protect what they want by couching it in these terms.
The WTO Spurs Military Spending: The Bombardier Case
In shielding the war industry from WTO challenges, the security exception ends up stimulating government military spending and militarizing the economy. The danger is that governments will only be able to promote jobs, new emerging industries, or high-tech manufacturing through military spending.
There is evidence this is already happening. In 1999, a WTO dispute panel ruled against Canada and its Technology Partnerships Canada program -- a program that subsidizes the aerospace and defence industry. The program was being used by Bombardier Aerospace to build and export regional passenger jets. But the WTO ruled the non-military subsidies were unfair, and struck them down.
Canadian aerospace and defence corporations, which build both civilian and military aircraft, were worried that they would lose their subsidies because of the WTO ruling, but the Canadian government has redesigned the program to be WTO-friendly. As if to not risk another WTO challenge, the Department of National Defence announced in October a $30 million annual subsidy program for weapons corporations to develop new weapons.[2] This new program won't be challenged at the WTO, as it falls within the GATT's national security exception. It can hence fund Bombardier's military production.
Through this security exception, any government can continue to subsidize military corporations, some of the largest transnational corporations in the world.
The WTO Protects Human Rights Violators: The Burma Case
The WTO's objective of a global free market has resulted in trade rules that don't allow governments to take political, social, environmental or social justice issues into account when deciding what or from whom to buy, These trade rules can be used to prevent governments from using tools such as economic sanctions to promote peace and human rights. Such was the case when activists used anti-apartheid style measures to promote peace and democracy in Burma.
Amnesty International has consistently criticized Burma's (Myanmar's) military government for its terrible human rights record. Peace and human rights activists have worked to have Western governments impose sanctions on Burma to force democratic reforms. In 1996, activists succeeded in having Massachusetts (and twenty municipalities and counties across the United States) pass a law preventing government contracts from being issued to companies doing business with Burma.
The Massachusetts' legislation was similar to its anti-apartheid legislation in the 1980s. But today such government laws can be challenged -- and the WTO can be used to protect corporate interests. Both the European Union and Japan challenged Massachusetts' law as a violation of the WTO's Agreement on Government Procurement, stating that Burma and companies that did business with Burma were being unfairly discriminated against.
Before the WTO could convene a dispute panel, a corporate lobby group -- supported by the E.U. and Japan -- stepped in and sued Massachusetts in domestic courts, under the pretext the state had exceeded its authority. Massachusetts lost the case and the court overturned the law and all similar laws in the U.S.
"If we had rulings like this in the '70s and '80s, the United States would not have been able to participate in the anti-apartheid movement," said Massachusetts State Representative Byron Rushing, who sponsored the Burma bill. "I am glad these judges weren't around then or Mandela might still be in jail."[3]
The WTO Undermines Peace
Proponents of globalization argue that globalization ends up improving living standards for everyone. The United Nations, among other groups, disagrees: "The prevailing view that international trade liberalization and deregulation provide the best guarantee for economic and social rights through growth is belied by the facts."[4]
Peace is achieved through a common security of all people and nations -- a security achieved through adequate housing and food, basic education, proper health care, and a clean environment. But WTO dispute panels have consistently struck down clean air, food safety, economic development, and environmental laws. Clearly, the WTO's agenda works against peace-building initiatives, and actually promotes and rewards war preparations. ###
-GATT 1994, Article XXI.
-Canadian Press, "$30 million for defence contractors," October 18, 1999.
-Frank Philips, "US Court Overturns Burma Law," The Boston Globe, June 23 1999.
-United Nations Commission on Human Rights, The Realization of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, July 19, 1999
-Factsheets produced by the Public Education for Peace Society, November 1999.
For more information:
End the Arms Race: www.peacewire.org
Center for Defense Information: www.cdi.org
Project Ploughshares: www.ploughshares.ca
International Network on Disarmament and Globalization: www.indg.org
No. 6 in a series of papers on militarism and globalization
END the ARMS RACE
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