CBR Weapons and WMD Terrorism News-April 18, 2008

Eurasian Secret Services Daily Review: Russian army dispatches spies to Israel
“A former employee of the General Security Service (SHABAK) of Israel reveals methods of recruitment by the Russian military counter-intelligence agents for work in Israel. They stay under a kind of new repatriates in Israel, according to IzRus. […] Avraham Marcus Klingberg, revealed by ‘a double agent,’ nicknamed Samaritan, is considered the most high-ranking Soviet spy neutralized by the Israeli counter-intelligence. He was born in Warsaw in 1918, and in 1948 repatriated to Israel. At the moment of arrest he was one of the country’s leading experts in development of biological weapons and held a post of deputy head of the top-secret Israel Institute for Biological Research in Nes Tziona. Has [sic] started to cooperate with the KGB in 1950.” (Axis Information & Analysis; 16Apr08)
http://www.axisglobe.com/article.asp?article=1534

Man at center of Las Vegas ricin case arrested, charged
“Roger Bergendorff […] is charged with possession of a biological toxin and two weapons offenses stemming from materials authorities said were found Feb. 26 and Feb. 28 in his room at an extended-stay motel several blocks off the Las Vegas Strip. […] The three charges carry a possible penalty of 30 years in federal prison and a $750,000 fine […].” (Associated Press; 16Apr08; Ken Ritter)
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jHS90ne-2-wjkHu_N158TrQ_wJpwD9033BGO1

Crumbling state health labs flagged [Wisconsin]
“The testing of some of the most potentially dangerous substances is being done in outdated and overcrowded state labs, the State Building Commission was told Wednesday. In response, the commission approved $1.18 million to plan a $58 million facility that, starting in 2012, could house both the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene and the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection laboratories. […] ‘In the event of a serious biological incident or chemical incident, we would be very limited in our ability to appropriately or quickly respond to the needs of the state,’
Brokopp [Dr. Charles Brokopp, Wisconsin state hygiene lab director] said.”
(The Capital Times; 17Apr08; Kevin Murphy)
http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/topstories/282025

Emergency Preparedness Fair coming to Bentonville [Arkansas]
“But where to start? What is most important? Can people afford it? These questions and a lot more will be answered at the second annual Northwest Arkansas Emergency Preparedness Fair in Bentonville on April 26. […] There will be information about preparing for tornadoes, floods, house fires, medical emergencies and stranger danger, as well as issues such as personal safety and abuse. […] Medical helicopters, National Guard vehicles, a fire truck, fire gear and a smokehouse from the Bentonville Fire Department will be available for children to explore. There will also be a Civic Air Patrol simulator, an Emergency Mobile Command Unit and a bioterrorism trailer on site.” (The Benton County Daily Record; 16Apr08; Julia Bernards) http://nwanews.com/bcdr/News/60850/

Disease Detectives Help Communities, Nations with Outbreaks
“For every deadly fire or explosion that happens around the world, large numbers of terrified people can be seen running from the devastation. A very few - emergency responders - run toward the smoke and flames. A similar, but less well-known, phenomenon occurs when a lethal virus or bacterium invades a city or country, or an unknown chemical sickens or kills people in a community. […] EIS [Epidemic Intelligence Service] was established with 23 students in 1951 as an early warning system for biological warfare and intentional epidemics. Today it is a surveillance-and-response unit for epidemics, including chronic disease and injuries, all over the world. […] In October 2006, CDC [Center for Disease Control] was asked to investigate several illnesses and deaths from kidney failure in Panama. When the epidemiologists ‘counted,’ Hamilton said, ‘the one thing the [patients] had in common was cough syrup they had gotten from the government pharmacy.’” (News Blaze; 16Apr08; Cheryl Pellerin) http://newsblaze.com/story/20080416083949tsop.nb/newsblaze/WORLDNEW/World-News.html

$9 Billion for Bio Weapons Prevention and Defense in 2009, Total Spending Since 2001 Over $57 Billion
“In a new analysis released today, the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation reported that the U.S. government has spent or allocated over $48 billion to address the threat of biological weapons since September 2001. For fiscal year (FY) 2009, the Bush administration is proposing an additional $9 billion in bioweapons-related spending, approximately $2.5 billion (or 4%) more than the amount Congress appropriated in FY2008. The majority of the increase represents the release of the final $2.175 billion approved by Congress in 2004 for advanced development and procurement of medical countermeasures to biological weapons agents under Project BioShield.” (Common Dreams; 15Apr08; Alan Pearson) http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0415-16.htm

Great efficacy of the Cuban Antimeningococic Immunoglobulin
“In his statements to the AIN, the president of the Vaccine Experts Committee in Cuba underlined that this hemoderivative is an important option in the treatment of infectious diseases without vaccines or immunogens in certain stage that let to increase its use [sic]. […] The academician of the Academic of Sciences of Cuba stated that this alternative of passive hyperimmune specific therapy takes on special significance when outbreaks and epidemics of emergent and remergent affections appear in the world together with the threats of bioterrorism or biological wars.” (Cuban Daily News; 16Apr08) http://www.cubaheadlines.com/2008/04/16/10521/great_efficacy_of_the_cuban_antimeningococic_immunoglobulin.html

No one ready for next crisis, nurses warn
“The study, to be released today, began about two years after the SARS outbreak of 2003 claimed 44 lives in the Toronto area. It took more than three years to complete and included five focus groups comprised of 100 registered nurses, registered practical nurses and nurse managers. The sessions were conducted in Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax between November 2005 and February 2006. […] During a crisis, the health of front-line workers must be protected to meet ‘surge capacity’ needs. If it’s not, the health care workforce will shrink due to illness, quarantine and refusal to work, the study found. But the nurses surveyed said they were already working at maximum capacity. ‘The terrible secret is that there is no surge capacity,’ one participant told the researchers.”
(Ottawa Citizen; 17Apr08; Joanne Laucius).
http://www.canada.com/globaltv/national/health/story.html?id=61ac9a20-d08d-4cd4-a1e8-990253f03a19

Mission To Monitor Munitions Dumped Off Oahu [Hawaii]
“Members of the Waianae community want to know, what are the harmful affects of rotting chemical and conventional weapons dumped in leeward waters? Thousands of shells sit on coral reefs and the ocean floor and after 60 years, they are in a fragile state. […] ‘What we are doing in this next effort is to go back over a longer period of time, determine water quality and determine if there is a any sort of impact the aquatic life in that area,’ explained Tad Davis, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Environment, Safety and Occupational Health.” (KHNL NBC 8; 15Apr08; Beth Hillyer)
http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=8172965

Baghdad recognizes Anfal as genocide
“The KRG Minister of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs, Chinar Saad Abdullah, attended a session of Iraqi Parliament on April 14 […] She explained to Parliament members that the former Baath system used against her people the most brutal oppressions of ‘murder, displacement, genocide, rape, and use of chemical weapons.’ She added in her statement that these policies were used ‘to crack down on the (Kurdish) liberation movements, which were working to achieve legitimate ethnic and humanitarian rights and hopes also [sic] the chauvinist policy was practiced for removing the Kurdish ethnic identity.’” (The Kurdish Globe; 16Apr08; Ako Muhammed) http://www.kurdishglobe.net/displayArticle.jsp?id=71F7A3CB932CC06F89CE249AE499C6FB

Nerve agent detector on a chip
“A lab on a chip that can detect traces of sarin and related neurotoxins in a small drop of blood has been made by Nam-Trung Nguyen at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore~and colleagues at DSO National Laboratories, Singapore. Nguyen says that the device would allow the first responders to a terrorist strike, such as the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack, to quickly distinguish the 'worried well' from genuinely exposed individuals requiring treatment.” (Chemical Technology; 16Apr08; James Mitchell Crow) ttp://www.rsc.org/Publishing/ChemTech/Volume/2008/05/Nerve_agent_detector.asp

Scientists, critics say projected US missile defense system cannot work
“A group of prominent scientists who have been critical of missile defense plans told lawmakers Wednesday that a system being built by the United States cannot protect the country. […] ‘The primary responsibility, that of protecting the United States against attack by nuclear weapons or biological weapons, is a failure and will remain so for the foreseeable future, so long as MDA [Missile Defense Agency] attempts to carry it out by midcourse intercept,’ said Richard Garwin, a renowned physicist credited with playing a major role in the design of the first hydrogen bomb.” (International Herald Tribune; 17Apr08; Associated Press) http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/16/america/NA-GEN-US-Missile-Defense.php

CNS ChemBio-WMD Terrorism News is prepared by the Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Program of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in order to bring timely and focused information to researchers and policymakers interested in the fields of chemical, biological, and radiological weapons nonproliferation and WMD terrorism.