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Pakistan feared as source of nuclear terror

By Khalid Hasan

Washington: Pakistan and Russia have been called “nations of greatest concern” as potential sources of nuclear weapon or fissile material leaks to terrorists.

A new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) on nuclear terrorism said, “The fear regarding Pakistan is that some members of the armed forces might covertly give a weapon to terrorists or that, if President Musharraf were overthrown, an Islamic fundamentalist government or a state of chaos in Pakistan might enable terrorists to obtain a weapon.” While, the report concedes, it would be difficult for terrorists to mount a nuclear attack on a US city, such an attack is plausible and would have catastrophic consequences, in one scenario killing over a half-million people and causing damage of over $1 trillion. “Terrorists or rogue states might acquire a nuclear weapon in several ways. The nations of greatest concern as potential sources of weapons or fissile materials are widely thought to be Russia and Pakistan.”

Russia, the report notes, has many tactical nuclear weapons, which tend to be lower in yield but more dispersed and apparently less secure than strategic weapons. It also has much highly enriched uranium (HEU) and weapons grade plutonium, some said to have inadequate security. Many experts believe that technically sophisticated terrorists could, without state support, fabricate a nuclear bomb from HEU. However, opinion is divided on whether terrorists could make a bomb using plutonium.

CRS warns that terrorists might also obtain HEU from the more than 130 research reactors worldwide. “If terrorists acquired a nuclear weapon, they could use many means in an attempt to bring it into the United States. This nation has many thousands of miles of land and sea borders, as well as several hundred ports of entry. Terrorists might smuggle a weapon across lightly-guarded stretches of borders, ship it in using a cargo container, place it in a hold of a crude oil tanker, or bring it in using a truck, a boat, or a small airplane,” argues the analysis.

The report describes the architecture of the US response as “layered defence.” The goal is to try to block terrorists at various stages in their attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon and smuggle it into the US. The underlying concept is that the probability of success is higher if many layers are used rather than just one or two. Layers include threat reduction programmes in the former USSR, efforts to secure HEU worldwide, control of former Soviet and other borders, the Container Security Initiative and Proliferation Security Initiative, and US border security.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_7-10-2004_pg7_6

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20041007/300200000020041007192304E0.html

2004/10/07 19:28 KST

South Korea Seizes Three Chinese Fishing Boats in its EEZ

MOKPO, Oct. 7 (Yonhap) -- Three Chinese fishing boats were seized Thursday for violating South Korea's western territorial waters, local police said.

Mokpo Maritime Police Agency said it seized the three ships, including a 43-ton Chinese fishing vessel, and detained several sailors on board for illegally operating inside South Korea's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) on Thursday afternoon.

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20041006/301100000020041006112021E7.html

2004/10/06 11:20 KST

More Chinese Fishing in South Korean Waters, Military Says

SEOUL, Oct. 6 (Yonhap) -- A growing number of Chinese fishing boats are sneaking into South Korean waters near the border with North Korea, taking advantage of the military confrontation between the Koreas, a military agency said Wednesday in a document prepared for a parliamentary audit.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff, an operational command of combat units, said the number of Chinese boats catching fish in South Korean territory has increased more than seven times during the past two years. About 3,000 boats were noticed in 2002 and last year, 23,000. As of the end of September this year, 11,000 cases were found.

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=9C69D1D2-576F-45FA-8E53AC3482A912C0&title=US%20Considers%20Increasing%20Military%20Presence%20in%20Asia%2DPacific%20Region%20%20%20

US Considers Increasing Military Presence in Asia-Pacific Region
Nick Simeone
Pentagon
06 Oct 2004, 17:57 UTC

The Pentagon is planning to add another submarine to two others already deployed to the Pacific island of Guam, and is considering stationing an aircraft carrier strike group there as well. The deployments would put the U.S. military in a position to respond more quickly to a crisis in Asia, including one on the Korean peninsula. A third nuclear powered submarine is set to arrive at the U.S. naval base on Guam in December. The island is already home to two other attack submarines able to seek and destroy enemy vessels and the Navy is reported to be considering basing three more there as well, each with a crew of about 150 sailors.

In addition, the Defense Department has long been looking into moving an aircraft carrier battle group to either Guam or Hawaii. Guam is strategically located about four hours flying time from the Asian mainland, significantly reducing the travel time needed to respond to a regional crisis. The enhanced U.S. military presence would be part of an on-going realignment of U.S. forces overseas, with the Pentagon shifting personnel and assets to regions where threat levels suggest they may be needed.

While no final decisions have been made, the top U.S. military commander for the Pacific region has told Congress tensions on the Korean peninsula and the China-Taiwan issue demand an improved force presence and increased agility. James Lilley served as American ambassador to South Korea during the 1980s. The threat posed by North Korea, he says, does not come from the country's military, but from the risk that Pyongyang will use or pass on nuclear weapons to other nations or terrorists."Their military can be handled," he said. "[It's] their weapons of mass destruction. They know if they ever use nuclear, biological, chemical weapons in South Korea or Asia, they will be obliterated. Even [President] Clinton said this."

But South Korea is still wary of doing anything that could be read as a sign of weakness by the north. On Wednesday, the United States and South Korea announced both countries had agreed to a much slower withdrawal of some 12,000 American troops from the Korean peninsula than initially planned, a redeployment that will be carried out in stages over the next four years."As you've seen in the paper this morning, the South Koreans are pleading with us not to cut back unilaterally too soon and we've adjusted this to their time schedule, phasing it out over the next four or five years," James Lilley said.North Korea is already reacting to news of the possible enhanced U.S. military deployments. The country's official news agency calls them a very dangerous option by the United States, one that amounts to placing military pressure on Pyongyang, and suggests Washington should consider the consequences.