(CPC) Outreach Journal #1103

USAF Counterproliferation Center (CPC) Outreach Journal

Issue No. 1103, 21 February 2014 Welcome to the CPC Outreach Journal! As part of the CPC’s mission to develop Air Force, DoD, and other USG leaders to advance the state of knowledge, policy, and practices within strategic defense issues involving nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, we offer the government and civilian community a source of contemporary discussions on unconventional weapons. These discussions include news articles, papers, and other information sources that address issues pertinent to the U.S. national security community. It is our hope that this information resources will help enhance the overall awareness of these important national security issues and lead to the further discussion of options for dealing with the potential use of unconventional weapons. The CPC is seeking submissions for its annual General Charles A. Horner award, which honors the best original writing on issues relating to Air Force counter-WMD and nuclear enterprise operations. The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2014. For more information, please visit our web-site. The following news articles, papers, and other information sources do not necessarily reflect official endorsement of the Air University, U.S. Air Force, or Department of Defense. Reproduction for private use or commercial gain is subject to original copyright restrictions. All rights are reserved.

FEATURED ITEM: RAND Corporation Monograph, “The Future of the U.S. Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Force.” By Lauren Caston, Robert S. Leonard, Christopher A. Mouton, Chad J. R. Ohlandt, S. Craig Moore, Raymond E. Conley and Glenn Buchan; 184 pages, Feb 2014. http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/MG1200/MG1210/RAND_MG1210.pdf In the lead-up to the Air Force Ground Based Strategic Deterrent Analysis of Alternatives, RAND was asked to examine and assess possible intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) alternatives against the current Minuteman III system and to provide insights into the potential impact of further force reductions. The researchers developed a framework consisting of five categories — basing, propulsion, boost, reentry, and payload — to characterize alternative classes of ICBM and to assess the survivability and effectiveness of possible alternatives. Using existing cost analyses and cost data from historical ICBM programs, they derived likely cost bounds on alternative classes of ICBM systems. Finally, they developed force reduction scenarios, examined their impacts on several key nuclear specialty career fields to understand the implications of reductions on the current organizational structure, and compared sustainment and requirement profiles within the various reduction scenarios.

Outreach Journal Feedback or sign-up request: [email protected] Return to Top U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS 1. Could Nuclear Bombs Be Best Defense Against Asteroids? 2. AETC Commander: Changes Coming to Nuclear Missile Officer Training

U.S. COUNTER-WMD 1. USS Donald Cook Prepares for First Ballistic Missile Defense Patrol

HOMELAND SECURITY/THE AMERICAS 1. Kerry Tells Indonesia: Climate Change is a 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' 2. 3 Peace Activists Sentenced for Breaking into Nuclear Site

ASIA/PACIFIC 1. China's DF-25 Medium-Range Ballistic Missile Revealed 2. China Questions Japan on Weapons Grade Plutonium 3. Japan Secretly Developing Nuclear Weapons: Yazhou Zhoukan 4. Hainan's Yalong Bay: China's New Nuclear Submarine Base Issue No.1103, 21 February 2014 United States Air Force Counterproliferation Center| Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CPC Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 USAF Counterproliferation Center CPC Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama 5. S. Korea Seeks Cyber Weapons to Target North Korea’s Nukes 6. S. Korea, China Agree to Deepen Cooperation to Denuclearize N. Korea

EUROPE/RUSSIA 1. Russia to Set Up Arctic Military Command by 2015

MIDDLE EAST 1. Iranian Multi-Warhead Missile Seen as 'Extremely Unlikely' 2. Senior MP Terms Defense Program "Iran's Red Line" in N. Talks 3. Iran: Nuclear Talks to Focus on Centrifuges, Reactors 4. Iran's Khamenei Says He's Not Optimistic on Nuclear Talks 5. Report: White House Considering New Military Options in Syria 6. Iran Rejects U.S. Call for Inclusion of Missile Program in Nuclear Talks 7. Iran’s Nuclear Spokesman: Agreement Possible in 6 Months, if U.S. Shows Good Will 8. Iran, World Powers to Meet again on March 17 9. Iran’s Nuclear Energy Only Subject of Talks: Zarif 10. Iran Uranium Stockpile Falls 18% in Months Following Deal Start 11. IAEA Says Iran Secretly Working to Put Nukes on Mid-Range Missile 12. Syria to Miss Chemical Destruction Deadline

INDIA/PAKISTAN 1. Journalist-Turned-Militant Khurasani Wants to Seize Nukes, Topple Govt 2. Night Trial of Agni-I Missile Put Off 3. Nuke Programme ‘Central’ to Pakistan’s Defence: Army Chief

COMMENTARY 1. Compensate Missileers, Reassess ICBM Mission 2. US Missile Shield: ‘Russian Bear Sleeping with One Eye Open’ 3. Cheap and Dirty Bombs 4. Time to Sign a Super New START 5. The End of the New ICBM 6. Japan's Dangerous Obsession 7. Iran Has the Bomb

CBS News.com Could Nuclear Bombs Be Best Defense Against Asteroids? February 18, 2014 Nearly a year after a meteor unexpectedly exploded in the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia, wreaking millions of dollars in damage and more than 1,200 injuries, a team of scientists says there is a way to destroy these life- threatening asteroids before they break into the Earth's atmosphere. The solution, they say, is using nuclear bombs. They believe the weapons could safely destroy nearly any asteroid, even when there is minimal warning time, Space.com reported. The report coincides with another close call, the fly-by of an asteroid the size of three football fields which streaked past Earth Monday night at speeds of about 27,000 miles per hour. It came within about 2.1 million miles, a relatively small distance in galactic terms. The latest research on combatting the threat of an asteroid impact was presented at the 2014 NASA Innovative Advanced Conepts (NIAC) meeting on Feb. 6 by Dr. Bong Wie, director of the Asteroid Research Deflection Center

Air Force Times.com AETC Commander: Changes Coming to Nuclear Missile Officer Training By STEPHEN LOSEY, Staff Writer February 20, 2014 ORLANDO — The Air Force will make changes to how it trains its nuclear missileers in light of a widespread cheating scandal, the head of the Air Education and Training Command said Thursday. “This isn’t just Air Force Global Strike Command’s problem,” Gen. Robin Rand told reporters at the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium. “I take it very seriously. Every officer that’s in the missile career field was trained by who? Air Education and Training Command.” Rand said AETC is already reviewing how it trains missileers in light of the cheating scandal, that has entangled 92 officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont., and sidelined almost one-fifth of the entire intercontinental ballistic missile officer corps. “Any time there’s challenges in the Air Force, it behooves us to look at what we’re doing at the entry levels, at the pipelines,” Rand said.

Stars and Stripes – Washington, D.C. USS Donald Cook Prepares for First Ballistic Missile Defense Patrol By Steven Beardsley, Stars and Stripes February 17, 2014 ROTA, Spain — The fanfare of its arrival has passed, and the USS Donald Cook is preparing to make its first patrol in support of Europe’s ballistic missile defense patrol sometime in the next month. On a quiet, holiday morning when most of his sailors were away, Cmdr. Scott A. Jones, commanding officer of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer now anchored at this Navy base in southern Spain, spoke about the Cook’s mission and the recent move from Norfolk to Rota, where the crew was welcomed last week by Spanish and U.S. dignitaries, including Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. "I’ve got a million-and-one business cards,” Jones said. “I’m Rota’s latest social butterfly, as I told my wife.” The Cook is the first of four American destroyers to move to Rota over the next two years, each equipped with Aegis radar system and SM-3 missiles capable of intercepting medium-range ballistic missiles. Together the ships

The London Independent – London, U.K. Kerry Tells Indonesia: Climate Change is a 'Weapon of Mass Destruction' By Arshad Mohammed Sunday, 16 February 2014 Jakarta -- The US Secretary of State John Kerry has warned Indonesians that man-made climate change could threaten their way of life, deriding those who doubted the existence of “perhaps the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction”. Mr Kerry described those who do not accept that human activity causes global warming as “shoddy scientists” and “extreme ideologues”, and said big companies and special interests should not be allowed to “hijack” the climate debate. Aides said Mr Kerry had chosen Indonesia for the first of what is to be a series of speeches on the topic this year partly because, as an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, it is particularly at risk from rising sea levels. “Because of climate change, it’s no secret that today Indonesia is... one of the most vulnerable countries on Earth,” Mr Kerry told an audience of students in Jakarta on Sunday. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that the entire way of life that you live and love is at risk.” In the middle of a trip to Asia and the Middle East, Mr Kerry argued that it made no sense for some nations to act to stem climate change while others did nothing. “Think about the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. It doesn’t keep us safe if the United States secures its nuclear arsenal while other countries fail to prevent theirs from falling into the hands of terrorists,” he said. “It is the same thing with climate change. Climate change can now be considered another weapon of mass destruction, perhaps even the world’s most fearsome weapon of mass destruction.” Mr Kerry’s public push takes place against a backdrop of a negotiation among nearly 200 nations about a possible new global treaty on climate change that is scheduled to be agreed next year and to address greenhouse gas emissions from 2020. In Beijing on Friday, Mr Kerry announced that China and the US, the world’s largest emitters of such gases, had agreed to intensify information-sharing and policy discussions on their plans to limit greenhouse gas emissions after 2020. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/kerry-tells-indonesia-climate-change-is-a-weapon-of-mass- destruction-9132343.html Return to Top

The Washington Post Issue No.1103, 21 February 2014 United States Air Force Counterproliferation Center| Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CPC Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 6 USAF Counterproliferation Center CPC Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama 3 Peace Activists Sentenced for Breaking into Nuclear Site By Dan Zak February 18, 2014 KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Three peace activists who intruded onto a nuclear weapons site in July 2012 were sentenced Tuesday to 35 months or 62 months in prison by a federal judge, three weeks after he ordered them to pay $53,000 in restitution for damaging the site’s security systems and defacing a storage facility that contains the United States’s stockpile of weapons-grade uranium. “If all that energy and passion was devoted to changing the laws, perhaps real change would’ve occurred by today,” said U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar, after praising the three for their consciences and good works. The judge, who imposed sentences that were lower than what the government requested, said that perhaps the threat of significant jail time “will lead people back to the political process I fear they’ve given up on.” Catholic nun Megan Rice, 84, received a sentence of two years and 11 months. Vietnam veteran and self-described Catholic layman Michael Walli, 65, of Washington, D.C., and house painter Gregory Boertje-Obed, 58, of Duluth, Minn., each received five years and two months. Each prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release. They have all reserved the right to appeal their sentences. 1 The activists have each served 8 / 2 months in prison while awaiting sentencing. Walli and Boertje-Obed have served prison time for similar crimes that they characterize as symbolic disarmament actions and civil resistance against a far greater crime: the maintenance of a stockpile of immoral and costly weapons that violate international law. The three activists, who call themselves “Transform Now Plowshares,” were convicted in May of intending to harm national security and damaging more than $1,000 in government property at the Y-12 National Security Complex, a nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., 30 minutes west of Knoxville. In the pre-dawn hours of July 28, 2012, they hiked a wooded ridge, cut through four fences, and splashed human blood and spray-painted biblical messages on the outside of the building that warehouses an estimated 400 tons of highly enriched uranium — enough to fuel 10,000 nuclear bombs. On Tuesday, more than 100 supporters filled two courtrooms at U.S. District Court in downtown Knoxville. This continuation of the sentencing hearing, interrupted and delayed last month by snow, focused mainly on the judge’s struggle to reconcile sentencing guidelines with the character and personal history of the activists. The guidelines do “not distinguish saboteurs who truly mean harm from peace protesters who intend change,” Thapar said before sentencing, which came after nearly five hours of arguments, including final statements from Rice, Walli and Boertje-Obed. “I was acting in support of the rule of law with my actions,” said Walli, who added: “I am the face of tomorrow. The face of demilitarization and vindication of the prophets.” Boertje-Obed read an excerpt from a speech by Martin Luther King Jr., and he said that if the United States would abide by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it “would promote respect for the law.” Rice cited poverty and economic disparity as “the direct fallout from gross spending to maintain a nuclear industrial complex.” “Please have no leniency with me,” the nun told the judge. “To remain in prison for the rest of my life would be the greatest honor for me.” Then, with the judge’s permission, she led people in the courtroom in a short song. “Sacred the Earth, sacred the waters, sacred the sky,” they sang. The unprecedented intrusion shut down operations at the site for two weeks, led to four congressional hearings and exposed a glitch-ridden security system that cost $150 million a year. The National Nuclear Security

Want China Times – Taiwan China's DF-25 Medium-Range Ballistic Missile Revealed By Staff Reporter February 17, 2014 China has recently developed a more advanced DF-25 medium-range ballistic missile based on the existing DF-21. The development follows India's unveiling of its Agni-V intercontinental ballistic missile, reports the Qingdao News website. The range of the DF-25 is estimated at 3,200 kilometers, capable of striking at all major targets in the Asia-Pacific region, including the US military facilities at Guam, said the report. The DF-25 is also the first medium-range missile which can carry multiple conventional warheads. The DF-25 can carry up to three warheads to strike multiple targets in a region. The report also said the use of the Chinese-developed Beidou Navigation Satellite System could allow precision attacks against US carrier strike groups along with the DF-21D, according to the report. Qingdao News said the DF-25 can travel at an estimated 7 km/second, faster than the intercept ability of any American surface-to-air missile based in the Asia-Pacific region. http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20140217000029&cid=1101 Return to Top

Xinhua News – China China Questions Japan on Weapons Grade Plutonium February 17, 2014 BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday urged Japan to return to the suppliers over 300 kilograms of nuclear material which could arm dozens of nuclear weapons and balance its nuclear stock. "Japan's large stock of nuclear material, including weapons grade nuclear substances, involves nuclear security and nonproliferation risks," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular press briefing. It is also against the regulations of the nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which require countries to keep a balance between the demand and supply of nuclear materials, Hua said. The United States offered 331 kilogram of weapons grade plutonium, partly produced by Britain, to Japan during the Cold War, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported in late January. The highly concentrated plutonium, which is Issue No.1103, 21 February 2014 United States Air Force Counterproliferation Center| Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CPC Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 8 USAF Counterproliferation Center CPC Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama kept by Japan's atomic energy agency, could be used to produce 40 to 50 nuclear weapons. Japan holds another 44 tons of plutonium which could be used for nuclear reactors. The United States has been asking Japan to return the material since the first nuclear security summit in 2010. The two sides are expected to reach an agreement at the third summit in the Netherlands this March. "Japan has avoided returning the material which caused international concern. China is deeply concerned and is expecting an explanation," Hua said. She urged Japan, a member of the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, to honor its obligations and return the material at an early date. "We also urge Japan to settle the imbalance between its need for and supply of nuclear materials in accordance with IAEA requirements," Hua said. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-02/17/c_133121872.htm Return to Top

Want China Times – Taiwan Japan Secretly Developing Nuclear Weapons: Yazhou Zhoukan Staff Reporter February 18, 2014 The Hong Kong-based Yazhou Zhoukan reports that Japan is secretly developing a nuclear weapons program in anticipation of a potential crisis over the Diaoyutai (Diaoyu or Senkaku) islands in the East China Sea. Japan is currently the only nation in the world which has a complete nuclear industry. Mitsubishi, Hitachi and Toshiba are the three largest Japanese companies which produce nuclear energy. Under those three corporations, there are an additional 200 smaller firms which possess nuclear fuel or who have the know-how to handle plutonium. For this reason, Yazhou Zhoukan said Japan has the ability to build its own nuclear bomb if it were to revise its postwar peace constitution. Japan holds a total of 40.7 tonnes of plutonium, including 5.5 tonnes in Japan, 21.6 tonnes in France and 13.6 tonnes in the United Kingdom. The country also accumulates about 3,000 tonnes of nuclear waste in its six disposal facilities located in Aomori prefecture, which surpasses the figure for the United States. Major General Yoshiaki Yano of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force said in an article written for Japan Military Review magazine that Tokyo should adjust its nuclear policy despite the damage this might do to its relationship with Washington. With the capability to build at least 2,000 nuclear warheads, Japan has recently demanded the United States return 300 kilograms of plutonium. A Japanese military analyst told Yazhou Zhoukan that Washington has paid close attention to the potential development of nuclear weapons in Japan. The United States recently retrieved 579 kilograms of highly enriched uranium from Japan lent to Japan during the Cold War era for research. With 579 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, Japan would be able to build at least 20 nuclear bombs, according to Yazhou Zhoukan. The clash between Chinese and Japanese fighters over China's newly established air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea has continued to raise tensions between the two countries. Two Sukhoi Su-30 fighters from the East Sea Fleet of the PLA Navy Air Force were ordered to intercept Japanese Mitsubishi F-15J fighters entering the ADIZ without identifying themselves on the first day of the Chinese New Year holidays on Jan. 31. According to Yazhou Zhoukan, the F-15J fighters of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force were unable to break away from the Chinese fighters during the maneuvers and were eventually forced to return to base. http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=&id=20140218000087

Want China Times – Taiwan Hainan's Yalong Bay: China's New Nuclear Submarine Base By Staff Reporter February 18, 2014 A photo revealed by a Chinese internet user shows that the People's Liberation Army Navy has deployed three Type 094 Jin-class ballistic missile submarines to its new naval facility in Yalong Bay on the southern island province of Hainan, which is likely to become China's new base to demonstrate its nuclear deterrence capability to the United States, reports the Communist Party-run English-language Global Times. An earlier report by the Office of US Naval Intelligence said China was secretly constructing the world's largest nuclear submarine base in the world at Sanya in Hainan. Satellite photos on the website of the Chinese military taken during the recent Chinese New Year holidays showing three Type 094 Jin-class submarines appearing frequently in the waters around Yalong Bay also added to speculation. Cao Weidong from the PLA Navy Military Academic Research Institute told state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) that China's nuclear submarine force should not be considered a homebody by its adversary. Cao said the Type 094 submarine has most likely already conducted patrol missions secretly in open waters. With an operational range of 14,000 kilometers, the US Navy believes that the JL-2 submarine-launched ballistic missile is capable of reaching the west coast of the continental United States. From the perspective of many Western defense experts, the Type 094 Jin-class submarine and the JL-2 missile has given China its first credible sea-based nuclear deterrent, giving the PLA Navy second-strike capability. Since the base at Yalong Bay is constructed under the mountain, it will be very hard for the United States to detect the movement of Chinese submarines before it is too late. http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1101&MainCatID=11&id=20140218000017 Return to Top

The Diplomat – Tokyo, Japan S. Korea Seeks Cyber Weapons to Target North Korea’s Nukes South Korea’s said it is developing offensive cyber tools to target Pyongyang’s atomic and missile facilities. By Zachary Keck for The Diplomat February 21, 2014 South Korea is developing offensive cyber weapons to target North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, according to the country’s defense ministry said on Wednesday. According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korea’s Defense Ministry outlined its long-term cyberpolicy to the parliament’s defense committee on Wednesday. The report stated that, “A strategic plan for the second phase calls for developing cybertools for offense like Stuxnet, a computer virus that damaged Iran’s uranium enrichment facility, to cripple North Korea’s missile and atomic facilities.” Yonhap also quoted an anonymous senior defense official as saying: “Once the second phase plan is established, the cyber command will carry out comprehensive cyberwarfare missions.” These missions will be carried out under a new Cyber Defense Command that South Korea plans to establish in May. It will operate under the purview of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to the report. South Korea first established a Cyber Command in 2010 to guard against the threat posed by North Korea’s elite unit of hackers. So far, its aims have primarily been to protect vulnerable national networks from cyber attacks originating from North Korea, as well as to wage psychological warfare campaigns against Pyongyang. The decision

The Korea Herald – South Korea S. Korea, China Agree to Deepen Cooperation to Denuclearize N. Korea February 21, 2014 South Korea and China agreed Friday to strengthen cooperation in their efforts to denuclearize North Korea, affirming once again their commitment to resolving the issue, the foreign ministry here said. The two sides reached the agreement during talks in Seoul between South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Kyung-soo and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin, a foreign ministry official said. The meeting followed Liu’s talks with top North Korean diplomats in Pyongyang earlier this week. Liu flew into Seoul late Thursday right after a four-day trip to Pyongyang, in a rare back-to-back visit by a ranking Chinese official to both Koreas. “South Korea and China confirmed again their firm, shared recognition of the goal of not allowing and getting rid of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program while also agreeing to further step up collaboration to make substantial progress on the North Korean nuclear issue,” the ministry official said on condition of anonymity. The Chinese vice minister also briefed his South Korean counterpart on details of his latest visit to Pyongyang, the official said. Liu stressed in his meeting with North Korean officials that Pyongyang needs to take concrete action toward denuclearization before the long-stalled six-party talks can resume, according to the ministry official. China has been leading efforts to reopen the six-party disarmament talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia. Seoul and Washington have expressed reservations about a resumption, saying Pyongyang should first demonstrate its commitment to giving up its nuclear weapons through action.

RIA Novosti – Russian Information Agency Russia to Set Up Arctic Military Command by 2015 17 February 2014 MOSCOW, February 17 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will form a new strategic military command by the end of 2014 to protect its interests in the Arctic, a high-ranking military source told RIA Novosti Monday. “The new command will comprise the Northern Fleet, Arctic warfare brigades, air force and air defense units as well as additional administrative structures,” the source in Russia’s General Staff said. The military structure, dubbed the Northern Fleet-Unified Strategic Command, will be responsible for protecting Russia’s Arctic shipping and fishing, oil and gas fields on the Arctic shelf, and the country’s national borders in the north, the source said. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the military in December to boost its presence in the Arctic and complete the development of military infrastructure in the region in 2014. The military has already begun deployment of aerospace defense units in the Arctic and construction of an early warning missile radar in Russia’s extreme north, according to the commander of the Aerospace Defense Forces, Maj. Gen. Alexander Golovko. The Defense Ministry has also announced plans to reopen airfields and ports on the New Siberian Islands and the Franz Josef Land archipelago, as well as at least seven airstrips on the continental part of the Arctic Circle that were mothballed in 1993. Arctic territories are believed to hold vast untapped reserves of oil and gas. They have increasingly been at the center of disputes between the United States, Russia, Canada, Norway and Denmark as rising temperatures lead to a reduction in sea ice and make energy reserves more accessible. Russia has made claims to several Arctic shelf areas and plans to defend its bid at the United Nations. http://en.ria.ru/russia/20140217/187620827/Russia-to-Set-Up-Arctic-Military-Command-by-2015.html Return to Top

National Journal Iranian Multi-Warhead Missile Seen as 'Extremely Unlikely' By Global Security Newswire Staff February 14, 2014 A newly described Iranian weapon is likely designed to hold cluster munitions, not multiple warheads, as initially reported, says IHS Jane's Defense Weekly. Iran would face substantial difficulties in equipping the "Barani" ballistic missile to protect dozens of reentry vehicles during their return into the atmosphere, the defense publication said in a Thursday analysis. The Persian Gulf power earlier this week said the missile performed as intended in a recent trial flight, and state television

FARS News Agency – Iran Saturday, February 15, 2014 Senior MP Terms Defense Program "Iran's Red Line" in N. Talks TEHRAN (FNA) - An Iranian parliamentarian underlined that Tehran sees no possibility for adding unrelated issues, such as its defense program, to the topics of the negotiations in its nuclear talks with the six major world powers. The recent positions by the White House officials on certain issues are “not acceptable,” Member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mohammad Hassan Asafari said on Thursday. “They should remember that Iran’s missile issues are not part of the negotiations in the Geneva agreement and are by no means negotiable; and the Group5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) cannot launch such a scenario,” he said. “The issue of missiles and Iran’s missile might are part of our defense industries, and every country is entitled to build up its missile power to defend its territory,” he added. The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday strongly rejected US officials’ claim that negotiators of Iran and the G5+1 are due to talk about issues other than the nuclear standoff between Tehran and the West. “No other issues than Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities has been on the agenda in any previous round of the negotiations with the G5+1 and the next round of the talks won’t include those issues either,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said. Her remarks came after the officials in Washington said that they want to discuss the issue of Iran’s ballistic missiles during the upcoming negotiations in Vienna and demand that it be resolved under a final deal.

Al Arabiya – Dubai, U.A.E. Iran: Nuclear Talks to Focus on Centrifuges, Reactors Agence France-Presse (AFP) Sunday, 16 February 2014 Tehran -- An Iranian negotiator said nuclear talks with world powers this week would focus on advanced centrifuges and the unfinished Arak heavy water reactor, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday. Iran is due to resume talks Tuesday in Vienna with the P5+1 -- Britain, France, the United States, Russia and China plus Germany -- aimed at reaching a comprehensive accord on its controversial nuclear program following November’s landmark interim deal. “Using advanced and new centrifuges is one of the focal points which should be examined and solved for the long term and comprehensive deal, since we will definitely not accept to be deprived from having the right to replace the existing centrifuges with the new and advanced ones,” Hamid Baeedinejad, an Iranian nuclear negotiator, told IRNA. “The Arak heavy water reactor is also one of the most important and difficult subjects to be examined and discussed in the negotiations, and we certainly want to keep this reactor.” Western powers and Israel have long suspected Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability alongside its civilian program, charges denied by Tehran.

The Jerusalem Post – Israel Iran's Khamenei Says He's Not Optimistic on Nuclear Talks Russia could build a second reactor at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant in exchange for Iranian oil, envoy to Moscow says. By Reuters 17 February 2014 DUBAI - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday he was not optimistic about upcoming nuclear talks with world powers but was not opposed to them, the official news agency IRNA reported. Iran and world powers, grouped under the so-called "5+1," reached an interim deal last November whereby Tehran agreed to suspend for six months parts of its nuclear enrichment operations in return for modest sanctions relief. The two sides hope to build on those gains in Tuesday's talks in Vienna. "I have said before ... I am not optimistic about the negotiations. It will not lead anywhere, but I am not opposed either," Khamenei told a large crowd during a visit to the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz, according to IRNA. "What our foreign ministry and officials have started will continue and Iran will not violate its (pledge) ... but I say again that this is of no use and will not lead anywhere." Khamenei's comments came as the Iranian ambassador to Moscow said in remarks published on Monday that Russia could build a second reactor at Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant in exchange for Iranian oil. Reuters reported last month that Iran and Russia were negotiating to swap up to 500,000 barrels of oil per day for goods in a deal that would undermine Western efforts to maintain economic pressure on Tehran while global powers seek to curb its nuclear program. "Iran could use some of the proceeds (to pay for) the construction by Russian companies of a second unit at the nuclear power plant in Bushehr," ambassador Mehdi Sanaei told the daily Kommersant. Russia built the first reactor at Bushehr, Iran's sole nuclear power plant. http://www.jpost.com/Iranian-Threat/News/Irans-Khamenei-says-hes-not-optimistic-on-nuclear-talks-341647 Return to Top

Tehran Times – Iran Iran Rejects U.S. Call for Inclusion of Missile Program in Nuclear Talks Political Desk Wednesday, 19 February 2014 TEHRAN - Talks on a permanent Iran nuclear accord opened in Vienna on Tuesday with the U.S. pressing Tehran to agree that the deal should encompass caps on its ballistic missile capabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported. “They have to deal with matters related to their ballistic missile program,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney. In addition, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, who is the lead U.S. negotiator in talks with Iran, recently said that Iran’s ballistic missile program would be addressed as part of a comprehensive nuclear deal. But Iran says the missile program is part of its defense establishment and outside of the purview of the nuclear talks. Last week, Iran successfully test-fired two domestically manufactured ballistic missiles. The members of Iran’s nuclear negotiating team who traveled to Vienna insisted that the negotiations would not focus on the issue of Tehran’s ballistic missile capabilities. “The Islamic Republic of Iran’s defense issues are neither negotiable nor subject to compromise. They are definitely among our red lines in any talks,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Iranian state television on Sunday. “We won’t discuss any issue other than the nuclear dossier in the negotiations.” U.S. officials, however, insisted that Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities would be addressed as part of any final accord on the nuclear program. “Every issue is on the table as part of the comprehensive negotiations, including Iran’s ballistic missile program,” said a senior administration official at the talks. The talks involve Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany. Meetings are scheduled through Thursday, largely focused on creating a framework for what’s expected to be six months of negotiations aimed at forging a final nuclear deal.

Trend News – Azerbaijan Iran’s Nuclear Spokesman: Agreement Possible in 6 Months, if U.S. Shows Good Will By Umid Niayesh, Trend 19 February 2014 Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 19 -- If good will exists on the U.S. side of negotiations, an agreement can be reached in six months on the nuclear issue, Spokesman of the Atomic Energy Agency of Iran, Behrouz Kamalvandi said, Iranian IRNA news agency reported on Feb. 19. The nuclear negotiation process is hard, but that does not mean it is not possible to achieve an agreement over six months, he added. Iran held a new round of nuclear talks with the Six Powers (P5+1 group) earlier on Feb. 18, which was followed by separate bilateral meetings. The Vienna talks are being held for the purpose of setting an agenda for the talks on a final step agreement. Iran and the P5+1 will continue nuclear talks at the expert level in Vienna on Feb. 19, Kamalvandi said. He also underlined that the negotiations process is positive, adding that the talks include only nuclear issue. "Iranian centrifuges are as active as in the past, the only difference is they are producing 5 percent enriched uranium instead of the 20 percent enriched uranium," Kamalvandi underlined. Protecting the country's nuclear achievements is the Iranian delegation's redline in the negotiations, he said. Commenting on IAEA Chief, Yukiya Amano`s statement on the necessity of implementation of Additional Protocol by Iran, Kamalvandi said that implementation of the Additional Protocol is also a topic of the Joint Plan of Action, but it should be approved by Iranian parliament before implementation. If the issue is included in the final agreement talks we will ask them to respect to Iran's terms and conditions, while the Iranian administration has no right to implement it without parliament's approval, he underscored. The Additional Protocol allows unannounced inspections outside of declared nuclear sites and it is seen as a vital tool at the IAEA's disposal to make sure that a country does not have any hidden nuclear work. On October 16, 2013, Tasnim news agency quoted member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Hussein Naghavi Husseini as saying implementation of the Additional Protocol by the Islamic Republic should be ratified in the parliament. "If the Parliament rejects the Additional Protocol, the administration will not be able to sign any agreement on the issue," Naghavi Husseini added. Additional Protocol was endorsed earlier by Iran in 2003, but wasn't officially ratified by the country's parliament. The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran of developing a nuclear weapon - something that Iran denies. The Islamic Republic has on numerous occasions stated that it does not seek to develop nuclear weapons, and is using nuclear energy for medical research instead. http://en.trend.az/regions/iran/2243825.html Issue No.1103, 21 February 2014 United States Air Force Counterproliferation Center| Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CPC Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 18 USAF Counterproliferation Center CPC Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama Return to Top

FARS News Agency – Iran Thursday, February 20, 2014 Iran, World Powers to Meet again on March 17 TEHRAN (FNA) - Iran and the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) agreed to hold a new round of talks in Vienna on March 17-20. The last round of Wednesday talks was held at 22:00 Vienna time and lasted for 45 minutes. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who heads the Iranian delegation, and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who presides over the delegations of the six world powers, ended their last round of talks minutes ago. The six world powers and Iran strived at a second day of talks in Vienna on Wednesday to map out a broad agenda for reaching an ambitious final settlement to the decade-old standoff over Tehran's nuclear program. The G5+1 wants a long-term agreement on the permissible scope of Tehran's nuclear activities to lay to rest concerns that they could be put to developing atomic bombs. Tehran's priority is a complete removal of damaging economic sanctions against it. The negotiations will probably extend at least over several months, and could help defuse years of hostility between energy-exporting Iran and the West, ease the danger of a new war in the Middle East, transform the regional power balance and open up major business opportunities for Western firms. "The talks are going surprisingly well. There haven't been any real problems so far," a senior Western diplomat was quoted by the Reuters as saying. The opening session on Tuesday was "productive" and "substantive", they said. "The focus was on the parameters and the process of negotiations, the timetable of what is going to be a medium- to long-term process," one European diplomat said. "We don't expect instant results." A Wednesday morning session was chaired by EU foreign policy deputy chief Helga Schmid and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, accompanied by senior diplomats from the six powers. The six powers have yet to spell out their precise demands of Iran. But Western officials have signaled they want Iran to cap enrichment of uranium at a low fissile purity, limit research and development of new nuclear equipment and decommission a substantial portion of its centrifuges used to refine uranium. Araqchi stressed on Tuesday that any dismantling of Iranian nuclear installations would not be up for negotiation. The talks could also stumble over the future of Iran's facilities in Arak, an unfinished heavy water reactor in Central Iran, and the Fordow uranium enrichment plant. "Iran's nuclear sites will continue their activities like before," Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said on Tuesday. During a decade of on-and-off dialogue with world powers, Iran has rejected Western allegations that it has been seeking a nuclear weapons capability. It says it is enriching uranium only for electricity generation and medical purposes. As part of a final deal, Iran expects the United States, the European Union and the United Nations to lift economic sanctions on the oil-dependent economy. But Western governments will be wary of giving up their leverage too soon. Ahead of the talks, both sides said getting to a deal would be a "complicated, difficult and lengthy process". Issue No.1103, 21 February 2014 United States Air Force Counterproliferation Center| Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CPC Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 19 USAF Counterproliferation Center CPC Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama "When the stakes are this high, and the devil is truly in the details, one has to take the time required to ensure the confidence of the international community in the result," the official said. "That can't be done in a day, a week, or even a month in this situation." On the eve of the Vienna round, both sides played down anticipation of early progress, with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying he was not optimistic. The seven countries hope to get a deal done by late July, when an interim accord struck in November expires. http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13921201000253 Return to Top

Press TV – Tehran, Iran Iran’s Nuclear Energy Only Subject of Talks: Zarif Thursday, February 20, 2014 Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says Tehran’s nuclear energy program has been the only subject of the negotiations between Iran and the six world powers in the Austrian capital Vienna. The Iranian foreign minister made the remarks late on Thursday before leaving Vienna for Tehran. He said that no other subject except for Iran’s nuclear energy program will be discussed in the negotiations, stressing that there has been a common understanding among all sides in the talks over the issue. The talks over Tehran’s nuclear energy program started between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain -- plus Germany in Vienna on February 18. The discussions, which were presided over by Zarif and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, wrapped up on Thursday. Zarif said that during the talks, both sides came up with a framework for comprehensive talks to reach a final agreement. “I assure you that no one has had or will ever have the chance to talk with the Iranian nation’s delegation with any language but the language of respect during the talks, and nobody will be able to impose anything on us,” Zarif stated On February 12, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said the country’s “peaceful” nuclear energy program will be the only issue on the agenda of nuclear talks. “Except for Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities, no other issue was on the agenda of talks with the P5+1 group in any of the previous stages and will not be on the agenda of future negotiations either,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/02/20/351565/subject-of-talks-only-nuclear-energy/ Return to Top

Bloomberg Businessweek Iran Uranium Stockpile Falls 18% in Months Following Deal Start By Jonathan Tirone February 20, 2014 Iran’s stockpile of its most sensitive nuclear material dropped 18 percent since world powers agreed to an interim deal with the Islamic Republic, United Nations nuclear inspectors verified. Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 20 percent fell to 161 kilograms (355 pounds) from 196 kilograms reported in November, International Atomic Energy Agency monitors said in an 18-page restricted report seen by Issue No.1103, 21 February 2014 United States Air Force Counterproliferation Center| Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CPC Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 20 USAF Counterproliferation Center CPC Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama Bloomberg News. While Iran continued to manufacture lower-grade material, raising the total amount made to 11,111 kilograms from 10,357 kilograms reported last quarter, it stuck by its agreement to stop installing additional centrifuges, halt work at its Arak reactor and increase cooperation with the agency. “Iran has implemented the six initial practical measures that it agreed with the agency in November,” the IAEA report said. “The agency has started to undertake monitoring and verification in relation to the measures” set out by Iran’s deal with world powers, it said. It’s the first time since 2010 that Iran’s stockpile of 20 percent-enriched uranium has fallen. The IAEA report follows today’s agreement between Iran and world powers to seek a long-term nuclear accord by July, when the interim deal they clinched expires. Iran is getting about $7 billion of sanctions relief in return for suspending its most sensitive nuclear work for six months. About 175 kilograms of 20 percent-enriched uranium, or 630 kilograms of low-enriched uranium, if further purified, could yield the quantity of weapons-grade uranium needed to produce a bomb, according to the London- based Verification Research, Training and Information Center, a non-governmental observer to the IAEA that’s funded by European governments. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-02-20/iran-uranium-stockpile-falls-18-percent-in-months-following- deal-start Return to Top

Breitbart.com IAEA Says Iran Secretly Working to Put Nukes on Mid-Range Missile By Thomas Rose, Breitbart News Network 20 February 2014 Talks resumed in Vienna on Tuesday between Iran and the P5+1 negotiating partners (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany) on a permanent agreement on Iran’s nuclear program with new information that Iran was aggressively moving ahead not only with its nuclear weapons program but also with a program to develop ballistic missiles to deliver those weapons. Last week, Iran boasted it had successfully tested two domestically produced medium range ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear payloads to targets as far afield as Israel, Turkey, Russia and the Balkans. The interim agreement reached in Geneva last November and hailed by the Obama Administration as a great advance in relations between the West and the revolutionary Islamic Republic addressed only Iran’s uranium enrichments programs. It did not address Iran’s ballistic missiles program, its advanced nuclear trigger research program, its leading role sponsoring global terrorism, nor its egregious domestic human rights violations. America’s lead negotiator, Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, and her Iranian counterpart held more than an hour of one-on-one talks Tuesday in the Austrian capital. Sherman was also one of America’s top negotiator and long defender of the notorious 1994 Agreed Framework Accord between the United States and North Korea that offered billions in aid and energy supplies in exchange for North Korean promises not to develop nuclear weapons. North Korea took the aid and used the negotiating period to accelerate its development of nuclear weapons. It has since conducted three successful nuclear tests and is rapidly expanding its arsenal of nuclear weapons. In a reaction that stunned observers of the Geneva process and raised renewed questions about the Obama Administration competence if not objectives, U.S. officials claimed they were "surprised" by the missile tests because they were confident that, like the U.S., Iran was interested in improving relations and would therefore work hard to dial back provocative actions.

The Nation – Pakistan Syria to Miss Chemical Destruction Deadline Agence France-Presse (AFP) February 21, 2014 THE HAGUE: Syria will miss a UN-backed June 30 deadline to destroy its chemical arsenal, possibly by several months, sources said Thursday, amid growing Western frustration with Damascus’ perceived delays. With just 11 percent of Syria’s chemicals out of the country after a series of missed deadlines, an Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) meeting on Friday will hear calls for Syria to do more. Because of the missed deadlines, Syria has submitted a new 100-day timeframe that sees all its chemicals removed from the country by the last week of May, a source close to the matter told AFP. The chemicals must then be taken from Syria’s main port Latakia by Western warships to a US vessel, the MV Cape Ray, aboard which they will be broken down at sea using hydrolysis, a process expected to take 90 days. That would put the destruction well beyond the June 30 deadline agreed by Russia and the US last year as part of a plan to avert US-backed military strikes in the wake of deadly chemical attacks outside Damascus blamed by the West on President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. “The Syrians said they could complete getting the agents out of the country by the end of May, that’s unacceptable,” said the source. The UN Security Council on February 6 called on Syria to move faster, transporting chemicals and agents to Latakia “in a systematic and sufficiently accelerated manner”. Western diplomats at an OPCW Executive Council meeting last month expressed frustration with the repeatedly delayed process, accusing Syria of unilaterally changing the June 30 destruction deadline into a deadline for the chemicals to have left the country. “They’re going to be several months over the destruction deadline, but they’re saying if it’s all out of the country by June 30 then so what?” a diplomatic source said. An OPCW-UN Operational Planning Group has come up with an alternative that would reduce the 100-day Syrian plan by 63 days, but the June 30 deadline would still not be met, said a source close to the matter. Diplomats nevertheless want to keep the mid-2014 deadline, however unrealistic. “As long as the June 30 date hasn’t passed, it must be kept as a target,” said the source. http://www.nation.com.pk/international/21-Feb-2014/syria-to-miss-chemical-destruction-deadline Return to Top

The News International – Karachi, Pakistan

Issue No.1103, 21 February 2014 United States Air Force Counterproliferation Center| Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CPC Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 22 USAF Counterproliferation Center CPC Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama Journalist-Turned-Militant Khurasani Wants to Seize Nukes, Topple Govt By Amir Mir Tuesday, February 18, 2014 ISLAMABAD: Umar Khalid Khurasani, the ameer of the Mohmand Agency chapter of the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a journalist-turned-jehadi commander whose declared objectives as a staunch follower of bin Laden are to overthrow the government of Pakistan, impose Shariah, seize nuclear weapons and wage jehad until the Caliphate is established. Khurasani hit headlines because of his chilling claim to have killed 23 soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary who had been abducted by the Taliban from the Shongari check post in the Mohmand Agency in 2010. One of the most effective and powerful founding members of TTP from the tribal belt, the real name of Umar Khurasani is Abdul Wali who had been working as a journalist in Mohmand Agency before becoming a jehadi. The Pakistani authorities had placed bounty on his head in 2009, followed by the army’s claim the same year to have killed him in an operation. But the claim proved false as Khurasani resurfaced on the jehadi scene shortly. Considered close to Mullah Fazlullah, he has ties with al-Qaeda just like the TTP ameer and he takes pride in having provided sanctuary to Dr Ayman al Zawahiri in the past. In a video interview with Reuters on June 6, 2011, he had described Ayman Zawahiri as the supreme leader of the Pakistani Taliban, although the latter had not yet been named as Osama’s successor by that time. Coming from the Safi tribe of Mohmand, Khurasani first shot to prominence at the time of Lal Masjid operation in Islamabad [in 2007] when he forcefully occupied a mosque and an adjacent shrine in Lakaro tehsil of Mohmand and announced to continue the mission of Maulana Abdur Rashid Ghazi. It was on July 28, 2007 that his militants took over the Jamia Masjid Ghaziabad Lakaro and renamed the mosque as ‘Lal Masjid’. They also seized the adjacent shrine of Haji Turangzai, a known anti-colonialist freedom fighter, and renamed it as ‘Jamia Hafsa Umme Hassan’. Speaking on the occasion, Khurasani said he would continue the mission of Maulana Ghazi. A year later, Khalid Khurasani became the dominant Taliban commander in Mohmand Agency after defeating the Shah Khalid group (also known as Shah Sahib group), a rival pro-Taliban jehadi group associated with the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba. Earlier, in May 2008, he had signed a peace deal with the Pakistani authorities which required him to renounce attacks on the Pakistani security forces. Under the deal, both sides exchanged prisoners. But as a result of the deal, Khurasani quickly established a parallel government in the Mohmand Agency. Subsequently, polio vaccination was stopped, Shariah courts were established, women were directed to wear the veil in public and criminals were arrested and judged in Sharia courts. Khurasani has been deeply active in the propaganda machine of the Tehrik-e-Taliban since the death of Osama bin Laden in May 2011, and has been vocal in his support of al-Qaeda. Sitting with a pistol strapped to his waist and flanked by two of his comrades with AK-47 assault rifles, Khurasani said in his June 6, 2011 interview with Reuters: “We will take revenge of Osama’s death from Pakistan government, its security forces, the Pakistani ISI, the CIA and the Americans. They are now on our hit list. The death of Osama will not demoralise the Taliban. It had in fact, injected a new courage into our fighters. The ideology given to us by Osama and the spirit and courage that he gave to us to fight infidels of the world is alive. Our war against America is continuing inside and outside of Pakistan. Our attacks will prove that we can hit the American targets outside Pakistan”. In video message released on jehadi websites on March 20, 2012 by the Umar Studios, Khurasani said the Taliban seek to overthrow the Pakistani government, impose Islamic Shariah as the supreme law of the land, seize the country’s nuclear weapons, and wage jehad until the Caliphate is established across the world. He further said: Issue No.1103, 21 February 2014 United States Air Force Counterproliferation Center| Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CPC Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 23 USAF Counterproliferation Center CPC Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama “We aim to counter the Pakistani government, its intelligence agencies, as well its army, which are against Islam and have oppressed the militants. The Taliban want to seize the Pakistani nuclear weapons and other resources, including the army, to defend Islam. Another objective is to use Pakistan’s military might including the nuclear bomb, army, and other resources, to guide other Muslim countries for the sake of Islam. Last but not the least, the Taliban will continue their fight even after taking over Pakistan, until global Caliphate is established”, he added. Khalid Khurasani is the same person who had claimed responsibility for the November 19, 2012 failed assassination attempt on former ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Qazi Hussain Ahmed. By that time, the PPP government had launched a massive military operation to free Mohmand from the clutches of the Taliban. It was on 17 August, 2013 that the Frontier Corps Inspector General Major General Ghayoor Mehmood had declared that the writ of the government has been restored in Mohmand Agency after a successful operation against militants in their strongholds. However, the security forces had to sacrifice 270 valiant troops while fighting militancy. Of those martyred by the Taliban during the Mohmand operation, 170 were paramilitary troops of the Mohmand Rifles while the remaining 100 were the Pakistan Army soldiers who laid down their lives in the line of duty. As the government and the TTP were contemplating to initiate peace talks, Khurasani said in a statement on September 30, 2013: “Any peace talks under the Constitution of Pakistan were simply out of question. The government talks about the Constitution and the Taliban demand the enforcement of Shariah. Therefore, there cannot be a dialogue between the two. The Taliban will never backtrack even a single inch from their already stated demand of the enforcement of Shariah as the supreme law of the land, instead of the Constitution”. Following Mullah Fazlullah’s selection as the new TTP ameer, Khurasani had said in a November 13, 2013 interview [conducted in Pushto]: “The track record of the Pakistani government and its armed forces has always been one of breaking their promises and trying to trick the Taliban. With their last trick, our leader, Commander Hakimullah Mehsud was martyred. Therefore, it is obligatory for us to avenge his killing. We cannot imagine not taking revenge on this apostate Pakistani government. We will take our revenge by targeting the Pakistan army and the Pakistani politicians especially those in the government”. When reminded by the interviewer that Hakimullah was killed by a US drone and not by the Pakistan Army, Khurasani had stated: “America is our enemy but we don’t blame it. Our real enemy is Pakistan. We will punish Pakistan because they tricked us. The Americans have been our consistent enemy and have never changed their policy towards us. But Pakistan is an enemy which keeps changing colours. Had the Pakistan Army and the government not helped the Americans, they would not have been able to assassinate our ameer with the help of their drones. The Americans could not have found him and killed him without their help. Therefore, we believe that America has not hurt us as badly as Pakistan has. That’s why we are battling against the state of Pakistan”. http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-233312-Journalist-turned-militant-Khurasani-wants-to-seize-nukes,- topple-govt Return to Top

The Times of India – New Delhi, India Night Trial of Agni-I Missile Put Off Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) Feb 20, 2014 BHUBANESWAR: The first night trial of Agni-I ballistic missile has been postponed indefinitely for the second time, a defence official said on Thursday.

The Indian Express – New Delhi, India Nuke Programme ‘Central’ to Pakistan’s Defence: Army Chief Sharif lauded the higher standard of training‚ professional abilities and morale of the armed forces personnel Press Trust of India (PTI) February 21, 2014 Islamabad -- Pakistan Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif on Friday said the nuclear programme occupies a “central place” in the defence of the country. Sharif made the remarks during a visit to the army’s Strategic Force Command headquarters in Rawalpindi. He was received by Strategic Force Command chief Lt Gen Obaidullah Khan, who gave him a detailed briefing about the preparedness of the strategic forces. Sharif lauded the higher standard of training‚ professional abilities and morale of the armed forces personnel. The exact number and location of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are not known. There have been a slew of reports in the international media about the vulnerability of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and possibility of it falling into hands of the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Pakistan says its strictly follows international standards to guard the nuclear stockpile and has always rejected such reports as part of a “campaign” to malign its nuclear programme. Islamabad does not follow a “no first use” policy for its nuclear weapons but under its nuclear doctrine, the arsenal is meant to maintain a minimum credible deterrence.

The Hill – Washington, D.C. OPINION/Congress Blog Compensate Missileers, Reassess ICBM Mission By Eric Tamerlani February 14, 2014 The four words you never want to hear about nuclear weapons: lapses in security protocol. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last month ordered a review of U.S. nuclear forces after revelations of gross misconduct among some Air Force officers in the nuclear force. The transgressions spanned from senior brass to junior officers to include illegal gambling, excessive drinking, womanizing, drug use, cheating on proficiency tests and -- perhaps worst of all -- lapses in security protocol. The 20th Air Force is responsible for the nation’s 450 land based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). Senior nuclear leaders have two months to identify problems and recommend solutions to personnel issues documented by the media. If the review only focuses on personnel issues, Hagel may be presented with temporary, insufficient fixes for what could be a broader issue with the mission of ICBMs in our national defense. The review panel should consider taking a portion of our ICBM force off 24-hour high alert status. Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James admitted there are “systemic problems” related to a culture that accepts nothing less than absolute perfection. While touring the three bases of the 20th Air Force in Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota, James said she “heard repeatedly from teammates that the need for perfection has created a climate of undue stress and fear” for their chances of promotion if they score even 95 percent on proficiency tests. This culture possibly led to the cheating scandal which removed security clearances for nearly half the launch officers, or missileers, at Malmstrom Air Force Base (AFB) outside Great Falls, Montana. James observed that “Although…senior leaders talk about the importance of the mission, the team in the field doesn’t always see that talk backed up by concrete action.” Senior leaders should not try to prove the importance of the mission by throwing money at the problem. Building a replacement ICBM, spending billions to refurbish the Minuteman III ICBM, offering monetary incentives to attract and retain airmen to missile combat crews or creating a new service medal to reward missileers may seem like an easy –albeit expensive – fix. A more effective course might be to reassess the operational arrangements of our land based nuclear forces and reduce the number of ICBMs on high alert status by two-thirds. Secretary Hagel, Secretary James, and senior brass at Strategic Command should address the systemic personnel problems they are in the process of identifying. Second, they should create a plan to leave one-third of the missiles at each base on high alert status, leaving the other missiles in an operational readiness in the order of hours or days, rather than minutes to launch. This would mean the missileers are taking fewer alert shifts a month. However, the extra time off alert shifts could reduce their stress on the job. It could give them more time for the fundamentals: time to study their launch procedures, let them pass their proficiency tests without cheating and give them peace of mind in their career prospects knowing they will not be reprimanded for a 95 percent score on a proficiency test. In the meantime, the Air Force should provide overtime pay to the launch officers at Malmstrom AFB who are now working extra shifts to make up for their colleague's misconduct. Malmstrom has 196 launch officers who conduct about eight, 24-hour shifts a month overseeing the base’s 150 missiles. Now, 92 officers have been taken off alert duty for cheating or being complacent with their colleagues cheating. The remaining officers still on duty will take up more 24 hour shifts a month and they should be compensated generously for their overtime and integrity.

RT (Russia Today) – Russia OPINION/Op-Edge US Missile Shield: ‘Russian Bear Sleeping with One Eye Open’ By William Engdahl February 17, 2014 Washington’s explanation that its strengthening missile shield in Europe is being built to guard against the Iranian nuclear threat is no more believable than it was 10 years ago. Despite Russia’s recent efforts to broker a peaceful resolution of the Syrian chemical weapons crisis, as well as its good offices in helping resolve the Iranian nuclear conflict with Washington, the Obama administration is moving ahead with its highly provocative nuclear Ballistic Missile ‘Defense’ (BMD) deployments around Russia. What we are not being told by Western politicians is the fact that this action, far from peaceful, brings the world closer than ever to nuclear war by miscalculation. On February 11, the first of four US advanced destroyers arrived in Rota, Spain. They will form a key part of the US- controlled ballistic missile “shield.” The shield is being sold as a protection for Europe against a possible Iranian nuclear missile attack. The four ships, all of which are planned to be in place over the coming two years, carry advanced sensor capabilities and interceptor missiles which can detect and shoot down ballistic missiles, according to NATO in Brussels. The USS Donald Cook, a guided-missile destroyer of the United States Navy, equipped with the high-tech Aegis combat ballistic missile-defense system, docked in the southern port of Rota. Rota, nominally commanded by a Spanish admiral, is fully US-funded. It is the largest American military community in Spain, housing US Navy and US Marine Corps personnel. It will be permanently based there, according to NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Fogh Rasmussen, who apparently understands little about nuclear strategy, told the press, "The arrival of the USS Donald Cook marks a step forward for NATO, for European security, and for transatlantic cooperation.” At the November 2010 Lisbon NATO summit, member governments agreed that NATO will develop a missile defense capability to “protect all NATO European populations and territory…Full capability is foreseen for the first half of the next decade.” Target Russia Washington continues to insist that the US BMD deployment across Europe targets possible Iranian missile attacks on Europe. The reality, as Moscow has declared again and again since 2001, when the Bush administration first

Foreign Policy – Washington, D.C. OPINION/Voice Cheap and Dirty Bombs Could these creepy chest packs be North Korea's way of threatening radiological war? BY William C. Potter and Jeffrey Lewis February 17, 2014 During North Korea's July 2013 "Victory Day" parade, spectators were treated to a curious sight: a truckload of soldiers, each strapped into a chest pack festooned with the black and yellow radiation symbol. A few months later, the art world preserved the spectacle. British tour operator Simon Cockerell found oil paintings at a Pyongyang tourist shop depicting a North Korean commando team parachuting into enemy territory carrying the enigmatic satchels. The parade images and oil paintings suggest commando-delivered nuclear-related devices of some sort -- an understanding consistent with North Korean defectors, who have suggested that the country might possess "backpack" nuclear devices. The United States developed similar munitions, and rumors persist about Russian suitcase nuclear weapons. Few experts, however, believe that North Korea could make a miniature nuclear charge the size of the packs seen in Pyongyang. Given that North Korea appears to be struggling to manufacture the sort of 1,000-kilogram nuclear weapon small enough for delivery by ballistic missile, with only three nuclear tests, backpack nukes seem out of reach. Another popular explanation for the ominous backpacks is that they are filled with hazmat suits or Geiger counters and belong to a radiological-chemical reconnaissance unit, which wears these defensive suits in contaminated areas. But given the size of the pack compared with the proposed contents, this explanation also seems unlikely. The one possibility that has been largely overlooked is that this nuke-themed accessory might have been North Korea's way of conveying the possibility of its use of radiological dispersal devices, better known as "dirty bombs." Issue No.1103, 21 February 2014 United States Air Force Counterproliferation Center| Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CPC Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 29 USAF Counterproliferation Center CPC Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama Since the 9/11 attacks, the majority of experts and journalists have analyzed and reported that radiological weapons are mainly a terrorism problem involving the pursuit of nuclear violence on the cheap by groups unlikely to have the means to acquire fissile material or the know-how to fashion it into a usable fission device. Under most circumstances, dirty bombs in the hands of terrorists would not be considered weapons of mass destruction, and far more people likely would be killed by the conventional explosive in the device and the ensuing panic than from the radiation dispersed by the dirty bomb. But this focus on terrorist interest in dirty bombs obscures a now forgotten history: that states -- including those with demonstrated nuclear weapons capabilities -- were once interested in these very radiological devices as military weapons. U.S. interest in radiological weapons can be traced back to the early years of World War II, when scientists explored whether radioactive fission products dispersed over enemy territory could have military applications. The United States researched radiological warfare -- then called "RadWar" -- for both offensive and defensive purposes before abandoning the idea sometime in the 1950s. (The work on offensive uses appears to have ended because nuclear explosives were a far better investment.) British scientists, too, explored the potential for radioactive weapons in the early 1940s. Declassified documents outline a number of scenarios in which U.S. military and civilian officials pondered the use of radiological weapons, including a proposal by U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur, following China's December 1950 entry into the Korean War, for "sowing a band of radioactive cesium across Manchuria as a kind of 'cordon sanitaire' against the Chinese advance." The technical details of the exotic devices dreamed up by U.S. weaponeers during this time still remain largely classified. Throughout the 1950s, the Soviet Union developed its own radiological weaponry -- two radiological warheads for the R-2 missile, named Geran (Geranium) and Generator, which contained a radioactive liquid that would be aerosolized by an explosion, drenching enemy units in radioactive fallout. They tested the warheads from 1953 to 1956, until small nuclear weapons for the R-2 became available. It is unclear if the test program ever used actual radiological materials or merely simulants. In an amusing story, one of the warheads sprung a leak, sending the test personnel for cover. The senior scientist responsible for the test climbed to the top of the rocket, ran his finger through the trickle of brown liquid, and then tasted it. "Guys, let's get to work," he said. "It tastes like crap, but it's harmless." The liquid was not radioactive, but intended only to simulate the atomization process. (Nevertheless, the scientist allowed himself an extra shot of vodka at dinner to "neutralize the substance and to allay the terror.") The Soviets lost interest in radiological weapons by the late 1960s. Interest in radiological weapons, however, continued in other parts of the world. Following Iran's successful "human wave" attacks in which Iranians accepted massive casualties to overwhelm Iraqi units, Saddam Hussein sought to develop air-delivered radiological dispersal devices that could be used in a fashion similar to that proposed by MacArthur in North Korea. Iraq conducted a number of tests on modified Nasser 28 aircraft-delivered bombs -- which contained zirconium that had been irradiated in the Tuwaitha nuclear research reactor outside Baghdad -- before eventually abandoning the idea. Ultimately, the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Iraq's radiological device would not have been a significant military weapon; it was a relatively crude device. It is not known if Iran has seriously entertained the idea of a radiological weapon. Israel, however, has worried about that possibility, and in January 2012 its civil defense force conducted an exercise code-named "Dark Cloud" that was designed to simulate how to deal with the fallout from a radiological attack. According to press reports, authorities tried to downplay the significance of the exercise, but some senior Israeli defense officials have asserted that the gravest threat from Iran could come in the form of a dirty bomb delivered by a cargo ship. North Korea might consider radiological devices as part of a national nuclear weapons capability, given its historical focus on commando operations. Joseph Bermudez, in his book North Korean Special Forces, noted that Pyongyang fields "one of the world's largest bodies of elite, specially trained soldiers." North Korea's special forces account for approximately 10 percent of the soldiers in the Korean People's Army.

The Moscow Times – Moscow, Russia OPINION/Commentary Time to Sign a Super New START Issue No.1103, 21 February 2014 United States Air Force Counterproliferation Center| Maxwell AFB, Alabama http://cpc.au.af.mil \ https://twitter.com/USAF_CPC Phone: 334.953.7538 | Fax: 334.953.7226 31 USAF Counterproliferation Center CPC Outreach Journal Maxwell AFB, Alabama 18 February 2014 | Issue 5312 By Vladimir Kozin Two prominent U.S. House representatives, Trent Franks and Doug Lamborn, writing on these pages last week, said they are "in complete agreement" with Moscow's possible initiative to withdraw from the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, if the U.S. does not halt its missile defense program in Europe. "It is not very often that two Republican congressmen like us find ourselves in complete agreement with President Vladimir Putin, but on the issue of New START we could not agree more," they wrote, adding later, "The New START treaty, which only benefits Russia, was a terrible idea in the first place. If Russia wants to exit it, we would be delighted." Russia has made it clear several times, especially after Washington announced its "European Phased Adaptive Approach," or EPAA, in 2009, that it would cancel all its commitments under New START if Russia's worries that the U.S. missile shield was expanding too widely and too quickly were not resolved. The same day that Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed New START in Prague in April 2010, the Russian government declared that Moscow would withdraw from the treaty if the U.S. pursued a qualitative and quantitative buildup in its missile defense system. Washington issued its own statement at the time, saying it would continue to develop and deploy missile defense systems in order to protect itself. Recently, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's arms control and disarmament directorate reiterated that Moscow might quit New START after Washington dispatched the warship "Donald Cook," capable of Aegis missile defense, to European shores. Of course, many treaties contain a stipulation that allows either side to withdraw for the sake of their "supreme interests." In this case, the withdrawal clause in the New START Treaty sets a higher bar. It gives a party the right to withdraw if it decides that "extraordinary events" related to the treaty have "jeopardized its supreme interests." Washington, incidentally, unilaterally ended all its obligations under the Anti-Ballistic Missile, or ABM, Treaty and the relevant protocol to it in 2002 when it found that they hampered its intention to create the missile defense system at home and globally. So there is nothing new or unusual in both the Russian and U.S. warnings to block the implementation of New START. But at the same time it is difficult to agree entirely with a number of notions that Franks and Lamborn raised. 1. New START is not "a Cold War artifact," as they put, because it works. The treaty substantially reduced the window of opportunity that Moscow and Washington have to use strategic nuclear missiles. Steven Pifer, director of the Arms Control and Nonproliferation Initiative at the Brookings Institution, rightly observed in a rebuttal to the congressmen on these pages that both the U.S. and Russia have conducted more than 100 inspections under the treaty in its four-year lifespan. No one has suggested that Russia has violated the treaty. Indeed, Russia has already met the goal of deploying 1,550 warheads and 700 strategic missiles and bombers. According to the latest data released at the beginning of this year, Moscow has 1,400 deployed warheads and 473 deployed strategic missiles and bombers. 2. The congressmen say that the U.S. should not have signed the treaty without China's, India's and Pakistan's agreement to lower their own growing nuclear stockpiles. Why only these nations? Why aren't Israel and North Korea on the list? Well, that is not Russia's fault. Can't the White House persuade Pakistan and Israel, as U.S. allies, to join in the nuclear arms control discussions? 3. The congressmen justifiably point out that Russia is actively deploying its own missile defense. But they fail to mention that Russian missile defense hardware has not been moved to continental U.S., much like how U.S. missile defense infrastructure is being placed on Russia's borders — in Romania and Poland — and on adjacent European seas.

Defense One.com OPINION/Article The End of the New ICBM By Stephen Young February 18, 2014 Last week, at a conference full of advocates for modernizing the United States’ nuclear triad, something big happened: the idea of developing a new, nuclear-armed, ground-based long-range missile fell off the table. The nuclear triad — missiles, bombers and submarines that can deliver nuclear weapons — is under fire from all sides, as that force needs upgrading right when there is little budget or public appetite to do so. The Air Force is considering options for replacing or extending the life of the Minuteman III missile, or what it calls the ground- based strategic deterrent. Currently 450 of these weapons, most armed with a single nuclear warhead, are located in underground silos at three bases spread across North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska. Programs are in place to ensure that the Minuteman can stay in service at least until 2030. Last January, the Air Force announced it was considering several options to replace Minuteman, including new, silo-based and mobile missiles on trucks or in an underground rail-based approach similar to a subway system. But a major blow to developing a new missile came on February 4, with the publication of an Air Force-funded RAND study. That detailed analysis found that an “all-new ICBM system will likely cost almost twice (and perhaps even three times) as much as incremental modernization and sustainment of the MM III system.” Specifically,

China Daily – Beijing, China OPINION/Editorial Japan's Dangerous Obsession (China Daily) February 20, 2014 If a country claims that it sticks by non-nuclear principles but at same time hoards far more nuclear materials than it needs, including a massive amount of weapons-grade plutonium, the world has good reason to ask why, says a Xinhua commentary. Outlined by Prime Minister Eisaku Sato in a speech to the House of Representatives in 1967, the three non-nuclear principles, an important part of Japan's peaceful post-war development, state that Japan will not produce, possess or allow the entry into its territory of nuclear weapons. However, since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office a year ago, Japan's right-wing conservatives have often been heard clamoring for nuclear weapons. As a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Japan should adhere to its international obligations. As the world's only victim of nuclear attacks, it should know the horrible consequences of nuclear proliferation.

American Thinker.com OPINION/Article Iran Has the Bomb By Peter Vincent Pry February 20, 2014 For several years now, myself and others have been warning that Iran probably already has the bomb. Contrary to Obama Administration promises that they will know when Iran crosses "the red line" to build the bomb, we have warned that such claims are false. U.S. intelligence is not good enough to so precisely and with such high confidence monitor and verify the status of Iran's nuclear weapons program. Defense Science Board Report A recently published Defense Department study "Assessment of Nuclear Monitoring and Verification Technologies" (January 2014), by the blue ribbon Defense Science Board, concludes the following: "Closing the nation's global nuclear monitoring gaps should be a national priority. It will require, however, a level of commitment and sustainment we don't normally do well without a crisis. ...monitoring for proliferation... presents challenges for which current solutions are either inadequate, or more often, do not exist. Among these challenges are... Small inventories of weapons and materials.... Small nuclear enterprises designed to produce, store, and deploy only a small number of weapons...Undeclared facilities and/or covert operations, such as testing below detection thresholds, or acquisition of materials or weapons through theft or purchase... Use of non‐traditional technologies..."

ABOUT THE USAF CPC The USAF Counterproliferation Center was established in 1998 at the direction of the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. Located at Maxwell AFB, this Center capitalizes on the resident expertise of Air University, while extending its reach far beyond - and influences a wide audience of leaders and policy makers. A memorandum of agreement between the Air Staff Director for Nuclear and Counterproliferation (then AF/XON), now AF/A5XP) and Air War College Commandant established the initial manpower and responsibilities of the Center. This included integrating counterproliferation awareness into the curriculum and ongoing research at the Air University; establishing an information repository to promote research on counterproliferation and nonproliferation issues; and directing research on the various topics associated with counterproliferation and nonproliferation. In 2008, the Secretary of Defense's Task Force on Nuclear Weapons Management recommended that "Air Force personnel connected to the nuclear mission be required to take a professional military education (PME) course on national, defense, and Air Force concepts for deterrence and defense." As a result, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons School, in coordination with the AF/A10 and Air Force Global Strike Command, established a series of courses at Kirtland AFB to provide continuing education through the careers of those Air Force personnel working in or supporting the nuclear enterprise. This mission was transferred to the CPC in 2012, broadening its mandate to providing education and research to not just countering WMD but also nuclear deterrence. Return to Top