USAF COUNTERPROLIFERATION CENTER

CPC OUTREACH JOURNAL

Maxwell AFB, Alabama

Issue No. 452, 1 September 2005

Articles & Other Documents:

U.S.-Russian Efforts To Protect Arsenal Gain Steam Stay Or Go, Army Store Of Lethal VX Frays Nerves Fear Of Occupation Sustains Pyongyang's Nuclear Arms Iran Seeks Talks With U.N. Energy Agency Quest The Decision Makers: Defense Department Nuclear Nonproliferation: Better Management Controls Needed for Some DOE Projects in Russia and Other Countries. (GAO Report) U.S. To Aid Ukraine In Countering Bioweapons North Korea Delays Resuming Talks On Ending Nuclear Programs Chirac Warns Iran Of Penalty If It Continues Nuclear In Brazil, An A-Bomb Question Work Report Links 6 Nations To Biological Arms Efforts Adherence to and Compliance With Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments (State Department Report) U.S. No Longer Insists That Cuba Is Creating Offensive Ukraine: $2 Million From U.S. To Destroy Weapons Bioweapons Chinese Activist Warns Of Nuclear War Katrina's Lesson In Readiness

Welcome to the CPC Outreach Journal. As part of USAF Counterproliferation Center’s mission to counter weapons of mass destruction through education and research, we’re providing our government and civilian community a source for timely counterproliferation information. This information includes articles, papers and other documents addressing issues pertinent to US military response options for dealing with nuclear, biological and chemical threats and attacks. It’s our hope this information resource will help enhance your counterproliferation issue awareness. Established in 1998, the USAF/CPC provides education and research to present and future leaders of the Air Force, as well as to members of other branches of the armed services and Department of Defense. Our purpose is to help those agencies better prepare to counter the threat from weapons of mass destruction. Please feel free to visit our web site at www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/awc-cps.htm for in-depth information and specific points of contact. Please direct any questions or comments on CPC Outreach Journal to Jo Ann Eddy, CPC Outreach Editor, at (334) 953-7538 or DSN 493-7538. To subscribe, change e-mail address, or unsubscribe to this journal or to request inclusion on the mailing list for CPC publications, please contact Mrs. Eddy. The following articles, papers or documents do not necessarily reflect official endorsement of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or other US government agencies. Reproduction for private use or commercial gain is subject to original copyright restrictions. All rights are reserved

Los Angeles Times August 27, 2005 U.S.-Russian Efforts To Protect Arsenal Gain Steam Sen. Lugar hails a deal on inspections as key to helping keep Moscow's nuclear weapons out of terrorists' reach. By David Holley, Times Staff Writer MOSCOW — Joint U.S.-Russian efforts to boost security against potential terrorist attacks on Russian storage sites for nuclear warheads have accelerated in recent months, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said here Friday. Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) credited the stepped-up pace of activity to a new commitment by Russian President Vladimir V. Putin after a February summit with President Bush in Bratislava, Slovakia. "We've had an agreement for inspections at the warhead storage sites that has broken the logjam of misunderstanding there," Lugar said at a news conference. "This is an important breakthrough." Under the 1991 Nunn-Lugar Act, which established the Cooperative Threat Reduction program, the United States has spent billions of dollars to help dismantle nuclear warheads, ballistic missiles, bombers, submarines and other weapons in former Soviet states. But joint efforts to prevent terrorists from raiding Russian storage facilities and obtaining nuclear weapons largely have faltered. The U.S. sought to monitor how its funds would be used to upgrade security, something Russia had been unwilling to allow, Lugar said at the news conference and in a subsequent interview. In June, however, Russia presented the United States with a list of 25 to 30 nuclear warhead storage sites and said that three U.S. inspections would be allowed at each, Lugar said. "Terrorists have become tougher," Lugar said. "This is a Russian-American response to toughen the targets too. We're not asleep either." Lugar said that until the February summit, "things were … certainly not going very fast in this area." "I think that President Bush and President Putin, taking a look at the war on terror — and this is the point we're making anecdotally about how terrorists sometimes are becoming more proficient in their craft — I think the two presidents recognized we needed to upgrade so we were more proficient in our protection," Lugar said. "The Russians in the past had placed severe limitations upon inspection of the storage sites, so this was an important breakthrough," he added. "The Russians in essence are saying, 'Your privileges to inspect are not unlimited, but at least you have three opportunities.' " Lugar is in Russia with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to visit several sites associated with the program. They are scheduled to visit a nuclear warhead storage facility in Saratov, 450 miles south of Moscow, and a site near Perm, about 725 miles east of the Russian capital, where mobile SS-24 and SS-25 intercontinental ballistic missiles that once threatened the United States are being destroyed. On previous visits, Lugar said, he has run into situations where Americans were denied access to U.S.-funded activities. "There might be a commander who is just uncooperative, who wasn't really eager to see Americans around there," Lugar said. "So we had to argue diplomatically that, after all, this was cooperative, we were providing contractors and various other support, so we felt that for the American taxpayers we ought to take a look. This was not always agreed to in the old days or more recent days." Lugar recalled visiting a Russian warhead storage facility about five years ago. "Literally we saw the warheads sort of like coffins, lying side by side, with labels at the top indicating … when the warhead was constructed, what kind of servicing, how long it might have efficacy," he said. Lugar said he believed it was important for the momentum of the program to continue the work, citing as an example U.S. help in construction of a plant in the Siberian town of Shchuchye to destroy chemical weapons. "We believe it's in our best interests to continue to work with the Russians and other countries to fund the Shchuchye project, which I understand will finally be completed in about 2008, because there's still 40,000 metric tons of nerve gas or other dangerous chemical weapons out there that Russia has pledged to destroy but physically found it's unable to do so by itself," he said. On Friday, Lugar and Obama visited a Moscow-area agricultural laboratory where Soviet-era research included finding ways to counter a possible U.S. biological weapons attack. "This is a biological facility dealing with agricultural situations, and there are dangerous pathogens. They're scattered over many rooms, many floors, many buildings," Lugar said. "So the idea, which the Russians fully support and are enthusiastic about, is that we rebuild a certain section or fortify these rooms so they will contain in a fairly small area the pathogens, and thus secure the place." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usrussia27aug27,1,2172238.story

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Chicago Tribune August 27, 2005 Stay Or Go, Army Store Of Lethal VX Frays Nerves By Tim Jones, Tribune national correspondent NEWPORT, Ind. -- Like the house guest who never leaves, VX nerve agent, one of the last and deadliest vestiges of the Cold War, sits in thick steel storage tubes amid western Indiana's vast green fields of corn and soybeans. Maybe the more than 1,200 tons of dangerous chemical weapons material will be moved out of this pastoral setting, as the Army has been trying to do for years. And maybe it won't. According to analyst George Delgado, who testified this week before the federal Base Closure and Realignment Commission, it could be as late as 2012 before all the VX is destroyed or neutralized. The long-running drama over what to do with the viscous chemical last produced in 1968 faces not only scientific and environmental obstacles but political resistance in New Jersey, where officials have vowed to block any plans to truck a watery, neutralized form of the nerve agent to their state for disposal in the Delaware River. Even if officials here figure out how to safely neutralize the chemical, there are no guarantees the material will leave Indiana. "I'm probably not going to see that stuff moved out of here, not in my lifetime," predicted Tim Wilson, the 48-year- old president of the Vermillion County Board of Commissioners who has monitored the Army's efforts to destroy the nerve agent. "I think they're going to have a hard time transporting it out," Wilson said. Practically nothing about the planned disposal of the VX nerve agent, stored about 30 miles north of Terre Haute near the village of Newport, has been easy. The chemical stockpiled at the 8,000-acre Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility was supposed to be gone years ago, as dictated by a 1990 disarmament agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union. But since then there have been huge fights over how to safely dispose of the cooking oil-type material. Incineration was proposed and later dropped because of environmental concerns. Disposal plan VX, which the Army began producing in 1961, was designed for launch on rockets or to drop on large numbers of troops. It works like a pesticide; as little as a pinhead inhaled or touching skin can kill a person in minutes. The chemical weapon never was used, and the nation's entire VX stockpile is housed at the Indiana depot. The goal was to have all of the material disposed of by the end of 2007, but delays have made the earliest possible date late 2008. Neutralizing the material--or watering it down to what scientists say is a caustic but not toxic solution--is the current plan, but that, too, has run into problems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a recent report that diluting the agent may not be harmful to humans but might damage aquatic organisms. The Army suspended disposal operations in mid-June after officials at the facility discovered a wastewater leak during the neutralization process. Inspectors also learned that the wastewater--the byproduct of neutralizing the material--was more flammable than expected. The Army announced this month that it hopes to resume neutralizing the chemical stockpile before the end of the month. "The destruction of chemical weapons is always a challenge," said Lt. Col. Scott Kimmell, the commander at the chemical depot. "It is somewhat predictable in that it's not predictable." In Newport, a community of about 560 people 3 miles north of the depot, people have learned to live with their volatile neighbor and are weathering the uncertainty over disposal plans. There was a spike in anxiety immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when officials feared the chemical depot was a potential terrorist target. On-site security was beefed up, and the Federal Aviation Administration placed flight restrictions over the area. Kimmell calls the area around the chemical depot, including Newport, "the safest place in Indiana." Large, honeycomb-shaped sirens installed atop utility poles to warn residents of a chemical leak blare every Wednesday, as a test of the security system. For many, that weekly event is the only time they give a thought to the presence of the nerve agent. Out of sight, out of mind "You know, if the TV media would just leave it alone, everybody'd forget about the damn thing," said David Bedwell, who runs a computer and Internet service provider shop on the town square. Bedwell would rather talk about Newport's antique car race, an annual, three-day event that draws more than 100,000 people to the tiny town. "You got all these people coming here, and they don't show up with gas masks on," Bedwell said. Because the Newport depot is the largest employer in Vermillion County, people are conflicted about the operation. If and when the nerve agent is gone, the jobs will be gone as well. "I have mixed feelings," said Wilson, the county commissioner. "It's always been there and it's been good for employment, but you don't know what will be developed there if it's gone." At Gidget's Market, owner Gidget Hall is philosophical about the presence and potential danger of VX. "If it's my time, it's my time," Hall said as she prepared pizzas behind the market's meat counter. "I really don't even think about it, and I don't hear people talking about it much." The further one travels from Newport, the greater the worry. About 15 miles to the south, in rural Fairview Park, Leonard Akers has been following the VX debate for years. "You talk about homeland security, but to send 4 million gallons of VX [wastewater] across the country is absurd. It's absolutely crazy. It's a terrorist target," said Akers, who is part of the environmental activist organization Indiana Chemical Weapons Working Group. "It [VX] should be neutralized on site . . . and then be safely land-filled. It should not leave Indiana in the state that it's in," Akers said. "I don't think this is ever going to leave Indiana." The loudest objections come from New Jersey and Delaware. New Jersey's acting governor, Richard Codey, has notified the secretary of the Army of his concerns about plans to release the treated wastewater into the Delaware River, "a river that is not only a precious natural resource, but also an important part of our states' economies," Codey said. Sen. Jon Corzine, the Democratic nominee for New Jersey governor, called the plan to dispose of the wastewater into the Delaware "just inconceivable." Corzine vowed that, if elected, he would use his authority to block all environmental permits allowing for the release of the neutralized agent. Corzine said a good alternative is to keep the material stored in Newport. Jeff Brubaker, the site project manager for the Newport chemical depot, said the site has enough storage capacity to hold only about 15 percent of the neutralized nerve agent. He said he is confident that scientific roadblocks and the CDC's concerns will be resolved soon. What about the politics of trucking it out of Indiana? "The politics are an unknown," Brubaker said. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0508270055aug27,1,147119.story

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London Financial Times August 29, 2005 Fear Of Occupation Sustains Pyongyang's Nuclear Arms Quest North Korea's defiance on atomic weapons works because its people believe the alternative is a return to colonial times, writes Anna Fifield Mr Tae, a 40-something taxi driver with gappy teeth, thumped his fist on the steering wheel as he drove his Japanese car through the wide streets of Pyongyang. "Imperialists are trying to overthrow our country," he said, swerving around the children who wander with abandon across the relatively deserted roads. "The Bush administration has pushed us very much, and if we hadn't reacted, we would have become like Iraq. That's why we have our songun (military first) policy, and that's why we need nuclear weapons." Fifty-five years after the Americans invaded North Korea, according to the communist stronghold's version of history, this country remains on high alert. To live in North Korea is to be constantly threatened with a repeat of the events that blighted the peninsula during the first 53 years of the 20th century - war, destruction and oppression at the hands of a brutal colonial aggressor (although last time it was Japan). Billboards on seemingly every building, and murals of Eternal President Kim Il-sung on almost every corner, exhort: "Let's exterminate US imperialists! Long live the military-first policy! Let's build a strong and powerful nation!" Films, songs and even postage stamps remind North Koreans of the prospect that the "mije"-American imperialists - could come again to their half of the peninsula. In the war of words, Kim Jong-il certainly has a loyal army, at least publicly. "We didn't develop nuclear weapons to attack another country - they are just to defend the sovereignty of our nation," said Moon Keum-hwi, a tour guide in central Pyongyang. "The US forced us into making nuclear weapons." North Koreans like Mr Tae and Ms Moon are fed a steady diet of war cries, historical distortions and anti-American bluster, which they happily recount to foreigners, although it is impossible to tell whether they believe it. As evidence of the very real nature of the US threat, Pyongyang last week lambasted South Korea and the US for holding joint military exercises to prepare for a confrontation with the North, which continue this week. "This is a flagrant act of trampling upon peace, which shocks the world and enrages people," reported North Korean state radio. "The US deployed in South Korea the most up-to-date equipment for nuclear attack, which has been tested in actual battle in Iraq and Afghanistan." Mr Tae was, as the radio broadcasters probably planned, both dismayed and outraged by the exercises. "Why else would they practise like this if not to invade?" To underline his point, he recalled a Korean proverb: "When there are clouds, it often rains." Pyongyang is holding up the drill as yet another potential complication in the six-party talks about dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons programme, scheduled to resume in Beijing this week. "Dialogue and confrontation can never go together," the North's foreign ministry said. Although the main sticking point has been whether the North should be allowed to retain a peaceful nuclear energy programme, the US's "hostility" has remained a useful impediment for Mr Kim's regime to invoke. Indeed, there is a widely held belief that the US has rows of nuclear weapons trained on North Korea. "It is not appropriate for the Americans to talk about the nuclear issue with us when they still have nuclear weapons on the southern part of peninsula, " declared Kim Kwan-gil, a colonel in the Korean People's Army, in the hut on the inter- Korean border where the 1953 ceasefire was signed. When informed that both Washington and Seoul say that there are no nuclear weapons in the South, Col Kim, tipping back his high green cap, defiantly cites the "Honest John" rocket. "It's a kind of long gun that can carry nuclear weapons," he said, adding the US also had "many other weapons". Analysts say Pyongyang uses this prospect of imminent attack to unify and control the populace. "There are incentives for any state to exaggerate an external threat," said Daniel Pinkston, a Korea specialist at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California. "If people feel insecure and have fear, they want to be protected. Even if you're living under wretched conditions, you think it is better than the alternative." This is also how the regime explains the cost of the songun policy to impoverished North Koreans, 3m of whom could be going without staple cereals by November because of severe shortages, according to the World Food Programme. South Korea's unification ministry estimates that defence expenditure takes up about 30 per cent of the North's annual budget. "It is true that our people do not live as well as in the UK or France or New Zealand, but if the Americans invade our country then we will return to colonial life, just like in the past," said Mr Tae the taxi driver. "The Americans are still occupying South Korea now." The combination of this perceived threat and the importance of "keeping face" to North Koreans has apparently helped keep Pyongyang from agreeing to dismantle its weapons facilities. As Col Kim, who plans to send one of his daughters to university and the other to the army, put it: "We don't want war but we are not afraid of it. We want peace but we will not beg for it." http://news.ft.com/cms/s/0bdbe98a-1829-11da-a14b-00000e2511c8.html

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Philadelphia Inquirer August 29, 2005 Iran Seeks Talks With U.N. Energy Agency Tehran rejected conditional talks with European nations and said future negotiations would not include the U.S. By Nasser Karimi, Associated Press TEHRAN, Iran - Iran yesterday rejected what it called conditional negotiations with Europe over Tehran's nuclear program, and said it wanted instead to have talks with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said any future negotiations would not include the United States, which says Iran wants to build atomic weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is solely to produce electricity. "Since Europe has demanded conditional negotiations, Iran will not accept that and negotiations won't be held," Asefi said. "We are interested in negotiations and working with the International Atomic Energy Agency as our partner." Last week, Britain's Foreign Office said there was "no basis for negotiations with Iran until they respond" to an IAEA resolution adopted this month that calls on Iran to suspend uranium reprocessing activities at its Isfahan plant. The EU countries called off a negotiating session scheduled for Wednesday because of the resumption of work there. Asefi said that Iran supported negotiations with all countries but that activities at Isfahan would never stop. On Wednesday, Iran said it was preparing a new nuclear proposal for use in talks with Europe. Asefi said the proposal still would be issued within 45 days and was designed to boost Iran's right to have the full nuclear fuel cycle. Ali Larijani, Tehran's top nuclear negotiator, said Friday that Iran would not negotiate away its right to enrich uranium, and Larijani shrugged off threats of U.N. action, which could include sanctions. A day earlier he had called on more countries to join the European negotiators - France, Britain and Germany. The three countries, negotiating with Iran on behalf of the European Union, sought to persuade Iran to give up its uranium-enrichment program in return for economic incentives, a proposal Iran has rejected. This month, Iran reactivated uranium conversion at its Isfahan nuclear facility, a precursor to uranium enrichment. Enrichment is one of the final stages in the nuclear-fuel process, which Iran froze in November in conjunction with its negotiations with the Europeans. The enrichment process can produce either the fuel needed for a reactor or material used in a nuclear bomb. http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/nation/12502215.htm

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GovExec.com DAILY BRIEFING August 26, 2006 The Decision Makers: Defense Department The Defense Department coordinates and supervises all agencies and functions of the government related to military affairs. The department trains and maintains armed forces; procures weapons; supports overseas deployments; provides disaster relief; performs humanitarian missions; conducts peacekeeping operations; and supports homeland security. Donald Rumsfeld Secretary 703-697-9312 Rumsfeld has become one of the most consequential -- and most controversial -- Defense secretaries in modern American history. Consequential, because Rumsfeld, 72, is a wartime secretary who is actually on the verge of accomplishing what he set out to do: fundamentally transforming a Cold War-model U.S. military into a more agile, rapidly deployable, and technologically adept force for the 21st century. Controversial, because his brusque style and sharp elbows have alienated many senior military leaders as well as U.S. allies. Rumsfeld's trademark determination to constantly push the envelope is reflected in the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prison scandals, and in a U.S. military that is showing increasing signs of buckling under the constant pressure of wars and transformative change. Rumsfeld's career directly refutes the notion that there are no second acts in American lives. After graduating from Princeton University on a ROTC scholarship, Rumsfeld served a tour in the active-duty Navy as an aviator. He then represented Illinois in Congress at the tender age of 30. Following three successful re-elections, Rumsfeld served in the Nixon and Ford administrations in various senior posts, including White House chief of staff and ambassador to NATO. In 1975, he became the youngest Defense secretary in history, before exiting to private business to become a successful executive. Following speculation that he would retire early in Bush's second term, Rumsfeld has suggested more recently that he might serve another full term. That would make him not only the youngest and oldest Defense secretary in history, but also one of the longest-serving. Gen. Peter Pace Chairman (designate), Joint Chiefs of Staff 703-697-9121 A signature of Rumsfeld's management style has been the careful vetting and promotion of officers to ensure that the senior uniformed leadership shares his vision of a fundamentally transformed U.S. military that is quicker-reacting and more expeditionary. It was thus no surprise that Rumsfeld, in choosing the top uniformed officer in the land, looked to someone who not only fit that description, but was also a known entity. Pace's promotion from vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to chairman will have added historical significance: He'll be the first marine ever to hold the top job. The Office of the Secretary of Defense clearly hopes that the expeditionary ethos of the Marine Corps -- America's "force-in-waiting" -- will rub off on all of the other armed services. Certainly Pace, 59, has the pedigree to serve as the chairman in a time of war. The son of an Italian immigrant, Pace was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and grew up in nearby New Jersey. Shortly after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy, he served as a rifle platoon commander in Vietnam, and he took part in the battle to retake the city of Hue from the North Vietnamese during the Tet offensive, some of the war's bloodiest fighting. To this day, under the glass on his desk at the Pentagon is a picture of Lance Cpl. Guido Farinaro, the first marine Pace lost in combat in Vietnam. Pace went on to serve as the second-ranking commander of the Somalia task force in 1993, and as head of U.S. Southern Command in 2000. In addition to his military education, Pace has a master's degree in business administration from George Washington University. Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani Jr. Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff 703-614-8948 Of Giambastiani, the Lexington Institute's Loren Thompson says, "He sort of reminds me of the submarines he has commanded -- running silent and running deep." Giambastiani, 57, currently serves as NATO's supreme allied commander for "transformation," meaning that he's in charge of bringing allied forces up to date. He serves in a similar role as commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command, which oversees the modernization and integration of the four U.S. armed services. Before arriving at Joint Forces Command in late 2002, Giambastiani was Rumsfeld's senior military assistant. A native of Canastota, N.Y., he graduated from the Naval Academy with leadership distinction in 1970. He has a "strong background in terms of military budgets, programs, and requirements," says Andrew Krepinevich, who sits on a Joint Forces advisory group. One of Giambastiani's roles as vice chairman is to head the Pentagon's powerful Joint Requirements Oversight Council, which decides which new weapons programs will go forward. Giambastiani, explains one former Defense official, has a "very joint mind-set," adding, "It'll be interesting to see how he pushes that body." Gordon R. England Deputy Secretary (designate) 703-692-7150 In 2001, Rumsfeld installed three experienced corporate executives as service secretaries, touting them as his main managers. Since then, Army Secretary Thomas White has been ousted for taking the generals' side against Rumsfeld, and Air Force Secretary James Roche has retired, but England has endured and ascended. Even as Navy secretary, England took on Defense-wide priorities well beyond the usual service secretary portfolio, including the contentious overhaul of the department's civil service system. Now awaiting formal Senate confirmation to his new post, this lifelong manager succeeds foreign-policy strategist Paul Wolfowitz as Rumsfeld's No. 2. Said one former Defense official, "There's huge anticipation that finally, the deputy secretary will be someone who's focused inward, as the go-to guy for internal management issues." And England is certainly less controversial on the Hill than are other, more-ideological Rumsfeld lieutenants. "Gordon England has the greatest credibility up here of anybody over there," said one Democratic staffer. "He's got a track record that inspires trust." England, 67, is a Baltimore native with degrees from the University of Maryland and Texas Christian University. He worked at General Dynamics before entering government. Kenneth J. Krieg Undersecretary for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics 703-697-7021 Since arriving at the Pentagon in July 2001, Krieg has earned a good reputation in the national security business. He won significant support on the Hill for his role during the scandal over the lease of tanker aircraft from Boeing. He was working as director of the Pentagon's program analysis and evaluation office, which provides an internal check on the department's spending projects, and he was commended by Hill staffers for providing a skeptical review of the now-defunct leasing project. The reward for his diligence was a promotion to his new job, where he will oversee purchases of everything from nuclear submarines to socks. Before joining the Pentagon, Krieg, 44, worked for 11 years at International Paper, a multinational producer and distributor, where he rose to head the company's retail, office, and consumer division. He grew up in Logan, Ohio, and received his bachelor's degree in history from Davidson College, and his master's in public policy from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Tina Jonas Undersecretary (Comptroller) 703-695-3237 Dov Zakheim, the former Pentagon comptroller who first brought Jonas to the Defense Department in 2001, recalls that Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., "was constantly teasing me that if I let go of [Jonas], he'd hire her back." Jonas had spent the previous decade working on defense budget issues as a professional staff member for the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee and as a senior budget examiner for the Office of Management and Budget. She left Defense in 2002 to become chief financial officer for the FBI, where she helped to overhaul the agency's budgeting and financial management processes. She returned to the Pentagon last summer to oversee Defense's $400 billion annual budget when Zakheim retired. Jonas, who declined to give her age or home state, earned a bachelor's degree from Arizona State University in political science in 1982 and a master's degree in liberal studies with a concentration in international affairs from Georgetown University in 1995. She got her start in Congress as a legislative aide for Rep. Bill McCollum, R-Fla. Stephen A. Cambone Undersecretary for Intelligence 703-695-0971 Cambone is the first-ever undersecretary for intelligence at the Pentagon, and his post's very existence is controversial. Many believe that Cambone is part of Rumsfeld's strategy to wrest control of intelligence from other agencies, and that there will be inherent tension between the department and the director of national intelligence. Cambone counters that his role is simply to "ensure that the reforms directed by the DNI are done in a coordinated fashion." He feels his position was created because "9/11 solidified the need within the Department of Defense to elevate the attention given to defense intelligence." A 52-year-old Bronx, N.Y., native, Cambone graduated from Catholic University and has a master's and Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University. Defense expert Loren Thompson sums him up this way: "Cambone is the most important person in the Rumsfeld Pentagon in terms of getting things done. He's very hard-charging, he works very hard, he has a vision, and he has the complete confidence of the secretary of Defense. Now, given all those positive qualities, it isn't surprising so many people hate him." Eric Edelman Undersecretary for Policy (703) 697-7200 In succeeding Douglas Feith, who became something of a lightning rod for critics of the Iraq war, Edelman will almost certainly maintain the close ties between the Pentagon's influential policy shop and the vice president's office that were established during Bush's first term. After all, from February 2001 to June 2003, Edelman served as Dick Cheney's national security adviser, and he worked under then-Secretary Cheney at the Pentagon in the early 1990s. Most recently, Edelman was the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, where he stirred controversies of his own with sometimes-pointed criticisms of the Turkish government. A career Foreign Service officer, Edelman first worked in the Reagan administration, where he learned the ropes as a special assistant to Secretary of State George Schultz. In addition to Ankara, his overseas postings have included stints as the head of the external political section at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow (1987 to '89); deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic (1994 to '96); and ambassador to the Republic of Finland (1998 to 2001). In the early 1990s, he served as assistant deputy undersecretary of Defense for Soviet and East European affairs. Edelman received his undergraduate degree in history and government from Cornell University, and a doctorate in U.S. diplomatic history from Yale University. David S.C. Chu Undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness 703-695-5254 In a city of glad-handers, Chu reminds a lot of people of their most intimidating college professor. He seems OK with that. "It's not a popularity contest," he said. "This is a results-oriented post." That attitude rankles legislators and activists who see military benefits -- pay, health care, retirement -- in moral terms; but Chu argues that Congress's pet personnel add-ons -- many aimed at military retirees -- are inefficient tools for recruiting and retaining current troops. Chu is overseeing massive changes in the Pentagon's civil service system and the restructuring of the Reserves. And he works to strengthen schools, child care, spouse employment services, and other "family support" for military dependents. "They're actually doing more than the Office of the Secretary of Defense usually does" in this area, said Joyce Raezer of the National Military Family Association, "and we've applauded all that." Chu, 61, served as an Army logistics officer in Vietnam. He led the Pentagon's Program Analysis and Evaluation Office throughout President Reagan's buildup and the elder Bush's drawdown, then went to the Rand think tank. A native of Mount Vernon, N.Y., he holds a bachelor's degree and a doctorate from Yale University. Charles S. Abell Principal Deputy Undersecretary for Personnel and Readiness 703-697-2121 Abell is the kinder, gentler face of Pentagon personnel planners: An eight-year veteran of the House Armed Services Committee staff, he helped to craft many of the increased military benefits that his current boss, David Chu, considers too costly. "Some, I thought, were overreaching at the time," Abell said. "It is possible to make people too expensive." Although Abell is not Chu's point man with Congress, he extensively advises his new colleagues on how to deal with his old colleagues. His top agenda items lately are the sweeping and controversial overhaul of the department's civil service system -- final regulations are now being thrashed out with unions and other parties -- and the effort to improve support services for military families. He also peruses management tomes to help him master the vast Pentagon bureaucracy: "I particularly enjoy [former General Electric CEO] Jack Welch," Abell said. "He's especially into performance-based management -- which is, of course, where I'm trying to take the department." Abell, 58, served 26 years in the Army. A native of North Carolina, he graduated from the University of Tampa. Bradley M. Berkson Deputy Undersecretary for Logistics and Materiel Readiness; Director for Program Analysis and Evaluation 703-697-5531 Donald Rumsfeld has favored hard-charging corporate types for key positions, and Bradley Berkson is an exemplary case. A Harvard M.B.A. who became one of McKinsey & Co.'s whiz-kid consultants -- and did a stint advising the U.S. Marine Corps -- Berkson went on to found a company using tiny radio-frequency identification tags (RFID) to track items through corporate supply chains, an innovation the military has embraced. Rumsfeld brought Berkson on board in 2003 to advise the secretary's elite management team, the Senior Executive Council, and made him acting head of logistics in January 2004. Earlier this year, Berkson also took on the job of director of program analysis and evaluation -- a key position whose previous occupants under Rumsfeld, Steve Cambone and Ken Krieg, have both ascended to undersecretary positions. Berkson, 42, is a native of Albuquerque, N.M. He holds an undergraduate degree in engineering from the University of Tulsa, and he's a licensed aviator who volunteers as a pilot for mercy medical missions. Christopher (Ryan) Henry Principal Deputy Undersecretary for Policy 703-695-7114 Henry, 55, has emerged as the Pentagon's point man during the ongoing review of military strategy and spending, known as the Quadrennial Defense Review. He served as a top deputy to the Pentagon's controversial former policy chief, Douglas Feith. Henry, a Naval Academy graduate who retired as a Navy captain after more than two decades in uniform, has emphasized repeatedly in speeches and press interviews the importance of the review. "We can't see many competitors that are coming at us in the traditional domain. In the business world, this is the equivalent of coming up with a new product in a new market," he has said. An aviator who was the Navy Test Pilot of the Year in 1983, Henry has become a respected military strategist. Before coming to the Pentagon's policy shop in 2001, he was a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Most recently, he was vice president for strategic assessment and development at Science Applications International Corp. The California native holds four master's degrees and is pursuing a doctorate in public policy. Thomas Hall Assistant Secretary for Reserve Affairs 703-697-6631 Among the most controversial aspects of the war on terror is the fact that Reserve units have been used with great frequency. But Hall points out something rarely mentioned: "Since 9/11, we have utilized about 40 percent of our Guard and Reserve. We have not utilized 60 percent," he says. "What is frequently talked about is people that are mobilized two, three, and four times. The actual figures are only a total of about 7 percent that have been utilized more than once." Hall says that the military has needed certain skill sets, such as those of military police. But officials are now examining the remaining 60 percent of reservists to determine who can be retrained for use in today's wars. And that's just one crucial aspect of Hall's job. He is a 34-year active-duty Navy veteran and former anti-submarine warfare pilot. His final assignment was as commander of the Naval Reserves, a posting that led to his current position. Hall, a 65-year-old native Oklahoman, has a bachelor's degree from the Naval Academy and a master's in management from George Washington University. Thomas W. O'Connell Assistant Secretary for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict 703-693-2894 O'Connell's military career started in the infantry, but it has culminated in a Defense post responsible for overseeing an $8 billion budget as well as policy for special operations, counter-terrorism, humanitarian assistance, and the counter-narcotics office. O'Connell -- described by a colleague as "tough, experienced, and unassuming" -- spent 28 years in uniform before retiring as a colonel. Those three decades brought him experience in military intelligence and took him to 33 countries, including Vietnam, where he earned a Bronze Star for valor and a Purple Heart. O'Connell, 58, grew up in Rhode Island and received his bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Rhode Island. He went on to earn two master's degrees -- one in management from Central Michigan University, and a second in international relations from the Naval War College. O'Connell worked as a senior manager for Raytheon and was a task force member of the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee. His other awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, and the Air Medal. Paul McHale Assistant Secretary for Homeland Defense 703-697-5664 Over the past 30 years, McHale has seen the Defense Department from all sides: as a Marine infantry officer, as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, and now as the first assistant secretary of Defense for homeland security. McHale, 54, graduated from Lehigh University in his hometown of Bethlehem, Pa., and spent two years in the Marine Corps before attending Georgetown Law School. In 1982, he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He resigned in 1991 to return to active duty with the Marines for the Persian Gulf War. McHale was then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives two years later. In the House, McHale, a moderate Democrat, served on the Armed Services Committee and co-founded the National Guard and Reserve Components Caucus. Since February 2003, he's been the point person for all of Defense's homeland-security activities. In that position, McHale oversees the new Northern Command, which is responsible for defense in the continental United States, and he handles liaison work with civil authorities for homeland security. Daniel Stanley Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs 703-697-6210 Stanley, who was confirmed in late June, is the department's top lobbyist on Capitol Hill. He's worked in various senior positions in the Pentagon's legislative affairs offices for the past two years and currently is acting assistant secretary of Defense for legislative affairs. A defense-industry insider praised Stanley for "being very understated and not someone who would showboat. You have to be liked on the Hill, and Dan is liked." Stanley, a onetime Navy enlistee, was a nuclear submarine officer before retiring as a Naval Reserve commander in 1997. The fifth- generation Kansan got his start in politics as an administrative assistant to Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., and later became the Senate majority leader's top defense adviser on topics ranging from base closings to Operation Desert Storm. Stanley, 53, has also served as secretary of administration for the state of Kansas and on the federal Postal Rate Commission. He holds a bachelor's degree in nuclear technology from the State University of New York (Albany). Peter Rodman Assistant Secretary for International Security Affairs 703-695-4351 Rodman considers himself a generalist in foreign affairs, a policy realm where many practitioners define themselves in terms of a specific regional expertise. "I have most of the regions of the world in my jurisdiction," said Rodman, whose office acts as the foreign-policy arm of the Pentagon. "I have Colombia and North Korea and everything in between." Rodman, a Boston native, said he developed his wide-ranging policy expertise during his years working with Henry Kissinger. "I got into everything he was doing," said Rodman, who studied under professor Kissinger at Harvard during the 1960s. Rodman earned a bachelor's and a law degree from Harvard. He also holds a bachelor's and a master's from Oxford. In 1969, National Security Adviser Kissinger hired Rodman as a staffer on the National Security Council. Rodman, 61, later held ranking posts in the State Department and the NSC under Presidents Reagan and Bush I before joining the sitting administration in 2001. William Winkenwerder Jr. Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs 703-681-1698 Even as Rumsfeld attempts to transform the military into a more efficient 21st-century fighting machine, Winkenwerder endeavors to modernize the vast military health system. Before his October 2001 appointment, Winkenwerder spent more than a decade as a health care executive with Emory University, Prudential Health Care, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. He now oversees the implementation of all health policies, programs, and activities of the department, which include conducting research, and providing health insurance and health care to more than 9.1 million military beneficiaries. Winkenwerder, 51, says one of his greatest challenges has been balancing the different needs of active-duty personnel, their families and dependents, and military retirees. A North Carolina native and graduate of Davidson College, Winkenwerder earned his M.D. at the University of North Carolina and his M.B.A. at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. One of his current priorities is to upgrade the military's electronic health record system, the largest of its type in the world, which he says is already a model for proposed private-sector telemedicine systems. Linton Wells Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Networks and Information Integration; Chief Information Officer 703-614-7323 Wells, 58, is trying to upgrade the military's central nervous system with modern communications gear and software. His initiatives must allow war fighters to see farther, think better, and act faster, without imposing computer-generated blinders, errors, or delays onto the battlefield. It is an effort that has gone on for 30 years but has produced enormous payoffs in modern warfare. Wells was a 26-year Navy officer, whose final command in 1991 was a destroyer squadron. He worked as an assistant to former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in the first term of President Bush. In the Clinton years, Wells oversaw the Pentagon's command, control, communications, and intelligence programs. His office was reorganized after Bush's first election, but Wells remained in charge. Wells's parents were foreign correspondents who met in Josef Stalin's Moscow. He was born in Portuguese-occupied Angola, and later had to decline a draft notice from the Portuguese military. He earned his engineering degree and a Ph.D. in international relations from Johns Hopkins University. Lawrence DiRita Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs 703-697-9312 DiRita, 47, replaced high-profile Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clark in 2003. A Naval Academy graduate who served in uniform on the Joint Staff under Gen. Colin Powell in 1994, he has been a trusted behind-the-scenes operator for Rumsfeld -- and an occasional squash opponent for his boss. Before taking over the podium in the Pentagon press room, DiRita was in Baghdad to help with the initial postwar reconstruction efforts as a special assistant to Rumsfeld. The Detroit native earned his political stripes working on the 1996 presidential campaign of Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas. DiRita also worked for another Texas Republican, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, from 1996 to 2001, as her legislative director and later chief of staff. After leaving the Navy, DiRita, who holds a master's degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, served as the Heritage Foundation's deputy director of foreign policy and defense studies. Andrew W. Marshall Director of Net Assessment 703-697-1312 Administrations come and go. Marshall remains. Since founding the Office of Net Assessment, he has shaped the "Team B" analysis of the Soviet threat in the 1970s, the "competitive strategies" doctrine of countering Soviet numbers with superior technology in the 1980s, the "revolution in military affairs" (stealth, smart bombs, computer networks) of the 1990s, and current thinking on radical Islam and a rising China. Jokingly called "Yoda" by admirers, the 83-year-old Marshall is a lifelong advocate of advanced military technology, much of which has moved from science fiction to battlefield reality in his lifetime. The Bush administration may be the apogee of Marshall's influence, as Rumsfeld strives to replace Industrial Age tank divisions and aircraft carriers with Information Age networks of nimbler weapons. Born in Detroit, Marshall graduated from the University of Chicago in 1949 and worked at the Rand think tank from 1949 to 1972, when he joined President Nixon's National Security Council. "Working for Marshall is like writing a higher-order doctoral dissertation," recalled Andrew Krepinevich, a former Net Assessment staffer. "It's very demanding. He wants you to break new ground." Ronald M. Sega Director, Defense Research and Engineering 703-697-5776 It's a dream for many young boys and girls, but somebody has to grow up to be an astronaut. Sega is one of those who did. Like space explorers Neil Armstrong and John Glenn, Sega was raised in Ohio. He eventually flew two space shuttle missions, including the one in 1994 that was the first joint U.S.-Russian shuttle mission. These days, back on Earth, Sega serves as principal technical adviser to the Defense secretary, and he oversees DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the central research-and-development arm of the Pentagon. Lately, Sega's office has been focusing on bringing new technologies quickly to the battlefields in Iraq, including new armor for Humvees and devices to foil roadside bombs. Sega, 52, has a bachelor's degree from the Air Force Academy, a master's from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado (Colorado Springs), where he later served as dean of the college of engineering and applied science. Robert S. Rangel Special Assistant to the Secretary 703-692-7095 Rangel has switched branches of government -- and National Journal special issues. A stalwart of the House Armed Services Committee staff for 18 years, rising to staff director, Rangel has rated a profile in every edition of National Journal's Hill People since 1995, when he was called the committee's "best-kept secret." But now Rangel, still just 46, has quit the Capitol for the Pentagon. As "special assistant," he'll be the de facto chief of staff to the mercurial and hard-to-manage Rumsfeld. He replaces Paul Butler, who in turn replaced Lawrence DiRita, now the Pentagon's top spokesman, who is an intimate of Rumsfeld's innermost circle. Rangel, by contrast, comes from the outside, rarely gives interviews, and is known for his quiet efficiency. "He knows his limits as a staff person," said one Hill colleague. "And he's the finest staff person I've ever worked with over here. He knows the laws inside and out, he knows the process inside and out -- and he'll need it." A native of Lexington, Ky., Rangel graduated from the University of Kentucky and came to Washington in 1986 to work for then-Rep. Larry Hopkins, R-Ky. ARMY Francis Harvey Army Secretary 703-695-3211 "I had never heard of him," says one Army insider when asked about the Bush administration's surprise pick last fall to head the largest of the military services. Harvey, a business executive with no prior military service, was expected to become the Pentagon's chief information officer. But James Roche, the original nominee who was picked to switch from Air Force to Army secretary, withdrew in a political squabble, and Harvey got the nod. Despite questions about his experience, the Senate easily confirmed him in November. Harvey's only previous Army ties were his service on the Army Science Board from 1999 to 200l, and his stint as a special assistant to Defense Secretary Harold Brown during a White House Fellowship in 1978 and 1979. But Harvey is familiar with the Pentagon; from 1969 to 1997, he worked as a top executive for Westinghouse Electric's defense programs. He then worked as vice chairman for Duratek, a company that specializes in treating radioactive and other hazardous waste; the Defense and Energy departments are among its clients. The company is owned by the Carlyle Group, a Washington investment firm with ties to top Republicans and former Defense officials. Harvey, 62, a Pennsylvania native, earned his bachelor's degree from Notre Dame and a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania; both degrees were in metallurgy. Gen. Peter Schoomaker Army Chief of Staff 703-697-0900 When the phone call came in summer 2003 asking Schoomaker to come out of a comfortable retirement to take the Army's top uniformed job, he thought it was a joke. His predecessor had famously feuded with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, and a number of active-duty generals had flatly turned down the job. The Army was clearly in trouble, straining under the burdens of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and under intense pressure from Rumsfeld's staff to transform more quickly to a more expeditionary force. Why would anyone want to take the helm of the Army under such circumstances? "The simple answer is, because the nation is at war," Schoomaker, 59, told National Journal in an interview last year. "Did I want to take this job? No, I did not want it. But I had committed my life to the Army. My father served in the Army for over three decades. My brother is in the Army. My daughter is going into the Army. So in my family, when your nation asks you to do something, that's what you do." Coming from the elite Special Forces community, Schoomaker had also long thought that the Army needed to transform itself into a more flexible force. In return for signing wholeheartedly on to Rumsfeld's transformation agenda, Schoomaker won a Pentagon pledge to increase the size of the service by 30,000 soldiers -- temporarily but most likely permanently -- to relieve the stress of constant combat deployments. Schoomaker, an Army brat who spent his formative youthful years in Michigan, earned an undergraduate degree at the University of Wyoming, followed by a master's from Central Michigan University. He was one of the original members of the elite Delta Force counter-terrorism commando unit that tried to rescue U.S. hostages in Iran in 1980. Raymond DuBois Acting Undersecretary of the Army 703-695-4311 DuBois was among the inner circle of advisers Rumsfeld met with soon after he was named Defense secretary in 2001. "It was kind of amazing," said DuBois, who served as an aide to Rumsfeld when Rumsfeld was Defense secretary in the Ford administration. "It was as if 24 years had gone by in a blink, and we were all back together again, trying to help this guy in whom we had so much confidence, even when he was only 43. And now he was 68." In between his two stints at the Pentagon, DuBois pursued a career in business. Born in Washington, D.C., and raised a Navy brat, DuBois served as an executive for a variety of companies dealing in software, electronics, and consulting until in 1995 he founded his own consultancy, called Potomac Strategies International. DuBois, 57, earned a bachelor's degree at Princeton in 1972, after serving a yearlong tour in Vietnam as a combat intelligence operations sergeant in the Army, beginning in 1968. Claude M. Bolton Jr. Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology 703-695-6153 Bolton flew jet fighters for the Air Force over Vietnam. Now he's piloting the Army's acquisition office as it struggles to bring space-age technology to ground warfare. Bolton's push for the Future Combat System -- intended to replace all heavy armored vehicles with a nimbler, computer-networked force -- has faced particularly fierce skepticism in Congress. "The Hill is doing what they should: They are challenging me; they are challenging the Army," Bolton said. "When I first looked at this program, in my mind, the probability of success was about zero." But today, the ambitious high-tech initiative is on track, Bolton insisted: "I clearly see the need for this, having spent my life flying the technology and knowing what it can do for you." Bolton, 59, is a Nebraska native who entered the Air Force from the University of Nebraska's ROTC; he holds degrees from Troy State University in Alabama and the Naval War College. After a career in the cockpit, he led the Advanced Tactical Fighter Technologies Program -- now the F/A-22 -- before retiring at the rank of major general. John Paul Woodley Jr. Assistant Secretary for Civil Works, Army Corps of Engineers 202-761-0011 After more than two years of holdups, the Senate gave Woodley its nod in May to head the Army's civil works and military construction operations. Woodley, who served briefly as assistant secretary after a 2003 recess appointment, has jumped right into the Corps's efforts to manage water resources hurt by drought in Western and Southern states. The Shreveport, La., native had clashed with lawmakers, including Alabama's two Republican senators -- Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby -- over concerns that the Corps had favored Georgia in a decade-long water dispute involving Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Woodley gained expertise in environmental issues as assistant deputy undersecretary of Defense (environment), overseeing the Defense environmental program, and earlier as Virginia's secretary of natural resources. But his Defense experiences began even earlier than that -- with an ROTC scholarship to Washington & Lee University, where Woodley received his B.A. and J.D. Soon after earning his law degree, he began 16 years of active duty with the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, followed by 18 years as an Army reservist. Daniel Denning Acting Assistant Secretary, Manpower and Reserve Affairs 703-695-1375 A native Hoosier, Denning, 60, has split his education and professional career between Indiana and Washington. He graduated with public administration degrees from Indiana University and American University, and his early career included stints as an Army intelligence officer and a reservist. He also held posts in two previous Republican administrations. In the 1990s, Denning served in management at General Electric and at conservative nonprofits, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (a group of state lawmakers) and the Heritage Foundation. He returned to the public sector shortly after September 11, arriving at an Army undergoing the largest Guard and Reserve mobilization in 50 years. Colleagues know him to be professional and pleasant, with logistical smarts and a willingness to delegate. One occasion that showed these traits was an annual meeting that turned into a "logistical nightmare," because the locale proved too small to host the gathering. Denning quickly took charge, having people moved with buses and putting outdoor tents into place. In some ways, he's doing much the same thing today. And he's doing it while still holding on to two deputy assistant secretary positions. NAVY Dionel M. Aviles Undersecretary of the Navy 703-695-3141 Aviles brings a combination of military service, Hill contacts, and budget expertise to his job as undersecretary. Previously the assistant secretary for financial management/comptroller, Aviles recently assumed most of the responsibilities of the service's top civilian job when Navy Secretary Gordon England became acting deputy secretary of Defense. Aviles, 44, was born in Texas and raised in Florida. He is a Naval Academy graduate who also earned an M.B.A. from George Washington University. After completing a Navy tour in 1988, Aviles went to work in the National Security Division of the Office of Management and Budget during the Bush I and Clinton administrations. From 1995 to 2001, he served as a professional staffer to the House Armed Services Committee. A colleague describes Aviles as thoughtful, driven, and very dedicated to the Navy-Marine Corps team. A Navy reservist, he enjoys spending time with his young son. Loren Thompson, a Lexington Institute analyst and a consultant to the defense industry, says that the highly-regarded Aviles "stands out as somebody everyone respects." Adm. Michael (Mike) Mullen Chief of Naval Operations 703-695-5664 Mullen took over as chief of Naval Operations in July, relieving Adm. Vern Clark. Originally from Hollywood, Calif., Mullen began his career as a Navy officer in 1968, when he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. A surface-warfare officer, he has commanded a destroyer and a guided-missile cruiser. By 2000, Mullen had risen to become commander of the U.S. Second Fleet, which is responsible for naval operations in the North Atlantic. Mullen, who earned a master's from the Naval Postgraduate School and graduated from the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program, became vice chief of naval operations in 2003. He hopes to see the Navy modernize rapidly during his time as chief of naval operations. "Change is hard. I know that," Mullen said during an address to sailors this spring. "But we are up against a new and elusive enemy. The only way we can win is to transform -- to change the way we think about war, as well as the way we fight it." Gen. Michael W. Hagee Marine Corps Commandant 703-614-2500 A career military man, Hagee graduated from the Naval Academy in 1968 with a degree in engineering. He later earned a master's at the Naval Postgraduate School in electrical engineering, and he has a master's in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College. Hagee served as senior military assistant to the deputy Defense secretary in the Clinton administration. He was deputy director of operations for the U.S. European Command from 1996 to 1998, and was director of strategic plans and policy for U.S. Pacific Command from 1999 to 2000. Hagee's office did not respond to questions sent to the commandant for this profile. Hagee has been a strong evangelist for the work of the Marine Corps in Iraq. In February testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee, he praised the military's joint capabilities in the 2004 battle of Falluja. John J. Young Assistant Secretary for Research, Development, and Acquisition 703-695-6315 Young was a trusted staff analyst on the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee when, in July 2001, the administration stole him away for this job as the Navy's chief weapons buyer. Now on the other side of the spending give-and-take between Congress and the military, he is charged with protecting the interests of the Navy while his former bosses seek to defend their home-state defense industries. Recently, he has been pushing to have the Navy's next-generation destroyer, the stealthy DDX, built by only one shipyard instead of two, as Congress prefers. Young, 42, grew up in Newnan, Ga. While attending Georgia Tech, he interned in the office of then-Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga. He received his master's degree from Stanford University in aeronautics and astronautics. Young also worked for several defense contractors -- BDM, Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, and Rockwell Missile Systems Division. While at Sandia National Laboratories in 1991, he received a 12-month congressional fellowship focused on learning about the budget process. He ended up staying with the Senate committee for a decade. William A. Navas Jr. Assistant Secretary for Manpower and Reserve Affairs 703-697-2180 Bush's choice to oversee the Navy's personnel -- including more than 842,000 active military, civilian, and reserve members -- started out as an Army man. In 1965, Navas was commissioned a regular Army officer, and he served tours of duty in Vietnam and Germany. He left the Army in 1970 as a captain. Navas is a native of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, and a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico. He joined the island's National Guard after leaving the Army and spent the 1970s working in land development, design, and construction. Between 1987 and 1998, he was an active-duty Army brigadier and major general, and he ended his uniformed career as director of the Army National Guard. As the Navy's manpower chief, Navas has spent time restructuring the Naval and Marine Corps Reserves to better meet the needs of the war in Iraq and the global war on terror. He also will be knee-deep in implementing the Pentagon's new civil service system for the sea services. Navas, 62, earned his master's of science in management engineering at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut. AIR FORCE Michael Dominguez Acting Air Force Secretary 703-695-7079 Dominguez, 51, is a career civil servant who became a political appointee -- a rare breed in the executive branch. He also may be the hardest-working person in the Pentagon. Several high-profile jobs in the Air Force are vacant, so Dominguez is currently carrying all of these portfolios: acting secretary; assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs, a position he's held since 2001; service acquisition chief; and the Defense Department's executive agent for space. Dominguez became acting secretary in March, and immediately jumped into the frying pan. Allegations of religious intolerance at the Air Force Academy have provoked an investigation, while the academy's sexual-assault scandal, which erupted in 2003, continues to simmer. And this year's controversial round of base closings, not to mention the ongoing war in Iraq, is causing turmoil service-wide. Referring specifically to the academy scandals, Dominguez says a top priority has been to "re-establish trust and confidence in the Air Force." An Air Force brat who was born in Austin, Dominguez served in the Army for five years, from 1975 to 1980. "I was attracted to the challenge of leading soldiers in combat," he said. Except for a two-year stint at a dot-com, Dominguez has worked for the Pentagon since the early 1980s. He has a bachelor's degree from West Point and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. Gen. John P. Jumper Air Force Chief of Staff 703-697-9225 Jumper's first full day as chief was September 11, 2001. "It was a very short honeymoon in this job," he says, with the terrorist attacks forcing him to devote a lot of time preparing for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Jumper, 60, the senior uniformed Air Force officer, has also dealt with the personnel and technology issues of military transformation. He is a native of Paris, Texas, and a former commander of Air Combat Command. He has a bachelor's from Virginia Military Institute and an M.B.A. from Golden Gate University (San Francisco). Jumper will step down from his position in September, and Air Force Vice Chief of Staff T. Michael Moseley, another Texan, has been nominated to take his place. Moseley was the Central Command Air Force commander in the Iraq war. Lexington Institute defense expert Loren Thompson says that Moseley is much more relaxed than the sometimes-intense Jumper. But in terms of a policy agenda, Moseley and Jumper appear similar. Moseley "will continue to press the case for more F-22 fighters," Thompson says, and "will continue to argue that 'air dominance' is a neglected area that requires more resources and attention from the department." William C. Anderson Assistant Secretary (designate) for Installations and Environment 703-697-6300 One of Anderson's most pressing tasks will be to "oversee the implementation of the BRAC recommendations," says Tim Ford, the executive director of the Association of Defense Communities, referring to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. "There is a constant push for transformation and privatization of everything," Ford says, and Anderson, a former General Electric executive, will bring valuable private-sector experience to bear on the daunting logistical challenge BRAC poses. The 46-year-old New York native has spent the past 15 years at GE, most recently as general manager and senior counsel for environmental, health, and safety at the company's headquarters in Connecticut. Previously, he served as general counsel and director of quality and environmental affairs at GE Power Controls in Ghent, Belgium, and as integration manager for GE Power Controls in Frankfurt, Germany. A graduate of Washington College, Anderson holds a law degree from Syracuse University. http://govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=32100&dcn=todaysnews

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Nuclear Nonproliferation: Better Management Controls Needed for Some DOE Projects in Russia and Other Countries. GAO-05-828, August 29. http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-828 Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05828high.pdf

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Washington Post August 30, 2005 Pg. 11 U.S. To Aid Ukraine In Countering Bioweapons Pact Focuses on Security at Labs; Russia Apologizes for Delay of Senate Delegation By Joby Warrick, Washington Post Staff Writer The United States and Ukraine agreed yesterday to work jointly to prevent the spread of biological weapons, signing a pact that clears the way for Ukraine's government to receive U.S. aid to improve security at facilities where dangerous microbes are kept. The agreement, the result of more than a year of negotiations, was announced by Sens. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) during a visit to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. The senators credited Ukraine's reformist leaders, ushered into power by last fall's Orange Revolution, with breaking bureaucratic resistance to the pact. One lab to receive funding is the I.I. Mechnikov Antiplague Scientific and Research Institute, in the Black Sea port city of Odessa. The institute was part of a Cold War network of "antiplague" stations that supplied highly lethal pathogens to Soviet bioweapons factories. "This agreement will allow us to begin addressing the problems faced by the Odessa antiplague institute and places like it," said Mark Helmke, a staff member for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which Lugar chairs. Under the pact, the United States will fund security upgrades at key Ukrainian biological institutes and support peaceful research by Ukrainian scientists to fight the spread of natural diseases, Helmke said. The amount of funding has not been determined. The senators' visit to Russia and Ukraine was disrupted Sunday when local authorities refused to allow the delegation's military plane to leave Perm, a city in Russia's Ural Mountains. The officials demanded that they be allowed to search the plane, then relented after several hours and allowed the aircraft to proceed to Ukraine, a spokesman for Lugar said. Yesterday, Russia's Foreign Ministry formally apologized for the incident. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/29/AR2005082901728.html

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New York Times August 30, 2005 North Korea Delays Resuming Talks On Ending Nuclear Programs By Steven R. Weisman WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 - North Korea, declaring its unhappiness with plans for a joint United States-South Korea military exercise, said Monday that it would not return this week to negotiations in Beijing over its nuclear program, as scheduled, but proposed to resume the talks the week of Sept. 12. Responding to the delay, Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said the United States would be ready to return when the North Koreans wanted and suggested that it did not appear that the delay was caused by any problems in the negotiations themselves. "We've seen no indication that anybody is backing off their commitment to returning to the talks," Mr. McCormack said. The participants in the six-way talks are the United States, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia and China, which has been the talks' sponsor. The talks broke off earlier this month, with plans for them to resume for work on a two- or three-page "statement of principles" that the United States hopes will guide future negotiations. The goal is to get North Korea to dismantle its nuclear programs in return for economic and political benefits. Christopher R. Hill, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, said last week that it was not yet clear that North Korea had made a fundamental decision to give up its civilian and military nuclear programs in return for benefits, but that the North's negotiators had approached the talks in a serious and businesslike manner. An Asian diplomat, asking not to be identified by name or country because of the sensitivity of the situation, also said that it did not appear that North Korea's request for a delay portended any refusal to continue bargaining, but that other partners in the talks were disappointed by North Korea's decision. Word of the North's request came from comments by a Foreign Ministry spokesman to the country's news agency, as reported by South Korean news organizations, and also from news reports from North Korea attributing comments about the delay to the foreign minister, Paek Nam Sun. "Our position is to resume six-way talks in the week of Sept. 12, when some of the dust of war exercises has subsided," the ministry spokesman was quoted as saying. Mr. Paek was quoted as saying that "if things are going well, mid-September is possible." Mr. McCormack dismissed concerns about the military exercises, saying they are "an annual defensive exercise involving the U.S. and South Korean forces that poses no threat to the North." North Korean officials were also quoted as saying that the atmosphere was made more difficult by the appointment of Jay Lefkowitz as a special envoy for human rights in North Korea. The appointment was announced this month and mandated by a law signed earlier this year. A State Department official, asking not to be quoted by name because of the sensitive nature of the contacts, said Joseph R. DeTrani, an envoy in the talks, had met with a North Korean official last week in New York City but did not say whether the North had then signaled its intention to seek a delay in the talks. The United States Embassy in Beijing said two American congressmen, Representatives Tom Lantos, a California Democrat, and Jim Leach, an Iowa Republican, were to leave Beijing on Tuesday for talks with North Korean officials, including Kim Kye Gwan, the country's lead negotiator. North Korea has complained several times about what it says is American interference in its internal affairs, but it has never invoked the appointment of the human rights envoy as a reason for not talking about its nuclear programs. Several organizations say they have evidence of vast prison camps and suppression of dissent in North Korea, but Mr. Hill said last week that although the rights issue was not part of the current talks, North Korea would have to improve its record in order to end its isolation from the international community. Jim Yardley contributed reporting from Beijing for this article. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/politics/30korea.html

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New York Times August 30, 2005 Chirac Warns Iran Of Penalty If It Continues Nuclear Work By Elaine Sciolino PARIS, Aug. 29 - President Jacques Chirac of France on Monday issued a stark ultimatum to Iran, warning that it would face censure by the United Nations Security Council if it did not reinstate a freeze on sensitive nuclear activities under an accord reached in Paris in November. In his annual speech to French ambassadors at Élysée Palace, Mr. Chirac made clear that he was losing patience with Iran, even as he urged its leaders to accept an offer of incentives by France, Britain and Germany in exchange for an indefinite freeze of its uranium conversion and enrichment activities. "Today I call on the Iranian authorities to choose the path of cooperation and confidence by carefully examining this offer and resuming their commitment to suspend activities related to the production of fissile materials," Mr. Chirac said. He added: "There is room for dialogue and negotiation. We call on Iran's spirit of responsibility to restore cooperation and confidence, failing which the Security Council will have no choice but to take up the issue." France's new foreign minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, has also given Iran sharp warnings, but this is the first time Mr. Chirac has clearly stated that Iran would face censure or even sanctions in the Security Council if it did not reinstate its freeze on its nuclear activities. In taking such a tough line, Mr. Chirac sends a clear signal to Iran's newly elected conservative president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and the country's new nuclear team that France has moved closer to the position of the United States, which has long held that Iran's case belongs in the Security Council. The issue became more urgent after Iran's resumption of uranium conversion at its plant in Isfahan this month and the breakdown of its talks with the three European countries, under the auspices of the European Union. Iran also rejected the European offer for a range of economic, political, security and technological incentives in exchange for permanently freezing its programs to produce enriched uranium, which can be used for either peaceful nuclear energy or in weapons programs. Iran has declared, correctly, that its nuclear activities are allowed under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and it says it intends only peaceful use of nuclear energy. But Mr. Chirac has long made clear in conversations with world leaders, including President Bush, that he believes that Iran is intent on developing nuclear weapons. "The use of civilian nuclear energy, which is perfectly legitimate, must not serve as a pretext for pursuing activities that could actually be aimed at building up a military nuclear arsenal," Mr. Chirac said Monday. In other remarks, Mr. Chirac said France would live up to its commitments to Turkey regarding its right to start negotiations in October for European Union membership. Early this month, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said Turkey must formally recognize Cyprus before talks can begin, a statement that brought criticism from the European Union's executive body. But after considerable debate inside the French government, a number of ambassadors said, Mr. Chirac rolled back Mr. de Villepin's remarks, saying, "Commitments have been made, and France will live up to them." At the same time, Mr. Chirac demanded that Turkey clarify its position on Cyprus, which joined the European Union in May 2004. The island has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied the north in response to a coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece. Mr. Chirac also announced that France would move to introduce a special tax on airline tickets in 2006 to finance development aid in impoverished countries, including the fight against AIDS and other diseases. The initiative is opposed by the airline industry. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/international/europe/30france.html

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Miami Herald August 30, 2005 In Brazil, An A-Bomb Question Defiant military officials in Brazil nearly completed building an atomic bomb in the 1990s, against an order by the president, a nuclear scientist said. By Michael Astor, Associated Press RIO DE JANEIRO - A leading nuclear scientist said Brazilian military officials defied a presidential order and nearly finished building an atomic bomb even after the program was officially scrapped in 1985. José Luiz Santana, the former president of Brazil's National Nuclear Energy Commission, or CNEN, said in a televised interview late Sunday that many components for an atomic bomb were manufactured in the early 1990s, after former President José Sarney had deactivated the project during his 1985-1990 term. Military officials even obtained a supply of enriched uranium to arm it, Santana told Globo TV, Brazil's largest network. ''I took office in April 1990 . . . but it was only in August that CNEN managed to gain control of the container'' of enriched uranium from the military, Santana told Globo. He said proponents of the bomb planned a test explosion in September 1990 in a huge well dug into rock at a military base in the Cachimbo mountains, in the eastern Amazon. Earlier this month, Sarney, who led Brazil's first civilian government after a 1964-85 dictatorship, told Globo that the military tried to develop an atomic bomb, but that he ordered the program scrapped. The ruling generals were long suspected of trying to obtain nuclear weapons and Sarney's comments confirmed that they were close to building a bomb. Santana, however, said the military were still working on the bomb when former President Fernando Collor succeeded Sarney in 1990. Santana said it took him and his team seven months to discontinue the program and gain control over the enriched uranium. He said the military had obtained enriched uranium from another country but declined to identify it. He also declined to name military officials behind the nuclear efforts. A spokesman for the Science and Technology Ministry said they were preparing a statement on Santana's remarks that would be issued later Monday afternoon. In 2003, Brazil's then-Science and Technology Minister Eduardo Campos sparked a controversy when he said Brazil should pursue ``any form of scientific knowledge, whether the genome, DNA or nuclear fission.'' Many took the comment to mean Brazil intended to develop nuclear weapons. But the government strongly denied it, stressing that Brazil's Constitution bans the use of nuclear energy for non-peaceful purposes. Brazil's nuclear program again stirred concern last year, when the government announced it was working to enrich its own uranium and refused to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect nuclear facilities in Resende, about 60 miles southwest of Rio de Janeiro. The government cited the need to protect industrial secrets. Eventually an agreement was reached allowing the inspections to go ahead with Brazil having to completely unveil its centrifuges. http://www.philly.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/12511292.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_a mericas

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(Editor’s Note: Hyperlink to referenced report follows article.) Los Angeles Times August 31, 2005 Report Links 6 Nations To Biological Arms Efforts By Associated Press WASHINGTON — Evidence indicates that Russia, Iran, North Korea and Syria all continue to maintain biological weapons programs, the State Department said in a report released Tuesday. The department said China maintained "some elements" of an offensive biological weapons program, and U.S. government experts were divided on whether Cuba was trying to develop such capability. The study, mandated by Congress, assesses compliance by foreign countries with arms control, nonproliferation and disarmament agreements. It covers developments over a two-year period ending in December 2004. The report said this about the six nations: • The United States reaffirms its judgment that China "maintains some elements of an offensive BW capability" in violation of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. • Some government analysts continue to believe Cuba has at least a "limited offensive BW research and development effort." • Based on "all available information," Iran has an offensive biological weapons program. • U.S. analysts believe North Korea has a "dedicated, national-level effort to develop a BW capability." • Available evidence shows that Russia "continues to maintain" an offensive biological weapons program. • The evidence shows that Syria would be violating the biological weapons convention rules if the nation were a member. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-bio31aug31,1,7842751.story

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Adherence to and Compliance With Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments Bureau of Verification and Compliance Washington, DC August 30, 2005 ADHERENCE TO AND COMPLIANCE WITH ARMS CONTROL, NONPROLIFERATION, AND DISARMAMENT AGREEMENTS AND COMMITMENTS I. PURPOSE This Noncompliance Report (NCR) is submitted pursuant to Section 403 of the Arms Control and Disarmament Act, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2593) which requires a Report by the President on Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments. This Report – the August 2005 edition of this Congressionally-mandated report – reflects the importance the Administration and the U.S. Congress place upon compliance with arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament agreements and commitments. Such agreements and commitments only serve the national security interests of the United States if they are fully complied with. Other states’ violations of such obligations can present grave threats to our security. For this reason, the United States places a very high priority upon verifying compliance with, and detecting violations of, such agreements and commitments – as well as upon ensuring that violators promptly return to compliance and that other would-be violators are deterred from breaking their own promises. . . . http://www.state.gov/t/vc/rls/rpt/51977.htm PDF version of report. http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/52113.pdf

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Miami Herald August 31, 2005 U.S. No Longer Insists That Cuba Is Creating Offensive Bioweapons By Warren P. Strobel, Knight Ridder News Service WASHINGTON - The Bush administration backed away Tuesday from claims that Cuba has an offensive biological weapons effort, acknowledging in a report to Congress that ''there is a split view'' among intelligence analysts on the question. The report says instead that Cuba has the ''technical capability'' to pursue biological weapons research and development because of its advanced pharmaceutical industry. But it leaves open the critical question of whether it has done so. The State Department report apparently marks the first time that the U.S. government has publicly softened its earlier charge, which has been controversial from the outset. Then-Undersecretary of State John Bolton had tried to reassign two intelligence analysts at the State Department and National Intelligence Council who had challenged Bolton's view that Cuba had biowar capabilities, according to testimony at Bolton's nomination hearing to become United Nations ambassador. The new finding on Cuba is based on a U.S. intelligence-community-wide assessment, known as a National Intelligence Estimate, completed last year. In that estimate, which is classified, ''the Intelligence Community unanimously held that it was unclear whether Cuba has an active biological weapons effort now, or even had one in the past,'' the 108-page State Department report states. Cuba has denied any biological weapons work. A senior State Department official said biological weapons programs are ''some of the most difficult activities to verify'' because the facilities needed are small. Also, the technologies needed to make bioweapons are in some cases indistinguishable from those necessary for a pharmaceutical industry or for constructing defenses against biological weapons, which is permitted under international law. http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/12519130.htm

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New York Times August 31, 2005 Ukraine: $2 Million From U.S. To Destroy Weapons Two American senators, Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana, and Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, urged Ukraine to pass legislation enabling the destruction of its vast stockpile of conventional weapons, which could end up in terrorists' hands. Ukraine has at least two million tons of conventional ordnance and seven million excess small-caliber weapons, according to NATO, which has sponsored a program to accelerate their destruction. The United States has pledged $2.1 million for the program's early phase. C. J. Chivers (NYT) http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/31/international/31briefs.html

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Washington Times September 1, 2005 Pg. 4 Chinese Activist Warns Of Nuclear War By Bill Gertz, The Washington Times China is preparing for nuclear war with the United States over Taiwan, and a conflict is likely in the near future because of divisions among Beijing's leaders, a Chinese democracy activist says. Wei Jingsheng, a leading international advocate for political reform in China, said in an interview with The Washington Times that President Bush and other U.S. leaders do not fully understand the chance of a conflict breaking out and must do more to avert it. "Sino-U.S. relations are reaching a crucial point and most of the American public does not know about," said Mr. Wei, who spent almost 18 years in Chinese prisons before his release in 1997. "The United States needs to pay more attention to the possibility of nuclear war with China." Mr. Wei said he has heard from government officials in China, including some within the military, who are worried by the growing chance of a nuclear war. Recent Chinese military exercises and a Chinese general's threat to use nuclear missiles against U.S. cities are two signs of the danger, said Mr. Wei, who has an office in Washington. "In the past, China may have felt that it was not time for them to confront the U.S.," Mr. Wei said. "Now, things are different. Now the Chinese feel that they need to use these kind of nuclear threats. China is very serious about that. The nuclear threat from China is a substantial threat, not theoretical." The comments come as Chinese President Hu Jintao is set to visit Washington next week. They also echo Pentagon concerns that China is preparing to attack Taiwan, also known as the Republic of China, in the next few years. Mr. Wei also said that social unrest is growing rapidly in China and that hundreds of demonstrations in recent months have weakened Communist Party rule. In Chinese history, he said, unrest has been a sign that a ruler is about to fall, prompting concern among Beijing's communist leaders. China's leadership is divided by factions headed by Mr. Hu and former President Jiang Zemin, Mr. Wei said. Additionally, there are elements within the military who think that a war to retake Taiwan should begin as soon as possible, Mr. Wei said. "There are many conflicts within the military," he noted. Politically, differences between Mr. Hu and Vice President Zeng Qinghong, who in the past was considered a Jiang loyalist, appear to have been resolved temporarily, Mr. Wei said. The accommodation appears related to a decision to use force in the future against Taiwan, Mr. Wei said, adding that Mr. Hu favors a conflict as a way to consolidate power over the military. Growing nationalist sentiment in China also has led to public calls for war over Taiwan. "Many wars in the past have started from such conditions," he said. To avert war, Mr. Wei urged the Bush administration to put more pressure on China's government in the area of human rights and trade, try to influence the Chinese military by finding and supporting anti-war military leaders and drive a wedge between China and the communist government in North Korea. "The goal should be to reduce the voice of the people who want to go to war," he said. http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050831-102439-9296r.htm

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Washington Post September 1, 2005 Pg. 29 Katrina's Lesson In Readiness By Paul C. Light Even as the Gulf Coast states battle to recover from Hurricane Katrina, Washington should take heed of the chaos surrounding the early relief effort. If this is what happens when the nation has two days of advance warning, imagine the aftermath of a surprise attack using a chemical, biological or nuclear device. There will be plenty of stories of heroism in coming months as thousands of volunteers descend on the disaster zone. But the hubris is already showing. Thousands of residents ignored the evacuation warnings; many relief agencies waited until the hurricane had passed to start sending supplies and volunteers to jumping-off points in surrounding states; and the president was heading to California as the hurricane moved in. Although the Department of Homeland Security and its Federal Emergency Management Agency are moving at near-light speed to coordinate an unprecedented relief effort built around DHS's National Response Plan, the nation must get even faster in the future. Ironically, a Category 5 hurricane was already on the Department of Homeland Security's list of 15 planning scenarios for emergency response. In an effort to give organizations more specific guidance about how to plan for catastrophic events, the department issued the scenarios last winter in the hopes that governments, businesses and charitable organizations would start rehearsing their response. Unfortunately, a yet-to-be-released survey by New York University suggests that most Americans expect disaster to hit just about anywhere but home. Most have enough canned goods and bottled water in the closet to last a few days, but they want their local police and fire agencies, the Red Cross, and charities to tell them what to do in the event of a catastrophe. The problem with Katrina is that many citizens did not listen before the hurricane, and communications were cut off after. Plenty of emergency planners had nightmares about a Category 5 hurricane hitting somewhere, but few woke up and started preparing. Katrina underscores the urgent need to build a robust national preparedness and response system that can bend and flex to the unique circumstances of natural or human-caused catastrophes. Based on my analysis of hundreds of high-performing organizations identified by the nonpartisan Rand Corp., such a system must be alert to impending catastrophe, agile in implementing well-designed plans for response and recovery, adaptive to surprise events such as the collapse of the New Orleans levees, and aligned so that everyone can pull together, from Washington on down to the initial first-responder who shows up at the site of a disaster. Here are the four pillars of a robust response system: *Alertness to what lies ahead. As Katrina surely suggests, the nation faces many possible catastrophes, some that can be predicted, others unexpected but inevitable. A high-performing response system is constantly scanning a wide range of scenarios while establishing signposts that will trigger the kind of action that would have saved precious time after Katrina had moved on. Katrina gave fair warning, but no terrorist will. *Agility in recruiting, training, retaining and redeploying a talented, flexible workforce. Too many local governments have yet to complete even the most basic training on how to respond to a small-scale catastrophe such as a terrorist bombing at a local shopping center, let alone an attack on a chemical refinery. Even when governments, businesses, and charitable organizations think ahead, they rarely do so together, creating a sum less than the parts when catastrophe strikes. Agility also involves making sure first responders can talk to each other on equipment that can survive a major catastrophe. It is one thing to have a plan in place, quite another to actually execute it. Doing so requires an agile network of signals that can tell first responders where to go and what to do, especially after the cell towers blow over. *Adaptability. Although no one can be prepared for every eventuality, a robust system provides enough flexibility in dollars, equipment and 3,000-pound sandbags to bring innovation to bear on unexpected events such as flooding and massive fatalities. Unfortunately, Congress, the president and many governments have been doing homeland security on the cheap or through pork-barrel spending. *Alignment of all organizations to a central plan. As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin complained the day after his levees collapsed, there are "way too many fricking . . . cooks in the kitchen." Having an aligned system means just one cook in the kitchen and hundreds of servers on the front lines. If aligning a system means that governments, businesses and charitable organizations have to cede authority to a single director, so be it. Catastrophe is no time for protecting bureaucratic turf. Creating this kind of robust response system requires time, money, constant rehearsal and concentration. And it requires individual organizations that are robust, too. This is why Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's recently proposed reorganization is so important to implement. By eliminating needless layers of management and focusing on the most likely scenarios, Chertoff is taking an essential step toward creating a more robust department, which in turn will help create a more robust response system. If Congress really wants to prepare for future disasters like Katrina, it will attach Chertoff's reforms to whatever relief legislation it is sure to pass in coming weeks. At least in planning for catastrophe, preparedness starts at the top, not the bottom, with clear signals about where to invest, whom to engage and how to coordinate. The writer, a professor at New York University's Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, is the author of "The Four Pillars of High Performance." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083102257.html

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