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North Korea Could Help Myanmar Obtain Nuke Tech, Expert Says
Myanmar could create systems for nuclear weapons with North Korean support, but the Southeast Asian state has yet to build such equipment, former International Atomic Energy Agency official Robert Kelley said on Monday (see GSN, April 11).
The nation possesses multiple facilities it might tap for uranium enrichment, the Yonhap News Agency quoted Kelley as saying. The enrichment process can produce civilian as well as weapons material.
The facilities incorporate German equipment, said Kelley, now a fellow with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
“When the Germans are inspecting, the factories appear to be civilian,” he said. “But Read more…
China and US gang up on N Korea
THE strategic rivals China and the US have been secretly sharing intelligence about North Korea.
Leaked records of highly sensitive US-China defence consultations reveal that despite Chinese complaints about US arms sales to Taiwan, and American concerns about a growing Chinese espionage threat, the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the US Defence Department have held secret talks on North Korea with Chinese military intelligence.
According to US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks and provided exclusively to the Herald, US-Chinese defence talks held in Beijing in July 2009 included long exchanges about North Korea between the US Under Secretary of Defence for Policy, Michele Flournoy, and top Chinese generals.
Malaysia Seen as Possible WMD Transport Hub
Malaysian Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein on Monday said his country was probably used as a midshipment point for the illicit movement of WMD materials, The Star newspaper reported (see GSN, March 18).
“It is safe for me to say that Malaysia is likely being used as a transit point and not as a destination point for WMD,” Hishammuddin said.
Authorities in the Southeast Asian state last week announced they had seized two containers from a Malaysian-flagged ship that were filled with technology that could have applications in the building of nuclear weapons. Reports indicated the vessel was heading from China to Iran.
“It will take us some time to identify the equipment, what it can be used for and to Read more…
Indian Opposition Leader Urges Change to “No-First-Use” Policy
A senior member of India’s main political opposition party on Tuesday called for changing the nation’s longstanding policy of “no-first-use” of its nuclear arsenal, the Indian Express reported (see GSN, Nov. 1, 2010).
(Mar. 16) – Indian Bharitaya Janata Party lawmaker Jaswant Singh, shown last year, on Tuesday urged his country to alter its “no-first-use” nuclear weapons policy (Farooq Naeem/Getty Images).
“I am of the view that the policy-framework that the [National Democratic Alliance] devised in 1998 is very greatly in need of revision because the situation that warranted the enunciation of the policy of ‘no-first-use’ or ‘nonuse against non-nuclear weapons [states],’ ‘credible deterrence with minimum force,’ etc. has long been overtaken by Read more…
North Korean Nukes Might Fit on Missiles, Aircraft: U.S.
(Mar. 11) – U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper, left, and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess attend a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday. Burgess warned North Korea might now possess nuclear weapons suitable for delivery by missiles and bomber aircraft (Mark Wilson/Getty Images).
North Korea could now possess nuclear warheads compact enough to be fitted to missiles and carried by bomber planes, U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess said on Thursday (see GSN, March 10).
(Mar. 11) – U.S. National Intelligence Director James Clapper, left, and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess attend a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday. Burgess warned North Korea might now possess nuclear weapons suitable for delivery by missiles and bomber aircraft (Mark Wilson/Getty Images).
“The North may now have several plutonium-based nuclear warheads that it can deliver by ballistic missiles and aircraft as well as by Read more…
U.S. might be giving away sensitive military technology, report finds
Sensitive military technology might be slipping into enemy hands, in part because of a dramatic decline in the number of foreign workers that the Commerce Department screens, federal auditors have found.
For national security purposes, the United States controls the export of so-called dual-use technologies — items that have both civilian and military uses, including computer security tools — to countries of concern, including Iran and North Korea.
One way to restrict the transfer of such technology is for Commerce to screen visa applications from foreign nationals who wish to work in U.S. high-tech companies.
But the Commerce Department, the agency responsible for checking visa applications to identify potential unlicensed exports, is not screening thousands of those forms, according to a Government Accountability Office report released on Monday.
Reduced visa application vetting is one of several factors that “may indicate the continuing risk that foreign nationals could gain unauthorized access to controlled technology,” the auditors wrote.
Commerce checked only 150 visa forms in fiscal 2009, a dramatic drop from Read more…
North Korea Nears Completion of Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb
abcnews
N. Korea Disrupts Current Military Maneuvers With Russian Device To Jam GPS
North Korea appears to be protesting the joint U.S. and South Korean military maneuvers by jamming Global Positioning Devices in the south, which is a nuisance for cell phone and computers users — but is a hint of the looming menace for the military.
The scope of the damage has been minimal, putting some mobile phones and certain military equipment that use GPS signals on the fritz.
Large metropolitan areas including parts of Seoul, Incheon and Paju have been affected by the jamming, but “the situation is getting wrapped up, no severe damage has been reported for the last two days,” Kyoungwoo Lee, deputy director of Korea Communications Commission, said.
The jamming, however, has raised questions about whether the Korean peninsula is bracing for new electronic warfare.
The North is believed to be nearing completion of an electromagnetic pulse bomb that, if exploded 25 miles above ground would cause irreversible damage to electrical and electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, radio and radar, experts say.
“We assume they are at a considerably substantial level of development,” Park Chang-kyu of the Agency for Defense Development said at a briefing to the parliament Monday.
Park confirmed that South Korea has also developed an advanced Read more…
Scientists warn of ‘dangerous over-reliance’ on GPS
(AFP)
LONDON — Developed nations have become “dangerously over-reliant” on satellite navigation systems such as GPS, which could break down or be attacked with devastating results, British engineers said Tuesday.
The Royal Academy of Engineering said the application of the technology was now so broad — from car sat-navs to the time stamp on financial transactions — that without adequate backup, any disruption could have a major impact.
It cited a recent European Commission study showing that six Read more…
North Korea Warns of Military Response Against South Over Leaflet Drops
North Korea threatened to take military action if the South continues to drop leaflets fomenting revolt, Korean Central News Agency reported.
North Korea said it will fire at the “source” of balloons containing leaflets and video clips saved on flash-memory devices and DVDs, along with books and one U.S. dollar bills. The leaflets were a psychological plot to “shake up our socialism and break the trust of our military and people,” state-run KCNA said today.
South Korea’s military has dropped leaflets on North Korea that contain information on pro-democracy revolts in the Middle East with the intention of provoking a movement against Kim Jong Il’s regime, a South Korean Read more…
Limited Nuclear War Could Deplete Ozone Layer, Increasing Radiation
By Chris Schneidmiller
WASHINGTON — A nuclear conflict involving as few as 100 weapons could produce long-term damage to the ozone layer, enabling higher than “extreme” levels of ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth’s surface, new research indicates (see GSN, March 16, 2010).
(Feb. 24) – A 1971 French nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll. The ozone layer could sustain lasting harm from a nuclear exchange involving as few as 100 weapons, allowing increased levels of ultraviolet radiation to reach the Earth’s surface, according to new research (Getty Images).
Increased levels of UV radiation from the sun could persist for years, possibly with a drastic impact on humans and the environment, even thousands of miles from the area of the nuclear conflict.
“A regional nuclear exchange of 100 15-kiloton weapons … would produce unprecedented low-ozone columns over populated areas in conjunction with the coldest surface temperatures experienced in the last 1,000 years, and would likely result in a global nuclear famine,” according to a presentation delivered on Friday at a major science conference in Washington.
Today, there are five recognized nuclear powers — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. India, Israel and Pakistan are all known or widely assumed to hold nuclear weapons, while North Korea has a Read more…
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