Archive for August, 2011

Quote of the Day

Posted by GSN Daily News On August - 26 - 2011

What we basically deployed were glorified vacuum cleaners.

--Former U.S. Homeland Security Department anti-WMD research director Penrose Albright, on the Biowatch program that fields air monitors in cities across the United States to scan for biological warfare agents.

READERS' (Read more...)

Homeland Security To Provide $2.1B For Antiterror, Preparedness Efforts

Posted by GSN Daily News On August - 26 - 2011

The U.S. Homeland Security Department on Wednesday said it would deliver in this fiscal year more than $2.1 billion to 12 grant programs intended to support efforts to stop or deal with with terrorist attacks and other crises (see GSN (Read more...)

Iran Files Suit Against Russia Over S-300 Units

Posted by GSN Daily News On August - 26 - 2011

Iran has filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice over Russia's decision to renege on a contract for the sale of S-300 missile defense units, United Press International reported on Thursday (see GSN, Nov. 19, 2010).

The (Read more...)

Bioagent Detection Web Covers Most of U.S. Populace

Posted by GSN Daily News On August - 26 - 2011

A federal program that deploys air monitors throughout the United States to test for the presence of biological warfare agents now covers approximately four-fifths of the U.S. populace, the Associated Press reported on Friday (see GSN, Nov. 19, 2010).

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China Augments Nuke Arsenal: Pentagon

Posted by GSN Daily News On August - 26 - 2011

China's nuclear arsenal is being augmented through development of a missile that is capable of carrying a number of warheads and can be moved between different locations, the U.S. Defense Department said in a report issued this week (see GSN (Read more...)

Chemical Weapons Monitor Confident on Security of Libyan Stockpile

Posted by By Martin Matishak On August - 26 - 2011

WASHINGTON -- Libya's stockpile of chemical warfare materials appears to be secure amid the armed uprising that drove dictator Muammar Qadhafi from power, according to the international organization charged with monitoring nations' chemical arsenals (see GSN, Aug. 25).

Umatilla Increases Mustard Agent Disposal Rate

Posted by GSN Daily News On August - 26 - 2011

The U.S. Army on Wednesday said its Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility has received authorization from the state of Oregon to increase the pace at which it incinerates mustard blister agent (see GSN, Aug. 23).

The plant can now (Read more...)

Japan Pursues 50% Radiation Reduction in Contaminated Zones

Posted by GSN Daily News On August - 26 - 2011

Japanese authorities are planning decontamination operations that they hope in a two-year period will significantly reduce the level of radioactive contaminants spread over a wide swath of land by the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, Reuters reported on Friday (see (Read more...)

South Korea Wants More Direct Nuclear Talks With North

Posted by GSN Daily News On August - 26 - 2011

South Korea wants to conduct another round of bilateral nuclear talks with North Korea, possibly as soon as September, the Yonhap News Agency reported on Friday (see GSN, Aug. 25).

The chief nuclear negotiators from the two longtime antagonists (Read more...)

Megawatts Program Converts 425 Metric Tons of HEU to Reactor Fuel

Posted by GSN Daily News On August - 26 - 2011

Russia has converted 425 metric tons of bomb-grade uranium under a nuclear nonproliferation agreement with the United States that is due to be completed by the end of 2013, the energy company USEC announced on Wednesday (see GSN, Sept. (Read more...)