fn1.7/fn1.7.dev.syntaxnet.conll.sents

Some of the strongest critics of our welfare system are the people who have become dependent on it .
Their complaint : the system discourages working because unemployment provides benefits that many entry - level jobs do n't include .
That 's where you - and Goodwill - come in .
We help people train for and find jobs that make it possible for them to get off of welfare .
Last year , Goodwill placed 511 people in jobs , more than double the number we placed in 1993 .
While the debate on welfare reform is gathering like a storm at sea , the people who need jobs are floundering .
We need your support to continue getting people off of public assistance .
Welfare is not the answer .
And welfare reform is an uncertain solution with an unknown starting date .
Goodwill works .
Right now .
Please give the largest gift you can to Goodwill today .
Sincerely ,
Jack Dustman Chairman
ID: MIT -1 .
City workers pretended to be victims of the attack .
QN : Were the city workers harmed by the attack ?
ID: MIT -2 .
The Defense Department has awarded BioPort Corporation a contract to manufacture , test , bottle and store anthrax vaccine , the company has announced .
QN : Does the Defense Department want BioPort Corporation to manufacture anthrax vaccine ?
ID: MIT -3 .
Chemical weapon projectiles contain a blasting tube which can be seen in an X-ray .
QN : Is the blasting tube visible outside the projectile ?
ID: MIT -4 .
The incident at Mayak was the third shooting in recent weeks involving nuclear weapons or facilities in Russia .
QN : Did the incident at Mayak involve nuclear weapons or facilities ?
ID: MIT -5 .
Utah 's Dugway Proving Ground has been chosen as a site to test military vaccines against germ warfare agents .
QN : Who chose the Dugway Proving Ground as a site to test vaccines ?
ID: MIT -6 .
The Russian Emergencies Ministry predicts a further increase in 1999 of the concentration of toxic agents in marine burials of chemical weapons .
QN : Has the concentration of toxic agents in marine burials of chemical weapons increased prior to 1999 ?
ID: MIT -7 .
The Army 's chemical weapons incinerator has passed a milestone , the destruction of 5 million pounds of GB nerve agent .
QN : Who destroyed 5 million pounds of GB nerve agent ?
ID: MIT -8 .
The military is training for the day a terrorist sets off not just a bomb , but a chemical or biological weapon that would spew out an invisible death .
QN : Will a terrorist set off a chemical or biological weapon ?
ID: MIT -9 .
Virginia is ill prepared for a large-scale terrorist attack using chemical , biological or nuclear weapons , state officials say .
QN : Is Virginia prepared for a small-scale terrorist attack using chemical , biological or nuclear weapons ?
ID: MIT -10 .
Unlike nuclear or chemical weapons , biological weapons can be made with readily available materials or equipment .
QN : Can nuclear weapons be made with readily available materials or equipment ?
ID: MIT -11 .
Sudan says it 's ready to sign the international convention banning chemical weapons .
QN : Will Sudan produce chemical weapons in the future ?
ID: MIT -12 .
The Scud C has a range of 500 kilometers and is manufactured in Syria with know-how from North Korea .
QN : Can a Scud C fly 500 kilometers ?
ID: MIT -13 .
Some of the 14 alleged bin Laden associates arrested in Jordan in December have begun talking to investigators .
QN : Was an associate of bin Laden arrested in the Middle East ?
ID: MIT -14 .
The U.S. Senate on Thursday unanimously approved legislation designed to punish Russia and other countries if they help Iran develop weapons of mass destruction .
QN : Will Russia help Iran develop weapons of mass destruction ?
ID: MIT -15 .
To date , Congress has authorized more than $4.7 billion for U.S. programs aimed at helping Russia and other newly independent states reduce the threats posed by their weapons of mass destruction .
QN : Does the U.S. want the threat posed by Russia 's weapons of mass destruction to be reduced ?
ID: MIT -16 .
A father and a son were admitted to hospital with strychnine poisoning after consuming Herron products .
QN : Did the Herron products contain poison ?
ID: MIT -17 .
About 400 of the more than 2,600 village residents were hospitalized in July and August .
QN : Were some of the village residents not hospitalized in July and August ?
ID: MIT -18 .
The only bacterial attack in America came in 1984 , when a cult poisoned a salad bar in Oregon with salmonella , sickening 700 people .
QN : Has a biological attack occurred in the U.S. ?
ID: MIT -19 .
Blix said the new weapons inspection team is composed of scientists from around the world , including South America , Thailand , Bangladesh and Eastern Europe .
QN : Are scientists from Hungary members of the new weapons inspection team ?
ID: MIT -20 .
Biological select agents include about 40 viruses , bacteria , rickettsia , fungi , and toxins whose transfer within the United States is controlled .
QN : Is the transfer of biological select agents within the United States controlled ?
ID: MIT -21 .
During his trip to five Arab capitals and Israel , which ended last Monday , Powell proposed easing sanctions on Iraqi imports .
QN : Where did Powell travel to ?
ID: MIT -22 .
The Chemlab , for instance , is about the size of a Palm Pilot and will be able to detect a range of biological agents .
QN : Is the Chemlab a handheld device ?
ID: MIT -23 .
Russia could suspend the destruction of its stockpile of chemical weapons if foreign aid is not increased , a senior official and negotiator was quoted as saying by the AVN Military News agency .
QN : Does Russia have a stockpile of chemical weapons ?
ID: MIT -24 .
BioPort Corp. of Lansing , Michigan is the sole U.S. manufacturer of an anthrax vaccine .
QN : Are there three U.S. manufacturers of anthrax vaccine ?
ID: MIT -25 .
Two Al Qaeda computers have been found in Kabul .
QN : Did the computers belong to Al Qaeda ?
ID: MIT -26 .
The White House has ordered a purge of information from government agency websites that could be exploited by terrorists seeking weapons of mass destruction .
QN : Do government agency websites contain information that could be exploited by terrorists ?
ID: MIT -27 .
Agriculture accounts for 22 million jobs and 16.4 percent of the nation 's gross domestic product .
QN : Are 22 million people employed in agriculture ?
ID: MIT -28 .
The Pentagon is considering a resumption of anthrax vaccinations for U.S. troops .
QN : Have anthrax vaccinations of U.S. troops occurred previously ?
ID: MIT -29 .
Libya said on Wednesday it is not developing chemical , biological or nuclear weapons , denying allegations made by a US official .
QN : Did a U.S. official claim that Libya is developing chemical , biological or nuclear weapons ?
ID: MIT -30 .
Al Wafa is one of the organisations whose assets have been frozen in the United States amid suspicions that it might be giving support to Osama Bin Laden 's al-Qaeda network .
QN : Who has given support to al-Qaeda ?
Ohio Congressman Arrives in Jordan
AMMAN , Jordan ( AP ) U.S. Representative Tony Hall arrived in Jordan on Saturday en route to Iraq , where he is expected to look into the plight of Iraqis after nearly 10 years of U.N. trade sanctions .
Hall , an Ohio Democrat and one of very few U.S. congressmen to visit Iraq since the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait , is scheduled to embark Sunday the 12-hour overland trip to the Iraqi capital , Baghdad .
He did not speak to reporters in Jordan , but he told The Associated Press before leaving the United States that he hopes to `` separate the humanitarian work from the political issues . ''
During his four days in Iraq , Hall said he wanted to investigate reports from relief agencies that a quarter of Iraqi children may be suffering from chronic malnutrition .
He said he would pay particular attention to what happens to food and medicine entering the country under the U.N. oil-for-food program .
If supplies are not reaching the people who need them , Hall said , he wanted to find out whether the United Nations or relief agencies needed to handle things differently , or whether `` Iraq needs to get out of the way and let us do the job . ''
The Iraqi government blames the embargo for the malnutrition , infant mortality and other hardships .
The sanctions can not be lifted until U.N. inspectors certify that Iraq has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction and the means to produce them .
Iraq says it has done so and has barred inspectors since late 1998 .
At least one other congressman has visited Iraq .
Energy Secretary Bill Richardson went to Baghdad in 1995 while a representative for New Mexico .
Date : Wed , 25 Jul 2001 16:45:08 -0700 ( PDT )
From : rpearson @ oilstates.com
To : don.baughman @ enron.com
Subject : RE : Unclassified rules
HOWDY ,
WHAT 'S BEEN GOING ON AMIGO .
I HAVE NOT TALKED TO YOU IN A WHILE .
GIVE YOU THE SCOPE OF WHATS BEEN GOING ON WITH ME .
I LEFT OILSTATES BACK IN MARCH WITH ANOTHER COMPANY .
DID A LOT OF TRAVELING AND THEY ( OILSTATES ) MADE ME A SWEET OFFER TO COME BACK .
SO I AM BACK .
WHO 'S GETTING MARRIED ?
SOUNDS LIKE THIS IS GOING TO BE A GREAT BACHELOR PARTY .
GIVE ME A CALL SOMETIME CELL : 713 991 - 5621 .
ROB
Text for Event Extraction Workshop
The United Nations says Somali gunmen who hijacked a U.N. - chartered vessel carrying food aid for tsunami victims have released the ship after holding it for more than two months .
End of text .
Nuclear Overview
North Korea has joined , violated , and withdrawn from the Nuclear Non - Proliferation Treaty ( NPT ) in the course of activities apparently dedicated to the production of nuclear weapons .
On 23 April 2003 in Beijing , North Korean Deputy Foreign Minster Li Gun ( Lee Gu ( n ) reportedly told U.S. Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly that North Korea possesses nuclear weapons .
Li made the statement during trilateral talks between delegations from the United States , China , and North Korea .
On 10 February 2005 , the North Korean Foreign Ministry confirmed Li 's statement by announcing that Pyongyang had manufactured nuclear weapons .
North Korea has not conducted a nuclear test , but in early May 2005 , press reports indicated that U.S. satellite imagery had detected signs that North Korea could be preparing for a nuclear test to be conducted in June .
As of May 2005 , there had been three rounds of six - party talks in Beijing .
The six parties include China , Japan , North Korea , Russia , South Korea and the United States .
The six parties have agreed to hold working - level talks , and all sides have stated they have the ultimate goal of a non - nuclear Korean peninsula .
However , in February 2005 , Pyongyang announced that it was suspending indefinitely its participation in the six - party process until the the United States chanegd its `` hostile policy towards North Korea . ''
Many analysts now believe the talks are dead , and in early May 2005 there were reports that Washington and Tokyo were preparing to refer the issue to the UN Security Council .
On 12 May 2003 , North Korea announced that the bilateral `` Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula '' signed with South Korea on 20 January 1992 was no longer valid because of `` U.S. actions '' [ Note : the U.S. was not a signatory ] .
Under the agreement , North and South Korea pledged not to produce nuclear weapons , not to reprocess plutonium , and not to enrich uranium .
Under the Agreed Framework of October 1994 , Pyongyang also agreed to fulfill its commitments under the joint declaration .
On 10 January 2003 , North Korea notified the International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA ) and the UN Security Council that Pyongyang was withdrawing from the NPT , and that the withdrawal would be effective the next day .
The treaty requires 90 - day notice before a withdrawal , but North Korea claims this is not necessary since Pyongyang already declared its intention to withdraw in 1993 , only to `` suspend its intention withdraw ''
89 days later .
The NPT withdrawal swiftly followed a December 2002 announcement that North Korea was lifting the freeze on its nuclear program , in response to the U.S. decision to suspend heavy fuel oil ( HFO ) shipments under the Agreed Framework .
Pyongyang said it was lifting the freeze to generate electricity to compensate for the loss of HFO supplies , and North Korean technicians were able to remove seals and disable monitoring cameras at nuclear facilities in Yo ( ngbyo ( n-kun within a matter of days .
The IAEA 's ability to directly monitor activities at the Yo ( ngbyo ( n nuclear complex was completely lost in late December 2002 when North Korea expelled IAEA inspectors who had been monitoring the freeze .
The Central Intelligence Agency estimates that North Korea has one or two nuclear bombs that were assembled with plutonium reprocessed between 1989 and 1991 .
If so , it is unclear if these devices have been `` weaponized '' or are small enough to be mated with delivery systems ; the location of any such weapons is unknown .
Furthermore , a plutonium bomb would have to be tested before North Korea could use it with confidence .
However , some analysts speculate that North Korean scientists were present during Pakistan 's nuclear tests in May 1998 , and that Pyongyang could have obtained a tested bomb design from Islamabad or from Pakistani scientists without government approval .
In the spring of 2003 , US intelligence detected activities around the Radiochemisty Laboratory , a reprocessing facility in Yo ( ngbyo ( n-kun , that indicate North Korea was probably reprocessing the 8,000 spent fuel rods that had been in a temporary storage pond .
In September 2003 , a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said that North Korea had completed the reprocessing of this spent fuel , which would give North Korea enough plutonium for about four to six nuclear bombs .
In January 2004 , a delegation of American private citizens confirmed that the cannisters in the temporary storage pond were empty .
There are also concerns about North Korea 's suspected highly enriched uranium ( HEU ) program , which is a different path to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons .
In the summer of 2002 , US intelligence reportedly discovered new evidence about transfers of HEU technology and/or materials from Pakistan in exchange for ballistic missiles .
In October 2002 , a delegation led by James Kelly , US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs , visited Pyongyang and notified North Korean officials that the United States was aware of Pyongyang 's HEU development program .
Compared to plutonium - production facilities , the type of HEU production facilities that the DPRK may be developing would be difficult to detect , and therefore , it is difficult to accurately assess the program 's stage of development .
In early 2004 , Pakistani nuclear scientist Dr . A. Q. Khan revealed that he had sold gas - centrifuge technology to North Korea , Libya and Iran .
Libya has since abandoned its nuclear ambitions and is cooperating with the IAEA and the United States , which has revealed much about Khan 's network .
In April 2003 , Egyptian customs officials intercepted 22 tons of aluminum tubing from Germany , which would be enough for about 100 - 200 centrifuges .
In the spring of 2004 , it was reported that Khan visited North Korea and was shown three nuclear devices .
However , the report lacks details , and its contents have not been confirmed .
History
North Korea first became embroiled with nuclear politics during the Korean War .
Although nuclear weapons were never used in Korea , American political leaders and military commanders threatened to use nuclear weapons to end the Korean War on terms favorable to the United States .
In 1958 , the United States deployed nuclear weapons to South Korea for the first time , and the weapons remained there until President George Bush ordered their withdrawal in 1991 .
North Korean government statements and media reports often cite a `` nuclear threat from the United States , '' and continue to claim that the United States has about 1,000 nuclear weapons deployed in South Korea .
There is no reason , however , to believe that this allegation is true .
There are different schools of thought on the motivations behind Pyongyang 's nuclear weapons program .
Those who believe North Korea is a revisionist state argue that Pyongyang 's nuclear motivations constitute a serious external threat .
This school of thought has ample evidence to support its claims : North Korea 's initiation of the Korean War , acts of terrorism , forward - deployed military forces , a constitution that states that the DPRK is the sole legitimate government for all of Korea , and Korean Workers' Party bylaws calling for a `` completion of the revolution in the south . ''
Many analysts also argue that Pyongyang 's record of exporting ballistic missiles indicates that North Korea would also be willing to sell nuclear materials , technology , or complete nuclear weapons .
On the other hand , some people believe North Korea is a state satisfied with the status quo and that it seeks peaceful coexistence with South Korea and the international community .
Proponents of this school often argue that North Korea 's nuclear motivations are defensive in nature and designed to deter external threats to the DPRK .
Evidence to support this argument includes the July 4 North - South Joint Communiqu� of 1972 ; the Agreement on Reconciliation , Nonaggression , and Exchanges and Cooperation between North and South Korea of 1991 ( the so-called `` Basic Agreement '' ) ; the Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula of 1991 ; the summit meeting of 2000 ; the Agreed Framework with the United States ; and reunification proposals that would recognize `` two systems '' for the north and south .
However , critics argue that Pyongyang 's behavior is inconsistent and that this evidence is not credible .
Regardless of North Korean motivations toward South Korea and the United States , Pyongyang 's record of exporting ballistic missiles and missile production technology indicates that North Korea could also be willing to sell nuclear materials , technology , or even complete nuclear weapons .
In the early 1950s , North Korea began establishing the institutional base to train the human resources for its nuclear development program .
The Atomic Energy Research Institute was established along with the Academy of Sciences in December 1952 , but the nuclear program did not begin its take - off until North Korea established cooperative agreements with the Soviet Union .
Pyongyang signed the founding charter of the Soviet Union 's Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in February 1956 , and began to send scientists and technicians there for training shortly thereafter .
In 1959 , North Korea and the USSR signed an agreement on the peaceful use of nuclear energy that included a provision for Soviet help to establishment a nuclear research complex in Yo ( ngbyo ( n-kun , North P'yo ( ng 'an Province .
In the early 1960s , the Soviet Union provided extensive technical assistance while North Korea constructed its Yo ( ngbyo ( n Nuclear Research Center , which included the installation of a Soviet IRT- 2000 Nuclear Research Reactor , and other facilities ( see Yo ( ngbyo ( n Nuclear Research Center ) .
The small research reactor has been used to produce radioisotopes and to train personnel .
The cabinet and the Academy of Sciences were given operational and administrative oversight of the nuclear facilities , but ultimate control of the program and decisions over weapons development belonged to North Korean leader Kim Il Sung .
The program appeared to begin as a peaceful one , but whatever Kim 's original intentions , the Cuban Missile Crisis may have prompted initiation of a dedicated nuclear weapons program .
Indigenous Development
Kim Il Sung appreciated Soviet and Chinese support during the Korean War , but he had expected more , particularly from the Soviets , and he was dissatisfied that the war had ended in a stalemate .
In 1961 , Pyongyang signed `` treaties of friendship , cooperation , and mutual assistance '' with both Moscow and Beijing , but events led Kim to question the credibility of these alliances .
First , Kim had to question the credibility of Moscow 's alliance commitment after Khrushchev backed down during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 .
Only two months later , the Korean Workers' Party Central Committee adopted policies to strengthen the military and to implement import - substitution programs to reduce dependency on arms imports .
Second , there are reports that Kim Il Sung asked China to share its nuclear weapons technology following China 's first nuclear test in October 1964 , but Chairman Mao refused .
Shortly thereafter , North Korean relations with China began to deteriorate and they worsened during China 's Cultural Revolution .
In the late 1960s , North Korea continued to expand its educational and research institutions to support a nuclear program for both civilian and military applications .
By the early 1970s , North Korean engineers were using indigenous technology to expand the IRT- 2000 research reactor and Pyongyang began to acquire plutonium reprocessing technology from the Soviet Union .
In July 1977 , North Korea signed a trilateral safeguards agreement with the IAEA and the USSR that brought the IRT- 2000 research reactor and a critical assembly in Yo ( ngbyo ( n-kun under IAEA safeguards .
The Soviets were included in the agreement since they supplied the reactor fuel .
The early 1980s was a period of significant indigenous expansion , which included uranium milling facilities , a fuel rod fabrication complex , and a 5MW ( e ) nuclear reactor , as well as research and development institutions .
The early 1980s also marks the beginning of high explosives test that are required for the triggering mechanism in a nuclear bomb .
By the mid - 1980s , Pyongyang began construction on a 50MW ( e ) nuclear power reactor in Yo ( ngbyo ( n-kun , while expanding its uranium processing facilities .
Some of technology and equipment acquired during this period had dual - use applications for a uranium enrichment program that was not revealed until the late 1990s .
North Korea 's energy concerns make nuclear energy a legitimate rationale for nuclear power , and Pyongyang explored the acquisition of light water reactor technology in the early to mid - 1980s .
This period coincided with the expansion of North Korea 's indigenously designed reactor program , which was based on gas - graphite moderated reactors similar in design to the Calder Hall reactors first built in the United Kingdom in the 1950s .
In the early 1980s , Pyongyang was also exploring the acquisition of light water power reactors , and agreed to sign the NPT in December 1985 in exchange for Soviet assistance in the construction of four light water reactors .
After signing the NPT , countries have 18 months to complete a safeguards agreement with the IAEA .
In North Korea 's case , it was later discovered that the agency provided the wrong documents for the safeguards agreement and the IAEA subsequently gave North Korea an additional 18 months to complete the agreement .
Nevertheless , North Korea failed to meet the extended deadline , as Pyongyang demanded that the United States withdraw its nuclear weapons from South Korea , and that Washington and Seoul terminate the joint military exercise `` Team Spirit . ''
In September 1991 , President George Bush announced that the United States would withdraw its nuclear weapons from South Korea , and on 18 December 1991 , President Roh Tae Woo declared that South Korea was free of nuclear weapons .
North and South Korea then signed the `` Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula , '' whereby both sides promised `` not test , manufacture , produce , receive , possess , store , deploy or use nuclear weapons . ''
The agreement also bound the two sides to forgo the possession of `` nuclear reprocessing and uranium enrichment facilities . ''
The agreement also provided for a bilateral inspections regime , but the two sides failed to agree on its implementation .
North Korea finally signed an IAEA safeguards agreement on 30 January 1992 , and the Supreme People's Assembly ratified the agreement on 9 April .
Under the terms of the agreement , North Korea provided an `` initial declaration '' of its nuclear facilities and materials , provided access for IAEA inspectors to verify the completeness and correctness of the initial declaration .
Six rounds of inspections began in May 1992 and concluded in February 1993 .
Pyongyang 's initial declaration included a small plutonium sample ( less than 100 grams ) , which North Korean officials said was reprocessed from damaged spent fuel rods that were removed from the 5MW ( e ) reactor in Yo ( ngbyo ( n-kun .
However , IAEA analysis indicated that Korean technicians reprocessed plutonium on three occasions -- 1989, 1990 , and 1991 .
When the agency requested access to two suspect nuclear waste sites , North Korea declared them to be `` military sites '' and `` off - limits . ''
1994 Crisis and the Agreed Framework
After the IAEA was denied access to North Korea 's suspect waste sites in early 1993 , the Agency moved to ask the UN Security Council for special ad hoc inspections , but on 12 March 1993 , North Korea announced its intention to withdraw from the NPT .
Under the terms of the treaty , withdrawal is not effective until 90 days after giving notice .
However , following intense bilateral negotiations with the United States , North Korea announced it was `` suspending its withdrawal from the NPT '' one day before the withdrawal was to become effective .
Pyongyang agreed to `` suspend '' its withdrawal while talks continued with Washington , but claimed to have a special status in regard to its nuclear safeguards commitments .
Under this `` special status , '' North Korea agreed to allow the `` continuity of safeguards '' on its present activities , but refused to allow inspections that could verify past nuclear activities .
As talks with the United States over North Korea 's return to the NPT dragged on , North Korea continued to operate its 5MW ( e ) reactor in Yo ( ngbyo ( n-kun .
By the spring of 1994 , the reactor core was burned up , and the spent fuel rods had to be discharged .
On 14 May 1994 , Korean technicians began removing the spent fuel rods without the supervision of IAEA inspectors .
This action worsened the emerging crisis because the random placement of the spent fuel rods in a temporary storage pond compromised the IAEA 's capacity to reconstruct the operational history of the reactor , which could have been used in efforts to account for the discrepancies in Pyongyang 's reported plutonium reprocessing .
The Clinton administration announced that it would ask the UN Security Council to impose economic sanctions , but Pyongyang then declared that it would consider economic sanctions `` an act of war . ''
The crisis was defused in June 1994 when former President Jimmy Carter traveled to Pyongyang to meet with Kim Il Sung .
Carter announced from Pyongyang that Kim had accepted the broad outline of a deal that was later finalized as the `` Agreed Framework '' in October 1994 .
Under the agreement , North Korea agreed to freeze its gas - graphite moderated reactors and related facilities , and allow the IAEA to monitor that freeze .
Pyongyang was also required to `` consistently take steps to implement the North - South Joint Declaration on the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula , '' and remain a party to the NPT .
In exchange , the United States agreed to lead an international consortium to construct two light water power reactors , and provide 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil per year until the first reactor came online with a target date of 2003 .
Furthermore , the United States was to provide `` formal assurances against the threat or use of nuclear weapons by the US . ''
Collapse of the Agreed Framework
While the Agreed Framework froze North Korea 's plutonium program for almost a decade , neither party was completely satisfied with either the compromise reached or its implementation .
The United States was dissatisfied with the postponement of safeguards inspections to verify Pyongyang 's past activities , and North Korea was dissatisfied with the delayed construction of the light water power reactors .
In fact , Pyongyang had demanded compensation from Washington , but the US position has been that 2003 was only a `` target date '' and not a strict contractual commitment .
After coming to office in 2001 , the new Bush administration initiated a North Korea policy review that was completed in early June .
The policy review concluded that the United States should seek `` improved implementation of the Agreed Framework , verifiable constraints on North Korea 's missile program , a ban on missile exports , and a less threatening North Korean conventional military posture . ''
From Washington 's perspective , `` improved implementation of the Agreed Framework '' meant an acceleration of safeguards inspections , even though the agreement did not require Pyongyang to submit to full safeguards inspections to verify its past activities until a significant portion of the reactor construction was completed but before the delivery of critical reactor components .
In October 2002 , bilateral talks between the United States and North Korea finally resumed when US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs James Kelly visited Pyongyang .
During the visit , Kelly informed First Vice Foreign Minister Kang So ( k Chu and Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Kwan that Washington was aware of a secret North Korean program to produce highly - enriched uranium ( HEU ) .
The US State Department claims that North Korean officials admitted to having such a program during a second day of meetings with Kelly , but North Korea now claims that it has only admitted to having a `` plan to produce nuclear weapons , '' which Pyongyang claims is part of its right to self - defense .
The United States responded in December 2002 by suspending heavy oil shipments , and North Korea then retaliated by lifting the freeze on its nuclear facilities , expelling IAEA inspectors monitoring that freeze , and announcing its withdrawal from the NPT on 10 January 2003 .
Initially , North Korea claimed it had no intention of producing nuclear weapons , and that the lifting of the nuclear freeze was necessary to generate needed electricity .
On 10 February 2005 , the Foreign Ministry announced that North Korea had manufactured nuclear weapons , and in early April 2005 Pyongyang shut down its 5MW ( e ) nuclear reactor .
If the spent fuel in the reactor core is reprocessed , North Korea will be able to obtain enough weapons - grade plutonium for 1 - 3 nuclear bombs .
BW - PREP / DEFENSE / RESPONSE - U.S.
Ground to be Broken at Biodefense Center
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was scheduled to break ground Monday at its National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center .
The center , which has drawn criticism from arms control experts and local activists , will be the first department lab to focus strictly on biodefense .
The laboratory 's mission , which will be split between two centers , is to understand current and future biological threats .
The facility also will be used to assess threat vulnerabilities and potential consequences and conduct forensic analysis of evidence from terrorism and biological crimes .
The $128 - million center will be part of Fort Detrick 's planned National Interagency Biodefense Campus .
It is scheduled to begin operating in 2008 . ( WTOP , 26Jun06 ) ( Link )
Making , fighting diseases of terror
Biologists at Fort Detrick 's newest biodefense center may be asked to make some of the world 's deadliest microbes even more dangerous than they already are .
One of the biologists ' jobs , according to chief scientist Bernard Courtney , will be to create pathogens to match strains that terrorists are clandestinely producing and then develop vaccines and drugs to combat them .
But some arms control specialists worry that the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center -- now operating out of borrowed lab space at the Frederick base and elsewhere -- might develop new vaccine - resistant or lethal microbes without solid evidence of a terrorist plot to unleash similar bugs .
The result , they say , could increase the risk that nasty new organisms will be unleashed on the world. ( Baltimore Sun , 26Jun06 , Douglas Birch ) ( Link )
US FDA [ United States Food and Drug Administration ] grants Orphan Drug status to Elusys ' anthrax drug
Elusys Therapeutics Inc. , a privately - held biopharmaceutical company , announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration ( FDA ) has granted Orphan Drug Designation to Anthim ( ETI-204 ) , the company 's anthrax therapeutic .
The FDA 's US Orphan Drug Act is intended to assist and encourage companies to develop safe and effective therapies for the treatment of rare diseases and disorders .
Orphan Drug designation is awarded to compounds that offer potential therapeutic value in the treatment of rare diseases , defined as those affecting fewer than 200,000 Americans .
This designation provides companies with financial and regulatory benefits during the course of orphan drug development , including tax credits related to clinical trial expenses and a possible exemption from the FDA - user fee .
Anthim is a high - affinity monoclonal antibody that targets the protective antigen component of anthrax , blocking the bacteria 's ability to form deadly toxins .
In animal efficacy studies , Anthim demonstrated complete protection against an anthrax spore challenge with a single prophylactic dose and has shown significant protection when administered up to two days after a lethal challenge. ( Pharmabiz.com , 26Jun06 ) ( Link )
CW - DESTRUCTION - U.S.
ANCDF [ Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility ] receives third consecutive Safe Operating Facility of the Year Award
Westinghouse Anniston and the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility ( ANCDF ) received its third consecutive Safe Operating Facility of the Year Award from Washington Group International this week .
`` Our employees and those of our subcontractors work safely every day and that 's why we are honored with these awards , '' said Westinghouse Anniston Project Manager Bob Love .
`` Awards like this reflect the safe work the employees do each and every day as they protect themselves , the environment and the community .
I 'm proud of their efforts to work safely as they safely destroy the chemical munitions that Anniston Chemical Activity stores .
The employees deserve the recognition . ''
Westinghouse Anniston , its subcontractors and the Anniston Chemical Agent Disposal Facility have more than 8.7 million safe work hours , 2,214 safe work days and a recordable injury rate of 0.49 per 200,000 hours worked as of the end of May .
This makes working at the chemical weapons destruction facility in Anniston one of the safest places in the nation to work , according to statistics from the National Safety Council . ( U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency , 23Jun06 , Washington Group International ) ( Link )
CW - PREP / DEFENSE / RESPONSE - SINGAPORE
Portable kit developed to screen nerve agent
A portable kit designed to screen a large number of people for exposure to deadly nerve agents has been developed in Singapore to deal with potential biochemical threats , a published report said on Saturday .
DSO National Laboratories , the country 's primary defence research organisation , is involved in talks with overseas and local companies to commercialise the product along with a cleaning solution for hazards ranging from mustard gas to anthrax spores .
DSO 's test kit detects trace levels of degenerated nerve agents from a pin - prick sample of blood , Loke explained .
Other portable kits measure the biological indicators in blood , which drop when a person is exposed to nerve agents. ( iol [ South Africa ] , 24Jun06 ) ( Link )
CW - THREAT - U.S.
Cyanide Gas Device `` Probably Did n't Work ''
The device reportedly developed by al-Qaida to disperse deadly cyanide gas in subway cars and other confined spaces has never been used in a terrorist attack and probably would not be very effective , say experts .
`` What you would get , in all probability , is a big bang , a big splash , but very little gas , '' Milton Leitenberg , of the University of Maryland , told United Press International .
Leitenberg , who has worked on arms control and chemical and biological weapons issues for 40 years , told UPI that `` a best case scenario '' might kill most of the inhabitants of a subway car , but added `` every calculation ( one can make about casualties ) relies on a whole series of assumptions . ''
The device , called a Mubtakker -- Arabic for `` invention '' -- has been at the center of a media firestorm since it was written about in an excerpt from a book extract published by Time magazine last week .
The book , The One Percent Doctrine , by Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Suskind , says that designs for the device were found in February 2003 on a computer seized in Saudi Arabia after the arrest of a jihadist there , and that , a month later , U.S. intelligence separately uncovered an aborted plot to use several of them in an attack on the New York subway system. ( The Post Chronicle , 26Jun06 , Shaun Waterman ) ( Link )
SUB - STATE NUCLEAR - PREP / DEFENSE / RESPONSE - U.S. / INDIA
Bush accords top priority to India nuclear deal
The Bush administration has mounted a concerted campaign to get quick Congressional approval for the India - US nuclear deal , with the White House declaring it the president 's `` top priority '' amid a few contrary voices heard in the legislature .
Republican Senator John Cornyn , who leads the India Caucus in the US Senate along with Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton , Friday took the floor to answer Byron Dorgan , a critic of the deal who has vowed to do all to delay if not stop it .
The deal is in the best interests of the United States as it will make them partners with the world 's largest democracy , marking an important step in their strategic relationship , he said .
For it will permit peaceful civilian use of nuclear power while avoiding the threat of proliferation and the possibility that terrorists might acquire a nuclear weapon or it might proliferate to some other irresponsible party and then endanger America or its allies .
Nowhere is the threat of nuclear war or nuclear terrorism , or the need to safeguard nuclear weapons more important than in South Asia , the home to Al Qaida , who seeks nuclear weapons , Dorgan said describing it as an area where relations among regional nuclear powers - China , India , Pakistan - have historically been tense. ( DailyIndia.com ; 25Jun06 ; Arun Kumar , Indo - Asian News Service ) ( Link )
SUB - STATE NUCLEAR - PREP / DEFENSE / RESPONSE - RUSSIA
Putin submits nuclear terrorism convention for ratification
President Vladimir Putin Monday introduced a new convention on the fight against nuclear terrorism and several other documents for ratification by the lower house of Russia 's parliament .
Putin signed the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism in New York on September 14, 2005 .
The convention was adopted by the UN General Assembly in April last year on Russia 's initiative .
The document `` defines the act of nuclear terrorism as the use or threat to use nuclear material , nuclear fuel , radioactive products or waste , or any other radioactive substances with toxic , explosive , or other dangerous properties , '' and outlines measures aimed to prevent terrorist acts involving the use of nuclear or other radioactive materials. ( Russian News and Information Agency Novosti , 26Jun06 ) http://en.rian.ru/ russia /20060626/50069639.html
WMD - HISTORY - U.S.
Project Pacific
A Humboldt veteran 's tie to the new Hawaiian Islands monument : The nation 's newest national monument , a chain of islands that sweeps northwest from Hawaii , has a darker past than its azure waters and low - slung white sand beaches would reveal .
In the 1960s , Ferndale resident Jack Alderson commanded a group of light tugs that made trips to the islands that last week were declared a monument , as well as other remote atolls in the region .
The boats were part of Project SHAD -- Shipboard Hazard and Defense -- experiments to test biological and chemical weapons .
Before and after those tests , which the U.S. Department of Defense now admits exposed thousands of crew members to live biological and chemical agents , Alderson 's tugs brought Smithsonian Institution ornithologists to the islands .
They were there to study migrating birds , information the military would use to determine if chemicals and diseases could be transported across borders and so be used as vectors by -- or against -- an enemy .
In the sizable number of recent news reports about President Bush 's naming of the 1,400 - mile - long Northwestern Hawaiian Islands chain as a monument , there is no mention of their cloak - and - dagger past .
But 20 years after the bird cruises , the Washington Post Magazine dug up the controversial alignment between the Defense Department and the Smithsonian Institution . ( The Times-Standard ; 26Jun06 ; John Driscoll , Eureka Times Standard ) ( Link )
WMD - PREP / DEFENSE / RESPONSE - U.S. / IRAQ
[ Washington ] Post : Ex - CIA agent 's warnings on WMD validity ignored
A former CIA officer says he made repeated efforts to alert top agency officials to problems with an Iraqi defector 's claims about the country 's mobile biological weapons labs but he was ignored , the Washington Post reported Sunday .
CIA officer Tyler Drumheller said he personally crossed out a reference to the labs from a classified draft of a U.N. speech by Secretary of State Colin Powell because he recognized the source as a defector , code-named Curveball , who was suspected to be mentally unstable and a liar .
Drumheller told the Post he was surprised when a few days later , on February 5, 2003 , Powell told the U.N. Security Council that `` we have first-hand descriptions of biological weapons factories on wheels and rails . ''
He said he also issued warnings before President Bush 's January 28, 2003 , State of the Union speech that included Bush statements about Iraq 's mobile labs `` designed to produce germ warfare agents. '' ( CNN , 25Jun06 , Reuters ) ( Link )
WMD - THREAT - ISRAEL
Al-Aksa claims chemical capabilities
The Aksa Martyrs Brigades announced on Sunday that its members have succeeded in manufacturing chemical and biological weapons .
In a leaflet distributed in the Gaza Strip , the group , which belongs to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas 's Fatah Party , said the weapons were the result of a three - year effort .
According to the statement , the first of its kind , the group has managed to manufacture and develop at least 20 different types of biological and chemical weapons .
The group said its members would not hesitate to add the new weapons to Kassam rockets that are being fired at Israeli communities almost every day .
It also threatened to use the weapons against IDF soldiers if Israel carried out its threats to invade the Gaza Strip . ( The Jerusalem Post , 25Jun06 , Khaled Abu Toameh ) ( Link )
WMD - THREAT - U.K.
Islamists will set off dirty bomb , spy bosses believe
Spy chiefs fear that it is a case of `` when , not if ''
Islamist terrorists launch a `` dirty bomb '' attack against London or another western capital , The Sunday Telegraph has learnt .
Security sources have disclosed that the belief amongst most intelligence agencies is that a chemical , biological , radiological or nuclear ( CBRN ) attack , using a so-called dirty bomb , is now inevitable .
The warning comes three weeks after 250 police officers stormed the home of two Muslim brothers in Forest Gate , east London , in the mistaken belief that they were attempting to develop a chemical bomb .
It follows growing concern among members of Britain 's intelligence and security hierarchy that if a CBRN attack took place in the City of London it would devastate Britain 's economy and severely damage the economies of Europe and America . ( Telegraph .co.uk , 25Jun06 , Sean Rayment ) ( Link )
Tuesday 's rout of a GOP congressional hopeful in a Mississippi district that has n't backed a Democratic presidential candidate since Adlai Stevenson is another reminder that , at least at the federal level , political `` ticket splitting '' has been on the rise over the past half century .
In only one presidential election year prior to 1948 did more than 20 % of the nation 's congressional districts choose a different party 's candidate for the White House than for the House of Representatives .
Now that percentage routinely equals a third and twice has been above 40 % .
As we know , voters tend to favor Republicans more in races for president than in those for Congress .
In every presidential election over the past half century , except for the Goldwater presidential candidacy , the GOP has captured a greater percentage of the major-party popular vote for president than it has of congressional seats or the popular vote for Congress .
Prior to 1932 , the pattern was nearly the opposite .
What accounts for the results of recent decades ?
A simple economic theory may provide at least a partial explanation for the split personality displayed by Americans in the voting booth .
The theory relies on three assumptions :
1 ) Voters can `` buy '' one of two brands when they select their political agents -- a Republican brand that believes in the minimalist state and in the virtues of private markets over the vices of public action , and a Democratic brand that believes in big government and in public intervention to remedy the excesses attendant to the pursuit of private interest .
2 ) Congressional representatives have two basic responsibilities while voting in office -- dealing with national issues ( programmatic actions such as casting roll call votes on legislation that imposes costs and/or confers benefits on the population at large ) and attending to local issues ( constituency service and pork barrel ) .
3 ) Republican congressional representatives , because of their belief in a minimalist state , are less willing to engage in local benefit-seeking than are Democratic members of Congress .
If these assumptions hold , voters in races for Congress face what in economic theory is called a prisoner 's dilemma and have an incentive , at the margin , to lean Democratic .
If they put a Republican into office , not only will they acquire less in terms of local benefits but their selected legislator will be relatively powerless to prevent other legislators from `` bringing home the bacon '' to their respective constituencies .
Each legislator , after all , is only one out of 535 when it comes to national policy making .
In races for the White House , a voter 's incentive , at the margin , is to lean Republican .
Although a GOP president may limit local benefits to the voter 's particular district/state , such a president is also likely to be more effective at preventing other districts/states and their legislators from bringing home the local benefits .
The individual voter 's standing consequently will be enhanced through lower taxes .
While this theory is exceedingly simple , it appears to explain several things .
First , why ticket splitting has increased and taken the peculiar pattern that it has over the past half century : Prior to the election of Franklin Roosevelt as president and the advent of the New Deal , government occupied a much smaller role in society and the prisoner 's dilemma problem confronting voters in races for Congress was considerably less severe .
Second , it explains why voters hold Congress in disdain but generally love their own congressional representatives : Any individual legislator 's constituents appreciate the specific benefits that the legislator wins for them but not the overall cost associated with every other legislator doing likewise for his own constituency .
Third , the theory suggests why legislators who pay too much attention to national policy making relative to local benefit-seeking have lower security in office .
For example , first-term members of the House , once the most vulnerable of incumbents , have become virtually immune to defeat .
The one exception to this recent trend was the defeat of 13 of the 52 freshman Republicans brought into office in 1980 by the Reagan revolution and running for re-election in 1982 .
Because these freshmen placed far more emphasis on their partisan role -- spreading the Reagan revolution -- in national policy making , they were more vulnerable to defeat .
Fourth , the theory indicates why the Republican Party may have a difficult time attracting viable candidates for congressional office .
Potential candidates may be discouraged from running less by the congressional salary than by the prospect of defeat at the hands of a Democratic opponent .
To the extent that potential Republican candidates and their financial backers realize that the congressional prisoner 's dilemma game works to their disadvantage , the Republican Party will be hindered in its attempts to field a competitive slate of congressional candidates .
Fifth , the theory may provide at least a partial reason for why ticket splitting has been particularly pronounced in the South .
To the extent that Democratic legislators from the South have held a disproportionate share of power in Congress since 1932 and have been able to translate such clout into relatively more local benefits for their respective constituencies , voters in the South have had an especially strong incentive to keep such Democrats in office .
Finally , the theory suggests why Republicans generally have fared better in Senate races than in campaigns for the House .
Since local benefit-seeking matters more and national policy making matters less in the lower chamber of Congress , this is precisely the pattern one would expect if Republicans are less willing to engage in local benefit-seeking than their Democratic counterparts .
Is there any empirical support for this theory ?
Three pieces of evidence corroborate the key assumption that Democratic legislators are more willing to engage in local benefit-seeking than their Republican colleagues .
First , economists James Bennett and Thomas DiLorenzo find that GOP senators turn back roughly 10 % more of their allocated personal staff budgets than Democrats do .
To the extent that the primary duty of personal staff involves local benefit-seeking , this indicates that political philosophy leads congressional Republicans to pay less attention to narrow constituent concerns .
Second , if the key assumption is valid , Democrats should have lower attendance rates on roll-call votes than Republicans do to the extent that such votes reflect national policy making and that participating in such votes takes away from the time a legislator could otherwise devote to local benefit-seeking .
This is indeed what the data indicate , particularly in the case of the House .
The Democratic House attendance rate has not exceeded the Republican House attendance rate since 1959 .
Finally , as shown in the table , Democrats allocate a higher proportion of their personal staffs to district offices -- where local benefit-seeking duties matter more and national policy making activities matter less relative to Washington offices .
An examination of changes in personal staffing decisions in the Senate between 1986 and 1987 ( when control of that body changed party hands ) , moreover , reveals that the personal staffing differences noted in the table can not be attributed to the disproportionate control Democrats exercise , due to their majority-party status , over other resources such as committee staff .
An additional piece of evidence from the Senate : Holding other factors constant , such as incumbency advantages and regional factors , the difference between popular votes for Republican presidential and senatorial candidates in states conducting a Senate election turns out to be a positive function of how onerous the federal government 's tax burden is per state ( a progressive tax rate hits higher-income states harder ) .
Put more simply , GOP candidates for president are looked on more kindly by voters than Republican candidates for the Senate when the prisoner 's dilemma is more severe .
Moreover , ticket splitting appears to take the same peculiar pattern at the state government level as it does at the federal level .
State government is more typically split along Republican-governor/Democratic-legislature lines than the reverse .
A cross-state econometric investigation , furthermore , reveals that , holding other factors constant , the difference between a state 's major-party vote going to the Republican gubernatorial candidate and the Republican share of the lower state house is a positive function of the state tax rate .
In sum , at both the federal and state government levels at least part of the seemingly irrational behavior voters display in the voting booth may have an exceedingly rational explanation .
Mr. Zupan teaches at the University of Southern California 's business school .