Infinite Unknown

Syria has recently test launched a series of surface to surface missiles and rockets, Channel 2 news reported Monday.

The test launch was detected by Israel’s radar systems, including the Oren Yarok (green pine) and Oren Adir (magnificent pine) radars which activate Israel’s Arrow anti-ballistic missiles, Channel 2 reported.

Syria has some 1,000 models of Scud missiles with a range of 300 to 700 kilometers. The Syrian missiles are capable of striking targets anywhere in Israel. The Syrian military can fit the missiles with chemical warheads, and may have conducted experiments with biological warheads as well.

In addition to the Scud missile arsenal, Syria also possesses SS21 missiles with a range of 80 kilometers but with much higher precision than the Scuds.

The biggest threat facing Israel, however, is Syria’s arsenal of thousands of rockets with a range of nearly 100 kilometers, some of which can reach as far as the Haifa bay. The rockets are more accurate than the Scud missiles.

In response to Syria’s drill, the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Air Force anti-aircraft unit conducted an exercise simulating a possible Syria missile attack. Continue reading »

Tags: Air Force, Biological weapons, chemical weapons, Israel, Military, Missiles, Syria

Preparing for an urban WMD attack

On Saturday, the San Francisco Fire Department, along with a group of other public and private agencies, ran a large-scale training exercise revolving around an urban weapons of mass destruction terrorist attack. Here, an emergency worker in a full hazmat suit examines the faux chemical that was supposedly found in the attack, which was said to be sodium cyanide, a poison that quickly affects peoples respiratory systems. On the ground behind, volunteers playing the role of dead victims lay prone. (Credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News)

SAN FRANCISCO - “Weapons of mass destruction multi-agency exercise.”

If I’ve ever covered an event with a more stark title, I can’t think of it.

But there I was Saturday morning, along with several hundred firefighters, police officers, Army National Guard personnel, and members of other local, state, and federal agencies for a large-scale exercise designed to help train all these emergency responders how to deal with a major terrorist attack involving suspected chemical weapons or other bio-hazards.

Continue reading »

Tags: Biological weapons, chemical weapons, firefighters, Government, Military, nuclear, nuclear attack, Nuclear weapons, Police, terrorism, terrorists, U.S., weapons of mass destruction, WMDs

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is considering a plan to ship deadly chemical weapons to military sites in four states to accelerate the destruction of the munitions, a new report to Congress says.

The idea of transporting such lethal agents along routes such as from Colorado to Oregon is prompting opposition from Congress and watchdog groups.

They say the plan exposes the American public to unnecessary risks as the U.S. government is concerned about terrorist attacks.

To honor a 1997 treaty banning chemical weapons, Congress has ordered the military to destroy all its munitions by the end of 2017.

In an unpublicized report delivered to lawmakers last week, the Pentagon said it probably could not meet that deadline unless it ships nerve agents and mustard gas to additional sites for destruction.

Even adding more people and working around the clock at the two sites with complicated dismantling requirements in Kentucky and Colorado may not help the military meet the 2017 deadline, the report said.

Work would be speeded up if some weapons at Kentucky’s Blue Grass Army Depot are moved to sites in Alabama and Arkansas, the report said, while some at the Pueblo, Colo., site are sent to Utah and Oregon.

Congress would have to change laws that forbid moving the weapons, the report said.

That prospect is uncertain. While chemical weapons have been destroyed safely at the Anniston Army Depot in Alabama, it is too risky to ship more there, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said in a statement.

“It’s shocking and irresponsible for the Department of Defense to even propose to ship large volumes of weapons of mass destruction across the highways of the United States considering the risks and atmosphere of terrorist threats,” said Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a Kentucky citizens organization.

Continue reading »

Tags: chemical weapons, Congress, Government, Pentagon, terrorism, terrorists, U.S., WMDs

Northern Command will stand up new units to respond to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive - CBRNE - attacks.

Currently, if such an attack proved more than local emergency crews could handle, governors could call in National Guard Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams.

And if more help were needed, one of 17 regional Guard CBRNE Enhanced Response Force Packages would come in.

Beginning in October, a federal military response will be available for the worst disasters: the CBRNE Consequence Management Response Force, or CCMRF (pronounced “sea-smurf”).

Three CCMRFs, each with about 4,500 troops from all branches, are in the making.

Each CCMRF will tap units that provide the capabilities most often called for in a CBRNE response, including airlift, medical, logistics and units specializing in biological or radiological identification and cleanup. Army Lt. Col. Rob Cunniff, head of NorthCom’s Future Operations, said CCMRFs are intended to provide “a flexible force” that can provide its various capabilities piecemeal or as a total force.

“This is a no-fail mission,” Cunniff said.

“There is high expectation in the public eye that if something happens, there needs to be a [Defense Department] response, and it needs to be quick.”

The forces will be made up of whatever units NorthCom identifies as having the capabilities needed to respond to CBRNE incidents. NorthCom “has no preference based on service or component,” Cunniff said.

That means service members interested in the homeland CBRNE mission can’t volunteer for CCMRF duty, but they can increase their likelihood of participation by joining a unit with CBRNE focus, such as the Air Force’s radiological assessment teams.

Cunniff did say that CCMRFs 2 and 3 will be composed mostly of Guard units.

And that could create some slight bureaucratic entanglement: If, for instance, a Texas Guardsman was part of an initial response to a chemical weapon attack in Dallas, he could be redirected if he also were part of a CCMRF called in later on the same attack.

He might still be doing the same task but be switched to federal status.

Training begins

Some units already tagged for CCMRF 1 - the team expected to be ready by October - trained as part of National Level Exercise 2-08, which involved a variety of local, state and federal disaster response agencies. Continue reading »

Tags: Air Force, Biological weapons, chemical weapons, Government, Martial Law, Military, NORTHCOM, nuclear, Nuclear weapons, terrorism, terrorists, U.S.

Contrary to some claims that the Bush administration will allow diplomacy to handle Iran’s nuclear weapons program, a leading member of America’s Jewish community tells Newsmax that a military strike is not only on the table - but likely.

“Israel is preparing for heavy casualties,” the source said, suggesting that although Israel will not take part in the strike, it is expecting to be the target of Iranian retribution.

“Look at Dick Cheney’s recent trip through the Middle East as preparation for the U.S. attack,” the source said.

Cheney’s hastily arranged 9-day visit to the region, which began on March 16, included stops in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Turkey, and the Palestinian territories.

Tensions in the region have been rising.

While Israel was conducting the largest homefront military exercises in its history last week, Israel’s National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer warned Tehran about expected attacks on the Jewish state.

“An Iranian attack will prompt a severe reaction from Israel, which will destroy the Iranian nation,” he said.

He predicted that in a future war, “hundreds of missiles will rain on Israel,” but added that Iran “is definitely aware of our strength.” Continue reading »

Tags: Al-Qaida, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Biological weapons, Bush administration, chemical weapons, David Petraeus, Dick Cheney, Future, Haaretz, Hezbollah, intelligence, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jewish community, Lebanon, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Middle East, Missiles, Natanz, North Korea, nuclear fallout, nuclear technology, Nuclear weapons, Oman, retribution, Saudi Arabia, strike, Tehran, Turkey, U.S., War, Washington Post, William Fallon

Vice President Dick Cheney opposed the signing ratification of a treaty banning the use chemical weapons, a recently unearthed letter shows.

183 countries pledged never to “develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile or retain chemical weapons, or transfer, directly or indirectly, chemical weapons to anyone” under the Chemical Weapons Convention, put into effect in 1997.

But in a letter dated April 8, 1997, then Halliburton-CEO Cheney told Sen. Jesse Helms, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that it would be a mistake for America to join the Convention.  “Those nations most likely to comply with the Chemical Weapons Convention are not likely to ever constitute a military threat to the United States.  The governments we should be concerned about are likely to cheat on the CWC, even if they do participate,” reads the letter, published by the Federation of American Scientists. Continue reading »

Tags: chemical weapons, Chemical Weapons Convention, CWC, Dick Cheney, Federation of American Scientists, Iran, terrorism