DIA, CIA Chiefs: Weapons of Mass Destruction Threat Grows

 By Jim Garamone
 
American Forces Press Service


 WASHINGTON -- Proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,
 including the means to launch them, constitute the greatest
 single threat to vital U.S. national interests, the directors of
 the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency said Feb. 9.

 CIA Director George Tenet told the Senate Armed Services
 Committee the "emblematic" issue today is the proliferation of
 weapons of mass destruction. In 1998, India and Pakistan both
 exploded nuclear devices. The United States has continuing
 concern over Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program, and
 intelligence officials are worried about Russian weapons of mass
 destruction security, Tenet said.

 DIA Director Army Lt. Gen. Patrick Hughes said the international
 security environment remains "volatile, complex and very
 difficult." He said he expects global turmoil to continue
 through the next decade and possibly worsen because its
 underlying causes -- political, economic, social, technological
 and demographic issues -- will remain in place.

 Tenet said the U.S. intelligence agencies are looking at these
 and many other threats, but "there is a continued and growing
 risk of surprise."

 The United States is concerned about continuing weapon
 proliferation problems in the former Soviet Union. While Russia
 has new controls on missile technology exports, it hasn't
 followed through on enforcing them, Tenet said, noting Russia
 has been exporting technology to Iran.

 "This assistance is continuing as we speak," he said. "And there
 is no doubt that [this assistance] will play a crucial role in
 Iran's ability to develop more sophisticated and longer-range
 missiles."

 Russia's continuing societal and economic woes threaten to
 worsen making the situation more threatening, he said.

 Hughes said he, too, was concerned that countries like Iran and
 North Korea will develop weapons of mass destruction and the
 means to launch them. He said the threat would first be felt
 regionally. "This more diverse and complex strategic nuclear
 threat affects post-Cold War thinking about nuclear deterrence,
 strike-and-response policy, force posture and strategic
 targeting," he said.

 Tenet said China's situation "is a mixed picture." It has
 tightened exports of sensitive technology, but neither he nor
 Hughes could assure Congress those controls have been effective.
 "In short, � our guard remains up on this question," Tenet said.

 As North Korea's economy deteriorates, the impetus increases for
 it to sell its know-how in weapons of mass destruction. "North
 Korea's sales of such products over the years have dramatically
 heightened the [weapons of mass destruction] threat in countries
 of key concern, such as Iran and Pakistan," Tenet said.

 The North Koreans have been instrumental in helping Iran and
 Pakistan leap-frog technologies to develop their own missiles.
 Through North Korea's help, he said, India, Iran and Pakistan
 also have become technology exporters.

 Tenet said the United States is concerned North Korea may be
 developing a covert program to produce plutonium -- a key
 ingredient in nuclear weapons. "The key target for us to watch
 is the underground construction project at Kumchangni, which is
 large enough to house a plutonium production facility and
 perhaps a reprocessing plant as well," Tenet said. "The [North
 Korean] missile story is no more encouraging."

 North Korea's launch of the Taepo Dong I in August showed it
 could deliver a very small payload over intercontinental ranges,
 Tenet said. He said they're working on the Taepo Dong II, a two-
 stage design believed to have the range to reach the United
 States.

 

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb1999/n02121999_9902123.html