Head Of The OPCW Believes Syria Did Not Declare Its Entire Chemical Arsenal

NBC News: Syria may not have declared entire chemical arsenal, OPCW says

"Many Western countries are worried that the Syrian government continues to possess some of the precursors of sarin."

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The head of the world's chemical weapons watchdog has questioned whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad declared his entire arsenal.

Ahmet Uzumcu, director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), highlighted that attacks involving chlorine barrel bombs and deadly nerve agent sarin have continued despite the landmark agreement that won the group a Nobel Peace Prize in 2013.

Syrian “authorities have to explain in a plausible, technically plausible manner why the samples collected by our experts did prove the existence of certain chemicals which were never declared,” Uzumcu said in an interview with NBC News. "So they should explain why those chemicals were present in such places."

Read more ....

WNU Editor: You think?!?!?!

How Secure Are Russia's Chemical Weapons?

The State Scientific Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology in Moscow, Russia, March 14, 2018. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva

Reuters: Secret trial shows risks of nerve agent theft in post-Soviet chaos: experts

The British government says Russia is to blame for poisoning former spy Sergei Skripal with a nerve agent, and most chemical weapons specialists agree.

But they say an alternative explanation cannot be ruled out: that the nerve agent got into the hands of people not acting for the Russian state.

The Soviet Union’s chemical weapons programme was in such disarray in the aftermath of the Cold War that some toxic substances and know-how could have got into the hands of criminals, say people who dealt with the programme at the time.

“Could somebody have smuggled something out?” said Amy Smithson, a biological and chemical weapons expert.

“I certainly wouldn’t rule that possibility out, especially a small amount and particularly in view of how lax the security was at Russian chemical facilities in the early 1990s.”

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Yes .... Russia was a mess after the fall of the Soviet Union, and yes .... stockpiles of chemical weapons (and God only knows what else) were not secure.  But I doubt that someone decided 25 years ago to steal the precursors for these agents, store it properly for 25 years, and then use it to target a former Russian spy in Britain. That makes no sense. What makes sense is that the victim was a former Russian intelligence agent, and that he was almost killed by a nerve agent that has a long Russian history. What is not known is who specifically ordered the hit .... and are Russia's weapon stockpiles secure.

Congress Agrees To Keep The Pentagon's Secret Chemical Weapons Tests From The 1960s and 1970s Classified

Sergeant Juan Deguzman and Sgt. Corey Thompson from Dwight D. Eisenhower Medical Center at Fort Gordon, Ga., prepare for chemical warfare while completing the Army Warrior Tasks course on day three of the Southern Regional Medical Command Best Medic Team Selection Competition. (Photo Credit: Michelle Gordon)

McClachy News: Lawmakers agree to keep Pentagon's secret chemical weapons tests on US troops secret

WASHINGTON: Details about Pentagon biological and chemical weapons tests involving military personnel during the 1960s and 1970s – some involving lethal nerve agents – have long been kept secret. Thursday, the House agreed to keep things that way.

“It’s shameful,” said Congressman Mike Thompson, D-Calif., of the decision. He led a bipartisan effort to get a House vote demanding that the details be disclosed.

He couldn’t even get that vote. He wanted it as an addition to a sweeping defense policy bill the House is considering this week.

The House Rules Committee, which decides what gets considered on the House floor, approved votes on 210 amendments to the defense bill. It rejected 230. Thompson’s proposal was one of the losers.

Rules Committee spokeswoman Caroline Boothe said the committee felt the decision to declassify the documents should be made by Defense Secretary James Mattis and the Trump administration.

The Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The priority should be treating those soldiers who may need help .... not keeping chemical weapons tests that occurred 40 or 50 years ago still classified.

Report: Deadly Chemical And Biological Agents Improperly Handled And Tracked By The U.S. Army

U.S. Army

Army Times: Report: Army improperly tracked sarin, other chemical agents

Officials at an Army chemical and biological storage and testing facility did not follow protocols while tracking inventories of sarin, a dangerous nerve agent, according to a recent inspector general report.

The U.S. Army Dugway Proving Ground also at times failed to provide disqualifying information about employees such as drug use and an incident involving alcohol, the report found.

Dugway Proving Ground was the same Utah location cited in 2015 for protocol failures that allowed live anthrax spores to be shipped to 194 laboratories in 50 states and nine foreign countries.

Some of the packages were shipped by commercial carriers such as FedEx.

Read more ....

Update: Sarin Unaccounted For At U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground (Zero Hedge).

WNU Editor: This is nto the first time that the U.S. Army has been sloppy handling these materials .... Army reprimands general over anthrax debacle (Army Times).

It's North Korea's Chemical Weapon's Program That We Should Be Worried About

Reuters

Gordon G. Chang, Daily Beast: Kim’s Killer Chemicals, Spread Far and Wide, Could Target the U.S.

North Korea’s chemical weapons are the WMD of choice for some of the world’s most horrible regimes.

North Korea used a weapon of mass destruction, VX nerve agent, to murder one man in Malaysia last month, settling an old family feud.

But that is not the only time the regime in Pyongyang has been linked to the use of deadly chemicals. In Syria in 2013 the Assad regime, reportedly with the assistance of the North Korean military, used the chemical weapon sarin and possibly VX as well to kill people in far greater numbers. More than 1,400 people died, of whom more than 400 were children. And if there is another war on the Korean Peninsula, hundreds of thousands will be killed by chemical agents in the Kim family’s arsenal.

Pyongyang claims it does not possess such weapons. The North, however, has not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, so there is no verification.

“Of those handful of states that have not acceded to the convention, the most threatening, by far and away, is North Korea,” veteran Pentagon advisor Robert Collins tells The Daily Beast.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The assassination of North Korean Kim Jung UN's brother by a VX nerve agent has clearly spooked a lot of people.

What Is VX Nerve Agent, And How Did It Kill The Brother Of North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un

VX nerve agent found on Kim Jong-Nam face: Malaysia police https://t.co/BrUVEi576o pic.twitter.com/prnj30FQZd

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 24, 2017

How The U.S. And Russia Plotted To Destroy Syria's Chemical Weapons Stockpile

U.N. chemical weapons experts wearing gas masks carry samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighbourhood of Damascus August 28, 2013.

Kimberly Dozier, Daily Beast: How Pentagon Geeks & Russian Generals Plotted in Secret to Take Away Assad’s WMD

A secret plan involving Pentagon scientists and Russian national security officials managed to take out the weapons of mass destruction belonging to a brutal dictator.

Every once in a rare while, a cunning plan to stop an evil dictator works. At least for a time.

Such is the story of a geeky group of Pentagon scientists, State Department experts, and White House politicos who plotted together with top Russian officials to find and destroy Syria’s weapons of mass destruction—more than
a year before they got the chance to actually do so.

Getting rid of those weapons had been a top priority for the Obama administration. The president had famously warned that if Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad dared to use them on his own people, he would have crossed a “red line” that could trigger a U.S. military response.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Unfortunately .... the know-how on building chemical weapons is widely known. And while the U.S. and Russia may have been successful in getting rid of most of this stockpile .... there is no guarantee that in some lab/factory there are a group of chemists building such a stockpile ... whether on the Syrian side and/or on the rebel side.

A Somber Anniversary: 100 Years Of Chemical Weapons (Video)

US To Destroy Its Largest Remaining Stockpile Of Chemical Weapons

Daily Mail: Inside the 36-acre bunker where technicians will destroy 780,000 shells and 2,600 tons of mustard gas as America's largest stockpile of chemical weapons is scrapped

* Pueblo Chemical Depot in Colorado has largest chemical stock since WW2
* They were meant to destroy everything by 1997, they are starting in March
* 36-square-acre plant has 2,600 tons of aging mustard agent that is leaking
* Ammunition will be placed in sealed steel containers and exploded

More News On The US Preparing To Destroy Its Largest Remaining Stockpile Of Chemical Weapons

Inside the Bunkers Where the US Will Obliterate Its Chemical Weapons -- Gizmodo
U.S. to destroy largest remaining chemical weapons cache -- USA Today
US set to begin destroying its largest remaining cache of chemical weapons at Colorado depot -- FOX News
U.S. To Begin Destroying Largest Remaining Stockpile of Chemical Weapons Cache -- AP
Large cache of US chemical weapons to be destroyed -- BBC
U.S. Pueblo Chemical Depot to Begin Destroying Weapons Stockpile -- NBC
US Prepares to Destroy Mustard Gas Stockpile — And 5 More Facts About Its History -- Chem Info

OPCW Report: Syria Has Used Chemical Weapons

Al Jazeera: Report reaffirms Syria chemical weapons use

More News On Reports That Syria Used Chlorine Chemical Weapons

Investigators confident that chlorine gas was used as weapon in Syria -- The Guardian
Inspectors confident chlorine gas used in Syrian villages -- AP
U.S. Says There's More Proof Syria Used Chemical Arms -- Newsweek/Reuters
OPCW offers evidence Syria used chlorine gas -- Al Arabiya/AFP
Inspectors Confident Chlorine Gas Used In Syrian Attacks -- Radio Free Europe
Syria Chemical Weapons: New OPCW Report Reiterates That Chlorine Gas Was Used On Civilians -- IBtimes
Syria used chlorine gas on own people, report suggests -- Deutsche Welle

Pentagon: 600 U.S. Soldiers Were Exposed To Chemical Weapons In Iraq

More Than 600 Reported Chemical Exposure in Iraq, Pentagon Acknowledges -- New York Times

More than 600 American service members since 2003 have reported to military medical staff members that they believe they were exposed to chemical warfare agents in Iraq, but the Pentagon failed to recognize the scope of the reported cases or offer adequate tracking and treatment to those who may have been injured, defense officials say.

The Pentagon’s disclosure abruptly changed the scale and potential costs of the United States’ encounters with abandoned chemical weapons during the occupation of Iraq, episodes the military had for more than a decade kept from view.

This previously untold chapter of the occupation became public after an investigation by The New York Times revealed last month that although troops did not find an active weapons of mass destruction program, they did encounter degraded chemical weapons from the 1980s that had been hidden in caches or used in makeshift bombs.

Read more ....

More News On The Pentagon's Admission That 600 U.S. Soldiers Were Exposed To Chemical Weapons In Iraq

Report: More than 600 troops reported Iraq chemical weapons exposure -- Stars and Stripes/AP
Pentagon: Over 600 Service Members Reported Chemical Exposure in Iraq -- Time
Paper: US Vets Reported Exposure to Chemical Agents in Iraq -- VOA
Hundreds of US troops exposed to chemical agents in Iraq -- France 24
More than 600 service members believe they were exposed to chemical weapons in Iraq: report -- New York Daily News
Scores Of US Troops Reported Exposure To Chemical Weapons In Iraq Since 2003 -- IBTimes
At least 629 U.S. troops were exposed to chemical weapons in Iraq -- The Week
Pentagon Says Hundreds in Military Exposed to Chemical Agents While in Iraq -- Slate
Over 600 US Military Personnel Exposed to Chemical Agents in Iraq: Reports -- RIA Novosti
Pentagon shrugged off troops' chemical exposure in Iraq -- UPI

Pentagon Kept Secret The Discovery Of 5,000 Chemical Warheads And Shells In Iraq. On At Least Six Occasions 17 U.S. Soldiers Were Injured Handling These Weapons

US Troops DID Find Chemical Weapons In Iraq - But Pentagon Kept It Secret: Discovery Of 5,000 Warheads And Shells 'Was Hushed Up Because They Were Not Weapons Of Mass Destruction' -- Daily Mail

* An estimated 5,000 chemical weapons were found in Iraq between 2004 and 2011, it has been revealed
* Pentagon chose not to release the information to the general public for several embarrassing reasons
* The weapons did not meet George W. Bush's rationale that Saddam Hussein had a program of 'mass destruction'
* Most had been developed by Saddam's forces during the 1980s and had been built in close collaboration with the West
* At least 17 American military personnel were injured due to the mishandling of the weapons
* George W Bush has described the 'intelligence failure' over Iraq as the greatest failure of his presidency

About 5,000 chemical weapons were recovered or destroyed in Iraq following the 2003 invasion but the Pentagon chose to keep the findings top secret, it has emerged.

An investigation by The New York Times has revealed that U.S. forces happened across the hidden caches of warheads, shells and aviation bombs between 2004 and 2011.

But the information wasn't made public as embarrassingly the weapons, many of which had been built in close collaboration with the West, had been sitting dormant since the 1980s and so didn't support President George W. Bush's rationale for going to war.

At least 17 American troops were also seriously injured discovering and attempting to destroy the deteriorating shells filled with nerve and mustard agents.

Read more ....

More News On Reports That The Pentagon Kept Secret The Discovery Of Chemical Weapons In Iraq

The Secret Casualties of Iraq’s Abandoned Chemical Weapons -- C. J. Chivers, NYT
Report: Pentagon ‘suppressed’ finds of chemical weapons in Iraq and related U.S. casualties -- Washington Post
U.S. accused of hiding chemical weapons exposure to its own troops -- CBS
Pentagon withheld information about decades-old chemical weapons during Iraq War, report claims -- FOX News
GIs sickened as US kept Iraq chemical weapons secret -- NYPost
US troops exposed to chemical weapons in Iraq – intel docs -- RT
Chemical Weapons Created With Western Support Found by US Troops in Iraq: Reports -- RIA Novosti
Report: U.S. Kept Mum After Finding Old Chemical Weapons in Iraq -- Time
U.S. Troops Were Injured by Old WMDs in Iraq, Which Doesn’t Mean Bush Was Right -- NYMag
NY Times admits Saddam had WMDs -- David Paulin, American Thinker

US Accuses Syria Of Breaking The Chemical Weapons Agreement

US Secretary of State John Kerry accused Syrian President of breaking global chemical weapons agreements. © REUTERS/ Jacquelyn Martin

Kerry: Assad Broke Chemical Arms Treaty -- The Hill

Secretary of State John Kerry said Thursday there is evidence Syrian President Bashar Assad is using chlorine gas, “in violation” of a global chemical weapons treaty.

"We believe there is evidence of Assad's use of chlorine," Kerry testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Chlorine gas is not on the list of chemicals Syria declared to the international community, but Kerry said its use is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The secretary said the U.S. also had “some questions” about Assad honoring other parts of the weapons treaty.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Wednesday there was "compelling confirmation" that chlorine, in some form, was used in attacks on villages in northern Syria earlier this year.

Read more ....

More News On The US Accusing Syria Of Breaking The Chemical Weapons Agreement

Kerry: Syria Uses Chlorine Gas Despite Chemical Weapons Agreements -- RIA Novosti
Syria's Assad broke chemical arms pact with chlorine gas -- AFP
Assad has broken chemical weapons agreement: Kerry -- Washington Times
John Kerry declares Syria regime has broken chemical weapons deal -- The Telegraph
US accuses Syria of chlorine gas attacks -- RT
Israeli official: Syria hid chemical weapons after giving up raw materials -- Haaretz
Israel Believes Syria Kept 'Significant' Chemical Munitions -- VOA
Exclusive: Syria reveals more chemical weapons facilities to watchdog - sources -- Reuters
Syria Comes Clean About Three More Chemical Weapon Facilities -- The Wire
Syria’s chemical war rages on -- Washington Post editorial

Syria's Chemical Weapons May Be Destroyed At Sea

United Nations (U.N.) vehicles transporting a team of experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), leave their hotel in Damascus October 22, 2013. Credit: Reuters/Khaled al-Hariri

Exclusive: Syria's Chemical Weapons May Be Destroyed At Sea - Sources -- Reuters

(Reuters) - Syria's chemical weapons could be processed and destroyed out at sea, say sources familiar with discussions at the international body in charge of eliminating the toxic arsenal.

Four days after Albania rejected a U.S. request that it host a weapons decommissioning plant, Western diplomats and an official of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons at The Hague told Reuters the OPCW was studying whether it might carry out the work at sea, on a ship or offshore rig.

Confirming the discussion, the OPCW official stressed there had been no decision: "The only thing known at this time is that this is technically feasible," the official said on Tuesday.

While other states, notably Japan, have dealt with chemical weapons at sea, mounting such a large and complex operation afloat would be unprecedented, independent experts said.

Read more ....

My Comment: I am sure that it can be done .... but I suspect that there will be environmental concerns .... and the costs will probably be very high.

The International Organization Overseeing The Destruction Of Syria's Stocks Of Chemical Weapons Is Running Out of Money

Exclusive: Syria Chemical Weapons Mission Funded Only Through This Month -- Reuters

(Reuters) - The international body tasked with eliminating Syria's chemical weapons has raised only enough money so far to fund its mission through this month, and more cash will have to be found soon to pay for the destruction of poison gas stocks next year.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which won the Nobel Peace Prize last month, is overseeing the destruction of Syria's nerve agent stocks under a U.S.-Russian agreement reached in September.

It has so far raised about 10 million euros ($13.5 million) for the task.

"It is the assessment of the Secretariat that its existing personnel resources are sufficient for operations to be conducted in October and November 2013," said an October 25 OPCW document seen by Reuters. At the time, its account held just 4 million euros.

Read more ....

Update: Cash for international Syria chemical watchdog may run out by end-November -- RT

My Comment: I am sure the money will eventually be raised.

OPCW: Syria Has Destroyed Chemical Weapons Facilities

Syria Meets Deadline To Destroy Chemical Production Facilities -- Reuters

* OPCW says it inspected 21 of 23 chemical weapons sites
* Met deadline of Nov. 1 to destroy production facilities
* By mid-2014 must have destroyed all chemical weapons
* Nov. 15 next deadline to agree destruction plan with Syria
* Agreement to destroy follows deadly Aug 21 sarin attack

BEIRUT, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Syria has destroyed or rendered inoperable all of its declared chemical weapons production and mixing facilities, meeting a major deadline in an ambitious disarmament programme, the international chemical weapons watchdog said Thursday.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which won the Nobel Peace prize this month, said its teams had inspected 21 out of 23 chemical weapons sites across the country. The other two were too dangerous to inspect, but the chemical equipment had already been moved to other sites that experts had visited, it said.

Read more ....

More News On Syria Destroying It's Chemical Production Facilities

Syria's chemical weapons plants destroyed – but actual weapons remain -- Christian Science Monitor
Syria destroys chemical production facilities, meeting disarmament deadline -- Haaretz/AP
Syria Is Said to Destroy All Chemical Arms Production Sites -- New York Times
Syria crisis: Chemical weapons equipment destroyed - OPCW -- BBC
Syria's chemical weapons 'placed under seal' -- AFP
Syria has destroyed chemical weapons facilities, international inspectors say -- Washington Post
OPCW: Syria Has Destroyed Chemical Weapons Production Equipment -- Voice of America
Syria Destroys Chemical-Weapons Facilities Within Deadline -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Destruction of Syrian chemical weapon production equipment is complete, says watchdog -- Daily Mail
Syrian Chemical Weapons Plants Are Inoperable – Arms Watchdog -- RIA Novosti

French Intelligence: Syria's Government Has A 1000-Ton Chemical Arsenal

Men search for survivors amid debris of collapsed buildings, REUTERS/Nour Fourat

Assad's 1000-Ton Chemical Arsenal: Dictator Has A Stockpile Of Sarin And Lethal Nerve Agents, Say French Spies -- Daily Mail

A leaked intelligence briefing states regime has 1,000 tonnes of poison gas
French agents said Assad's forces behind August 21 attack that killed 1,429
President Hollande expected to use information to raise support for attack
U.S. also claims to have evidence that Syrian authorities are behind strike

America last night said it had the first proof that sarin gas was used by Syria in an attack that killed more than 1,400 civilians.

Secretary of State John Kerry claimed samples of hair and blood provided to the US by people in Damascus had ‘tested positive’ for the nerve agent.

He said that President Bashar Assad has now ‘joined the list of Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein’ in deploying chemical weapons against his population. He added that the case for a military attack was getting ‘stronger by the day’ – which follows the leak of a report by French spies that Assad has stockpiled more than 1,000 tonnes of poison gas including sarin.

Read more ....

My Comment: If these reports are true, it would mean that the Syrian government has deliberately developed the capability .... and the necessary stockpile .... to exterminate millions.

Israel’s Military Intelligence Chief: Syria Is Preparing To Use Chemical Weapons

Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi. Photo by Tomer Appelbaum

Top Israeli General: Assad Planning to Use Chemical Weapons Against Rebels -- Algemeiner

Israel’s military intelligence chief says Syria’s embattled president, Bashar al-Assad, is preparing to use chemical weapons.

Speaking at a security conference in the coastal town of Herzliya, Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi said that Assad is planning to step up an offensive against rebels in the increasingly fractured country.”The regime is trying to survive,” he said, without going into detail about how Israel knows Assad is planning to use the weapons.

Read more ....

Update: Israel’s military intelligence chief says Syria’s Assad readying to use chemical weapons -- Washington Post/AP

My Comment: This is an ominous development .... and even though Israeli officials have been warning about Syrian chemical weapon preparation for the past year, these threats should be taken seriously in view of the fact that the Assad regime is now starting to look very weak..


Update: Top U.S. general is now admitting that U.S. military forces are undergoing training to secure Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons in the event that the Syrian regime falls.

U.S. Warns Syria That Using Chemcial Weapons Will Be Crossing A "Red Line"Against Rebels

Syria Denies It Would Use Chemical Weapons -- Voice of America

Syria says it will not use chemical weapons against its own people after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned the issue remains a "red line" that would prompt direct American intervention.

The diplomatic sparring comes as Syrian government forces bombed rebel positions Monday in the border town of Ras al-Ain, killing at least 12 people and prompting Turkey to scramble fighter jets along the border.

Speaking to reporters in Prague, Clinton said the United States was "certainly planning to take action" if "credible evidence" surfaced that Syria had used chemical weapons against its own people.

Read more ....

More News On Syria's Chemical Weapons And Reports That The Regime Is Preparing To Use Them

Syria says would not use chemical weapons against its people -- Reuters
Syria Says It Will Never Use Chemical Weapons Against Own People -- Radio Free Europe
Syrian government not to use chemical weapons -- Times of India
Syria rejects use of chemical weapons -- The Australian

Clinton Warns Syria Against Using Chemical Weapons -- New York Times
Clinton issues new warning to Syria on use of chemical weapons -- L.A. Times
Clinton: U.S. will act if Syria uses chemical weapons -- Washington Post
Clinton Warns Syria Chemical Arms Use Would Cross Red Line -- Bloomberg Businessweek
U.S. "planning to take action" if Syria crosses chemical weapons "red line" -- CBS

Exclusive: U.S. Sees Syria Prepping Chemical Weapons for Possible Attack -- Danger Room
Official: Syria moving chemical weapons components -- Bloomberg Businessweek/AP
Syria moving chemical weapons components, U.S. intelligence shows -- CTV News

Saddam Hussein's Chemical Weapons Are Not In Syria

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein did not give his chemical weapons to Syria. Photo: U.S. Commerce Department

No, Syria Doesn’t Have Saddam’s Chemical Weapons -- Danger Room

As if warped by some giant conspiratorial black hole, any discussion of Syria’s chemical and biological weapons inevitably bends back in time and space to Iraq in 2003. Remember the meme that Saddam Hussein transfered his deadly weapons to Syria ahead of the U.S. invasion? If not, you can bet you’ll hear it if Bashar Assad follows through on his threat to use chemical weapons against a foreign incursion. But this retroactive justification for the Iraq invasion will be just as bogus as every other time it’s come up in the last ten years.

I’ve already debunked one of the rumors about Iraq’s WMD. I’m not buying this one. Here’s why.

Read more ....

My Comment: I concur with this analysis .... I said the same thing 3 days ago.