Libya

Sign in to your account.

Status Brief
History/Origins:

Developmental Milestones/Developments to Date:

Current Assessment/State of the Field:

Problems/Challenges:

Proposals:

2006

Borman, Matthew. “Implementation in the Export Administration Regulations of the United States’ Rescission of Libya’s Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism and Revisions Applicable to IraqFederal Register, Volume 71, Issue 169. 51,714. August 25, 2006

  1. ”The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement the June 30, 2006 rescission of Libya’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.” – page 51714
  2. ”This action is the latest in a series of steps taken by the U.S. Government to reflect the improvement in the bilateral relationship since Libya’s announcement in December 2003 that it was renouncing terrorism and giving up its weapons of mass destruction programs.” – page 51714
  3. ”On April 29, 2004, BIS published an amendment to the EAR that allowed for the licensing and authorization of the export or reexport of dual-use items to Libya.” – page 51714
  4. ”On May 15, 2006, the President submitted a report to Congress certifying that Libya had not provided any support for international terrorism during the preceding 6 months and that Libya had provided assurances that it would not support future acts of international terrorism.” – page 51715
  5. ”Items controlled only for anti-terrorism (AT) reasons on the commerce control list (CCL) will no longer be subject to a licensing requirement for export or reexport to Libya, except for the end-use and end- user requirements.” – page 51715
  6. ”Under the terms of the revisions in regards to Iraq, items covered by eight ECCNs which previously required a license for export or reexport to Iraq, or transfer within Iraq, for AT reasons now require a license for export or reexport to Iraq, or transfer within Iraq, for Regional Stability (RS) reasons.” – page 51716

Export Control, U.S. Foreign Policy, WMD, Libya, Iraq

2011

Staff Writers, AFP, Space War.com, “Swiss charge three in nuclear weapons case,” 12/13/2011, AFP,
http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Swiss_charge_three_in_nuclear_weapons_case_999.html last checked 12/14/2011.

  1. ”’Based on the admissions made by the Tinner brothers and their father and at their request, the Office of the Attorney-General (OAG) in November 2011 ruled that accelerated proceedings should be conducted,’ said the prosecutors office.”
  2. “’In the indictment, the accused and the OAG request that the court return verdicts of guilty in relation to offences under the War Material Act and against one of the sons for forgery of documents.’”
  3. ”The brothers spent three-and-a-half years in pre-trial custody before being released in December 2008 and January 2009. Their father had been earlier released in 2006, according to prosecutors.”
  4. ”The men were suspected of helping Tripoli develop centrifuges to enrich uranium from 2001 to 2003 and collaborating with Khan, but in Tuesday’s statement, Swiss prosecutors did not name Libya in its charges but referred only to an ‘unknown state.””
  5. ”Newspaper reports claimed the family were later recruited by the CIA to help halt Libya from gaining nuclear capability.”
  6. ”Libya agreed to abandon its nuclear weapons plans in 2003 under pressure from the West.”

Law, Export Control, Law Enforcement, Libya, Nuclear

 

Heilprin, John, “3 Swiss to avoid trial in nuclear case,” AP, 12/13/2011 http://www.wboc.com/story/16027674/report-3-swiss-to-avoid-trial-in-nuclear-case?clienttype=printable last checked 12/14/2011.

  1. “A spokeswoman for the federal prosecutors, Walburga Bur, has previously told AP that a shortened procedure was possible under which the Swiss engineers admit the basic charges against them but face no more than five years imprisonment. Normally, anyone who breaks Swiss laws banning the export of nuclear material faces up to 10 years imprisonment.”
  2. ”Urs Tinner, who like his brother and father has been released on bail pending charges, claimed in an 2009 interview with Swiss TV station SF1 that he had worked with U.S. intelligence. He said he had tipped off the CIA about a delivery of centrifuge parts meant for Libya’s nuclear weapons program.”
  3. ” The shipment was seized at the Italian port of Taranto in 2003, which forced Libya to admit and eventually renounce its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons, and helped expose Khan’s smuggling ring.”

Export Control, Law Enforcement, Italy, Libya

2013

Barnes, Diane, “Chemical Arms Ban Nations Underline Fears on Syria” April 22, 2013. Global Security Newswire. http://www.nti.rsvp1.com/gsn/article/cwc-final-document/?mgh=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nti.org&mgf=1 Last Checked April 22, 2013

  1. “Member nations to an international chemical arms ban on Friday voiced “deep concern” over the alleged use of lethal agents in Syria’s civil war, and they pressed Damascus and seven other governments to quickly join the accord “in the interests of enhancing their own national security.””
  2. “The Syrian government has exchanged accusations with rebels regarding who was behind an alleged March 19 gas attack responsible for 31 deaths in the village of Khan al-Assal.”
  3. “Separately, U.S. intelligence agencies were said last week to be reviewing indications of multiple chemical strikes by Assad’s forces.”
  4. ““The use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances would be reprehensible and completely contrary to the legal norms and standards of the international community,” delegates said in a 29-page political declaration backed by consensus at the third Chemical Weapons Convention review conference, which concluded in the Netherlands on Friday.”
  5. ““Some states parties didn’t want to talk about [the situation] because Syria is not a [Chemical Weapons Convention] state party and was not there to defend itself,” but the treaty “really bans any use of toxic chemicals in warfare anywhere, anytime by any country regardless of whether they’re a state party or not,” Walker told GSN on Monday.”
  6. “Russia last week reaffirmed plans to finish eliminating its chemical arms by 2015; earlier press claims suggested the process could drag out for an additional five years. Moscow as of late last year had destroyed 70 percent of the 44,000-ton stockpile that had once been the world’s largest.”
  7. “Col. Muammar Qadhafi destroyed about half of Libya’s declared mustard agent and precursors prior to the country’s 2011 revolution; the country’s new government has since reported additional materials and weapons never declared by its predecessor.”
  8. “Documents from the review conference are intended to set a five-year course for decisions by the organization’s 41-nation Executive Council and by annual gatherings of states parties.”

Chemical, Chemical Surveillance, Syria, Russia, Libya, UN

2015

Staff., “Fox News: State Department Turning Over New Hillary Clinton Benghazi Emails,” Washington Free Beacon, September 25, 2015. http://freebeacon.com/national-security/fox-news-state-department-turning-over-new-hillary-clinton-benghazi-emails/

  1. “Reporter Ed Henry said a “second search” of Clinton’s official emails from her private server had uncovered more emails related to Libya and Benghazi, and the emails will be turned over to the Benghazi Select Committee headed by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R., S.C.).”
  2. “the Department is producing a small number of emails relating to Benghazi,” the official said. The official could not say precisely how many Benghazi-related Clinton emails the State Department missed in its original review, but characterized it as a “handful.””
  3. “The original review through 55,000 pages of Hillary Clinton emails involved hard copies of the emails, which had to be hand-sorted on desks in the State Department.”
  4. “The State Department informed the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Friday that it would deliver to them approximately 925 new Hillary Clinton emails relating to Benghazi and Libya.”
  5. “These 925 new emails fall into three broad categories: 1. Benghazi-related emails that the State Department missed in its original review; 2. Hillary Clinton emails related to Libya which the State Department assessed not to be directly related to Benghazi. This makes up the vast majority of the 925 emails being released; 3. Benghazi-related emails that the State Department had previously assessed (PDF) to be of a “personal nature and unrelated to the former Secretary’s official capacity.””

Classified, State Department, Libya

2016

Oppenheimer, AndyCBRN Terrorism: Threat Becomes RealityMilitary Technology, Volume 40 Issue 3. Pages 60-61. 2016.

  1. “The long-heralded threat of CBRN terrorism became real in 2015 following several reported incidents of mustard gas used in IEDs and mortars by the so called Islamic State (IS) mainly against Kurdish forces.” – page 60
  2. “IS has acquired more wealth and territory than al-Qaeda in setting up its proto-caliphate and hence has been rapidly attracting regional and international affiliates; acquiring an arsenal of weapons and purloined resources unprecedented for any insurgency or terrorist group in modern history.” – page 60
  3. “… IS applies means of conventional warfare, such as bombing and artillery, while also relying on ways of non-conventional warfare and the tried and tested terrorist MO of numerous suicide bomb attacks” – page 60
  4. “Areas under attack are spreading in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).” – page 60
  5. “IS is said to be actively recruiting experts with a background in physics and chemistry, and has already proven its capability to use CW against its adversaries. In Libya, Syria, and Iraq they control facilities that stored raw CB material, including traces of sarin-type chemical weapons, ricin-type biological weapons and mustard agents.” – page 60
  6. “Several organisations such as the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) and the NATO WMD Non-Proliferation Centre have urged that Europe must prepare for the possibility of a chemical or biological attack by IS…” – page 60
  7. “Major terrorist plots in the Middle East, Europe and the USA show that IS successfully infiltrated local societies with either comprehensive sleeper cells or lone wolves. The consequences in European security and defence policies were severe: IS’ new tactics lead to a lockdown of Brussels the week after the Paris attacks.” – page 60
  8. “Apart from arresting and putting on trial returnees from Syria with suspected IS allegiance, several EU countries have set up de-radicalisation programmes with varying degrees of limited success” – page 6

Libya, Iraq, Syria, Europe, Africa, Military, Chemical, Nuclear, WMD, Sarin, Ricin, Terrorist/Offender, Al-Qaeda, Isis, NATO, Bioterrorism