State Department

== Web Resources ==
”'”US Department of State Biosecurity Engagement Program””’ bepstate.net [[http://www.bepstate.net/]]
* “The anthrax attacks of 2001 and the recent outbreaks of SARS and highly pathogenic avian influenza have demonstrated that infectious disease—whether natural or manmade—poses a significant and growing threat to international peace, security and stability. Perhaps the most important trend influencing the biological threat is the expansion of public and private bioscience worldwide. Advancing biotechnology, while improving the health and well being of millions, also increases the risk that bioscience could be intentionally misused. ”
* “The Biosecurity Engagement Program (BEP) is committed to developing cooperative international programs that promote the safe, secure and responsible use of biological materials that are at risk of accidental release or intentional misuse.”
*[[State Department]], [[Biosecurity]]
== 2006 ==

”’Field, Kelly”’, “Federal Agencies Should step Up Oversight of Sensitive Academic Research, GAO Says,” THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, Dec 6, 2006.
* Licensing for foreign students accessing “sensitive technologies”
* Licensing, export-control licenses, GAO Report, State Department, [[SEVIS]], [[Homeland Security]]

== 2008 ==
”’Ostfield, Marc, L.”’ , “STRENGTHENING BIODEFENSE INTERNATIONALLY: ILLUSION AND REALITY”’,” ”’Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science, Volume 6, Number 3, 2008.”’
*[[State Department]]
== 2009 ==
”’Wong, Edward”’, “China’s Tough Policy Seems to Slow Swine Flu,” NYT, A 1, Nov. 12, 2009.
*”Quarantines and medical detentions are among the aggressive measures that Chinese officials have taken to slow the transmission of H1N1.”
*”Local authorities canceled school classes at the slightest hint of the disease and ordered students and teachers to stay home.”
*”Now, Chinese and foreign health officials say that some of those contested measures — more easily adopted by an authoritarian state — may have helped slow the spread of the disease in the world’s most populous country.”
*”The United States Embassy in Beijing said that 2,046 American citizens had been quarantined by the end of October, with 215 testing positive for H1N1.”
*”But Mr. Feng and Dr. O’Leary also say that the social and financial cots of China’s tough measures will have to be evaluated to see whether they were worth the benefits.”
*”From the beginning, the W.H.O. has said that tightening borders would not keep the disease out, and that closing borders or automatically quarantining specific groups of travelers — as China did for a brief period with holders of Mexican passports — would have no benefit.”
*”The State Department implicitly criticized the Chinese policies by issusing travel warnings on the quarantine procedures.”
*[[Quarantine]], [[Flu]], [[China]], [[WHO]], [[State Department]], [[Mexico]]

== 2010 ==
”’Doyle, Michael”’, “Agriculture Department chemist successfully fights guilt-by-association,” January 19, 2010, Mc Clatchy, Suits & Sentences Blog, available at [http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/law/2010/01/agriculture-department-chemist-successfully-fights-guiltbyassociation.html]   Last checked august 11, 2012.
*”Going about his everyday business in a Midwestern office of the Food Safety and Inspection Service, Poett applied to obtain certain toxic chemicals. But in August 2006, the FBI informed Poett’s supervisors that he was deemed to be a ‘restricted person’ who ‘has involvement with an organization that engages in domestic or international terrorism or international crimes of violence.’”
*”Poett filed Freedom of Information Act requests to get to the bottom of it all. As Poett ultimately determined, the FBI’s career-crimping determination stemmed from his past, passing involvement with a group called the Irish Northern Aid Committee in America, also known as Noraid. Way back in 1992, Poett had written the British ambassador to the United States, saying he regretted the possibility that ‘the funds others and I have solicited may have fallen into the wrong hands’ and adding that he would ‘pray for the peaceful resolution between the British and Irish People.’”
*” Kollar-Kotelly noted Monday that the government determined that ‘the FBI no longer reasonably suspects Plaintiff of knowing involvement with an organization that engages in domestic or international terrorism or with any other organization that engages in intentional crimes of violence and that Plaintiff is now eligible for access to select agents or toxins.’”
*[[Scientist]], [[Select agent]], [[Agriculture]], [[Northern Ireland]], [[Oversight]], [[State Department]], [[Law Enforcement]], [[Law]]
”’Editors”’, “Planned Malaysian Biolab Raises Security Concerns,” Global Security Newswire [http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100908_8991.php] September 8, 2010. Last checked September 10, 2010.
*”Plans to construct a high-security biological research laboratory in Malaysia have caused some worry over possible proliferation of highly lethal disease materials, ProPublica reported yesterday.”
*”Maryland-based Emergent BioSolutions and Ninebio Sdn Bhd., which is funded by the Malaysian Health Ministry, in 2008 announced a joint plan to construct a large complex at an industrial site not far from Kuala Lumpur for ‘vaccine development and manufacturing.'”
*”Emergent is the producer of the only U.S.-licensed anthrax vaccine. The Emergent-Ninebio venture intends to manufacture halal-compliant vaccines for the international Muslim market. The complex is currently slated to begin work in 2013, according to an Emergent release.”
*”The two firms intend to construct a ‘biocontainment R&D facility that includes BSL … 3 and 4 laboratories,’ According to online architectural plans for the 52,000-square-foot complex.”
*”Biosafety Level 4 laboratories perform countermeasure research on diseases for which there are no known cures, such as the Ebola and Marburg viruses. There are fewer than 40 such facilities in the world and none in Malaysia. The nation has three BSL-3 laboratories, which handle potentially deadly pathogens like anthrax and plague.”
*”U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Vann Van Diepen said during a House panel hearing in March that a critical aspect of today’s biological weapon fears is ‘the growing biotechnology capacity in areas of the world with a terrorist presence.'”
*”Malaysia’s history with terrorism includes the 2002 bomb attack by Malaysian-based extremists from Jemaah Islamiyah that killed 202 people at a popular nightclub in Bali, Indonesia. Kuala Lumpur served as the ‘primary operational launchpad’ for al-Qaeda senior operatives planning the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the FBI. The Malaysian capital was also a key hub in the nuclear technology smuggling ring operated by Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan (see GSN, March 14, 2005).”
*”Security specialists argue that having a U.S. firm such as Emergent involved in Malaysia’s growing biotechnology industry would give Washington some degree of clout and authority over international biodefense work.”
*”Malaysian authorities want the high-tech laboratories to respond to local epidemics of diseases such as SARS and Japanese encephalitis in addition to advancing research on cures for biological materials that could be used in acts of terrorism.”
*”Kuala Lumpur has started to develop new biological security regulations that would meet U.S. standards. It has received assistance in the effort from the U.S. Energy Department’s Sandia National Laboratories, ProPublica reported.”
*”…and monitoring of biological manufacturing installations under the Biological Weapons Convention. The United States and Russia, however, are against site inspections and the likelihood of more effective oversight controls being put into effect is not known.”
*”‘We currently do not have [BSL-4] labs in Malaysia but we would be happy to collaborate with the government of Malaysia on biosurveillance, safety and security in the future,’ a Defense Department spokesman said (Coen/Nadler, ProPublica, Sept. 7).”
*[[BSL]], [[Malaysia]], [[Vaccination]], [[Nonproliferation]], [[Bioterrorism]], [[Public Health]], [[Military]], [[State Department]]
”’Yousseff, Nancy A.”’, “Could more secret files lead to more leaked data?,” The Pantagraph, December 05, 2010. News, Pg. A1
*”WikiLeaks’ release of tens of thousands of classified government documents on three separate occasions this year has prompted U.S. officials to add layers of new safeguards, but that very impulse has sparked a debate among experts about whether those new protections might make national security secrets more vulnerable, not less.”
*”Since WikiLeaks began last week publishing classified State Department cables that date back to 1966 and touch on nearly every international issue, the State Department removed its cables from the Defense Department’s Secret Internet Protocol Router Network, or SIPRNet, the Pentagon’s classified computer system.”
*”Such over-classification isn’t isolated. The U.S. government, which has three broad classes of classified documents – confidential, secret and top secret – often classifies public events as “secret.””
*”In 2009, President Barack Obama issued an executive order calling for a review of how documents are classified, saying none can remain classified indefinitely.”
*”The order sought to avoid “over-classification” by providing training every two years to officials authorized to classify documents and requiring officials to regularly review documents to determine if they should remain classified.”
*””The right answer is not more secrecy but smarter secrecy,” Aftergood.”
[[Classified]], [[State Department]], [[Military]]

== 2011 ==

”’Nikitin, Mary”’, “Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI)”, 18 January 2011, Congressional Research Service.
* “Requirements for participation appear to be fairly weak. This language may have been in part a result of early resistance to the idea of PIS in the international community, in particular hesitancy over sovereignty and free passage issues, as well as U.S. policymakers’ intention to keep the arrangement informal and nonbinding.” Pg. 2
* “When a merchant ship registers under a foreign flag to avoid taxes, save on wages or avoid government restrictions, it is called a flag of convenience (FOC).” Pg. 3
* “FOCs are of particular concern for proliferation reasons because of looser government regulations over their shipments and the case with which ships can switch from one registry to another to avoid trafficking.” Pg. 3-4
* “Cargos can be seized in ports if they violate the host state’s laws, hence the focus on strengthening domestic laws.” Pg. 4
* “The boarding agreements may allow for boarding, but not necessarily cargo seizure.” Pg. 4
* “A key gap in the PSI framework is that it applies only to commercial, not government, transportation. Government vehicles (ships, planes, trucks, etc.) cannot legally be interdicted.” Pg. 4
* “The Joint Chiefs argued for ratification, explaining that the convention (UNCLOS) ‘codifies navigation and over flight rights and high seas freedoms that are essential for the global mobility of our armed forces.’” Pg. 6
* “Another focus for PSI has been the targeting of proliferation finance. On June 23, 2006, 66 PSI states participated in a High Level Political Meeting in Poland, which focused on developing closer ties with the business community to further prevent any financial support to the proliferation of WMD.” Pg. 5
* “The 2005 Protocol to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (SUA) would require states to criminalize transportation of WMD materials and their delivery vehicles. This protocol also ‘creates a ship boarding regime based on flag state consent similar to agreements that the United States has concluded bilaterally as part of the Proliferation Security Initiative.’” Pg. 6
* “U.N. Security Council Resolution 1540, passed in April 2004, requires all states to establish and enforce effective domestic controls over WMD and WMD-related materials in production, use, storage, and transport; to maintain effective border controls; and to develop national export and trans-shipment controls over such items, all of which should help interdiction efforts.” Pg. 6
* “While UNSCR 1540 was adopted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the resolution did not provide any enforcement authority, nor did it specifically mention interdiction or PSI. Early drafts of the resolution put forward by the United States had included explicit language calling on states to interdict if necessary shipments related to WMD. However, over China’s objections, the word ‘interdict’ was removed and was changed to ‘take cooperative action to prevent illicit trafficking’ in WMD.” Pg. 6
* “UN Security Council 1874 does establish procedures for the required interdiction of WMD and other weapons going to or from North Korea. The PSI mechanism may assist countries in coordinating these actions.” Pg. 6
* “The State Department has said that participating in PSI is a way for states to comply with their obligations under UN Security Council Resolutions 1718, 1737, 1747, 1803, and 1540.” Pg. 6
* [[PSI]], [[WMD]], [[State Department]]

”’Gertz, Bill”’, “Chinese Firm Tied to Steel Used in Iran Nukes”, 23 January 2011, Washington Times [http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/23/chinese-firm-tied-to-steel-used-in-iran-nukes/] Last Checked 27 January 2010.
* “The State Department in 2009 sought the Chinese government’s help in blocking a sale to Iran of 25 tons of specialty steel for Tehran’s defense industry to be used in building nuclear-related centrifuges, according to a classified department cable.”
* “‘The steel was to be partially machined in order to disguise it as mechanical parts in order to evade Chinese customs officials,’ the cable said, noting that the export was controlled by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an international organization that seeks to limit exports of products that can be used in nuclear-weapons development.”
* “‘Although the solid maraging steel rods described previously are not explicitly controlled [on international agreement] lists, the circumstances surrounding this case, i.e., deceptive practices involving a proscribed entity and prospects for further deals between the parties, suggest that the transfer of this material would be inconsistent with China’s obligations under UNSCR 1737.’”
* “The Iranians involved were ‘linked to Iran’s DIO’ that was sanctioned under U.N. Security Council resolutions (UNSCR).”
* “The company also was charged with selling Iran tungsten used in missile parts, graphite cylinders used in centrifuges and other nuclear arms uses, and high-strength aluminum also used in manufacturing centrifuges.”
* “A CIA report to Congress last year said Chinese companies, both state-owned and private, continued in 2009 to sell weapons-of-mass-destruction goods to Iran.”
* “China also covertly sold to Pakistan in 1996 specialty ring magnets that U.S. officials later determined were used in the core of that country’s nuclear weapons program, specifically its centrifuges that spin uranium gas into highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.”
* “‘What this shows is that China has been a consistent problem in U.S. efforts to tighten the noose around Iran’s nuclear program,’ said Gary Milhollin, head of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. ‘Chinese companies have been a conduit for goods going to Iran.’”
* [[State Department]], [[PSI]], [[Nuclear]], [[China]], [[Iran]], [[Pakistan]]
”’Schneidmiller, Chris”’, “Pakistan Sought U.S. Assistance Against Biothreats, Cable Shows” Global Security Newswire, Feb. 8, 2011.[http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20110208_6630.php]
*”Pakistan in 2008 discussed with U.S. officials the prospect of establishing a system to ensure militants could not obtain jobs in the South Asian nation’s burgeoning disease research sector that might give them access to potential bioterror agents, according to a diplomatic dispatch made public last week (see GSN, June 30, 2010).”
*”The U.S. State Department’s Biosecurity Engagement Program since 2007 has supported efforts by the Pakistani government to ensure “safe, secure and sustainable” public health operations, the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said in a leaked document.”
*”A number of Pakistani officials by early the next year were seeking closer ties with the diplomatic office and assistance with construction of Biosafety Level 3 laboratories, which work with disease agents that can cause serious illness or death.”
*”‘The executive director of Pakistan’s National Institute of Health also expressed interest in a personnel reliability program to screen for “extremists” or other groups looking to gain access to pathogen collections,’ according to the embassy dispatch posted on the website of the London Telegraph.”
*”The document also indicates that U.S. officials noted security concerns and subsequent improvements during three visits to the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council facility in the capital city. ‘PARC houses a full range of viral and bacterial pathogens, including dangerous agents such as anthrax, FMD (foot and mouth disease), brucellosis and highly pathogenic avian influenza,’ the embassy said.”
*”‘Virtually no biosecurity measures were observed during March and June 2007 visits to PARC, but by early February 2008, dedicated safety officers and improved security practices were in place,’ it added.”
*”Potential threats posed by radicals operating within the Pakistani establishment were highlighted by the assassination last month of Punjab state Governor Salman Taseer by one of his bodyguards (see GSN, Jan. 11).”
*”‘The Department of State and Pakistan are currently cooperating on a wide range of projects in the area of the biological sciences, including projects to improve disease diagnostics and disease surveillance in the public health sector,’ according to the statement. ‘U.S. and Pakistan strategic dialogue embodies a commitment to a strong and productive bilateral relationship and partnership for long-term results based on shared democratic values, mutual respect, trust and interests.'”
*[[Pakistan]], [[Japan]], [[BSL]], [[State Department]], [[Personnel Reliability]]
”’Wolf, Kevin, J.,”’ “Retrospective Regulatory Review Under E.O. 13563,” Bureau of Industry and Security, Commerce, p. 47527, August 5, 2011.[http://www.bis.doc.gov/federal_register/rules/2011/76fr47527.pdf] Last checked 2/7/2012.
*” The Administration is implementing the reform in three phases. The first two phases involve short- and medium-term adjustments to the current export control system, with a focus on establishing harmonized control lists and processes among the Departments of Commerce, State, and the Treasury, to the extent practicable, in order to build toward the third phase of the single control list, licensing agency, information technology system, and enforcement coordination agency.”
*”A core proposal intended to bring about the initiative’s national security objectives is to transfer jurisdiction over less significant defense articles, principally generic parts and components, that are controlled by the regulations administered by the State Department to the export control regulations administered by the Commerce Department, which are more capable of having controls tailored to the significance of the item and the degree of risk associated with its export to different groups of countries.”
*”This plan will also significantly reduce the licensing and other collateral burdens on exporters and the government while at the same time harmonizing the system to allow for the eventual creation of a single list of controlled items administered by a single licensing agency.”
*[[Export Control]], [[State Department]], [[Homeland Security]]
== 2012 ==
“Infrared Military Technology to South Korea,” Department of Justice, p. 2, January, 2012.   [http://www.justice.gov/nsd/docs/export-case-fact-sheet.pdf] Last Checked 2/15/2012.

*”On Dec. 20, 2011, EO System Company, Ltd, located in Inchon, South Korea, and defendants Seok Hwan Lee, Tae Young Kim and Won Seung Lee, all citizens and residents of South Korea, were indicted in the Northern District of Ohio on five counts of illegally exporting defense articles to South Korea.”

*”The defendants caused to be exported five infrared focal plan array detectors and infrared camera engines, which are classified as defense articles on the U.S. munitions list, from the United States to South Korea without the required State Department license.”

*”As part of the same investigation, on Jan. 20, 2011, Kue Sang Chun, a former longtime employee at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Ohio and resident of Avon Lake, Ohio, pleaded guilty in the Northern District of Ohio to one count of violating the Arms Export Control Act.”

*”Chun illegally exported several infrared focal plane array detectors and infrared camera engines to South Korea for use in Korean government projects between March 2000 and November 2005. Chun entered into a contract with a Korean company to design, build and text electronics to support the items he was exporting.”

*[[Export Control]], [[Law Enforcement]], [[State Department]]. [[Homeland Security]]
”’Miller, Greg, & Tate, Julie”’,  “CIA’s Global Response Staff emerging from shadows after incidents in Libya and Pakistan,” The Washington post, December 26, 2012 available at [http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cias-global-response-staff-emerging-from-shadows-after-incidents-in-libya-and-pakistan/2012/12/26/27db2d1c-4b7f-11e2-b709-667035ff9029_story.html?utm_source=BNT2%2C+December+27%2C+2012&utm_campaign=BNT122712&utm_medium=email] last checked December 31, 2012.
*”Two of the Americans killed in Benghazi were members of the CIA’s Global Response Staff, an innocuously named organization that has recruited hundreds of former U.S. Special Forces operatives to serve as armed guards for the agency’s spies.”
*”The GRS, as it is known, is designed to stay in the shadows, training teams to work undercover and provide an unobtrusive layer of security for CIA officers in high-risk outposts.”
*”Of the 14 CIA employees killed since 2009, five worked for the GRS, all as contractors. They include two killed at Benghazi, as well as three others who were within the blast radius on Dec. 31, 2009, when a Jordanian double agent detonated a suicide bomb at a CIA compound in Khost, Afghanistan.”
*”The increasingly conspicuous role of the GRS is part of a broader expansion of the CIA’s paramilitary capabilities over the past 10 years. Beyond hiring former U.S. military commandos, the agency has collaborated with U.S. Special Operations teams on missions including the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and has killed thousands of Islamist militants and civilians with its fleet of armed drones.”
*”CIA veterans said that GRS teams have become a critical component of conventional espionage, providing protection for case officers whose counterterrorism assignments carry a level of risk that rarely accompanied the cloak-and-dagger encounters of the Cold War.”
*”Spywork used to require slipping solo through cities in Eastern Europe. Now, ‘clandestine human intelligence involves showing up in a Land Cruiser with some [former] Deltas or SEALs, picking up an asset and then dumping him back there when you are through,’ said a former CIA officer who worked closely with the security group overseas.”
*”Current and former U.S. intelligence officials said the GRS has about 125 employees working abroad at any given time, with at least that many rotating through cycles of training and off-time in the United States.”
*’The work is lucrative enough that recruiting is done largely by word of mouth, said one former U.S. intelligence official. Candidates tend to be members of U.S. Special Forces units who have recently retired, or veterans of police department SWAT teams.”
*”In some cases, elite GRS units provide security for personnel from other agencies, including National Security Agency teams deploying sensors or eavesdropping equipment in conflict zones, a former special operator said. The most skilled security operators are informally known as ‘scorpions.’”
*”Their main tasks are to map escape routes from meeting places, pat down informants and provide an ‘envelope’ of security, the former official said, all while knowing that ‘if push comes to shove, you’re going to have to shoot.’”
*”In Benghazi, a GRS team rushed to a burning State Department compound in an attempt to rescue U.S. diplomats, then evacuated survivors to a nearby CIA site that also came under attack. Two GRS contractors who had taken positions on the roof of the site were killed by mortar strikes.”
*[[State Department]], [[Force Protection]], [[Law Enforcement]]

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