<nettime> Sunshine Project provides evidence for US violation of international law

["Soenke Zehle" <soenke.zehle@web.de>]

This a fun one: weapons inspections in the US? Since Scott Ritter (Gulf War
I vet and head of the UN inspections team until 1998 - check any number of
interviews he's given, also his congressional testimony) insists there's not
a whole lot to be investigated in Iraq, maybe redirect the whole thing...

Soenke

[via gentech/http://www.ddh.nl/datacom/mailinglist/machine]

The Sunshine Project
News Release - 24 September 2002
http://www.sunshine-project.org


US Military Operating a Secret Chemical Weapons Program
Sunshine Project provides evidence for US violation of international
law

(Austin and Hamburg, 24 September 2002) - The Sunshine Project
today accuses the US military of conducting a chemical weapons
research and development program in violation of international arms control law.
The charges follow an 18 month investigation of the Department of
Defense's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD). The
investigation made extensive use of the US Freedom of Information
Act to obtain Pentagon records that form the primary basis of the
allegations. An array of documents, many of which have been
posted on the Sunshine Project website, demonstrate beyond a reasonable
doubt that JNLWD is operating an illegal and classified chemical weapons
program.

Specifically, the Sunshine Project accuses the JNLWD of:

1. Conducting a research and development program on toxic
chemical agents for use as weapons, including anesthetics and psychoactive
substances, in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention;

2. Developing long-range military delivery devices for these
chemicals, including an 81mm chemical mortar round, that violate the
Chemical Weapons Convention.

3. Pursuing a chemical weapons program while fully cognizant that it
violates the Chemical Weapons Convention and US Department of Defense
regulations;

4. Attempting to cover up the illicit program by classifying as
secret even its own legal interpretations of the Chemical Weapons
Convention and attempting to block access to documents requested under
US information freedom law.


These charges are detailed in the attached Annex to this news
release, in the accompanying map and fact sheet, and the Sunshine
Project's JNLWD documents web page, which has full text of more than
two dozen documents. Specific citations are in footnotes below.


The Weapons: JNLWD's secret program is not focusing on highly lethal
agents such as VX or sarin. Rather, the emphasis is on "non-lethal"
chemical weapons that incapacitate. JNLWD's science advisors define
"non-lethal" as resulting in death or permanent injury in 1 in 100
victims.(1) JNLWD's Research Director told a US military magazine "We
need something besides tear gas, like calmatives, anesthetic agents,
that would put people to sleep or in a good mood." (2) These weapons
are intended for use against "potentially hostile civilians", in
anti-terrorism operations, counterinsurgency, and other military
operations.

The major focus of JNLWD's operation is on the use of drugs as
weapons, particularly so-called "calmatives", a military term for
mind-altering or sleep inducing chemical weapons. Other agents
mentioned as militarily useful in the documents are convulsants, which
are dangerous cramp-inducing drugs, and pharmaceuticals that failed
development trials due to harmful side-effects. (3) This interest in
so-called "calmatives" has been discussed in previous Project
publications. (4)

New documents prove the existence of an advanced development program
for long range delivery devices for the chemicals, in particular a
"non-lethal" 81mm mortar round with a range of 2.5 kilometers and
which is designed to work in standard issue US military weapons (the
M252 mortar) (5). Photos of testing of this round and a gas generating
payload canister are posted on the Sunshine Project's website. (6)
JNLWD has recently asked the company building the gas canister,
General Dynamics, to develop methodologies to characterize the
aerosols it generates, and to calculate the ground area coverage of
gas clouds created by an airburst at different altitudes. (7) A
chemical mortar round with a 2.5 kilometer range has solely military
applications, and cannot possibly be justified for a US military
domestic riot control purpose.

The Solutions:

1) UN Inspectors into the US: The Sunshine Project, while urging the
United States to immediately halt this chemical weapons program, also
announces its intention to take its allegations and evidence to the
7th Session of the Conference of the States Parties of the Chemical
Weapons Convention, scheduled to start in The Hague on October 7th.
There, the Sunshine Project will present its case to governments and
request tthe Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons send
a UN weapons inspection team to the US to investigate.

2) US Oversight: The Sunshine Project calls upon the US Congress to
investigate JNLWD's arms control violations, to conduct public
hearings, to hold JNLWD and its superiors responsible for their
actions, to freeze all JNLWD funding, and to immediately declassify
all JNLWD documents.

Says Edward Hammond, director of the Sunshine Project US, "We can
present hard evidence for an illicit and shameful chemical weapons
program in the US. If the US invades Iraq and uses these weapons, we
may witness the depravity of the US waging chemical warfare against
Iraq to prevent it from developing chemical weapons."

Jan van Aken, Director of the Sunshine Project in Germany says "The US
administration 'names names' of alleged violators at arms control
meetings. We have written documentation that the British government
told JNLWD that its program violates the CWC in private talks. (8)
However, Europe must publicly denounce American chemical weapons
violations in The Hague. Those who remain silent will bear part of the
guilt."

Escalation danger: JNLWD's chemical weapons program not only violates
international law, it presents an escalation threat. Any use of
chemical weapons in a military situation - even if the agents are
purported to be "non-lethal" - carries the inherent danger of
escalation into an all out chemical war and heightened violence. If
attacked with a chemical of unknown nature with a fast incapacitating
effect, victims may assume that lethal chemicals, leading to
heightened violence or even retaliation in kind. This rapid escalation
danger is one of the key reasons why the Chemical Weapons Convention
prohibits the use of even tear gas or pepper spray as a method of
warfare.

The Road to a Chemical Arms Race: In addition, JNLWD's program might
easily be used to disguise lethal chemical weapons development. Deadly
chemicals are the former specialty of JNLWD's partner in the program,
the US Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground. Long range delivery devices may
easily be converted to use biological agents or other chemicals,
including lethal nerve gas. Design and development of new delivery
devices, production facilities or delivery experiments - all key parts
of a lethal chemical weapons program - might easily be performed by
the US or other countries if the buzz-word "non-lethal" is used as a
cover. If non-lethal chemical warfare programs are not banned, the
basic principles of the CWC could fall apart, resulting in new full
blown chemical arms race even before Cold War stocks are destroyed.

----

ANNEX TO SUNSHINE PROJECT NEWS RELEASE
"US Military Operating a Secret Chemical Weapons Program"
(24 September 2002)

An Outline of the Case Against the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons
Directorate

The charges made by the Sunshine Project are supported by thousands of
pages of US government documents, many obtained under the US Freedom
of Information Act, and many of which are available on our website.
This news release and annex are accompanied by a map and fact sheet on
JNLWD's program. This is available for download from our website. The
charges against JNLWD will be further detailed in a briefing for the
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and diplomats
attending the October meeting of the Chemical Weapons Convention. A
brief outline is provided here:

1. JNLWD is conducting a research and development program on toxic
chemical agents for use as weapons in violation of the Chemical
Weapons Convention.

JNLWD's desire for chemical weapons is intense and widely documented.
JNLWD has explicitly stated that it is operating a program to develop
"calmative" chemical weapons (9). In May 1999, its Research Director
told Navy News and Undersea Technology "We need something besides tear
gas, like calmatives, anesthetic agents, that would put people to
sleep or in a good mood." In 2000, JNLWD's Commanding Officer told New
Scientist "I would like a magic dust that would put everyone in a
building to sleep, combatants and non-combatants." (10) The Marine
Corps Research University (MCRU), a major JNLWD contractor, produced
an October 2000 study that concluded "the development and use of
calmatives is achievable and desirable" and urged "immediate
consideration" of drugs like diazepam (Valium). (11) The unit that
produced the study is headed by JNLWD's former commander. JNLWD
currently has a secretive technology investment program for
incapacitating chemical weapons that is being conducted in cooperation
with the US Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground. (12) It is urging academic
and private institutions to bring it new proposals for chemical agents
(13) and has repeatedly emphasized the need for the US military to
develop a calmative capability. In addition, it recently concluded a
new request for proposals that includes a call for "advanced riot
control agents", (14) a military synonym for drug weapons. In October
2001, it offered to equip US commercial aircraft with
calmative-dispensing weapons. (15)

2. JNLWD is developing long-range military delivery devices for these
chemicals that violate the Chemical Weapons Convention and have no law
enforcement application.

JNLWD has been funding the development of chemical weapons delivery
devices since the late 1990s. 1999 and 2000 photos of outdoor tests of
chemical aerosol equipment and wind tunnel tests at the US Army
Soldier Chemical Biological Command are included on the obverse side
of the accompanying map. JNLWD has funded a multi-year program to
microencapsulate chemical agents, specifically, anesthetics and
anesthetics mixed with corrosive chemicals to penetrate thick
clothing. (16) In 2001, JNLWD accelerated this effort, developing a
specification for an 81mm "non-lethal" mortar round with a 2.5
kilometer range. (17) The round can use chemical payloads and is
required to work in standard issue military M252 mortars. (18) Under
this program, in September 2001, JNLWD inked a deal with General
Dynamics that calls for building a "dispersion gas generator" for this
mortar round and to "identify analytical tools that can be used in
follow-on design/performance modeling of droplet formation and
dynamics" and to perform "preliminary parametric estimates of ground
area coverage versus payload volume and height of burst." (19) The
JNLWD team which developed chemical microencapsulation methods and the
Aberdeen Proving Ground team which is participating in the chemical
agents technology investment program are both collaborating with JNLWD
in the mortar round design. (20)

3. JNLWD is pursuing this program despite being fully cognizant that
it violates the Chemical Weapons Convention and US Department of
Defense regulations.

The JNLWD program runs afoul of the Chemical Weapons Convention
(CWC), the global ban on the development and use of all chemical
weapons. And JNLWD is well aware of this fact. JNLWD presentations in
2001 list the Chemical Weapons Convention as a major "challenge" to
its calmatives program. (21) In 2000, JNLWD held a series of war games
with British military officials. JNLWD's report of the war games
concludes "In all three game scenarios, players espoused calmatives as
potentially the most useful anti-personnel non-lethal weapons" but
that "the principle concern was about the legality of the weapon and
possible arms control violationsS" Despite this, it continues "The end
result is that calmatives are considered the single most effective
anti-personnel option in the non-lethal toolkitS" (22)

At the end of the wargames series, JNLWD held a final, high-level
meeting with UK officials. It included the participation of five
active duty US Marine Corps and Army generals. British officials
objected to the US calmatives program, saying that it is illegal.
JNLWD replied by saying but that it would proceed anyway (quoting from
the report): "a research and development program with respect toS
chemically based calmatives... [will] be continued as long as it is
cost-productive to do so." In the same report, JNLWD acknowledges that
its research and development program violates Department of Defense
regulations, declaring its intent to evade the law: "DOD is prohibited
from pursuing [calmative] technologyS If there are promising
technologies that DOD is prohibited from pursuing, set up MOA with DOJ
or DOE." (DOD is the US Department of Defense. DOJ is the US
Department of Justice. DOE is the US Department of Energy. MOA is a
Memorandum of Agreement.) (23)

4. JNLWD is seeking to cover up this illicit program by cloaking it
behind US secrecy law.

JNLWD has made a systematic effort hide its program from public view
and to impede the Sunshine Project's investigation. JNLWD asked the US
Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) to perform a legal review of its
"non-lethal" chemical weapons; but then classified the JAG opinion,
preventing its release. (24) JNLWD has placed export control
restrictions on its 81mm "non-lethal" mortar specification. (25) In
2002, JNLWD officials trained US Marine Corps officers in its
anti-personnel chemical weapons capabilities. It classified the
training "secret". (26) Interviewed by news media, JNLWD officials
deny developing chemical weapons; but have informed the Sunshine
Project in multiple telephone conversations that they will deny
release of documents requested under FOIA because of "classified
weapons development". With 18 months elapsed since the Sunshine
Project's first Freedom of Information Act requests to JNLWD, almost
two thirds of the documents requested have not been released. JNLWD
has ordered the US National Academies of Science to halt release of
documents it deposited in the public record at that institution, (27)
despite the fact that the National Academies states that there are no
security markings on the documents requested, (28) and in apparent
violation of US law.

TO DOWNLOAD THE MAP AND ILLUSTRATIVE TEXT THAT ACCOMPANY THIS RELEASE,
VISIT:

http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/pr240902map.html



NOTES

1) Kenny, J. The Human Effects of Non-Lethal Weapons,
presentation of the JNLWD Human Effects Advisory Panel to the US
National Academy of Sciences Naval Studies Board, 30 April 2001.

2) Susan LeVine, JNLWD Research Director, quoted in Non-Lethal
Programs Will Enhance Navy And Marine Warfighting in Navy News and
Undersea Technology, v. 16, n.19, 10 May 1999.

3) Lakoski J, Murray, W.B., Kenny J. The Advantages and Limitations of
Calmatives for Use as a Non-Lethal Technique, Applied Research
Laboratory / College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, 3
October 2000, URL:
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/jnlwdpdf/psucalm.pdf

4) See the Sunshine Project news release Pentagon Program Promotes
Psychological Warfare (1 July 2002), the information brief The MCRU
Calmatives Study and JNLWD: A Summary of (Public) Facts (19 September
2002), and Sunshine Project Backgrounder #8, Non-Lethal Weapons
Research in the US: Calmatives & Malodorants (July 2001). All
available at the Sunshine Project website.

5) See, for example, 81mm Frangible Case Cartridge, Contract
DAAE-30-01-C-1077 (June 2001), US Army TACOM and M2 Technologies,
online at:
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/jnlwdpdf/m281mm.zip

6) See side two of the accompanying map and information sheet,
URL:http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/pr240902map.html

7) Liquid Payload Dispensing Concept Studies Techniques for the 81mm
Non-Lethal Mortar Cartridge, Contract DAAE-30-01-M-1444 (Sept. 2001),
US Army TACOM and General Dynamics, URL:
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/jnlwdpdf/gd81mm.zip

8) Assessment Report: US/UK Non-Lethal Weapons (NLW)/Urban Operations
Executive Seminar, JNLWD, November 2000, URL:
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/jnlwdpdf/usukassess.pdf

9) ibid (and other documents)

10) Colonel George Fenton, USMC, JNLWD Commanding Officer, quoted in
War without tears, New Scientist, 16 December 2000.

11) Lakoski J, Murray, W.B., Kenny J. The Advantages and Limitations
of Calmatives for Use as a Non-Lethal Technique (URL above).

12) The US Department of Defense Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program,
Program Overview, April 2001, URL:
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/jnlwdpdf/jnlwdpo01.pdf

13) See Fenton, G. To The Future: Non-Lethal Capabilities
Technologies in the 21st Century, presentation to the University of
New Hampshire's Non-lethal Technology and Academic Research III
symposium, November 2001, URL:
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/jnlwdpdf/jnlwdntar.pdf

14) Nonkinetic/limited effects/non-lethal weapons for crowd control,
US Department of the Navy solicitation M67854-02-R-6064, 18 July 2002,
URL:
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/jnlwdpdf/crowdcontrolbaa.
pdf

15) See Non-Lethal Weapons Suggested to Incapacitate Terrorists in
Airliners, Air Safety Week, v. 15 n. 39, 15 October 2001. 6) Durant Y.
White Paper: Delivery of chemicals by microcapsules, Advanced Polymer
Laboratory, University of New Hampshire, 1998, URL:
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/jnlwdpdf/unhmicrocap.pdf

17) 81mm Frangible Case Cartridge, Contract DAAE-30-01-C-1077 (June
2001), US Army TACOM and M2 Technologies, URL above.

18) See Liquid Payload Dispensing Concept Studies Techniques for the
81mm Non-Lethal Mortar Cartridge, Contract DAAE-30-01-M-1444 (Sept.
2001), US Army TACOM and General Dynamics, URL above.

19) Liquid Payload Dispensing Concept Studies Techniques for the 81mm
Non-Lethal Mortar Cartridge, Contract DAAE-30-01-M-1444 (Sept. 2001),
US Army TACOM and General Dynamics, URL above.

20) Aberdeen Proving Ground: see Design and Development of an 81mm
Non-Lethal Mortar Cartridge, United Defense LP, US Army Soldier
Biological Chemical Command (SBCCOM), US Army Research Laboratory,
March 2000, URL:
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/jnlwdpdf/udlpmort.pdf.

University of New Hampshire: see Durant Y, et al, Composites material
selection study for NL Mortar, presentation to the University of New
Hampshire's Non-lethal Technology and Academic Research III symposium,
November 2001, URL:
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/jnlwdpdf/unhmortar.pdf

21) Fenton, G. To The Future: Non-Lethal Capabilities Technologies in
the 21st Century, presentation to the University of New Hampshire's
Non-lethal Technology and Academic Research III symposium, November
2001, URL above.

22) US/UK Non-Lethal Weapons (NLW) / Urban Operations War Game Two
Assessment, JNLWD, June 2000.  The wargame was held 13-16 June 2000 at
the US Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA.

23) Assessment Report: US/UK Non-Lethal Weapons (NLW)/Urban
Operations Executive Seminar, JNLWD, November 2000, URL above.

24) Response letter (3 September 2002) from US Department of the Navy,
Office of the Judge Advocate General, International and Operational
Law Division to Sunshine Project Freedom of Information Request of 21
August 2002.

25) Several JNLWD-funded contracts indicate this.  See, for example,
81mm Frangible Case Cartridge, Contract DAAE-30-01-C-1077 (June 2001),
US Army TACOM and M2 Technologies, URL above.

26) Non-Lethal Weapons: Acquisitions, Capabilities, Doctrine, &
Strategy:  A Course of Instruction, contract M67004-99-D-0037,
purchase order M9545002RCR2BA7, between the US Marine Corps
University (Pennsylvania State University Applied Research
Laboratory) and JNLWD, December 2001. URL:
http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/jnlwdpdf/mcrucourse.pdf

27) Letter from Col. George Fenton to the National Academies of
Science (NAS), 17 May 2002, text provided in an e-mail from Mr. Kevin
Hale, Director of the NAS National Security Office to William
Colglazier, Executive Officer, 17 May 2002.

28) Letter from Kevin Hale (NAS) to Col. George Fenton (JNLWD), 17 May
2002. This letter and the e-mail of note #27 were provided by the NAS
Public Affairs office.

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