Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08THEHAGUE984
2008-11-26 09:16:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy The Hague
Cable title:  

CWC: SCENESETTER FOR THE CONFERENCE OF THE STATES

Tags:  PARM PREL CWC 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTC #0984/01 3310916
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
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FM AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2268
INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/DTRA ALEX WASHINGTON DC//OSAC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 000984 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCA, L/NPV, IO/MPR,
SECDEF FOR OSD/GSA/CN,CP>
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC
COMMERCE FOR BIS (ROBERTS AND DENYER)
NSC FOR FLY
WINPAC FOR WALTER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2018
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: SCENESETTER FOR THE CONFERENCE OF THE STATES
PARTIES (CSP-13) AND WRAP UP FOR NOVEMBER 17-21, 2008

REF: A. THE HAGUE 972

B. THE HAGUE 978

C. THE HAGUE 898

Classified By: Ambassador Eric M. Javits for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)

This is CWC-58-08.

-------
SUMMARY
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 000984

SIPDIS

STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCA, L/NPV, IO/MPR,
SECDEF FOR OSD/GSA/CN,CP>
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC
COMMERCE FOR BIS (ROBERTS AND DENYER)
NSC FOR FLY
WINPAC FOR WALTER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2018
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: SCENESETTER FOR THE CONFERENCE OF THE STATES
PARTIES (CSP-13) AND WRAP UP FOR NOVEMBER 17-21, 2008

REF: A. THE HAGUE 972

B. THE HAGUE 978

C. THE HAGUE 898

Classified By: Ambassador Eric M. Javits for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)

This is CWC-58-08.

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (U) Meetings continued apace in anticipation of
the Conference of the States Parties (CSP),without
any significant progress on the budget or other CSP
issues. The budget consultations remain in the same
deadlock reached at the Executive Council (EC) in
October, with the key difference remaining on the
number of inspections of Other Chemical Production
Facilities (OCPF). The facilitators for Articles VII
and XI held consultations and prepared draft texts
for the CSP, but Iran continued to obstruct any
agreement on either.


2. (C) Delreps met with a delegation from Taiwan on
November 18, and followed up on the application of
the Taiwan Chemical Industry Association to observe
the CSP with the Secretary of the Policy Making
Organs on November 21. Delreps also met with the DCM
from the Israeli Embassy, who requested a meeting
with the U.S. delegation at the CSP for his visiting
delegation attending as observers. Two Clingendael
representatives met with Amb. Javits to discuss "The
Hague Process."


3. (SBU) The visiting VCI team led by Lisa Von Colln
and Delrep met with the Technical Secretariat (TS)
officials responsible for the development and
implementation of the Verification Information System
(VIS) and the Electronic Declarations Tool for
National Authorities (EDNA) on November 18. U.S.
experts with the OPCW Data Validation Group gave the
delegation a read-out of their meetings on November
19, and a read-out of the Scientific Advisory Board's
Sampling and Analysis Working Group meeting on
November 21.


4. (SBU) The Japanese delegation hosted a meeting of
the G8/Global Partnership group on November 18, which
was reported separately in Ref B.

--------------
SCENESETTER FOR THE CSP
--------------



5. (SBU) The Conference of the States Parties is
notable this year for the lack of substance on its
agenda. Had the 2009 Budget been approved by EC-54
in October, the CSP would be a very routine meeting
indeed. The budget battle will form the major
backdrop for the meeting, but it will likely happen
in smaller meetings and a last-minute EC to pass it
before the Conference ends. There are draft
decisions circulating for Article VII implementation
and for Article XI, but unlike last year, the
European Union does not need an Article VII decision
this time, and the Western Group in general is
lukewarm to antagonistic toward further action on
Article XI. At best, report language or decisions
are likely to reflect earlier versions with no new
initiatives.


6. (C) Iran, as always, is a wild card and has kept a
pack of issues open for possible use. Article X is
dormant, but Iran could resurrect their victims'
network or even propose something new; the Article X
facilitator deliberately has not held consultations
since the EC. On Article XI, the Iranian delegate

has stated in consultations that Tehran wants a
"stronger" decision, but without providing details.
The Iranians have opposed a decision on Article VII
in consultations, while many Western countries feel
that some Article VII implementation balance may be
needed against any decision on Article XI.


7. (C) Iran's fixation on the U.S. missing the final
destruction deadline could be given new life with
recent press reports on new delays. Del has not yet
received any questions on the recent publication of
the Selected Acquisition Report for the chem demil
program (specifically the "beginning of operations"
shifting to as late as 2021 for one of the ACWA
sites). However, destruction delays tend to be
picked up by delegations only too happy to comb the
press for information on the U.S. program, and the
issue still has the potential to influence the CSP.
Although the only destruction-specific document on
the agenda, the DG's annual report to the Conference
on progress made in meeting extended deadlines, is of
no real significance in terms of approval, Iran or
others could use the agenda item as a logical place
for harmful report language on U.S. delays, or
insistence upon the provision of operational dates
for the ACWA facilities, etc.

--------------
MEETING WITH TAIWAN DELEGATION
--------------


8. (C) On November 18, Delreps met with Dr. I. Yuan
(Institute of International Relations, National
Chengchi University, Taiwan) and Dr. Larry Shyu
(Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan))
as well as two representatives from the Taipei Office
in The Netherlands, Dr. Thomas Tung and Jennifer
Hsieh. The meeting took place in a private room in a
local restaurant.


9. (C) The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the
application of the Taiwan Chemical Industry
Association (TCIA) to attend CSP-13 as an observer.
The Taiwan Office has submitted applications in the
past but claim to have never received an
acknowledgement or response. Yuan felt that with the
establishment of the new government in Taiwan, and
the public announcement soon thereafter that Taiwan
(ROC) will uphold UNSCR 1540 and continue to abide by
the conventions of the CWC, and in view of the new
economic cooperation agreements recently signed with
China (PRC),the application might receive more
serious consideration.


10. (C) Shyu pointed out that Taiwan's chemical
production ranks ninth in the world. Following the
CWC's ban on trade in Schedule 2 chemicals with non
States Parties, Taiwan no longer imports those
chemicals. However, Taiwan imports Schedule 3
chemicals with a total value of over USD 13 million
from various countries (including 53.7 percent from
China) for which it submits End User Certificates.
Shyu expressed great concern that a ban on Schedule 3
chemicals might come into effect which would severely
affect Taiwan's industry and exports. Delreps stated
that any change in Schedule 3 transfers was unlikely.


11. (C) Delrep asked what degree of dialogue exists
between the chemical associations of PRC and ROC and
Qbetween the chemical associations of PRC and ROC and
how the warming of cross-strait relations might
affect them. Tung said that industry based dialogue
exists, in addition to frequent exchanges of scholars
and trade. However, there is no official government
acknowledgement that such exchanges exist. End-user
agreements are supplied to China by the company, not
the government. Both sides are eager to speed up
regularization of trade but the push to move ahead is
driven by economics and functionality.



12. (SBU) Delrep suggested that the representatives
contact Michael Luhan (Head, OPCW Media and Public
Affairs Branch) to ensure that their application has
been received. Delrep described how the CSP's
General Committee would review such applications at
the start of the CSP and that member states could
block applications (and have done so in the past).
She noted that the delegation had instructions from
Washington to be sure the General Committee reviewed
the TCIA application.


13. (SBU) Del note: Delrep later contacted Luhan,
who confirmed that he had received TCIA's application
for observer status and had forwarded it -- along
with all other observer applications -- to the
Protocol Branch. Luhan also shared that, in keeping
with past practice, he had prepared two versions for
consideration by the General Committee of the draft
decision to approve observers, one including and the
other excluding TCIA.

-------------- --------------
MEETING WITH SECRETARY TO THE POLICY MAKING ORGANS
REGARDING TAIWAN'S APPLICATION
-------------- --------------


14. (SBU) Delreps met with Secretary to the Policy
Making Organs Alexander Khodakov on November 21 to
discuss the Taiwanese application. Khodakov was
aware of the application. Procedurally, he said,
the application would be reviewed just before the
opening of CSP-13 by the current General Committee,
still in place from CSP-12. Their recommendation
will be immediately conveyed to the new General
Committee for CSP-13 and the decision circulated in
the Conference.


15. (C) Khodakov expressed little optimism that the
application would receive a positive response from
China. He could not confirm if a formal denial of
participation is normally sent out. He said this
would be the job of the Protocol Branch. Khodakov
asked for a copy of the Taiwan application and
indicated that he would follow up.

--------------
ISRAEL AT THE CSP
--------------


16. (C) Israeli DCM Yair Even called on Delreps
November 20 for an update on issues at the CSP and to
request a meeting with the Israeli delegation on
December 3. Representatives from the Israeli
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Defense will be
attending the CSP as observers. He also said that
the Director- General had written a letter to his
government requesting to have an OPCW delegation, led
by the Legal Advisor, visit. Even was skeptical of
reports that Lebanon would soon join the Chemical
Weapons Convention, but said it would be a positive
change if Lebanon and Iraq accede in the coming
months.

--------------
WEOG
--------------


17. (SBU) On November 17, Amb. Werner Burkart
(Germany) chaired the weekly WEOG meeting. He
started discussion with a re-cap of the previous
week's Industry Cluster consultations, noting that
delegations stated their opening positions on low
concentrations and enhanced OCPF declarations,
showing varying levels of flexibility. Facilitator
for low concentrations Giuseppe Cornacchia (Italy)
said that his consultation went as expected,
characterizing it as a good start. He noted that he
Qcharacterizing it as a good start. He noted that he

has been conducting bilateral consultations to sound
out delegations and will continue to do so until his
next consultation after the new year.


18. (SBU) Turning to Article VII, Burkart described
Iran's complete obstruction during the previous
consultation as verging on silliness. Cornacchia
shared that he had spoken with Article VII
facilitator Said Moussi (Algeria),who feels that he
has done his job by proposing draft text on the issue
and thinks that delegations are responsible for
moving forward. Delrep highlighted Russia's useful
interventions during the consultations, including the
linking of Article XI assistance with meeting Article
VII obligations.


19. (SBU) Budget facilitator Martin Strub
(Switzerland) reported that there were no new
developments on the budget since EC-54 and said that
he hoped to focus on the main point of contention --
the number of inspections of Other Chemical
Production Facilities (OCPFs) -- without opening up
the entire budget. Strub also noted his intention to
finalize discussion on the Medium-term Plan and to
have the TS address lingering questions on its
ability to absorb the projected EUR 1.9 million
increase in staff costs mandated by the International
Civil Service Commission (ICSC). Strub confirmed
that the Director-General (DG) will not modify his
proposal for ten additional OCPF inspections, so any
compromise would have to come from delegations or
through the facilitator.


20. (SBU) Under Any Other Business, Burkart reported
that GRULAC (Latin America and Caribbean Group) had
chosen its nominees for positions to be elected
during the CSP: Costa Rica and Ecuador for CSP vice-
chairs; Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Uruguay for the
EC; Argentina and Bolivia for the Credentials
Committee; and Cuba and Peru for the Confidentiality
Commission. Burkart also raised the EC Bureau
meeting scheduled for November 21 and noted that
Iranian delegate Mohsen Naziri Asl had been invited
to attend despite objections that Iran's position as
vice-chair had been specific to the Iranian
ambassador -- who departed during the summer -- and
should not be filled by a delegate. Burkart said
that he will raise the issue during the meeting and
will also seek an opinion from Legal Advisor Santiago
Onate.

--------------
BUDGET
--------------


21. (U) On November 17, budget facilitator Martin
Strub (Switzerland) convened the first consultation
since EC-54 failed to reach agreement on the draft
Program of Work and Budget for 2009. Strub said that
the main open question is the number of OCPF
inspections; he noted that the DG's proposal remains
at 128 (ten more inspections than in 2008). He also
said that the TS's October 8 proposed reallocation of
resources was no longer under consideration, having
basically been rejected during EC-54. So, Strub said
that his starting point is the draft budget reduced
by approximately EUR 531,000, making a total budget
level of approximately EUR 74.5 million with
assessments reduced by 0.2% from 2008.


22. (U) China stated that its position remains firm
Q22. (U) China stated that its position remains firm
that OCPF inspections should not be increased given
that more time is needed to assess recent changes to
site selection methodology and proposed changes to
OCPF declarations. India also reiterated its
position that OCPFs pose less risk than scheduled
chemical facilities according to the CWC and that the
budget should not be used to force policy changes.


Iran chimed in, stating that there is no basis for
increasing OCPF inspections while outstanding issues
remain unresolved. Other Non-aligned Movement (NAM)
delegations -- including Pakistan, Algeria and South
Africa -- stated similar positions.


23. (U) Iran went on say that discussion on the
budget should not be limited to the number of OCPF
inspections, noting concerns about some key
performance indicators (KPIs) and staffing,
particularly in the Office of Special Projects (OSP).
Iran also noted it would not be able to "receive" the
Medium-term Plan until some objectionable language
(i.e., "non-proliferation") is changed.


24. (U) Strub commented that all other delegations
had indicated their ability to "note" the Medium-term
Plan, as amended, and reminded Iran that the document
is not open for editing but reflects the opinion of
the DG and the TS. Strub also said that previous
consultations had gone through each section of the
budget and that he understood KPIs and programmatic
details had been revised to make them all acceptable.


25. (U) Ireland made the initial response to the NAM
opposition, countering that ten additional OCPF
inspections would not be enough to address the real
concern with a lack of inspections, but that Ireland
was willing to accept the DG's judgment. Other WEOG
delegations and Japan echoed Ireland's comments.


26. (U) The meeting with Strub calling on all
delegations to be flexible but no apparent shift in
positions.


27. (U) On November 24, Strub convened another budget
consultation, this time with TS attendance. The DG
made an impassioned admonition to delegations to come
to agreement quickly, preferably during the November
27 special EC meeting. He reminded EC member states
of their obligation to respect the role of the CSP
and not to marginalize its authority. The DG also
defended his decision to increase OCPF inspections by
ten, saying that the number balanced the need to
enforce the CWC with the TS's ability to carry out
inspections. Conceding that the ultimate decision
will be a political one, the DG stressed that he has
no other number to propose and that from a technical
perspective, he and the TS believe that OCPF
inspections must increase. He also noted that
increased OCPF inspections in no way signals a shift
in focus, stressing that destruction remains the
priority and accounts for 85% of all inspection and
verification activity.

--------------
ARTICLE XI
--------------


28. (U) Li Hong (China) convened an Article XI
consultation on November 19 to continue discussions
surrounding the proposed workshop and recommendations
for the upcoming CSP. Li circulated a draft decision
that he had prepared in consultation with the TS, and
asked that delegations be prepared to discuss the
draft at the next consultation. Iran asserted that
this draft did not necessarily represent the only
draft, implying that it might produce its own version
for consideration.


29. (U) The Iranian delegate made several impassioned
interventions and revealed that its delegation is
Qinterventions and revealed that its delegation is
under instructions from Tehran to pursue a
strengthened decision beyond that reached during CSP-

10. He called for intensified discussions on Article
XI that would lead to a substantive decision. He
also argued that any decision should not include
references to the proposed workshop while the details

are still yet to be worked out.


30. (U) Li responded that the workshop should remain
in any decision so that the language would accurately
reflect progress made over the past year in
consultations. The UK delegate expressed
disappointment should the workshop be left out. Cuba
did not commit to either a decision or report
language but insisted that the upcoming CSP should
result in a clear mandate on how to move forward on
this article, implying that a decision would best
achieve this goal.


31. (U) Regarding the workshop, Li conceded his
failure in gaining consensus on how to proceed and
therefore recommended returning to the updated Cuban
proposal. Li suggested the TS use the Cuban proposal
as a basis from which to draw up plans for the
workshop, that would then be forwarded to delegations
for consideration. (Del Comment: Li was clearly
frustrated and seemed pleased to conveniently punt
the task of planning the work shop to the TS,
especially as his tenure as Article XI Facilitator is
fast coming to an end with his expected departure
from The Hague next month.)


32. (U) Most delegations supported this approach
(U.S., China, Japan, South Africa, Algeria, and
Italy). Cuba reminded delegations about other papers
submitted on the workshop, i.e. the Iranian paper
circulated during the last Executive Council (EC),
and urged the group to adhere to EC-54 language and
finish the task of planning the workshop. To that
end, Cuba contended that a decision, if agreed to,
should reflect the outcome of discussions on the
workshop.


33. (U) Iran stated that Tehran could not support
tasking the planning of the workshop to the TS and
expressed disappointment at the current direction of
the consultation, threatening there could be
"consequences" elsewhere. The Iranian delegate did
not support leaving the workshop to the TS and
insisted on discussing further, within the
consultation, the substance and organization of the
workshop. He then reminded delegations of Iran's own
paper and asked why it has been ignored up until now.
Finally, Iran stated that the workshop does not
represent a concrete measure on implementation of
Article XI but is only a forum for discussions;
concrete measures are still needed to ensure full
implementation of this article.


34. (U) South Africa then asked the TS for an update
to the status of the requested compilation of all
past documents related to Article XI. The TS
responded that a list is now available containing 13
documents from 1994 until summer 2008, and that any
of these specific documents would be available from
the document center upon request. (Del comment:
Several delegations noted later that this list is
very selective and does not include early papers by
Sweden, the U.S. and others. It seems to be an
Iranian list without any additional research by the
TS on historical papers related to Article XI.)

--------------
ARTICLE VII
--------------


35. (U) On November 20, Article VII facilitator Said
Moussi (Algeria) chaired a meeting to advance
discussions on his draft proposal for the upcoming
Qdiscussions on his draft proposal for the upcoming
CSP (reftel). Moussi announced that, after having
met bilaterally with the Iranian delegation, they had
formally agreed to use his proposal as a basis for
further discussion. He also reminded delegations
that the proposal's ultimate format (i.e., either a

decision or report language) remained undecided.


36. (U) The consultation then turned into a
paragraph-by-paragraph review of the draft proposal,
starting with the title; Iran said the use of a title
made the proposal look like a decision, prejudging
discussions; South Africa and Mexico indicated a
preference for the title used in previous decisions;
and Germany commented that the new title is
appropriate and fits the model used with other
articles. Most debate on the preambulary paragraphs
centered around recognizing progress made in national
implementation and further action still to be taken,
with Ireland making a distinct linkage between the
two relevant paragraphs. Delrep, France and Brazil
called for a balance of the two. South Africa,
Mexico and China all spoke in favor of noting the
"considerable" progress made; Russia and Germany
countered that, while there has been some progress,
it has been neither steady nor considerable. Iran
was very vocal in insisting on deleting any reference
to work still needing to be done, saying that it
undermined the proposal's positive tone.


37. (U) The main point of contention on the operative
paragraphs was reference to the Second Review
Conference (RevCon). South Africa called for caution
in "enshrining" parts of the RevCon report in a
decision, going on to say that language used in the
RevCon report was part of a package and should not be
quoted selectively. WEOG delegations retorted that
it is normal practice to use "agreed language."
Russia again called for including deadlines -- as in
previous decisions -- for States Parties to
accomplish certain obligations. The Iranian delegate
noted that Tehran no longer wants the TS's annual
Article VII report posted on the OPCW's external
server because it finds this year's report judgmental
and not purely factual.


38. (U) Throughout the discussion, Russia and Iran
each maintained their respective hard-line stances,
with WEOG delegations leaning more toward Russia in
calling for more work to be done, and South Africa
and Mexico calling for a positive message that
matched previous decisions. Notably, Brazil adopted
a conciliatory approach, trying to find compromise
and looking for balance between often divergent
views.

--------------
MEETING WITH CLINGENDAEL OFFICIALS
--------------


39. (U) Dr. Edwin Bakker, Director of the Clingendael
Security and Conflict Programme, and Sico van der
Meer, a Fellow with the Programme, called on Amb.
Javits and Delrep on November 21 to discuss "The
Hague Process." Clingendael plans to use The Hague
Process as a forum to exchange ideas on effective
multilateralism and to promote non-proliferation.
Programs will be organized around specific topics,
eventually in venues beyond The Hague, and they are
looking at producing a newsletter. Potential
partners would include OPCW, the city of The Hague,
academic institutions, think tanks, and non-
governmental organizations. Amb. Javits said it is a
worthy idea and would provide a support network for
Qworthy idea and would provide a support network for
the OPCW Director-General and other leaders in the
field. Bakker noted that they hope to pursue UNSCR
1540, disarmament, and other topics, as well as non-
proliferation, but want to start with a core group of
dedicated organizations. Amb. Javits provided them
with the DVD from the Symposium he organized in 2007
at Columbia University and lists of potential NGOs,
think tanks and universities to include in their
network.


40. (U) Bakker also thanked Amb. Javits for his
willingness to participate in a Clingendael luncheon
and comment on his experiences at the OPCW. (Del
comment: the event was posted as a lecture on non-
proliferation without Amb. Javits' concurrence; we
have since walked it back to the original description
presented by Amb. Lak of reflections on his time at
OPCW). Bakker also confirmed that the 1540 workshop
planned for December at Clingendael will now be in
March 2009.

--------------
MEETING WITH TS ON VIS AND EDNA
--------------


41. (U) On November 18, VCI representatives Lisa Von
Colln, Rose Ann McHenry and Dean Otey, and DQrep met
with the Secretariat team responsQle for development
and implementation of the Verification Information
System (VIS) and the Electronic Declarations Tool for
National Authorities (EDNA). The meeting was
scheduled in order to resolve several long-standing
concerns and questions about data import/export
issues for the VIS and share information related to
the beta-release of EDNA (to be formally released at
the upcoming National Authorities meeting). The
Secretariat also provided additional information on
development projects and strategies for future
development work, and introduced Stephen Wade (Head,
Declarations Branch) as the new VIS project manager
following the departure of Per Runn (Head, Policy
Review Branch) at the end of the year.


42. (U) Per Runn and his team answered a number of
technical questions related to data compatibility
between the OPCW and U.S. database and described the
electronic data recently distributed to States
Parties, which will be used to populate the U.S.
database and treaty data repository. Runn also
elaborated on TS plans for future creation and
distribution of CDs containing electronic
declarations data.


43. (U) The group discussed the viability of
convening a data experts' working group that could
foster discussions related to common data processing
issues, and would also facilitate configuration
management as related to the declarations database
and the State Party declarations tool (EDNA). Runn
and Wade indicated interest in establishing such a
group, and proposed that this group might meet
annually, in conjunction with the National
Authorities meeting.


44. (U) Runn shared his view that the VIS project
still enjoys good support from OPCW management, and
has received high marks from in-house data users in
the Verification Division. The development efforts
have now shifted toward a chemical weapons tracking
tool, and the possible addition of modules for old
and abandoned chemical weapons as well. The TS team
is continuing work on selection of industry sites for
inspection, inspection reporting, and mission
planning; all of these modules are intended for
internal Secretariat use only. U.S. data management
experts indicated that there was some interest by
States Parties in having a discussion on the
Secretariat's site selection algorithm.

--------------
Q28TH OPCW DATA VALIDATION GROUP MEETING
--------------


45. (U) U.S. experts from Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory Hugh Gregg and Armando Alcaraz
participated in the November 18-19 OPCW Data
Validation Group meeting. Members of the group
reviewed data submitted by various laboratories, and

accepted 84 Mass Spectrometry spectra and 34 Gas
Chromatography (Retention Index) values for inclusion
in the OPCW Central Analytical Database (OCAD). The
Secretariat reported to the group that data accepted
by the 27th meeting of the Validation Group was
approved by the Executive Council and will be
incorporated in the next release of the database (e-
OCAD v.9).


46. (U) The group continued discussions of
development of the LC/MS database for inclusion in
the OCAD. Martin Soderstrom summarized efforts to
date and agreed to lead a subcommittee in further
exploration of the issue. The Mass Spectrometry
groupQlso approved the removal of 24 ionQrap
spectra from the OCAD, as well as 13 poor quality
spectra for which alternate data now exists. Sten-
Ake Fredriksson (Sweden) was elected coordinator of
the Mass Spectrometry sub-group, and Sarah Chinn
(U.S.) was elected as a new member of the NMR sub-
group, following Robert Maxwell's departure. The
next meeting of the Validation Group has been
tentatively scheduled for March 3-4, 2009.

-------------- --------------
SAB TEMPORARY WORKING GROUP ON SAMPLING AND ANALYSIS
-------------- --------------


47. (U) On November 20-21, Robin Black chaired the
third meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board
Temporary Working Group on Sampling and Analysis,
attended by U.S. representative Armando Alcaraz.
Black opened by reviewing the paragraphs of the
Second Review Conference that refer to sampling and
analysis. The Secretariat then shared its experience
to date in the use of sampling and analysis on
Schedule 2 inspections. In the TS view, one of the
biggest issues that has arisen so far is the time
required to complete analyses; current efforts to
decrease the time required are focused on improving
instrumental software and using auto samplers for GC-
MS analysis. The TS is also working on constructing
a database for Schedule 2 process chemistry to more
readily predict and identify process impurities;
developing procedures for crude quantification of
these impurities; and developing software that could
allow access to a commercial library from the blinded
mode to more easily resolve apparent matches with the
OPCW Central Analytical Database.


48. (U) The Working Group also discussed possible
sampling and analysis for future Schedule 3
inspections. The OPCW currently has limited
capabilities to analyze certain Schedule 3 chemicals,
particularly those that are highly volatile or too
reactive to pass through a gas chromatograph.
VERIFIN and Spiez Laboratory are already working on
some of these more difficult analytes, and may
present information on this work at the next meeting
of the Temporary Working Group. The OPCW Laboratory
is in the process of procuring two FTIR instruments
for rapid screening of compounds not readily analyzed
with GC-MS. As there is currently no validated
procedure for analyzing for perfluoroisobutene
(PFIB),the group also discussed two possible
analytical approaches for this particular compound.
Qanalytical approaches for this particular compound.


49. (U) The Temporary Working Group reaffirmed its
recommendation that spectra for certain non-scheduled
chemicals should be added to the OCAD to facilitate
verification for investigations of alleged use,
challenge inspections, and old and abandoned chemical
weapons. A copy of a report on amiton degradation
products was provided to assist the Working Group in
its future consideration of the addition of such
products to the OCAD.


50. (U) The group also discussed additional

techniques for on-site analysis, including Fast GC
and solid phase microextraction (SPME). For the
processing of aqueous solutions, the group discussed
hollow-fiber liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME)
and single drop microextraction (SDME),agreeing that
HF-LPME seemed to be the most promising.


51. (U) On the subject of off-site analysis, Working
Group members expressed views on the relevance of
trace analysis, which ranged from assessing the
relevance as low to regarding it as high for
investigations of alleged use. Members agreed that
it is not appropriate at this time to test laboratory
capabilities in this regard. On biomedical sampling,
the OPCW still hopes to hold its first Confidence
Building Exercise in mid-2009. A proposal has been
made to use synthetic urine spiked with nerve agent
and mustard metabolites (high and low concentrations
of each).


52. (U) Laboratories were also asked to respond to
questionnaires on toxin analysis (saxitoxin and
ricin),the outcome of which will be used, together
with identification criteria already adopted
elsewhere, to formulate requirements for the OPCW.
The Working Group has asked two laboratories to make
recommendations on methods/criteria for on- and off-
site identification of these two toxins for the next
meeting. In October 2009, several laboratories will
be participating in a ricin analysis exercise for the
Global Health Security Action Group, the results of
which will be made available to the Working Group.
It was also noted that the OPCW designated laboratory
network should also be able to analyze for other
toxins, particularly for investigations of alleged
use.


53. (U) Javits sends.
CULBERTSON