DATE: Wednesday, November 26, 1997          TAG: 9711260681

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   91 lines

MORE NATIONS POSE DEADLIER THREATS WITH NEW WEAPONS ALL DANGERS AREN'T OVERSEAS, REPORT SAYS

More than 25 nations have or may be developing nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and ways to deliver them, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen said Tuesday, calling the threat ``neither far-fetched nor far off.''

``The front lines are no longer overseas,'' said Cohen, releasing a report that said Americans could fall victim to such an attack because criminal organizations and cults - as well as nation-states - could deploy such weapons.

Biological and chemical weapons are ``the poor man's atomic bomb - cheaper, easier to produce and extremely deadly,'' the defense secretary said.

Cohen said that while headlines have been full of the United Nations' struggle to ferret out such weapons of mass destruction held by Saddam Hussein, ``the threat is not limited to Iraq.'' Even so, the defense secretary said, Saddam apparently has been able to produce enough deadly toxin ``to kill every man, woman and child on the face of the earth.''

The United States and its U.N. partners have been able to detail and study the Iraqi weapons threat under the auspices of U.N. resolutions passed after the Persian Gulf War. The resolutions require Saddam to destroy his weapons of mass destruction. Uncovering such detail is impossible in nations such as Iran, where U.S. officials do not have that kind of access.

The Pentagon report focused on Middle East and North African nations and singled out Iran, Iraq, Libya and Syria as trouble spots. They ``are aggressively seeking NBC weapons and increased missile capabilities'' and constitute ``the most pressing threats'' to stability in the region, the study said.

The Pentagon declined to list all the nations mentioned in the report, calling the information classified.

But it did specify other nations such as North Korea, China, India, Pakistan and Russia, whose programs may pose a threat to the United States.

The report said Iran, Iraq and North Korea, the three countries on which the U.S. focuses most attention, all possess missiles that could target Navy ships off their coasts. But so far none of those countries is believed to be equipping the missiles with nuclear, chemical or biological warheads.

On a positive note, the report welcomed ``a dramatic reduction in the threat from the countries of the former Soviet Union.'' Six nations ``that might have become nuclear powers - Ukraine, Kazakstan, Belarus, North Korea, South Africa and Iraq - have been turned away from that path,'' it said.

The study, the second such Pentagon report on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, largely repeats last year's report.

But it warns that if a conflict again breaks out in the Persian Gulf, some form of the weapons is likely to be used, particularly since several nations there have used them in the past.

The new report includes a section on Syria for the first time. It notes Syria's growing SCUD supplies, many received from Iran and North Korea, its ability to produce chemical weapons and its infrastructure capable of supporting a biological warfare program.

Asked why more information about Israel's purported nuclear program was not included in the report, Cohen said the study was geared toward those nations who threaten America, and Israel does not pose such a threat.

The report does, however, state that Syria has vigorously pursued development of chemical and biological weapons, as well as ballistic missiles, ``as a means to counter what it perceives as Israel's superior conventional forces and presumed possession of nuclear weapons.''

The Pentagon has had to beef up its detection, decontamination and emergency response equipment to respond to a potential attack by chemical and biological weapons. Cohen has requested $1 billion to pay for the improvements.

The defense secretary showed off how that money might be used, pointing to a dummy wearing a new, lighter protective garment that can be donned by military forces who believe they may be under attack from chemical or biological weaponry.

He also led reporters on a tour of tents erected outside the Pentagon on Tuesday to display equipment the military uses to detect and/or counteract chemical and biological agents in the vicinity of U.S. forces.

Among the gear Cohen saw during the tour was a Chemical Agent Point Detection System installed aboard all Navy ships. Intake ports on deck funnel air through the device, which sounds an alarm if any toxins are detected.

The service is seeking funds for more advanced detectors and is experimenting with a biological agent detector that can sense background changes that are the leading edge of an attack by biological agents. The latter systems are in use on 13 ships and could be placed quickly on a dozen more if needed, according to Pentagon briefing documents.

Cohen also said the Pentagon has been working with the National Guard to prepare it to respond quickly to domestic attacks from terrorists and has been training local police and fire fighters to help as well. MEMO: This story was compiled from reports by The Associated Press and

staff writer Dale Eisman.

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