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Nuclear facilities miss security deadline

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A watchdog group criticized the U.S. Energy Department for not moving quickly enough to tighten security at the nation's nuclear weapons facilities.

The Project on Government Oversight, which has been warning about vulnerability to terrorists, said a briefing prepared by the Government Accountability Office indicated that five of the 11 sites will miss improvement deadlines, The New York Times reported Monday.

A copy of the briefing materials prepared for the U.S. Senate was provided to the Times by the watchdog group.

One site that will miss its deadline by years, the briefing materials claimed, is the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee that will take until 2015 to dilute its large stock of weapons-grade uranium.

Two other sites set to miss deadlines are operated by the National Nuclear Security Administration whose director was forced to resign in January because of security lapses, the Times said.

"The department seems to think that the terrorist threat to its nuclear facilities is no more serious than a Halloween prank," U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., told the newspaper.

Saudi king: Britain weak in terror fight

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- Britain has been lax in battling international terrorism, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah said Monday before arriving in London.

In a telephone interview with the BBC from Riyadh, the monarch said that in the past Britain had failed to act on information passed to them by the Saudis which might have averted terrorist attacks.

"We have sent information to Great Britain before the (July 2005) terrorist attacks in Britain but unfortunately no action was taken. And it may have been able to maybe avert the tragedy," he said.

Abdullah flew to London later Monday and the formal visit was to begin Tuesday with a meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Meanwhile, Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International U.K., called on Brown to tell the king that Saudi Arabia's human rights record was "totally unacceptable," the BBC report said.

Germany to reform intelligence service

BERLIN, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A series of scandals is prompting a major overhaul of Germany's foreign intelligence service with Berlin gaining more control over the agency.

Reform of the Bundesnachrichtendienst, or BND, which has some 6,000 employees, is scheduled for completion in 2009 just in time for Germany's next parliamentary elections, Deutsche Welle reported Monday.

"The service will undergo a thorough reform process," BND spokesman Stefan Borchert says. "Antiquated and crusty structures will be broken up."

Part of the agency was recently involved in spying on journalists in Germany and in questionable actions in Afghanistan. But Borchert said reform had been planned for a long time.

According to Borchert, the wall between agents who collect information and those who analyze it will be broken down, ensuring greater transparency.

Moving BND headquarters from the town of Pullach to Berlin is among the changes scheduled to take place.

Announcement of the reforms has met with approval from opposition politicians.

"The federal government has recognized that it has to keep the BND on a shorter leash," says Max Stadler of the Free Democratic Party.

Immigration critic Tancredo to leave House

DENVER, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., who has made illegal immigration one of his leading concerns, will give up his seat in Congress at the end of next year.

The five-term Denver-area representative didn't announce any immediate plans, although the Rocky Mountain News said Monday there was speculation that Tancredo could be eyeing a challenge for the seat held by U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., in 2010.

"It's the fact that I really believe I have done all I can do in the House, especially about the issue (immigration) about which I care greatly," he told the Rocky Mountain News.

Tancredo has been a vocal critic of illegal immigration and what he has called a “cult of multiculturalism” in the United States and has made the issue a major plank in his dark-horse run for the Republican presidential nomination.