In the wake of anthrax attacks that have killed 4 and sickened some 12 others, the Bush administration is discussing new proposals with its allies that would make it a crime for individuals to buy, build or acquire a biological weapon.
The proposals, intended to strengthen the 1972 treaty banning germ weapons, abandon a previous approach favored by many other countries that sought to require treaty members to create a new international organization to conduct mandatory inspections of plants in which germ weapons could be made.
The administration opposed that approach, maintaining that it would have provided a false sense of security. Officials said the previous approach could not have been verified and countries determined to cheat would still have been able to do so.
Instead, the US wants governments that have signed the treaty to pledge to open their countries to international investigations of suspicious outbreaks, according to a summary of the administration's proposal, the details of which have not been publicly disclosed.
The White House is expected to discuss the measure soon, possibly as early as yesterday.
Administration officials said the recent anthrax terrorism in the US was helping to convince American allies of the advantages of the administration's approach.
"We strongly believe in the importance of the Biological Weapons Convention and the need to strengthen it," a senior administration official said. "But the anthrax attacks against Americans show that a treaty is not the be-all and end-all to stopping the spread of biological weapons or preventing and dealing with germ attacks."
The official said the attacks showed that "access to enough Cipro also matters, and so do epidemiological investigations and punishing the people who did this."
Donald H. Mahley, the American representative to the protracted international talks in Geneva aimed at strengthening the treaty, and Avis T. Bohlen, assistant secretary of state for arms control, discussed the proposals with key legislators on Capitol Hill last month and with key European allies last week. This week Ambassador Mahley is discussing the package with Japan and Australia.
The administration said that its ideas had been well received by several allies and that Britain had produced a list of suggestions for building on the American approach.
Two veteran European diplomats interviewed today confirmed that their governments were ready to work with the measures proposed by the administration. But both added that they still preferred the more sweeping approach that the administration rejected last summer and hoped that the White House would eventually endorse more of it.
"We are ready and willing to work with the Americans to bridge the gaps," said one of the diplomats. "But we hope this is only a first step and that it opens the door to more sweeping multilateral measures."
Arms control groups voiced similar reservations. "This is a good start," said Daryl Kimball, director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association. "But it doesn't do what the draft agreement that the administration rejected would have done."
Critics at home and abroad argued last summer that the White House's rejection of that proposed agreement, known as a protocol, showed that it was concentrating too much on new military programs and not enough on international treaties and prevention of the spread of weapons.
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