Debka (“we start where the media stops”) reports that the US and Russia have agreed to allow one another to deploy tactical nuclear weapons; the US in the Afghani action and the Russians in Chechnya, and that the weapons are already being deployed in their respective theatres. Wired reports that this “freewheeling Israeli news site… is beating out big-name American and international news sources” on key storiees related to terrorism and counter-terrorism. Caveat: “Like the Drudge Report, which it resembles, Debkafile clearly reports with a point of view; the site is unabashedly in the hawkish camp of Israeli politics and has partnered with the far-right news site WorldNetDaily… That slant, combined with Debkafile’s breakneck pace ­– its eight-person staff updates the site as often as 5 or 6 times per day with terse, one-line tips and sparse news briefs — means it often airs unfounded, inaccurate rumors while breaking legitimate news.” It’s some solace that, if correct, such Debka stories as this or their report that China is bringing Muslim troops into Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban, will appear in the mainstream press in a matter of days.

In a related story, the Washington Post reports: U.S. pressed on nuclear response.

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on Washington and New York have invigorated national security strategists inside and outside the government who favor using nuclear arms to deter and respond to chemical or biological attacks.

Conservatives outside the administration have been calling on the administration to make an explicit threat to use nuclear weapons to respond to a biological or chemical attack. This would change a long-standing U.S. policy of refusing to rule in or rule out use of nuclear weapons in the event of such an attack.