The Bush administration last week asked UNMOVIC, the United Nations' weapons inspection team in Iraq, to aggressively court the defection of Iraqi scientists who have knowledge of illicit biological, chemical, or nuclear weapons. Some American officials have advocated the forced removal of weapons experts for questioning, if these individuals are unwilling to leave Iraq voluntarily.

But chief weapons inspector Hans Blix is not swayed by US arguments, vowing in a press conference on Friday, "We are not going to abduct anybody and we are not serving as a defection agency." Blix noted that he welcomed recommendations from UN member governments, including the United States, but stressed his team is "in nobody's pocket. It's we who decide."

Although the US calls may sound outrageous, the UN inspectors have the authority under a recent Security Council resolution to interview people freely, inside or outside Iraq. Motivation for the US campaign stems from the fact that a series of leaks and defections in the 1990s revealed clandestine weapons activities. In particular, the 1995 testimony of defector Hussein Kamel, Saddam Hussein's son-in-law, unveiled a crash program to obtain a nuclear device, while prompting Iraq to admit that it had weaponized biological agents. Kamel was killed when he returned to Iraq months later.

Citing safety concerns, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the United States would grant asylum to individuals who provide evidence of wrongdoing, with the federal government establishing a witness protection program for them and their families.

Critics of this plan envision a host of practical problems. "The head of Iraq's bioweapons program is probably not the most savory person in the world," said Ivan Oelrich, a senior researcher with the Federation of American Scientists. "Now we're going to offer him lifetime employment, comfortably supporting him and his family?"

UNMOVIC spokesperson Ewen Buchanan has additional qualms. "What if we take you, your wife, and kids to an airstrip and the Iraqis intercept us?" he asked. "What if we get you out of the country and your information does not move the process forward? Do we send you back? Or put you in the UN garden?" Buchanan emphasized that UNMOVIC is composed of scientists and engineers trained to visit a site and determine whether illegal activities have transpired. "We are a UN agency," he told The Scientist, "not a cloak and dagger outfit."