U.S. Invests in Radiation Detectors for Ports

[PhiPsiRuss]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...y_radiation_dc

By Alan Elsner

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is stepping up investment in radiation detection devices at its ports to thwart attempts to smuggle a nuclear device or dirty bomb into the country, a Senate committee heard on Wednesday. _

Robert Bonner, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told a Senate subcommittee on homeland security that since the first such devices were installed in May 2000, they had picked up over 10,000 radiation hits in vehicles or cargo shipments entering the country. All proved harmless.

The Bush administration is requesting $125 million for fiscal year 2006 to continue the acquisition, deployment and enhancement of such technology. It has 400 units deployed.

"We are deploying nuclear and radiological detection equipment to include personal radiation detectors, radiation portal monitors and radiation isotope identifier devices," Bonner told the subcommittee.

As an example of how the system was working, Bonner said on Jan. 26, 2005, a machines got a hit from a South Korean vessel at the Los Angeles seaport. The radiation turned out to be emanating from the ship's fire extinguishing system and was no threat to safety.

Bonner and two other senior homeland security officials all said the nation was much safer than it had been on Sept. 11, 2001, when hijackers commandeered four planes and attacked New York and Washington, killing some 2,700 people.


"We're much better off. We're far beyond where we were a couple of years ago," said Eduardo Aguirre, director of citizenship and immigration services.

In last year's presidential election campaign, Democrat John Kerry attacked what he said was the Bush administration's failure to protect ports and monitor materials imported into the country.

Bonner said searching all the cargo and people entering the country was impossible. The aim was to scrutinize all of the cargo and people identified as high risk.

With almost 25,000 seagoing containers off-loaded at U.S. ports each day, containerized shipping was "uniquely vulnerable to terrorist attack," he said.

The government was enlisting foreign governments to identify and inspect as much material bound for the United States as possible before it was shipped. So far, 35 major foreign seaports were participating in the program.

Democrats on the committee criticized the administration for failing to hire enough border patrol agents. Congress authorized the addition of 2,000 agents last year but the administration is proposing to hire only 210.

"Despite this testimony, there is virtually no funding in the budget to increase our border security," said West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd

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Its about damn time. In my opinion, this is the single most important thing that can be done to protect us (mostly me) against the unthinkable.