GAO investigators get 'dirty bomb' materials past US border checkpoints
Enough material to 'make two bombs' gets through customs in Texas and Washington State.
In December 2005, small undercover teams of investigators from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) were able to carry small amounts of cesium-137, a radioactive material used for a variety of medical and industrial purposes, in the trunks of their rental cars past border checkpoints in the states of Washington and Texas.
The Washington Post reports that the radioactive materials did set off alarms, but that the GAO agents were
able to use phony documents to persuade US border guards and US Customs officers to let them pass into the US.
GAO officials revealed their successful smuggling attempts at a hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
"These are documents my 20-year-old son could easily develop with a simple Internet search," said Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who chaired the hearing into covert nuclear threats before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee yesterday. "It is a problem when it is tougher to buy cold medicine than it is to acquire enough material to construct a dirty bomb."
Customs and Border Protection officials said a new system to confirm the validity of counterfeit Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licenses would be in place within 30 days. But the
BBC reported that NRC spokesman David McIntyre
disputed the claim that there was enough radioactive material to make two 'dirty bombs.' "It was basically the radioactive equivalent of what's in a smoke detector," Mr. McIntyre said.
GovExec.com, a news website for federal managers, writes that another GAO report says efforts to prevent radioactive materials from being smuggled into the US overland or through seaports "are
plagued by major flaws, schedule delays and cost overruns in the hundreds of millions of dollars ..."
Overall, the government's effort to deploy more than 3,000 radiation portal monitors to all ports of entry by 2009 is "unrealistic" and will likely experience a cost overrun of $342 million, the GAO concluded in a report released Tuesday.
The situation is particularly bleak at seaports because the Homeland Security Department's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has not been able to get port operators to agree to install radiation portal monitors, especially for screening cargo being put on railroad cars and shipped to the interior of the country, GAO said.
The GAO report also said the resistance of port operators to installing radioactive detection devices has put CBP plans two years behind schedule and "seaports continue to be vulnerable to nuclear smuggling." The officials say there is no reason to be optimistic that the situation will be resolved soon.
CBS News reports that the government estimates it will
spend $342 million more than it expects to complete the job, taking into account current costs and slowdowns. Between 2000 and 2005, the government spent about $286 million installing radiation monitors.
USA Today reports that the news about problems with security at ports and border crossings comes at a hard time for the Department of Homeland Security. Labor leaders and members of Congress say the department is suffering a "brain drain that
could affect morale and the nation's safety." Vacancies include top leaders in the department's cybersecurity, technology, and disaster response divisions.
This month, operations chief Matthew Broderick resigned. Last month, Science and Technology Undersecretary Charles McQueary resigned. And in January, Chief Financial Officer Andy Maner quit.
Meanwhile, the job of cyber-security chief has been vacant since last summer. David Paulison has been the acting chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency since Michael Brown resigned the $148,000 post in September; no permanent replacement has been found. FEMA is part of Homeland Security.
USA Today also quotes Randall Larsen of the Institute for Homeland Security, who says it's going to be difficult to attract good people to the department. While the vacant jobs often have six-figure salaries, "Who's going to give up a good job in the private sector to go into an organization that is criticized by the press and Congress and the American people?" Mr. Larsen asked.
In an editorial in early March,
GovExec.com wrote that it has not been the best of years for the department, which is "still a mess." The department did have some successes, like the US Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program. But GovExec.com says the
list of failures is much longer, and often the failures took place in full view of the American public. Problems include an uneasy first year for Secretary Michael Chertoff, the very public problems with the response to the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, the lack of integration of key organizations under its jurisdiction, and the inability to secure "high-profile targets such as mass transit systems, cargo shipments and chemical plants."
Also...
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Travel group seeks details on airline screening (GovExec.com)
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Moussaoui offered to testify against himself (MSNBC)
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Arabs leaders reject Israel's go-it-alone approach (Reuters)
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Tom Regan
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