Report: New Radiation Detectors Inadequate

Government Advised Not To Buy Machines Meant To Detect Hidden Nuclear Materials At Ports

(AP)  The government should not buy more of the radiation detection machines it has been developing for ports, a report from the National Research Council advises.

The report, released Wednesday, echoes worries raised by Congress and the Government Accountability Office about the government's next generation of radiation detectors: the new machines are only marginally better than the current ones at detecting hidden nuclear material than monitors already in use at U.S. ports but would cost more than twice as much.

Instead of buying more of the new machines, the government should deploy the "low-rate" ones it already has to ports and test them there, said the research council, the working arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

Because the threat and the technology to detect threats will continue to evolve, the Homeland Security Department should focus on deploying new machines incrementally instead of all at once, the report said.

The Homeland Security Department oversees the development of the new machines and plans to use them at ports. The department already has spent $235 million on the new machines and could spend more than $1 billion.

The machines are intended to prevent terrorists or criminals from smuggling into the United States a nuclear device or its explosive components hidden in a cargo container.

The monitors now in use can detect the presence of radiation, but they cannot distinguish between threatening and nonthreatening material. Radioactive material can be found naturally in ceramics and kitty litter, but would be of no use in making a bomb, for instance.

The new ones also are better at detecting lightly shielded material. But the machines perform at about the same level when detecting radiological and nuclear materials hidden in a lead box or casing, the most likely way a terrorist would try to sneak the materials into this country, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released Monday.

The Department of Homeland Security has said the machines under development can distinguish between kitty litter and dangerous radioactive material and produce fewer false alarms than the current ones.

The department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

[Sloughfoot]

The Homeland Security Department has more of everthing than it can use; Staff, money, power. Give the People of this Nation some reason to believe this HS has a need to exist?