Print

Mail

wiki links

US admits border security is lax

The US government has admitted its network of border radiation detectors designed to prevent the smuggling of a "dirty bomb" could be fooled, in a conclusion that lends credence to charges voiced by Senator John Kerry during the presidential campaign.

The Department of Homeland Security said, in a report by its inspector general, that the performance of its detection equipment installed at ports and border crossings "is reduced by certain factors."

"The analysis described the distances beyond which the detection equipment would no longer detect the radiation source," Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin said in a thoroughly sanitized report, an unclassified version of which was released Thursday.

Specific findings about the system's flaws will remain secret to avoid tipping off potential terrorists, officials said.

The investigation was launched at the request of two high-level congressional Democrats, John Dingell of Michigan and Jim Turner of Texas, alarmed by recent media reports indicating that despite all efforts by the administration of US President George W. Bush to shore up border security, the nation's borders remain porous -- even to smuggled nuclear devices.

The outcry first erupted two years ago, when ABC News managed to successfully bring into the country nearly 7kg of depleted uranium in a suitcase.

The uranium, purchased in the former Soviet Union and stashed in a cylinder shielded with lead, was first brought by train to Austria, then shipped to Istanbul, Turkey, where it was loaded onto a US-bound cargo ship and successfully made it to its destination.

According to the report, the US Customs Service failed to detect the radioactive material despite the fact that the crate, in which it was traveling, was classified as a "high-risk" shipment.

The department did not explain the reasons for the failure, but pointed out that the uranium was placed in the middle of a large container filled with huge vases and Turkish horse carts.

The sting operation was repeated in August last year, when ABC News placed a similar uranium-filled cylinder into a teak trunk and sent it to the US from Jakarta, Indonesia, in a container full of furniture.

As it the first case, the uranium arrived undetected.

In a subdued tone, the report accepted the department's responsibility, saying "the protocols and procedures that ... officials followed, at the time of the two smuggling incidents, were not adequate to detect the depleted uranium."

The inspector general assured that technological and procedural improvements have since been made.

But Turner, the ranking member of the House homeland security committee, remained skeptical.

"It is hard to see how the government can reassure anyone based on the inspector general's report," he told the television network. "The sad state of affairs is that three years after 9/11 it still seems possible to get nuclear material into this country."

With homeland security topping this year's election agenda, Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, has repeatedly complained that nearly seven million cargo containers arrive in US ports each year, but only five percent of them are physically inspected.

"We will reduce the spread of nuclear and biological and chemical weapons and better guard our ports," the Massachusetts senator said in one of his stump speeches.
This story has been viewed 2557 times.