Bomb smugglers: border security woes.

• Author: Cavanaugh, Tim
• Position: Citings - Brief article

ACCORDING TO the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Department of Homeland Security has fallen far behind in its effort to install portal monitors and handheld radiation detection equipment at points of entry into the United States. That's too bad, because in a recent spot check of radiation-detection equipment at the Canadian and Mexican borders, the machines were the only things that seemed to work.

GAO investigators created fake Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) documents to purchase radioactive materials from commercial suppliers, then attempted to bring in enough material to build two dirty bombs. Equipment at both borders detected the radioactive material, and Customs and Border Patrol agents waved the GAO inspectors aside for further inspection. In both cases, the agents were allowed to bring their radioactive materials into...