Radiation monitors.

• Position: Miss - Brief article

* When casting around for technology programs developed by the Department of Homeland Security, it's hard to find any "hits." The list of "misses" is long and includes the transportation worker identity credential, the Project 28 virtual border fence pilot program and failed attempts to collect the data of those leaving U.S ports of entry under the US-VISIT program.

The mandate to screen 100 percent of shipping containers at U.S. ports or foreign ports has given the department the biggest headaches, though.

The first generation was rushed to duty and infamously detected harmless radiation found in kitty litter, bananas and from other benign sources.

False alarms slow down commerce, but failing to detect nuclear or radiological material is far worse.

One nongovernmental investigation conducted by two experts in nuclear weapons and published in the April issue of Scientific American showed that a 15-pound slug of depleted uranium could be successfully smuggled from overseas into a U.S. port as it passed through a network of radiation portal monitors. Enriched...