Posted on 06/21/2005 8:51:08 PM PDT by FairOpinion
The federal government's efforts to prevent terrorists from smuggling a nuclear weapon into the United States are so poorly managed and reliant on ineffective equipment that the nation remains extremely vulnerable to a catastrophic attack, scientists and a government auditor warned a House committee on Tuesday.
Dirty bombs, crude devices that widely spread low levels of radiation, are relatively easy to detect. But highly enriched uranium, a crucial ingredient in a nuclear bomb, could easily be shielded with less than a quarter-inch of lead, making it "very likely to escape detection by passive radiation monitors" now installed at ports and border stations, Benn Tannenbaum, a physicist and senior program associate at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, testified at Tuesday's hearing.
Nationally, less than a quarter of the radiation detection devices needed to check all goods crossing the borders have been installed, federal officials said. In New York, for example, none of the cargo that moves through the largest ship terminal or goods leaving the port by rail or barge are inspected for radiation, Bethann Rooney, manager of security for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, testified.
Richard L. Wagner Jr., a physicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and chairman of the Defense Department task force on preventing a clandestine nuclear attack, agreed that the radiation detection systems installed across the United States were "quite limited in their capabilities and, in general, are insufficient to the task." But the situation, Dr. Wagner said, is not surprising given the rapid start up of the effort.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
If this had appeared in some out of the way paper, I wouldn't have posted it, so as not to draw further attention to it, but since it's in the NYT, the terrorists have already read it.
Those in Congress to allow such testimony in an open forum, instead of a classified session should be held responsible for this.
ping for later
Because our enemies know this stuff. It is only kept quiet to keep the sheeple passive.
Yep. If they really wanted to destroy america they could move here illegally and just start working here, take over our economy and...wait, isn't mexico doing that already??? With a billion plus muslims in the world, they could spare a few hundred million or so.
TLR
How is this not treason? How is this not sedition?
As Michael Savage urges nearly every day, when are we going to prosecute enemies of America in the MSM, ACLU et al, who conspire with our enemies to destroy us? the laws are on the books. Enforce them!
The terrorists don't know whether the radiation detectors are effective or not, what fraction of the cargo is actually inspected, etc.
To keep them not knowing it is a deterrent.
To go and tell them, as this open session in the House did, and the NYT reported it, IS GIVING them concrete information they can use to avoid detection and plan a catastrophic attack upon us.
Bump for later read.
I don't fault the engineers. They are expected to testify to the truth, so the problems can be fixed.
But I am faulting the US Congress for having such hearing in the open, knowing the things that will be discussed and revealed.
There's nothing in that article that someone with an internet connection wouldn't be able to find out for themselves. I'd say the value of alerting the public to the fact that or borders--after nearly four years--are STILL wide open to attack--far outweighs any risk of releasing sensitive information.
The terrorists already know this stuff. WE are the ones who need to be informed about it.
The only people who can't figure it out are the soccer moms on Wellbutrin. The only people with a motive to keep the population in the dark are the H0m3lAm3 "security" goons who want to keep their jobs despite being useless.
I used to think the same thing myself. Immediately after 9-11, when the media would report on specific vulnerabilities, I would yell, "Quit telling the terrorists how to attack us!"
But there's a big problem with that. We have seen time and time again that the US government, whether a Dem or a Pubbie is in charge, simply does NOT react to problems unless they are exposed and the agency in question is embarassed (and even then, they often try to shoot the messenger instead of solve the problem). So, sadly enough, IMO it DOES take this kind of public testimony to get the damn bureaucrats to get off their duffs and get more concerned about fixing problems than with protecting turf.
At this point, I almost expect the government to set up the attack themselves, to give them the excuse to declare martial law so they can finish their North American Community wet dream.
Their credibility is zero.
Clinton may be gone, but Bush is on the same team.
Yeah and Bush was behind Sept. 11th. You sound more like a moonbat with every post.
It's probably their favorite paper. Favorite English language one anyway, since it supports their cause so often.
We are all going to die. Yikes.
Hooray for an open forum. We have some technologies which if reproduced in the thouands and spread nationwide would greatly aid the detection of nukes and dirty bombs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.