Special Ops boarding ship to search for Nuclear Material off the NJ shore

Fox News Alert | 9/12/02 | Brytani

[Brytani]

Fox News just broke in with an alert. Special Op's are now searching a Liberian flagged ship 8 miles off the coast of NJ looking for nuclear material. More information to follow.

[piasa]

No one detected it because it emits almost no radiation- it's depleted uranium, the stuff we made artillery shells out of to harden them, relatively harmless stuff; that's why they didn't need to shield it much. Let's see the media try to slip by something that actually emits a serious signature. Then you will know if someone's paying attention. But slipping an container by labeled 'nuke' isn't a great feat if it doesn't the level of radiation that a weapon would. They may as well have painted an empty crate with the words 'big fat nuclear bomb.' It isn't a bomb, isn't big enough to be a bomb, isn't heavy enough to be a bomb, doesn't set of radiation detectors like a bomb, so why should it be detected? That's like this media company claimed that trucks were dangerous because when hit in the side the gas tanks would explode... the problem wasn't the trucks, it was that the media had rigged explosive devises on the truck to 'enhance' the 'test.' IOW, it was a bogus test done purely for publicity.

There's no way to search every crate in every shipping container in every ship, boat, plane and small craft without many, many more bureaucrats than we have. We need better interdiction capabilities, but there comes a point that if we spend all of our resources trying to prevent one type of attack, we will miss catching a plot to do another type of attack. We can be vulnerable to some suprisingly low-tech attacks, if they are used judiciously to manipulate us and divide us politically. The terrorists can have a greater impact on your economy than their numbers would suggest- their options to attack us are infinite because they are setting the terms, while our resources are limited because we don't know what they are going to do and can only guess. They don't need popular opinion to be on their side, they only need to turn popular opinion against us, against the government, and one way to achieve this is to keep the government on defense all of the time.

That's why our best solution is to pursue these terrorists and their supporters in every country, ruthlessly. We need to go on the offense. The more of them we kill, the more of their safe havens we eliminate and the more assets of theirs we destroy... the more we can limit their options by making them wonder what WE are going to do. We want them to respond to us, not the other way around. Hence the need for preemption on our part.

[TonyInOhio]

Can you confirm that a neutron detector was what was tripped?

I can't - I picked the info up from #16 on this thread.

I haven't done the research (yet), but it sounds a bit scary.

Tony

[mhking]

Have to run an errand; will look for more info in about 1/2 hour.

Go fill up the tank while you're at it...

[spunkets]

If their are any radioactive materials on board a geiger counter will detect them. Their may be neutrons present from reactions, but there will always be other forms of radiation present.

alpha=a flying helium neucleus
protons fly from neutron decays. 1/2 life of neutron ~12 seconds
beta= flying electrons
gamma=photons with higher energy than x-rays.

[hchutch]

The Iraqi delegation runs first. I'd almost bet money on it.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

The Secret Bomb Squad - Time.com

BY DOUGLAS WALLER



Saturday, Mar. 09, 2002
When the Bush administration was warned after Sept. 11 that Osama bin Laden might have some type of nuclear device, it knew where to turn for help: the Nuclear Emergency Support Team, a secretive unit within the Department of Energy. Last January the Administration quietly ordered NEST to launch periodic searches for a "dirty bomb" in Washington and other large U.S. cities. Administration officials tell Time that the NEST teams aren't dispatched to urban areas because of any specific threat received. Instead, almost every week the FBI randomly selects several cities for visits by NEST, which comprises some 300 scientists and technicians from Energy and nuclear-weapons laboratories trained in finding and dismantling terrorist nuclear devices.

A team of six or fewer NEST scientists covertly prowls areas, such as docks in a coastal town, that local authorities consider likeliest to have hidden contraband. Some NEST agents drive in unmarked vans packed with sophisticated gamma and neutron detectors that sniff for radiation emissions. Others travel on foot with the detectors concealed in briefcases, backpacks or even beer coolers. NEST was in Salt Lake last month deploying its equipment at the Olympics.

Explosive-ordnance-disposal experts with the Joint Special Operations Command are on call to fly in and assist the scientists in taking apart anything they find, but so far, NEST has turned up nothing in the searches. Administration officials admit that, just like putting sky marshals on airliners to foil potential hijackers, sending the NEST teams out is a shot in the dark. "But it's better than having them sitting at home doing nothing," says one.

[harpseal]

Re: your request for Navy expertise. The following is clear the SEAL team members are for possibel counter Tango action aboard this vessel. The radiation specialists from Groton are to determine what exactly the radioactive material is and how configured one may presume the NEST people are to disarm any device that could detonate. For what it is worth one may presume the best of the best are dealing with this ship and those aboard.

Stay well - Stay safe - stay armed - Yorktown

[js1138]

I am thinking more of reactor waste, of which there is plenty, no one really wants it, and it's highly radioactive.

[Grampa Dave]

I'm talking about making your own vanilla coke.

Go to a fast food restaurant and get a cup of regular Coke ( no diet or Pepsi) at their soft drink dispensing area. Then pour in a small spoon of real Vanilla Syrup and stir. Cherry lovers can add simple Cherry syrup.

The canned stuff is not good!

[Warren_Piece]

NEST teams were downtown nyc on 9/11/01 too. They're not usually called out unless it's serious.

Can somebody clarify who's inspecting this ship: NEST or SEALS ? I've seen posts that claim each.

[aristeides]

That could be a good thing however, at this point in time, this kind of evidence would be just what Dubya needs to throw in Kofi and the Dreamers' collective laps.

If the target was NYC, I wonder how that makes Kofi and the UN Dreamers feel.

[xzins]

Thanks for your info.

[Thinkin' Gal]

Has there been any indication when Cheney will come back out?

When he's done with his shower.

[UCANSEE2]

Thank you. I wondered if someone had posted a thread on it yet.

[caa26]

The FBI would find a way to blame it on some right wing crazy, who must apparently have a nuclear reactor in his basement. Probably Hatfill's brother if he has one would be the prime suspect.

[piasa]

Can't they take the crew off, take nd it out to sea about fifty miles, and put a few ADCAPS in the thing? Sink the darn ship and the device before it detonates?

If there is something there, they will be interested in looking at the evidence and the device or material to determine exactly who sent it or had to do with its construction.

[IYAS9YAS]

One word for you...TAB. That is/was the worst thing ever sold in a can (excepting maybe the original, 70's versions of Gatorade).

[Poohbah]

Has there been any indication when Cheney will come back out?

On February 2nd, Cheney will come out of the bunker. If he sees his shadow, we get six more weeks of Condition Orange.

[michigander]

A little help here if you get the opportunity.

[Dog]

Explosive-ordnance-disposal experts with the Joint Special Operations Command are on call to fly in and assist the scientists in taking apart anything they find,

This is the key passage....