Posted on 09/11/2003 12:04:17 PM PDT by BluH2o
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Justice Department is considering whether to bring charges against two ABC News employees who smuggled depleted uranium into the United States as part of a report on port security, government sources said.
The network said Thursday that its employees had done nothing illegal.
Federal authorities recovered a shipment of about 15 pounds of harmless material within an hour of its arrival at the port of Los Angeles, California, the sources said.
ABC said two producers packed the depleted uranium into a suitcase sent to Los Angeles aboard a container ship from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. The network's report on homeland security vulnerabilities, by investigative correspondent Brian Ross, is scheduled to air Thursday night.
"(The bogus smuggling) forces us to chase ghosts using homeland resources at a time when we are trying to prevent terrorist acts in our country.
"It is a valid and important test. We do not believe we committed any crime," ABC News Vice President Jeffrey Schneider said.
He said those involved in the project did not intend to defraud the government since it is legal to import the uranium, although they did not register it as required.
The Justice Department said it would not comment publicly about any investigation, but an official said any allegations about possible criminal conduct are taken seriously. However, there was no hint of charges being brought soon.
ABC official: 'We simply tested the system' In a report published on its Web site, ABC News said it successfully brought the material into the United States from Indonesia to test security at American ports.
"Terrorists would not declare the uranium," Schneider said, explaining why it was a valid test of the system meant to detect weapons of mass destruction attempting to enter the United States.
"We simply tested the system," he said.
ABC said weapons-grade uranium would have given off a similar signature in the screening devices that officials use at American ports.
But Department of Homeland Security officials said their screening system worked.
Department spokesman Dennis Murphy said that the container had been examined on arrival in Los Angeles and that radiation detectors would have indicated the presence of weapons-grade uranium.
"We don't calibrate for the fake stuff," he said.
Murphy said the department will take a "hard look at what happened there."
But he said the ABC report "forces us to chase ghosts using homeland resources at a time when we are trying to prevent terrorist acts in our country."
Absolutely. Wasn't it ABC's John Stossel who did the phony rear end collision piece where the vehicle burst into flames, helped in large measure by an incindiary device planted near the gas tank. This type of contrived sensationalism journalism (if you can call it that) is not beneficial in the least. ABC should also be charged with trying to induce panic ... because you know if they had been successful, it would be a major hit piece. Because they weren't ... it's unlikely this story will air.
Do you think that the story will now change to a discussion of the efficacy of Homeland Security? I doubt it.
The network's report on homeland security vulnerabilities, by investigative correspondent Brian Ross, is scheduled to air Thursday night.
Well the folks at ABC have just provided me with no reason to watch and find out their spin on the subject. They've just disproved their own assumptions. Once again ABC is factually incorrect... which is why I no longer watch that network anyway.
Now that I think about it, you're right. However, the same premise ... alphabet network gamesmanship. If there isn't a story make one up.
Since the product was NOT radioactive I fail to see their point but the sheeple will pretend to be aghast and the dems and their other media cohorts will rant on and on.
You beat me to it - thank you for mentioning it...
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