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.

[L,TOWM]

Without going through the thread--

Has anyone else speculated on the stops this ship makes in the PRC + Islamic countries? Strikes me as remotely possible that IF a nuke was/is on board that some parties might have seen a chance to do some real damage to NY or Norfolk, and have the diaper heads take the blame...

Just idle speculation.

[El Gato]

This may be a false alarm. If it had been a bomb, I think there would have already been shooting by those bringing it in, or a detonation before it was ordered back out to sea

There's also the possibility that this is just some components for a bomb, either full blow fission device, or "dirty bomb", not the entire bomb.

[Black Agnes]

Read the post this is in reply to. Comments?

[El Gato]

That assumes, though, that the ship's crew was comprised of terrorists and they knew what was on board. It's just as possible that they are completely innocent, and even if it's a bomb, it was going to be delivered like any other cargo to someone who planned to use it at a later time.

A quick look at the MSNBC story shows that the ship is a container ship. Thus a bomb could very easily have been in one of the containers, and the crew wouldn't have a clue.

Glad I don't live near a harbor, but then again the container could just as well have been loaded onto a truck bound for Denver, about as far from the Ocean as you can get.

I kind of forget, how did the middle eastern terrorists in Clancy's fictional "Sum of All Fears" get their device to into the country and to Denver? My copy is in a storage place in San Antonio, and I'm in Oklahoma City, so I can't just pull it off the shelf and check for myself.

[Travis McGee]

There are reports that Al Qaida has used false bottoms on ships in the past. Once in port, the bottom is opened on the outside of the ship and the contraband is taken out by diver. No one on the surface knows. Can we be tricked this easily?

YES.

[mewzilla]

Anyone heard anything about this on the news tonight? Can't believe how quiet the press is being. They wig out over West Nile and freak out over shark attacks, but this doesn't seem to rate a mention. Is that a good sign or a bad sign?

[Travis McGee]

That would be damn sneaky for the Chinese to do, and would mean total nuclear hell for them if they were found out.

But it would be a cheap easy way for them to cripple a big % of our Navy (taking out Norfolk).

[Travis McGee]

Free Republic is the cutting edge of the cutting edge, that's what it means.

[aristeides]

German economy was still functioning reasonably well through 1944, despite being bombed a lot.

[El Gato]

I actually thought some nut-job would walk into an airport/mall or other public area and either blow himself up or start shooting innocents.

Perhaps they were/are waiting for the "Big One" to pop off as the signal to begin sowing chaos all accross the country?

'course that happens, and there are likely to be several smoking (and glowing) holes accross Asia Minor and nearby locations.

[Cachelot]

Can't believe how quiet the press is being. They wig out over West Nile

They should have wigged out earlier over West Nile. As it is, they were asleep.

But there has been a very obvious lid on things lately. Remember the guy at the nerve gas facility? One moment they described him down to his clothes, the next moment - total silence.

[sarasmom]

bump

[jwalsh07]

	PM-1710GN Hand-Held Gamma-Neutron Monitor
| DESCRIPTION | SPECIFICATIONS |

---

DESCRIPTION:

• Neutron count rate indication
• Reference to the neutron background
• Shock-resistant aluminum case
• Small in size and light weight

The PM-1710GN has the standard functions of the PM-1710 and it can be used to search for, detect, and locate gamma or neutron sources, including special nuclear materials.

Radiation levels, gamma and/or neutron, that exceed the alarm threshold are stored in the non-volatile memory.

---

SPECIFICATIONS

Detector	He-3 counter
Energy range for neutrons	Thermal-14MeV
Detection of neutron source	Meets the ITRAP requirements
Detection of gamma sources	Meets the ITRAP requirements
Energy range	0.06-3.0 MeV (option 0.045 - 3.0 MeV)
Measurement range of dose equivalent rate (at Cs-137)	10-2500 µR/h (0.1 - 25 µSv/h)
Measurement time	0.25 s
Alarm types	audio tone and/or vibration
Power requirements	One AA size battery
Battery lifetime	600 hours
Dimensions (without clip)	170x82x32 mm (6.7"x3.2"x1.2")
Weight (including the battery)	650 g (23 oz)
Communication with PC	through IR-interface
Temperature range	-30°C to +50°C (-22°F to +122°F)
Drop test	0.7 m on concrete surface
Water tightness	IP-67
option waterproof	to 20m (66 ft)

| Product Index | TSA Systems Home Page |

---

For more information: techinfo@tsasystems.com
  or visit our Information Request page.

Last updated on May 12, 2002.

---

[Joe Hadenuf]

It is a safe bet that our NEST teams and Spec Op teams have been practicing just for this scenario since 9/12/01.

As thousands of trucks, vehicles, and millions of people are coming northbound across our unsecured borders....

[El Gato]

Mine is "why was this ship stopped by the Coast Guard?" Advance tip-off ????????....

In a word, yes. See the MSNBC story, which says:

The Pentagon officials, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity, said that the vessel was one of five searched upon arrival based on intelligence indicating that terrorists may be trying to bring nuclear material or a nuclear device into the United States.

[Grampa Dave]

Sounds like you had the same great decadent past while growing up like mine.

Real Vanila, syrup, real coke syrup, real cherry syrup, fresh seltzer/carbonated water, and it was nectar from the gods.

[habs4ever]

Germany was a basket case from 1938 onward.They pulled off a huge con in making many belive they were an economic miracle.It was a fraud, and they looted the Treasuries of Poland, Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia and Romania to stay afloat.They produced nothing but what was required for a war machine.

[oldtimer]

Maybe the slickmeister, the hildabeast, rangel and the schumunist, then throw in a handfull of leftist Judges, along with some ACLU flakes, ought to get on a Coast Gaurd ship, and make sure that this is not a GWB cowboy move!

You can bet on it!

[Grampa Dave]

B-Chan, thanks for this great essay on Radiation for dummies, as Madame Dufarge labeled it.

This is why I had rather come to Free Republic when a story is breaking, we great essays for dummies, walks down memory lane re vanilla cokes, jokes and find out more about was or didn't happen than watching tv for an hour or all day!

My wife jokes that I had rather go to Free Republic for the news instead of Fox News, and most of the time she is right.

[El Gato]

If there is a device, and NEST can't findit, and it goes off, then what?

8 miles offshore and surface detonated? Unless it's a really big device, you get a big flash, followed by lots of steam, and some radioactive, vaporized fish, ship parts and cargo parts blowing farther out to sea. Unless the wind shifts. A quick look at the current winds shows it blowing off shore in that area.