this story gives you a warm fuzzy feeling ALL over

NOT

instead of worrying about swearing on television or spying on peace activists (and vegetarians) or bombing mosques, why don't we WATCH OUR OWN BORDERS?????????


Investigators enter US with 'dirty-bomb' material


Mon Mar 27, 11:35 PM ET
Four years after the September 11 attacks, investigators were able to easily enter the United States with enough radioactive material to make two so-called dirty bombs, according to a report on a government undercover investigation obtained on Monday.
Two teams made simultaneous entries at the U.S.-Mexican border and the border with Canada carrying radioactive material in their vehicles in December 2005, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in the report on its investigation.
The congressional watchdog agency said the test was designed to examine potential weaknesses related to radiation monitors that have been installed at U.S. border ports of entry, the GAO said.
The monitors worked. But the investigators, posing as employees of a fictitious, still got past the border patrol with fake paperwork authorizing them to transport the material, the report said..
"The CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) inspectors never questioned the authenticity of the investigators' counterfeit bill of lading or the counterfeit NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) authorizing them to receive, acquire, possess and transfer radioactive sources," the GAO said in a letter to Sen. Norm Coleman (news, bio, voting record), chairman of a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee.
"We believe the amount of radioactive sources that we were able to transport into the United States during our operation would be sufficient to produce two dirty bombs, which could be used as weapons of mass disruption," the letter said.
Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, requested the investigation. His subcommittee has scheduled a hearing on Tuesday to examine how the United States is guarding against nuclear and radiological threats.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately available for comment.......

Radioactive Matter Gets Into U.S. in Test


By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 4 minutes ago
Installing radiation detectors at U.S. entry points is taking too long and costing too much, says a congressional watchdog agency whose undercover investigators breached security by slipping nuclear material into the United States.
In a test last year, the small amounts of cesium-137, which is used in industrial gauges, triggered radiation alarms in Texas and Washington state. The material was enough to make two small "dirty bombs," officials said, yet U.S. customs agents permitted the investigators to enter the United States because they were tricked with counterfeit documents.
The Bush administration says that within 45 days it will give U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents the tools they need to verify such documents in the future.
Senators were to grill administration officials on security problems identified during the Government Accounting Office's undercover operation during a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee hearing Tuesday.
In a series of reports, the GAO, which is the investigative arm of Congress, found that the Homeland Security Department's goal of installing 3,034 radiation detectors by September 2009 across the United States — at border crossings, seaports, airports and mail facilities — was "unlikely."
Investigators also said the government probably will spend $342 million more than it expects to complete the job, given its current costs and pace. Between October 2000 and October 2005, they said, the government spent about $286 million installing radiation monitors inside the United States.
"We suffer from a massive 'blind spot' in our cargo security measures," Sen. Norm Coleman (news, bio, voting record), R-Minn., said in a statement.........