From The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101701410.html

GAO Calls Radiation Monitors Unreliable

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, October 18, 2006; Page A12

The Department of Homeland Security's plan to spend $1.2 billion
deploying next-generation nuclear-detection equipment at U.S. ports
and border crossings cannot be justified, given test results that
showed the devices are unreliable, congressional investigators warned
yesterday.

The department ignored its own tests showing the new monitors could
not meet a standard of detecting enriched uranium 95 percent of the
time, according to the Government Accountability Office, Congress's
audit arm.

When the nuclear material was shielded, detection rates ranged from 17
percent to 53 percent.

DHS also understated the project's costs by up to $181 million, GAO
officials wrote to the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations
Committees.

The department's cost-benefit "analysis does not justify its recent
decision to spend $1.2 billion to purchase and deploy" the new
radiation portal monitors, the GAO reported.

Homeland Security "relied on potential future performance to justify
the purchase," the agency said.

The report came four days after President Bush signed a $3.4 billion
port-security bill that, among other things, requires new monitors to
be deployed at the nation's 22 busiest ports by the end of 2007.

Congress raced to pass the legislation last month before recessing for
the midterm elections.

"We're going to protect our ports. We're going to defend this
homeland. And we're going to win the war on terror," Bush said at a
signing ceremony Friday.

In separate legislation last month, however, Congress barred
full-scale production of the devices until the department certifies "a
significant increase in operational effectiveness."

The GAO report warns that the Bush administration risks repeating
earlier failures.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the government spent $300 million
on radiation monitors that could not tell uranium from cat litter or
ceramic tile.

They also had high false-alarm rates.

Existing monitors cost about $55,000.

The new screening machines now cost at least $377,000 each, the GAO
reported.

______________________________________________________

This is your Republican government, folks.

Harry

From The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101701410.html

GAO Calls Radiation Monitors Unreliable