Fergie's Tech Blog

Homeland Insecurity Tech: The Nuclear Loophole: U.S. Still at Risk - UPDATED

Brian Ross reports on ABC News' "The Blotter":

Despite the more than $2 billion spent by the Department of Homeland Security on radiation detection devices, leading scientists tell ABC News the country remains wide open to terrorists who might try to smuggle nuclear material into the country.

In a familiar scene at the port of Los Angeles today, senior U.S. officials demonstrated yet another new, expensive machine that supposedly can detect nuclear material hidden in shipping containers.

The DHS has claimed this device is 95 percent accurate, and today Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff had high praise for it.

Despite Chertoff's praise, a government investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded the new machines "fell far short of the 95 percent level of performance."

posted by Fergie @ 7/20/2007 05:15:00 PM