A Nuclear Headache
The feds are finding obstacles to sniffing out atomic weapons like suitcase nukes or dirty bombs
Critics say the effort, which will be rolled out gradually over the next couple fiscal years, involves a lot of big-time ifs. Because they can't tell harmful from nonharmful radiation, today's machines set off alarms for everything from banana peels to kitty litter to freshly laid pavement. "The reliability of these devices is still very much a question and a major concern for us," Kelly says. His goal of running the program without slowing down the almost 900,000 workday bridge and tunnel commuters into the city depends on newer detectors capable of making such distinctions. They're only now being tested by DHS.
And those machines are facing major trouble. Government auditors blasted DHS in October for "not provid[ing] a sound analytical basis" for the eventual purchase of $1.15 billion worth of the new detectors in a contract justification to Congress. More damning, early tests showed that machines detected somewhat hidden highly enriched uranium only 53 percent of the time. More definitive tests are taking place now, DHS says, but several congressional offices are already investigating. The House will hold a hearing on the subject in late February.
Black market dangers. Other skeptics would rather see the government's focus-and the $30 million for the project in the president's just released budget-shift elsewhere. "Anything that gets nuclear material off the black market," says Jim Carafano of the Heritage Foundation, "is way more likely to reduce the chances of an attack here than anything we could ever do in this country."
Still, DHS isn't daunted. In fact, the agency plans to expand the New York model to other cities if it goes well. That won't be easy. Manhattan is an island with access from just 19 bridges and tunnels. Washington, D.C., by contrast, is surrounded by a beltway with 45 exits heading into the city. But big-city police chiefs are eager to address a threat "nobody was really thinking too much about before 9/11," says Jim McMahon of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. In today's environment, everybody will want in.
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