GAO: Govt. Not Doing Enough to Secure Dirty Bomb Material

Tag : medical material.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said a pilot program was completed inMay, and the commission expects final guidance next month.
Further, a system to track radioactive materials as they aretransported across the country has also faced multiple delays. TheNRC says the system should be in place at the end of this year, butit will not be a real-time tracking system, such as used by somepackage delivery services.
The system will report transfers within one business day, Sheehansaid. And if material goes missing as it's transported, an alarmsystem will notify officials, he said.
On the inspection side, government investigators found that mostCustoms and Border Protection officers across the country werenever told of 2006 radioactive material reporting requirements bythe agency's Washington headquarters. In May 2006, Customs andBorder Protection changed its policy to require that officerscontact authorities if they detect "more than incidental" amountsof radiation. But this was never communicated to officials in thefield.
The GAO also found that there is not enough personal radiationdetection equipment for Customs officials at land borders. In 2003,8,000 out of 18,000 officers and agents had personal radiationdetection devices. Currently only about half of the agency's agentsand officers have the equipment because of budget constraints,agency spokesman Lloyd Easterling said.
Getting these materials secured has been a longtime goal ofMinnesota Republican Sen. Norm Coleman. Coleman says he's happythere's been some progress, but it's taking too long, and it's notenough.
"I'm still not convinced they fully grasp the psychological andeconomic impact that even a small dirty bomb attack would have onthe American public," Coleman said of the NRC.