CNN: Gov't investigators used fake docs to enter US (dirty bomb materials)

[Patsy Stone]

Government investigators used fake documents to enter U.S. with radioactive material for two dirty bombs, according to report.
No link yet. Homepage banner. "Developing Story"

[cal04]

1. Could terrorists smuggle dirty bombs into U.S.?

Federal investigation finds weak security by land and by sea

A report by the Government Accountability Office concludes DHS is two years behind schedule in installing radiation monitors in ports and not likely to have them all done, even by 2009.

DHS has made more progress installing detection equipment at the borders, but there investigators found another hole in the system. Coleman tells NBC News that undercover GAO investigators were able to bring enough radioactive material into the U.S. to make two dirty bombs — penetrating both the northern and southern borders. Monitors detected the radiological material, but undercover agents produced fake papers and got the material in.

“They were able to use counterfeit documents they got off a basic program on a computer,” Coleman says.
DHS officials say they are now looking at how to plug that hole. But they insist significant progress has been made toward securing ports. “We feel that at seaports that we're going to have a very suitable defense by the end of 2007,” says Vayl Oxford, the director of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, which operates under DHS.

Stephen Flynn, a top port security expert, says that's an illusion, that the new radiation monitors aren't enough.
“They're not enough because they still can’t help us find a nuclear weapon,” Flynn says, “and they can’t help us find highly enriched uranium.” Experts say that without added technology and much greater urgency, Americans will remain vulnerable to this very real threat.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12038958/from/RSS/

[Patsy Stone]

2. Thanks, cal04!

I was just looking for that. :)

[LynnTheDem]

3. THANK GAWD BUSH IS KEEPING US SAFE!!!

September 11, 2001, BUSH KEPT US ALL SAFE!!!

Supreme crime war of aggression against a people who had done nothing whatsoever to us; BUSH KEEPING US ALL SAFE!

Selling our port security; BUSH KEEPING US ALL SAFE!

Government investigators used fake documents to enter U.S. with radioactive material for two dirty bombs; BUSH KEEPING US ALL SAFE!

THANK GAWD FOR BUSH!!!

:rofl:

[Patsy Stone]

5. Relax... If we all just take our shoes off at the airport

it will all be okay. :crazy:

[banana republican]

4. & China is protecting our boarders now????? n/t

[Lone_Star_Dem]

6. I can't imagine how humiliating it must be to have voted for bush

Especially if you voted for him because the whole FF (faux fear) scam worked on you. Then you find out that things are more unsafe now then they were when your nemesis Clinton was in office... but at least bush hasn't gotten any bj's (that you know of, that is). Yes, at least you do still have that to fixate on.

Yep, I'm so glad I don't have to suffer through that kind of humiliation. :rofl:

[Patsy Stone]

7. I want to stop everyone I see

with a W '04 sticker. I just want to ask them how they feel now. :)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. Those W '04 stickers are getting fewer and farther between

:D

[Roland99]

8. Boy, howdy! Dem borders are awfully dang secure, ain't dey?

Everything Kerry said about border/port/chemical plant/nuclear plant/etc. security back in 2004 is still true today.


Boy do I feel safe!

[AndyTiedye]

10. LIHOP Isn't Working. They Have to Give the Terrorists More Encouragement

Why else would they publicize this? It certainly doesn't make the regime look good.
So they tell them all how easy it is in hopes that someone will be tempted to try it.
They NEED an attack to stay in power. Unfortunately for him, AQ and the rest all
know that and are not obliging pResident BringEmOn by attacking us.

They'd go MIHOP (again) but they are afraid of being exposed by that faction of the
CIA that they have so shamefully abused of late.

[classics]

11. And just in time too

To help pass that China deal through.

[carincross]

12. dirty bombs smuggled into US

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/27/radioactive.smuggling/index.html

Two teams of government investigators using fake documents were able to enter the United States with enough radioactive sources to make two dirty bombs, according to a federal report made available Monday.

The investigators purchased a "small quantity" of radioactive materials from a commercial source while posing as employees of a fictitious company and brought the materials into the United States through checkpoints on the northern and southern borders, according to a Government Accountability Office report prepared for Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican.

"It's just an indictment of the system that it's easier to get radiological material than it is to get cold medicine," said a senior subcommittee staffer about the findings.

comment: We're sure a lot safer because of the Homeland Security Department.

[pretzel4gore]

13. there are 40 thousand nuke warheads in usa already....

and a desperate criminal gang in power in washington!...hmmmm

[thecrow]

34. And for that reason, terraists don't need to smuggle it in.

I'm afraid that they will use resources at hand to do the next attack.
We have so much radiological material here, as well as chemical plants and biological weapons. As on 9-11, I fear they will use our own resouces against us, which psychologically will make any such attack even worse.
The thing I couldn't get over on 9-11 was that they used our own planes to make it happen. LIHOP or MIHOP didn't much matter to me then. It was the facts that they used our own resources.

[madeline_con]

14. DUH, I could have guessed as much. eom

[Rude Horner]

15. Hope all the soccer mom's and

NASCAR dad's who voted for Bush because they believed he would keep them safe are paying attention. For those people - listen up: He hasn't done SHIT to make you safer!!

[laylah]

16. What is UP

with the disabled account? I see that so often and wonder about the validity and sincerity of the poster! :shrug:

Jenn

[Rude Horner]

18. Um....

I'm not sure what you're talking about. :shrug:

[IChing]

17. At least they didn't want to scare us with this

They never checked our ports in this report,
just our northern and southern borders.
Enemies surround us,
we need to investigate the quakers, greenpeace and other non violent organizations

This is a govt. planted story, made by a govt. team, commented by a republican asshole, and
reported by a govt/corporatism news agency CNN.

[onehandle]

19. Don't read past the headline. Don't read past the headline.

Don't read past the headline and assume the worst.

CNN sucks.

[IChing]

32. I think you & I said the same thing that I did which Cnn never did N/T

So much for oceans
we are surrendered only by land and not two if by land
accordinding to CNN


damn the canucks and mexicans.

[tocqueville]

20. yep any smoke detector contains radioactive material

Smoke Detectors.

Most residential smoke detectors contain a low-activity americium-241 source. Alpha particles emit-ted by the americium ionize the air, making the air conductive.

Watches and Clocks.

Modern watches and clocks sometimes use a small quantity of hydrogen-3 (tritium) or prome-thium-147 as a source of light. Older (for example, pre-1970) watches and clocks used radium-226 as a source of light. If these older timepieces are opened and the dial or hands handled, some of the radium could be picked up and possibly ingested.

Ceramics.

Ceramic materials (for example, tiles, pottery) often contain elevated levels of naturally occurring uranium,thorium, and/or potassium. In many cases, the activity is concentrated in the glaze. Unless there is a large quantity of thematerial, readings above background are unlikely. Nevertheless, some older (for example, pre-1960) tiles and pottery,especially those with an orange-red glaze (for example, Fiesta®ware) can be quite radioactive.

Glass.

Glassware, especially antique glassware with a yellow or greenish color, can contain easily detectable quantitiesof uranium. Such uranium-containing glass is often referred to as canary or vaseline glass. In part, collectors like uraniumglass for the attractive glow that is produced when the glass is exposed to a black light. Even ordinary glass can containhigh-enough levels of potassium-40 or thorium-232 to be detectable with a survey instrument. Older camera lenses(1950s-1970s) often employed coatings of thorium-232 to alter the index of refraction.Fertilizer.

Commercial fertilizers

are designed to provide varying levels of potassium, phosphorous, and nitrogen. Suchfertilizers can be measurably radioactive for two reasons: potassium is naturally radioactive, and the phosphorous can bederived from phosphate ore that contains elevated levels of uranium.

Food.

Food contains a variety of different types and amounts of naturally occurring radioactive materials. Although therelatively small quantities of food in the home contain too little radioactivity for the latter to be readily detectable, bulkshipments of food have been known to set off the alarms of radiation monitors at border crossings. One exception wouldbe low-sodium salt substitutes that often contain enough potassium-40 to double the background count rate of a radiationdetector.

Gas Lantern Mantles.

While it is less common than it once was, some brands of gas lantern mantles incorporate tho-rium-232. In fact it is the heating of the thorium by the burning gas that is responsible for the emission of light. Such mantles are sufficiently radioactive that they are often used as a check source for radiation detectors.

Antique Radioactive Curative Claims.

In the past, primarily 1920 through 1950, a wide range of radioactive productswere sold as cure-alls, for example, radium-containing pills, pads, solutions, and devices designed to add radon to drink-ing water. The states generally have regulatory authority over these devices. In some cases, a state might even require that these devices be registered or licensed. Most such devices are relatively harmless but occasionally one can be encountered that contains potentially hazardous levels of radium.

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:6txgKyzSIwQJ:www.hps.org/documents/consumerproducts.pdf+radioactive+materials&hl=fr&ct=clnk&cd=4

[5X]

24. Check the web page in my sig line...

has an audio file (mp3) of depleted uranium glaze
in FiestaWare as read by CDV700 civil defense meter.

[Dead_Parrot]

25. Exactly...

You can buy 'a "small quantity" of radioactive materials' at Wal-mart, with cash. This is not news....

[tocqueville]

28. all this stuff is relatively harmless

except maybe radium (if ingested). But mixed with conventional explosives, it would trigger alarms and drive people nuts while there is no danger. To get a real danger you need more a Tchernonyl like event, or at least spread much nastier stuff that you normally don't buy at Wal-mart.

In the later "Wal-mart" case the radioactivity (or ionising radiation) level would be far, far below than the dose you get at a beach a sunny day, skiing at high altitude a sunny day, flying over the Atlantic or living in Wyoming (oil shales) or any average thorium-rich granitic area. The dose you'd get with such a a bomb would be lower than the one you get sleeping with your wife since she radiates K40 all the time. You do to, to be fair.

but people would literally go nuts....

[LynnTheDem]

21. THANK GAWD bUSH IS KEEPING US ALL SAFE!!!

THANK GAWD!!!

:rofl:

Rightwingnuts; Stupidest MFers. Ever.

[Cobalt Violet]

22. K & R. WTF

:wtf:

[CBHagman]

23. And the link had the scariest image of all...

(Cue Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D) Senator Teeth, NORM COLEMAN!

Geez, you might warn us...

[Aviation Pro]

26. When is the House of Cowards....

...going to start impeachment proceedings to remove this madman and his entire filthy crew from the executive branch? Do these blow-dried assholes understand that the fate of the nation is at stake? What the fuck is it going to take to open the eyes of these Republican Pukes?

[salin]

27. Thank Goodness the FBI, NSA and DOD are spending so much

time, $, and human resources on tracking peace groups... heaven forbid that those energies could be spent on trying to plug up real security holes.

[williesgirl]

29. Emails sent to my Senators & Congress critters tonight:

re: Two teams of government investigators using fake documents were able to enter the United States with enough radioactive sources to make two dirty bombs, according to a federal report made available Monday.

The investigators purchased a "small quantity" of radioactive materials from a commercial source while posing as employees of a fictitious company and brought the materials into the United States through checkpoints on the northern and southern borders, according to a Government Accountability Office report prepared for Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Chairman Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican.

"It's just an indictment of the system that it's easier to get radiological material than it is to get cold medicine," said a senior subcommittee staffer about the findings.


JUST WHEN are you going to do something about all this? This Administration is spending all it's energy trying to erode our Constitution and Bill of Rights, while DOING NOTHING to secure our borders, ports or anything else.

And, still, you all just continue to support this criminal activity while turning a blind eye to serious security lapses everywhere. DO YOUR JOBS OR GO HOME AND LET SOMEONE ELSE. Do we have to vote every incumbent regardless of party out of office to get some action and work done on behalf of Americans, not political parties and big business? Because, believe me, that can and will happen.

Hope other DUers will do the same.

[NYC]

31. Good letter.

Excellent. Welcome to DU. :hi:

[antiblazer]

30. more evidence of * incompetence

* invades Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran while our ports go insecure, *'s Katrina response was patheticm radioactive material can get smuggled into this country. Hasn't the American people woken up yet????? Democrats need to pound this over and over that THEY are better at national security. Democrats are better at focusing on the REAL issues which is to focus on domestic security and not a frivolous and unnecessary war!

[Cobalt Violet]

33. I so glad we have safe boarders. n/t

[Whoa_Nelly]

35. New radiation monitors not enough, but * can smell nuclear bomb program

in Iran.

Yeah....sure....


:eyes:

Stephen Flynn, a top port security expert, says that's an illusion, that the new radiation monitors aren't enough.
“They're not enough because they still can’t help us find a nuclear weapon,” Flynn says, “and they can’t help us find highly enriched uranium.” Experts say that without added technology and much greater urgency, Americans will remain vulnerable to this very real threat.