NewsMax.com
Wednesday, Mar. 24, 2004

Designed to detect nuclear weapons or traditional explosives possibly hidden in containerized cargo, the program will feature specialized scanners known as "portal radiation monitors."

The scanners are slated to be in place by the end of the summer at all cargo terminals operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, according to Commissioner Robert C. Bonner of the United States Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.

Additionally, by the end of the year, the new systems will be installed around the country at all port terminals receiving shipborne cargo, Bonner said.

The monitors, which will be used by specially trained Customs officers, are housed in structures that arch over the roadways leading out of cargo terminals at the ports.

Intended as the last line of defense in a layered system of detection, the explosive cargo detection system, in real prectice, starts with the identification and search of high-risk United States-bound cargo while it is still at overseas ports.

In the second layer of defense, a computerized tracking system identifies any cargo posing a risk -- 24 hours before it arrives.

Before the introduction of the portal radiation monitors, suspect containers were checked at dockside with handheld equipment and X-rays. The new system will now end with the high-tech scanning of trucks carrying the containers as they leave the terminal.

Edward Hotchkiss, acting assistant area director for seaport operations, said the Customs and Border Protection agency was in the process of identifying sp-called "choke points" within the terminals where the latest monitoring devices could be installed.

"This will increase the ability of U.S. Customs to detect dirty bombs and other radiological materials," said Bonner. "This will screen every container for radiation before it leaves the terminal, adding another level of security. As a result America is safer and its people are safer."

According to Port Authority officials, some 11,000 vessels carrying three million shipping containers pass through New York and New Jersey ports each year.

Bonner disclosed that to-date no illicit radiological devices had been detected by the monitoring and security efforts already in effect.

Meanwhile, the agency has yet to develop similar monitoring devices for containers that leave the port by rail -- about 10 to 15 percent of the cargo shipped into the seaports of New York-New Jersey.

Chris Koch, executive director of the World Shipping Council, a trade group, applauded the portal radiation monitoring system and said such measures were effective without being disruptive.

Koch noted that similar portals are needed at foreign ports, noting that Europe's largest port, Rotterdam, the Netherlands was already in the process of adopting a similar system.

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