DHS Radiation Sensors Unreliable, GAO Says

[DoYouEverWonder]

October 18, 2006

The Department of Homeland Security's plan to spend $1.2 billion deploying next-generation nuclear-detection equipment at U.S. ports and border crossings cannot be justified, given test results that showed the devices are unreliable, congressional investigators warned yesterday.

The department ignored its own tests showing the new monitors could not meet a standard of detecting enriched uranium 95 percent of the time, according to the Government Accountability Office, Congress's audit arm. When the nuclear material was shielded, detection rates ranged from 17 percent to 53 percent.

DHS also understated the project's costs by up to $181 million, GAO officials wrote to the leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.

The department's cost-benefit "analysis does not justify its recent decision to spend $1.2 billion to purchase and deploy" the new radiation portal monitors, the GAO reported. Homeland Security "relied on potential future performance to justify the purchase," the agency said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/17/AR2006101701410.html

[daleo]

1. They don't have to be reliable

They just have to look scary.

[sakabatou]

2. Possible cover design by the DHS

[Blaq Dem]

3. Bush's fart probably set off the censors

This administration STINKS!!!!!!!!