A Nuclear Ruse Uncovers Holes in U.S. Security

[cal04]

Source: NYTimes

Undercover Congressional investigators set up a bogus company and obtained a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March that would have allowed them to buy the radioactive materials needed for a so-called dirty bomb.

The investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, demonstrated once again that the security measures put in place since the 2001 terrorist attacks to prevent radioactive materials from getting into the wrong hands are insufficient, according to a G.A.O. report, which is scheduled to be released at a Senate hearing Thursday.

“Given that terrorists have expressed an interest in obtaining nuclear material, the Congress and the American people expect licensing programs for these materials to be secure,” said Gregory D. Kutz, an investigator at the accountability office, in testimony prepared for the hearing.

The bomb the investigators could have built would not have caused widespread damage or even high- level contamination. But it still could have had serious consequences in any city where it was set off, particularly economic ones.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/us/12nuke.html?hp

[matt819]

1. Simple Explanation

Everything this country has done since 9/11 is a sham. They pay lip service to security, but all that results is no-bid contracts to inept cronies.

[WCGreen]

2. Correction... Every thing the Bush administration has done since 9/11

is a sham...

[Tesha]

10. Yes, it's just like airport security.

We go through a giant rigamarole, take off our shoes,
get felt up, and are hassled over whether or not some
container or other contains 3.1 ounces instead of 3.0...

But then when you're inside the "sterile area", you find
a hundred vendors selling stuff that obviously came into
the sterile area in shipping cartons carried likely carried
by minimum-wage workers. As if it would be *SO* difficult
to suborn one of those workers to substitute a little
something extra in the carton of Fritos, to be purchased
later by a certain traveller who already cleared security...

Do you really think they check every bottle of water that
is shipped into the airport's Kwik-E-Mart? Every pack
of Jordan Almonds? Every pulp fiction thriller?

It's all a sham to:

1) Keep us scared of terra, terra, TERRA!

2) Make people *THINK* something's being done.

Tesha

[HowHasItComeToThis]

15. BINGO FOR YOU

personal/199661.

[Hissyspit]

3. Fake Firm Gets Nuclear License in U.S. Gov't Sting

Source: Reuters

Fake firm gets nuclear license in U.S. govt sting
By JoAnne Allen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Undercover investigators, working for a fake firm, obtained a license to buy enough radioactive material to build a "dirty bomb," amid little scrutiny from federal regulators, according to a government report obtained on Wednesday.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the license to the dummy company in just 28 days with only a cursory review, the Government Accountability Office said in a report to be released on Thursday.

The GAO, which set up the sting, said the NRC approved the license after a couple of faxes and phones calls and then mailed it to the phony company's headquarters -- a drop box at a United Parcel Service location.

- snip -

The GAO, a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, said its investigators did not take possession of the radiological materials.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070712/pl_nm/dirtybomb_sting_dc

[PSPS]

4. Who is the "hekuvajob" unqualified crony bush destroyed this agency with?

[rodeodance]

5. A Nuclear Ruse Uncovers Holes in U.S. Security

Source: nytimes



July 12, 2007
A Nuclear Ruse Uncovers Holes in U.S. Security
By ERIC LIPTON

WASHINGTON, July 11 — Undercover Congressional investigators set up a bogus company and obtained a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March that would have allowed them to buy the radioactive materials needed for a so-called dirty bomb.

The investigators, from the Government Accountability Office, demonstrated once again that the security measures put in place since the 2001 terrorist attacks to prevent radioactive materials from getting into the wrong hands are insufficient, according to a G.A.O. report, which is scheduled to be released at a Senate hearing Thursday.

“Given that terrorists have expressed an interest in obtaining nuclear material, the Congress and the American people expect licensing programs for these materials to be secure,” said Gregory D. Kutz, an investigator at the accountability office, in testimony prepared for the hearing.

The bomb the investigators could have built would not have caused widespread damage or even high- level contamination. But it still could have had serious consequences, particularly economic ones, in any city where it was set off.....

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/us/12nuke.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

[truthisfreedom]

6. Nobody has their eye on the ball in this administration at all. There's no money in it.

[poverlay]

7. Does it come as a surprise to anyone that, if anything, we are less safe with Republicans in

charge? I mean really? How do the puggies maintain the illusion?

I know this question has been asked in a brazillion permutations here but:

How mindnumbingly brain-damaged does one have to be to think we have been doing anything other than sprinting away from safety and security since 9/11?
:nuke:

[underpants]

8. "would not have caused widespread damage "-Dirty bombs would cover about a 4 sq. block area

at most. I know that that could a lot of people in say NYC or other urban areas but for the most part dirty bombs are not a huge threat in terms of the area they can hit and frankly they aren't nearly efficient enough for the risk.

I'm just saying.

[Amonester]

12. What would that "dirty" sh*t do to a... Congress building?

Some "Dark-water" might be "paid" more than enough to set up "Reichstag" 2...

Maybe like a "new Nine Elev'n" from the demons of the PNAC.

All those "Embarassing" Hearings in there, ya know? :tinfoilhat:

Note
To Agent Mike: I Hope I'm Wrong so gfy, 'kay?

[formercia]

13. Would you live in an area contaminated by a 'Dirty bomb?'

Most people wouldn't.

For decades, people in Nevada and Utah were dusted with fallout from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons. There were health issues all over the US. People learned to live with it.

In the early 70's I used to go rock hunting near the Nevada test range. There were a lot of mines closed down in WWII when the range opened and there are a lot of good collection sites.
I stopped at a cafe on Rt. 50 and got into a conversation with what looked like a prospector. He asked what brought me to the area. I told him what I was doing and where I planned to go. He told me he was the site manager at the test range and they were getting ready to detonate an underground nuclear blast just a few miles from where I was planning to go. I'm glad I talked with him first.

[Vinca]

9. Does this mean we don't have to worry about them following us home?

They can cross our borders at will already, apparently buy materials that will kill us all and Shrub's bogey man is talking about his "gut."

[MadHound]

11. I'm conflicted on this

While I see the holes in this such as the failure to make a tamper proof license, I'm a little underwhelmed by the threat posed by a cesium powered dirty bomb. I think cracking down on things like this would go to the same extreme as what has happened with the WOD, where you now have to present ID to purchase ordinary medicine. Do we really want an NRC blanket so tight that we have to have a nuclear license to purchase a smoke alarm, or get thrown in jail for buying a radium dial clock at the flea market?

Yes there are problems, yes there are improvements to be made. However if the government responds in its typical sledgehammer manner, this could come back an bite us.

[TexasLawyer]

14. Someone is doing a heck of a job!!!