Entering US with nuclear bomb is no problem

Quote:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four years after the September 11 attacks, investigators were able to easily enter the United States with enough radioactive material to make two so-called dirty bombs, according to a report on a government undercover investigation obtained on Monday.

Two teams made simultaneous entries at the U.S.-Mexican border and the border with Canada carrying radioactive material in their vehicles in December 2005, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in the report on its investigation.

The congressional watchdog agency said the test was designed to examine potential weaknesses related to radiation monitors that have been installed at U.S. border ports of entry, the GAO said.

(...)

As part of the GAO undercover test, investigators easily bought a small amount of radioactive material from a commercial source by telephone, the agency said.

The purchase was not challenged because suppliers are not required to determine whether buyers have a legitimate reason for acquiring such material and are not required to ask for an NRC authorization document when small quantities are purchased, the GAO said.

"We could have purchased all of the radioactive sources used in our two undercover border crossings by making multiple purchases from different suppliers... using false identities, and had all of the radioactive sources conveniently shipped to our nation's capital," the letter said.

Source: reuters.com

Shocking? Frightening? Do you think there be consequences? How are things like this allowed to happen in the first place? I mean, random people are able to buy radioactive material legally no questions asked? How is this even possible?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Cool. Let's keep bringing it up in national news reports. The afghanis will never know.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

And the fact of the matter is, theres no way to make the US completely secure, and frankly, the US as a whole is overly paranoid about security. There are much better ways to ensure the US doesn't get plastered with a nuclear bomb than simply building a virtual wall around the country.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

You mean, like, better customs?

Canada's greatest threat, apparently, comes from fruit.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Doesn't suprise me at all. Soon we'll see the results of the terrorist's investigations!

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Minion

Cool. Let's keep bringing it up in national news reports. The afghanis will never know.

You DO realize that our enemies are pretty damn smart, and that anything we publish is already known by them 99% of the time, right? =\

How ya doing, buddy?

I recall ABC News doing something similar to this a few years ago. They transported some radioactive material that was indeed legal to transport and they were never questioned as to what it was for. After that the FBI investigated ABC for it, probably because ABC made them look stupid.

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It's not this that bothers me; it's that our rights (specifically privacy, as has been revealed in the past several months) are being shat upon in the name of security, yet the actual level of security remains the same.

One or the other, please; but not both.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Murdercrow

You DO realize that our enemies are pretty damn smart, and that anything we publish is already known by them 99% of the time, right? =\

Okay, they're smart. That doesn't mean we should be disseminating any and all information because "aw hell, they probably already know anyway."

Jam it back in, in the dark.

So you would support the government hiding everything from us because "we don't want the terrorist to find out what we're doing?"

Right. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't one of the reasons for your opinion that Congress should be dissolved and replaced with a pure democracy is the closed-door sessions? No, really, I'm curious here. I think you said something to this effect, but it was pre-crash so I can't tell.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Murdercrow

So you would support the government hiding everything from us because "we don't want the terrorist to find out what we're doing?"

Right. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't one of the reasons for your opinion that Congress should be dissolved and replaced with a pure democracy is the closed-door sessions? No, really, I'm curious here. I think you said something to this effect, but it was pre-crash so I can't tell.

Umm that really wouldn't help matters much... all it would do would take our already slow government and turn it into a snail that needs a walker to snail crawl around :/

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

...what?

Look, if you're talking about the whole dissolve Congress thing (which I think you are), take it up with Minion in another thread/PMs. It's not my idea.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Quote:

So you would support the government hiding everything from us because "we don't want the terrorist to find out what we're doing?"

There is a difference between not shouting from the rooftops whenever a security issue is discovered and hidding everything from us. We don't need to know things like this. It's not information you can use, but it is potentially dangerous if some people find out. I sincerely hope that all of these security issues are just elaborate baiting schemes used by our government to lure terrorists into a trap.

And mentioning what I said about congress is moot, since we're talking about another branch of goverment. What I want from congress is different from what I want from the president.

I was speaking idiomatically.

You'll have to agree that sometimes, things have to be made public to have an impact.

I also think it's a good way of showing the apparent failures of the current administration. Now they're under pressure and have to react. Who knows if they would even have cared if the report was presented to them exclusively?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Right because the general public has no idea that the Bush administration has ever failed at anything before this happened.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Eleo

It's not this that bothers me; it's that our rights (specifically privacy, as has been revealed in the past several months) are being shat upon in the name of security, yet the actual level of security remains the same.

Same here in Europe. Won't be much of a way of life left to defend in a couple o' years.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Come on buddy, drop the bullshit attitude.

It's stupid easy to get ANYTHING through customs. Hell, I just flew a plane between Canada and the US, and when we landed in the states, NOONE even came out to look at the plane, we called a number on a cellphone from inside the plane (when we were on the ground), and they gave us a number to copy into the logbook. And then we were free to go wherever we wanted - we had just cleared customs.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

They did another test similar to this where they tried getting explosives onto a plane. 21 out of 21 times, they succeeded.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

All the money the US gov't is dumping into things, hasn't increased the thouroughness of security - it was just the money required to make a fascade of thouroughness.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

hmmm. i sort of think that they are doing this, intentionally to let the afghanis know, and then they'll prolly have a trap waiting.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Thanatos

hmmm. i sort of think that they are doing this, intentionally to let the afghanis know, and then they'll prolly have a trap waiting.

I'm willing to bet that Admiral Ackbar will inevitably stumble into this imperial trap.

I was speaking idiomatically.

US Customs has, and always will be a joke.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Quote:

As part of the GAO undercover test, investigators easily bought a small amount of radioactive material from a commercial source by telephone, the agency said.

The purchase was not challenged because suppliers are not required to determine whether buyers have a legitimate reason for acquiring such material and are not required to ask for an NRC authorization document when small quantities are purchased, the GAO said.

"We could have purchased all of the radioactive sources used in our two undercover border crossings by making multiple purchases from different suppliers... using false identities, and had all of the radioactive sources conveniently shipped to our nation's capital," the letter said.

See, this part of the article bothers me. If I wanted, I could buy certain radioactive materials commonly used into introductory physics labs over the phone from a company and have it sent to me through FedEx to arrive here the next day. For some reason, this part of the article looks sensationalistic.

This could, of course, explain part of...

Quote:

The congressional watchdog agency said the test was designed to examine potential weaknesses related to radiation monitors that have been installed at U.S. border ports of entry, the GAO said.

If it is stuff that you can buy from a scientific supplies catalogue, then its radioactivity would be fairly low and it wouldn't surprise me if they wouldn't set off the sensors (especially since you could block them with just a few inches of lead).

FELIPE NO

If you've ever heard of a guy named Richard Marcinko and his Red Cell SpecWar group, this huge security breach isn't surprising at all. Mrcinko's Red Cell was a group created by the Navy and recruited by him and its purpose was to stage mock attacks on key Naval installations to test their security. He wiped the floor with them every time. Hell, he broke into nuclear weapons facilities with fake ID's and planted mock bombs on warheads. He acted just like terrorists would and did his job so well that the bureaucratic Navy, in a typical bureaucratic response, tried to shoot the messenger and throw him in jail. The spent $60 million trying to prove that he stole a couple thousand bucks 'cause they didn't have a real claim against him. They managed to get him in jail for a year.

Feeling safe now?

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

This really comes as no surprise if you've been following news like this for the last few years. There have been several cases where federal agents have been able to slip past customs again and again despite reassurances from the Dep. of Homeland Security about how "safe" our borders are now. It seems the only way we know of to secure out borders to is continuously throw money at it in the hopes that it'll patch itself up.

Jam it back in, in the dark.