DHS Scans Private Aircraft for Radioactive Material

The U.S. Homeland Security Department is spending $4 million over four months to assess technology for detecting radioactive material on private passenger aircraft, USA Today reported today (see GSN, Sept. 6, 2007).

Radiation scanning of private aircraft began in early 2008 over fears that terrorists might “bypass the traditional ports of entry” while bringing potential weapons material into the United States, said Vayl Oxford, head of the DHS Domestic Nuclear Detection Office.

Under an order from Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, all general aviation aircraft that enter the country from overseas must undergo radiation scanning upon landing.  Private jets and other general aviation planes receive less-stringent security checks before takeoff than do commercial passenger aircraft.

Customs and Border Protection agents are checking aircraft at 105 airports using shoebox-sized devices more often deployed at seaports and border crossings.

There are questions whether machines capable of detecting material stashed in a cargo container could uncover the same source should it be hidden behind an aircraft passenger seat or cockpit or placed in luggage, USA Today reported.

Testing on a DC-9 and a Gulf Stream jet at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland is aimed at finding whether the devices now used by government agents can sense material such as cesium 137, cobalt 57, barium 133 or depleted uranium.

Additional testing is also being conducted on other technology, with the ultimate goal of determining whether the government should buy more of the detectors now in use or invest in a different system.

One expert said the whole plan is faulty.

“Scanning in the United States doesn’t help,” said security consultant Randall Larsen, a former professor at the National War College.  Terrorists carrying a nuclear weapon in a plane are likely to detonate it without landing, he said.

“It’s not the best return on investment for preventing a mushroom cloud over an American city,” he said.

Oxford agreed that it would be best to check planes for dangerous material before they leave for the continental United States.  Test programs are planned for Alaska, the Caribbean and Ireland.

However, it could take years to finalize agreements for security scanning of planes in foreign nations.  Radiation scanning here, meanwhile, serves to “close the front door” to terrorists who would use a devastating weapon in the United States, he said (Mimi Hall, USA Today, June 19).

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