Global Security Newswire

The United States has agreed to provide Latvia with equipment and training in an effort to prevent nuclear material from being smuggled through the Baltic nation, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced yesterday (see GSN, May 26, 2005).

Under the agreement, the U.S. nuclear agency through its Second Line of Defense program plans to install radiation detection and communications equipment at Latvian airports, seaports and border crossings and to provide training for personnel staffing the sites.

Working with Latvian State Border Guard Service, U.S. experts have begun surveying areas where the nuclear sensors could be deployed.

"The United States and Latvia will work closely to keep dangerous nuclear and radiological material out of the hands of terrorists and criminals," said NNSA Deputy Administrator William Tobey in a press release (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration release, Dec. 3).