A Hassle At the Border

Instead of putting down the very important effort of preventing a rad/nuc incident why not give equal coverage to the great efforts and progress that has been made in security efforts and the development of new instruments improving our Nations security. Yes people who have had medical treatments can set off alarms but with new instruments that are now being placed in service those medical isotopes can be quickly identified and those individuals quickly cleared and released. It is only going to take one car or truck to slip through our borders to trigger a major, history altering incident. Maybe Newsweek should should take the time to cover the efforts that are being made by Americas responders and help explain the importance of this mission to our population.

Kitty Litter? OMG LOL !!!! I hope they never do this inspection as they fly over homes like they do for drugs ect.....cause.....I won't last long lol......they will take me out lol !!!! With 10 cats....there is PLENTY of kitty litter here AT ALL TIMES ......What a waste....Looks like they could SURELY come up with something BETTER with the technology out there?

Charolette

Hey wafe guy . Great Diss on the article now go back and hide under your bed and wait for the next scam the bureacrats come up with to spend your tax dollars!

Here is simething to chew on.

In 1994, I had a job in the American Embassy, where my husband was a gov employee. A local vegetable vendor was delivering fresh vegetables to the loading dock for the employees daily cafeteria lunches. A security guard went through his routine of, scanning the vegs in the burlap bags with a metal detector . The detector gave off loud warnings as he passed it overy the bags. He opened the bags, dumped out the contents and continued to scan the veggies themselves.
The detector continued to alarm. Everybody who witnessed the incident was very puzzled. My only guess was the water content of the vegs must have had enough metal in them to cause the alarm. The vegs were finally accepted , cooked up and served to the employees that same day.

A good heads up for travelers who have had a medical procedure but a few things this article didn't mention.
Granite, Bananas, Sandpaper, Kitty Litter and even a Beach, all give off naturally-occurring radio nuclides.
The reason for false alarms going off is that when these products are shipped in a large quantity they will register high count rates on the sensors in use. A one box of Bananas or sandpaper, or a slab of granite that a normal person or worker may have crossing the border, should not cause the detector alarms to go off.
On the medical side, a fast decaying isotope will still register activity a few days after the tests are done. (I recently found out the hard way at work when I set off detectors)

The border patrol is right to detain anyone or anything that may invade our country and put 1 person at risk of terrorism.
Please don't go ripping up your countertops and getting rid of the kids' sandbox, just educate yourself on radiation. You will find there are many natural sources of it. Even products you own - like a smoke detector - have a small source in them.

Try some real journalism for a change. Waaaay too easy to take potshots at symptoms vs root cause.

Pointing out that the result of "the number of terrorists spotted by the scanners is zero" is demonstrating how narrow sighted Hosenball is.

Please don't pretend that you're trying to do everyone a favor by giving advice saying that we should be awware of the potential delays resulting from receiving critical medical treatments such as chemo. As if what... we're simply going to stop getting that critical care? Or would you rather that your pithy sarcasm result in the relaxing of the borders just to create more convenience for travelers... (forget that you're writing this just to stir the pot).

Honestly, do you think that this type of countermeasure is being employed simply to harrass and intentionally slow down travel across borders?

Let's put it this way, would you rather NOT know that whether or not ANY terrorists happened to cross your borders with the means to ruin your perfect world? I mean, forget everyone else as a whole... <rolling eyes>

Or would you rather try and come off as a smug son of a bitch by calling out the lack of "results" from these scanners.

Go take your freedom for granted somewhere else.

Large numbers of false-positives will cause complacencies among border security. Period. Decommission these sensors until they get them correct.

Anyone who thinks this is a good thing for national security has not considered the security hole these false-positives create. Even with physical checks, anyone determined to bring in anything with nuclear content can easily deliver them by hiding within the false-positives. Don't kidd yourself ... large false-positives increases the false sense of security. This issue needs to be resolved permanently.

Listen, the writer is just warning us about the issues of seeking medical attention across the boarder. Might I quote ???Next time you visit Canada, don't forget your doctor's note remember that on your road trip.??? She is not condemning the boarder patrol for doing their job; if anything she is pointing out the opposite. There doing a great job, excluding the illegal immigration issues! It would only help the patient and officers stay on schedule if a doctor???s note is presented at the time of a search. In that sense the boarder parole would already have that information in hand, and there would be less traffic at the boarder.

I will agree with Mr. benish. We've all seen through our learnings in school how devastating the WWII nuke bombings were. I would gladly inspect a million clean alarm triggers, than see one dirty one go off. This country is no where near safe and secure, and won't ever be if people keep whining about security procedures and cost. Remeber the next time you take your kids to the park, or you go buy that techno crap you don't even need. Remember why you have the right to argue with a cop, or send an e-mail to the White House, or your states Senators. We enjoy these rights because of our efforts to remain a free and secure nation. We enjoy these rights because we will not stand down when attacked, or provoked by foreign instigators. We enjoy these rights because our leaders (like Bush) have enough courage and patriotism to stand up and say that's it. Thorugh history, this nation has done it's best at the end and right after the end of wars. We become more focused on what really matters, and turn our economic attention inward. We look at foreigners with a more discerning eye, and that has proved more effective at stopping problems than most would dare to even think. Every male in my family (including me) has served this nations military, and you can be sure that the efforts our government makes (yes, it goes too far sometimes, and it's not always right) to secure our freedom and safety are worth all of the false alarms, and minor to mderate civil rights infractions. Remember than when you lay your heads down to sleep tonight, and don't ever forget where you live. Think about North Koreans, they suffer because their government only cares about the preservation of itself and its military, same with the people in Burma. Remember that and keep an open mind the next time you want to complain about something the government is doing or wants to do.

What was the author expecting? 30% of the cars and people would be found on terrorist errands? Mr. Hosenball, all it takes is ONE car or ONE person or ONE truck. . .the one which may have been turned back by the PRESENCE of the scan. You're either blindly biased or a moron. Our national security is, at all times, at risk. Your scornful reporting show how liitle you grasp this concept.

What was the author expecting? 30% of the cars and people would be found on terrorist errands? Mr. Hosenball, all it takes is ONE car or ONE person or ONE truck. . .the one which may have been turned back by the PRESENCE of the scan. You're either blindly biased or a moron. Our national security is, at all times, at risk. Your scornful reporting show how liitle you grasp this concept.

What was the author expecting? 30% of the cars and people would be found on terrorist errands? Mr. Hosenball, all it takes is ONE car or ONE person or ONE truck. . .the one which may have been turned back by the PRESENCE of the scan. You're either blindly biased or a moron. Our national security is, at all times, at risk. Your scornful reporting show how liitle you grasp this concept.

I read somewhere recently about imported granite used in flooring and countertops having excessive amounts of radon. Some people are having their granite tested and removed. Perhaps that's why granite sets off sensors? Don't know about the bananas, kitty litter (altho some of that is mined and maybe emitting some sort of low level radiation) and tile.

I read somewhere (Consumer reports?) that imported granite can have hundreds the amount of safe radon; perhaps that's why granite sets off sensors. Some people are having granite removed from their homes after testing for radon. Don't know why the bananas, kitty liter or tile, tho.

Why do bananas, kitty litter, tile, and granite set off the sensors?

I say let them screen. The first time something does happen, someone will be screaming "Where was the government to protect us?" Its just another layer of protection. I do agree there are enough supplies within the US to arm plenty of terrorists, but we must be vigilant to threats from within and from the outside.

Why do bananas, kitty litter, granite, and tile set off the sencors?

You complain about this, but the first time something gets through, you blame the government. I say let them screen. I agree there are enough tools within the United States to arm terrorists, but things like radioactive material is not something readily available. We must be vigilant against threats from outside and inside.