CNN: Nuke detectors to ring New York City, official says

[DeepModem Mom]

Nuke detectors to ring New York, official says
February 9, 2007


Devices to detect nuclear or dirty weapons will surround New York City by the end of 2007, a Homeland Security official says.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- New York City will be protected by a ring of devices to detect nuclear or dirty bombs before the end of the year, the Department of Homeland Security said Friday.

A dirty bomb is one that spreads radiation without employing a nuclear explosion.

The Department of Homeland Security hopes the circle of sensors will give warning if a bomb is transported into the city by land.

Most previous detection efforts have focused on preventing a bomb from being smuggled into the city by sea.

Under the "Securing the Cities" initiative, detectors will be placed along highways, at truck stops, in weigh stations and at other sites on the perimeter of New York, as well as locations closer to the city center, an official said. Locations will not be made public "for obvious reasons," the official said....

Homeland Security is building the network in cooperation with the New York Police Department and other state and local governments in New York and New Jersey. Local governments will respond to any alarms....

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/02/09/newyork.nukes/index.html

[baldguy]

1. About time

[Orsino]

2. No word here, though, on whether...

...these nameless devices have ever been proven to work, or on just what we're getting for the money. Since Homeland Security is involved, I presume that we will never be allowed to know.

No defense exists, of course, against a suitcase carried into a city between these expensive detectors.

[rman]

3. i can hear it now: "nobody could have anticipated delivery of a dirty bomb by air"

[Thor_MN]

4. Manhattan, Long Island, maybe

Assuming that terraists are too stupid to acquire a boat. Otherwise, surface streets pretty much render sensors useless except as PR.

[InkAddict]

5. Short-sighted solution to the wrong problem in NYC?

Hey, if Al Gore is right, Manhattan will likely be under water anyway. Just who could predict that ...oh, nevermind...fear is profitable for the friends of the BFEE.

[MadHound]

6. Oh this is just going to bring about so many false alarms

First time a hot shipment hits NYC, the shit is going to hit the fan. Ir-192 comes to mind. It will make the Boston Lite Brite scare seem to be normalacy by comparison.

[truthisfreedom]

8. It already has, unfortunately. I'm all for a working system, but they have bugs...

For example, people being treated for cancer with radiological substances in their bodies (this is done sometimes) will set off those types of sensors.

[CTresident]

11. A bit more accurate

 than that. Saw one demonstrated last spring for buildings or
fixed facilities.It would detect radioactive source and
identify by isotope.

[Nihil]

7. More bullcrap to cover up pay-offs to buddies

If someone who has had treatment for cancer walks past a detector then they will either
set it off (leading to a major panic - yet another false alarm) or confirm that the
detectors are not sensitive enough to do the job they are being sold for.

Can't beat the old boy network for feeding public money into private pockets ...

[sakabatou]

9. Disease could break through it easily

And kill thousands.

[Lurking Dem]

10. Before or after the series finale of Heroes?

[hunter]

12. Kitty Litter Sparks Panic in Ohio City

Buchanan, New York-AP -- Twenty tons of garbage has been returned to Westchester County, New York, because of what turned to be two cups of radioactive cat litter.

The garbage was sent back from Ohio when it set off radiation detectors. Experts traced the radiation to the cat litter, which apparently had been used by a cat being treated for thyroid tumors.

Owners of such cats are supposed to use special litter that can be flushed, rather than thrown away.

The cat litter is being stored at a nuclear power plant for a few months until it's safe for regular disposal.

Copyright 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

This is probably another make-work project for Homeland Security trolls and parasites.

You know, most of FDR's depression era make-work projects actually made this nation a better place. But in this 21st century America we just pay people to shit in their hands and throw it.