As long as the nation’s media doesn’t seem to be interested in covering it, let’s say a little bit more about the “Congressional Research Service Report for Congress” we just mentioned. Here are some excerpts from this published report.

1. “Terrorists might try to smuggle a bomb into a U.S. port in many ways, but containers may offer an attractive route … Containers could easily hold a nuclear weapon … An FBI official stated, ‘The intelligence that we have certainly points to the ports as a key vulnerability of the United States and of a key interest to certain terrorist groups …’ CBP Commissioner Robert Bonner believes an attack using a nuclear bomb in a container would halt container shipments, leading to “devastating” consequences for the global economy …”

2. “Terrorist Nuclear Weapons: Routes to a Bomb.
A terrorist group might obtain a bomb, perhaps with the yield of the Hiroshima bomb …This is the simplest type of nuclear weapon … about 6 inches in diameter by 6 feet long … U.S. scientists had such high confidence in the design that they did not test the bomb … A National Research Council study stated: ‘The basic technical information needed to construct a workable nuclear device is readily available in the open literature … Many believe it would be hard for a terrorist group to obtain enough HEU (highly enriched uranium) for a weapon; others fear that terrorists could do so …’ ”

3. “Enhanced Technology.
The last line of defense against a terrorist nuclear attack is the ability to detect nuclear weapons or material entering the United States. A large effort is underway by government agencies, industry, and universities to develop key technologies. By one estimate, the FY2005 appropriation provides $ 4.1 billion for homeland security R&D. Operation Safe Commerce, a Department of Transportation-CBP ‘program to fund business initiatives designed to enhance security for container cargo … will provide a test-bed for new security techniques.’ ”

4. “Terrorists can counter new technologies.
If foreign ports screened containers before being loaded onto U.S.-bound ships, terrorists could infiltrate the ports … In 2002 and 2003, ABC News shipped shielded 15-pond cylinders of depleted uranium into U.S. ports in containers. CBP did not detect these shipments … In September 2004, DHS issued a report on the topic. It concluded ‘… improvements are needed in the inspection process to ensure that weapons of mass destruction … do not gain access to the U.S. through oceangoing cargo containers’ and recommended improving detection equipment and search methods.”

[Question: If 32 Chinese stowaways in two separate containers could get past this “improving detection equipment and search methods”( see our Vol. II, Art. 6 commentary), how does DHS/CBP expect to detect a 6-inch x 6-foot Hiroshima-type nuclear weapon? Remember: For much less than $ 4.1 billion, our patented systems will scan/inspect 100% of the nation’s incoming containers.]