Untested radiation detectors: What are the possible consequences?

“Report: Radiation detectors for ports of entry were not properly tested

By Robert O'Harrow Jr.

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 13, 2011; 6:19 PM

Homeland security officials responsible for defending against radiological and nuclear terror attacks did not properly test high-tech radiation detectors for use at the nation's ports of entry, according to a report by the National Academy of Sciences.

As it pushed to deploy cutting-edge technology in recent years, the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, or DNDO, at the Department of Homeland Security conducted poorly designed performance tests that undermined officials' ability to "draw reliable conclusions" about whether the costly new equipment would work as billed, the report said.

DNDO officials also presented the results "in ways that are incorrect and potentially misleading," the report said.

Those conclusions come more than two years after Congress asked the academy to provide an assessment of a third round of DNDO's testing and evaluation of the machine, called Advanced Spectroscopic Portals, or ASP.

The report echoes allegations that surfaced in debates about one of the Bush administration's top national security initiatives.

In 2006, Congress approved $1.2 billion for the portals. The program stalled after Government Accountability Office auditors accused DNDO of downplaying the costs, overstating the benefits and providing misleading information to Congress.

The Obama administration scrapped original ASP plans in February and scaled back its deployment. They now will be used for secondary screening of vehicles including cargo containers.”