Murray: Radiation portal funding inadequate

Murray: Radiation portal funding inadequate

Murray

   Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., complained Wednesday that there is insufficient funding for radiation monitors at the nation’s ports.
   Questioning Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano at a hearing of the Homeland Security subcommittee of the Senate Appropriation Committee, Murray said she was concerned about implementation of the 2006 SAFE Port Act.

Napolitano

   Murray told Napolitano the law “required all cargo entering through our top ports to be scanned by radiation detectors. Your department has done that, but the department's budget proposes only $8 million for the Radiation Portal Monitor Program under DNDO (Domestic Nuclear Detection Office) so we can have these radiation portal monitors at all of our ports, including our smaller ports.
   “The funding that has been requested is nowhere near enough to meet that goal,” she said. “Why, when there are still a lot of vulnerable ports in the nation, in the Pacific Northwest, and around the country did you only ask for $8 million for radiation monitors, when your department has not met its goals on this?
   “I need to be careful here that I don't tread into some areas that classified, but if I might just say I am very cognizant of this issue, there is a plan in place and I would prefer to be able to brief you in a non-public setting,” Napolitano told Murray.
   Murray said the $8 million will provide only 10 additional monitors and “we are far short from the 752 that are supposed to be out there.”