Rep. Markey seeks answers on ABC News’ depleted uranium shipment

Rep. Markey seeks answers on ABC News’ depleted uranium shipment    Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a vocal critic of federal aviation security efforts, is now questioning the government’s ability to detect nuclear explosive devices or radiological “dirty bombs” in freight shipments entering the United States.
   In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Markey said a Sept. 11 ABC News undercover report showing how the network smuggled harmless depleted uranium in a container full of furniture from Jakarta, Indonesia to the Port of Long Beach raised concerns about whether the shipment cleared Customs undetected. The shipment was handled by Maersk Logistics and transported by sister vessel carrier Maersk Sealand. ABC footage showed the container being stuffed on a crowded city street and producers said Maersk agents didn't ask any questions to verify their identity or their intentions.
   Homeland Security officials have said they used X-ray machines and radiation detection devices to inspect the container determined the depleted uranium posed no danger.
   Nuclear physicists at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which provided the depleted uranium to ABC, say that neither the x-ray machines nor the radiation detection pagers used by Customs are adequate to detect most radiation signatures, including the depleted uranium or highly enriched, weapons-grade uranium encased in a thicker shield. The only way to verify that the source of radiation was benign would have been to open the container, something that was never done before the load was sent on its way, they say.
   Homeland Security officials have denounced the ABC report as a stunt, saying the depleted uranium has a radiation signature no more alarming than a pile of dirt or shipment of bananas. The department initially indicated it was considering asking the Justice Department to investigate ABC for filing false shipping documents. Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for border and transportation security, told a reporter at the recent Customs Trade Symposium in Washington that the government would not press charges against the network.
   In prepared remarks, however, he suggested the United States ought to adopt Canada’s approach, which makes it a crime for outsiders to test its security systems.
   Markey, a member of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, introduced a bill earlier this year to tighten controls of the storage and tracking of radiological materials and prevent terrorists from smuggling them into the United States.
   The letter is the second sent to Ridge because Markey said he did not receive sufficient responses to his questions, including why security at the port of Jakarta did not catch the depleted uranium and why Jakarta is not participating in the Container Security Initiative to tighten security in foreign ports.