SPENDING BILL FUNDS CSI, RADIATION DETECTORS FOR CUSTOMS

SPENDING BILL FUNDS CSI, RADIATION DETECTORS FOR CUSTOMS    The $78.5-billion wartime supplemental spending bill signed by President Bush last week includes $35 million to continue the Container Security Initiative and $90 million for container-size radiation detection equipment, according to a budget breakdown by the Department of Homeland Security.
   The dedicated funding is part of the $333 million Congress allocated to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
   Under the Container Security Initiative the United States is entering into bilateral agreements with major trading partners to station U.S. inspectors and screening equipment at foreign ports to check for terrorist weapons before cargo reaches U.S. soil.
   Customs and Border Protection is deploying portal radiation devices at exit gates to ports, border crossings, airports and other transportation hubs to passively check truck and rail cars for nuclear material. Without the extra money in the bill Customs would have exhausted its money for the devices by April, House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chairman Billy Tauzin wrote Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge earlier this year.