[ RadSafe ] Panel wants tighter radiation security

[Sandy Perle]

Ridiculous or WHAT!!!

Panel wants tighter radiation security

WASHINGTON (AP) Oct 9 - The U.S. government should replace more than 
1,000 irradiation machines used in hospitals and research facilities 
because terrorists could use the radioactive materials inside to make 
a "dirty" bomb, a government advisory panel has concluded. 
 
"Any one of these 1,000-plus sources could shut down 25 square 
kilometers, anywhere in the United States, for 40-plus years," 
according to panel documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The machines are in relatively unprotected locations such as 
hospitals and research facilities all over the country, and may be a 
tempting source of radioactive materials for terrorists who want 
bombs that explode and disperse radioactive debris over a large area, 
rendering it uninhabitable, the board found.

The irradiators contain Cesium-137, one of the most dangerous and 
long-lasting radioactive materials. They are used for radiation 
therapy and to sterilize blood and food.

Swapping the Cesium irradiators for X-ray machines or irradiators 
that use other materials would cost about $200 million over five 
years, but it would take the most accessible source of dangerous 
radioactive material inside the United States "off the table" for 
terrorists, the panel says.

The recommendation is part of an as-yet-unreleased report that 
describes how unfriendly nations or terrorist groups could undermine 
the computers and satellites the U.S. military relies on and attack 
the United States with radiological or biological weapons or 
blackmail the U.S. government with a threat of a nuclear detonation, 
all while manipulating world opinion against the United States in the 
media and on the Internet.

The report comes from the Defense Science Board, a panel of retired 
military and CIA officials and defense industry experts who offer the 
Pentagon possible solutions to actual and potential national security 
problems. It is expected to be released late this year.

The board wants the Pentagon to create a joint military force able to 
locate and seize illicit nuclear materials and weapons when they are 
still in transit, and to safely destroy nuclear weapons captured from 
terrorists or defeated states.

It says U.S. intelligence has failed to determine what countries or 
groups are developing or trying to obtain nuclear, radiological and 
biological weapons and how and when they are likely to use them.

"No adversary can exercise all options; but we don't know which 
options they can exercise," the documents state.

The report recommends creating "unfettered X-treme intelligence 
teams" to improve the "poor intelligence community posture." Exactly 
what the teams would do is classified.

The board advocates diplomacy and trying to influence world opinion 
so the United States is less likely to be attacked or lured into a 
foreign war it might not win.

"We are unprepared," state the documents. "At best we will be 
deterred. Worse, we will enter the fray and then quit when we 
appreciate the cost of success. Instruments of national power other 
than the military, such as strategic communication, will assume 
greater importance."

The U.S government should be promoting universally accepted values 
like human dignity, economic well-being, health care and education 
rather than "democracy" and "freedom," the panel states.

"What we say is often not what others may hear __ concepts such as 
'democracy,' 'rule of law' and 'freedom' have different meanings in 
different cultures and at different stages of their development," the 
documents state. "It is about them, not only about us."

It recommends that the State Department spend $250 million over five 
years to create an independent "Center for Global Engagement" to 
conduct opinion research and analyses on media and culture that the 
government can use to design projects and messages that will advance 
those values.

It also recommends deploying more hospital ships for medical and 
humanitarian relief; releasing spy imagery to help other countries in 
crop management, weather forecasting, and environmental studies; and 
adopting policies that will help create jobs in key strategic nations 
such as Lebanon, Pakistan and Iraq.

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Sander C. Perle 
President
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc. 
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614

Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714 Extension 2306 
Fax:(949) 296-1144

E-Mail: sperle at dosimetry.com
E-Mail: sandyfl at cox.net

Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/