Article: Travelers screened for signs of radiation

By EMILY GERSEMA
Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Federal inspectors are checking all travelers arriving in the United States for radiation as part of an expanded effort to screen for terrorist activity, a customs official said Saturday.

Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the new Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, said inspectors began using small, pagerlike detectors Saturday at U.S. ports of entry to check passengers for radiation. He said the inspectors, who ask incoming travelers for their passports, carry the detectors on their belts.

"If a source of radiation passes close by or within a certain distance, the pager will begin beeping or alerting, and you can look down at the pager and see the amount [of radiation] that the pager is picking up," Boyd said.

Passengers may not notice the devices because inspectors do not have to sweep passengers with them to detect radiation. The pagers simply beep or vibrate to let inspectors know when something radiological is nearby.

The goal is to screen all of the more than 500,000 people entering the United States every day.

The government was using just 4,000 of the pagers before the Sept. 11 attacks but officials distributed more this weekend, bringing the total to 7,000, as the Customs Service and 18 other federal agencies formally joined the Department of Homeland Security.

The pagers cost about $2,500 each. Boyd said officials hope to distribute more of them so that all 9,000 inspectors will carry them.

Government auditors warned lawmakers in October that the pagers' range is too limited to be effective. But Boyd said officials know all technology has its limits.