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.