Nuclear meltdown: Homeland Security tussles with GAO over radiation portals.A Department of Homeland Security Noun 1. Department of Homeland Security - the federal department that administers all matters relating to homeland security Homeland Security executive department - a federal department in the executive branch of the government of the United States official said he was confident that the next generation of portals designed to find nuclear materials in shipping containers will work despite a withering Government Accountability Office The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress, and thus an agency in the Legislative Branch of the United States Government. report questioning performance data and their high price tags. "The department really doesn't like to struggle with GAO in public," Howard Reichel, assistant director for systems development and acquisition at DHS' Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, said at an Institute for Defense and Government Advancement border management conference. However, he went on to do just that. "We tested them every which way under the sun. We tested them with easy things. We tested them with hopelessly hard things that no device could ever find. We tested devices that worked very well. We tested devices that were broken half the time during the test." The tests were conducted on seven systems that ultimately weren't chosen, he said. DHS DHS Department of Homeland Security (USA) DHS Department of Human Services DHS Department of Health Services DHS Demographic and Health Surveys DHS Dirhams (Morocco national currency) awarded contracts to three vendors, Raytheon Co., Thermo Electron Thermo Electron Corporation (TMO (NYSE)) (incorporated 1956) is a major provider of analytical instruments and services for a variety of domains. Thermo has revenues of over $2 billion, and employs 11,000 people in 30 countries. Corp. and Canberra Industries Inc. When looking at the performance of the three selected systems on amounts of nuclear material that would actually pose a threat to security, they were 95 percent effective, he said. "Believe me, I showed [those results] to GAO," he added. Congressional appropriators called for the report after the first generation of portals showed high false alarm rates. The detectors could not distinguish between naturally occurring radiation found in such items as kitty litter and potentially harmful nuclear material. The report also pointed out that the second generation of portals, which should be able to sort out harmful radiation from the benign, will cost $377,000 apiece--much higher than the maligned ma·lign tr.v. ma·ligned, ma·lign·ing, ma·ligns To make evil, harmful, and often untrue statements about; speak evil of. adj. 1. Evil in disposition, nature, or intent. 2. first-generation portals, which cost $55,000. The House and Senate appropriations committees made funding of the next generation portals contingent upon solid performance data. Reichel said production units will be tested extensively beginning in January. When asked if the credibility of the recently formed DNDO DNDO Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (TSA) was at stake, he said, "The department is on the hook Adj. 1. on the hook - caught in a difficult or dangerous situation; "there I was back on the hook" dangerous, unsafe - involving or causing danger or risk; liable to hurt or harm; "a dangerous criminal"; "a dangerous bridge"; "unemployment reached dangerous , of course, with the appropriations bill to produce [results.] I have confidence that we will pass." |
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