Radioactive Matter Gets Into U.S. in Test

Undercover investigators working for a Congressional agency breached security by slipping nuclear material into the United States. The material was enough to make two small "dirty bombs," officials said, yet U.S. customs agents permitted the investigators to enter the United States because they were tricked with counterfeit documents.

"Unless nuclear smugglers in possession of faked license documents raised suspicions in some other way, CBP officers could follow agency guidelines yet unwittingly allow them to enter the country with their illegal nuclear cargo," a report said.

It described this problem as "a significant gap" in the nation's safety procedures. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) concurred, stating that this "demonstrated that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is stuck in a pre-9/11 mind-set in a post-9/11 world and must modernize its procedures."

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By Liz Sidoti, AP Writer (Ted Bridis contributed to this report) - 28 Mar 06

Fateh’s Kids: Hamas Launches Web Site Encouraging Kids
to Become ´Martyrs´ 7 March 06

The Palestinian Authority's ruling Hamas group has recently launched a web site for children, preaching the moral desirability of being a suicide terrorist via cartoons and children's stories.

Al-Fateh.net glorifies shahada (martyrdom) and presents the deaths of terrorists attacking Israelis as a time of celebration, according to a report by Palestinian Media Watch. One story on the site quotes a mother saying that when she heard her son had become a shahid, a martyr, she bought dates, candies and coffee to give out. An entire section of the site is called "Stories of the Shahids," and the most recently posted story honors Hamas terrorist Naseem Ja'abari, who murdered 16 people when he blew himself up on a bus in Be'er Sheva on August 31, 200

Hamas officials have denied their sponsorship of the site saying it is run by people who sympathize with Hamas. Whereas Itamar Marcus, head of an Israeli organization which monitors and translates Palestinian Arabic language media, said the site along with palestine-info.com and palestinegallery.com are official Hamas sites.

POINT OF VIEW

The Emperor’s New Technology

In Hans Christian Andersen’s fable The Emperor’s New Clothes, we are presented a story of an Emperor who wears an invisible suit of clothes believing they possess magical powers and are visible only to those noble enough to serve his court. As the Emperor dared not admit his own inability to see the clothes, he proudly presented them to his constituency. However, walking through the crowd, it was the Emperor’s own people who shouted “the Emperor has no clothes!”

The recent news regarding screening failures at major airports across the U.S. should have done more than merely ring bells and raise red flags; collectively, we should all scream “the Emperor has no clothes!” Though there remains a constant development of faster, more sensitive and user-friendly technologies to deal with terrorist’s threats, it is the human element—the technology operators—that need to be the core of today’s security framework. Has technology been oversold as a magical solution to prevent terrorism?

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The views and facts stated above are entirely the responsibility of the author and do not reflect the views of this Association in any manner.