Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has postponed a decision on certifying the cost benefits of new radiation detection portal monitors based on the concerns of Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the agency that would be the primary user of the Advanced Spectroscopic Portals (ASPs).
CBP doesn’t have any concerns with the next-generation ASPs but believes more time is needed for the technology to mature, Jayson Ahearn, deputy commissioner of CBP, says at the agency’s annual trade symposium.
“I don’t think there’s any fault to be pointed in any direction whatsoever,” Ahearn says. “We just need more time for technology like that to mature.”
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) last year awarded contracts to three companies to further develop and build their respective ASP systems. Those firms are Canberra Industries, which is part of France’s AREVA Group, Raytheon [RTN], and Thermo Fisher Scientific [TMO]. The ASPs are expected to be better at discriminating potential radiation threats from normally occurring radioactive materials, which current radiation portal monitors don’t do well. The new technology is also expected to have limited capability in detecting radiation through masking materials, another shortcoming with current systems.
However, the ASP program has come under pressure from Congress and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) over concerns that the new technology may not provide enough new capabilities for the cost. In the FY ’07 Homeland Security Appropriations Act Congress required that Chertoff certify that the ASPs are a cost effective alternative to current radiation portal monitors. In September GAO said that DNDO had rigged tests to make it easier for the ASPs to perform as advertised. Vayl Oxford, director of DNDO, said at the time that the testing so far has been rigorous and has demonstrated that the ASPs perform better than current technology and improves the efficiency of CBP operations.
Nonetheless, DHS says in a new statement that, “Review of the status of field validation testing led to the determination that additional functional capability is needed to meet the operational requirements.” DHS also has decided to couple the certification of ASP directly with a decision to begin major production and deployment of the systems.
Certification of the systems had been expected this past summer.
Due to the program delays, DHS is asking Congress for permission to preprogram funds from the ASP program to upgrade the software on current radiation portal monitors and to accelerate the deployments of the current systems. The reprogramming request will come from a portion of the $178 million funded for systems acquisition by DNDO in FY ’07. Most of the accelerated purchases of radiation portal monitors would be for deployment on the Northern Border of the U.S. to completed coverage there sooner than the planned 2011 timeframe.
A decision on ASP cost effectiveness certification is expected in the first half of 2008.
Separately at the annual CBP Trade Symposium, Commissioner Ralph Basham says that DHS continues to debate the requirements for a Container Security Device (CSD) that would be mounted inside a cargo container and alert if an unauthorized breach has occurred.
Those requirements were expected to be ready earlier this year. Basham says they me still be out later this year.
“Quite frankly, we’re anxious to get them out there,” Basham says. “We’re anxious to see exactly what the private sector can develop and let’s go out and test to see if it works.”
Once CSDs are available that meet DHS requirements, the additional layer of security could mean speedier processing times at port of entry for commerce entering the U.S. Basham says the U.S. is having a hard time facilitating travel and commerce at U.S. land ports.
“Technology is the key,” he says.