My attempt at journalism
So, regarding that report about GAO investigators smuggling some unspecified amount of some unspecified material in the country. I contacted the individual specified in the report, with the following email:
Mr. Kutz,
I just finished reading your report describing how your investigators
managed to smuggle across the US border enough radioactive material to
produce at least one dirty bomb. As I'm sure you're aware, this report has
been made available on the internet by GAO at this location:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06545r.pdf
As I read the report with interest, however, I noticed two pieces of
important information missing. First, the specific variety of radioactive
material smugged in was not mentioned. Second, the amounts smuggled in seem
to have been left deliberately vague.
I find this troubling, for the simple reason that without knowing the
specific material and the actual amounts involved, it is impossible to
determine whether or not the failure of border security to prevent the
passage of the material is even a significant issue. As I'm sure you know,
there exist radioisotopes that, while being technically radioactive, present
no significant radiological hazard (e.g., uranium-238). If the material
being smuggled was one of these, then the failure of border security to
detect it is not unexpected, and indeed, I would not want to see border
security wasting resources and effort to detect and interdict the passage of
such innocuous materials. Moreover, even if the radioisotopes involved were
possessed of significant radioactivity, without knowing the amounts
purchased and smuggled, again, the reader has no basis for determining that
the free passage of this material is cause for alarm. The report does state
"an amount NIST officials determined is sufficient to manufacture a dirty
bomb," but provides no quantitative measurement of the amount involved. If,
for example, we're talking of an amount that would be present in a trunk
full of standard smoke detectors of the sort that exist in millions of
American homes, I'm not inclined to a great deal of concern that GAO
investigators were able to cross the border with such amounts.
Is this mission, and fundamentally important, information available
anywhere? Perhaps in a followup or related GAO report?
Thank you,
Brian Trosko
His (prompt!) response:
As requested by both the Customs Border Protection and NRC, the information you are looking for was determined to be for official use only and is thus not publicly available.
Anyone able to tell me how to go about filing a FOIA request for that data?
Mr. Kutz,
I just finished reading your report describing how your investigators
managed to smuggle across the US border enough radioactive material to
produce at least one dirty bomb. As I'm sure you're aware, this report has
been made available on the internet by GAO at this location:
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06545r.pdf
As I read the report with interest, however, I noticed two pieces of
important information missing. First, the specific variety of radioactive
material smugged in was not mentioned. Second, the amounts smuggled in seem
to have been left deliberately vague.
I find this troubling, for the simple reason that without knowing the
specific material and the actual amounts involved, it is impossible to
determine whether or not the failure of border security to prevent the
passage of the material is even a significant issue. As I'm sure you know,
there exist radioisotopes that, while being technically radioactive, present
no significant radiological hazard (e.g., uranium-238). If the material
being smuggled was one of these, then the failure of border security to
detect it is not unexpected, and indeed, I would not want to see border
security wasting resources and effort to detect and interdict the passage of
such innocuous materials. Moreover, even if the radioisotopes involved were
possessed of significant radioactivity, without knowing the amounts
purchased and smuggled, again, the reader has no basis for determining that
the free passage of this material is cause for alarm. The report does state
"an amount NIST officials determined is sufficient to manufacture a dirty
bomb," but provides no quantitative measurement of the amount involved. If,
for example, we're talking of an amount that would be present in a trunk
full of standard smoke detectors of the sort that exist in millions of
American homes, I'm not inclined to a great deal of concern that GAO
investigators were able to cross the border with such amounts.
Is this mission, and fundamentally important, information available
anywhere? Perhaps in a followup or related GAO report?
Thank you,
Brian Trosko
His (prompt!) response:
As requested by both the Customs Border Protection and NRC, the information you are looking for was determined to be for official use only and is thus not publicly available.
Anyone able to tell me how to go about filing a FOIA request for that data?