Port Security Still Flawed

June 6, 2005 — -- The government has announced its enhanced nuclear inspection program with great fanfare, but ABC News has learned the new, drive-through detection machines being installed -- at a cost of a half-billion dollars -- cannot detect the enriched uranium that many say poses the greatest threat.

"Al Qaeda's highest goal is to have a nuclear explosion in the United States, said Rep. Ed. Markey, D-Mass., a member of the Select Committee on Homeland Security. "The equipment that is being deployed will not detect the highly enriched uranium which is the most likely source of the material they would use."

The machines, however, are triggered by materials such as kitty litter, which gives off a certain kind of gamma ray and has caused many a false alarm.

"Unfortunately, we have about a half-billion dollars worth of kitty litter detectors that will not detect enriched uranium reliably," said Dr. Tom Cochran, the director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's nuclear program.

A new report by the NRDC confirmed that the latest machines are "unlikely to detect kilogram quantities of lightly shielded high enriched uranium placed near the center of cargo-shipping containers."

This, experts say, could leave the country's ports susceptible to terrorists smuggling nuclear weapons or material in one of the thousands of containers that come into the country every day.

ABC News conducted test projects in 2002 and 2003 in which uranium shielded in lead easily passed by the detection machines in place.