The Beat Goes On

The Beat Goes On The Chicago Tribune describes a new method for detecting nuclear material. The Los Alamos-developed detector relies on mea...

The Beat Goes On

The

Chicago Tribune describes a new method for detecting nuclear material. The
Los Alamos-developed detector relies on measuring the interaction between cosmic
rays and and the material being scanned. The different materials have
interaction signatures which identify them.

By placing detectors above and below a vehicle, scientists can monitor muon
interaction with different materials in the vehicle's cargo. The higher
density a material is, the more muons will scatter when they make contact. A
computer uses the scatter data to create an image of the different materials
in the vehicle. High-density materials, such as plutonium or uranium, are
flagged.

The system is said to require only 20 seconds to scan a shipping container
and because it simply measures cosmic rays which are present in the everyday
environment, the method does not pose a risk to users, even illegal immigrants
who might be hiding within the container.

The

Homeland Security site at Ohio State has more details on the actual
application of this and other technologies.

Bolstering its assets to deter a dirty-bomb threat, the Bush Administration
is expected to announce plans to considerably expand homeland security
monitoring efforts for radioactive materials coming into and traveling within
the nation, The New York Times reported 1 February. The plan reportedly calls
for the establishment of the office of domestic nuclear detection, to be
housed within DHS, to coordinate the consolidation of the presently fragmented
network of radiation detection equipment. ... The security department is the
biggest player in this field, installing more than 400 radiation monitors in
the past two years at ports, border crossings and post offices that handle
international mail. Cities like New York have also been buying detection
equipment. "The threat is very real," said Representative Heather A. Wilson, a
New Mexico Republican who led a recent study that called for better
coordination of nuclear security efforts. "The possibility of nuclear material
falling into wrong hands may be small, but it would have devastating
consequences."

Recent -- and very real -- successes at spreading democracy in the Middle
East, even coupled with impressive technological advances will not change the
fact that widely available commercial technology has put enormous destructive
potential in the hands of private groups. Nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons, once the sole province of states, may become available to powerful
nonstate organization or even individuals and we will always have to guard
against them. General John Abizaid, during a trip to Baghdad covered by

US News and World report used a curious term to describe the GWOT, as if he
stood not in a particular place, but was the universal soldier standing on the
timeless field of conflict.

The White House uses the term "global war on terror." With the military's
well-known fondness for acronyms, this has, inevitably, been reduced to GWOT,
but Abizaid tends to cast the conflict slightly differently, as the "war on
extremism" or the "long war." ... "We didn't have the guts to get out in front
of the fascists or the Bolsheviks. This time we have to get in front. This
time we have a chance. If we don't fight this fight here, we will fight it at
home. I would ask you to please talk to your captains, young gunnery
sergeants, and tell them we need them. We need them to fight that long war."

A

National Journal interview late last year with Army Chief of Staff Gen.
Peter Schoomaker brought up much the same theme.

NJ: As you look forward, how long do you foresee the global war on
terrorism lasting?

Schoomaker: In my view, the conflict we're now engaged in is not a
short-term endeavor. I think we're into something that will entail some level
of conflict for a great deal of time to come. Some people see war and peace as
a light switch. When the lights are off, it's peacetime. When the lights go
on, it's wartime. I see more of a dimmer switch. We'll see the intensity wax
and wane, but there will always be some level of conflict going on.

George
Santayana ridiculed Woodrow Wilson's ambition to fight a 'war to end all
wars'. "Yet the poor fellows think they are safe! They think that the war is
over! Only the dead have seen the end of war." Some plagues are cured but for a
season; though that is enough. Santayana was a brilliant philosopher, but he
would have made a poor garbage collector.