US border inspectors fail dirty bomb test

WASHINGTON - Four years after the September 11 attacks, investigators were able to easily enter the United States with enough radioactive material to make two so-called dirty bombs.

Two teams entered at the Mexican and Canadian borders carrying radioactive material in their vehicles last December, the Government Accountability Office said.

The congressional watchdog agency said the undercover test aimed to examine potential weaknesses related to monitors at ports of entry.

The monitors worked. But the investigators, posing as employees of a fictitious company, still got past the border patrol with fake paperwork authorising them to transport the material.

"The inspectors never questioned the authenticity of the investigators' counterfeit bill of lading or the counterfeit [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] authorisation to receive, acquire, possess and transfer radioactive sources. We believe the amount of radioactive sources that we were able to transport ... would be sufficient to produce two dirty bombs, which could be used as weapons of mass disruption."

- REUTERS