Government Stepping Up Border Protection, Paper Reports

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he federal government is increasing its border-screening capability though some critics say the efforts fall short in some areas, USA Today reported Monday.

The Department of Homeland Security and various agencies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to screen cargo at the nation’s ports, test next-generation radiation detectors and develop plans to track deadly weapons if they are brought across the borders, the paper reported in a front-page story.

Last week DHS and the Energy Department broke ground on a $35 million nuclear and radiological countermeasures center near Las Vegas, USA Today said. Scientists will test the latest detectors to improve what's already being used at ports, the paper said.

DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff also said last week that the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will have enough drive-through radiation monitors to screen every container passing through the two ports — the nation’s busiest — by the end of the year, the paper reported.

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