Security Briefs - April 1 - April 7
The Latest Headlines:
- Parts of U.S.-Canada Border Disappearing
- Ohio Law Enforcement Seeks Funds for Sniper Investigation
- Transit Systems Increase Security
- DOE Studying Trucking Waste to Yucca Mountain
- Canadian Official Says Better Security Measures Needed
- Ohio Law Enforcement Seeks Funds for Sniper Investigation
Parts of U.S.-Canada Border Disappearing
The International Boundary Commission, which is responsible for marking and maintaining the U.S.-Canada border, has fallen so far behind with its responsibilities it may never catch up without additional funding, the Associated Press reported.The agency said markers are deteriorating and parts of the border are becoming overgrown by trees and brush to the point the border's location could be lost in some areas.
An overgrown border reduces the effectiveness of infrared detection, observation scopes, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and aircraft used for monitoring purposes, said Marvin Foust, assistant chief patrol agent for the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
Officials said they have not been able to carry out a five-year plan for turning things around because they did not have enough money. The agency, which received $1.23 million this year from the United States and the same amount from Canada, will likely ask that its budget be doubled, AP said. Transport Topics
Ohio Law Enforcement Seeks Funds for Sniper Investigation
Central Ohio law enforcement agencies said they are unlikely to get federal financial help for the recent $2.3 million highway shootings investigation, the Associated Press reported.Although the Justice Department paid 26 police departments more than half of what it cost them to investigate the Washington-area sniper shootings that killed 10 people two years ago, no federal grants seem to apply in the Ohio case, AP said.
owever, Ohio officials said they could still receive funding from a grant program. They noted that in the Washington case, local jurisdictions received funds from similiar programs only after intense lobbying.
More than eight local, state and federal agencies were involved in the investigation from Nov. 25, when Gail Knisley was killed on Interstate 270 near Columbus, Ohio, to March 17, when Charles McCoy Jr. was arrested. Transport Topics
Transit Systems Increase Security
A warning that terrorists could strike trains and buses in major U.S. cities using bombs concealed in bags or luggage has the nation's transit systems stepping up security measures, the Associated Press reported.U.S. officials said they received uncorroborated intelligence reports about a plot by terrorists to target commercial transportation systems but had no information about specific cities or dates.
Greg Hull, security chief for the American Public Transportation Association, said the transit systems were at "code yellow-plus." The nation's terror alert level remains at yellow, or elevated, the midpoint of the five-color scale.
Federal officials have encouraged local transit authorities to conduct random passenger inspections and security sweeps of stations and to increase public announcements encouraging people to report unattended baggage or suspicious behavior, AP said. Transport Topics
DOE Studying Trucking Waste to Yucca Mountain
The U.S. Department of Energy is considering a plan to ship radioactive spent fuel by truck through rural Nevada to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository if a railroad was not built in time, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.The plan assumes nuclear waste would be shipped to the repository by truck for the first six years of operations, which DOE says will begin in 2010. After six years, it assumes a railroad would be up and running to the site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
A government document obtained by the newspaper indicated DOE was considering a route totaling 330 miles using both federal and state roads.
DOE estimated truck shipments through rural Nevada could increase from about 600 the first year to 2,200 annually by the fourth, fifth and sixth years. Transport Topics
Canadian Official Says Better Security Measures Needed
Canada's Auditor General Sheila Fraser said the Canadian government has not tightened its security procedures sufficiently following the 9/11 attacks, the Associated Press reported.Fraser said the lack of coordination among security agencies and the weaknesses at airports and border crossings need to be urgently addressed.
Fraser's office is independent and serves Parliament, AP reported. Fraser said government departments and agencies are still unable to share some security information and not all of their systems communicate with each other. Transport Topics
