Security Briefs - June 3 - June 9
The Latest Headlines:
- Dispute Growing in Congress Over Security Grants
- Suspicious Vehicle Shuts Washington Border
- House Panel Clears $32 Billion for Homeland Security
- Truck Carrying Nuclear Waste Goes Off Designed Route
- Suspicious Vehicle Shuts Washington Border
Dispute Growing in Congress Over Security Grants
A dispute in Congress between rural and urban lawmakers over homeland security money is coming to a head as new legislation seeks to shift money to cities more likely to be struck by terror attacks, the Associated Press reported.Fueling the fight is legislation by Rep. Chris Cox (R-Calif.) that would scrap the current spread-it-around system and apportion $4.3 billion in homeland security grants to states and localities based strictly on threat analysis.
New York and other big cities complain the current program sent $38.31 per person to Wyoming in the 2004 budget, compared to just $5.47 per person to New York. Proponents of the current system argue that New York state has received about $624 million in the last two years, while Wyoming has gotten only $49 million.
Suspicious Vehicle Shuts Washington Border
Authorities closed a section of Interstate 5 at the border of Washington and British Columbia for several hours on June 5 after noticing “a suspicious vehicle,” said a spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection told the Associated Press.The Peach Arch crossing at Blaine, Wash., was closed and traffic on both sides of the border diverted to the nearby Pacific Highway border crossing, which is normally used almost exclusively for truck traffic, AP said.
Mike Milne, spokesman for the bureau, said that “a number of indicators” prompted officials to inspect the vehicle and close the highway while inspectors examined the car.
It was the second time this year the border had been closed because of a suspicious vehicle. Transport Topics
House Panel Clears $32 Billion for Homeland Security
The U.S. House appropriations homeland security subcommittee on Thursday night cleared a $32 billion bill to improve border protection and enhance transport security, Reuters reported.The bill would finance the Department of Homeland Security in the 2005 fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1. It is $896 million above President Bush's request and represents a $2.8 billion increase over 2004, Reuters said.
About a third of the money would go toward border protection, including technology to screen high-risk cargo arriving in land and seaports and immigration security, AP said. It would also provide $5.7 billion for transport security, which includes passenger and baggage screening and for new technology to detect explosives.
The bill must be approved by the full House and Senate. Transport Topics
Truck Carrying Nuclear Waste Goes Off Designed Route
A truck carrying radioactive waste through southern Idaho briefly deviated from its assigned route on Thursday when the driver missed an exit, the Associated Press reported.The truck was carrying waste from the Hanford site in Washington state to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant underground repository in New Mexico, AP said.
The driver missed the exit to continue on Interstate 84 south into Utah and traveled about four miles east on I-86, where he used a maintenance crossover to turn around.
The truck was operating with an electronic vehicle-tracking program and authorities were notified as soon as it went off course, AP said. Transport Topics
