Security & Safety Briefs - July 8 - July 14
The Latest Headlines:
- Officials Say Added Security at Border Won't Mean Longer Delays
- Court Upholds Yucca Mountain Site, but Says Tougher Protections Needed
- Truckers Help Police Capture Carjacker in Virginia
- Officials Say Terrorists Want to Disrupt U.S. Election
- Court Upholds Yucca Mountain Site, but Says Tougher Protections Needed
Officials Say Added Security at Border Won't Mean Longer Delays
Alfonso Martinez-Fonts, special assistant to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, said Tuesday that tighter security at the U.S.-Canada border as the political season heats up would not translate into additional delays, the Associated Press reported.Speaking at the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region in British Columbia, Martinez-Fonts said border inspections would continue as normal, and he did not expect "any change at the borders at this point," AP said.
Jim Williams, another homeland security official, told AP border security would only be tightened only if there was a specific threat. Transport Topics
Court Upholds Yucca Mountain Site, but Says Tougher Protections Needed
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld a federal plan to build a storage facility for nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain, Nevada, but said tougher protection standards must be enacted, news services reported.Trucks would be used to transfer the waste to Yucca Mountain from sites around the country.
The judges said it could not review the actions of the president and Energy Department that led to the choice because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing requirements had been followed. The appeal was being led by the state of Nevada and environmental groups.
However, the judges also overturned a plan by the Environmental Protection Agency to protect the public from radiation for 10,000 years, saying the government must protect against leaks for a longer period. Transport Topics
Truckers Help Police Capture Carjacker in Virginia
A citizens band radio and a group of anonymous truckers helped police in Fairfax County, Virginia, capture a suspect in a carjacking on Wednesday morning, the Washington Post reported.After the carjacking, which took place in a parking garage of local mall, Fairfax officers broadcast a lookout for the stolen car.
An officer with the police motor carrier safety unit spotted the vehicle while on the side of Interstate 95, but decided against starting a chase in heavy traffic. Instead, the Post said, he put out a call to truckers in the area over a CB radio and these drivers kept the vehicle in their sights.
The suspect was captured shortly after exiting the highway in nearby Prince William County. Transport Topics
Officials Say Terrorists Want to Disrupt U.S. Election
FBI, CIA and Homeland Security Department officials told House members on Wednesday about a stream of intelligence indicating al-Qaida may try to mount a terrorist attack aimed at disrupting U.S. elections, the Associated Press reported.Rep. Christopher Cox, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said there are concerns al-Qaida wants to strike inside the United States in the hopes to influence the U.S. election, as terrorists did in Spain with the deadly Madrid train bombings in March.
However, Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security undersecretary for border and transportation security, said there are no plans to raise the nation's terror alert level, AP reported. Transport Topics
