What a tremendous surprise! The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) had a plan to carpet the United States with radiation detectors, and it ends up it will cost much, much more than had originally been budgeted.
An audit report by the federal Government Accountability Office shows that officials in the detection office plan to deploy the machines, known as advanced spectroscopic portal monitors or ASPs, on a far more limited basis than originally planned. The new plan will focus on using the machines to monitor cargo containers, the report said. The detection office is not sure what method it will use to screen "rail cars, privately owned vehicles, airport cargo and cargo at seaport terminals" in the near future, the report said.
The report said "senior DNDO officials acknowledge a deployment program that is dramatically different in scope than the one presented to and approved by Congress. Program officials now state the program includes only the standard cargo ASP -- a significant reduction in planned ASP equipment."
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The GAO audit is part of an ongoing review of the detection office's cost estimates. The review found that the cost to install and operate the machines in U.S. ports of entry -- based on the detection office's 2006 plan -- could be as high as $3.8 billion over a decade, about 81 percent higher than detection office estimates. The likely cost would be about $3.1 billion, the report said, about 48 percent higher than the office's estimates. The GAO concluded the detection office estimates were unreliable in part because they omitted major costs.
This program has been consistently oversold and underbudgetted. Given the unlikely threat and systematic problems with deploying and maintaining the equipment, this is one initiative that ought to be killed. We ought to stick with the NEST capability and let the cities and states fund their own radiation portals, as they see fit according to risk assessment and vulnerability studies.
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