European ports install radiation detectors as U.S. delays Just
last week, U.S. officials announced that the Homeland Security
Department is slowing plans to roll out 1,400 monitors, each
costing nearly $400,000, as part of a $1.2 billion multiyear
project. In field tests, the new Advanced Spectroscopic Portal
monitors, or ASPs, "led to the determination that additional
functional capacity is needed to meet the operational
standards," a department spokeswoman announced. The
announcement, which means the machines could take another year
to reach U.S. ports, comes after more than a year of sparring
between DHS officials and the Government Accountability Office
over how effective the technology is as well as testing methods
used to evaluate it. The debate over the new equipment has
largely played out in congressional hearings. In September,
Government Accountability Office officials argued that DHS
testing was based on a "biased" methodology that allowed vendors
an artificial edge during the evaluation of their r