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| Home Front: WoT |
| Weapons seizure becomes source of pride |
| 2006-01-16 |
| Los Angeles Times Via Newsday, caught via Polipundit....is that clear? LOL January 16, 2006 The weapons seizure was modest: 37 revolvers, 1,280 rounds of ammunition and one silencer. But its discovery at a port halfway around the world last May packed a big punch at Rapiscan Systems Inc. Using equipment built by the Hawthorne, Calif., company, port inspectors in Bombay, India, found the cache at the bottom of a barrel of waste grease inside a cargo container. ewwwww A month later, during a news conference at Baltimore's port, Rapiscan's Multiple Eagle cargo and vehicle inspection system used there picked up an endorsement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner. He said the Rapiscan system is a "unique tool in our arsenal of detection technology to protect our country . . . achieving increased security against the terrorist threat, and doing so without shutting down the flow of trade." By September, Rapiscan had parlayed the events into a $16-million sale of Multiple Eagle systems to a customer that the company declined to identify. It was a moment of clarity in a crowded field where companies have a hard time differentiating themselves from rivals, much less furnishing proof that their products will thwart a terrorist attack. "The Indian customs officials sent photos of the seizure to us, and most of the engineers had them up on their desks for weeks," said Peter Kent, Rapiscan's vice president of government affairs. "For those who spent years of testing and failing, knowing it was being used and helping to protect against terror was exceptionally motivating." Rapiscan is among the hundreds of companies that have lined up since the Sept. 11 attacks to sell equipment and software to improve security at seaports, airports and other vulnerable spots. The federal government spent $18 billion from 2001 to 2004 on homeland security, a congressional research report said, but there is no central supplier database. Instead, the companies - from tiny to huge - attend conferences and trade fairs to tout products and hire lobbyists to navigate the government and corporate bureaucracies. The customers' changing needs have required Rapiscan and others to develop costly technology to respond to new types of threats. Before September 2001, "we had some work with customs duty controls and anti-smuggling work, but the biggest focus was drug interdiction," Kent said. "Now, you are looking for explosives, nuclear materials and chemical threats that do not have to be trafficked in large amounts. You need more sophisticated and higher-performing equipment." The 400-employee operation came up with high-energy X-ray and thermal-neutron scanners that could see 98 percent of what was inside a cargo container, compared with the ability to see 40 percent to 50 percent. Even more sophisticated equipment is being tested, Kent said. |
| Posted by:Frank G |
| #2 "Using equipment built by the Hawthorne, Calif., company, port inspectors in Bombay, India, found the cache at the bottom of a barrel of waste grease inside a cargo container." Arghh! That was Willy's retirement grease! |
| Posted by: Tibor 2006-01-16 22:30 |
| #1 oops - prolly should've hit WOT backgr'd..my bad |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-01-16 18:08 |