The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Department of Homeland Security have made only "limited progress" in strengthening safeguards intended to prevent unauthorized persons from purchasing radioactive materials, according to a new report (.pdf) from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

The latest negative report is a followup to a 2003 GAO report (.pdf) that revealed critical security weaknesses in NRC's licensing process for purchasing nuclear materials. In 2007, the GAO reported that its investigators, representing a fictitious firm, had succeeded in securing an NRC license allowing them to purchase enough radioactive material to build a dirty bomb. And in 2006, GAO investigators had little trouble in actually smuggling dirty bomb material into the United States.

GAO found that NRC and CBP had chosen to disregard most of its recommendations from past reports in favor of developing their own National Source Tracking System for radioactive materials, which, points out the GAO "has been delayed by 18 months and is not expected to be fully operational until January 2009."

Also See:
Federal Agents Smuggle Dirty Bomb Material into U.S. (2006)
Fake Firm Gets Government Nuclear License (2007)

Now how safe is this nation's food-supply chain? A USDA plant protection and quarantine officer stationed in Laredo, Texas, has admitted to illegally allowing agricultural products infested with a plant pest to enter the United States from Mexico since 2005.

According to the Department of Justice, Jose Homero Reyes, 48, pleaded guilty to three charges of conspiracy in failing to perform USDA-required fumigation of infested agricultural products before allowing them to enter the United States.

Trucks entering the U.S. from Mexico through Laredo determined to be carrying products infested with a plant pest are required by law to have their contents fumigated before leaving Laredo. A plant protection and quarantine officer, like Reyes, must be present at the time of the fumigation and present documentation of the process to the USDA. Since the fumigations typically take place after-hours, the quarantine officers are paid overtime for their work. Not only did Reyes admit to conspiring with a Laredo pest control service to falsify results of non-existent fumigations, he charged taxpayers overtime for his "service."

"As part of his guilty plea, Reyes admitted he provided consent to the freight forwarding company/customs broker, allowing the trucks carrying agricultural products infested with a plant pest to leave Laredo, knowing that the agricultural products were not properly fumigated. Reyes would also falsely claim overtime for hours he never worked in addition to submitting false written reports to the USDA falsely documenting the fumigation results," stated the Justice Department in a press release.

Also See:
As Salmonella Spreads, FDA says Food Safety Increasing
Bush's Imported Food Safety Action Plan Issued