Contractor says tests will show cargo screening effectiveness

Officials from Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems said Thursday they are counting on upcoming tests of advanced cargo screening portals to prove to lawmakers that the technology works and can be rapidly deployed at all U.S. ports of entry.

Raytheon is one of three companies contracted by the Homeland Security Department last month to deploy advanced spectroscopic portals for screening cargo entering the country. The other companies are Thermo Electron Corp. and Canberra Industries.

Raytheon officials told reporters Thursday that ASP technology will provide a greatly increased capability to detect and identify radioactive material inside cargo containers. Raytheon plans to provide the government with five of the advanced portals in November for testing in Nevada and at a New York-New Jersey container terminal, said Mike Sharp, the company's program director.

Current radiation portal monitors have been criticized for not being able to distinguish innocuous materials that emit radiation -- such as kitty litter, ceramics and bananas -- from actual threats, such as a radiological dirty bomb.

"One of the real issues these days with the systems that are currently deployed is that they have a very high false alarm rate and that creates a lot of operational burden for Customs and Border Protection," said Lianne Ing, vice president of business development for Bubble Technology Industries, which has teamed with Raytheon on the technology.

The House Appropriations Committee expressed concern earlier this year that ASP technology has not been proven to be better.

"The committee is concerned over the lack of quantitative analysis which demonstrates the increased effectiveness of sodium-iodide based advanced spectroscopic portal monitors compared to the current generation [monitors]," lawmakers wrote in May in the fiscal 2007 Homeland Security appropriations bill.

The committee asked Homeland Security officials for a cost-benefit analysis of the technologies by July 1, which was before the contracts were awarded.

Mary Petryszyn, Raytheon's vice president for joint battlespace integration, said the company expects the November tests to further prove to lawmakers that ASP technology works better than current monitors.

"I certainly believe that the intent of this program is to improve the capability that exists today and increase detection probability," she said.

Petryszyn said Raytheon was awarded a one-year base contract with four one-year options, and is expected to deliver 32 ASP monitors by January. She added that the company could ramp-up production if the government wanted.

"We certainly have what I would like to say is unlimited production capacity," she said. "We're looking forward to any number of production units that DHS would like."