WASHINGTON Ñ U.S. officials said European nations are poorly-equipped to
track efforts to smuggle nuclear material across Europe and to such
rogue states as Iran, Iraq and Libya.
The officials said Eastern and Central European states are not equipped
with advanced equipment needed to detect material required to assemble an
atomic bomb, according to a government reported cited by Middle East Newsline.
They said the material that is detected is usually of
radioactive elements that cannot be used in nuclear weapons.
"Detecting actual cases of illicit trafficking in weapons-usable nuclear
material is complicated because one of the materials that is of greatest
concern in terms of proliferation -- highly enriched uranium -- is among the
most difficult materials to detect due to its relatively low level of
radioactivity," a report by the General Accounting Office said. "In
contrast, medical and industrial radioactive sources, which could be used in
a radiological dispersion device or 'dirty bomb,' are highly radioactive
and therefore easier to detect."
The May report by the GAO, the watchdog of Congress, said European
customs officers or border guards are often untrained to operate the
equipment supplied by the United States to detect nuclear smuggling. From
1992 through 2001, six U.S. agencies received $140 million to combat the
threat of nuclear smuggling in about 30 countries. They included all the
republics of the former Soviet Union and most of the former East Bloc.
The GAO report said $86.1 million of the U.S. allocations was spent. The
agency said often U.S. allies in the former East Bloc were insufficiently
trained or prepared to handle advanced U.S. equipment, which is relayed by
several different agencies.
"The current multiple-agency approach is not, in our view, the most
effective way to deliver this assistance," the report said. "We believe the
development of a government-wide plan is needed."
