Customs Uses Detectors, Sensors to Combat Terrorism

ETROIT-WINDSOR, Ontario — Radiation used to be a topic for science fiction mutation movies, but since 9/11, searching trucks and other vehicles for radioactive materials has become a well-founded cause of concern among U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at border crossing points.

Chief Ronald Smith of CBP said all trucks crossing the Ambassador Bridge from Windsor, Ontario, must drive through a radiation detection portal on the Detroit side. It is all part of the agency’s effort to use both sophisticated technology and the five human senses to combat terrorism, root out contraband and prevent material for “dirty bombs” from entering the United States. A dirty bomb combines a conventional explosive with radioactive material.

While the sensing device, nicknamed “the golden arches,” does not expose trucks to radiation, the information it generates helps the officer determine whether to direct a truck toward a second round of inspection, where a gamma ray radiation device that can “see” inside the trailer is used.