The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued recommendations to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding radiation portal monitor acquisition efforts.
The recommendations stem from DHS’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office (CWMD) replacing radiation portal monitors that scan cargo at U.S. ports. The new monitors have been delayed by more than three years, and those being tested have higher nuisance alarm rates than monitors currently in use at ports.
Nuisance alarms result from naturally occurring radioactive materials in certain consumer goods and require port law enforcement personnel to conduct a secondary scan to determine the source of the alarm is not a threat before a cargo container or vehicle is cleared to leave a port.
The GAO reviewed strategic and implementation plans and employee surveys and interviewed CWMD personnel regarding how the office executes its functions, coordinates with partners, and takes steps to improve morale.
GAO also interviewed officials from other DHS components and federal agencies.
Additionally, GAO selected a nongeneralizable sample of state and local partners from 15 jurisdictions based on participation in CWMD programs covering threat areas.
The GAO recommends the Assistant Secretary for CWMD should coordinate with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to reassess its current acquisition strategy for replacement radiation portal monitors to ensure the selected technology or technologies meet CBP’s needs; specify, in the new strategic plan for the Global Nuclear Detection Architecture, steps to reconstitute the capability gap analysis function; specify in CWMD’s State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Engagement Strategy how often CWMD convenes its state and local partners in the chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threat areas; and develop and document a formal process for resolving CWMD contractor complaints.