DEVICE MAY DO X-RAYS ONE BETTER

El Paso Border Crossing To Test System That Reads Cargo's Chemical Makeup

EL PASO - A new type of detector that can identify the chemical composition
of loads inside trucks and alert inspectors to suspicious materials will be
in place next summer at a southeast El Paso international bridge.

"It's an exciting concept," said P.T. Wright, operations chief for the U.S.
Customs Service in El Paso. "For 5,000 years, customs inspectors had to see
it, touch it and feel it, but this enables them to inspect something
without ever having to open a container."

El Paso is the only city along the U.S.-Mexico border that will test the
system. After a six-month, $15 million trial is complete, the system's
success will be evaluated and Congress will decide whether to continue
funding the program.

Unlike the existing X-ray systems, which only indicate whether a container
is empty or has a load, the new technology uses gamma rays, subatomic
particles, that can read the chemical composition of its contents.

"Using the known gamma-ray fingerprints of contraband materials, [the
system] can detect their presence," said program manager Bill Snow, who
works for Veridian Information Solutions in Falls Church, Va. "For the
chemical makeup of specific explosives and narcotics, the computers
automatically alert operators for the presence of these substances."

X-ray systems in use have a 45 percent to 50 percent error rate, compared
with the gamma-ray system's error rate of less than 1 percent, project
officials said.

Ancore, using a manufacturing plant in Santa Clara, Calif., is making the
"Fast Pulsed Neutron Analysis" system for the project, which is spearheaded
by the Defense Department in conjunction with the Customs Service and
Transportation Security Administration.

Mr. Snow said officials chose the Zaragosa border crossing in southeast El
Paso for the pilot program because it has enough space to accommodate the
new structure and a high volume of commercial traffic.

The large volume of commercial crossings contributes to the longer waiting
times. The number of 20-foot containers entering U.S. border crossings and
seaports doubled between 1990 and 2000 - to 30.3 million from 15.2 million
- - but inspection staffs and facilities have not kept up with the growth.

"This is an automatic, material-specific identification system that needs
no human interpretation," said Peter Kant, governmental relations vice
president for the Jefferson Consulting Group, which is working with Ancore.
"It can tell you if something is sarin gas, cocaine or something else."

Whenever a Customs Service inspector needs to take apart a cargo load for
further checking, it can take up to 15 hours, he said.

"We're very interested in technologies that would speed up the service and
deliveries to our customers in a safe environment," said Michael Hissam,
spokesman for Delphi Automotive Systems, which operates more than 15 plants
and a technical center in Juárez, Mexico.

"We're also very supportive of efforts to improve transborder security."

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