Seven members of Congress stepped out of their offices to see two hot-off-the-assembly-line monitors that visited Washington, D.C. on their way to their home base at the Newark, N.J. seaport.

“Keeping our nation’s seaports safe by using cutting-edge technologies is a critical component in securing America’s borders,” CBP Assistant Commissioner Jayson Ahern told the gathering. “Radiation portal monitors help our highly trained CBP officers to better deter, detect and defend Americans from a potential terror attack.”

Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson also discussed ongoing, multi-faceted efforts to secure U.S. ports and global trade.

Rep. Peter King, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee told the gathering that his committee had written a new port security bill with bipartisan participation that would further safeguard U.S. ports.

Presently, CBP operates over 680 radiation portal monitors at our nation’s ports (including 214 radiation portal monitors at seaports), uses over 174 large scale non-intrusive inspection devices to examine cargo, and has issued 566 hand-held radiation isotope identifier devices and nearly 13,000 personal radiation detectors for CBP officers working at ports across the country.

“There is no ideal way of doing this, no silver bullet,” King said. “We have to take a multi-layered approach. Port security is an issue that supersedes partisanship.”

Several other members of the committee also spoke at the event and answered questions from the press.

Deployment of the two mobile units to Newark coincides with the delivery of four units to the Port of Los Angeles/Long Beach. By the end of 2007, CBP will be able to inspect 98 percent of the cargo entering the U.S., Ahern said.

Also in attendance were Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA), Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson and CBP Domestic Nuclear Detection Office Director Vayl Oxford.

“At the Committee on Homeland Security, port security remains our top priority,” Rep. King said. “We must do everything in our power to prevent another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. That means working with DHS to strengthen our domestic security measures, improving capabilities to target high risk containers, and providing our ports with the most advanced security technology, such as mobile Radiation Portal Monitors.” EB

CBP holds open house on Capitol Hill A few hours after the mobile portal monitor event, the first CBP open house on Capitol Hill took place to provide elected officials and their staffers an opportunity to take a first-hand look at some of the innovative ways CBP secures the borders using various technologies and enforcement methods. Displays included Border Patrol Tactical Unit weapons; agriculture specialists with prohibited and restricted food products; non-intrusive inspection and Laboratory and Scientific Services technologies, including a mobile lab; an exhibit by the Office of Air and Marine; a radiological detection demonstration; a demonstration of the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System and the Department of Homeland Security’s Automated Biometric Identification System; Secure Border Initiative materials; Intellectual Property Rights violations examples; Border Patrol technologies; and a variety of canine detector dogs. Photo Credit: James Tourtellotte During “Hill Day” in Washington D.C., National Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar, right, and CBP Air and Marine Assistant Commissioner Michael C. Kostelnik look at a new uniform being released to CBP pilots. The event included participation from headquarters and field staff, and resulted in visits from more than 40 Hill staffers and 14 television and print media representatives. The media conducted interviews with National Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar, CBP Air and Marine Assistant Commissioner Michael C. Kostelnik, Therese Randazzo with the Office of Strategic Trade, and other subject matter expert participants.