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PREPUBLICATION COPY
Evaluating Testing, Costs, and Benefits of
Advanced Spectroscopic Portals for Screening Cargo at Ports of
Entry
INTERIM REPORT
(ABBREVIATED VERSION)
Committee on Advanced Spectroscopic Portals
Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board
Division on Earth and Life Studies
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the
National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of
Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the
committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for
appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract/Grant No. HSHQDC-08-A-00056 between the National Academy
of Sciences and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or
recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the
views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, N.W.,
Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washington
metropolitan area); Internet, http://www.nap.edu
Copyright 2009 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
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The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished
scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and
technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the
Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on
scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National
Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its
administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the
responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors
engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and
recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National
Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the
services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to
the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of
Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own
initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president
of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to
associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering
knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies
determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National
Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government,
the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both
Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and
vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.
www.national-academies.org
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Committee on Advanced Spectroscopic Portals
Robert Dynes, CHAIR, University of California, San Diego
Richard Blahut, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Robert R. Borchers, Maui High Performance Computing Center, Hawaii
Philip E. Coyle, III, Private Consultant and World Security Institute, Sacramento, California
Roger L. Hagengruber, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Carl N. Henry, Private Consultant, Albuquerque, New Mexico
John M. Holmes, Port of Los Angeles, California
Karen Kafadar, Indiana University, Bloomington
C. Michael Lederer, University of California Energy Institute, Berkeley
Keith W. Marlow, Private Consultant, Albuquerque, New Mexico
John W. Poston, Sr., Texas A&M University, College Station
Henry H. Willis, Rand Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
STAFF
Micah D. Lowenthal, Study Director
Sarah C. Case, Program Officer
Kathryn Hughes, Associate Program Officer
Toni Greenleaf, Administrative and Financial Associate
Mandi Boykin, Senior Program Assistant (April to December 2008)
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Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board
Richard A. Meserve (Chairman), Carnegie Institution, Washington, D.C.
S. James Adelstein (Vice Chairman), Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
Joonhong Ahn, University of California, Berkeley
Joel S. Bedford, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
Sue B. Clark, Washington State University, Pullman
Allen G. Croff, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Retired), St. Augustine, Florida
Patricia J. Culligan, Columbia University, New York, New York
Sarah C. Darby, Clinical Trial Service Unit, Oxford, United Kingdom
Jay Davis, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Retired)
Roger L. Hagengruber, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
David G. Hoel, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston
Hedvig Hricak, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York
Thomas H. Isaacs, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California
Paul A. Locke, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
Boris F. Myasoedov; Russian Academy of Sciences
John C. Villforth, Food and Drug Law Institute (Retired), Gaithersburg, Maryland
Raymond G. Wymer, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Retired), Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Paul L. Ziemer, Purdue University (Retired), West Lafayette, Indiana
Staff
Kevin D. Crowley, Director
Micah D. Lowenthal, Program Director
John R. Wiley, Senior Program Officer
Sarah Case, Program Officer
Daniela Stricklin, Program Officer
Toni Greenleaf, Administrative and Financial Associate
Laura D. Llanos, Administrative and Financial Associate
Shaunteé Whetstone, Senior Program Assistant
Erin Wingo, Program Assistant
James Yates, Jr., Office Assistant
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Preface
The threat of a nuclear attack on the United States has haunted the U.S. public
consciousness and been a central motivation in U.S. national defense since the 1950s. This was
vividly demonstrated by the image of American schoolchildren doing “duck and cover” drills at
the early heights of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. With the end of the
Cold War, the prospect of a full-scale nuclear exchange between superpowers diminished, but
the specter of new and different threats emerged: nuclear terrorism and clandestine nuclear
attacks. Countering these new threats is a different kind of challenge and a goal that all
reasonable people support. The question however, is where to devote limited funds to achieve the
greatest impact against these risks. This report is an interim report of a study on the testing of
next generation radiation detectors for screening cargo at ports of entry to the United States, one
layer of the defense against such attacks. These new detectors are called advanced spectroscopic
portals (ASPs).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is responsible for screening cargo for nuclear
and radiological material at ports of entry. The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) is
responsible for development and testing of new detectors and coordinating efforts for this
mission. Both CBP and DNDO are in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DNDO
issued the contract for this study to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in late April 2008
at the direction of Congress. The study is to advise the Secretary of Homeland Security on
testing, analysis, costs, and benefits of the systems. DNDO wanted the NAS to issue a report in
just over 4 months, and the NAS was prepared and equipped to deliver a report on that schedule,
provided that all of the necessary information was provided by DHS. To carry out the study, the
National Research Council (which is the operating arm of the NAS) assembled a committee with
expertise in detection and identification of radioactive materials (nuclear materials and devices),
cost-benefit analysis, statistical interpretation of data, algorithms for analysis of measurements,
radiation shielding, deployment of detection systems, and port-of-entry operations.
To gather information for the study, the committee observed operations during visits to
ports of entry and test sites, reviewed the test plans and results, and met with experts and
program managers. The committee obviously could not observe the prior tests, and so in addition
to looking at the test plans and results from those tests, the committee took as valuable input
reports by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Independent Review Team,
which was convened at the request of the DHS Secretary. Like the prior tests, those reports were
completed before the committee was formed, and indeed led to the request for this study. Given
that DNDO acknowledged several of the problems with earlier testing, the committee focused
more of its efforts on testing conducted in 2008 and the analysis that followed. The committee
met in May, June, July, August, and October 2008 for information gathering, and subgroups of
the committee visited ports in Seattle, Los Angeles, and Long Beach; border crossings in Blaine,
Washington, and Otay Mesa, California; and met with experts at Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque.
The committee also heard from ASP program staff, the vendors, and outside experts in meetings
in Washington, D.C.
The original plan for testing, evaluation, and consultation was a tightly coupled schedule
dictated by the Secretary of Homeland Security’s intent to make a decision in September 2008
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PREFACE
whether to certify that the ASPs would provide “a significant increase in operational
effectiveness”. This wording was in the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act
for Fiscal Year 2007, and certification was required by Congress before DHS obligates funds for
full-scale procurement of ASPs. This requirement was repeated in fiscal year 2008. In late July
of 2008, DHS issued a signed memorandum defining what is a significant increase in operational
effectiveness, in the context of ASP testing. At the same time, it became clear that the equipment
vendors, DNDO, and CBP could not meet their September target date because testing would not
be completed until much later. Also, DNDO had not finalized some of the methods for analyzing
results, and particularly for assessing costs and benefits. In the fall, as testing and evaluation
continued to take longer than DHS hoped, the NAS proposed to DHS that the committee issue an
interim report that would help DNDO and CBP complete their testing and evaluation more
effectively. DHS accepted this proposal.
At the time that this report entered peer review, the committee had only seen preliminary
results and analyses from the performance testing and an incomplete version of the DNDO cost-
benefit analysis, both in briefing form. Because of the preliminary nature of the results the
committee has seen and the incomplete state of the cost-benefit analysis methodology, this
interim report focuses more on methodology than on results. During the peer review, DNDO
provided a draft final report on performance testing. Unfortunately, the DNDO report was
received too late to be considered in this Academy review. DNDO and DHS still have analysis
and decisions ahead of them, even after the analysis of performance testing is finalized, and this
interim report should help with that work. The final report will address the balance of the
committee’s statement of task. The committee wrote this interim report to assist DHS in its
procurement efforts, to provide the Secretary with initial advice, and to begin to fulfill Congress’
request. It is the committee’s hope that DNDO, CBP, and DHS will consider the report in the
spirit it is intended.
This report is an abbreviated version of the classified report provided to DNDO, DHS,
and Congress. Some sensitive details have been removed, but the findings and recommendations
remain unchanged from the full report.
Robert Dynes, Chairman
Committee on Advanced Spectroscopic Portals
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REVIEWERS
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives
and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the National Research Council Report
Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments
that will assist the institution in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the
report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The
content of the review comments and draft manuscript remains confidential to protect the integrity of the
deliberative process. We wish to thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of
this report:
Vicki Bier, University of Wisconsin, Madison,
Jay C. Davis, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Defense Threat
Reduction Agency (retired),
Robin Dillon-Merrill, Georgetown University,
Glenn Knoll, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (retired),
Richard Meserve, Carnegie Institution of Washington,
Dennis Slaughter, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (retired),
George Thompson, Homeland Security Institute, and
Alyson Wilson, Iowa State University.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they
were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations, nor did they see the final draft of the
report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Dr. John Ahearne, Sigma Xi, the
Scientific Research Society. Appointed by the National Research Council, he was responsible for making
certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional
procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of
this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Research Council.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This study began as a fast-track effort, and the committee had to obtain and learn a large
amount of information from different sources over a short period of time. The committee was
able to accomplish this with the assistance of program staff in the Domestic Nuclear Detection
Office and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as from several other people and
organizations. The committee gratefully acknowledges the following people and organizations
that provided information to the committee: Vayl Oxford, Walt Dickey, Julian Hill, Ernie
Muenchau, Mark Mullen, John Roland, Jason Shergur, Domestic Nuclear Detection Office;
George Ryan, Department of Homeland Security; Ben Nicholson, House Committee on
Appropriations, Homeland Security Subcommittee staff; Gene Aloise, Ned Woodward, Joe
Cook, Kevin Tarmin, Government Accountability Office; George Thompson, Homeland
Security Institute; Thomas Cochran and Matthew McKinzie, Natural Resources Defense
Council; John O’Sullivan, Raytheon Corporation; Mark Ramlo, Thermo-Fisher Corporation;
Steve Mettler, Canberra Corporation; Mark Abhold, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Sonya
Bowyer, J. Mark Henderson, Asim Khawaja, John Schweppe, Eric Smith, Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory; RAND Corporation; the Port of Los Angeles; Maersk Shipping; the Port of
Long Beach; Mel Chicazola and colleagues, Otay Mesa Border Crossing; Patrick Simmons,
Todd Hoffman, Javier Larios, and CBP officers at the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long
Beach, the Port of Seattle, and the Otay Mesa and Blaine border crossings, U.S. Customs and
Border Protection; the Nevada Test Site; and Dean Mitchell, Sandia National Laboratory. The
committee particularly acknowledges the assistance it received from its liaison from the
Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, LTC Chad Russell.
The committee appreciates the assistance received from the following organizations in
facilitating the committee’s work: RAND Corporation; U.S. Coast Guard, Long Beach; and
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
The committee is also grateful for the assistance provided by the National Research
Council staff in preparing this report. Mandi Boykin and Toni Greenleaf provided the committee
with administrative and logistical support through a series of many meetings arranged on short
notice at a variety of locations. Sarah Case, Kathryn Hughes, and Micah Lowenthal provided
professional support to the committee, without which the report would not have been completed.
Robert Dynes, Chairman
Committee on Advanced Spectroscopic Portals
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Contents
Executive Summary 1
Summary 3
1. Introduction 8
2. Background on Radiation Detection 14
3. Testing and Analyses of the ASP and PVT/RIID Systems 25
4. Cost-Benefit Analysis 44
References 54
Appendix A
The Joint Explanatory Statement and the Statement of Task 57
Appendix B
Performance Metrics for ASPs and PVTs. 58
Appendix C
The Value of Factorial Experiments 69
Appendix D
Brief Biographies of Committee Members 72
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