Nuclear detectors in Washington state detect radioactive cat
DHS has radiation monitors along Interstate 5 to make sure no radioactive material is being smuggled into the country; the monitors are so sensitive that they detected a sick cat in a car driving at 70 miles per hour (the cat was taken home after cancer radiation treatment at the vet)
In a meeting last week of 200 San Juan Islanders, deputy chief Joe Giuliano of the Border Patrol explained to agency’s policy to conduct citizenship checks on domestic ferry runs. The Seattle Times’s Danny Westneat writes that near the end of his presentation, while trying to convince the audience that the point is to root out terrorists, Giuliano revealed that DHS has been monitoring Interstate 5 for nuclear dirty bombs. They do it with radiation detectors so sensitive it led to the following incident. “Vehicle goes by at 70 miles per hour,” Giuliano told the crowd. “Agent is in the median, a good 80 feet away from the traffic. Signal went off and identified an isotope [in the passing car].” The agent raced after the car, pulling it over not far from the monitoring spot (near the Bow-Edison exit, 18 miles south of Bellingham). The agent questioned the driver, then did a cursory search of the car, Giuliano said. “Turned out to be a cat with cancer that had undergone a radiological treatment three days earlier,” Giuliano said. He added: “That’s the type of technology we have that’s going on in the background. You don’t see it. If I hadn’t told you about it, you’d never know it was there.”
