Chertoff Call Your Gut

I think we're dead:

Undercover congressional investigators posing as West Virginia businessmen obtained a license with almost no scrutiny from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that enabled them to buy enough radioactive material from U.S. suppliers to build a "dirty bomb," a new government report says.

The investigators obtained the license within 28 days from officials at the NRC, the federal agency that in addition to regulating nuclear power plants oversees radioactive materials used in health care and industry, the report by the Government Accountability Office says. NRC officials approved the request with a minimal background check that included no face-to-face interview or visit to the purported company to ensure it existed and complied with safety rules, the report says.

Homeland Security in Action

You've heard about the guy with the drug resistant TB, who flew to Europe and back, fleeing quarantine in Italy and sneaking back into the US through Canada. And this bit about our crack TSA agents in action:

Along the border crossing at Champlain, N.Y., an inspector ran Mr. Speaker's passport through a computer, and a warning — including instructions to hold the traveller, don a protective mask in dealing with him, and telephone health authorities — popped up, officials said.

About a minute later, Mr. Speaker was instead cleared to continue on his journey, according to officials familiar with the records.

But if he'd been a little old lady trying to board an airplane with a bottle of liquid gel, they woulda stopped him cold.