Wed May 29,10:17 PM ET
By JEANNINE AVERSA, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Every Customs inspector will be equipped by January with a pocket-sized radiation detector, but "there are no guarantees" that increased border security will stop a terrorist from smuggling in a nuclear weapon, the Customs commissioner said Wednesday.
Fears of a terrorist nuclear assault on the United States have risen since the Sept. 11 jetliner attacks in New York and Washington.
Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner said in an interview with The Associated Press he knows of no terrorist group trying to smuggle a nuclear device into the country.
"The question is, `Should we be concerned about it?'" he said. "This is one of those areas where I don't want to wait and see what happens."
Since Sept. 11, the Customs Service, the nation's oldest law enforcement agency, founded in 1789, has shifted its primary mission from detecting smuggled narcotics to stopping terrorists, possibly with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, from getting into the country.
