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The Latest Headlines:

• Truck Scanners to Be Installed at N.Y., N.J. Ports
• TSA Adds Dog Teams to Check Cargo
• ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøland Security to Test Rail Screening
• South Texas Considers Communications Network

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Truck Scanners to Be Installed at N.Y., N.J. Ports

Federal customs officials said Monday that New York and New Jersey ports would be the first in the nation to have technology to scan every truck, the New York Times reported.

The scanners, known as portal radiation monitors, will be installed by the end of the summer at all cargo terminals operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey - Newark, Jersey City, Bayonne, Elizabeth, Staten Island and Brooklyn. Officers with the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection will operate the monitors.

About 11,000 vessels carrying three million shipping containers pass through New York and New Jersey ports each year, Port Authority officials said.

Customs said by screening every container before it leaves ports, it will increase the ability to detect dirty bombs and other radiological materials, the Times reported. Transport Topics

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TSA Adds Dog Teams to Check Cargo

The Transportation Security Administration said it had added 12 new airport canine teams to help screen cargo at airports. David Kontny, director of the program, said the teams would be used to screen cargo before it is placed onboard both passenger and cargo aircraft.

In addition, the dogs could be used in response to bomb threats at airport terminals and vehicles, the agency said in a statement on its Web site.

The teams will be used at airports in cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, Washington, Chicago and New York. Kevin Kinnaird

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ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøland Security to Test Rail Screening

The government will begin testing a way to screen rail passengers and their luggage this spring to see if it can quickly and accurately detect security risks, news services reported.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøland Security Secretary Tom Ridge announced the project on Monday as he looks to improve rail security following deadly March 11 railway bombings in Spain, the Associated Press reported. Amtrak, the nation’s passenger railroad, also carries some mail and express freight.

The test project would take place at a yet-to-be determined Amtrak commuter rail station and Ridge said the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøland Security Department would make available to local law enforcement agencies specially trained bomb-sniffing dogs and help them train their own canine units. Transport Topics

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South Texas Considers Communications Network

A proposal to create a broadband communications network for security in a loop around southern Texas is gaining support with the Department of Defense, the San Antonio Business Journal reported.

The high-speed broadband network would extend from San Antonio to Laredo, along the border, up to Corpus Christi and back to San Antonio for homeland security applications, the article said.

Randy Goldsmith, executive director of the San Antonio Technology Accelerator Initiative, was part of a group that outlined the project to the Pentagon and said the network could help coordinate nuclear, biological, chemical and cargo surveillance, according to the article.

Officials with the project said they needs about $2.5 million to create a demonstration project that would show how all the proposed applications could be developed. Transport Topics

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