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May 10, 2005 7:00 AM, EDT

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fter spending $4.5 billion on screening devices, the Department of ºÚÁϳԹÏÍøland Security will spend billions more to improve security at borders and ports, the New York Times reported.

Many of the changes are being planned because devices currently in use have done little to improve security at entry points, the Times said in a front-page story.

Among the problems the paper cited were a radiation monitors at ports than cannot distinguish radiation emitted from a nuclear bomb and naturally occurring radiation from everyday material such as cat litter or ceramic tiles.

It said passenger-screening equipment at airports had shown little or no improvement in detecting people carrying a weapon or bomb and that postal machines test only a small percentage of mail, checking only for anthrax and not other potentially harmful agents.

DHS officials told the Times the layered defense it had set up, while less than perfect, was still a deterrent.