New York: "New York will become the first site fortesting new machines that could detect nuclear devices or radio-active 'dirtybombs', as part of efforts by the US to repel possible terrorist attacks,:"said media reports.

The new detection devices will be installed in the comingmonths first in Staten Island, one of fiveboroughs in the city of eight million people. The machines will be installed ata port terminal to screen cargo and detect naturally occurring radiation andcritical bomb building ingredients, The New York Times reported yesterday (Feb9, 2007).

"At a later stage, the US administration plans to set upan elaborate network of radiation alarm systems at bridges, tunnels, roadwaysand waterways within a 50-mile (80 km) circle around the city," the Timessaid.

If the tests are successful, the US Department of HomelandSecurity, which has oversight over anti-terrorism measures in the nation, wouldexpand the monitoring devices to other US cities.

"How do you create deterrence against terrorism?"asked Vayl S. Oxar, the director of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office atHomeland Security. "You complicate the ability for the terrorist to dowhat they want," he said.

New York'sPolice Commissioner Ray Kelly warned that the federal plan could overburden theability of local authorities to maintain the sophisticated devices and manageanti-terrorism activities. City officials have been fighting with HomelandSecurity to increase funding and federal assistance in fighting terrorism sinceSep 11, 2001.

"We are concerned they will put money forward for apiece of hardware and then move to another project," Kelly told the Times."Whether or not it works, whether or not it causes too many false alarms,which causes a whole other set of problems, all of these things are still to bedetermined,"he said.

But Oxar responded that such possible problems were notenough to derail the project.

"Our philosophy is not to wait for perfection, becauseperfection never comes," said Oxar, whose office was created in 2005 amidcriticism that Homeland Security's anti-terror measures were too disorganised.

Oxar's office has been focusing on two areas of attacks -nuclear weapons and dirty bombs. The latter relies on a crude explosive deviceto detonate and widely spread radioactive material.