An odd anecdote I came across in the Seattle Times:
It turns out the feds have been monitoring Interstate 5 for nuclear “dirty bombs.” They do it with radiation detectors so sensitive it led to the following incident.
“Vehicle goes by at 70 miles per hour,” Giuliano told the crowd. “Agent is in the median, a good 80 feet away from the traffic. Signal went off and identified an isotope [in the passing car].”
The agent raced after the car, pulling it over not far from the monitoring spot (near the Bow-Edison exit, 18 miles south of Bellingham). The agent questioned the driver, then did a cursory search of the car, Giuliano said.
Did he find a nuke?
“Turned out to be a cat with cancer that had undergone a radiological treatment three days earlier,” Giuliano said.
This anecdote was shared at a community meeting that Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat attended. The meeting was held to address concerns by San Juan County, Washington residents over being harassed by border agents to prove immigration status. (San Juan County is made up of a group of islands between Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and the mainland of Washington State.)
I suppose that it’s a good thing that the feds are monitoring for the sorts of contraband that are legitimately concerning. However, I also have to admit that I share Mr. Westneat’s concerns about the pervasiveness of government monitoring.
However, I do take comfort from another comment in the story. Deputy Chief Giuliano, the number 2 guy for that stretch of the U.S.-Canadian frontier, has his own reservations about the authority he seemingly could wield:
Yet even he, a federal agent for 35 years, is queasy about the snooping’s reach. He said he opposes parts of the Patriot Act, namely the section that expands warrantless searches.
“I think we can do this without tossing out our checks and balances,” he said.
