State Plays Down Shipment of Gamma-Ray 'Contraband Detectors' to Venezuela

But whereas Caracas initially was listed in an Aug. 1 solicitation notice as the "place of performance" -- in other words, the destination to where a selected vendor will ship the detectors -- the State Dept. by Aug. 8 had issue an amended document absent of references to Venezuela. In fact, State without explanation had changed the shipping destination to Miami. It remains unclear which setting or even which State Dept. unit or non-State affiliates in Venezuela will use these products, which are being procured at a time when the Bush Administration is becoming increasingly agitated over Venezuelan arms purchases and other commercial transactions with nations around the globe.

Despite this uncertainty, the desired result of the detection devices -- comprising a small batch of handheld, holster-secured scanners and another batch of larger kits containing 80-inch fiber-optic probes -- is clear, according to the notices.

"These devises are typically powered by a micro-curie radioactive source which simultaneously serves as the source for the gamma rays used to scan suspect objects," the notices point out. "The devise will give the trained user a good idea whether the contents of the box/crate/pallet being scanned match the accompanying documentation."