Congressman: More Money Needed for Radioactive Detection Program

Budget cuts to a pilot program designed to detect radioactive materials before they enter the city could put New York at greater risk of a terrorist attack, Rep. Anthony Weiner warned yesterday.

"If a dirty bomb, God forbid, reaches here in Times Square, already they've made it too far," Mr. Weiner, a likely candidate for mayor in 2009, said at a press conference. "We need the help of those surrounding New York City to help our law enforcement officials do their job."

Mr. Weiner is calling on Congress to restore $10 million in budget cuts to the early warning system, called the Securing the Cities Initiative, which he described yesterday as "an intuitive and obvious plan to make cities like New York safer." The program, which would set up a 50-mile "ring" of radiation detectors in municipalities surrounding the city, was originally slated to receive $40 million in federal funding.