13.7 Conducting Interdiction Surveys
143
container ship might call for no survey pattern when surveyed from the air, a careful
survey of both port and starboard sides if surveyed from a boat, or a detailed survey
plan if surveyed by a boarding party. Containers pose additional challenges when
searching for nuclear weapons owing to the low radiation emissions from fissile
materials [11]; these will be discussed in the following section.
13.7.3 Survey Discipline
Whatever survey pattern is used, those conducting the survey should have the discipline needed to stick with it unless they have a very compelling reason to deviate from
the plan (e.g. visually sighting a box with radiation markings on it in the distance in
the direction of the highest readings).
Consider a police officer conducting a survey who, upon receiving an alarm,
immediately stops, attempts to identify the direction of the source by turning in a
slow circle, and then walks slowly in that direction.
• A high-activity source might be more than a kilometer away; if the survey proceeds
at a slow pace, it might require more than an hour to reach the source’s location.
• Radiation from a high-activity source can be scattered in an urban environment
filled with buildings of various construction, parks, squares, streets, alleys, and
so forth. The reading at any given location might not be representative of the
radiation environment at that distance from the source and can be difficult to
interpret properly.
• Repeated parallel traverse lines might be required to get an accurate idea of a
source’s location.
Thus, the best option is to continue performing a disciplined survey—if possible,
augmented by additional ground, maritime, or aerial assets—until enough information has been collected to determine the source’s location.
If there is a degree of urgency about finding the source—if, for example, intelligence sources indicate that an attack is imminent—it is better to put additional assets
into the field with all of them conducting well-planned and disciplined surveys as
parts of a coordinated interdiction effort overseen and monitored from a central
location than to have each survey team operating more or less independently in the
manner they feel best.
13.7.4 Monitoring Surveys
Finally, it is unrealistic to assume that any single surveyor or survey team will be
able to place their own efforts into the larger “big picture” of the entire survey. Each
person or team knows only what they can seem or what they hear over the radio.
For any large-scale effort there is no substitute for having a single location—a single
143
container ship might call for no survey pattern when surveyed from the air, a careful
survey of both port and starboard sides if surveyed from a boat, or a detailed survey
plan if surveyed by a boarding party. Containers pose additional challenges when
searching for nuclear weapons owing to the low radiation emissions from fissile
materials [11]; these will be discussed in the following section.
13.7.3 Survey Discipline
Whatever survey pattern is used, those conducting the survey should have the discipline needed to stick with it unless they have a very compelling reason to deviate from
the plan (e.g. visually sighting a box with radiation markings on it in the distance in
the direction of the highest readings).
Consider a police officer conducting a survey who, upon receiving an alarm,
immediately stops, attempts to identify the direction of the source by turning in a
slow circle, and then walks slowly in that direction.
• A high-activity source might be more than a kilometer away; if the survey proceeds
at a slow pace, it might require more than an hour to reach the source’s location.
• Radiation from a high-activity source can be scattered in an urban environment
filled with buildings of various construction, parks, squares, streets, alleys, and
so forth. The reading at any given location might not be representative of the
radiation environment at that distance from the source and can be difficult to
interpret properly.
• Repeated parallel traverse lines might be required to get an accurate idea of a
source’s location.
Thus, the best option is to continue performing a disciplined survey—if possible,
augmented by additional ground, maritime, or aerial assets—until enough information has been collected to determine the source’s location.
If there is a degree of urgency about finding the source—if, for example, intelligence sources indicate that an attack is imminent—it is better to put additional assets
into the field with all of them conducting well-planned and disciplined surveys as
parts of a coordinated interdiction effort overseen and monitored from a central
location than to have each survey team operating more or less independently in the
manner they feel best.
13.7.4 Monitoring Surveys
Finally, it is unrealistic to assume that any single surveyor or survey team will be
able to place their own efforts into the larger “big picture” of the entire survey. Each
person or team knows only what they can seem or what they hear over the radio.
For any large-scale effort there is no substitute for having a single location—a single