From 23rd to 26th of May 2011, on the premises of Constanta Border Police County Inspectorate, under the coordination of F.B.I. and U.S. Energy Department experts, border police officers within Constanta Border Police County Inspectorate were trained and assessed in the filed of preventing and countering the nuclear and radioactive materials illegal trafficking was carried out.
The activity, consisting of training seminars, presentation of detection equipments and practical exercises, had as main objective the development of necessary skills and the training of border police officers and specialists within other institution for the purpose of using the equipment received by Romanian Border Police within "Second Line of Defense" program - designed for detecting the nuclear and radioactive materials at the border.
The training sessions were carried out by F.B.I. and U.S. Energy Department experts, representatives of Northwest Pacific National Laboratory and specialized officers in the filed of countering illegal migration within General Inspectorate of Romanian Border Police with the participation of 20 border police officers. At this event participated also officers within Republic of Moldova authorities, and representatives of cooperation institutions involved in this project (A.N.V., C.N.C.A.N., S.R.I., D.G.I.P.I., and I.G.P.).
The "Second Line of Defense" program, designed for detecting the nuclear and radioactive materials at the border in order to prevent the illegal traffic of these, is a program which aims at endowment of 600 border crossing points from 30 countries with this specific equipment.
Concerning our country, the program is being implemented and managed by the Ministry of Administration and Interior - General Inspectorate of Romanian Border Police, with the support of Energy Department within U.S. Government, support consisting of a donation of American Government, valuing 150 Million Dollars.
"Second Line of Defense" mainly stipulates the installation of portal monitors which can detect Gama radiations and neutrons inside land, naval and air Border Crossing Points situated at the E.U. external border: Ukrainian border, Serbian border, Republic of Moldova’s border, Black Sea and Henri Coanda International Airport. At the same time, the program implies an on-line warning system including a central monitoring unit, central alarm stations and local alarm stations.
The implementation of this program started in Galati Land and Rail Border Crossing Point situated at the border with Republic of Moldova and also at Black Sea, Constanta and Constanta South - Agigea Harbors.
Within this program, General Inspectorate of Romanian Border Police received from U.S. Energy Department two vehicles equipped with mobile means of nuclear and radioactive materials detection, which were used by experts in the field of countering illegal migration and going to be use during missions at the access points of Constanta and Constanta South - Agigea Harbors.
During the implementation process of S.L.D. over 1,000 border police officers were specialized and trained by experts within U.S. Energy Department in order to use mobile and fix radiation detection equipments.
Background information:
"Second Line of Defense" program was designed based on the Agreement between Romanian Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform and U.S. Energy Department within U.S. Government in regards to the cooperation in the field of preventing the nuclear and radioactive materials illegal trafficking, signed on 15th of September 2008.
For our country, the implementation of "Second Line of Defense" program leads to strengthen the active role of Romania in solving major problems as fighting against terrorism, promotion of strategic partnership with U.S.A. and promotion of security interests of our country.
In logical plan, this program consists of support offered to Romanian Border Police in regards to providing the equipment and materials as in training and delivery of the provisions of the Agreement, including technical support and consultations in the following fields:
the development and implementation of the regulation and other programs in the field of preventing the nuclear and radioactive materials illegal trafficking; the development of technical means and methods of detection and identification of special nuclear and radioactive materials at the border as the procedures and capacities of reactions; the delivery and installation inside the border crossing points (situated at the E.U. external border) at the entry /exit flow of the equipment and dispositive adjusted to the current situation of our country (including testing, configuration, demonstrations); the delivery of replacing pieces / parts, testing equipment and other types of equipment in order to maintain the equipment and dispositive offered by U.S. Energy Department; the training of Romanian Border Police officers and other categories of personnel in the field of detecting the special nuclear and radioactive materials at the border and also in the filed of how to use properly the equipment and dispositive offered by U.S. Energy Department; the support for maintaining the equipment and dispositive offered by U.S. Energy Department, based on a maintenance and support plan elaborated by both parties.