WHERE, OH, WHERE DID MY ATOMS GO?

To you people who are so intimately involved in acting as watchdogs over the nation's nuclear materials, cargo security is a matter of more than just academic interest. Cargo security is a major challenge now for this country's transportation systems. In the next few years, that challenge will be sharpened by a record ton- nage to be transported in a society where security from crime and prevention of crime is a national problem. The transportation industry is the host of the biggest multibillion dollar racket today -- the theft, pilferage and hijacking of truck, air, rail, and ship cargo. Cargo losses through theft and pilferage have reached truly unacceptable levels. Nearly two years ago, Senator Alan Bible's Select Committee on Small Business estimated that the direct cost of cargo theft was about $1.5 billion annually. This assessment has been verified by a current study of the Department of Transportation. Although theft of non-nuclear cargo is not a new problem, its current degree and prevalence potentially can harm the economic recovery and development of this country and will certainly impair our competitive position in world trade. The increase in cargo theft is a living menace to the free flow of commerce, in that millions of dollars are paid for goods that never reach the consignee.