Smugglers were able to breach America’s security net and bring uranium into the Port of Los Angeles last week.

Luckily, the smugglers work for ABC News and the 15 pounds of depleted uranium posed no threat to U.S. security or the men and women who came into contact with it.

This is the second time ABC has been able to sting U.S. Customs and security agencies. A similar test last year also successfully brought uranium into the country.

In response, the Department of Homeland Security has not stepped up enforcement at our borders and ports. It has not revisited procedures. And it has not made efforts to determine where failures occurred.

Instead, Secretary Tom Ridge and his staff have begun an investigation of news reporters whose work could save lives and present a disaster. It is understandable that Ridge would be upset that his agents were outwitted. But it is not legitimate to target for retribution and intimidation those who help discover holes in America’s security. If television reporters can sneak nuclear material into the country, you can bet that terrorists can.

According to ABC News’ Web site, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley has written a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft and Ridge about the investigation of the reporters.

“If my neighbor told me my barn was on fire, my first instinct would be to thank my neighbor and get some water for the fire. I worry that the government’s first instinct is to pour cold water on the neighbor.”

Quality, legitimate investigations can help find serious flaws in our country’s counter-terrorism efforts. We will never eliminate all the risks, but the government shouldn’t retaliate against someone who helps identify them.


Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash, an American icon, died Friday in Nashville. He was 71.

Cash sang songs about the hardscrabble life, of murder and love and God. He was the original country music outlaw, taking to the stage in Folsom and San Quentin prisons where he performed for America’s cast-offs.

In his work and his life, Cash walked to the edge of the precipice and peered over. Addiction, death, rejection shaped his life. But he found redemption and great success, with the help of his life’s love, June Carter Cash. She died in May.

Cash wove tales of evil men and evil deeds, hard luck and hard times, and of the forgotten. During a time when rhinestones were the fashion, Cash, just 25, took to the stage at the Grand Ole Opry in all black and earned a moniker that followed him his entire career.

The Man in Black towered above mainstream music, his work transcending country music to influence a generation of singers and songwriters from Bob Dylan to Kid Rock. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.

On Friday, Cash’s deep baritone voice crooned sadly from the desk of a reporter in the Sun Journal newsroom. His music plays on.

Goodbye Johnny.
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