Post-9/11 Rush Mixed Politics With Security

"Being close to leadership helps us understand trends in government," Adams said.

Richard Seymour, who runs NucSafe, a radiation-detection company in Oak Ridge, Tenn., said the company moved its manufacturing operations to Corbin, Ky., two years ago after meeting with Rogers, his staff and representatives of a local economic development group started with help from the congressman. Seymour said members of Rogers's staff put his company in touch with TSA officials, although "nothing ever came of it." He said his company received a $1.8 million grant from a Homeland Security Department agency this year.

Seymour declined to say whether Rogers "earmarked" or specifically set aside homeland security money for NucSafe, saying his company was a privately held corporation and is under no obligation to disclose the sources of its funding.

"It's no secret we've gotten support from congressman Rogers," Seymour said.

Four NucSafe executives, including Seymour, have donated $9,200 to HALPAC and Rogers. Seymour said the donations were suggested by local Republican representatives, not by Rogers or his staff.

"It's the usual thing. You are made aware that they have these fundraisers, and they generally ask companies who have received any kind of assistance for any help they see fit," Seymour said. "Chairman Rogers has been one of the most ethical political figures I have ever dealt with. If you bring business to his district, that's all he ever cared about."

'A Clear Vision'

Rogers, other lawmakers and TSA officials were searching for a solution to a vexing homeland security problem when Reveal came on the scene.

Two months after Sept. 11, 2001, Congress mandated that every checked bag at airports be screened for explosives, setting tight deadlines and authorizing research funding. The TSA eventually hired Boeing Co. to deploy an explosives-detection system that relied on technology similar to that used in a medical CAT scan.

Under a contract that ballooned to more than $1.2 billion, Boeing deployed minivan-size machines that were widely criticized as too expensive to install and too large for airport lobbies.

On Feb. 13, 2002, Rogers asked government investigators "to determine if there is a possibility of using smaller, less expensive machines," according to the congressman's office. In October 2002, Rogers proposed giving $100 million toward the TSA's research and development program for explosives-detection machines; $75 million was later appropriated.

That October, a group of engineers, physicists and entrepreneurs registered Reveal as a corporation in Delaware. In June 2003, the company established its headquarters in Bedford, Mass., and hired a high-powered Washington lobbyist, Van Scoyoc Associates Inc.

Three months later, Reveal secured $2.4 million under a TSA grant program to study how to develop smaller explosives-detection machines, the company said. Reveal was one of four companies to share in $9.4 million in grants. Also receiving grants were Lockheed Martin Corp., Analogic Corp. and InVision Technologies Inc., one of the firms that made the larger machines installed under the Boeing contract.