By Geoff Fein
Preventing terrorists and criminals from getting materials to make improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the United States is a shared responsibility among a number of federal and state agencies, as well as the private sector, which needs to be vigilant in reporting even attempted thefts of bomb components, according to a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) official.
One of the primary roles of the ATF, in respect to IEDs, is the front end–preventing the terrorist from getting the tools of the trade, Kenneth Melson, acting director ATF, told attendees yesterday at a counter IED symposium at National Harbor, Md. “Prevent them from getting the explosives that they want to use to manufacture their IEDs.”
“If we can keep that out of the hands of the terrorists, then we have come a long ways to being successful in the war on terrorism war, the war on criminal acts and the use of explosives in the U.S.,” Melson said.
The ATF regulates the explosive industry and there are a number of regulations with respect to industry that tells companies how they need to manufacture, import, store and sell explosives, he added.
“The ATF’s job is to encourage manufacturers to not only comply with the regulations but also cooperate with us, as good citizens, to inform us of suspicious activity or suspicious purchases and thefts,” Melson said.
But Melson added that inspection of the federal explosives licensees is not done because the ATF wants to regulate and control what the industry does, or their business practices, but to protect the nation.
“So the ATF, in great part, really is the first line of defense with respect to IEDs,” he said.
The ATF is also working with the military in Iraq and Afghanistan to analyze IEDs to provide another base of knowledge for purposes of domestic security, Melson added.
He told attendees at the conference that terrorists obtain materials primarily by three methods for the purposes of IEDs or homemade explosives. One is diversion, second is clandestine manufacturing, and the third is by theft.
“The challenge for terrorists is how to get these explosives,” Melson said.
Having a better understanding of the source of the material terrorists are using to create IEDs is very important in ATF’s efforts to thwart those activities, he said.
One of the ways the ATF can do that is to prevent the theft of explosive material, Melson added.
Explosive material has to be kept and stored in remote, unpopulated areas, places where there are no people and not a lot of natural security, he said. Locating explosives handling facilities far from the public’s eye creates a tempting opportunity for terrorists to steal these components for creating IEDs.
“It’s very important the explosives industry works with us,” Melson said, not only to demonstrate they are complying with regulations but also when there is a theft of material.
He added there are federal regulations in place requiring the explosive industry to notify the ATF within 24 hours of a theft, he added.
“But there is no law requiring them to notify us of an attempted theft and that is as important as a completed theft of these materials,” Melson said. “Because there is no statutory requirement, there is a necessity for us to reach out to industry and encourage them to report even the attempted break in of one of their facilities.”
Additionally, when a company does report an attempted theft, Melson hopes they will secure the scene and preserve it for ATF agents to come in and determine who tried to break in.
There are also activities that don’t rise to the level of a criminal act, he added. In those cases, ATF has to rely on the community to report suspicious activity.
One of the other things ATF has to do is look at terrorists manufacturing their own explosives, Melson said.
“Some people don’t want to take the risk of breaking in and stealing commercial explosives, so they manufacture their own in a clandestine manner,” he said.
Sometimes terrorists do it to create a more powerful explosive. Others might create their own because they want to make sure they are not identified with the explosives to begin with, Melson said.
“That activity has its drawbacks,” he noted. “There are incidents of explosions that occurred when they were creating the material. So they endanger themselves and the public when doing this, even if they don’t get to carry out the IED.”
Some terrorists have resorted to using recipes to make IEDs that they find on the Internet or in underground publications, Melson added.
“These are often of questionable reliability and, as a result, sometimes they are unsuccessful…tragically unsuccessful in making the explosive,” he said. “If they do succeed, they have to transport and place the bomb and that has its own dangers as well.”
While bombers manufacturing their own materials are more uncommon than those who use commercial explosives, they have carried out some of the deadliest attacks in America, Melson said.
For example, Timothy McVeigh used an ammonium nitrate fertilizer mixed with nitromethane, a fuel oil, to create a vehicle-borne IED (VBIED). “A homemade-type of device that killed 168 people and injured more than 800,” Melson said.
The first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 was also a VBIED using a homemade bomb. Six people were killed and thousands injured in that attack, he added.
It’s also important for manufacturers to report suspicious activity to the ATF. Not every attempt to buy explosive material comes from a face-to-face encounter, Melson said.
Another way terrorists are obtaining explosive materials is through diversion, he said. Melson defined diversion as the acquisition of a legal explosive product from a legitimate source with subsequent use in violation of criminal law
“It’s a way in which they can get commercial explosives, not by theft, but what would appear to be legitimate means,” he said.
One example is the purchase of black powder for pipe bombs, Melson noted. “Black powder is something that is easy to buy. You can get it at gun shows, you can get it over the counter, and it’s not regulated.”
Statistics from the U.S. Bomb Data Center shows that bombers are more likely to use black powder than regulated explosives for a bomb, Melson said.
“One of the challenges we have collectively is to make sure we again are somehow monitoring or encouraging dealers to tell us when there is suspicious activity related to the purchase of explosive powder or black powder,” he added. The ATF has been doing that through a program called ‘Be Aware For America.'”
Melson noted that Olympic Park Bomber, Eric Rudolph, originally used black powder purchased at a gun show for the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Ga., during the 1996 Summer Olympics.
“Our U.S. Bomb Data Center conducted an analysis of explosive related incidents over the past 30 years,” he said.
The analysis revealed that .21 percent of all domestic related explosive incidents since 1975 have involved international terrorists.. The rest were criminal bombings in the United States, Melson said.
“I don’t think the public cares whether it is a terrorist or criminal who is blowing up [buildings],” Melson said. “So we have to look for both, and the way we do that is to look for the source of the material.”