IED Awareness for First Responders
You are a first responder. You have received a call at a crowded local motel for a medical emergency. The manager unlocks the room and you enter to find a man unconscious on the floor. As you treat him, you notice something unusual. Around the room, you notice bottles of chemicals; acids, hydrogen peroxide, acetone, and other bottles of unknown liquids. You also notice a number of batteries on a table next to an electronic timer, dozens of nuts and bolts taped inside the lid of a briefcase, and half a dozen mason jars containing a clear liquid, and what appears to be white sediment. Then the kicker, you observe several small, silver, cylindrical objects with wires protruding from the ends labeled DANGER EXPLOSIVES on a nearby shelf. Your partner looks at you and says, “Well, well. What do we have here?”
That question has surely been asked many times by first responders who have stumbled upon bomb making operations in the course of their duties. Some might default to thinking they have walked into a meth lab due to the chemicals present. But the presence of certain items signals something perhaps more nefarious. In either case, I will say right now, if you should ever encounter something like this get out, secure the room, call the bomb squad and evacuate the premises. Read on, and you will discover why.
The intent of this article is to educate first responders on how to recognize the components of potential improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Without getting into too much detail, it provides a very basic understanding of IEDs.
In addition to the container, which can be anything from a shipping envelope to a backpack, briefcase or even a vehicle, there are four components to most IEDs. Remembering them is made easy by using the acronym PIES: Power, Initiator, Explosive and Switch. Power is self-explanatory. It provides the heat needed to initiate an explosion. Batteries are a good source of power as they allow the IED to be easily transported and remotely placed without tell-tale wires giving away its location.
It is important to understand that not all explosives are the same. Some, such as gun powder, are sensitive to being handled and are easily set off, while others, such as Trinitrotoluene (TNT) and Semtex are not. Regardless, if you think you have explosive compounds present, it is important to leave and secure the area immediately. Situations such as this require the expertise of properly trained and equipped ordnance disposal teams.
More stable explosives need the shock of an initiator, the second component to PIES. In the scenario presented above, the small, silver cylindrical objects were blasting caps. The blasting caps would be connected to the power source and inserted into the explosive to provide the shock necessary to detonate a more stable, less sensitive explosive compound. This sequence is known as the firing chain.
The next component in the PIES acronym is the explosive. Explosives are categorized as either low explosives or high explosives. Low explosives, like gun power, burn rapidly or deflagrate, whereas high explosives, such as those used in military applications, detonate. Low explosives are often found in commonly made devices, like pipe bombs. Low explosives were used in the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, resulting in three deaths and hundreds injured. High explosives are used, for example, in hand grenades and explosive shells. Regardless of whether they are low or high explosives, all explosives are dangerous and should be treated accordingly.
It is not uncommon for explosives to be manufactured with commonly available chemicals. Practically every hardware store carries the precursor chemicals and other materials needed to create an IED. Every explosive contains is an oxidizer, to cause rapid burning, and a fuel to burn. An example of this is the compound known as ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO). ANFO was the main explosive used to destroy the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, which resulted in 168 fatalities and nearly 700 casualties. The ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer, served as the oxidizer, providing oxygen for the rapid burn of the fuel, which was a mix of diesel fuel and nitro-methane. All these chemicals, and associated components, were purchased from commercially available sources.
In the scenario presented at the beginning of this piece, acetone, hydrogen peroxide and acid were present to make Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), a popular explosive compound among terrorists. It was TATP that Richard Reid, the infamous “Shoe Bomber,” tried to ignite on a Paris to Miami bound flight before he was subdued by the other passengers. The mason jars in our fictitious motel room contained the mix of chemicals and resultant TATP sediment, which would be later dried into a powder for use.
The final component to any IED is the switch. The switch can take many forms, from a simple pressure switch to a timing device, such as a digital timer or even a simple alarm clock. More sophisticated on-demand switches would include something like a cell phone, similar to the one found in the notional motel room. With it, one could dial the phone’s number at a moment of opportunity, which in turn would provide the power to initiate the firing chain.
Other components not included in the PIES acronym would be a container for the device and shrapnel. In our motel room scenario, the nuts and bolts would have been used for shrapnel intended to cause death and injury. They were taped to the inside of a briefcase, which would act as the container for all the components. When put together, you would have a lethal IED in the form of an innocuous, everyday item. In some cases, such as with a pipe bomb, the container provides the shrapnel.
What has been presented here is a very basic overview of IED components. In and of themselves they are mostly harmless. But the same concentrated hydrogen peroxide your local hairdresser would use to bleach hair may also be used as an oxidizer. The batteries used to power your child’s toys, could be the power source needed to initiate a firing chain. The key for first responders in defending our nation against terrorist bombings is to first be able to recognize the potential components of an explosive device. Once a bomb has gone off, it’s too late. Recognizing what may be a bomb in the making is not difficult. You only need a little knowledge to know what to look for. Likewise, unfortunately, you only need a little knowledge to create these infernal devices.
There are a number of resources available on the internet and through your local library that provide an awareness of explosives. The best resource I have encountered for first responders is the Incident Response to Terrorist Bombings (IRTB) course, offered by the Department of Homeland Security, through New Mexico Institute for Mining and Technology in Socorro, New Mexico. This class is offered free of charge, inclusive of travel, by the federal government. It offers intensive classroom instruction and live demonstrations of various explosives. For more information on the IRTB, follow this link http://www.emrtc.nmt.edu/training/irtb.php. You can also contact the state point of contact (SPOC) in your respective state who can provide you with information and the application necessary to register and attend the training. You can locate your respective SPOC by following this link http://www.emrtc.nmt.edu/training/statepoc.php.
If you should ever encounter any PIES component, especially if in combination with other components, you need to ask yourself, “Well, Well. What do I have here?”
Robert Leverone is a contributor to the Homeland Security (HS) Vortex, which is a platform where insiders from the policy, law enforcement, fire service and emergency management fields converge to discuss issues related to Homeland Security.
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