The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: How Forensics Helped Identify an Iraqi Bomber Living in the US

Published in

Homeland Security

6 min readFeb 23, 2016

He was one of the lucky ones. Of the hundreds of thousands of refugees who apply to come to the United States each year, Waad Ramadan Alwan was able to flee war-torn Iraq and make his way to the U.S., settling in Bowling Green, Kentucky in April 2009. Alwan was one of more than 70,000 Iraqis who were able to come to the U.S. since 2003. Most settled in their adopted country, got a job, tried to learn English and rebuild their lives. Alwan, who claimed to have a high school education, found work in a chicken factory before seeking public assistance.

Only months after he arrived in the U.S., the local FBI office received a tip that eventually led to an investigation of Alwan. After receiving the tip, agents and task force officers conducted a bait-and-sting operation where they introduced an undercover informant to Alwan. The informant wanted to know if Alwan would help ship weapons to al Qaeda in Iraq. The FBI provided weapons, rendered inert, to the informant who solicited Alwan’s help to ship the items to Iraq. The weapons included machineguns, hand grenades, surface to air missiles, plastic explosives and rocket-propelled grenades.

Alwan and Hammadi from an uncredited photos/AP

Alwan readily agreed and his interactions with the FBI informant were recorded on video. During Alwan’s conversations with the informant, he claimed to have killed American soldiers in sniper attacks when he lived in Iraq. Alwan also bragged about building bombs that were used against American troops in the area of Bayji, Iraq. He described the attacks in some detail and even provided sketches to the informant showing how he constructed the bombs.

Investigators continued the sting operation through early 2011, providing Alwan with multiple opportunities to transfer money and weapons to al Qaeda in Iraq. Alwan willingly assisted each time. Meanwhile, the investigators followed up on Alwan’s claims that he had built and deployed improvised explosive devices in Iraq.

Agents contacted a little known laboratory called “TEDAC,” or, the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center, to attempt to find out additional information about the alleged IED attacks in Iraq. TEDAC was formed in 2003 at the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia. Although housed in FBI space, TEDAC was comprised of numerous agencies, including the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Army and several other Department of Defense agencies. Their purpose was to identify and understand the connection between the individuals who build IEDs and the bombs themselves. Oftentimes, after an IED attack in Iraq or Afghanistan, soldiers and Marines would find bits and pieces of the IED. Sometimes soldiers recovered only the wire that led to the bomb. Sometimes, if they were lucky, soldiers might recover an intact IED that failed to detonate. The military realized that if they collected the pieces of an improvised explosive device after an attack, they could examine each item and potentially develop the biometric data of the person who built or placed the bomb.

IED blast circa 2007, Iraq. Photograph courtesy of Wikipedia

TEDAC utilized forensic examination to identify any latent fingerprints, DNA, trace evidence such as hairs and fibers and tool marks from recovered IED components. The data was then used to link specific IEDs and attacks to particular individuals. TEDAC also looked at the patterns used by bomb makers to link different attacks to a particular person or group. Before TEDAC, there was no single U.S. government agency tasked to analyze all improvised explosive devices. TEDAC examines IEDs collected both domestically and internationally.

TEDAC photographer, courtesy of Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

In 2009 and 2010, TEDAC was busy analyzing and processing the many fragments of IEDs that had been sent to them. By some accounts, TEDAC had received almost 100,000 submissions for analysis. The agents investigating Alwan were able to tell TEDAC examiners that they were interested in any IED submissions that TEDAC had received from the area of Bayji, Iraq, from 2003 to approximately 2006.

TEDAC examiners reviewed their submissions and located the components of an unexploded IED that had been recovered near Bayji. Incredibly, after forensically processing these components, two fingerprints were recovered on the base station of a cordless phone which matched Alwan’s. Further, Alwan had bragged to the informant that he had used this type of phone base station when constructing IEDs.

Example of cordless phone trigger courtesy of science.howstuffworks

Alwan was arrested in May 2011 along with Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, whom Alwan had recruited to help in the scheme to send weapons to al Qaeda in Iraq. Alwan pled guilty to a number of charges and admitted constructing and placing IEDs designed to kill American soldiers. The work of the TEDAC examiners had helped to prove that Alwan not only tried to support al Qaeda in Iraq, but had actually taken part in the insurgency before applying for asylum in the United States.

**Excerpt from Alwan’s sentencing memo**

Postscript on TEDAC

After TEDAC was formed in 2003, the Center mostly examined IEDs from Iraq and Afghanistan. However, their expertise was not limited to material gathered during the “War on Terror.” TEDAC examiners assisted in domestic investigations including the Boston Marathon bombing. Forensic examiners from TEDAC realized that the technologies and tactics being used overseas often made their way to the United States. The TEDAC laboratory did not limit its expertise to the U.S., Iraq and Afghanistan; it has analyzed IED pieces from more than 20 countries. TEDAC produces reports that are disseminated to military, law enforcement and intelligence partners around the world. Further, TEDAC shares the latent fingerprints gathered from IEDs with U.S. agencies and allies. According to former TEDAC director Special Agent Greg Carl, TEDAC has identified over 1000 people “with potential ties to terrorism.”

Photograph courtesy of beforeitsnews.com

TEDAC’s results are significant. U.S. Army Major General Pat Higgins noted that TEDAC has linked more than 40 IEDs to a single bomb-maker. TEDAC also linked an Afghan citizen to more than 30 IED attacks, including attacks that killed or injured U.S. service members. The bomber was prosecuted and given a lengthy sentence in an Afghan prison.

TEDAC’s role has not ended with the withdrawal from Iraq or the drawdown in Afghanistan. Analysts have continued to receive and analyze IEDs from places such as Somalia and the Philippines. With their forensic expertise well established, examiners are well positioned to analyze improvised devices from around the world.