T9F,
I can't locate the article, but here are two articles that may be of interest to you and the board:
BAGHDAD — Despite major bombings that have rattled the nation, and fears of rising violence as American troops withdraw, Iraq’s security forces have been relying on a device to detect bombs and weapons that the United States military and technical experts say is useless.
Johan Spanner for The New York Times
The sensor device, known as the ADE 651, from $16,500 to $60,000 each. Iraq has bought more than 1,500 of the devices.
The small hand-held wand, with a telescopic antenna on a swivel, is being used at hundreds of checkpoints in Iraq. But the device works “on the same principle as a Ouija board” — the power of suggestion — said a retired United States Air Force officer, Lt. Col. Hal Bidlack, who described the wand as nothing more than an explosives divining rod.
Still, the Iraqi government has purchased more than 1,500 of the devices, known as the ADE 651, at costs from $16,500 to $60,000 each. Nearly every police checkpoint, and many Iraqi military checkpoints, have one of the devices, which are now normally used in place of physical inspections of vehicles.
With violence dropping in the past two years, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has taken down blast walls along dozens of streets, and he contends that Iraqis will safeguard the nation as American troops leave.
But the recent bombings of government buildings here have underscored how precarious Iraq remains, especially with the coming parliamentary elections and the violence expected to accompany them.
The suicide bombers who managed to get two tons of explosives into downtown Baghdad on Oct. 25, killing 155 people and destroying three ministries, had to pass at least one checkpoint where the ADE 651 is typically deployed, judging from surveillance videos released by Baghdad’s provincial governor. The American military does not use the devices. “I don’t believe there’s a magic wand that can detect explosives,” said Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe Jr., who oversees Iraqi police training for the American military. “If there was, we would all be using it. I have no confidence that these work.”
The Iraqis, however, believe passionately in them. “Whether it’s magic or scientific, what I care about is it detects bombs,” said Maj. Gen. Jehad al-Jabiri, head of the Ministry of the Interior’s General Directorate for Combating Explosives.
Dale Murray, head of the National Explosive Engineering Sciences Security Center at Sandia Labs, which does testing for the Department of Defense, said the center had “tested several devices in this category, and none have ever performed better than random chance.”
The Justice Department has warned against buying a variety of products that claim to detect explosives at a distance with a portable device. Normal remote explosives detection machinery, often employed in airports, weighs tons and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. The ADE 651’s clients are mostly in developing countries; no major country’s military or police force is a customer, according to the manufacturer.
“I don’t care about Sandia or the Department of Justice or any of them,” General Jabiri said. “I know more about this issue than the Americans do. In fact, I know more about bombs than anyone in the world.”
He attributed the decrease in bombings in Baghdad since 2007 to the use of the wands at checkpoints. American military officials credit the surge in American forces, as well as the Awakening movement, in which Iraqi insurgents turned against Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, for the decrease.
Aqeel al-Turaihi, the inspector general for the Ministry of the Interior, reported that the ministry bought 800 of the devices from a company called ATSC (UK) Ltd. for $32 million in 2008, and an unspecified larger quantity for $53 million. Mr. Turaihi said Iraqi officials paid up to $60,000 apiece, when the wands could be purchased for as little as $18,500. He said he had begun an investigation into the no-bid contracts with ATSC.
Jim McCormick, the head of ATSC, based in London, did not return calls for comment.
The Baghdad Operations Command announced Tuesday that it had purchased an additional 100 detection devices, but General Rowe said five to eight bomb-sniffing dogs could be purchased for $60,000, with provable results.
Checking cars with dogs, however, is a slow process, whereas the wands take only a few seconds per vehicle. “Can you imagine dogs at all 400 checkpoints in Baghdad?” General Jabiri said. “The city would be a zoo.”
Speed is not the only issue. Colonel Bidlack said, “When they say they are selling you something that will save your son or daughter on a patrol, they’ve crossed an insupportable line into moral depravity.”
Last year, the James Randi Educational Foundation, an organization seeking to debunk claims of the paranormal, publicly offered ATSC $1 million if it could pass a scientific test proving that the device could detect explosives. Mr. Randi said no one from the company had taken up the offer.
ATSC’s promotional material claims that its device can find guns, ammunition, drugs, truffles, human bodies and even contraband ivory at distances up to a kilometer, underground, through walls, underwater or even from airplanes three miles high. The device works on “electrostatic magnetic ion attraction,” ATSC says.
To detect materials, the operator puts an array of plastic-coated cardboard cards with bar codes into a holder connected to the wand by a cable. “It would be laughable,” Colonel Bidlack said, “except someone down the street from you is counting on this to keep bombs off the streets.”
Proponents of the wand often argue that errors stem from the human operator, who they say must be rested, with a steady pulse and body temperature, before using the device.
Then the operator must walk in place a few moments to “charge” the device, since it has no battery or other power source, and walk with the wand at right angles to the body. If there are explosives or drugs to the operator’s left, the wand is supposed to swivel to the operator’s left and point at them.
If, as often happens, no explosives or weapons are found, the police may blame a false positive on other things found in the car, like perfume, air fresheners or gold fillings in the driver’s teeth.
On Tuesday, a guard and a driver for The New York Times, both licensed to carry firearms, drove through nine police checkpoints that were using the device. None of the checkpoint guards detected the two AK-47 rifles and ammunition inside the vehicle.
During an interview on Tuesday, General Jabiri challenged a Times reporter to test the ADE 651, placing a grenade and a machine pistol in plain view in his office. Despite two attempts, the wand did not detect the weapons when used by the reporter but did so each time it was used by a policeman.
“You need more training,” the general said.
Riyadh Mohammed contributed reporting.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: November 5, 2009
An article on Wednesday about a bomb detection device used by the Iraqi security forces that is considered useless and costly by the American military misstated the surname of the leader of ATSC (UK) Ltd., the London-based company that has sold hundreds of the devices to Iraq’s Interior Ministry. He is Jim McCormick, not Mitchell.
Ionfinity - Monitoring and Detection Systems
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ionfinity is developing next-generation sensors based on new mass spectrometry (MS) technology that can detect and analyze extremely small quantities (or residues) of chemicals and hazardous materials such as explosives, toxic gases, chemical/biological weapons and drugs.
And with the incorporation of Ionfinity miniaturization technology, new portable monitoring devices and detection systems are being developed for homeland security, defense, biomedical, industrial process control, agricultural and environmental monitoring and safety applications.
Markets
Ionfinity's new sensor technology has direct application in the defense and homeland security industry, in which approximately $55 billion is spent annually, as well as potential applications in chemical analysis and monitoring for commercial applications, such as environmental monitoring, agriculture and medicine.
Technology
Ionfinity is developing a "soft-ionization" technology for next-generation mass spectrometers, differential mobility spectrometers and systems dependent on ion-level sampling that can not only revolutionize the traditional applications of MS for industrial process control, biomedical, and environmental monitoring but also lead to new detection systems for homeland security.
The latest technology being developed enables detection at levels from ppt (parts-per-trillion) to sub-ppb (parts-per-billion) within 10 seconds and, with miniaturization, by a system no larger than a shoe box. And with projected ruggedness, low power consumption and low cost, the system could be used in many applications where monitoring of air, water or other substances is required.
Product Development
Ionfinity is developing a compact, stand-alone chemical-sensing device consisting of: 1) a new and powerful detector called a Differential Mobility Spectrometer; 2) a non-radioactive ionization method that does not fragment or multiply-ionize sampled specimens; and 3) a micro-gas chromatograph for confirmation and enhanced detection capability. The device will detect chemicals and materials of interest at ppt (parts-per-trillion) to ppb (parts-per-billion) levels after 6 seconds. The sensor is self contained with respect to power and communications.
Research & Development and Technology Partners
Ionfinity is involved in ongoing collaborations with California Institute of Technology (Caltech), National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Ionfinity is also involved in partnerships with General Dynamics Corp., Sionex Corp., and Imaginative Technologies LLC.
Business Partners
Development Projects
Current development projects include:
A U.S. Navy contract to develop and commercialize a miniaturized, high-sensitivity system for detecting and analyzing chemical, explosive, and drug residues in suspect vessels. (See News, April 21, 2009)
A U.S. Army contract to develop and demonstrate a prototype—an enhanced version of General Dynamics' JUNO(™) hand-held chemical agent detector incorporating VIASPACE's chemical-agent sensor—detection and analysis system to identify the chemical components of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). (See News, May 4, 2009)
AI
