Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!military
From: gwh%monsoon.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Explosives detector
Summary: Doesn't work really well.
Message-ID: <1990Aug6.031116.1959@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 6 Aug 90 03:11:16 GMT
References: <1990Aug2.042232.2843@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: The OCF Gang: Making Tomorrows Mistakes Today
Lines: 29
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: gwh%monsoon.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert)

There are a number of explosives detectors out there now; from the primitive
(x-rays, hand inspection; miss all but most crude bombs) through explosives
sniffing dogs and portable sniffers (better) to the newer neutron and gamma-ray
and MRI type detectors.  Universally, they can be defeated.

The sniffers are vulnerable to hermetically sealed bombs.  This applies to both
the portable and the fixed, multi-sample units, and dogs.

X-rays and people can be fooled by careful design.  The Pan Am 103 / radio bomb
was one such device.

The gamma-ray and neutron-activation types can both be fooled by careful
screening.  I've seen videos of a counterterror demo; a fully working D-cell
battery was run through a full set of the latest and best detectors, then
proceeded to detonate (demonstration test) after exposure to airliner flight
cabin pressures.  Don't ask how they built that one.

Rather annoyingly, all the best measures can only screen out dumb terrorists.


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