Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Chicago Tribune
February 28, 2007
By Andrew Zajac, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Struggling for more effective responses to the suicide and roadside bombings that have wreaked havoc in Iraq and increasingly in Afghanistan, the Defense Department has beefed up an explosives training program with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Military bomb technicians will receive additional training in countering homemade explosives and in identifying bomb components after a blast, under the expanded program to be run in six sessions annually at the ATF's training center in Ft. A.P. Hill in Virginia.
About 180 technicians from all branches of the armed forces will be trained in a course that has been expanded to one week, according to Steven Beggs, ATF chief of explosives training. Previously, about 90 technicians, mostly from the Army, received three days of training.
Homemade roadside bombs, also called improvised explosive devices, have exacted a devastating toll on American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. This month the government alleged that sophisticated variants of the devices used in Iraq are being supplied by a branch of Iran's armed forces.
Suicide bombs have been employed against both military forces and civilians.
A suicide bombing Tuesday at the gates of Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan killed at least 23 people, including two Americans. Vice President Dick Cheney was on the base at the time but was unharmed.
Military bomb technicians traditionally have focused on disarming or detonating a bomb, but increasingly they are trying to use physical evidence, such as a bomb's remains, to trace the weapon to its source.
"What they've been asked more and more to do is collect evidence, or intelligence," which is the ATF's strength, Beggs said.
The goal of the expanded training is to allow bomb technicians to glean whatever information they can about a bomb's components--switches, timers and the nature of the explosive --in less than 30 minutes, Beggs said.
Understanding how a bomb is built can provide clues about who made it and enable the military to take countermeasures.
"It affects the way we build our vehicles, the way we go down the road," Beggs said.
February 28, 2007
By Andrew Zajac, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Struggling for more effective responses to the suicide and roadside bombings that have wreaked havoc in Iraq and increasingly in Afghanistan, the Defense Department has beefed up an explosives training program with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Military bomb technicians will receive additional training in countering homemade explosives and in identifying bomb components after a blast, under the expanded program to be run in six sessions annually at the ATF's training center in Ft. A.P. Hill in Virginia.
About 180 technicians from all branches of the armed forces will be trained in a course that has been expanded to one week, according to Steven Beggs, ATF chief of explosives training. Previously, about 90 technicians, mostly from the Army, received three days of training.
Homemade roadside bombs, also called improvised explosive devices, have exacted a devastating toll on American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. This month the government alleged that sophisticated variants of the devices used in Iraq are being supplied by a branch of Iran's armed forces.
Suicide bombs have been employed against both military forces and civilians.
A suicide bombing Tuesday at the gates of Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan killed at least 23 people, including two Americans. Vice President Dick Cheney was on the base at the time but was unharmed.
Military bomb technicians traditionally have focused on disarming or detonating a bomb, but increasingly they are trying to use physical evidence, such as a bomb's remains, to trace the weapon to its source.
"What they've been asked more and more to do is collect evidence, or intelligence," which is the ATF's strength, Beggs said.
The goal of the expanded training is to allow bomb technicians to glean whatever information they can about a bomb's components--switches, timers and the nature of the explosive --in less than 30 minutes, Beggs said.
Understanding how a bomb is built can provide clues about who made it and enable the military to take countermeasures.
"It affects the way we build our vehicles, the way we go down the road," Beggs said.