Re: Research Shows Explosives Remain Part Of Human Hair

[Major Variola (ret)]

At 02:06 PM 4/8/04 -0400, R. A. Hettinga wrote:
>At 9:14 PM -0700 4/7/04, Steve Schear wrote:
>>Nah, just a plastic shower cap during explosive handling.
>
>On your arms? Legs? Hands?
>
>Arabs in bunny-suits. Whadda concept.

Disposable clothes don't have to be bunny suits.   Latex dishwashing
gloves
and a rain poncho.  Painter's masks, hats.  Duct tape for sealing seams.

Home Depot has plenty to offer.

You can always go out to the desert or forest.  Worths for meth labs
and they're messier than nitration lab.  Buying lots of ice to keep your

newly synthesized product cool is not suspicious.And you keep
your apartment clean, working outside.  (Some freedom fighting chemists
have been busted from nitric acid stains on the walls, for allah's
sake!)  Plus
you can test your stuff on a small scale.

Its a measurement arms race, and a false positive vs false negative
detection game.

If the shoebomber had had half a clue there'd be one less airplane.
Lighting
up on a non-smoking flight is a bit clueless... that's why they have
bathrooms..

And PS: some plastic explosives do not have the volitile tracers added
to them
that make them so easy to detect.  A little harder to get ahold of, but
if you
know the right people..

-
Tempura hostages anyone?  How's the Jap taste for video gore?
Will they pixellate the good parts?

Re: Research Shows Explosives Remain Part Of Human Hair

[Steve Schear]

At 10:08 AM 4/8/2004, Major Variola (ret) wrote:
And McVeigh used ammonium nitrate which wasn't tested, and as a
highly soluable (in fact deliquescent) inorganic it probably won't
persist like a nitrated organic.  Also common as dirt in agville.
He also added nitromethane to the mix, obtained through the common auto 
racing channels.


Nothing like dropping a little Miracle Gro in the men's room at the
airport to
keep the mass spec goon awake :-)
Note that if hair is collected they've got your DNA too.
Wonder if screeners will insist on taking a sample of hair from other body 
areas if you are bald?

steve 

Re: Research Shows Explosives Remain Part Of Human Hair

[R. A. Hettinga]

At 9:14 PM -0700 4/7/04, Steve Schear wrote:
>Nah, just a plastic shower cap during explosive handling.

On your arms? Legs? Hands?

Arabs in bunny-suits. Whadda concept.

See Mr. Mathers, below...

Cheers,
RAH

-- 
-
R. A. Hettinga 
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation 
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"...we ain't nothin' but mammals." --Eminem

RE: Research Shows Explosives Remain Part Of Human Hair

[Trei, Peter]

> Major Variola (ret)[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
> 
> At 11:19 AM 4/8/04 +0200, Eugen Leitl wrote:
> >On Wed, Apr 07, 2004 at 10:03:13PM -0400, R. A. Hettinga wrote:
> >> Depilatory becomes a new standard accessory for the
> well-...um...-dressed
> >> terrorist...
> >
> >Ammonium nitrate is an ionic solid. Diesel fuel or equivalent heavy oil
> 
> >fraction don't show up as something unusual. Ditto inorganic
> detonators.
> 
> Amyl nitrate ("poppers" in head/sex shops) should have the opposite
> affect on TSA goons than normals, ie it should cause some sphincter
> puckering
> in them.  Another thing to spill in the lav.
> 
I'm not to sure on that. I've seen people who are active shooters get 
their range bags swabbed at airports, but never set off the detectors.

You'd have thought that a bag which spent a lot of time containing
ammo (smokeless powder is based on cellulose nitrate), uncleaned
firearms after sessions, and which sits nearby while firing is undeway,
would have all kinds of interesting traces on it.

Peter

Re: Research Shows Explosives Remain Part Of Human Hair

[Major Variola (ret)]

At 09:14 PM 4/7/04 -0700, Steve Schear wrote:
>At 07:03 PM 4/7/2004, R. A. Hettinga wrote:
>>Depilatory becomes a new standard accessory for the
well-...um...-dressed
>>terrorist...
>
>Nah, just a plastic shower cap during explosive handling.

Yep.  Everyone who's serious -from Dr. Kazcynzski to the ALF/Earth!
folks-
knows about keeping your DNA, prints, fibers, toolmarks off the product.

You even wipe the stuff from the hardware store so that the *clerk's*
prints are off, since that would tip location.

And McVeigh used ammonium nitrate which wasn't tested, and as a
highly soluable (in fact deliquescent) inorganic it probably won't
persist like a nitrated organic.  Also common as dirt in agville.

Nothing like dropping a little Miracle Gro in the men's room at the
airport to
keep the mass spec goon awake :-)

Note that if hair is collected they've got your DNA too.

Re: Research Shows Explosives Remain Part Of Human Hair

[Major Variola (ret)]

At 11:19 AM 4/8/04 +0200, Eugen Leitl wrote:
>On Wed, Apr 07, 2004 at 10:03:13PM -0400, R. A. Hettinga wrote:
>> Depilatory becomes a new standard accessory for the
well-...um...-dressed
>> terrorist...
>
>Ammonium nitrate is an ionic solid. Diesel fuel or equivalent heavy oil

>fraction don't show up as something unusual. Ditto inorganic
detonators.

Amyl nitrate ("poppers" in head/sex shops) should have the opposite
affect on TSA goons than normals, ie it should cause some sphincter
puckering
in them.  Another thing to spill in the lav.

Re: Research Shows Explosives Remain Part Of Human Hair

[Eugen Leitl]

On Wed, Apr 07, 2004 at 10:03:13PM -0400, R. A. Hettinga wrote:
> Depilatory becomes a new standard accessory for the well-...um...-dressed
> terrorist...

Ammonium nitrate is an ionic solid. Diesel fuel or equivalent heavy oil
fraction don't show up as something unusual. Ditto inorganic detonators.

Besides, the chemist is not the courier. This will only catch the amateurs.

-- 
Eugen* Leitl http://leitl.org";>leitl
__
ICBM: 48.07078, 11.61144http://www.leitl.org
8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A  7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE
http://moleculardevices.org http://nanomachines.net


pgp0.pgp
Description: PGP signature

Re: Research Shows Explosives Remain Part Of Human Hair

[Steve Schear]

At 07:03 PM 4/7/2004, R. A. Hettinga wrote:


Depilatory becomes a new standard accessory for the well-...um...-dressed
terrorist...
Nah, just a plastic shower cap during explosive handling.

steve

<http://www.sciencedaily.com/print.php?url=/releases/2004/04/040406083933.htm>

Source:
University Of Rhode Island
Date:
2004-04-06
URL:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/04/040406083933.htm
Research Shows Explosives Remain Part Of Human Hair

KINGSTON, R.I -- March 17, 2004 -- The comb, that simple device millions of
people pass through their hair every day, could become the latest tool in
the battle against terrorism.
Thatís because a group of University of Rhode Island researchers has found
that chemicals used to make bombs remain in the hair of explosives handlers
long after repeated washings.

Research Shows Explosives Remain Part Of Human Hair

[R. A. Hettinga]

Depilatory becomes a new standard accessory for the well-...um...-dressed
terrorist...

Cheers,
RAH
---

<http://www.sciencedaily.com/print.php?url=/releases/2004/04/040406083933.htm>


Source:
University Of Rhode Island

Date:
2004-04-06

URL:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/04/040406083933.htm

Research Shows Explosives Remain Part Of Human Hair

KINGSTON, R.I -- March 17, 2004 -- The comb, that simple device millions of
people pass through their hair every day, could become the latest tool in
the battle against terrorism.

Thatís because a group of University of Rhode Island researchers has found
that chemicals used to make bombs remain in the hair of explosives handlers
long after repeated washings.

The lead researcher, Professor of Chemistry Jimmie Oxley, one of the
co-directors of URI's Forensic Science Partnership, has also found that
when the research team members attached ordinary gauze to combs, they had
effective collection devices.

"We are very excited about what we found, because I didnít know what to
expect to find in terms of persistence," Oxley said.

"Weíre at the very early stages of developing a practical field technique
to link the perpetrator to a crime," the chemist said. "(Oklahoma City
bomber Timothy) McVeigh had (the explosive) PETN on his shirt. If someone
like him changes his shirt, we could still test his hair."

The team's early findings are the result of a two-year, $320,000 grant
awarded by the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism.
Located in Oklahoma City. The institute was incorporated Sept. 23, 1999,
and grew out of the desire of the survivors and families to have a living
memorial of the Murrah Federal Building bombing of April 19, 1995.

Oxley, who titled the study "A New Source of Evidence: Explosive Traces in
Hair," said she pursued the research because hair readily absorbs odors,
such as those from cigarette smoke, it is being used for evidence of drug
use and because it is washed less frequently than hands and clothes.

She wanted to know if all explosives are absorbed equally well, if hair
color and type affect adsorption, and whether the explosive, with time and
washing, remains persistent. Ultimately, she hopes to establish a protocol
that can be established for law enforcement use. Adsorption is the surface
assimilation of a gas, vapor or dissolve matter.

"We wanted to know if we could get the same chemicals out that we put in,"
said URI Chemistry Professor Louis Kirschenbuam.

The research is being conducted in two phases at both URI and in the United
Kingdom, where subjects have been preparing dog-training aids. In the first
phase at URI, cut hair was exposed to explosive vapors to see which ones
were adsorbed. The persistence of adsorption was studied for washed and
unwashed hair. In the U.K, researchers combed subjectsí hair before and
after explosive handling. Then, subjects' hair was re-sampled after a time
interval and shampooing. Phase 2 of the work being done at URI will study
the significance of hair pigment, sex, and race, while Phase 2 in Great
Britain will develop law enforcement protocols for recovery of explosive
residues in hair.

Oxley's team has been examining absorption of common military explosives,
such as TNT, PETN and RDX, as well TATP, the suicide bombers' explosive.
RDX is the main component of C-4, while PETN is used in detonation cords,
sheet explosives and plasticized explosives.

In the TNT-tainted hair exposed to air at URI for six days, only small
decreases in TNT levels were detected. Hair tainted with TNT and PETN that
was washed three times and rinsed still retained small levels of the
explosive.

"Finding the chemicals after washing, thatís what might turn out to be
important," Kirschenbaum said. "I think itís safe to say that volatile
chemicals can migrate into the hair. Once itís on there, it's truly stuck."

In addition to Oxley and Kirschenbaum, team members are URI Chemistry
Professor James Smith and chemistry graduate students Kajal Shinde and
Kishore Marimganti.

Editor's Note: The original news release can be found here.

This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University Of
Rhode Island.

-- 
-
R. A. Hettinga 
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'