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Snapshot: S&T Helps Explosive Detection Canine Teams get REDDI

Release Date: 

June 7, 2017

Dogs are uniquely suited to sniffing out explosives – their sense of smell is more than a million times stronger than a human’s.  Harnessing this natural ability to help law enforcement identify explosives requires specialized training and testing. Many detection canine teams, however, have limited access to critical training materials and limited time to establish rigorous training scenarios. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) Detection Canine Program has developed an initiative to support these needs for the nation’s more than 4,000 explosives detection canine teams.

The DHS S&T Detection Canine Program, part of S&T’s Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Explosives Division, has created the Regional Explosives Detection Dog Initiative (REDDI), a series of events aimed at advancing the knowledge and capabilities of the nation’s detection canine teams.

“We are setting up real-world problems,” said Don Roberts, DHS S&T Detection Canine Program Manager. “REDDI seeks to improve the operational effectiveness of the law enforcement explosive detection canine teams while informing S&T on where our research investment needs to be focused going forward.“

In March 2017, the Detection Canine Program kicked off REDDI to share knowledge and provide exercises in basic odor recognition and realistic operational search scenarios. REDDI began with the first event in Fort Myers, Florida, and moved to Westport, Connecticut, in April.  Miami, Florida, is scheduled to host REDDI in late May, and plans are underway to continue REDDI through 2018.  Up to 20 explosives detection canine teams participate in each two-day program, which includes classroom presentations on current explosive threats and the chemistry of explosives, as well as odor recognition trials and operational searches.  The goal is to improve explosive detection canine team training effectiveness and efficiency in order to improve overall operational proficiency.

REDDI provides a realistic setting where law enforcement teams from several jurisdictions can evaluate their detection capabilities, understand their strengths, and identify additional training needs.  The DHS detection canine research program benefits from REDDI in that it validates current investments and informs the direction of future research.  Participation in a REDDI event is often the first opportunity a local law enforcement explosive detection canine team has to assess their capabilities in authentic, real world scenarios, with scientifically rigorous oversight by DHS S&T.

S&T has funded two tools to strengthen the impact of REDDI – non-hazardous peroxide training aids and a custom-developed data collection tool.  S&T partnered with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to develop non-hazardous, non-detonable canine training aids made with actual peroxide-based explosives through a patented process. These training aids can be used anywhere, require no special handling or storage requirements, and provide explosives detection canine teams more opportunities to train with the peroxides in operational settings. 

“The problem is that these are sensitive explosives,” said Roberts. “They are difficult to train with, and the teams aren’t getting the frequency of training we feel might be necessary to stay proficient. Having non-hazardous training aids allows the teams to train with the peroxide material in the operational environment, like airports, stadiums or in mass transit.”

S&T is also using the Mobile Application for Canine Evaluation, or MACE, a tablet-based data collection tool developed by S&T partner Battelle Memorial Institute, to provide immediate feedback at REDDI events to canine teams and their trainers.  MACE compiles performance data in real time, which makes it possible for S&T to efficiently and effectively conduct REDDI as a two-day event.

“The explosives detection canine is the best, most versatile mobile explosive detection tool at our disposal for protecting the Homeland from the explosive threat,” said Roberts, “and DHS S&T’s mission is to provide tools, techniques and knowledge to better understand, train and utilize explosive detection canine teams in the operational environment.”

To learn more about REDDI, read the program factsheet or contact the team at SandT.explosives@hq.dhs.gov.

Topics: 

Explosives,

First Responders,

Law Enforcement Partnerships,

Preventing Terrorism

ICSR Insight: IS Attacks in Tehran - Scenarios and Implications By Charlie Winter, Senior Research Fellow, ICSR Earlier today, the Iranian Parliament building in central Tehran was stormed. Attackers, reportedly wearing women’s clothing, shot their way into the complex, and took an unknown number of hostages. Shortly afterwards, two suicide operations hit the shrine of Ayatollah Khomeini to the south of the city. While the attack was still ongoing, the Islamic State released an official statement on Telegram, claiming that “fighters from the Islamic State are attacking the shrine of Khomeini and the Iranian Parliament building.” Just under an hour later, the same official channel on Telegram published a short video filmed inside the Parliament building, seemingly shot using a headcam. In it, the attackers could be heard speaking in heavily accented Arabic, declaring that, “We [the Islamic State] will remain until the Final Hour, by the will of Allah.” It is far too early to predict what will happen in the aftermath of this attack, but its implications could be dire. Here are four likely outcomes: 1.       While Iran’s counter-terrorism measures are already sophisticated, an attack like this could provoke a disproportionate response from the government, one that could manifest in increasingly draconian measures against politically active Sunni Muslims. Any disproportionality will reify the Islamic State's ideological appeal in Iran to no end, especially to those that are already on fence. 2.       Iranian officials will be called upon to step up the intervention in Iraq and Syria. Even if there is little more that they can actually do, these calls could result in an intensification in the “war” between Sunni and Shia Islam. This would have the effect of pouring petrol on the Islamic State's ideological fire.  3.       Global Coalition dynamics are complicated enough as it is. Were Iran to intensify its intervention against the Islamic State, this would test it in the extreme, especially given Trump's new combative stance on Iran. 4.       And, perhaps most importantly, the attack will boost the Islamic State's flagging morale, especially at the footsoldier level. In months to come, it will be used by the group as a way to distract from territorial loss and, beyond that, it will be further weaponised as an ideological bludgeon against the Islamic State’s chief rival, al-Qaeda. Essentially, the group will say: "We, the Islamic State, promised to hit the Safavids. We, the Islamic State, have followed through. Al-Qaeda, on other hand, is friend of Iran, and it has done nothing." In the global jihadist war of ideas, this will be hugely important. In sum, this attack against Iran makes strategic sense for the Islamic State in the same way that attacking the United States on 9/11 made strategic sense to Usama bin Ladin. In the next few days, people will be wondering where this operation came from. Even if the attackers turn out to be foreign nationals, they will have required extensive support from a local network to execute something like this. Iran is not known for its Islamic State supporters. However, in spite of the fact that it has rarely been spoken about in the media, the group has been agitating there for years now, and its supporters have been around for a long time, with dozens actually travelling to join the group. And, lest we forget, in 2016, the Islamic State eulogised seven Iranians that had died in suicide operations in Iraq and Syria. Compared to many of its neighbours, Iran has a relatively strong and stable state, and its security services are notoriously effective. That is the principal reason why there has not been an attack there until now. The Islamic State has planned multiple operations in Iran in the past—this is just the first one to be a success. Whatever happens, its implications could be enormous.   Charlie Winter is a Senior Research Fellow at ICSR. Follow him @charliewinter

 Encuesta en la inestabilidad emocional de los ejecutivos y gerentes

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