India-United States Cooperation on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism Summary of a Workshop (2014) / Chapter Skim
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6 Learning and Applying Best Practices to Counter Terrorism
6 Learning and Applying Best Practices to Counter Terrorism
Pages 117-136
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From page 117... ...
" to which the young man answered, "I don't know. Kept firing and firing." According to the film, undercover Indian agents had previously provided 35 SIM cards to the Pakistani terrorist group, and intelligence officers discovered that three of the SIM cards had been activated the night of the attack, which allowed them to listen in on a total of 284 calls.
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From page 118... ...
It means the devices are likely homemade." In addition to large amounts of physical evidence, perhaps the key to identifying and ultimately locating the suspects was access to several videos from surveillance cameras at the scene. Boston Police Department Superintendent Bill Evans, interviewed in the film, knew that there would be good video, but "Detectives must go door to door, hunting for visual evidence, since the cameras are privately owned and individually monitored.
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From page 119... ...
Much more work needs to be done to improve the technologies that can aid those involved in responses to such complex attacks. Experiences of Science and Technology to Counter Terrorism: Incidents in India Keshav Kumar summarized the knowledge he has gained through handson experience utilizing forensic science in criminal investigations.
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From page 120... ...
Rather than conducting a retrospective analysis of an incident that has already occurred, the idea of proactive forensics is to look for threats in advance, using known characteristics of terrorist activities to identify intended attacks before they happen. If one can collect forensic intelligence, an incident might be prevented by using analysis and detection to make a forensic databank with a multitude of variables.
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From page 121... ...
The Boston Marathon Attacks Van Romero, featured in Manhunt-Boston Bombers, opened his remarks by stating that in footage of the Boston Marathon attacks, one can quickly see that there is data everywhere: white smoke, for example, is seen right away. One can also see the second detonation, which is a really important piece of information for trying to understand what happened.
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From page 122... ...
Given that the targeted event was an athletic event with many participants, there were a lot of medical staff on hand right at the finish line, so all the people that were needed were pre-positioned to respond. Also, the responders had been trained to respond to these types of explosives incidents, 1,500 people from Boston had been trained at New Mexico Tech to respond to a terrorist event like the one that occurred at the Boston Marathon.
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From page 123... ...
They lay the pressure cooker on its side so that the lid and the bottom go through what they call "witness plates," because they want to see the trajectory of the explosion and to be able to measure its velocity. In reality, one of the pressure cookers at the Boston Marathon was probably set up vertically because one lid was found on top of a building, so it was probably launched.
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From page 124... ...
With regard to explosives, the gunpowder used in the Boston bombings was obtained by purchasing fireworks, but fertilizers can also be used for bombs and urine can be used to make urea nitrate. These are all very common items that one can possess legally, and so it is difficult to trace where they come from and that makes part of the forensics job tougher.
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From page 125... ...
Kumar noted that as far as capacity building goes, progress is very slow. Of late, the best possible forensic lab in India is in Gujarat, and none of the forensic labs, even the central labs, can compare with the forensic capabilities in Gujarat.
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From page 126... ...
A recent National Academy of Sciences report, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States caused the country to reexamine all of the traditional techniques that have been used in forensic science much more closely, because it shows that the scientific basis for these techniques had not been established.4 This does not necessarily mean that they were wrong, but we do not know how reliable they are. These technologies range from tool marks to bite marks to fingerprints, bullet lead composition, and a whole host of methods.
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From page 127... ...
Kumar reiterated that after the incident in Mumbai, a new force called the National Investigation Agency was established. All terrorist attacks are generally in their mandate.
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From page 128... ...
Forensic science, until the middle of the 1950s to 1960s, was used for criminal investigations in most countries. People believed that forensic science is to provide assistance to criminal investigators, and therefore it is synonymous with forensic sciences.
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From page 129... ...
If that is the case, one or two laboratories in each of India's 25 states, together with four central forensic laboratories, are insufficient to provide the essential forensic science capabilities to deal with these criminal cases alone. Accountability measures for forensic science in India did not develop quickly, and standard procedures were only recently implemented.
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From page 130... ...
There is service training at the time of the hiring of an employee, but India has to find a way to have continuing education programs that agree with the standards of training and should be linked to partners around the world. Professional exchange opportunities, mutual professional recognition, and formal networks of mutual assistance, reviews and recognition, and accreditation are needed if India is to keep pace with the growing forensic science capabilities of the other countries.
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From page 131... ...
A piece of the axle was found and sitting next to it was the left rear frame grill. Once the frame grill was recovered, it was very easy to understand where ground zero was and where the device was actually detonated because of how the debris emanated from the blast site.
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From page 132... ...
Before they prosecute, they want to make sure that their theory will produce data that matches the crime scene, so the crime is reenacted in some fashion, and similar data is collected. In this case, the reenactment showed that 1,500 pounds of urea nitrate would do the type of damage to the vehicle that was found at the scene of the crime.
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From page 133... ...
Finally, as in both the World Trade Center bombing and the Boston bombing, there was no substitute for hard work or training and making people aware of how they can protect themselves and others. Romero closed with his philosophy: What we really have to do is educate.
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From page 134... ...
There have been efforts in India to declare forensic science laboratories separate organizations and in Tamil Nadu, this has already been done. However, in some of the states, the labs work under the overall umbrella of the state government, in particular the police department.
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From page 135... ...
That university, Gujarat Forensic Sciences University, is the only university in India that caters to forensics needs. The placement of students who graduate from that university presently is about 100 percent.
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