Effort to Be Part of Campaign Against Deadly Bombers
WASHINGTON, March 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announced today that it has signed a memorandum
of agreement to help the multinational forces fighting in Iraq counter the
threat of deadly bomb attacks.
The agreement, signed March 5 by ATF Director Carl J. Truscott and U.S.
Army Brig. Gen. John Defreitas, will bring ATF's well-established expertise in
explosives investigations to bear in the deadly insurgency being waged against
multinational forces in Iraq. ATF was the agency that discovered the critical
piece of evidence in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and was instrumental
in the investigation of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
The agreement provides for ATF personnel to serve within the Combined
Explosives Exploitation Cell (CEXC) in Iraq with military and other law
enforcement agencies from the United States and Britain. CEXC's role is to
provide immediate, in-theater technical and operational analysis of the
improvised explosives devices (IEDs) that insurgents have used to such effect
against multinational forces, and develop measures to counter the insurgent
bombing campaign.
ATF special agents who are also certified explosives specialists have been
deployed to Iraq since 2003, offering explosives training to the Iraqi Police
Service; assisting the Regime Crimes Liaison Office, a multi-agency task force
preparing the war crimes tribunals against leaders of the ousted Sadaam
Hussein regime; and as handlers of explosives detection canine teams.
"This agreement formalizes our assistance and gives ATF the opportunity to
help the multinational forces deal with a threat that we know a great deal
about," Truscott said. "ATF's mission is to prevent terrorism, reduce violent
crime and protect the public. We're proud and honored to be able to join the
multinational forces in doing that in Iraq."
Under the agreement, ATF personnel will:
- Attend, investigate and report on all significant explosives incidents
as directed by CEXC.
- Carry out first-line exploitation of new devices and support their
packaging and dispatch to laboratories in the United States and Britain
for full technical evaluation.
- Provide exploitation reports on incidents involving explosives devices.
- Provide advice on explosives ordinance disposal and force protection
and combat tactics in regard to the threat posed by improvised
explosives devices.
- Assist in the interviewing of suspected bomb makers taken into custody
as directed by CEXC.
- Assist multinational force troops in planning search operations of
suspected bomb factories, hideouts or bomb makers' houses as directed
by CEXC.
- Support the information flow to military and intelligence components
that require it.
- Participate in technical analysis and CEXC report writing.
- Forward authorized CEXC reports and information for further processing
and dissemination to U.S. law enforcement agencies. This feature will
allow ATF, which has responsibility for collecting and maintaining all
Department of Justice databases on arson and explosives incidents, to
share the information it has obtained in Iraq with its state, local and
other federal law enforcement partners.
The ATF personnel will serve under the operational control of the
multinational forces, but will not conduct operations to render explosives
safe or participate in search or raid operations.
More information on ATF and its programs is at http://www.atf.gov .
Contacts: Andrew L. Lluberes/Sheree L. Mixell
202-927-8500
SOURCE Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives
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Related links:
http://www.atf.gov
Contact: Andrew L. Lluberes or Sheree L. Mixell of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, +1-202-927-8500
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