You're looking at a bomb. In 1986, Discover magazine reported on the hypothetical risks of PETN, an explosive that could be used as a covert bomb. Now, explosives are stuffed in dogs. Below, a history of improvised destruction.
The Warning
Twenty four years ago, my father, a technology reporter, wrote that article for Discover, highlighting a nascent technological trend that has continued, with billowing fear and media hype, to threaten. Bombs can be anywhere. The Hollywood archetype of the giant shiny cylinder with the LED countdown timer is an absurdity—bombers of today are clever, crude, and increasingly low tech. Easily procured, untraceable, moldable explosives, and an adamantly determined adversary mean a new era of explosive mobility.
And even over two decades ago, this was a threat we knew was coming: "The number of things a terrorist can do is far greater than can ever be defended against," said Paul Robinson of Los Alamos National Laboratory. "We'll always be in the position where deterrence presupposes a rational adversary." But what we should be presupposing instead, we're only slowly realizing now, are terrorists who are willing (and capable) of trying anything. In the 80s we knew, the article states, that terrorists had "fairly limited technical competence"—but that "whatever high tech things are used by terrorists are off the shelf." For instance, the Discover article highlights the risk of simple circuitry like that found in a pinball machine, capable of detonating massive amounts of plastic explosives. Or, more presciently (and hauntingly), an illustrated hypothetical of running shoes laced with explosive PETN laces—easily detonated with a match.
Explosive shoes—sound familiar? Fast forward 24 years, and we've yet to find a means of defending ourselves against the formidable intersection of the ridiculous and the devastating. What have we found ourselves up against in the years since this warning? And more importantly—what's next?
What They've Tried
The Discover article's underlying dictum was that, for a would-be bomber, a sneaky explosive "Must Be Simple and Reliable." Recent history has shown an emphasis on the former, with the latter for the most part, fortuitously untested due to intervention or ineptitude on the part of the bomber. But despite continuous failure, terrorists have been slipping simple explosives into even simpler objects.
The Shoe Bomber
Sixteen years after my father speculated about the possibility of a man blowing up his shoe, Richard Reid tried it. With the exact same explosive. Rather than the laces, however, Reid's failed bomb (possibly too damp to ignite because of sweat) had stuffed undetectable PETN into a shoe's sole.
via Gizmodo
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