Jim Hoft
According to one estimate, since 2012 the Department of Homeland Security has stockpiled more than 1.6 billion bullets, mainly .40 caliber and 9mm. DHS also reportedly purchased 2,700 Mine Resistant Armor Protected Vehicles (MRAPs) to go with their bullet stockpile.
ATK is one company that won a contract with the Department of Homeland Security to provide 450 million rounds of .40 caliber ammunition in 2012.
TSA, an agency within the DHS, purchased 3.5 million rounds of .357 SIG caliber training ammunition in September.
Recently TSA purchased 1,386 pounds of dynamite to go with their ammo.
The Activist Post reported:
Put this in the “What in the hell are they thinking?” category, but the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) protectors of the friendly skies, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) has submitted another request for high explosives via the Federal Business Online website today, and has issued a Limited Source Justification for three businesses to provide the material: Hallowell Manufacturing LLC, Omni Explosives Inc, and Tripwire Operations Group.
While this is not new, the explosive they are requesting has not been ordered/solicited in the past 10 years.
They are requesting a total of 1,386 pounds of dynamite, specifically – UNIMAX extra gelatin NG- SIZE, which comes out to 1,980 sticks of 1 1/2 inch by 8 inches of nitroglycerine badness.
In May 1962, Flight 11 from Chicago to Kansas City, Missouri, crashed in a clover field in Missouri because as investigators discovered, dynamite was used to bring the airplane down. See the video below for a brief history of the incident.
The question then remains: Why would the TSA purchase dynamite?
The explosive will be sent to the William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ. From their website:
The FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center (Technical Center) is one of the nation’s premier aviation research, development, test and evaluation facilities. Its world-class laboratories and top-notch engineering place the Technical Center at the forefront of the FAA’s challenge to modernize the U.S. air transportation system. The Technical Center serves as the FAA national scientific test base for research and development, test and evaluation, and verification and validation in air traffic control, communications, navigation, airports, aircraft safety, and security. The Technical Center is the primary facility supporting the nation’s Next Generation Air Transportation System, called NextGen.
Assuming that the Technical Center would be using the dynamite to test the results of a variety of explosions on a few types of aircraft, the total amount seems to be excessive. One stick can take down an aircraft. Repeating the exercise would futile as modern explosives trace analysis can be conducted in the field. Simply documenting levels of the traces on plane components that have a fixed location, investigators can determine the type and placement of the bomb.
Or, the dynamite will be used with the RDX/AN for nefarious purposes.
Only time will tell.
A TSA spokes person stated “We are going to use it foe training purposes.”.