April 6, 2015
The National Explosives Task Force (NETF) is a multi-agency assemblage of bomb technicians, analysts, and professional staff formed in 2011 quickly to analyze and disseminate intelligence related to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other explosive materials in the United States. It includes personnel from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The NETF’s main functions include gathering and analyzing intelligence on explosives, integrating the intel into investigations (to disrupt plots, for example), and pushing information out to partners — which include more than 3,100 public safety bomb technicians on more than 400 bomb squads around the country.
Bomb threats are not a new tactic for criminals and terrorists, but when scammers used them in a ruse in 2013 fraudulently to obtain pre-paid money cards from retailers around the country, first responders needed to know about it. A bulletin was sent to public safety officials explaining the scheme. The notice advised that although no devices had been found linked to this particular threat, first responders should not automatically assume any bomb threat is a hoax.
The awareness bulletin was a product of the National Explosives Task Force (NETF), a multi-agency assemblage of bomb technicians, analysts, and professional staff which formed in 2011 quickly to analyze and disseminate intelligence related to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other explosive materials in the United States. The FBI says that the task force, located at FBI Headquarters, includes personnel from the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The arrangement puts some of the nation’s leading bomb experts together in the same room.
