Bomb Technician X-Ray Training: How Good are you?

I have been playing with x-ray for about 30 years now and have been teaching x-ray interpretation for just as long. Over the years I have learned many different things about x-ray and detecting threats so I have experienced what is effective and what is not. When I started working with checkpoint x-ray systems I was introduced to a entirely new level of x-ray training, technology, and research. I can honestly say with 100% confidence that airport screeners train more and train on more complex image interpretation scenarios then bomb technicians do. Bomb technicians "might" pull out the x-ray unit a few times each year (maybe more) but when you compare the amount of training each year a airport screener does vs a bomb technician (hours per year) on x-ray interpretation the difference is staggering.

The next biggest difference is bomb technicians typically train on image scenarios that are extremely basic compared to a airport screeners very cluttered and complex images. To give you a really good idea of the differences I am going to show you a progression of images where the difficulty gets harder and harder as you go to the next image.

Image 1: Typically Bomb Tech Training Scenario

The above image is a IED in a back pack that has zero clutter and the only thing in the backpack is the IED. You see these type of training scenarios all of the time when bomb guys do x-ray training. If you think about x-ray interpretation from a airport screeners perspective they screen nothing but cluttered bags. At any point if they think they have found a bomb they are calling a bomb technician to deal with that "cluttered bag". If the bomb techs are training like the above image they are going to experience a world of hurt when they get to the airport and x-ray the suitcase that is full of clutter. A normal suitcase has a ton of clutter that when you add something like a IED it can make finding it a very challenging process. If you are not trained for this type of clutter you will be ill prepared to handle it. This is also why airports use material discrimination and not grey scale to screen bags because it works better. The other training issue is that IED construction typically use a thick layer of fragmentation in their devices which can also change the complexity of image interpretation.

Image 2: Same IED but with a little bit of clutter added

We added some clutter (not much) to the backpack but you can still see the IED no problem. The only thing that is getting blocked now is the detonator at the bottom of the bag by the tablet. However you should be able to identify that this is a IED because the circuit is still visible. As we add more clutter to the bag you will see that the complexity increases and more key ID features become less visible. Airport screeners deal with very challenging x-ray image complexity each day and get tested while they are on the checkpoint. They also have to do this very quickly so the lines do not get long. Not a very easy job when you really think about it.

Image 3: Same IED but with more clutter in the backpack

This next image at first glace is not as easy as the image with no clutter we started with. However if you use all of image enhancement tools and zoom into key areas you can find the IED. The detonator is still blocked but you can make out the circuit and even still see the IED circuit components. Definitely not as easy as the 1st image was and is a more challenging training problem vs just a empty backpack.

Image 4: This is why they make you take your laptop out of your bag

This next image is what we call a "complex background" and is very common at a airport or courthouse checkpoints. The airline security industry learned a very long time ago that if a bag has a laptop in it, your ability to do x-ray interpretation on that bag is extremely limited. The IED that was very easy to pick out in the 1st image is still there but now many of the key ID features that gave it away before are now very hard to locate? With the airport x-rays the resolution is nowhere near as good as a EOD portable system so you would never get what we see in the above EOD x-ray system image nor the clarity of the 9 volt battery. This is a very challenging training scenario and all of that fancy AI imaging recognition software will no longer work for items like the explosive or IED components which are now basically invisible to a cabinet x-ray system. AI component recognition really only works if you get a clean shot at the item. When you mix a IED circuit with other items the detection ability of AI plummets. The human is always the key to detection in the end.

The next odd thing I see all of the time with Bomb technicians when they are x-raying a backpack or suitcase is that they are always standing upright. When they set up their x-ray they shoot straight on at the bag and the bag will have no clutter. This is a novice level training problem and when they shoot the x-ray they get a perfect image that is easy to solve. I was at a demo and the vendor was showing off his precision aiming system and the suitcase he was using with a IED in it was standing up. He showed all of us how awesome the system worked and asked if any of us had any question. I said "yes" and walked over to the suitcase and knocked it down on its side and told him to impress me now. The scenario got SUPER hard but we all learned something that maybe we should try and scan bags laying down vs always standing them up.

Image 5: Image 4 sideways.....WHAT?????

The above image is of the same backpack we have been looking at with all of the clutter but now we have shot the x-ray from the side. In this scenario even with all of the clutter you can see the IED plain as day. This goes to show you that in a cluttered bag a head on shot might not always be the best angle. It also shows that you might not be able to get that "standing up" shot so you should train at doing x-ray at hard angles. When you do x-ray training you should always shoot the package at different angles and go over the problem at each angle. Airports screener threat libraries that they are trained on always have the same IED at 6-8 different angles so they learn all of the easy and hard angles of the threat. Bomb technician need to incorporate this same multiple angle training into their portable x-ray scenarios.

I am a huge advocate for trying to improve the quality of x-ray training for not only airport screeners but also my fellow bomb technicians. The key to improvement is that the more you train the better you will get. The other key aspect to x-ray training is you have to make it realistic. Basic level training scenarios do not prepare you to deal with a challenging problem and the harder you make the problem the more you are going to learn.

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