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NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Applications
Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology
Committee on Smokeless and Black Powder

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Congressional Briefing
Tuesday, October 6, 1998

on

Black and Smokeless Powders:
Technologies for Finding Bombs and the Bomb Makers

Black and smokeless powders are widely available for purchase throughout the United States. Primarily used for legitimate sporting purposes such as hunting and target shooting, these powders can be used to make deadly bombs. A new report from a committee of the National Research Council entitled, Black and Smokeless Powders: Technologies for Finding Bombs and the Bomb Makers, focuses on methods to enhance law enforcement ability to detect devices containing smokeless and black powders and to identify bomb makers from powder and residue recovered at a bomb scene.

This study directly resulted from language in PL 104-208.

This briefing was for members of Congress and congressional staff only. The report was publicly released on October 8, 1998 and can be found, in its entirety, on the Web site of the National Academies Press.