Location: Washington, DC. U.S.
Website: https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cirg/hazardous-devices
As part of the FBI’s Critical Incidence Response Group they run Counter IED operations.
Since 1971, the section has managed the nation’s only facility to train and certify public safety bomb technicians to render safe hazardous devices. The FBI’s Hazardous Devices School (HDS) has provided training to over 20,000 state and local first responders.
Additionally the FBI run the Special Agent Bomb Technician (SABT) Program. SABTs provide training to local and state bomb squads and serve as the workforce for the FBI’s explosives-related operations and activities worldwide. The SABTs respond to improvised explosive device (IED) incidents domestically and internationally and provide assistance during major cases, special events, and federal, state, and local training events.
The Counter-Improvised Explosive Devices Unit shares information about hazardous devices among the relevant personnel such as federal, state, and local bomb technicians and investigators, as well as international bomb data centers. They publishes bulletins, guides, and other materials designed to offer continuing education to bomb technicians beyond the structured learning provided by the Hazardous Devices School.
Bulletins and other explosives-related information available to more general audiences is available through a Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP).
The FBI also created the National Explosives Task Force (NETF), a multi-agency assemblage of bomb technicians, analysts, and professional staff that formed in 2011 to analyze and disseminate intelligence related to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and other explosive materials in the U.S.
This profile is part of AOAV’s investigation into counter-IED (C-IED) actors around the globe. To see the list of all C-IED actors recorded by AOAV, see here. To see those engaged in the Middle East, the Sahel, North Africa or other highly impacted countries please see here, here, here, and here respectively. This research was made possible by funding from the NATO Counter Improvised Explosive Devices Centre of Excellence (C-IED COE). To read the full report, ‘Addressing the threat posed by IEDs: National, Regional and Global Initiatives’, see here.
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