Dr Benjamin Garrett
Senior Scientist
FBI Laboratory Division
Quantico, Virginia, USA

Law enforcement has had limited experience with crimes involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD), such as chemical and biological warfare agents and radiological and nuclear materials. These limited experiences, however, have shown that forensic sciences applied to the investigation of WMD matters differ in substantive ways from the forensic processes used for traditional crime solving. First, WMD forensic examinations often involve the transport of the examiners to the evidence – the opposite of traditional exams, where the evidence is transported to the examiners. Second, WMD forensic sciences require the assimilation and analysis of data from multiple sources outside the reach of traditional forensics. Both aspects of WMD forensics will be described, including information on solutions adopted by the FBI in meeting the unusual demands of investigating WMD crimes.