Report: U.S. Bomb-Sniffing Dogs Not Up To Snuff

[unhappycamper]

Report: U.S. Bomb-Sniffing Dogs Not Up To Snuff
by The Associated Press
October 8, 2010

The State Department's inspector general said Friday that bomb-sniffing dogs in Afghanistan and Iraq aren't being tested properly and may not be able to effectively detect explosives.

The inspector general's review found that the companies hired to supply and train the animals weren't testing them for all of the scents of the most commonly encountered explosives, increasing the chance of a dog missing a bomb in a vehicle or luggage. That puts U.S. diplomats at risk, the inspector general said.

The companies — U.S. Training Center in Moyock, N.C., a business unit of the company formerly known as Blackwater, and RONCO Consulting Corp. in Washington — also used expired or potentially contaminated materials for the scent tests, the inspector general's report said.

Representatives from RONCO, owned by Wackenhut Services, and the U.S. Training Center did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the inspector general's report.

The inspector general's review was limited to three canine programs handled by U.S. Training Center and RONCO. The report does not say how many dogs each contractor provides.

[HopeHoops]

1. Is that intended to be a play on words?

:shrug:

[unhappycamper]

2. Nope. n/t