Monday, Aug. 12, 1996

WITHOUT A CLUE

By Michael Kramer

For a moment, think the way a cop thinks. after a bomb has gone off, you plunge first into the horror itself. Then your fury is directed at Congress. For more than 20 years, and again last week in the wake of Atlanta and Flight 800, Washington lawmakers have denied police a tool that could immeasurably help them solve the worst crimes of terror.

By their nature, bombs obliterate. Detectives sift the residue for clues, a job that would be far easier if microscopic chemical agents called taggants were present at the scene. Taggants are like fingerprints or bar codes. Mixed with gunpowder and other explosive agents, they can identify the manufacturer, the point of sale or theft, and provide other useful information. They were invented by a Minnesota chemist in 1973 and for the past 11 years their mandatory use in Switzerland has helped Swiss police solve more than 500 explosives cases. But adding taggants to black and smokeless gunpowder in the U.S.--the materials common in many unsophisticated bombs--is still prohibited.

Why? Because those who make explosives fear lawsuits from bombing victims. And because the National Rifle Association believes any government intrusion will lead down the slippery slope to more gun control. The N.R.A. doesn't say that, of course. Its opposition is couched in terms of safety. Taggants, it says, can destabilize gunpowder, a claim the Swiss experience disproves. But the N.R.A.'s political power is legendary. To support its view, since 1980 the N.R.A. has used a single test by Congress's former Office of Technology Assessment, which found that taggants could cause "increased reactivity" with at least one form of smokeless powder. But the powder tested then contained an earlier generation of taggants in a concentration far greater than that necessary for tracing purposes. The solution to this impasse is more study, a compromise that passed the House last Friday. But even if the Senate eventually goes along, the research will delay for at least a year any decision to finally use taggants. "And then the N.R.A. will likely find some other way to kill the idea," says Representative Charles Schumer, disgustedly.

Bob Dole, who talks endlessly about leadership, could have urged his Republican colleagues to think beyond the N.R.A.'s financial clout and act in the public interest. Instead, he made the eccentric proposal to reopen Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House, a suggestion best described as tone-deaf, since it came only hours after the Olympics bombing. "The Senator's view," explained a campaign spokesman, "is that he should address the problem of terrorism in an appropriate forum." Like what? "Like his meeting with President Mubarak." So what happened then? After seeing the Egyptian leader last Thursday, Dole said, "We discussed a wide range of issues including...what we can do together to combat the threat of terrorism." And that was it.

What's going on here? "Since he's no longer in the Senate," says a Dole staff member, "he can avoid tangling with the N.R.A. on this one." His avoidance tactic may be little noted and soon forgotten. Except by the families of those killed by terrorists--and perhaps some other citizens who may conclude in November that those who seek our trust shouldn't enjoy it until they stand up.