25 June 2004

Homeland security and amateur science

Forrest M. Mims III

It's no longer possible to do many kinds of scientific measurements from commercial aircraft. This includes those that lead to scientific publications, such as this light item by Forrest Mims for the "Scientific Correspondence" section of Nature and a serious paper on calibrating a novel water vapor hygrometer that Mims published in Applied Optics. Click image to enlarge.

Every citizen of the United States is in some way impacted by the Homeland Security Act. That's because the cost of protecting the country is borne by the citizens through their taxes and increased fees related to homeland security that have been added to the cost of goods and services.

Other impacts of the Homeland Security Act can have a much more direct impact on individual citizens, especially for some of us who are practicing citizen scientists.

This editorial discusses three specific examples. This is not a criticism of the need to preserve homeland security during these very dangerous times, and it is certainly not a position statement by the Society for Amateur Scientists. It is merely a list of some specific examples of how implementing homeland security can directly affect amateur science.

Airport security

Since 1988, I have made countless measurements of the Sun and sky through the passenger windows of commercial jets. I have collected hundreds of measurements in this manner, some of which have been published as papers in leading scientific journals such as Nature and Applied Optics.

Long before the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, I faced major problems taking my instruments through airport security. Sometimes my bags were never searched. When they were, I never knew what would happen when the guards peeked inside my carryon bag, the contents of which often resembled an electronics lab.

In Chicago, a security inspector became alarmed by the instruments in my bag. She took me to an airline counter and spoke to a pilot, who then placed his arm around my neck from behind and dragged me behind the counter while hundreds of passengers looked on in amazement.

In San Antonio, police were called by airport security, and I was almost arrested. That episode ended only after I produced some of my books to prove that I really do build electronics gadgets and do science with them.

During an otherwise pleasant trip to Switzerland, heavily armed soldiers with automatic weapons were summoned to secure my possessions and me at an airport. The day was saved by a brochure that described how I had won the Rolex Prize.

Then there was the time in Brazil when one of my bags and me were quickly driven to a remote section of unused airport runway for an emergency search by armed guards after the x-ray inspection showed objects that resembled bullets in my baggage. The "bullets" were light sensitive probes designed to measure sunlight. When I demonstrated this with the help of a flashlight, the security detail was satisfied and drove me straight to the plane.

These and many other experiences were in the good old days when airport security was a relatively simple procedure. The post 9/11 era is totally different, and the threat of arrest for taking a suspicious item on board an aircraft is far too serious too ignore.

Today when I fly, I usually ship instruments ahead by Federal Express. This only works when I am consulting. If I want to take instruments for personal use, the cost is simply prohibitive.

Last year I learned that traveling with a television crew can be a major asset while making measurements of the sky through an airplane window. While flying to Hawaii with a Japanese documentary team, the producer wanted to film me making some measurements with an optical fiber spectrometer. Usually when I try this, flight attendants ask plenty of questions. This time they just smiled and watched when I set up the equipment while the camera man stood in the aisle to film the measurements.

I still do some experiments from the air, but now most time is spent taking photographs of clouds, contrails and air pollution events, some of which will be published in a future Citizen Scientist Challenge in The Citizen Scientist.

I strongly support enhanced airport security. I also support common sense procedures that will allow serious scientists to continue taking their fragile instruments aboard aircraft. Often passengers carry items aboard aircraft that are potentially deadly to the passengers and crew. (Is that bottle of water really water?) Yet my harmless instruments have created major uproars and have almost caused me to miss flights.

Microbiology

On 24 June 2004, a Federal grand jury convened in Buffalo, New York, to hear testimony regarding a criminal investigation of Steve Kurtz, an associate art professor at the University of Buffalo. Kurtz is being investigated by the Joint Terrorism Task Force. His troubles began on 11 May, when he called 911 to report the death of his wife. Emergency responders were troubled by some of the laboratory and biological equipment they observed in the Kurtz home. Kurtz was detained for questioning, and an investigation was begun.

According to a copyrighted story in The Buffalo News on 17 June (www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040617/1016741.asp), law enforcement authorities said "... the probe is focused on how and why Kurtz got certain biological agents that were found in his Allentown home after his wife's death May 11."

On 13 May, FBI agents wearing biohazard suits arrived and removed computers, lab ware, bacteria cultures, books, files and many other materials. The remains of Kurtz's deceased wife were held for a week during the investigation of her death, which was apparently caused by heart failure. The Kurtz home was sealed as a protective measure until a state lab evaluated the materials that had been removed. Evidently no dangerous materials were found, for the home was reopened on 17 May.

The biological materials in the Kurtz home were not being concealed, and they apparently included no dangerous microorganisms. Instead, they formed part of an experiential art exhibit put on Kurtz and some fellow artists.

There is much more to this story, and the results of the investigation have yet to be announced. But if you'll promise not to tell the FBI, I will admit to possessing some of the very same items found in the Kurtz household.

Apparently cultures of Serratia marcescens and a benign form of Escherichia colic were found. Both these bacteria are relatively harmless, and both are easily procured from lab supply houses. Both are used in many science fair projects.

Because the normal kind of S. marcescens has a bright red pigmentation, one can understand why it might appeal to an artist. It is also an interesting species to use for various experiments involving ultraviolet sunlight, which is why I have used it. I have used E. coli for the same purpose. For example, this nonpigmented bacteria is ideal for determining how fast natural sunlight can sterilize standing water containing artificially introduced E. coli cells. And all this has happened in and around the little farmhouse that doubles as my office and from where these words are being typed.

Currently there are no cultures here. But there are Petri dishes, inoculation supplies, sterile wipes and so forth. My daughter Sarah and I also have a stash of Petri films for sampling airborne fungal spores, which we happen to be doing in connection with a recent Sahara dust event.

I have often traveled with biological supplies. In 1997, I took some 90 sealed agar trays to Brazil, where I sampled outdoor air during the burning season in Southern Amazonia. I also took various biological supplies, face masks, potting soil, seeds and a portable greenhouse. Novel findings were made with these materials. The work was done for the University of Sao Paulo and the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Would I be able to travel with those supplies today? Probably not. Agar trays might resemble explosives when subjected to airport screening. Based on my many misadventures with airport security people, it's hard enough to explain a Sun photometer, much less a case of sterile agar trays.

Because the Kurtz affair involved the death of his wife, the initial reaction of the authorities seems to have been completely appropriate. However, if the materials found in his home were indeed benign, why was a grand jury convened? Why did half a dozen witnesses refuse to testify after the government would not guarantee they would not be prosecuted. What's going on here, anyway?

The Kurtz affair will eventually be resolved. We'll publish the results in our news department, if the FBI doesn't shut down my office or arrest me at the airport. Sarah and I don't have any bacteria cultures on hand now, but we will have some fungi cultures if the spores we found while examining Sahara dust through a microscope germinate when placed on Petrifilms.

Meanwhile, how does this affair affect amateur scientists? What risks do those of us face who conduct independent science using biological supplies? Will science fair students be discouraged by parents and teachers from conducting independent research? The science fair rules for conducting such research are already an overreaction and a hindrance. What might be next?

Rocketry

Rocketry has been under the jurisdiction of Federal agencies since long before the Homeland Security Act. Commercial rocket motors are regulated by the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) of the U.S. Department of Justice. This includes small and relatively benign model rocket motors sold as "toy propellant devices." The circumstances of flights by amateur and model rockets, including weight, altitude and proximity to airports, are regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Some of my model and high-power rocketry friends have absolutely no interest in the science of rocketry. Most are hobbyists who enjoy rocketry competitions, scale model rockets and so forth. Some are members of the "whoosh...bang" crowd.

Though their numbers may be small, some rocketry enthusiasts do serious science with model and high power rockets. Model rockets played a major role in my development of a novel rocket guidance method that became the subject of one of my first scientific publications. Model rockets also led directly to the formation of Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS), the company that introduced the Altair 8800, the first serious hobby computer. (You can read the details at www.forrestmims.org.)

For good reason, model and high power rocket motors remain classified as explosive devices. Over the past few years rumors have circulated that model rocket motors might be banned by the Federal government.

Fortunately this has not happened, at least not yet. On 25 November 2002, President Bush signed the Safe Explosives Act (amended Title XI of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970). According to the "Model Rocket Hobbyist Information" page on the ATF web site (3 March 2003):

"In an attempt to address the needs of sport rocketry hobbyists while still appropriately protecting against the acquisition of explosive materials by terrorists and other criminals who might misuse them, ATF has maintained a longstanding exemption for sport rocket motors containing up to 62.5 grams of explosive propellant. This exemption applies to the vast majority of rocket motors used by hobbyists. ATF has never required a permit of any kind to acquire or possess a rocket motor containing up to 62.5 grams of APCP, and this will not change under the expanded explosives controls that have been set forth in the Safe Explosives Act of 2002." (www.atf.gov/explarson/safexpact/modelrockets.htm.)

I have not addressed high-power rocketry using commercial motors and those designed and built by amateur scientists. While it appears that model rocketry is safe for now, future attacks against the United States might change this situation.

What do you think?

Are there ways to achieve homeland security without seriously impacting amateur science activities such those related here? Or have we entered a new era where some formerly benign kinds of amateur science may no longer be considered acceptable? Have you experienced a significant problem conducting amateur science because of airport security or homeland security rules?

Send us your comments. If you would like your comments to be considered for publication in our Backscatter department, place this in the subject line of your e-mail: "Homeland Security. OK to Publish." Time may not permit each e-mail to be answered. But someone at SAS will read each e-mail you send, and the most interesting ones will be published in Backscatter.