Taming Terrorism’s Explosive Potential : How to cut the odds of another Oklahoma-style bombing

Something positive must come out of last month’s horrific bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Surely something more is possible than the heated war of words in Congress and over the airwaves about gun control and citizen militias, and the rantings of extremists about a U.N. takeover.

Congress can and should take steps to severely reduce the chance that this sort of unforgivable act will occur again. The technology has long been at hand to do so, but the political will has not.

Congress should require so-called “taggants” in chemicals such as ammonium nitrate, a common farm fertilizer, which when mixed with fuel oil can produce a potent bomb. (Federal authorities theorize that the Oklahoma City blast came from a truck loaded with 1,000 to 1,200 pounds of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil.) Taggants are virtually indestructible microscopic chips that can be inserted in chemicals. They allow law enforcement officials to trace explosives back to manufacturers, sellers or even customers.

‘DEFUSERS’: Congress could also insist that manufacturers treat fertilizers to make them much harder to use as bomb ingredients. The capability to do this too has long existed. A House committee will hold hearings next week on the cost and feasibility of such fertilizer “defusers.” Its chairman, W. J. (Billy) Tauzin (D-La.), is hoping for voluntary cooperation from fertilizer manufacturers, and there are signs he may get it. If that is not forthcoming, Tauzin wisely is preparing legislation.

The problem has grown in recent years along with the availability of information--in books and through the computer Internet--on bomb making. The First Amendment protects this free flow of information, but as the number of bombings soars--from 816 nationwide in 1987 to 1,880 in 1993--shouldn’t we restrict the ability of individuals to use that knowledge to commit mayhem?

These steps are hardly radical. Britain, South Africa and Northern Ireland already lace ammonium nitrate with a solution of ground limestone that improves it as a fertilizer and makes it less practical to use as an explosive. Officials in Germany, Sweden and Northern Ireland restrict who can buy the substance.

Nonetheless, the National Rifle Assn. and the explosives makers have successfully fought the many past efforts to require taggants and defusers by raising questions about their cost and effectiveness. In a statement issued after the Oklahoma City blast, the Institute of Makers of Explosives underscored its continued opposition to taggants, saying they “do nothing to prevent bombings.” That may be true, but taggants would do much to help law enforcement officials solve bombings. And that, in turn, could be a powerful deterrent to would-be bombers.

MILITARY THEFTS: Beyond these steps there are others. Theft of U.S. military explosives is a continuing problem, despite repeated warnings from federal investigators about lax controls over munitions and bomb parts. Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) says that in one instance, the Army did not even know explosives had been stolen until congressional investigators found them for sale at gun shows. The senator has requested a briefing on the problem from the Army next week and has asked the General Accounting Office for help in tightening oversight for these materials. The Army, says Glenn, has already identified some steps it could take; it should do so quickly.

None of these measures would eliminate domestic terrorism. But each would dramatically cut the odds that a bombing like that in Oklahoma City ever happens again.