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Cell Phones are one of the most important communication devices
ever engineered. They are used by more than 2.6 billion people
worldwide with more than 240 million users in the United States alone.
However they are also the number one triggering device used by
terrorists proven by the recent discovery of the plot to blow up
airplanes in a 9/11 style of terrorism. As well recent worries by law
enforcement authorities concerning the purchase of pre-paid cell phones brings the
issue close to home. What exactly is the threat of cell phones and
why are the authorities so worried about it?
Almost a year and a half ago, in January of 2005, the FCC and FAA
were considering allowing the use of cell phones on airplanes. At
that time we had issued a press release indicating our concern for the
safety of passengers and confirmed the fact that the cell phone can be a
deadly part of weapons used by terrorists. Finally, in July of
2005, the Department of Homeland Security came out in support of our
objections and also indicated their concerns. However there was never
any explanation given. I offer the following article for the purposes of
understanding the threat and possibly influencing those people involved in
making the decisions regarding our safety.
Why are cell phones used by
terrorists?
1. Easily concealed: No one until recently was looking at
them as any sort of a threat. With more than 1,5 billion users, and more
than 3 billion cell phones available including the ones most of the
population hangs on to after upgrading their cell phones, the
supply is impossible to control and terrorists can get access to them
without suspicion. ( except when purchasing them in large quantities at
a department store).
2. Battery Power: The
electrical properties for
most batteries used today in cell phones are 3.6 volts at 1.2 amp. or
roughly 5 watts of energy. This is enough energy to produce the necessary
'spark' or power required to detonate a blasting cap or modified
electrical match. This detonation is used to supply the energy
needed to explode plastic explosives.
3. Mechanism in place to turn the cell phone into a bomb
triggering device: The vibration circuit of the cell phone consists of a
small motor with an unbalanced cam, that causes the phone to shake.
This is similar to an unbalanced tire on your car that causes your car
to vibrate. This motor is attached to the cell phone circuit via 2
leads. These leads are positive and negative DC at 3.6 volts and
can either directly power the detonator, or can be connected to a small
relay attached an outside larger electrical source.
4. Easy to modify: No manufacturer today makes it difficult to
open a cell phone. It is easy and can be done in a matter of seconds.
As a result the terrorist quickly and safely modifies the cell phone. He then puts the cell phone back together without any
exterior indication that it was tampered with.
5. Untraceable: The Terrorist can use cell phones from
countries outside of the United States with SIM cards either stolen or
falsely subscribed to. As well, they buy pre-paid cell phones at
department stores for cash where no name is given or asked in order to
activate the cell phone service. As well, current world roaming
agreements means that any cell phone can be used almost anywhere.
6. Deliverable: It is easy for the terrorist to combine a cell phone
and plastic explosive and send it around the country by a parcel
delivery service or even a postal service.
7. Addressable: The cell phone can be made to react in a certain
manner to a phone call placed. With Caller ID the cell phone can
be set to vibrate when a certain number is received. This provides
the terrorist with a safety factor, as only when a call from the
programmed number is received would the phone's vibration circuit
trigger a detonation. This is what was used by terrorists in the Bali
Bombings, and is being used by terrorist in Iraq as one of the means of
detonating Improvised Explosive Devices (bombs).
8. Accurate Timer : The cell phone has an alarm function that was
provided to consumers as one of those conveniences to use to wake them
up, or remind them of an appointment. As well, this time on the
cell phone is kept accurate by the towers that communicate with them
several times an hour. The cell phone is set to vibrate when the
alarm goes off and this triggers the detonator attached to the vibration
circuit. This is what was used in the Madrid Spain train bombings and
was suspected in the London bombings as well.
9. Authorities Are Unprepared to
Counter Threat. Terrorists know that for the most part our law
enforcement agencies have no plan of action in case of cell phone bombs. Currently
there is no communication between local, state and federal authorities
with Cellular providers and tower owners across the country should
terrorist launch and attack using cell phone detonated bombs. There is
plan of action to shut down a tower, or scramble the timer in a cell
phone if a 9/11 situation were to occur using cell phone bombs.
10. Bomb Squads lack Jamming Equipment to prevent detonation:
Terrorist know that our First Responders, local and state law
enforcement agencies lack the equipment necessary to stop a bomb from
exploding.
The current communications act was passed by congress in 1934. The
law states that only the Federal Government is allowed to interfere
with radio frequency communication. The FCC enforces this law and as
such local, and state law enforcement agencies do not have the equipment
necessary to prevent any remote control device from blowing up once
found, including a cell phone controlled bomb. The local bomb squad,
which is considered the First Responders, cannot purchase or use jamming
equipment even though they may find a suspicious package with an antenna
stick out of it. They must wait for the FBI to come to the scene. This
is ok in large cities with an FBI department that may or may not have
the jamming equipment, but in smaller cities and other prime rural
targets, the time wasted will be lethal.
11. The Battery can be made to explode: Cell Phones deploy a Lithium
Ion Cobalt battery as its source of power, the same composition as
laptop computer batteries. Lithium Ion Cobalt is unstable and
requires an electrical circuit to protect it from rapidly discharging in
case of shorting the contacts, or from overcharging. However, if this
circuit is removed, or in the case of some imported batteries, either
damaged or non-existent, the battery can either explode or flame up.
This is not fiction. The Consumer protection Department has come out
with a warning, a large cellular carrier and Kyocera had issued a recall
of millions of cell phone batteries. As well, Sony and Nokia both issued
warnings to consumers that batteries bought from outside sources may
explode. Most recently, Dell has issued a recall on their batteries used
on millions of computers. The reason the Lithium Ion Cobalt is used, is
mostly a matter of 'bang for the buck' if you would excuse the
expression. The battery basically provides a consistent source of energy
at a relatively low cost. Currently there is no standard in place
by law that regulates these batteries. It is easy for a terrorist to
convert a cell phone into a flammable device and cause it to flame or
explode. this provides an increase danger to airplanes including the
cargo holds.
Reducing the Threat with Common
Sense.
In a recent flight I took between London Heathrow
and Miami, I
laughed once again, when I heard the flight attendant
announcing in a nice gentle voice:
" We have closed the hatch and as such
we kindly request that all passengers turn off their cell phones and
keep them off due to the fact that they interfere with navigational
equipment".
I have often commented to flight attendant if they
actually believed that the cell phone was a threat to the equipment, and
if so, how do they feel when the plane lands at the destination, and all
of a sudden all of the cell phones that the passengers forget to turn
off start to ring and beep. Where we really at risk during the flight?
Common Sense. That is what I tell people. Common sense would
dictate that if the cell phone signal were really a threat no passenger
would be allowed to walk on board with one. The Flight Attendant
checks to make sure that we are all wearing our seatbelts, but the
device that would bring down an airplane in flight if a passenger were
remised
and forgot to turn it off is to say the least ...ridiculous.
However, the threat of a cell phone used
as a triggering device is realistic.
It is quite important that we face the reality of the situation with
regard to the terrorist threat in using cell phones to remote detonate
bombs. Common sense really needs to prevail. In all of the examples
of why cell phones are a threat , there are
logical solutions to reducing the threat of Cell phones used by
terrorists.
Here are some of them:
1. Do not allow Cell phones on airplanes. They should be checked in
with the battery removed.
2. Make cell phones tamper proof: This would solve the problem only
if cell phone programming is changed to disallow older cell phones from
working on the network. The manufacturers need only build in an anti
tamper switch that would fry the cell phone ic's similar to circuits
placed on expensive radios that are installed in cars.
3. Force the Carriers to scramble their
synchronization timing for the
cell phone clocks. A programming update would be required for the
cell phone itself to always synchronize with the signal provided by the
carrier. Some cell phones lock this function out while others allow for
the update all of the time. Those people that travel see this happen
since when they land and turn on the cell phone, the clock is updated to
local time. The Carrier can then scramble the clock, especially in
tunnels, at airports or government buildings. This would reduce the
threat of the cell phone being used as a timer.
4. Force the carriers to id anyone purchasing a pre-paid cell phone.
5. Prevent roaming ability from countries that harbor
terrorists, and in cases of alerts prevent roaming altogether.
This would prevent cell phone bombs from going off by the placement of
phone calls from outside of a given area.
6. Change the composition of Batteries:
Current Lithium Ion
Cobalt batteries can be dangerous. However another type, Lithium Ion Phosphate is not. The
difference is that the latter is manufactured in the United States by
Valance Technology
out of Texas.
Lithium Ion Phosphate is safe, doesn't explode and is as effective if
not better than what is in use today.
7. Legalize Jamming by the Bomb Squad and First Responders.
There is no reason whatsoever that local bomb disposal units and first
responders do not have the right to use jamming equipment to protect
themselves or the public against remote controlled bombs. Jamming of cell
phones occurs in a small area and only the signal between the tower and
the cell phone is jammed. if there is a suspicious bag with an
antenna sticking out of it, the jammer needs to be deployed without
waiting for the Federal Government.
8. No Cell Phone signal in tunnels : The
argument that someone might need to make a phone call in a tunnel in an
emergency does not work. There are regular land line type of emergency
phones every 100 feet in tunnels. They are more reliable. However the
chance of a bomb going off attached to a gasoline truck is more likely
than someone who cannot find the emergency phone station.
9. Plan of Action: We need the Department of Homeland Security to
develop and deploy a plan that involved the carriers and local police
departments in order to turn towers off, or scramble timing
synchronizations in times of known threats.
It is important that all of the points
above are considered and hopefully implemented. There are several
lobby groups that I know of that oppose jamming and anything that may
affect the profits of the cell phone industry. As well, the FCC has opposed the use of
jamming equipment by the local police departments as they say that the
local police may abuse the jammers. The department of Homeland
Security refuses to make good on their mandate given to them by Congress
via the Homeland Security Act, which gives them the power to provide
"Whatever technology is needed to prevent or mitigate terrorist
activities ", which of course must have included bombs.
The threat of using the cell phone as a
weapon against us is real. It is the number one triggering device used
by terrorists around the world, and as such will inevitably be used here
in the United States. We need to be prepared for such attacks by
planning and making sure that our local and state law enforcement have
the necessary weapons to combat the threat. We can ill afford to wait
until people in this country are killed from a terrorist attack that uses a
cell phone remote controlled bomb before we take action.
© 2006 CellAntenna
Corporation. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced,
displayed, modified or distributed without the express prior written
permission of the copyright holder. For permission, contact
Howard
Melamed CEO of CellAntenna Corporation at 12453 NW 44th Street, Coral
Springs Florida 33065, or telephone at 954-340-7053 or by sending an
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