Identification of Explosive Residues in Bomb Scene Investigations

Only a few years ago, a bombing or a bomb threat was looked upon as an unusual event, and physical evidence from a bomb scene tended to be a laboratory curiosity by virtue of its rarity. At this writing, the reported bomb incidence rate is about 5.8 bombs per day according to current figures from the National Bomb Data Center, and the examination of physical evidence from these incidents has become a daily occurrence and a major laboratory challenge.