Profiling the agents used in CBRNe incidents
In the event of an actual or suspected CBRNe incident (i.e., one involving chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear agents, whether or not distributed by an explosion), it is essential that the agent or agents used are identified as quickly as possible. To ensure no vital seconds are lost, the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) maintains a fully up-to-date database containing detailed profiles of all known agents.
Chemical agents
Chemical agents rarely appear in their pure form. It is therefore necessary to be able to recognise them in whatever form they may take. For this purpose, the NFI has drawn up extensive profiles that not only list the properties (including any pre-cursors or side-products) of the agents free of the body, but also relevant metabolites as they appear, for example, in human tissue, blood and stomach contents.
Biological agents
The NFI again takes an integrated approach here, combining genetic techniques to develop the DNA profile of, say, a bacterium or virus, with anthropological and demographic techniques to establish its geographical provenance.
Radiological and nuclear agents
Due to their special nature, radiological and nuclear (RN) materials require a different approach. The NFI offers authorities appropriate strategies for dealing with RN incidents – from investigating the scene and containing the effects, to interpreting the findings, establishing the chains of evidence and custody, and writing the forensic reports for use in court.
Explosives
The NFI is increasingly developing non-intrusive ways of identifying explosives and bomb manufacturing techniques, by deploying robots, for instance.