Dealing with war in any context is a difficult and problematic venture. Acclaimed photographer Levinthal uses toy soldiers and plastic Humvees to explore and understand the ongoing conflict in Iraq. Although this may seem too light and playful, this is not just a recreation of the Iraq War, but a societal commentary about the imaging and imagining of war through the use of direct signifiers. Never before has there been such a massive production of toys directly related to a current and unresolved conflict.

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are a type of unconventional explosive weapon that can be deployed in a variety of ways, and can cause loss of life, injury, and property damage in both military and civilian environments. Terrorists, violent extremists, and criminals often choose IEDs because the ingredients, components, and instructions required to make IEDs are highly accessible. In many cases, precursor chemicals enable this criminal use of IEDs because they are used in the manufacture of homemade explosives (HMEs), which are often used as a component of IEDs. Many precursor chemicals are frequently used in industrial manufacturing and may be available as commercial products for personal use. Guides for making HMEs and instructions for constructing IEDs are widely available and can be easily found on the internet. Other countries restrict access to precursor chemicals in an effort to reduce the opportunity for HMEs to be used in IEDs. Although IED attacks have been less frequent in the United States than in other countries, IEDs remain a persistent domestic threat. Restricting access to precursor chemicals might contribute to reducing the threat of IED attacks and in turn prevent potentially devastating bombings, save lives, and reduce financial impacts. Reducing the Threat of Improvised Explosive Device Attacks by Restricting Access to Explosive Precursor Chemicals prioritizes precursor chemicals that can be used to make HMEs and analyzes the movement of those chemicals through United States commercial supply chains and identifies potential vulnerabilities. This report examines current United States and international regulation of the chemicals, and compares the economic, security, and other tradeoffs among potential control strategies.

Attacks in London, Madrid, Bali, Oklahoma City and other places indicate that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are among the weapons of choice of terrorists throughout the world. Scientists and engineers have developed various technologies that have been used to counter individual IED attacks, but events in Iraq and elsewhere indicate that the effectiveness of IEDs as weapons of asymmetric warfare remains. The Office of Naval Research has asked The National Research Council to examine the current state of knowledge and practice in the prevention, detection, and mitigation of the effects of IEDs and make recommendations for avenues of research toward the goal of making these devices an ineffective tool of asymmetric warfare. The book includes recommendations such as identifying the most important and most vulnerable elements in the chain of events leading up to an IED attack, determining how resources can be controlled in order to prevent the construction of IEDs, new analytical methods and data modeling to predict the ever-changing behavior of insurgents/terrorists, a deeper understanding of social divisions in societies, enhanced capabilities for persistent surveillance, and improved IED detection capabilities.

Over 3,700 total pages ... The Manuals and Publications included: IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE (IED) W3H0005XQ STUDENT HANDOUT IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE (IED) B3L0487XQ-DM STUDENT HANDOUT MOTORIZED CONVOY OPERATIONS B4P0573XQ-DM STUDENT HANDOUT TECHNICAL MANUAL ARMY AMMUNITION DATA SHEETS FOR DEMOLITION MATERIALS TECHNICAL MANUAL OPERATORS AND ORGANIZATIONAL MAINTENANCE MANUAL (INCLUDING REPAIR PARTS AND SPECIAL TOOLS LIST) DEMOLITION MATERIALS IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE (IED) DEFEAT LAND-MINE WARFARE OPERATOR'S AND UNIT MAINTENANCE MANUAL FOR LAND MINES TECHNICAL MANUAL DIRECT SUPPORT AND GENERAL SUPPORT MAINTENANCE MANUAL FOR LAND MINES TECHNICAL MANUAL OPERATOR'S MANUAL FOR BODY ARMOR SET, INDIVIDUAL COUNTERMINE (BASIC) OPERATOR’S MANUAL MINE FIELD MARKING SET HAND EMPLACEABLE M133 ORDNANCE AND EXPLOSIVES RESPONSE MULTISERVICE PROCEDURES FOR UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE OPERATIONS EOD - MULTI-SERVICE TACTICS, TECHNIQUES, AND PROCEDURES FOR EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL IN A JOINT ENVIRONMENT Physical Security of Arms, Ammunition, and Explosives DOD AMMUNITION AND EXPLOSIVES SAFETY STANDARDS INDIVIDUAL TRAINING STANDARDS (ITS) SYSTEM FOR AMMUNITION AND EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL OCCUPATIONAL FIELD (OCCFLD) 23 EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL (EOD) PROGRAM LIST OF STORAGE AND OUTLOADING DRAWINGS AND AMMUNITION Ammunition and Explosives Safety Standards DOE Explosives Safety Manual Individual Tasks, EQT (Explosives Hazards) Ammunition Handbook: Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for Munitions Handlers Mine/Countermine Operations Munitions Handling During Deployed Operations – 101