Expeditionary forensics: the warrior's science revealing the hidden enemy

Military Police, Spring, 2009 by Michael A. Johnston

Forensic science involves the application of a broad spectrum of sciences to establish factual information and answer questions of interest based on forensic material. Expeditionary forensics refers to the use of forensics to establish facts that the combatant commander can use to determine sources of insurgent arms, ammunition, and explosives; drive intelligence analysis and subsequent targeting for combat operations; change force protection measures; identify human remains; and prosecute detainees in a court of law. Intelligence operations benefit from the rapid forensic exploitation of information, items, and sensitive sites, enabling U.S. and coalition forces to eliminate threats and capture, prosecute, or kill enemies. The War on Terrorism and associated military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have produced an operational need to expand the use of forensics beyond the historical judicial, intelligence, and medical realms.

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A joint expeditionary forensic facility (JEFF) lab was established in Iraq in December 2006 to address the high number of sniper attacks throughout the Iraqi theater of operations (ITO). At that time, the countersniper lab was capable of two things--latent printing and firearm/tool marking. The capability for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) analysis existed only in the International Zone, which supported a task force that examined extrajudicial killings. When that task force was disbanded, the DNA analysis capability was moved to the JEFF countersniper lab. In late 2007, Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno (then the commander of the Multinational Corps--Iraq) directed the establishment of JEFF forensic labs in each major division area of operation.

The original countersniper lab, now known as the JEFF 3 lab, accepted its first piece of evidence--a Dragunov sniper rifle--on 30 December 2006. Since then, the lab has processed more than 1,800 cases, resulting in over 150 biometric identifications. Today, the JEFF 3 mission is to "conduct firearm/tool mark, latent print, and DNA forensic analysis in general support of U.S. and coalition forces in the entire ITO in order to exploit biometric and forensic evidence resulting in the killing, capturing, or prosecution of anticoalition forces."

The JEFF 3 lab, which is under the administrative control of the 733d Military Police Battalion (U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command [USACIDC] [commonly referred to as the "CID"]/Forensic Exploitation Battalion), provides general support to the Multinational Corps--Iraq, including more than twenty brigade combat teams and various combined joint special operations task force elements. The lab also has close working relationships with weapon intelligence teams, explosive ordnance disposal units, law enforcement professionals, the U.S. Special Operations Command, the CID, theater internment facilities, and detainee holding areas. All of the analysts, examiners, and technicians assigned to the lab are civilians who are specialists in their specific fields and have volunteered for this expeditionary mission.

The JEFF 3 lab processes all evidence related to nonimprovised explosive devices, including evidence from sniper attacks, insurgent and terrorist torture houses, various complex attacks on coalition forces, caches, enemy killed-in-action confirmation of high-value individuals on targeted raids, highly sensitive political cases, and select CID cases. In addition, partnerships with the Combined Explosive Exploitation Cell and document and media exploitation labs allow the coprocessing of cases where additional laboratory analysis is required.

The processing of material at JEFF 3 consists of several steps, beginning with the collection of evidence following an incident such as a planned site exploitation mission or a response resulting from a routine patrol. The evidence is transported to the lab through a variety of means, normally arriving within hours but can be up to a week after an incident, depending on the urgency of the analysis and the needs of the unit.

The most critical step of the process is triage, which begins when evidence arrives at the lab. Triage is the process used to determine the best method of supporting unit requirements to capture, prosecute, or kill the enemy through forensic analysis. It allows the lab to best prioritize valuable resources by sorting cases into three distinct categories:

* Expedite. Expedite cases have resulted in an injury to or death of a coalition soldier.

* Priority. Priority cases are time-sensitive in nature and are often associated with the release of a detainee or an at-large individual potentially targeted by a unit.

* Routine. Routine submissions are placed into the queue for processing but do not have the same sense of urgency as expedite or priority cases.

Triage is conducted by the evidence custodian or case file manager (alternate evidence custodian). Units that submit evidence for analysis must provide documentation of the incident (a significant activity report or a description of the "who, what, when, where, why, and how"), detailing how forensic analysis of the evidence can be expected to link the item or person to a specific event.