Last weekend, a team of researchers from the Department of Homeland Security launched a six-day test at 20 Boston subway stations designed to examine the behavior of airborne contaminants released into rail cars. According to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, the study is just one of many efforts the department is undertaking to aid its emergency-response planning in preparation for chemical or biological terrorist attacks.
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It's no wonder the government is worried about mass transit, which one counterterrorism expert recently described as "the ultimate soft target in the US." In fact, it was recently reported that federal agents, equipped with handheld sensors, have been discreetly riding the rails and bus lines to sniff out biological or radiological materials that could possibly be used in an attack on a major metropolitan area.
With more than a hundred miles of track in Washington, and more than six times that in New York, it would presumably take a small army of sensor-toting agents to keep pace with the bad guys. But thanks to NASA, there's a better way: a researcher at the space agency has developed a postage stamp-sized device that plugs into the iPhone and senses chemicals in the air; when it detects something like ammonia or chlorine gas, it can relay that information via WiFi or the phone network to first responders.
And there are, of course, plenty of other smartphone apps that show the device's great potential for keeping chaos at bay. For example, Outbreaks Near Me is a fee app that uses the iPhone's mapping capabilities to show whether the swine flu outbreak is encroaching on your neighborhood. There are apps that serve up instructions on how to survive emergencies or administer first aid, and an app that sends a distress signal to rescuers with your current latitude and longitude. There are also apps that give you access to thousands of police, fire and EMS radio frequencies.
So maybe the key to keeping the country safe is to give everyone smartphones, the way that some schools give laptops or Kindles to all their students. With a hundred million chemical sniffers out there and a host of installed public-safety apps that will no doubt follow, we won't have to rely on government agents being in the right place at the right time.
The only problem is that this same technology can be used for less noble purposes, such as the one detailed by Vice magazine: Ricardo Dominguez, who a decade ago set up a website-jamming network that caused headaches for the Border Patrol and White House, among others, has reprised his act with the Transborder Immigrant Tool -- a cheap Motorola smartphone outfitted with GPS and other apps designed to help illegal immigrants safely cross the Mexican border. Armed with such a device, those sneaking across the border can determine such things as their distance from a highway and where to find water left by those sympathetic to their plight. Maybe it's time to sell the Apple stock and load up on Motorola.
Alan Green was formerly editor of investigative projects at the Center for Public Integrity, in Washington, D.C. His books include Animal Underworld: Inside America's Black Market for Rare and Exotic Species, which chronicles such issues as the threats to human health posed by the trade in pet primates.
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