http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651
The ADE 651 consists of a swivelling antenna mounted via a hinge to a plastic handgrip. It requires no battery or other power source, its manufacturer stating that it is powered solely by the user's static electricity. To use the device, the operator must walk for a few moments to "charge" it before holding it at right angles to the body. After a substance-specific "programmed substance detection card" is inserted, the device is supposed to swivel in the user's hand to point its antenna in the direction of the target substance. The cards are claimed to be designed to "tune into" the "frequency" of a particular explosive or other substance named on the card.[5] According to Husam Muhammad, an Iraqi police officer and user of the ADE 651, using the device properly is more of an art than a science: "If we are tense, the device doesn't work correctly. I start slow, and relax my body, and I try to clear my mind."[6]
The promotional material issued by ATSC claims that the ADE 651 can detect items including guns, ammunition, drugs, truffles, human bodies, contraband ivory and bank notes at distances of up to 1 kilometre (0.62 mi), underground, through walls, underwater or even from airplanes at an altitude of up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi). The device is said to work on the principle of "electrostatic magnetic ion attraction".[7] According to the promotional material, "by programming the detection cards to specifically target a particular substance, (through the proprietary process of electro-static matching of the ionic charge and structure of the substance), the ADE651 will “by-pass” all known attempts to conceal the target substance. It has been claimed to penetrate lead, other metals, concrete, and other matter (including hiding in the body) used in attempts to block the attraction."[8] Prosec, a Lebanese reseller of the ADE 651, claims on its website that the device "works on nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)."[9]
The device is made by ATSC (UK) Ltd, a company based in a former dairy in Sparkford, Somerset.[10] It has been distributed by a number of companies including Cumberland Industries UK, a company based in Kettering, Northamptonshire,[11] and Prosec of Baabda, Lebanon.[9] It was developed by Jim McCormick, the company's managing director, a former Merseyside Police officer whom The Times reports has "no scientific or technical background."[12] McCormick told the BBC that "the theory behind dowsing and the theory behind how we actually detect explosives is very similar."[13] According to an associate of ATSC, the devices were manufactured at a cost of £150 ($250) each by suppliers in Britain and Romania. The associate told The New York Times: "Everyone at ATSC knew there was nothing inside the ADE 651."[1]
The ADE 651 is widely used by the Iraqi Police Service and the Iraqi Army. The Iraqi Interior Ministry bought 800 of the devices in 2008 for £20m ($32m) and a further 700 in 2009 for £32m ($53m), in no-bid contracts with ATSC. The Iraqi government paid up to £37,000 ($60,000) for the devices despite the purchase price being put at around £11,500 ($18,500).[7] The Iraqi Army's Baghdad Operations Command announced in November 2009 that it had purchased another hundred of the devices. Jim McCormick of ATSC has said that the devices were sold for £5,000 ($8,000) each, with the balance of the cost going on training and middlemen.[10] According to CBS News, the training included instructions to Iraqi users to "shuffle their feet to generate static electricity to make the things work."[15]
Jim McCormick refused to be interviewed for the Newsnight investigation, but told The New York Times that ATSC would remain in business: "Our company is still fully operational."[1] He told The Times that ATSC had been dealing with doubters for ten years and that the device was merely being criticised because of its "primitive" appearance. He said: "We are working on a new model that has flashing lights."[10]
